48 Hours Until Debate

Hello,

Those of us on the committee planning the debate just wanted to thank all of you who are contributing these great questions. If there were a way, we’d ask them all on Thursday night. Unfortunately, the hour that we have allotted for the first part of the mayoral debate won’t make it possible for us to ask more than a dozen or so. (The first hour will be dedicated to these presubmitted questions. The following half hour will be dedicated to questions from the audience, as they are submitted on cards. The final half hour of the event has been set aside for those running for City Council and County Commissioner to introduce themselves.)

The good news, however, is that this site will not come down after the debate. We’re going to keep it up, and we’re going to keep accepting questions. What’s more, we’ll ask all three of our mayoral candidates to come to the site and leave their comments. Our hope is that they join us here and join in on the conversation.

Again, your participation is greatly appreciated. The questions are great, and our job of choosing which ones get asked is not going to be easy. Hopefully, however, we’ll be able to select ones that accurately reflect the concerns of the community, across all demographics.

- YMDC

After the Primary

If you fail to win the democratic primary, do you intend to continue campaigning as a write-in candidate?

Ypsilanti and the Blogosphere

In the past five years, Ypsilanti (like the rest of the world) has seen an increase in the number of online weblogs, or “Blogs” being kept by its citizens. Some of these sites have engaged in criticism against the city leadership, and with an increasing audience, are beginning to supplant the more traditional media formats.

What are your personal opinions regarding this new technology by which many citizens are getting their information? Can it be considered journalism? Is it a benefit or detriment to the way the city government conducts its business?

Do you, yourself, read any local blogs?

I Want My Ypsi TV

Cable companies offer local municipalities an opportunity to have a free channel for their use, such as is done in Ann Arbor; this content can include school events, government meetings, and public access shows where local citizens can produce the contents themselves.

Considering that we no longer have any locally owned media venues, following the sale of the Ypsilanti Courier to a national company, would you support obtaining such a channel for Ypsilanti?

Marijuana and Ypsi

Ann Arbor has partially decriminalized Marijuana Possession, in an effort to allow police to concentrate on more serious crimes.

Would you support a similar proposal in Ypsilanti? Why, or why not?

Littering Fines and Public Property Trash

What are the current laws involving littering in the city? Do you think they are being enforced? Should the fines be higher?

What other suggestions would you make regarding the amount of trash on public property in Ypsilanti?

If Income Tax is Inevitable…

Let’s assume, for the moment, that an income tax is inevitable. Given this, do you feel that it would be appropriate for it to include a minimum income clause, so that poorer citizens below a certain level wouldn’t be burdened by it?

What income, for a single person, do you think would be an appropriate level to set that cutoff point at?

Additionally, would the remainder of the tax be flat – i.e., 1%  for everyone – or would it be staggered more like the federal system, raising that percentage rate based on income?

Bike Lanes

What would each candidate do to further include bike lanes on major roads? (Besides the 1/2 mile stretch on Packard?)

Senior Center Funding

When do you see funding coming to the Senior Center from the City? How would this be obtained?

Income Tax (yay/nay)

Where do you stand on the income tax issue?  Are you for our against and why?

Income Tax

How will we fund the current level of city services without an income tax?

Transparency

Do you believe some policies in the city are being made behind closed doors?

Planning Dept.

Would you suggest changes to the planning department in the City?

Keeping Business

What plans do you have to maintain the current businesses in town?

Sheriff’s Dept. and YPD

Has there been a definitive analysis showing the costs to the city of
merging the YPD with the Washtenaw Co. Sheriff’s Dept? If there was a
savings, would you consider this merger?

City Office Hospitality

Why are city offices and services so unfriendly to residents? What would
you do about it?

Tree Trimming

Are you in favor of establishing a street-tree trimming policy for the city
similar to A2?

Planners Numbers

How many planners does the city need given the current conditions?

Vacant Buildings

What would you do to fix the vacant buildings in Ypsilanti?

Thomsen Building

If you were mayor, what would you do about the Thomsen building?

LGBT Needs in Ypsi

Do you think the needs of the LGBT minority have been met? If so, how so? If not, how would you meet them?

AATA

Will you support the people of the city by keeping AATA running?

Disabled & Elderly

Do you plan to include programs for the disabled and elderly in the city?

Ypsi Public Schools

What is your vision of the Ypsi public schools and what role do you think you can play there?

Grass Cutting & DPW

Why is the city figuring in park maintenance, such as the cutting of grass, into the park rental fee. Isn’t this part of what DPW is supposed to do on a regular basis?

Public Works Cuts

Given the cuts to police and fire, would you consider cuts in public works?

Worst Neighborhood

What’s the worse neighborhood: west willow or the southside?

Residency Requirement

The current administration unanimoulsy voted to eliminate the residency requirement for city employees. The residency requirement did not require employees to live in the city which is in violation of state law. However, the elimintated residency requirement did change the travel distance of key employees from 25 miles to the distance that an employee is willing to travel. Our new DDA director could live in Ohio and or Canada. What are your thoughts on the residency requiremnets for cty employees?

Hierarchy of Needs

Referencing Maslov’s Hierarchy of needs and societies basic needs, where do things like the Historic District Commission and a streetsweeper fit into your priorities?

City Council & Audience Comments

The current administration does not print comments made by Ypsilanti residents during audience participation at City Council, will you change this?

Following YMDC Rules

Ypsilanti residents are alotted three minutes during audience participation at a City Council meeting. During the debate at the Senior Center, several candidates took it upon themselves to modify the format of the debate by going back to previously asked questions. This was somewhat ironic as one of the most flagrant rule breakers happened to be an incumbent City Councilman.

1. Will you follow the rules as published by the YMDC?
2. How would you modify audience participation?

More Google, Google Housing

A lot of news recently has been focused on Google’s plans to establish an office in Ann Arbor. When those plans go through, much has been said about the area attracting much new high-tech development, perhaps making Ann Arbor still more expensive in relation to Ypsilanti.

First of all, what do you think of these developments, and secondly, what would you do to attract both new Google workers looking for affordable housing and new technology firms looking for inexpensive rents to choose Ypsilanti?

A Community Divided

Ypsilanti is in many ways a community divided: North and South, East and West, town and gown. Historically it has been difficult to integrate EMU students into the larger community. Although most EMU students are commuters, many of these “commuters” live less than a mile from campus. How could the City and the University work together to promote greater integration and involvement between EMU Students and the community as a whole?

Schreiber and YCFE

Why has candidate Paul Schreiber refused to distance himself from the controversial Campaign for Equality letterhead mailing? It has now been documented that the YCFE letter is indeed inaccurate and illegitimately smears Pierce and his campaign.

http://www.trustygetto.com/2006/07/so-my-curiosity-got-better-of-me.html

Yet, the Schreiber site still carries the letter with its inaccuracies on the old letterhead for the disbanded organization, signed as if the YCFE were still active.

Vision

This whole city is gonna ride herd on our new mayor, council, Water Street, Downtown and Tax issues. Beyond THOSE realities, where does Ypsilanti go from here? What’s your VISION for the City and your priorities for getting us there?

Budget

A $1,000,000.00 certificate of deposit will generate approximately $25,000.00 in revenue every six months at 5%. What happens to this money and is it included in the $13.5m budget? How much money does the city generate from certificates of deposit?

Zoning

In discussions involving zoning and density, the terms “Students” and “Renters” are used almost interchangably.

In reality, there are thousands of non-students in Ypsilanti who rent, including families with children.

Do you feel that the movement towards reduced-density zoning of the city is, in actuality, an effort to geographically marginalize the lower classes?