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Land O Links

"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action" -- Herbert Spencer, 19th century English philosopher.

* The Delft Theater building in downtown Marquette has been sold and closed, reports the Mining Journal. The new owners don't plan to revive a theater, but do hope to renovate the structure.

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/575670/Delft-Theater-sold--closed-in-Marquette.html?nav=5006

* The money-losing U.S. Postal Service backs off of big plans to close plenty of rural post offices. Now, if the goal is to make government "run more like a business," why would these rural communities oppose the closures? The Postal Service says these operations lose money. Businesses close money-losing operations. What's the missing piece of the equation?:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/under-criticism-for-its-cuts-mail-agency-to-keep-rural-post-offices-open-but-at-reduced-hours/2012/05/09/gIQAf6yvCU_story.html?hpid=z3

*Michigan's revamped emergency manager law gets a look through the lens of events in Pontiac. Kudos on the sprightly lead, "An outsider’s first visit to Pontiac, Mich., feels a bit like Alice’s first glance at Wonderland. Everything seems upside down. City Council meetings last for hours, but there is nothing on the agenda. The city has a mayor, but he doesn’t have any authority. There are workers inside City Hall, but they aren’t employed by the city.":

http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/gov-emergency-financial-managers-michigan-municipalities-unwelcome-savior.html#next

* Why cities matter: Detroit may have its share of woes, but its Metro Airport is one of the nation's busiest -- and its offerings provide Michigan links to the rest of the world, such as this news that Delta Air Lines is making its direct service to Paris year-round:

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2012/05/deltas-detroit-paris-flight-to-be-year-round/689499/1

* This post goes against so much of the grain of what passes for media analysis these days, so it may confuse many readers. Here's a commenter who has written a book about an issue (land use) who receives validation of his theories from another commenter -- AND not only declines to trumpet it, but to say the data doesn't prove his thesis on this one point. Honest intellectual inquiry in U.S. media -- what a concept!:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/05/08/why_aren_t_we_building_more_multifamily_houses_.html

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