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Health & Fitness

ALBANO: WHOM WILL YOU VOTE FOR TO SERVE YOU ON DEARBORN CITY COUNCIL?

With the upcoming City of Dearborn Primary Election scheduled for Tuesday, August 6, 2013, we need to start seriously considering which leaders we will elect to Dearborn City Council.

There are 21 candidates for Dearborn City Council, and voters can vote for up to 14 candidates in the Primary Election, and then have to choose 7 in the General Election.  Five of the candidates are incumbents, as Nancy Hubbard and Suzanne Sareini have decided not to run for reelection.

To be fair to other non-incumbent and incumbent candidates, I am not going to indicate what candidates I prefer, nonetheless I will state that there are some incumbents and some non-incumbents that I do prefer to see win the election.

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With that stated, in order to make a pragmatic decision we need to consider some issues that could help lead us to vote with our best interests at heart.

First, you have to ask yourself if you are happy with the city proposing to sell the current city hall to ArtSpace for $1.65 million, and knowing that some city leaders are proposing giving $1.75 million of the $8.5 million Severstal Steel funding to ArtSpace to buy our current city hall.

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In addition, the $100,000 additional funding above the cost of our current city hall is money our city leaders are proposing to give to ArtSpace for reasons unbeknownst to me. 

Next, you have to ask yourself if you are pleased with the city already having spent $3.75 million of our tax dollars, which includes closing costs to purchase our new city hall or administrative center while they continue to remind us that the city sorely lacks funds.

Furthermore, ask yourself if it pleases you to know that city leaders are proposing spending $5.5 million of the Severstal money to retrofit/remodel the new city hall or administrative center.

We also need to remember that the 2nd floor of the new city hall will be vacant, and that city leaders do not want citizens to come to city hall as much as we have in the past.  City leaders have told us that they prefer we phone, email, or use their website for various questions and service related issues instead.  Therefore, we need to ask why they are proposing building a Taj Mahal of a city hall if city leaders do not want us to visit it as much as we used to visit the current city hall.

In addition, while I have not seen it published in the media, I have been informed by some city leaders that the reason our current city hall needs more than $8 million in repairs is because city leaders have deferred preventative maintenance on city hall for approximately 10 years, allegedly due to lack of funds.

Try getting away with that at your home or business!

The next issues we have to consider are if we are happy to know that Snow Library, Whitmore Bolles and Hemlock Pools remain closed permanently, city leaders have cut off funding for our Dearborn Historical Museum, and our once beautiful, majestic Henry Ford Centennial Library fountain has been inoperative for years, all allegedly due to lack of funds.

We also need to consider the fact that because this is an election year, this is the first year in quite some time city leaders have NOT proposed closing any small, neighborhood pools.  Nonetheless, once the election is over, some current city leaders will go right back to attempting to close more pools, and you can take that to the bank.

As our leaders have also stated in the past, our Warren Avenue Esper Library could be next to close as well, and just as the since closed Snow Library was crucial to west Dearborn, Esper Library is crucial to east Dearborn.

It seems to me city leaders are dismantling many amenities and attractions that have built the foundation of Dearborn, and I highly doubt you will find few who will disagree with me.

We need to ask ourselves, are we happy with user-paid parking in downtown west Dearborn, the $11.5 million of that $16 million expense spent on two rarely utilized parking garages, and the lack of a variety of stores there. 

Does it please us that many residents who used to shop in Dearborn are now shopping in nearby cities because they have a larger variety of stores as well as FREE parking?

How does it make you feel to know that despite numerous citizens wanting part of this $8.5 million of Severstal money going towards restoring some of the services, amenities and attractions in Dearborn mentioned above, some current city leaders prefer to spend all of it on the new city hall and on ArtSpace?

Does this sound like a democratic, representative form of government to you?

In the numerous leadership positions I have sat in, I think one of the most important traits of a leader, is someone that listens to and acts upon the wishes of the majority of the people they serve.

One does not need to be a rocket scientist to know that if the majority of people you serve are upset with something, or want something, your job is to do your best to fulfill their wishes, and in many cases to do so, even if you disagree.

The leaders that always baffled me were the ones that stated that they knew better than the people they served, and they would base their votes upon what they believed, and not upon the opinions of the people they served.

I could be wrong, but it appears some of our current leaders seem to be doing the same.

Our mayor and many of our council members and department heads are people that I have come to like and respect, and it just puzzles me why some of them continue down a path that is creating all this dissension with residents, dissent that continues to grow each day.

If you want to elect a leader who will give FULL-TIME effort into ideas and solutions to Save Our Pools, reopen Snow Library, restore the HFCL fountain, restore funding to our Dearborn Historical Museum, and work on a solution to user paid parking, then I am the candidate you should vote in as Dearborn City Councilman.

If you want a leader who will meet with you individually or in groups on a regular basis, one who will take and return your phone calls, one who will respond to your emails, and more, then I am the candidate you should vote in as Dearborn City Councilman.

I have served residents on numerous Dearborn committees, commissions, and task forces, and I continue to research and help residents with issues they email me, phone me about, and issues I read about on Facebook, and other web pages.

If you are happy with all the decisions made the past few years by city leaders, and happy to know where city leaders propose to spend the $8.5 million Severstal money, then vote for incumbents.

If you are not happy, and want someone who will represent your best interests on Dearborn City Council, the interests of the majority of the people of Dearborn, and you want a "True Public Servant", then I hope one of your votes will be for Michael D. Albano.





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