Tag Archives: placemaking

League Distributes Letters to the Editor in Support of Transportation Funding Package

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There are many transit options in Michigan and a complete transportation funding program would support all of them.

There are many transit options in Michigan and a complete transportation funding program would support all of them.

The Michigan Municipal League sent to the media this week a series of letters to the editor to encourage the state House to approve the transportation funding package passed in the Senate on Nov. 13. The House is considering a couple different transportation funding options and we want the state Representatives to show the same courage as the Senate and pass the comprehensive funding plan that includes HB 5477. Governor Snyder also supports this plan.

The letters were co-penned by people you might not normally see working together, but they’ve found common ground when it comes to getting additional funding to fix Michigan’s failing infrastructure. The letters maintained that increased funding is needed to all forms of transportation (roads, rails, trails, bridges, harbors, non-motorized facilities, and public transit) in order to help build communities where people want to live, work and play.

For example, we sent a letter jointly authored by East Lansing Mayor and MSU alum Nathan Triplett, vice president of the League board; and Ann Arbor Mayor and UM alum Christopher Taylor. The letter starts out with, “As mayors of East Lansing and Ann Arbor, when it comes to college sports there isn’t a whole lot we agree on. But when it comes to the pressing need for increased investment in our state’s crumbling transportation infrastructure, we are in total agreement: the time for legislative action is now.”

Other letters were written by the presidents of the Michigan Municipal League Board (Wakefield Mayor Pro Tem Dick Bolen) and Michigan Townships Association Board (Arcada Township Supervisor Doug Merchant); and the mayors of two Michigan cities that are more than 640 driving miles apart – Ironwood’s Kim Corcoran, a member of the League board, and Luna Pier’s David Davison.

We are already getting some traction in the media from the letters so stay tuned to mml.org for links and information about that as it happens. Check out the letter by Triplett and Taylor in the Lansing City Pulse and the letter by Corcoran and Davison in the Battle Creek Enquirer, the Macomb Daily Tribune and the Detroit News.

We’re also encouraging our members to contact their state Reps this week to ask them to approve the package passed in the Senate. You can go here to our Action Center to look up your Reps’ contact information and send them a sample email we’ve prepared for you.

Matt Bach is director of media relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 734-669-6317 and mbach@mml.org.

 

Contact Michigan Senators Today to Urge Their Support of Transportation Funding Increase

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There are many transit options in Michigan and a complete transportation funding program would support all of them.

There are many transit options in Michigan and a complete transportation funding program would support all of them.

Discussions are currently taking place in Lansing on finding a way to raise new revenue for Michigan’s transportation network during the current lame duck legislative session.

House Bill 5477 is a key pieces to this new revenue.

It would switch the current cents per gallon tax on fuel to a percentage based tax on the wholesale price and gradually increase that percentage over the next several years.

The proposed funding solution is a nine-bill package that would provide yearly increases to transportation funding and would reach $1.5 billion in new annual revenue by 2020.

Legislators have an incredible opportunity to solve Michigan’s transportation needs and develop a comprehensive solution for investing in Michigan’s infrastructure.

Michigan can no longer wait for a comprehensive transportation funding plan.

Michigan can no longer wait for a comprehensive transportation funding plan.

This plan would not only invest in roads and bridges, but would provide additional funds for public transit, trails, ports, and rail. Download the Michigan’s Can’t Wait flyer.

The Senate could take this up for a vote as soon as Thursday (Nov. 13, 2014) and we need your help. Please contact your Senator and let them know that you are supportive of increasing transportation revenue and the positive impact it will have on your community. We are on the verge transforming our transportation system and you can help ensure its successful passage.

To make it as easy as possible for you, we’ve drafted a sample email that you can edit and send to your senators.

To access this tool, go to our action center here and click on the item in the blue Action Alert! box.

A comprehensive transportation funding system is one of the four key parts of the Michigan Municipal League’s Partnership for Place initiative released in 2013. Read more about why this is important here.

This blog post was by John LaMacchia II, legislative associate for the Michigan Municipal League. John can be reached at jlamacchia@mml.org and 517-908-0303.

Does Your Community Host a Labor Day Bridge Walk?

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The Michigan Fitness Foundation offers an opportunity for all communities to start their own Labor Day tradition by hosting a Labor Day Community Walk.

Labor Day Community Walks showcase the unique parks and recreation spaces in the local community’s own backyard. The event also gives the community a chance to come together while demonstrating a commitment to keep Michigan moving. Past community walks included activities such as walks and/or runs through public trails and across local versions of the “Mighty Mac.” Host organizations will receive free promotional materials and a guide to creating and hosting a community walk. In addition, your event will be endorsed by the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Health and you will have the opportunity to use our logo on all materials.

This year Labor Day Community Walks will take place on Monday, September 2, 2013. We hope that you will consider making your community a part of Michigan’s Labor Day tradition. To learn more about the walk, please visit the Michigan Fitness Foundation’s website. For more information, please visit: http://www.michiganfitness.org/labor-day-community-walks. To register your community and receive free support materials, please contact Rokeyta Roverson at rroberson@michiganfitness.org.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

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.