State Representative Julie Rogers July Coffee Hour
Moved indoors to Sarkozy Bakery due to hazardous air quality
This morning, I attended State Representative Julie Rogers’s monthly Constituent Coffee Hour. It was to have been held outdoors at my park, Davis Street Park and Skateboard Plaza. However, due to the hazardous air quality, the venue was changed last night to Sarkozy Bakery in downtown Kalamazoo. When I arrived at my park, Julie’s Chief of Staff, Ramiro “Romy” Garcia, was handwriting a sign to post about the venue change. He gave me a ride from my park to Sarkozy Bakery.
Ten citizens attended this month, including Julie’s mom Marie, Sister Mary Ellen Gondeck from the Congregation of St. Joseph at Nazareth, and city of Kalamazoo Vice Mayor Drew Duncan (9:24). Julie spent the first half of her Coffee Hour talking about the annual state budget that was recently passed by the legislature, in a marathon 21-hour session that went all through the night. Lowlights of the budget, in Julie’s opinion, include:
elimination of all state arts and culture spending, which may impact local organizations like the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
no increase to local revenue sharing
On the positive side, lots of log jammed bills made it through the legislature during the marathon budget session, including Julie’s Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact legislation, which she had to fight for. The bill was presented to Governor Whitmer on Tuesday for her review and hopeful signature. One citizen asked about legislation to regulate automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras. She said the legislature is working on bills to limit their use. She gave the floor to Vice Mayor Duncan and he talked about what the city of Kalamazoo is working on in this respect. Unfortunately, the “servant leader” Kalamazoo City Manager Malcolm Hankins signed a new contract with Flock Safety this month, without consulting with the City Commission. Vice Mayor Duncan is determined to make all future decisions on surveillance technology in the city to come to the City Commission for approval. At the next City Commission business meeting on Monday, July 20, Vice Mayor Duncan and City Commissioner Jae Slaby plan to initiate a discussion on bringing back telephone call-in public comments to City Commission meetings, which were new during the pandemic and discontinued in February 2024. If successful, this would be a fulfillment of one of their campaign promises from last fall and something citizens continue to ask for during public comments at City Commission meetings. On Thursday, August 6, Julie plans to co-host an election rights forum at the Northside Association for Community Development.
After the meeting, I asked Vice Mayor Duncan if he was aware that the Kalamazoo Public Library’s Central branch will be closing for five consecutive days next week for emergency repairs to the building’s cooling system. He said he was and he’s apparently working with Kalamazoo County to get the Expo Center opened up next week as an overnight alternative, with free Metro [Transit] bus rides. I asked him about the fence at Arcadia Creek Festival Place. He says he has a one-on-one meeting with City Manager Malcolm Hankins on Monday. It apparently takes three City Commissioners to force the City Manager’s hand on something like this. Drew and Jae are on board, so we need support from one other Commissioner, like Stephanie Hoffman, to get this easy, 1-hour, no cost task accomplished for the community.
A big shake-up in the City Commission is expected for the November 2027 municipal election. All three of the City Commissioners whose terms are expiring do not plan to run for re-election:
Jeanne Hess is retiring from the City Commission, after already retiring from Kalamazoo College in August 2019.
Chris Praedel wants to spend more time raising his three sons.
Alonzo Wilson wants to run for Mayor.
The next municipal election could be even more interesting if us Rank MI Vote volunteers are successful in getting the new Michigan legislature to pass a local option for Ranked Choice Voting. That would activate our City Charter amendment, which Kalamazoo voters approved in the November 2023 municipal election with overwhelming 71% support.