Dearborn is at the crossroads – and heading in the wrong direction could spell disaster for our once thriving and prosperous city.
Over the past several years, Dearborn has faced a combination of tax revenue cuts and leadership decisions that are continually diminishing the quality of life and attractiveness to lure new residents and businesses, and we have witnessed a large number of desirable residents moving to other communities they feel are more desirable to live in.
This has to stop, as we cannot continue down this same destructive path and further cut services, cultural amenities, and the fabric of Dearborn that made it such a desirable place to raise a family, start a business, and enjoy life.
We need a solid turnaround plan to grow revenue and utilize our amenities and resources to leverage our future success, which requires innovation and a new vision.
As a 37-year Dearborn resident, I have served Dearborn tirelessly on commissions, committees, task forces, and in volunteer work with the sole objective of giving back to my hometown and helping make Dearborn the best it can be for current and future generations.
However, I believe there is even more that I can do to help turnaround Dearborn.
My drive and creativity has resulted in an extensive record of accomplishment creating successful businesses and leading business and community turnarounds. One key lesson I learned in past leadership and management positions is that the best way to resolve issues is through transparency and accessibility to the people one serves.
My turnaround plan is a complete reversal from the complacency and norm that Dearborn has experienced the past few years, and even though Dearborn City Council is a part-time position, I am prepared to work whatever days and hours needed to make sure Dearborn is heading in the right direction.
My turnaround plan is straightforward and includes meeting regularly with residents, businesses, and organizations to listen and take action addressing their specific needs. Our residents and businesses are the core of the community, and preserving and enhancing their quality of life and vitality is crucial to Dearborn’s long-term success.
The second part of the plan is identifying funding opportunities to save our small neighborhood pools, reopening Snow Library, funding of the Historical Museum, fixing the Henry Ford Centennial Library fountain, eliminating user-paid parking in west downtown Dearborn, helping our business districts, and more.
I plan to meet with mid to large size business leaders to build closer ties between our city and their businesses, and see what they may be willing to do to provide funding, sponsorships, and other revenue streams to preserve and maintain the many amenities and services that have defined Dearborn and made it such a unique and desirable city. In addition, I plan to meet with our small businesses in Dearborn to see what they believe the city can do to help their businesses grow and prosper.
The third part of the plan is to further grow the tax base and revenue stream in Dearborn. I plan to meet with a diverse collection of business owners and companies outside of Dearborn to market, promote, and lure them to relocate or expand in our city. This effort will fill our empty storefronts, bring in a desirable variety of businesses, and revive our downtown business districts. The expansion of retail and business growth will increase tourism, bring back customers that shop elsewhere, and serve as a means to grow our population and prosperity.
To achieve the fundamental parts of the turnaround plan won’t be an easy task. It will require some new leadership that thinks differently, has a passion and love for the city, will never settle for second best, will work tirelessly for its residents and business owners, and leadership that possesses the vision to continually improve and grow Dearborn.
If you are ready for a Dearborn “revolution” and the return of a thriving and prosperous city, I am the type of innovative leader to elect to the City Council and am ready for the challenge to transform our city. I have the vision, passion, drive, bridge building, and problem solving skills to face this uphill transformation head on. I cannot think of anything that would make me more proud than to serve the city that raised me, which would enable future generations to share and enjoy the experiences that make us all proud to be from Dearborn.
Mike , we need some ideas, not more talk about talking to folk about what their ideas are. That can be done on this forum. How to improve small business? Simple enough. Provide easy access for customers to reach the business folk. That means free parking for 30 minutes, and front door access. That means bringing back the old Michigan ave, and slow it down with selective parallel parking. There should be bike racks in the parking lots so folk can ride to the shops and restaurants and lock up their bikes, can't do that now. Mike, were you at the train station meetings? Folk need a way to easily access the downtowns, and once that is figured out, the businesses will see a viable business model that means a profit can be made. Let's hear some specific ideas, Mike. We can talk about them right here. State grant money may be available for some of them.
With all due respect Lee, since you state that our superintendent and teachers earn too much in pay and benefits, and city council has no control over this, and it comes out of the school tax millage, and not the city tax millage, what do you propose be done about it? I do agree with your concerns about getting healthcare spending under control though, for schools and the city. This is a major expense that is breaking cities all over America. However, I also believe that in order to represent the people one serves, which includes citizens and businesses, these citizens and businesses should have a right to be heard, since these are the people and organizations that are affected by city policies and decisions.
Rather than free parking for 30 minutes, I'd much rather work on finding solutions to create free parking in all of downtown west Dearborn, because while 30 minute free parking may bring some shoppers back, completely free parking will bring far more shoppers back to downtown west Dearborn, in my opinion. The other thing sorely needed in west downtown is more of a variety of businesses there, and while the Transportation Center will certainly help somewhat, it's not the total solution, especially for business located further west and east of it. We need leaders who are willing to research and work with businesses to find out why many are no longer choosing Dearborn, then come up with solutions to motivate them to come to Dearborn.
And yes, I was at the Transportation Center meetings, and found them very informative, and heard a number of great ideas from residents. I have submitted some of my ideas to the Press and Guide, and as soon as they are published I will place the link on this article so you and othera can read it Lee. I am also working on a more comprehensive plan for the city. As soon as it is complete and published, I will provide a link to it on here as well. The last I knew, the city was working with MDOT who controls Michigan Avenue, about slowing down Michigan Avenue and bringing back on street parking. I also agree with you that our downtown's need to be far more accessible to more than just automobiles. Drawing in people who walk, bike, skate will help bring in more business to our downtown's.
Is it the city that is putting to many restrictions on new businesses making it almost impossible for them to even consider moving to Dearborn? I've heard that this is one of the biggest reasons for the vacant store fronts.
I haven't heard about the city putting any restrictions on businesses in Dearborn, other than many, especially bigger box stores feel our building codes are far too stringent, and that our Building and Safety Department is very hard to work with. I've also read that many businesses in downtown west Dearborn feel our signage ordinances hinder their building and property signage, which they believe hurts their businesses.
Yes, back then I did support and vote for the 3.5 mill, 5 year sunset increase. However, we were told it would save services and amenities, and all we've seen since is millions being spent on a new city hall we were never informed we needed, with more to come, and services and amenities still being cut. Therefore, in my opinion, we were misled.
Why should one neighborhood association be able to shoot down a plan that would have benefited the entire city and anyone else who used michigan avenue? As a council person, would you vote AGAINST the squeaky wheel neighborhood association to do what was best for all of the people instead of just the noisy ones, even if it meant that you would be targeted at the next election by the neighborhood associations?
So yes, City Council has control and votes each year on the city tax millage rate! It is this misunderstanding of the influence and approval of city taxes by the City Council that allows current members to skirt accountability and responsibility to taxpayers. I'm afraid that you have fallen into the same "we have no control or vote" over taxes trap that has led to the current situation where Dearborn taxpayers are now paying the highest city taxes in the history of our city but receiving dwindling service levels. We need to elect people who fully understand the budget process and will take responsibility and accountability for these decisions.
Pam, here is a link the city provided about Homecoming expenses and revenue that puts it in a simple format: http://www.dearbornfreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2011_Homecoming_Report_to_the_Dearborn_Community.pdf Let me know if the link has problems opening, and I'll find another way to post it. This is another link that will answer a lot of your questions, hopefully without having to go through the FOIA process. There are also other links on the page that may help Pam. http://www.cityofdearborn.org/transparency I agree with you Pam on trying to read the city budget, as it is a long, detailed article, and most would have a hard time even beginning to comprehend it. If you need any additional information, contact me here Pam or on mdalbano@yahoo.com and I will look it up for you.