The Plan for a Stronger Michigan

ABOUT THIS MEETING

John Rakolta, Jr., Chairman & CEO of Walbridge, and Doug Rothwell, President & CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan, addressed the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday, April 24, 2018,  and discussed what needs to be done to make Michigan a ‘Top Ten’ state.

“We are at a crossroads,” said Rothwell. “Michigan has come a long way since 2009 and the Great Recession, we were hit probably harder than any other state. The reality is that though we have come back a lot in these last 5-10 years, the fact is that we still are about average, or slightly below average, on a lot of the indicators that matter most.”

Rakolta stressed that in order to become a ‘Top Ten’ state, reforms need to be made to education, infrastructure and importantly, regional transit.

“Education is one, infrastructure is two and if you want to include that (regional transit) as part of infrastructure, then it is the number two issue that we have,” said Rakolta.