Bloggin’ on the Edge

Posted by Scott Spielman at 5:21 PM | Comments (2)

Livonia Mayor Jack Kirksey has certainly gone above and beyond in his support of the annexation of the former Northville Psychiatric Hospital property to his community.
He has written in support of it. Last week he called a press conference to refute what he called a misleading propaganda piece. In that conference, he said the city would investigate whether election or postal laws were broken.
It’s a bit of a turnaround for him, since he initially declared he would stay out of the issue, hoping it would be resolved without going on the ballot. When I talked to him about it on Wednesday, he said he supported it now because he thought it was the best thing for the City of Livonia. He said he didn’t see a downside for Livonia residents.

Well, I do. I see a downside for people in Livonia, Northville, Plymouth, Canton—wherever people look with suspicion at government and cynicism at the way it operates, where people question the connection between political contributions and legislative efforts, where people are scornful of the good old boy network and pessimistic about the prospect of good government.

I suppose I am now among their rank.

First, lets look at the things that Kirksey has said about the issue. He’s said it won’t cost Livonia taxpayers anything. He’s said it won’t impact their services. He’s said it will ultimately bring in millions in tax revenue to the city, and additional jobs.

He’s also said that he hasn’t sat down and had any in-depth discussions with the developer. He’s said that he has an idea of the infrastructure improvements that may be made, but not the specifics. He’s said that a Brownfield Redevelopment Authority plan might help pay for those improvements, but he doesn’t know if one would be approved, and if, it is approved, how much of a tax break it would provide and how long it would be in effect.

To me, that sounds like he’s promising taxpayers something that he may or may not be able to back up.

He has said that the City of Livonia is pro-business, pro-development and looks for ways to cooperate and solve issues with developers rather than throw up roadblocks. Well, I have news for everyone: officials in Northville Township are like that, too. They’ve hired consultants, they’ve worked with economic development firms, they’ve streamlined ordinances and sought out companies that want to invest in their community. They’ve just done it in a way that is supposed to protect the future of their community and bolster the region as a whole.

Why would the developer think they may have better luck in the City of Livonia? Well, Schostack has done plenty of work there already. They’re familiar with officials. They have contributed enough to senate Republicans—both individually and through the Senate Republican Campaign Committee—to stall solid legislation that would stop this thing from happening again.

So what is the downside to Livonia residents? Well, I suppose to tackle that you’d have to think of a hermit crab, a creature that moves out of its shell when it grows too cramped, on to newer and better things. This development will no doubt attract business—but not from too far away. People in Livonia will have to drive past vacated malls and strip centers in the center of their community to get to one on the outskirts of it.

Ultimately the only one who will profit from this is the developer—and the politicians they support. They will be laughing al the way to the bank while residents of both communities will wonder how this happened. And eventually they will connect the dots and realize that all their worst fears about government are true that, stripped down to its bare essentials, it all comes back to plain and simple greed.

That sounds like a major downside to me.

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