Quote:
Airport plan may aid region
Similar projects work in Europe
March 20, 2007
BY TOM WALSH
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Seven years into an economic funk with no end clearly visible, Michigan's people are understandably looking for a savior, a magic bullet or, at least, a hopeful sign of life.
Will a new biotechnology-driven life sciences industry flourish?
Or a resurgent automotive industry propelled by enviro-friendly electric or hydrogen power?
Can Gov. Jennifer Granholm's 21st Century Jobs Fund ignite a revival? Or would a different governor do the trick?
Truth is, no single stroke will reverse decades of downsizing by Detroit's auto companies and the ongoing shakeout among suppliers such as Delphi Corp.
But among many ideas floated to grow and diversify the state's economy, one is emerging as perhaps the most promising: the aerotropolis, or airport city, that would link Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports with a bustling 25,000-acre complex of logistics firms, freight forwarders and warehouses to service the growing need for speed in today's global business world.
"People in Michigan are way too focused on Delphi and GM and Ford and the auto industry problems," says Michael Boyd, an aviation consulting and forecasting firm based in Evergreen, Colo. "We see some very strong growth there, with Detroit as a global portal connecting air traffic hubs around the world." Northwest Airlines, whose largest hub is Detroit, has the strongest Asian route system among U.S. airlines and also -- unlike many other airlines -- still has a substantial air cargo business, Boyd notes.
The aerotropolis idea has been kicking around for five years. It is not a quick fix; even its proponents admit it will take 20 to 30 years to mature.
But it's gaining traction now for several key reasons:
• Air freight traffic is growing more rapidly than the overall economy. Detroit Metro and Willow Run have 11 runways and lots of undeveloped land nearby, while airports in Chicago and other competing cities are congested and unable to expand. World air cargo traffic will triple during the next 20 years, according to a recent Boeing Co. forecast.
• Michigan's top business and civic leaders are aligned as supporters of the aerotropolis, with barely a whisper of dissent.
• Communities in Wayne and Washtenaw counties along the 7.5-mile stretch between Metro and Willow Run are nearing agreement on a memorandum of understanding on an authority to govern commercial aspects of an aerotropolis, such as zoning, permitting and developing roads and infrastructure.
"This is a transformational project," says James Epolito, president and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., the state's business attraction and retention agency.
"In my view, this is the major economic development opportunity to grow the region," says Mulugetta Birru, Wayne County's economic development director, who predicts that the aerotropolis could mean 60,000 new jobs.
Epolito and Birru will be joined next month by Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Detroit Regional Chamber President Dick Blouse and Detroit Renaissance CEO Doug Rothwell on a European trip to study airport-city developments in Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Ficano and Birru also will speak at an airport cities conference in Frankfurt.
"Typically in economic development, each city or county pushes its own project, but all of the local counties and groups like Automation Alley are behind this. It's pretty remarkable," says Rothwell, a former MEDC president who now heads the Renaissance board of corporate CEOs.
OK, what must happen to move our local aerotropolis dream into action?
A lot.
First, says Birru, local governments -- Romulus, Taylor, Belleville and Ypsilanti and Van Buren, Huron and Ypsilanti townships, along with the Wayne County Airport Authority -- must adopt a governance agreement for the aerotropolis. Birru hopes that will happen by year's end.
Meanwhile, Michigan political and business leaders have begun lobbying in Washington, D.C., for money to help with roads and sewer construction, and eventually a light rail system for the area. The aerotropolis authority could raise money by selling bonds.
Blouse and Rothwell said their groups will help prepare the business case to convince companies to locate in or near the aerotropolis.
So getting a southeast Michigan aerotropolis airborne is no slam dunk. But it may well be the region's best chance to post some job creation numbers as big as the job losses we've seen the past seven years.
