The Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce will gather this week to strategize for the area's economic future.

Area leaders and the journalists who cover them are worried that competing efforts and egos continue to discourage efforts at coordination. But dramatic measures are needed based on studies by the Glengariff Group. The firm asked people in nine U.S. cities to rank their regions on factors such as being good places to live and work, or having an exciting future. Detroit got the worst scores by a wide margin. On a scale of 1 to 10, Boston got the best overall score of 7.69, followed closely by Atlanta (7.66) and Chicago (7.65). Detroit's last-place score was 5.62, nearly 15% behind eighth-place Pittsburgh (6.60).

The Glengariff study was done for Detroit Renaissance, a group of local CEOs that has launched a project called Roadmap to Renaissance focused on transforming the region's economy and accelerating growth. Design Regional Detroit is the name of the chamber's comprehensive plan for the region. There is clearly a push to make sure the resulting plans don't send competing signals.

Tom Walsh of the Detroit Free Press reports that Chrysler Group president and CEO Tom LaSorda, who will address the gathering, is expected to urge Michigan business, labor and government officials to forge their own solutions to issues that impact the auto industry, like health care costs and alternatives fuels, rather than waiting for help from Washington, D.C.

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