Mission Statement
Advance Ypsilanti is a group of citizens with a deep love and respect for the history and future of our city. We believe the electoral process can effectively promote forward-looking ideas and candidates to successfully achieve a healthy and thriving future. To this end, we will identify, develop, and utilize resources to help voters, elected officials and our community’s leaders ensure Ypsilanti’s quality of life.
single bullet theory
It’s Complicated: Debunking the Silver Bullet
Let’s be clear. No one issue has caused the current economic crisis the city is facing. Thus, no one thing will solve all the problems. It would be so much easier for everyone if folks could look at one item and say ‘if only that one thing hadn’t happened’, or something along those lines.
Causes:
Water Street did not cause our current economic crisis. It is costing us money, there is no doubt. However, it is not the root cause of our situation. The housing bubble crash, along with the auto industry downturn, plus loss of thousands of jobs in the region had a hand in the whole mess.
The biggest challenges Ypsilanti faces, along with those facing many other towns and cities in Michigan, come from the state itself. Many sources of state funding have been either cut off, or so depleted that the very foundation of financing our city has to change or adapt. State money may come back – someday. Until then folks, individually and regionally, we are on our own.
Cures:
If the City Income Tax had passed, we would be in a better situation than we are today. We would have income coming from Eastern Michigan employees that we are not able to garner right now, and that 30% of real estate that pays no taxes would now be helping us out, for instance.
No one cure will solve all our problems. Even if the income tax had passed, the world would not be perfect, the city would not be wealthy, and these would still be challenging times.
Single Bullet Theory (Our Prognosis):
Blaming Water Street for all ills does nothing but lay groundwork for upcoming campaigns and distract from the complex issues that surround us. That is the only reason to bring it up. Otherwise, instead of blaming, council would have taken up the Planning Commission’s recommendations for Water Street and begun moving forward on finding developers.
When any authority (especially a politician) offers you an easy sound-bite answer, you can bet your money you are being patronized and manipulated.
AYPAC encourages voters to contact their city council members and ask the hard questions:
- Why are we cutting police and fire when we were previously promised that these were not at risk?
- Why are we still waiting for the Water Street closed committee to take up the Planning Commissions recommendations?
- Why did we commit to a property tax increase as part of a proposal to temporarily save public transit, but turned down an income tax proposal that would have solved many at risk programs?
Lastly, listen carefully to what your council members are saying. If they have a pat answer to this incredibly complex situation we find ourselves in that sounds easy….if it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not true. Single causes and single solutions are like firing blanks. Hardly the ammunition we need to fight the challenges Ypsilanti continues to face.
posted by B. Bashert and J. Gawlas
Transparency Rating (1) - 25%
Playing their cards
Water (Street), Water (Street) everywhere,
nor any drop to drink
Brian Robb never misses a chance to mention Water Street. Pete Murdock runs a close second. Each City Council meeting, you can generally count on 2 mentions, as a running average. There is good reason for that.
Water Street is costing the city money…there is no doubt about that fact. Two city council elections (Bodary and Murdock) were decided largely because of their offers and promises to do something about Water Street. No specific ideas were mentioned during their campaigns, but voters liked their talk of supposed real progress and gave them an opportunity to directly address the Water Street issue.
Shortly after taking their seats, action was taken. A closed committee, consisting of Robb, Bodary and Murdock was formed to look into Water Street and they were to bring options to the city. One unpopular idea that came out of that committee involved a possible Burger King but no real ideas or proposals have come out yet.
It has been unclear whether they were meeting or what work was coming out of the meeting. However, thanks to Murdock’s resolution to expand the Open Meetings Act rules to all subcommittees including their closed Water Street committee, we now know more about their work. Or, should we say lack of work.
Since no meeting has been posted, we can assume they have not met recently. Since no announcements about communications between the three of them on this issue have been released to the city, we can assume that no work or ideas has been generated recently.
Most importantly, their committee has not put forth any zoning proposals for Water Street. Without that important piece, nothing will move forward. Robb, Bodary and Murdock pushed this issue to the voters, created the key committee to handle it, and have done nothing about it since.
It is this inaction which makes Robb’s repeated references to Water Street all the more frustrating. Does Robb think he can play blame Water Street as his personal ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card on the budget? He is certainly appears to be using it in that way.
AY PAC respectfully requests that city council stop bringing up Water Street until there is a solid proposal that will help this issue. AY PAC further requests that the closed Water Street committee reconstitute itself and include representation from Ward 1. When they meet, taking up recommendations of the planning commission proposed zoning should be top of their list for first steps.
AY PAC, along with the rest of the city, is eager for a positive resolution to this project and expense. Let your city council members know that you want action, not patronizing mentions [nor self-serving excuses], on this issue.
posted by B. Bashert and J. Gawlas