Downtown sees little impact from G7 meeting FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS DETROIT - With delegates at- tending private dinners, many down- town merchants said yesterday they picked up negligible business from the international jobs conference. But Mayor Dennis Archer pointed to the longer-term effects: the chance to redefine Detroit's image through positive international exposure. And longtime residents said the attention sent ripples of hope throughout the much-maligned city. Vice President Al Gore said the Group of Seven delegates were "lit- erally overwhelmed" by the treat- ment they got. "The hospitality, the extra mile that everybody went on every occa- sion, the quality of the services deliv- ered, the meal last night, the theater, the facility here, every aspect of it was first-class plus," Gore said. "And I made the suggestion jok- ingly in the closing conference that there seemed to be a general impres- sion that all international meetings from now on ought to be held in Detroit. There was spontaneous ap- proval of that suggestion." But in the short term, business was slow at Pegasus Taverna in Detroit's Greektown section, a few blocks from the Cobo Hall confer- ence site. Manager John Pappas at- tributed that to conference partici- pants being hosted elsewhere. "We've seen very little," said Greg Drewno, general manager of Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen Cafe. "We did see some of them for dinner, but not near what we expected. "We think the private banquets really hurt us." Just a few blocks from Cobo Hall, a shoe-shine man said the gathering didn't help him. "We didn't get none of that ac- tion," said Howard Burt, shining shoes at Dominick's Shoe Repair. "Not a singletary one." Parking spaces were available middday yesterday at Mobile Park- ing Systems a half dozen blocks from the conference center. Asad Khan said he hadn't seen anyone from the Group of Seven meeting. "Not on this street. Not in this area," he said. The Michigan Daily -Wednesday, March 16, 1994 - 12 PP Reporters' Notebook Free meals draw local ire G7 delegates and staff aides mingled with reporters outside the media filing center at Cobo Hall throughout the con- ference. They were all attracted by the free food provided by the Detroit Host Committee. The food tables were re- plenished throughout the day, much to the chagrin of area restaurant owners. The Westin Hotel, where the min- isters and the press stayed, and the Omni International Hotel, where President Clinton and other White House officials and staff stayed, were packed. But the hotel restaurants were deserted during the conference. Westin managing director Larry Alexander said hotel officials didn't learn until late Monday afternoon that the more than 1,000 reporters in town for the meeting and the foreign digni- taries and their entourage, had been given free meals. N. . Laid-off auto worker Michael F. Smith decided to take the advice of top economists and auto executives at 0 a forum preceding the international jobs conference. Just get out there and apply for a job, they told him. So Smith spent all day trying to do that. But he was turned away from two auto plants - he couldn't get past the guards. Three offices told him they didn't know of any openings. - By Daily Staff Reporter James R. Cho A JONATHAN LURIE/Daily Paul Martin, Canada's finance minister (left) and Lloyd Axworthy, minister of human resources, share their thoughts about the G7 jobs summit at a press conference in Detroit yesterday. Down the hai, coulntries sum up By JAMES R. CHO and DAVID SHEPARDSON DAILY STAFF REPORTERS In the German delegation room, members smoked cigarettes in bla-. tant defiance of the ban imposed throughout the building. But no one noticed. As the United States' delegation's press conference was standing room only, the other six nations assembled did their best to speak to their own countries media and the occasional U.S. reporter that wandered in their conference rooms down the hall. The Germans, in their conference wrap-up, paid special notice to their irritation with what they called Presi- dent Clinton's "preoccupation with domestic affairs." "During his speech to the G7, he mentioned every Congressman. Con- gressman 1. Congressman 2. And so on. But he did not mention one mem- ber of the G7," said Guenter Rexrodt, minister for economics. Still, I think it was a productive conference." Rexrodt also said the German gov- ernment had no intention of lowering interest rates, a move the Clinton ad- ministration has encouraged to spur global economic growth. Italian Treasurery Minister Piero Barucci stood in front of olive trees brought from Italy for the conference. "They remind me of home and why we came so far to talk about jobs for Italians," Barucci said through a translator. The Canadian delegation had the highest number of ranking officials attending with four cabinet ministers. Finance Minister Paul Martin re- lated the serious unemployment prob- lem in Canada, the second highest among the G7 nations behind France, to its burdgeoning budget deficit. Martin noted that its extensive wel- fare programs needs revamping. "Many of the young unemployed today have settled into the security of the social safety net instead ofconsid- ering retraining programs." Ambassador to Canada and former Michigan Gov. James Blanchard, present throughout the conference, said, "We are quick to take Canada for granted. Many people don't know that Canada is our largest trading part- ner." CONFERENCE Continued from page 1. In the morning, Labor Secretary Robert Reich held a session on "La- bor Markets, Investment in Human Capital, and Social Safety Net." The focus of the discussion yes- terday morning was on the labor prac- tices of the individual countries and how to extend a lifeline of education and training to low-skilled workers whose livelihoods are most threat- ened by technology. Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown noted that the old economic saying that a rising tide raises all boats does not necessarily apply to everyone. "There are a lot of people in our economies who don't have boats or whose boats have holes in the bottom," he said. They agreed on whattroubled them, but not on what to do about it. "We agreed that there is no single solution, no one idea or action that will work for every country," Bentsen said. The U.S. delegation, which in- cluded Bentsen, Brown, Reich and Laura D'Andrea Tyson, chair of the president's Council of Economic Ad- visers, said it had learned valuable lessons from the other countries. Sounding at times like college stu- dents, Reich described the summit. "Every one of us had pencil and paper out and we were writing very furiously," Reich said. But just what it was they wrote down on their paper was unclear. At the end of the conference, members of the U.S. delegation were at a loss when asked to share precisely what they had learned, offering only vague answers. Although administration officials have been playing down expectations for the conference for weeks, they agreed that the rare inclusion of laborministers into the G7 process at the same level as finance ministers marked a significant turning point in the effort to coordinate international policy. There was, however, no apparent plan to either include any of the labor ministers at the Naples meeting or have a follow-up conference with them. OUTCOME Continued from page 1 by others as a "hopeful beginning." Which one was it? Probably, a little of both. "Let's face it. This conference was never going to be anything more than a bunch of discussions," said Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown. "But what we take from these discussions are in- valuable pieces of advice and recogni- tion of the new global emphasis on re- employment and retraining." Illustrating the clear difference be- tween this and past conferences, the G7 issued no communiqu6. "Through our informal talks, we had some very frank discussions about what has worked and what hasn't, said Treasurey Secretary Lloyd Bentsen in his summary statement. But from the president on down, politicians emphasized the very real historic nature of the conference. Since the Washington Naval Con- ference of 1922, nations have called conferences to discuss military con- flicts and full-fledged wars. But never to address economic problems. And never to focus on the unemployed. It is a diplomatic feat to get a group of nations together anytime. Leaders took pains to emphasize that they all are hurting economically - specifically in dealing with structural unemployment. But they shied away from making con- cessions or promises. Of the members of the G7, about 35 million are unemployed, higher than any time since the Great Depression. The treatment is new job-retraining programs, not government mandates, members agreed. And Clinton aides made note of their interest in slowing the rate of col- lege graduate unemployment, which is about 3 percent. Labor Secretary RobertReich talked at length about the "student to work" transition. He praised Germany's ap- prenticeship program, but stopped short of endorsing it. "We've got to recognize the grow- ing difficulty students have getting their first jobs out of college," he said. "Is there a better way to do that? There should be." U.S. Ambassador James Blanchard reiterated Clinton's focus on young people and their search for jobs. Blanchard said the conference should marked a new world. "Young people have to be pleased. International leaders came to Michigan to discuss jobs, not wars or bombing. It's a brave new world," he said, in a perhaps unknowing reference to Aldous Huxley's book, "Brave New World," in which all work is done by proto-type humans in harsh factory like condi- tions. And while the United States moves away from the labor-intensive factories to the Clinton proposal for streamlined "one-stop shopping centers" for job retraining and modernized production Huxley's words become increasingly relevant. I Th ETPIE nTw!TeBS CSIn ow!.Th. BST[PICS I ow RECORDS 1140 SouhUniversity S (Above Goad-Time Chadey's) Ate Atrb9rdd48104 I- Ph:663-5800 m Mo -nuThmn.ga9Lm.-10p I. Q KS.F-Sa.9a.L.-11 p.m. = SuIIa.L-p .. "lC"IT CIMIt ttR WRAP THE GREEN FLAG: FAVORITES OF THE CLANCY BROTHERS WITH TOMMY MAKEM Incudes PADDY WEST: BOL OTENANT FARMER;."'THE RISING OF THE MOON" & mare! I s I Save Some Green for St. Pats COM E BACK TO ERIN 6 OTHER IRISH LOVE SONGS Includes the classics "DANNY BOY, DOONARIE GALWAY BAY & more? $9.90 ON CD $5.99 on cass. a~, r °' r'r f t r xp _ Ord «r a s: , ' Ilk b sS pr 3 1 {r 1 a3 5 FT 1 t 9l 0 $99 loiC $9.99 ON CD 1 n~s~v S$6.99 on cass. 9 udJ Stop in and check out a world of music on our MUZE! It's a computer that will search out the hardest to find music...and our special orders now take only two days in most cases! ...it's In the House! KISS ME, I'M IRISH 18 all-time classics including: "WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILING." "IT'S A GREAT DAY FOR THE IRISH;- 'MACUSHLA" & more! AR ALSO AVAILABLE "Irish Drinking Songs" "St. Pats Day Celebration" THEY C IRE"~ Features performancest MAUREEN OHARAF BRENDAN O'DOWD GIFT CERTIFICATES ALWAYS AVAILABLE In any amount. ALL IT AND by CARMEL QUINN. FRANK PARKER, DA and others! G3 i -S'_ I In *"IMIAN-AME-EE0Ah. -A Am Aabk malk Mb 9 k MW AM A 1.19-4 1