This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. As a state representative, I take my duty to represent the people of the 40th District very seriously and that includes keeping all of you informed about my work in Lansing. As you may know, I serve on the House Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for completing the state budget each year. This also includes serving on subcommittees for specific budget areas, including the Michigan State Police budget. I serve as chair of the MSP subcommittee and was tasked with coming up with an efficient and effective budget for …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. I want to thank the voters of Oakland County for their support of my candidacy for Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner. My time serving as Oakland County Commissioner was an honor and the most rewarding experience of my life. I have had the opportunity to serve with so many dedicated public servants and community volunteers, at the county, region, state and national levels. We can be truly proud of the people who work for us and those who volunteer in so many important capacities. From the beginning, I focused my …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. Dear Editor, As a superintendent of schools, it truly is not difficult to recognize public schools as the great backbone of our democracy. The public schools are the one institution in our country that has its doors open for all children and represents, through our locally elected school boards, what our communities want for our children. Needless to say, this is very important work and the purpose of this letter is to recognize one important element of what makes public schools so special. We live and work in challenging times…

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. The Birmingham Education Foundation (BEF) continued its mission of inspiring minds and expanding possibilities by deploying almost $150,000 to district teachers and staff who found innovative ways to reach students. BEF provides grants in support of teachers and administrators who want to offer their kids a deeper, more comprehensive experience in a particular subject area.     “Our teachers do a wonderful job bringing the curriculum to life and inspiring and challenging our kids,” said Laura Couger, BEF executive director.   “…

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. From Thanksgiving Day on, it seemed as though you could sense a growing atmosphere of joy and happiness in anticipation of the upcoming celebration of Christmas. The stores filled with shoppers, the lighted trees and carol singing all added to the joy of the season. Then came the news of the massacre of 20 children and 6 adults in Newtown, Conn. two Fridays ago, which sent shock waves all across this country. We have felt the grief and pain of the parents and families of these children whose lives were taken and the adults who …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. How incredulous for the governor and the radical Republican legislature to pass Right to Work (RTW) for less when it is clear that from this past election that Michigan politics have become so polarized. Now was not the time for more divisiveness.  Attacks against workers and the middle class in this state have been relentlessly destructive. Tuesday’s vote was a complete political reversal by the governor, who said for the last two years he opposed this bill. This was not about improving the economy of Michigan, but merely …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. The author sent it to all legislators representing the Birmingham Public Schools (BPS) district in the State House and State Senate. It is reprinted here with permission from the author. Good Afternoon Everyone! I thought about making this a BCC, but that would be rude and make it look like the normal, form letter. I am nowhere near boring and the words “form letter” don’t fit me. So, this is why I am taking MY time to write to you. I am a mother of two who has fought her husband CONTINUOUSLY to stay in BPS Schools. My husband …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. Governor Snyder is proposing a major shift in public education and education funding. His idea, presented by the well-funded, private Oxford Foundation, is to remove all borders and boundaries between school districts. This would allow state per-pupil funding to follow the student to one or several districts of their choosing, relinquishing the home district's "ownership" of that student. In addition, this new shift also makes room for a state controlled, statewide school district composed of the lowest-performing 5 percent of …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. Kill HB 6004, 5923, and SB 1358 — It’s like a federal takeover of state’s rights Representative Moss and Senator Pappageorge, please do not support the school district ruining bills which are snaking their way through the lame duck legislative session. These bills will gut the competitive educational excellence our communities expect and undermine the very structure which supports strong property values. They create a new Lansing bureaucracy that tells Birmingham and other high performing schools how to operate. Please don’t …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. The current Birmingham Board of Education has said time and again to its teachers and other employees that it values collective bargaining and discussion as way to resolve issues and get things done in this district. Even past Birmingham Boards of Education have expressed similar sentiments, dating all the way back to 1928, almost 85 years ago, when the first contractual settlement took place between the newly formed Birmingham Education Association and the Birmingham Public School district.  Collective bargaining and …

The following was written after attending last week's panel discussion in Troy organized by opposition to the DIA millage.  The panel included State Rep. Tom McMillin (R-Rochester), Bruce Walker of MichiganView.com, County Commissioner Robert Gosselin, and Simon Haddad of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance. 1. "The City of Detroit continues to own the Museum's permanent art collection, including works of art acquired prior or subsequent to the operating agreement, as well as the Museum building and grounds." Despite this, the City of Detroit does not want to provide any funding to support the …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. The right to vote is the single most important individual power we wield as citizens. In 2004, the 18-29 year old electorate cast 20.1 million votes. This rivaled that of the much-coveted senior vote, whose electorate cast 22.3 million votes in the same election. There are currently 46 million voters between the ages of 18 and 29 in the United States — at 46 million, this millennial generation is the largest generation in U.S. history, and represents more than 20 percent of the electorate. Political scandals, unpopular wars, …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. Voters in Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne Counties will be asked Aug. 7 to approve 0.2 mils for 10 years, which is approximately $15 per year for every $150,000 of a home’s fair market value. This money will go to provide one of many sources of funding needed to support a world-class art museum: the Detroit Institute of Arts. As the vote nears for the Arts Millage in southeast Michigan, I feel compelled to share some of my thoughts. The Detroit Institute of Arts is an irreplaceable resource that brings incredible works of art, film…

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. A successful state representative should have a least three specific strengths: intelligence, political savvy and leadership. Of the 110 current state representatives, not one of them is an economist. Mr. Wolkinson earned both a bachelor's and master's of economics from U-M by age 21. As the intellectual candidate, he is uniquely qualified to understand the state's struggle between growth and austerity, and, importantly, to explain to legislators and voters alike the dead-weight economic losses associated with over-taxation. Mr…

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser. This year the residents of the 40th District for the State House of Representatives are fortunate to have a very qualified group of candidates to choose from. I am writing to endorse Mike McCready, who I believe is the best candidate to serve the people of our district. As the former Supervisor of Bloomfield Township, I had the privilege of working with Mike as Commissioner for the City of Bloomfield Hills on many issues of importance between our communities. I have always been impressed with his dedication to his constituents …

Mary Rayn Taras, an Oakland Community College instructor and a former Seaholm High School social studies teacher, shares this April 12 letter with Birmingham Patch. It's a follow-up to comments about safety downtown on weekend evenings that she and others voiced April 9 near the end of a City Commission meeting. Dear City Commissioners: Thank you for being willing to listen to my concerns about the direction of Birmingham. I know the hour was late and we were all tired. I understand that you want to wait for a more complete report on recent events (April 1 gunshot on Merrill Street), but that…

This letter, sent to Editor Laura Houser, is from a Birmingham resident who contributes to Patch as a freelance writer. Views expressed are his. Bullying is a hot topic in families, classrooms, a new documentary, Patch articles and other media coverage. Though discussions usually involve young people, schoolyard-like piling on occurs among adults at times. A largely constructive reader discussion at this site about a petition campaign against South bar, for instance, includes off-topic personal pokes. A local realtor who spoke last year in support of another site's liquor license renewal is …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser: The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act that Congress is debating reflects an outdated philosophy about how people use America’s roads. While it focuses on creating jobs and improving infrastructure, it ignores the importance of safe roads, community, places, and people as part of that equation. The act will be especially detrimental to urban areas such as Detroit and the inner-ring suburbs that have worked so hard in recent years to improve the quality of life through accessibility and safety in their downtowns and …

This letter was received by Birmingham Patch Editor Laura Houser and comments on a proposal to eliminate one of Maple Road's four vehicle lanes, the subject of a Feb. 13 public hearing by the City Commission. The plan to modify Maple between Eton and Adams is the most ill-conceived idea since the railroad station tunnel. What possible advantage to anyone would there be in directing automobile traffic off Maple? From where would the bikes come and to where would they be going? People riding bikes want to be riding through neighborhoods on their bikes. Evidence of that is every Wednesday night …

I have read about the possibility of a major restructuring of Maple Road from Eton to Woodward. It would reduce Maple from two lanes in each direction to one each way with a center turn lane in between. Bike paths on each side also are proposed. Given the reduction in lanes, this could result in significant spillover traffic into our neighborhood during rush hours. Even the company employed to make the design admits this is a real possibility. The Poppleton-Oakland corridor could really be affected, but all streets leading into our subdivision are vulnerable. Granted, entry supposedly is …