by Neil Munro October 1, 2009 We’re not as well off as we used to be here in Michigan. Overall, we don’t earn nearly as much as we used to. What’s worse, this new constraint is very likely to be with us for years, not months, the experts say. One result is that our lawmakers [...]

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by Neil Munro August 1, 2009 Michigan needs to clear away the municipal underbrush. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to prosper again in an economy no longer dominated by building and selling motor vehicles. That business is unlikely to resume at anything like its former scale, and common sense tells us it wouldn’t be [...]

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by Neil Munro June 1, 2009 A lot of us here in Oakland County have lived to see a day we never expected; that of the announcement of the final days of the Pontiac automobile. While a boy on a farm Up North, I became enthralled by a family friend’s new 1947 model. And there [...]

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by Neil Munro April 1, 2009 The name Automation Alley is read and heard more and more often in connection with new businesses and jobs in Southeast Michigan, for which we are especially grateful in these alarming times. Yet many of us seem to have only the most vague notions of what the Alley is. [...]

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We must grasp our deep-rooted hope, not others’ clichés about Michigan.

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by Neil Munro February 1, 2009 The notion that 70-year-old Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson may run for governor in 2010 may strike some people as far-fetched. It shouldn’t. After all, Ronald Reagan, at 70-plus during two terms in the White House, long since demonstrated that isn’t too old even for the nation’s toughest [...]

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by Neil Munro December 1, 2008 Too many Michigan roads are worn out — especially the urban roads, and most especially those in Oakland County, which is struggling to remain the state’s most economically vibrant locality. Michigan needs to be at its best now, not years from now. In light of what’s happening to its [...]

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by Neil Munro October 1, 2008 The city of Pontiac, the seat of Oakland County, is just 69 miles from Lansing. But essential information about what happens under the Capitol dome too often never makes the trip. Locally, the result can be annoying. But, most recently, the answers to the county’s questions are alarming. Annually, [...]

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by Neil Munro August 1, 2008 Michigan’s roads need help. Too many are too rough and too crowded. The construction and care of our roads are the responsibility of our lawmakers in Lansing. But it’s been 11 years since they increased the taxes and fees that support our highways and streets. The problem is so [...]

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by Neil Munro June 1, 2008 Michigan is facing tough times. Much of the pain is self-inflicted. So we ought to be open to making changes in the way this state operates. Mainly, we need money-saving change that amounts to more than temporary sacrifice. Let’s get rid of some costly governmental baggage we only think [...]

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