Residents Should Support City Council's Decisions

I was getting ready to submit this opinion column last weekend and was surprised to find out that the Troy transit center wasn’t really dead. Instead, a smaller proposal is being floated, now four weeks past the deadline. There were no good arguments in favor of the last Monday except its lower cost.

Our elected representatives weighed the evidence and determined that the $8.5 million transit center is not in the best interest of our city and region. We should close ranks and support their decision. They took input from everyone, pro and con. The majority of the council, elected by the majority of the voters in the last election, .

Most at the Dec. 19 meeting favored continuing the project but had weaker arguments. They leaned heavily on “we’ve been working on this for ten years and all these important people are in favor of it.” The council did their homework; Dave Henderson mentioned studying a thick pile of papers over the last five weeks. The majority thought it best not to spend $2.3 million just to build a bridge, elevator and platform. No money was being set aside for depreciation and replacement of the building. The developer’s lawsuit over the land was ignored by transit center supporters but would have added to the project costs if the city lost in court.

Continuing to battle after the decision is made is unproductive and hurts our city’s image. With today’s understaffed media you have to look at multiple sources to get the whole story. The Detroit News reported that Magna HQ in Aurora, Ontario distanced itself from Ervin’s statements, saying he doesn’t speak for the corporation.

Maybe the Troy Chamber of Commerce president could direct her efforts toward attracting new businesses to Troy. I heard on WSJ radio that one expanding segment in today’s wobbly economy is quick-service restaurants.  We visited a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Lafayette, Indiana last week and were very impressed with their sandwiches, friendly atmosphere and creative marketing (cows with signs saying “Eat more chicken.”) I filled out their survey to get a free sandwich and was pleased to see we had two near us in Michigan, but disappointed that they are near Oakland University and in Royal Oak. Perhaps Hodges could help them find a good location in Troy.

Our mayor has in June and asked for forgiveness. You can believe her sincerity or not, but I will watch her actions in office. So far I like what I see. Public comment at meetings is no longer limited to 3 minutes if more than 15 people sign up. The library is again open on Saturday, the busiest day, city wages and benefits are posted on line, and she answers emails. That's four promises kept - not bad for a first few months in office.

Her choice of words proves she's inexperienced, but it doesn't prove she's a bigot. (Which is also hate speech, but I guess you can get away with that when criticizing a public official because they can't easily sue you for libel.) She’ll quickly learn to be more careful with her public statements, because they will be twisted by her opponents.

Too bad people don't take the advice of council candidate Neil Yashinsky, who suggested we treat our leaders with respect because they are people too. He said he’d hold her accountable for what she does. So far she's done a pretty good job at keeping her campaign promises.

She and the conservative majority were elected because people were tired of having their money wasted. Time is money; now we're wasting time and energy on this and may have an expensive recall. People should wait until the next election to vote her out if they don't like the job she's done, not mount a recall.

Most of Troy’s citizens are not politically active; they are happy they can take their kids to the library after swim lessons on Saturday and will not be anxious to sign a petition to recall the mayor. A hundred activists stirring up trouble with willing accomplices in the media does our city no good. Collecting signatures for a recall election will further divide our city and cause Mayor Daniels’ supporters to dig in their heels to defend her. I’ll bet a quarter that the recall petitions will not disclose the cost of the election.

Troy is becoming the modern version of the Hatfields and McCoys; others are laughing at us, at least among the liberal press. It was ironic that two of the last speakers at last Monday’s meeting pled for peace. The first said the city’s image was tarnished; the second said he had traveled out of state and people weren’t even aware of Troy’s troubles. It just depends where you get your news. This is not even newsworthy in the more conservative media, since the tactics are so typical.

The mayor’s opponents should prepare a candidate to run against her in the next election, rather than trying to nullify the last one. We all want the same things for our city, but have different ideas about how to accomplish it. It would be best to extend a Christmas truce into an armistice that lasts until the fall of 2013, when three council members are up for election. Meanwhile, we should all adopt Stephen Covey’s principle of seeking to understand the other point of view; we’ve certainly expended lots of energy and ink seeking to be understood.

Editor's note: We removed a sentence that alleges Michele Hodges made public an email sent to her from a Magna executive. Hodges claims this is false, and the statement was removed from this blog entry.