Stories from Crain's
Crain's Detroit Business has a couple of stories of note. The first covers the business fallout of Kwame Kilpatrick's text message scandal. In an nutshell, anything which would involve association with the Mayor (such as the recently cancelled National Conference of Black Mayors convention), or which could be influenced by perceptions of corruption in the local government (particularly foreign investments) is taking a hit, while major international deals in the auto industry are progressing without a blip. One of the people quoted in the article characterizes it as "the Superbowl in reverse", which makes a lot of sense, as the apparent consequences have emerged due to changed perceptions of the city rather than concrete concerns.
On a different front, the Detroit MSA has lost 27,000 residents in 2006 and 2007. Once again Florida and Texas have picked up a huge number of new residents. I really wonder how long it will be before greenhouse effects on climate will start driving people back from the coasts.
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