Departments and Research Centers

Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy

The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) conducts, supports and fosters applied academic research to inform local, state, and urban policy issues.

Showing 151 - 180 of 653 results

News

Rabe explores taxing methane emissions

Mar 16, 2020

Representing a new line of research, Ford School professor Barry Rabe explores the politics around taxing methane gas releases. Rabe argues that consensus among economists is “the best way to reduce climate risks linked to carbon dioxide emissions...

News

Farmers harvesting the benefits of wind energy

Mar 5, 2020

With U.S. farm bankruptcy rates rising, farmers have been turning to the wind energy to make ends meet. Sarah Mills, senior project manager at the Ford School's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) was featured in a USA Today article...

CLOSUP presents to lawmakers at Wolverine Caucus

Feb 28, 2020

Tom Ivacko and Debra Horner from CLOSUP presented findings from the Michigan Public Policy Survey at a Wolverine Caucus presentation on February 25. “Michigan is experiencing its longest–ever period of sustained economic growth, but because of a web...

News

U-M survey finds sharp increase in energy efficiency steps among Michigan local governments

Jan 15, 2020

Half of Michigan’s local governments have taken steps to improve energy efficiency in their facilities—more than double the 22% who reported similar efforts a decade ago, according to a survey by the University of Michigan Ford School of Public...

News

Fiscal health: Mixed signals for Michigan’s local governments

Dec 11, 2019

ANN ARBOR—More than two-thirds of Michigan’s local government leaders rate their jurisdictions’ current fiscal stress as relatively low, according to a new survey by the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy. On the...

State & Hill

CLOSUP’s Michigan Public Policy Survey turns 10

Nov 14, 2019

It’s been a tumultuous decade in Michigan: three governors, a cratered economy and its recovery, the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, a public health disaster in Flint, and more. Through it all, the Michigan Public Policy Survey...

News

Michigan leaders worried about possible effects of next recession

Oct 30, 2019

ANN ARBOR—More than half of Michigan’s local government leaders are concerned about the potential impact of the next recession on their jurisdictions’ ability to deliver public services and maintain government operations. Although local leaders...

MPPS finds divided government means divided opinions

Aug 15, 2019

With 2019 marking the end of eight years of Republican control of both the governor’s office and state legislature, a new University of Michigan survey shows divided opinions among Michigan’s local government leaders about where the state is...

News

Leiser and Mills contribute to resources for new Michigan Lead and Copper Rule

Jun 27, 2019

The Flint Water Crisis prompted the state of Michigan to adopt a new Lead and Copper Rule (LCR)—the guidelines that water utilities must follow to ensure the public’s health is protected. The most proactive LCR in the country, the University of...

News

Ivacko makes sense of the recreational marijuana ‘haze’

Jun 18, 2019

As Michigan goes through the transition after voters said “yes” to legalizing recreational marijuana last November, there’s a bit of a “haze,” as the Ford School’s Tom Ivacko puts it, on policy in "‘Haze’ abounds as Michigan struggles to regulate...

Michigan’s local elected officials report positive working relationships

Jun 6, 2019

Michigan’s local government leaders report mostly positive relationships among officials on their local governing boards or councils, according to a University of Michigan survey that assessed the tone of discussions and how often they reach...

Ivacko discusses opioid interventions on Michigan Radio

May 14, 2019

Tom Ivacko, associate director of the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP), housed at the Ford School, talks about Michigan’s relationship to the opioid crisis with Michigan Radio’s Paulette Parker. Published May 13, 2019 online, with...

News

Barry Rabe and climate change: the opinions of the 2020 Democratic hopefuls

Apr 19, 2019

While the field of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates grows and the first primaries approach, one of the top issues for the field is climate change. Since his inauguration, President Trump has reversed Obama-era environmental policies, focused...

News

Sarah Mills work featured on This is Michigan

Apr 19, 2019

With bias and misinformation swirling around the consequences of wind turbine installation, local government officials are hard-pressed to find reliable information for themselves and their communities. Certainly there are tangible...

News

Ivacko evaluates independence of Detroit's IG in lieu of Mayor Duggan investigation

Apr 12, 2019

An investigation into Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has some questioning the impartiality of Inspector General (IG) Ellen Ha. The investigation in Mayor Duggan is looking into the appearance of preferential treatment of a nonprofit prenatal program...

Informing local leaders about fiscal health and economic development image

State & Hill

Stephanie Leiser and Sarah Mills on perception versus reality in local government budgets

Apr 10, 2019

Local government officials’ assessments of their own fiscal health is often at odds with—and worse than—what their financial statements indicate, according to work done by Stephanie Leiser and Sarah Mills. The researchers note that this could be...

News

Mills weighs in on UP wind energy project

Apr 8, 2019

In Michigan's Upper Peninsula a proposal to construct 49 wind turbines across 28,000 acres of the Huron Mountains is the subject of criticism from the local communities. To get perspective in her April 4, 2019 story on Interlochen Public Radio, Kaye...

Ivacko provides context for economic hardship findings

Mar 29, 2019

Understanding poverty in Michigan is the first step towards alleviating it, so people are playing particular attention to the recent Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) report on how local officials think about economic hardship. Much...

News

Poverty Solutions & CLOSUP new report find local officials believe many Michigan residents struggle to make ends meet

Mar 7, 2019

AMany local governments in Michigan report poverty and economic hardships among their residents, according to a survey from University of Michigan researchers. Almost half (44 percent) of local officials say more than one in five of their...

CLOSUP: Local civic discourse heats up in Michigan's Northern Lower Peninsula

Feb 22, 2019

In recent years, divisiveness within the political arena has continued to widen the chasm between Democrats and Republicans, especially at the federal level. Municipal government in Michigan has largely remained insulated from such divisiveness,...

News

A changing climate: Congress moves on climate change, Barry Rabe questions how far

Feb 18, 2019

After the Trump administration’s 2017 decision to back out of the Paris Agreement, a UN effort to mitigate harmful effects of greenhouse-gas-emissions, some members of congress began forming a bipartisan coalition to adopt the goals on a...

News

Sarah Mills' key to the success of wind energy projects gets media attention

Feb 11, 2019

As the drive to develop renewable energy projects escalates, attention shifts towards harnessing wind energy as a reliable energy source. Despite the benefits wind energy provides—mainly jobs—advocates for wind energy must continue to combat...

News

Sarah Mills' latest article signals a crucial relationship between homeowner attitudes and the fate of wind energy projects in Michigan

Jan 25, 2019

In her latest journal article, published in Land Use Policy, Sarah Mills of the Ford School elaborates on public attitudes pertaining to wind energy development projects before and after the completion of the project. In “Exploring landowners’...

Partisan divide felt less at local level, writes Ivacko

Jan 9, 2019

In an opinion column for Governing, Tom Ivacko (MPP ’93), associate director of CLOSUP, breaks down the latest Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) findings on civil discourse in Michigan localities.“Will the National Partisan Breakdown Infect Our...

CLOSUP Report: Civil discourse predominantly constructive in Michigan local governments

Dec 19, 2018

Ann Arbor—Michigan’s local governments report mostly positive civil discourse among their jurisdiction’s elected officials but less so among residents, according to a University of Michigan survey.Among local elected leaders, 71 percent report...

Is bipartisanship a pipe-dream? Ivacko talks with Salon and NY Times about midterms

Dec 7, 2018

Now that the election is over, political conjecture is turning to what the newly elected will do in office, how (and even if) it forecasts 2020, and in some cases what sitting governments are doing before power changes hands in January. To help make...

CLOSUP associate director Tom Ivacko examines Michigan's post-midterm political environment

Nov 16, 2018

In light of Republicans maintaining control of Michigan’s legislature, Gretchen Whitmer’s gubernatorial victory last week has many wondering if the newly-elected government will be able to reach bipartisan compromises or if the parties will entrench...

CLOSUP report: Mixed signals in local government fiscal health across Michigan

Nov 15, 2018

By Mandira Banerjee | Originally published by Michigan News, November 14, 2018ANN ARBOR— Michigan’s local governments report improvement and decline in fiscal health over the last year, according to a University of Michigan survey.The biggest...

Barry Rabe expects Midwest to refocus on climate issues

Nov 14, 2018

With a change of governorships after the midterm elections, one previously passed-over issue is seeing a resurgence. Governors-elect are already showing signs of making climate issues a top-priority in Midwestern states. Daniel Cusick, reporter for...

Barry Rabe calls midterm climate initiatives an “amazing compilation of policy”

Nov 8, 2018

The 2018 midterm elections set an unprecedented amount of campaign spending, with one cause taking a surprising lead. In their November 5, 2018, article in E&E News titled “4 States Have Ballot Measures That Could Shape U.S. Climate Policy,”...