A recent article in Crain’s discusses a report recently released by Michigan Future Inc. The report describes Michigan’s drop in per-capita income rankings, a result the report ties to a lack of well-educated employees.

So beyond the obvious need for Michigan to invest in better educating its citizens, the report recommends the following strategy to attract more talent to the state:

“To attract talent, Glazer and Michigan Future advocate investments in five areas: the arts, research universities, mass transit, downtown and near downtown neighborhoods and green or outdoor spaces.”

As you can see, mass transit and a vibrant downtown are among the top ways to attract talent to this community.  Ann Arbor’s investment in good public transportation and a vibrant downtown have obviously paid off since we do seem to have a lot of good talent here. But we can do better.

Our public transportation system is good, but it could be better. We need more express routes, better connectivity between regions, stronger investment in non-motorized facilities, and some other transit service that moves beyond fixed-route bus service.

At the same time, we need to find ways to encourage workers to live in the downtown or near-downtown area.  I was reminded of this need with the recent snow storm.  It would be a lot easier for all of us to get home at night if we could walk home rather than drive 20 or more miles on an icy highway.

But often when I and others talk about these issues there is a common refrain: Where are we going to get the money to pay for this?  The AATA doesn’t have enough money to create more express routes, the City doesn’t have enough money to do all of the non-motorized enhancements it would like, and many people don’t feel like they have enough money to live close to the downtown.

So here’s the deal.  If we want to attract the talent, we need to find a way to pay for it.  If we want to remain a great place to live, we need to continue to enhance our transportation options.  Indeed, mass transportation is a vital for this area.

I know that many folks are talking about this issue right now and want to do something about it.  I am encouraged by the conversations I hear.  Let’s hope we’ll all continue to move in the right direction because good transportation + good talent = a great economy.