In the policy weeds (ft. Brad Williams, Detroit Regional Chamber)

Daily Detroit

Brad Williams is the Vice President of Government Relations for the Detroit Regional Chamber and one of the wonkiest people I know as far as public policy.

And to be clear, I mean that as a compliment.

One of my favorite podcasts is The Weeds - where policy issues get talked about in-depth - and today, to be clear, we are getting into the weeds around policy in metro Detroit and Michigan.

What’s ahead? What are the opportunities? Where have we done well, and where could we do work?

Obviously, I know whose interests he represents. He works for a large organization made up of some of the most powerful businesses in the state. There are some areas I agree with, and some I have questions.

But he does a solid job of making the case on a variety of topics and having a real discussion.

Some of them include the workforce shortage and how to address it. Proposed tax credits to convert office space into residential. ARPA funds.

And yes, even though it wasn’t on the official agenda - we got into an interesting conversation about the state of mass transit plans in the region.