CLOSUP publications

Many Michigan cities’ water infrastructure are unable to handle excessive stormwater which can result in flooding or combined sewer overflows. Green infrastructure has been used as a solution to allow water to naturally infiltrate into the ground,...

A sea of carceral facilities has quietly seeped across the U.S. in the past several decades, yet almost no peer-reviewed research documenting the effect of a prison’s location on prisoners exists. To begin reversing this silence, this paper realizes...

Since the enactment of the Clean Water Act in 1972, waters in the United States have continually improved in quality. However, wetlands—and what constitutes a “navigable” waterway—have not been clearly deemed jurisdictional or not by the CWA....

In recent years, food policy in the U.S. has begun to address some of the implications of the industrialization of agriculture and the lack of food security. As it expands to include more voices and overlapping interests, the potential for...

The connection of food systems to the urban environment cannot be ignored as cities require outside production to provide the bulk of resources needed to sustain their residents’ physical, social, and economic needs. Literature suggests that food...

The excessive generation of greenhouse gases by fossil fuel electricity production, and its resulting contribution to climate change, are some of the most threatening environmental issues today. To combat this problem, many US states have adopted a...

Climate change mitigation policies are often politically challenging to implement; this is especially true in the U.S. where carbon-pricing mechanisms are a political non-starter across both federal and sub-federal levels of government. While...

In the United States, there is a growing concern about the negative impacts of single-use plastic bags on human health and the environment. Several local and sub-national governments have implemented bans on the use of plastic bags as a result of...

According to IPCC models, it will be impossible to prevent global temperatures from rising two degrees above preindustrial levels without the deployment of negative emissions technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), which remove carbon...

Local governments in the state and across the country are trending towards outsourcing services to private companies. Although many of these services currently outsource to legal or technical companies to fill knowledge gaps among public employees,...

This policy research paper explores the issues of public mass transportation in the region of West Michigan. It considers the current state of public mass transportation in the region. An effort is made to look for and uncover disparities between...

On September 9th, 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau released a report outlining state government tax collection by category.1 Michigan ranked top ten out of all fifty states in the category of property tax rates. In addition, Michigan’s “lost decade” has...

Michigan enrolls roughly 300,000 students in its fifteen public universities every year,1 but many of these students will never work or reside in Michigan after graduation. The state is currently experiencing a mass exodus of highly skilled young...

An epidemic has silently swept across America with no regard for race, location, or socioeconomic status. The recent opiate epidemic, characterized by the sudden surge in usage among Americans, is considered the most fatal drug crisis recorded in...

It seems strange, that of all the cities, towns, and communities across America, Kalamazoo, Michigan would be chosen to make history in education. The relatively small city with the funny name, famous for innovations in the pharmaceutical field and...

With 2014’s Agricultural Act, otherwise known as the “Farm Bill” signed by President Obama at Michigan State University, there was a new doubling-down on federal subsidies as well as a new investment in young, beginner farmers. This is in response...

Michigan’s roads are an expensive and continuously problematic policy area that lawmakers cannot seem to find solutions for. Michigan’s roads are now among the nation’s worst. More than a third of the state’s roads are included in a rating of poor...

An increase in toll road/booth political legislation would be advantageous for the repair, construction, and improvement of the Michigan road system. After review of a multitude of CLOSUP surveys, academic articles, and media outlets, poor road...

Beginning as a system of Indian trails long before European settlers habituated the area that now makes up the United States, the road system of Michigan has since become a largely pot-hole laden, cracked and all around damaged mess (Bessert 2016)....

Detroit, for all intents and purposes, used to be one of the most thriving cities in the United States. Following the end of World War Two, the auto industry in Detroit was one of the most promising the world. In 1950, Detroit was home to roughly...

As the industrial revolution and capitalism firmly took hold several hundred years ago, the production of excess carbon dioxide and other fossil fuels has negatively influenced the environment. Many fossil fuels, like coal, were cheap, effective,...

Michigan, like many other states, holds final authority over tax policy in the state. In Michigan, the authority to levy local taxes is granted by the State. The State defines a set of regulations and restrictions that local municipalities must...

The future of the environment is a controversial topic in 21st century America. Two polarities exist on the subject of the environment. Typically conservatives reject climate change and doubt any human causation, claiming it to be a mythical...

The state of Michigan faces a unique set of issues in its municipal finance system. Since Michigan’s “Lost Decade,” local governments have seen state obligations to provide revenue go unmet. This decrease in funding has exacerbated issues faced by...

Education has become a key component of the dialogue surrounding the revitalization of Detroit and the economic progress of Michigan. A lot can be said, and has been said, about Michigan’s K-12 education system. Another important aspect is tertiary...