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30
Jun 2008
Livonia mayor endorses annexation
Posted by Scott Spielman
at 4:06 PM | Comments
Livonia Mayor Jack Kirksey made public a long-suspected secret over the weekend: he endorses the annexation of 414-acres of property from Northville Township to his community.
What a sad day for western Wayne County. It’s bad enough that communities have to compete against each other to attract businesses, developments—even students—now developers feel like they can pit neighbor against neighbor if they don’t like the response they get from one community.
I like the way Fred Shadko put this thing into perspective during an anti-annexation rally Thursday night: he called it the ‘ask mom’ plan. If Dad says ‘no,’ go ask mom. As parents, we all experience it. We just don’t usually fall for it.
I hope to get Mayor Kirksey on the record about some of his thoughts here, since they seem to point to a change in perspective from earlier conversations I’ve had with him.
In the meantime, the same guy who sought relief from the state when Quicken Loans moved from Livonia to Detroit is now asking voters to approve a vote that would take land—and tax base—away from a neighboring community.
He said he didn’t want Northville’s lost opportunity to be Livonia’s lost opportunity. Well, let’s see. In the plan that township officials approved, they tried to protect the interests of downtown Northville as well as the western portion of Livonia—since even the reduced commercial component at the corner would have caused a traffic nightmare. So what lost opportunity is he referring to, the opportunity to be a good neighbor?
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