Colleges & Universities

Michigan citizens take tremendous pride in our institutions of higher learning. They are, in fact, a point of identification for many of us, and a pathway to a better job and better life for generations of Michiganders. The schools have always symbolized a state where hard work was then rewarded with opportunity, and a gateway to a better life.

The Facts: 

• The Center for Michigan reported that state support for higher education went down 29 percent between 2004 and 2014.
• The MLPP reported that state support for Community College has been flat since 2001, while enrollments went up 50 percent.
• And tuition at Michigan public universities has doubled over the past decade.
• Average debt per 2012 Michigan college graduate is $28,840, which is among the 10 worst in the country, according to a Detroit Free Pres report from Dec. 2013.

Cities & Communities

Through a 1,000-person survey and series of diverse focus groups, Michigan Dream Restored found that Michigan citizens want cities and towns they can be proud of. They want great localities to raise families, where kids would want to stay and make homes for themselves. But Michigan communities that were once a source of personal and familial pride are falling apart. They are often unable to provide even the basic vital services, much less offer access to arts, safe parks, and viable transportation options.

The Facts:

• According to the Michigan Municipal League, there are 4,000 fewer police and firefighters protecting Michigan communities than in 2001.
• And there are now seven communities under Emergency Financial Management in Michigan.
• A 2013 study by Robert Klein at Great Lakes Economic Consulting showed that local government employment fell 9.4 percent from 2000 to 2011, more than any other state.
• The Center for Michigan reported that state revenue sharing was cut 31 percent in real terms from 2004 to 2014.
• The Michigan Dream Restored survey showed that than 51 percent of Michigan residents believe services such as road and street repair, police and fire protection, schools and parks are worse, or much worse, now than they were 10 to15 years ago.

 Road & Infrastructure

A good infrastructure is necessary for the economic health of any vital community. And a big part of the Michigan Dream is the open road, traveling it, heading in any direction to fish, hike, ski, retreat, or haul a boat or snowmobile.

The annual “Woodward Dream Cruise” symbolizes the pride we feel in our cars, and our communities, and the roads and highways that uphold them. The event sees more than 30,000 custom and collector vehicles cruise Woodward Avenue in suburban Detroit. It’s a tradition born of the value that we put into the things we created in Michigan.

The Michigan Dream Restored survey found that the main reason Michigan residents want their roads repaired and maintained is to rekindle pride in their communities, to make them attractive and fulfilling places to live or operate a business.

The Facts: 

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, out of all 50 states, Michigan ranks the lowest in per capita spending on infrastructure.
• A Trip research report showed that in 2013, Michigan ranked 30th of 50 states in highway system performance (pavement conditions, bridge conditions, expenditures to maintain and other measures). Bridge Magazine reported that more than 57 percent of roads Detroit, 40 percent in Grand Rapids, and 49 percent in Lansing region are in poor or mediocre condition.
• Bridge Magazine also reported that the number of Michigan roads needing structural repair has doubled from 2004 to 2011.
• And Michigan’s deteriorated and congested roads cost individual motorists more than $1,000 a year (over $1,600 in Detroit!) in operating costs, lost time, wasted fuel, congestion, and crashes.
• The Trip research showed that rough roads cost Michigan drivers more than $500 annually in Detroit for repairs, and $300 a year in Grand Rapids and Lansing.
• And Michigan’s roads rated second worst in the nation by truck users.

You don’t have to travel far to see the difference between the Michigan roads we can’t afford to maintain, and states whose roads reflect a strong community.

Brookings Institution research showed in 2011 that Michigan has poor public transportation options, particularly in Detroit. Only 22 percent of available jobs are within 90 minutes reach, and low-service frequency in low-income neighborhoods isolate families.

 Arts & Culture

Creative businesses are one of the growing business segments and job providers in Michigan. Young creative professionals are part of the positive redevelopment of midtown Detroit and other urban core communities. Arts and cultural institutions bring in a sizable portion (16 percent) of Michigan tourism.

But state support for the arts has diminished significantly, and education cuts have meant the elimination of arts and arts education in our schools.

The Facts: 

• ArtServe Michigan reported in 2013 that state support for arts and culture, while seeing slight increase the past two years, is down from $25 million to $8 million, or 66 percent over the last decade.
• A 2012 survey conducted for the Michigan Dept. of Education and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs showed that 108,000 Michigan students, or 12 percent of all K-12 students, have no arts education (even though it is a state requirement) as schools cut arts teachers and programs under budget pressures.
• And MLive reported in 2012 that Michigan spends $1.67 per pupil at elementary school level, and $4.39 per student at high school level for arts education programs. This compares to $4 and $8 per at elementary level in Minnesota and New Jersey, and $9 and $15 per at high school level in Ohio and Minnesota.

 Clean Water, Parks and Conservation

No one can deny that Michigan is a family state. One of our favorite things to do is escape with our families to some favorite spot within the state. Many of these places – such as our state and local parks, beautiful woods, lakes and streams – were set aside years ago for public use, and are cleaned and maintained with our tax dollars.

Michigan citizens are protective of their home state and are troubled to see it degraded. Once a leader in conservation support, Michigan now ranks near the bottom of states.

The Facts: 

• The Natural Resources Defense Council reported that beach closures and advisories in Michigan have increased 22 percent over the past 5 years.
• According to Bridge Magazine, Michigan rivers impaired by potentially harmful pathogens doubled from 3,359 to 7,232 miles between 2008 and 2012.
• And 95 percent of rivers and 84 percent of inland lakes and reservoirs failed to meet water quality standards for PCBs or mercury in fish.
• Bridge Magazine also reported that Michigan’s state parks have a backlog of maintenance projects that total in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
• Center for Michigan research showed that state Funding for natural resources and the environment has fallen 6 percent from 2004 to 2014, and the general fund support for the Department of Environmental Quality fell 72 percent, while staffing was down 18 percent in the same ten-year span.

There is a better path, and Michigan citizens know what it is, and it has everything to do with Michigan becoming that land of opportunity again, that place where hard work is rewarded by good jobs.

When asked to name state priorities – those that are the most urgent and must be dealt with right now if we are to see a thriving economy – Michiganders placed these at at the top of their list: quality education, public safety and fighting crime, and protecting the Great Lakes and other natural resources.

Michigan folks also make a clear connection between doing better by these important assets, and creating the conditions that lead to job creation.

When asked the simple question: “Which of the following two statements comes closer to your view?”

Michigan citizens overwhelmingly (64 percent to 29 percent) say support for the things they value about Michigan is the key to economic growth.

If this is the case, then why can’t we do better?

In recent years we’ve managed to put an additional $65 million into preschool education (at the expense of K-12 funding however), find a bit more for K-12 increases (almost all going  to pay pension costs, however,  not into the classroom). The state budget just completed for next year makes some beginning steps on higher education, but totally punts on desperately needed road funding!

We still have miles to go to rebuild Michigan after years of neglect.

A combination of continued tax cuts, revenue losses from a weak economy, and an inability or unwillingness to raise much in the way of new revenues, continue to combine to curb investment in the pillars that support Michigan’s economy. A big reason for this is the continued belief among many decision makers that, despite the clear sentiments of Michigan’s citizens to the contrary, low taxes trump public investments as a winning economic strategy.