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.
last minute calculations
Process is process and budget is budget and ne’er the twain shall meet
Based on past sessions and behavior, AY PAC doesn’t really need to be at city council meetings to know how the final budget may well play out…
There will be meeting after meeting, both closed and open. City staff will have worked diligently to assemble the numbers, budgets will be public and plenty of time will be given to review and comment.
And yet, on the last day, when our city council gets ready to vote, we won’t be surprised (in fact we fully expect) that Mr. Murdock brings several last minute changes and line item shuffling to the proceedings. All of which will be voted on that last, very long and tiring night.
In this scenario, there is little chance that anyone will object because no one will know. No citizens will have public notice of his proposals because of his late-night-last-night-upload and last minute council votes. However, ALL residents do have to live with what is left afterwards.
Pete’s expediency is the new transparency?
Why do we expect this? Because AY PAC and the city have noted Mr. Murdock’s behavior and methods in the past. Just a few examples:
- His now infamous last-minute public transit proposal, voted on with no citizen notification after he spent ‘an entire weekend’ working on a resolution that would have cut Route 5 and restricted other routes.
- His resolution to add all subcommittees to the Open Meetings Act. Of course, he gave no notice or opportunity to 72 volunteer citizens directly impacted by that to voice an opinion before it was voted on the same night it was proposed.
- His closed Water Street Committee which includes no representation from Ward 1 in which it is situated and (now subject to the Open Meetings Act requirements has shockingly posted no meetings of this committee to AY PACs knowledge) has brought nothing to council nor has considered the Planning Commission proposals for that project.
There is more of course. It is this pattern of his that is the most distressing thing to AY PAC. We have commented on it before. Nevertheless, with police, fire and other sadly needed services on the chopping block, we are newly alarmed and worried.
We encourage citizens to attend the budget session meetings despite the fact that they are dry and somewhat boring. AY PAC asks city residents to read the budgets as they are proposed paying particular attention to the line items that you personally care about the most. Whether it is police and fire, parks maintenance, recreation facilities, city staffing, garbage collection, or anything else – if you care about it, look it up!
Most importantly, AY PAC will be watching city council and paying close attention to those last-minute budget proposals that do not get appropriate review and vetting by our residents, city staff and legal counsel.
posted by B. Bashert
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%