Changing How Government does Business in Michigan

[tracer1138]

I found this little Op-Ed piece from the Kalamazoo Gazette on Mlive, read through it and found great merit in its proposals.

Besides the consolidation of governments, eg. elimination of townships etc. that have been discussed here before, what are some other specific ideas that we have as Michiganians for changing the way our government does business.

Eight Ideas to Restructure State Spending

This isn't some obscure argument best left to academics and bureaucrats. It's at the core of such living-room issues as the rising costs of college, the dependability of your local cops and firefighters, and the security of your job.

We can keep staggering along, patching the state budget year after year the way we patch potholes. Or we can truly transform the way our state works.

I would personally like to hear some good arguments for or against privitization or contracting-out some government services, and introducing more merit based pay-scales in all levels of government.

Obviously I realize that some services should not be privitized at any cost for example, state police - the people who patrol our highways, should be employed directly by the government and be directly accountable to the people (in my opinion, many services connected to law enforcement could be contracted out). But much of the time I see arguments for or against privitization taken from a rational debate and put in the arena of partisan politics where people vote for or against them based on the party line, rather than on what's best for the state.

Ultimately, here the debate is mostly academic... what steps can we, as citizens, really take to see some of these ideas come to fruition? Personally, I know my strengths lie in writing short letters and blurbs to newspapers and yet I have a hard time believing that a politician is going to take the time to listen to 21 year old who thinks he knows what he's talking about. What are some practical small steps to push our state in the right direction?

[Veloise]

In yesterday's GRPress:

GR to provide Walker's electrical inspections

City officials say they will save money by providing electrical inspections and plan reviews for their neighbors at Walker City Hall.

The agreement, approved Tuesday by city commissioners and last week by the Walker City Commission, will generate an extra $40,000 for Grand Rapids, said James Hurt, the city's Neighborhood Improvement director. ...

Grand Rapids will keep 75 percent of the electrical permit fee charged by Walker officials, who will schedule and administer the permits, Hurt said. Plan reviews will be billed at $50 an hour for projects of more than $1 million.

Walker City Manager Cathy VanderMeulen said the agreement solves a dilemma for her city created by the retirement of the full-time electrical inspector.

Hurt said the agreement extends a 1993 agreement to provide backup services for Walker's city inspection staff. He said the city also provides backup services for other suburbs.

~~~~~~~~

While looking for this on-line, I ran across one about two Twps sharing building inspections (and, presumably, alleviating the personnel issues recently reported).

[really wanted to put "came up" or "arose" in that last sentence]

[suydam]

Ultimately, here the debate is mostly academic... what steps can we, as citizens, really take to see some of these ideas come to fruition? Personally, I know my strengths lie in writing short letters and blurbs to newspapers and yet I have a hard time believing that a politician is going to take the time to listen to 21 year old who thinks he knows what he's talking about. What are some practical small steps to push our state in the right direction?

[tamias6]

How about purging the state government of old fat cat politicians via the voting booths.

[RustTown]

That's pretty much happened, already, when term limits for introduced (which, I'm actually not a fan of for a number of reasons).

[tamias6]

Don't we still have hard nosed republicans in control of one of the two branches of the State legislature? If so, I wouldn't mind if voters sent these bozo's to the unemployment office so Granholm get get her job done.

[RustTown]

Usually, split power between the branches of government is a good thing, producing more comprehensive results. In this case, I'm inclined to agree with you after seeing this budget battle. After having lost the governership, the state house, and the national senate seats, I think the GOP leadership in the state senate realizes that it has nothing to lose by being obstructionists, which is a horrible realization for the state.

They can be as stubborn as they want to be, and they know that they can deflect the criticism to the other branches. They are actually viewed more favorably the less they cooperate, so there is absolutely no incentive for them to give any ground on anything, at least, not until they drag it on too long. Being a minority party has its own advantages in this type of setup, as is becoming more apparent every day this mess drags on.

At the end of the day, as a professor at one of our major univerisities made rightfully clear in the News, the other day, this deficit is now so large that we can't tax our way out of this, alone, but equally, there is no way we can cut our way to a balaced budget, either. Something is going to have to give.

[WOT]

At the end of the day, as a professor at one of our major univerisities made rightfully clear in the News, the other day, this deficit is now so large that we can't tax our way out of this, alone, but equally, there is no way we can cut our way to a balaced budget, either. Something is going to have to give.

[suydam]

Don't we still have hard nosed republicans in control of one of the two branches of the State legislature? If so, I wouldn't mind if voters sent these bozo's to the unemployment office so Granholm get get her job done.