Westland is a very pro-active city, no matter what the economic climate is, during any given calendar year. Our city is ambitious and positive, and we constantly plan for the future, rather than being content with how good things are for our citizenry right now.

President Obama’s proposed stimulus plan has given our city officials the incentive to put together a plan which would request that the White House send each city’s share directly to the city, rather than to each State Government, according to an article in the Observer which was written by Darrell Clem, recently.

Many of the mayors from cities all across this country are making a strong “push” to have any stimulus funds that might come to their state be given directly to the local city governments. This way, many new projects could be implemented with some immediacy, and jobs would be created in a timelier manner.

Westland’s Mayor feels that these funds, if allocated directly to each city municipality, would help to counter the unemployment problems that a number of people are facing. His administration understands that the President’s Stimulus Plan focuses on strengthening city infrastructures. Therefore, they have identified and listed the kinds of projects which will improve city roads, sewer systems, and drainage issues; along with project which will refurbish local historical sites, city services and computer systems for the police and fire departments, along with hiring more personnel.

The Mayor and the heads of each city department work well to take a positive approach for keeping this vital community moving forward. With a balanced budget and many programs already in place sustain and improve our currently excellent life style for all of the citizenry. This administration is already looking at:

1. Finding better ways to cut back on energy and fuel usage
2. Implementing a larger and more efficient recycling program for all citizens
3. Generating new concepts to sustain the businesses we already have and help them excel against competition
4. Begin putting in place a 5, 10 and even a 20 year plan to keep fiscally sound and provide capital improvements.

It is encouraging to note that should congress and the President put this stimulus package, which is estimated to be about $41.6 million dollars, together to fund nation-wide projects that improve our cities and employ more people; Westland is ready to receive its fair share of these funds, and implement specific and quick-starting programs that would indeed strengthen our infrastructure, and negate some of the effects of these challenging economic times. However, thanks to the forward thinking of our Mayor and City Administration, we will continue to be prepared for a bright future, even if this stimulus package of federal funds is not forthcoming.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 6:10 pm and is filed under Holliday Park. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.