The Impact of "Job Sprawl'

I've always said I learn something new every day and today was no different.  This time it was a new term, "job-sprawl", found in the latest report from the Brookings Institution on how the shifting of jobs away from the urban core has implications for everything from housing to transportation to economic development.  And, of the 98 largest metropolitan areas studied, Detroit ranked number one with 77% of the jobs in the region more than 10 miles away from the heart of the city.  Interestingly enough the report found that those regions that rely heavily on manufacturing have among the highest "job sprawl" rates, with more than half of those jobs being created more than 10 miles away from the central business district.  Now, while I know we need jobs in Michigan, perhaps such a report will give policy makers and governmental agencies a chance to think about how and where we offer incentives for economic development.  And for evidence on how such incentives have been used in the past, they need look no further than a report by the organization Good Jobs First , which found that from 2001-2004, a number of state incentives, including MEGA grants, were directed away from Michigan's core areas.  Sometimes, we can be our own worst enemies.