Mackinac Policy Conference Begins - Will There Be Potholes?

UPDATE:

Well it's 2016 and another Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference - Woo Hoo !

"Expectations for real results in solid policy to benefit the state and its citizenry this year are slim. However the horses are thick on the island and so is the horse shit there, et al" --someone who know horse shit

So much for the Update.
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Another work week begins now that the Memorial Day weekend of 2015 is over. Will the week bring a solution to our Michigan road problem?

To The Island !

Hitch up your horses, the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference gets underway on Mackinac Island this week.

It happens every year at the Grand Hotel.

You can bet a major subject to be discussed will be the failure of Proposal 1 and where the Michigan legislature will go from here to get to a Real Road Funding Solution. And what irony, Mackinaw island!

Snyder and his business allies on this island trip will no doubt try to convince the Republican lawmakers in attendance that they can and should put more than a billion dollars into roads, and keep it flowing. But there are going to be a lot of issues to dodge and get around, like steaming piles on the Mackinaw streets, before there can be results.

On the one hand you have governor Snyder, very much wanting to put Billions of dollars into a permanent road funding program. Snyder says polls have shown the people are open to some sort of new tax or tax increase if it goes to roads.

Then you have his Republican lawmakers, wanting to at all cost avoid those steaming piles of taxes. All they can think about is their dainty anti-tax constituents getting the vapors and passing out at the slightest hint of a smelly tax, and then forgetting them on re-election day.

And of course there are the Democrats in Lansing. Like any good farmer, they don't mind stepping in a pile of taxes, so long as there is something left on their shoes for them to spread over their constituents. Democratic support in the legislature is needed because they will have to make up an expected  Republican lack of votes. But they will want something in return, just like last year! Yet they are not always so welcome at the island conference. Last year, in fact, Snyder’s Democratic opponent for governor wasn’t even invited to take part in the event.

Suffice it to say that the island conference will be looking to its historical darling Snyder for leadership (though his attractiveness has declined in the last few years). And the center-right businesses will have a say on road funding. They are still giggling over the  Michigan Business Tax toss, and the giant Tax Cut for businesses handed to them not long ago, all packaged up pretty with a big bright bow. And lately the states businesses have been tearing open those presents like greedy four year old's on Christmas morning (so much for budget surplus for roads). Better roads for better business, right?

Well, Mackinaw island is a lot about history. The way things used to be. No cars. No car noise. No cars torn up from potholes. Just like the good old days. Let's hope the result of this conference will Not be a return to the bad old days of no road funding. 

Michigan Road Funding Of The Past

 

Oh, by the way, to get into the conference:  $2,150 for Chamber members and $2,925 for Future members. So I suspect I wont be there. Anyway, it seems I've been kicked out of the Grand Hotel in the past (speaking of history), and they may notice me. I'll be in the LP probably driving my car into another pothole no doubt.

Drive Careful, Will

All We Are Saying Is Give Mayors A Chance

"As state leaders drive around Plan B for how to fix Michigan roads, they need to bring to the table those people residents trust most and are looking to for solutions: mayors." - The Detroit News, May 20,2015

So how about it? Do you trust the mayor of your city? Can mayors come up with solutions to fix our lousy Michigan roads? Do you even know who the mayor of your city is?

Well I just read an article in the Detroit News by William Wild, the mayor of Westland, Michigan. He makes the point that while he and other city mayors supported Proposal 1, with money earmarked specifically for local communities, one reason it failed was because Michigan mayors were not really involved. He stated that Proposal 1 "did not have local leaders helping to craft the proposal or engaging them before rolling out the plan."

While he is right about the fact that mayors were generally not involved in crafting Prop. 1, I live in a township. I am not sure it would have made any difference if my township supervisor or clerk would have asked me to vote for Prop. 1 or had told me that he/she wrote some of it. I still did not like it and I made that decision all by myself. Good for me.

In fact, according to my township web site, the township "does not maintain any roads in the Township. Issues regarding chloride, paving and snowplowing should be directed to the Road Commission of Oakland County". So much for anyone in my city/township government having much pull when it comes to fixing roads.

A U.S. Conference of Mayors/Zogby poll explains that while American trust in elected leaders has declined, mayors rank higher among the public than the president, their governor, Congress and their state legislature.

As to whether state mayors should now be a part of the elusive Plan B, well so far not even the governor or the state legislature seems to be a part of it. Or what they are coming up with so far amounts to pipe dreams; a Republican state lawmaker plan to use projected growth in the state budget to fix Michigan’s roads is downright laughable.

"...the legislature is saying 'our economy is doing great, and it will fix the roads all by itself. Just you watch'. Makes me think an alternate reality exists in Lansing where economist and lawmakers (one Kevin Cotter in particular) float high above the States crappy infrastructure and voters expect nothing more than the pleasantness of fantasy induced smoke being blown up their ... - Will Branning commenting on Michigan Radio article.

In the end, if you and I want better roads in our great state of Michigan, no matter what your reason, then you and I are the only ones who will make that happen. Contact the Governor. Contact your state Representative. Contact the news outlets. Tell them what you want. Better Michigan roads! It's their job. It's in the Michigan constitution. It's the right thing to do. Amen.

Oh, and to really make things happen, why not order your "Fix Our Roads" bumper sticker today? Place one on the ass end of your vehicle and show it to all the people who can make a difference with our roads. Proceeds may or may not be used in the campaign to make a difference. Anyway, they are cheap but of quality materials and cute to boot.

Get Your Bumper Sticker Today !

Just click the photo, or go to the tab at the top of the page. Thanks a Lot!


Detroit News article: 
Mayors should be part of Plan B conversation


Drive Careful,
Will

Where For Art Thou Safe Roads Yes ?

Now that prop 1 has crashed in flames, where is the Safe Roads Yes campaign? 

Have they continued in the fight to get us "safe roads" ? Safe to say, they have not.

During the months before May 1st, I must have received about twenty robo calls from them. Saw and heard about 50 commercials. Each of these attempts to frighten and coerce me with deceptive arguments and outright threats to vote "Yes", but they simply made me laugh. Now what about the refuse left behind from this utter political failure ?

Michigan News: Proposal 1 Passes

Michigan Proposal 1 Passes....into history.

 
Remember this famous headline? Maybe you saw it in a history book . Or maybe you remember it when it really happened. Okay, this is not how it really looked, ("Dewy Defeats Truman") but if you do remember it when it happened you could still be driving. Hopefully in Florida or somewhere where it's a little bit warmer and a little less bumpy.

So I just could not resist, although if I had the time I would have photo shopped Gov Snyders face in place of President Trumans. But the people who outspent the opponents to Prop. 1 by a reported 40 to 1 margin will probably be dreaming this headline until the ugly, expensive reality sets in tomorrow. Too bad they did not spend those millions fixing a road somewhere.

Well where does the defeat of Proposal 1, the "Road Funding" bill, leave us now? Let's face it. Another two years or more before we see results to any real legislation to fix our roads. Don't get me wrong, the bill just had to die. It was lousy with extras, ambiguity and in my opinion outright deceit. But now we must all take on a very important task. That of forcing our Michigan lawmakers to come up with a genuine plan to FIX AND MAINTAIN our roads!

Guess that's all for now. It's getting late and I'm going to sleep and dream of a place where it's a bit warmer and a little less bumpy. My bed. Night all.

 
Drive Careful,
Will

Lame Duck Governors and Former U.S. Senators Aside - What Do Your Neighbors Say About Proposal 1 ?

Before you vote on Proposal 1 on Tuesday, do you know what your friends and neighbors think about it? Does it matter?

Does lame duck governor Snyder drive to work every day on crappy roads and gasp each time he hits a pothole, wondering how much 'that one' will cost me? I don't think so, especially since for the next few months he'll be traveling around the country to tell other states how great Michigan is. And it is, but private jets don't hit potholes.

Did former U.S. senator Carl Levin cuss and swear about the lousy roads on the beltway in Washington? Not that he wasn't a good senator, but his radio ad for Proposal 1 didn't give me that "I feel your pain" impression.

To me what governor Snyder and Senator Levin say isn't real. What the people around me, who drive the same streets I do and pay taxes like I do, what they say is real. So I listen.

I travel around the state a lot. Sometimes I pick up local news papers to see what's going on in the towns I'm in, and I like to read the 'letters to the editor' page. Tells me what the locals are thinking. Sometimes the letters are kind of comical, and sometimes boring because I just don't know much about local matters. Still, they are from real people about real concerns and I like that.

One local weekly paper I picked up in early April had 5 letters in it, four about proposal 1. All four were clearly against it and urged a NO vote. Each gave well written and thought out reasons for a NO vote. Interesting. So I made sure to get that same paper the next week. Three letters in that issue, one for and two against.

Last week I got another issue and guess what. There were three letters about Proposal 1. Two asked readers to vote NO. Again with clear, concise and well thought out reasons. The other didn't exactly ask readers to vote Yes, but it did mention something about the 'compromise and sacrifice of previous generations' and 'freeing ourselves of cynicism and conspiracy theories regarding taxes'. Then a plea to 'not wait on invertebrate elected officials' and not to flow with the current 'like jellyfish'. What the f*#k ?? Well I guess that was for a Yes vote, I think...

Finally in that same issue, in a 1/3 page opinion article, Rep. Jim Runestad - 44th district - Western Oakland County, gave his view on why we should vote NO. Titled "Vote No On Proposal 1 Next Tuesday", the article gave what he called the "straight facts" and even had a graph! Well he must feel strongly about a NO vote to go to all the work of making a graph. Seriously, one point he did make which I have mentioned in this blog, is that over $800,000.00 of the supposed 1.2 Billion raised the first two years will go to pay off MDOT debt ! Not for new repairs !

So if you know what your friends and neighbors think about Proposal 1 and how they will vote, or if you even care, I just thought you might like to know what readers of some local papers are saying. A clear and resounding urging for us all to vote NO. Think about that when you go to cast your vote.

And one last thought. With the undertaker already putting the last nails in the Proposal 1 coffin (that is if we all get out and vote), there is still almost no talk about a Plan B. I guess our Michigan lawmakers will just cross that bridge when they come to it. That is if it safe to cross !

Quick Senator! On to Plan B!

Saw that one coming didn't you.


Drive Careful,
Will