Dan Gilmartin talks with Paul W. Smith on News/Talk 760 WJR in Lansing Wednesday mornig (Jan. 18, 2012).
LANSING, Michigan - Michigan Municipal League CEO Dan Gilmartin was on News/Talk 760 WJR this morning (Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012) with Paul W. Smith discussing Michigan cities, Governor Rick Snyder and an array of other issues. Dan starts out the interview discussing the emergency management issue in Detroit and other Michigan cities.
"These are very difficult times. To me the emergency manager (issue) is more of a symptom. It's not the be all end all or something we're focusing on. It basically shows you that we need a better system in terms of how we finance these (municipal) services throughout Michigan," Gilmartin said. "We keep talking about making Michigan more competitive, making Michigan the type of place you want to stay in, businesses want to come to, young people want to stay in - all the things we speak about we know are good for our economy. We got to have good communities. We especially have to have good urban communities. Kids aren't graduating from U-M, MSU, or Wayne State and moving to suburban Chicago. They're moving to the city of Chicago. We don't have the urban experiences here in Michigan that we can offer in a way that can attract those people back to our cities."
Dan also discussed governor Snyder's state of the state address (to be delivered tonight) and what he hopes the governor will say.
"The governor is an old CPA - that's how he thinks, that's how he runs things. He took the state on as I'm going to balance the books first and then after we do that we're going to invest in things that really matter and cities were at the top of his list along with universities and some of the other important aspects here in the state. So we're in that position now. We got cities in real financial straights and we got to figure out a way to make them better," Gilmartin said.
Click here to listen to audio of the entire conversation.
Dan also hosts a regular radio show on WJR and you can learn more about that here.
Matt Bach is director of communications for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at mbach@mml.org or (734) 669-6317.
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