During a trip to downtown Detroit last Sunday, Dennis Lennox, a northern Michigan conservative Republican, was impressed by the buzz in the air. The Lions game, a concert, the Campus Martius skating rink — all had converged to create a festive atmosphere.

Except for this: No shopping bags. 

The hustle and bustle was reminiscent of a Christmastime visit to downtown Chicago or Toronto, minus the shoppers scurrying from store to store. 
In his column this week for our sister paper, The (Mount Pleasant) Morning Sun, Lennox advises those determined to revive the Motor City to look south (yes, south) to the Windsor area for an added economic boost.

Here’s a portion of his piece:
“Detroit is uniquely positioned with the 177,000 or so Canadians just across the river being closer to downtown than those Michiganders living in far-flung suburbs.
“However, little can be done to target this vast market when downtown Detroit has only sports, gambling and entertainment.

“A wise idea would be to either suspend the sales tax in border areas from Black Friday to Christmas or, better yet, rebate the sales tax on purchases throughout the year by non-resident visitors.”

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