Category Archives: place

With Liberty and Justice for All

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The American model of democracy is the envy of the entire world.  One person, one vote, the pursuit of happiness, free speech, you know that sort of thing.  Here we have the chance to vote on issues that matter without fear that money or greed would influence our system, we can always rely on truthful information from all sides and gold at the end of every rainbow.

Well at least we have some of those things.

With the election rapidly approaching, I feel compelled to weigh in on Proposals 5 and 6. In my view, the impact of a yes vote would be devastating.   In case you have elected, no pun intended, to tune out to the messaging surrounding the proposals let me give a quick overview.  Proposal 5 would permit a minority in the legislature to prevent any change in taxes no matter the need or reason.  Proposal 6 would ensure that the only viable international trade crossing between Southeast Michigan and Canada is privately controlled held by a single individual.  Frankly one needs only follow the money to figure out who benefits and who doesn’t.

Proposal 5 is simply put the let minority rule proposal.  It boils down to this, even if 135 members of the Legislature voted in favor of closing a tax loophole, ending a special interest tax break, or raising or lowering a tax, just 13 senators could block it.  How hard do you think it would be for a billionaire to control the votes of just 13 state senators?  Sadly not very.  Imagine the power well funded special interests could wield if just 13 legislators could block a policy supported by the other 135 members of the House and Senate.  Scary stuff!  Not exactly what the founding fathers had in mind.

Proposal 6 seems so simple, let the “people” decide.  In reality this is the billionaire full employment act or the international free trade restriction proposal. The “people” in this case are a single family that have made a fortune controlling this international crossing. In a post 911 world, how can we rely on the whims of a single family to manage this critical trade route, which by the way was built 83 years ago?  More importantly the economic impact that would be provided by an additional crossing would be extraordinarily positive for southeast Michigan, just not for the ruling monarchy.  This region stands to benefit greatly from expanded import/export capacity in the form of jobs and investment.  There is only one beneficiary from not building an additional crossing, and it’s not you.

I think the choice is abundantly clear.  VOTE NO on Proposals 5 & 6

 

A little shameless self promotion…

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As readers of this Blog know, I put food on the table working for the Michigan Municipal League, and am very proud to be a part of the League team. As we always are this time of year, we are gearing up for our Annual Convention  on Mackinac Island this year. The theme of this years event is the Tools of Placemaking, and while place will be a big part of the convention, so too will be the nuts and bolts of running a city.

We will once again be conducting our Community Excellence Awards. This is a fantastic opportunity to hear first hand what is working from your peers around Michigan as they present their best ideas to try and garner your support. While a lot of fun, this is always a great way to hear from some true innovators in local government.

We will also be hosting a number of breakout sessions targeting a number of topics.  Some of them include: Your Infrastructure, Your Buildings — For Today and Tomorrow;
Living with Health Care Reform and a Look into the Future of Health Care Plans; and
Office 365 and the Power of the Microsoft Cloud. We have added sessions about new state and federal cell tower laws, on local operation challenges and strategies ( I hear the speaker is really, really good and writes a blog on these types of issues), there will be a session on financial reporting for local governments that targets what elected and appointed officials need to know, paperless government, and a session featuring practical tips to to manage the rising cost of benefits.

We will also be hosting an informational session about our new Natural Gas Purchasing Program which I have the pleasure of moderating.  This session will be very informative and help those who are unclear about how third party providers work or that are on the fence about joining our program.

I guess what I am saying is, don’t let the title fool you.  While placemaking may be the show pony of our convention, there is a ton of great stuff here for the operations folks too.

You really don’t want to miss this!

Municipal Budgets and Placemaking: Peanut Butter and Jelly, or Oil and Water?

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As a member of the League’s staff with expertise in municipal finance, I find myself in the rather unique position of speaking to large groups of people about both the importance of place, as well as municipal finance and budgeting. Obviously these two topics have nothing in common, or do they? While it seems to some that these are divergent topics, I would suggest that they should be uncompromisingly intertwined.  Preparing a budget without the proper vision is like making a sandwich without bread.  It will meet the basic requirement, but it isn’t very appealing.

We all know too well that we have been dealing with some of the most challenging financial circumstances in memory.  Too often the budget process becomes an agonizing contest with the singular focus of balancing revenues and expenditures without remaining grounded to a fundamental placemaking strategy.  Some of the first targets of the local budget process can frequently be community assets that help define our community. Somehow these facilities and programs lose out to other more “critical” operations.  We must remember however, that a community’s unique sense of place is its greatest asset. Therefore it must be the foundation of any budget, and the balancing decisions should reflect that fact.  To put it another way, why do people choose to live in your community?  Why did you choose to live there?  If the budgets you adopt don’t reflect the answer to that question, then aren’t you destroying the “sense of place” that brought you and other residents to your community? Isn’t this further diminishing your community’s value?

Clearly you all have difficult decisions to make, but in doing so you should resist the temptation to uncouple place from budget.  To do so is not in your community’s best interests, and that strategy will actually work to exacerbate an already challenging situation. Place isn’t just a buzz word that we talk about to make ourselves feel better; it is at the core of who we are and why we exist.  Money spent supporting our own unique places are dollars well spent.

Budget accordingly.