Margaret Dewar, professor of urban and regional planning, discussed auto dealership closures in The Detroit News on August 30, 2009. The article “Closing auto dealerships leave void” focuses on the effects closings have on the city of Livonia, where two have recently shut down and two more are scheduled to close in the coming months.

Livonia is one example of a community in Metro Detroit fearing the blight that dealership closures can leave behind. With the high number of dealership closures this summer, communities worry that vast lots are quickly becoming eyesores along major roadways, marring the commercial landscape and possibly endangering a community’s reputation.

“The general pattern in this region is for properties like that … (to) tend to be left undeveloped,” said Margaret Dewar says. “All this is part of a regional economic problem.”

Read the full article here.