Micki Maynard · Midwest Memo: African-American Spending Power, Rail Aftershock, New Cleveland Flights

December 16th, 2011


African-American Influence: The number of African-American households earning $75,000 or more grew by 64% between 2000 and 2009 — 12% faster than the overall population’s earning growth, a new survey by the Nielsen Co. shows, according to Crain’s Chicago Business. African-American women, particularly, are boosting their earning power. The percentage of black women who attended some college or earned a degree increased to 53%, compared with 44% for black men. Though the numbers are national, they signal a socioeconomic shift for cities with significant black populations, such as Chicago and Detroit, Crain’s said.

Detroit Light Rail Aftershock: Business leaders in Detroit are feeling the aftershock of the government’s abrupt decision this week to cancel a light rail project, the Detroit News said. The leaders say they were not consulted by the Transportation Department, which scrapped the $500 million project in favor of high-speed buses. Given the time and effort that city businesses and leaders committed to the project, they were owed a discussion before the announcement was made, the Detroit Downtown Development Partnership said in a letter released today.

New Cleveland Flights: Delta Air Lines is adding 10 new daily flights between Cleveland’s Hopkins International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York City. According to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the flights begin July 11. The first will be at 6:45 a.m. and the last at 7 p.m. The Delta service joins five flights a day by American Airlines, and 12 a day by United Airlines, which assumed Continental Airlines’ hub in Cleveland when the airlines merged last year. Delta said its creation of a LaGuardia hub is the largest single airline expansion in New York in more than 40 years.

 

Category: African Americans, Biztech, Cleveland, Communities, Delta Air Lines, Detroit, Government, Industry, Midwest Memo, light rail
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