I know we’ve had a lot on this blog about the current recession and how hard it has hit the auto industry and Michigan.
So, I apologize if you’re sick of reading about it, but I’m posting a link to this sobering Wall Street Journal Story about laid-off white collar workers.
“Mr. Barr, 46 years old, was the type of well-educated, white-collar ‘knowledge’ worker that Michigan hoped would help offset a decline in auto-assembly jobs. But Detroit’s Big Three car makers have aggressively thinned these ranks in the past two years, perhaps …

Our friends at the Great Lakes Urban Exchange (aka GLUE) are bringing their “I Will Stay If…” party idea to Pittsburgh.
“Every party results in photographs of participants holding signs that tell what it is about their city that would make them stick with it. The photos will be data for GLUE to play a part in reviving and setting urban policy,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explained in today’s paper.
This idea may sound familiar – we wrote about the party in Detroit a few months ago (see photo above).
For more information about …

NPR ran a great piece yesterday about young people moving back to Detroit during this time of unparalled economic turmoil.
The story follows a Chicago banker who, lured by cheap real-estate, moved back, bought a building and opened a restaurant.
Also featured is a Cincinnati music producer who moved to Detroit because he always wanted his own studio and in Detroit the price was right.
Last is a Detroit-born lawyer who returned from New Jersey because he wanted to be part of the city’s revitalization.
This story made me cry. I wish everyone who has …

Ok. I know I said these ratings were BS, and I stand by my claim.
How else could Cleveland be rated the No. 14 city for singles among the nation’s 40 largest metro areas?
In its infinite wisdom, Forbes has cooked up another city ratings scheme. It goes like this: mix in cost of living, a dash of job growth, perceived coolness, culture, nightlife, online dating population and the percentage of single people in the population and …. viola! Cleveland is totally happening.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fun to be a single person …

A new report (pdf), as reported by a number of Ohio’s news sources, predicts a depressing future for Ohio’s ability to attract and retain young people.
The worse news is that its not just out-of-state students who are down on the buckeye state; the report finds that 51% of Ohio natives don’t want to stay. Having spent the past four years as an undergraduate student at two of Northeast Ohio’s universities, I can honestly testify that these numbers seem quite reasonable and realistic.

Some people are questioning the survey’s methodology and suggesting …