Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 83

4A DETROIT FREE PRESSTHURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 1987 ON County agenda for '87: 'Everyone's got to be involved' Who's who on it hi 1 A we-' "The college is primarily interested in human resource development. "While it's important for us to be able to make a living, it's also important for us to be able to make a life "If this is a cash cow state, you better, feed the i R. Stephen Nicholson, Oakland Community College Chancellor Here are the regional leaders who participated In a Free Press discussion on the Issues facing Oakland County In 1987. Name: Walter Moore. Age: 40.

Position: Pontiac mayor. Highlights: 11 years as city fire fighter, served seven years as Democratic county commissioner. Elected to non-partisan mayoral position in 1985. Name: Daniel Murphy. Age: 63.

Position: Oakland County executive. Highlights: Republican county officeholder since 1956. County executive since 1975. Lost race for Republican nomination for governor In 1986. Name: R.

Stephen Nicholson. Age: 61. Position: Chancellor of Oakland Community College. Roads, economy top county survey But at the top of our agenda is going to be how are we going to keep our people living. It's very difficult to live if you don't have some type of way of making a living.

And with the plant closings, the detrimental effect of that, that's going to be on the top of the agenda in the City of Pontiac. NICHOLSON The college is primarily In human resource development. While it's important for us to be able to make a living, it's also important for us to be able to make a life. We need to look at the total scope of needs in the county and see if we can improve the distribution of the resources so the county which is a vital force in terms of ideas, manufacturing, high tech, tax production, that the state continues to feed back into this county the resources that will reassure that we won't suffocate or stalemate. If this Is a cash cow state, you better feed the cow.

housing stock, getting new development, maintaining services. i And hopefully we can iron out some of the difficulties we have been having with the county. MOORE What I would like to see happen is a better working relationship with the local level, on co-ordination with the state and Oakland County. The incinerator in the City of Pontiac is going to be a key issue early on. I hate to think about it, but (a site for a regional state) prison.

For some reason, when you start talking about those negative things that no one else wants, they always seem to find their way to the City of Pontiac. At the same time, the things that people want, the tech parks, the fabulous shopping centers, they always seems to go somewhere else. Drugs, the problem of crack and cocaine, and the other things that go along with that. It's not going to go away. THE DIAMOND COLLECTION AGENDA, from Page 1A ping center in decades Oakland Pointe but still struggles to restore its downtown.

And much of the glamorous development has passed communities in south Oakland County for open spaces to the north. As 1987 begins, county leaders face growing anti-development attitudes, tax law changes that might inhibit new development and concerns about how growth will change the county. MURPHY I don't think Auburn Hills would have gotten anyplace if it hadn't been for (county government). When it started out, nobody knew where anybody was going. We finally decEded somebody had to be the facilitator, to make sure that everybody got to the meetings, that we held the meetings, that everybody was hearing the same story at the same time, and thaf what we did.

(We project) 130,000 new jobs between 1983 and 1988. Three hundred are flew industrial jobs, manufacturing jobs: What does that tell you? It tells you thatithis whole community of Oakland Couhty and southeastern Michigan is going to headquarter companies, service' companies; they're not going to manufacturing. If, you moved to Oakland County with; the expectation that you're com-, ing out to look at the bees, then maybe you should have moved 50 miles farther north. That isn't what's going to happen. ROTHSTEIN In the older communities, we're going to have a problem because all of this growth is going on in the northern part of our county, which is fine.

And, hopefully, some of those taxes will flow back to us, too. But we have to maintain our communities, and most of us are at our tax limitations. MOORE Right now I think there's too many people who are too concerned about the suburbs at the disadvantages of cities like the City of Pontiac. I see '88 and '89 as being a very rough time for the City of Pontiac (while) the rest of the county seems to be really growing. NICHOLSON I think Oakland County is becoming that new kind of high tech environment where it's going to be possible for us to-see shopping and living and productive facilities of a high-tech na-.

ture that are entirely compatible because they are not a danger to the atmosphere, they are not a danger to the city. Road upkeep a problem There is little relief in sight in 1987 for Oakland's inadequate and under-maintained roads. The primary difficulty, as illustrated by the remarks from the Free Press panel, is devising a funding mechanism for the estimated $750 million in road improvements needed in Oakland over the next decade. Countywide and regional gas taxes, safes taxes and special assessments On developers all have their advocates and opponents. None were in place at year's end.

MURPHY The road problem has got to be solved with more money. Oakland County has more roads than any other county in the state of Michigan, yet we get less money to use on those roads than Wayne County, (which) has one third less. I think probably in the next two or three years, you will see the Legislature give the counties the right to assess a gas tax. Therefore, the local unit governments will be expected to maintain their own roads. And the state is going to do more in maintaining State roads and less in maintaining local roads.

I'm opposed to county government spending tax dollars in road organizations. We've got to find some different ways to deal with those problems. SOSNICK I think each time a developer helps to pay for a road system within a half a mile of his development, that, in effect, he's really helping the wholer county because that makes dollars avail-! able for other areas that would have not been there if the developer hadn't participated. I couldn't absorb (a super-tax on developers for road improvements), so it would have to be passed along to the tenants. And If the tenants couldn't afford to pay the rent, then we all would have a problem.

Then they would look in other communities to develop that didn't have that kind of tax. But I have to travel these roads as my family does, and I wouldn't have a problem if there was an additional (gas) tax to help pay for a better road system if that's what they wanted to do. MOORE I think I would have a problem with, (a gas. tax). I'm not so sure we would benefit or necessarily 'support something like our panel Highlights: 35 years In community college education.

PhD in sociology. Appointed to head OCC In 1985. Name: Charlotte Rothstein Age: 62 Position: Oak Park mayor Highlights: Democrat elected to non-partisan City Council 1973. Mayor since 1981. Retired media center co-ordinator for Southeast Oakland Vocational Educa- tlon Center.

Name: Robert Sosnlck. Age: 52. Position: Real estate developer. Highlights: Troy-based developer who has participated in some of Oakland County's largest projects, Including Top of Troy building on Big Beaver Road and the Auburn Hills arena, now under construction. posed Increased State Police patrols on Detroit freeways than favored them.

THEY WERE evenly divided on using regional taxes to pay for public transportation in the Detroit area. Jim Lanni, county commissioner for Royal Oak, said the issue should be taken to voters. "Present tax revenue has been wasted on subway planning and (the) People Mover. Oakland (County) never received equal representation on the SEMTA board," he said. Glenn Reedus, spokesman for the City of Pontiac, said, "A sales tax for assisting in the development of a real public transportation system here would be a boon to the area." Only one respondent supported a regional tax for park improvements.

Lannl suggested, however, that the county "should acquire the zoo from Detroit and paint the zoo tower." shouldn't be developed or redeveloped in a different manner. Dome needs a hand Some officials predict the city-owned Pontiac Silverdome will become a taxpayer liability if new revenue isn't generated in the coming year. Beset by financial difficulties stemming from the collapse of the roof in 1985, the stadium struggled to make ends meet in 1986 as one of its two major tenants, the Detroit Pistons, announced plans to move to an Auburn Hills arena after the 1987-88 season. MURPHY Don't start feeling sorry for the Silverdome because we're going to lose 40 days of basketball games. We're going to pick up another 50 days it takes (to prepare) for a basketball So, you've got now 90 days 90 more days in which we can bring in different activities to the Silverdome.

The Silverdome now is now hiring another person to do just that. I don't want the people to think that the Silverdome is going to go down because we're losing $450,000 a year in the basketball monies, because I think we're going to pick that up. MOORE My concern is that the City of Pontiac has probably provided $11 to, 1 5 million to help subsidize the Silver-dome over the life of the dome, We need to develop the attitude that, the Silverdome is a regional kind of facility. It's a magnet that not only brings some notoriety to the City of. Pontiac, but throughout Oakland County.

The communities that benefit the most by the Silverdome is not the City of Pontiac, In my opinion. We don't have the hotels. We don't have that many restaurants. So people come in and they go out to the Northville hiltons and the Southfield Hiltons, and all around us. SOSNICK If the City of Pontiac would have sold the Silverdome to someone in the private sector, but still retained control of It, that person could have taken advantage of the tax credits that were available (and) paid you your $11 million Nothing would change, except they would be leasing it, OK, for 99 years, so you really in effect still own it.

ROTHSTEIN To me, when they put up the Pontiac stadium, the Silverdome, there weren't enough roads to go out there, And they're finally starting to do something (to the roads). (The Auburn Hills arena) is going to destroy the Pontiac stadium, and attendance for it. There must be some way that we, as elected officials, can control or do something to keep other cities from opening up the same type of facility. I mean, It's ridiculous. GM shutdown effects Like all of southeastern Michigan, Oakland County remains tied to the fortunes of the domestic automobile industry.

General Motors Corp. and its Electronic Data Systems subsidiary are the county's largest private employers, and will remain so even after shutting two Pontiac plants and most of another facility in Pontiac in 1987. MOORE It's going to be devastating if we don't really get a handle on it right away and start looking at other areas that these people can be placed in. We're not only talking about those jobs that are being lost by General Motors, we are also talking about at least another (supplier) job to match that. And we look at the buying that's going to have a devastating effect on the City of Pontiac.

MURPHY On the county, (the impact will be) not much at all. On the City of Pontiac, drastic. Not devastating, but drastic. Our responsibility is to work with Pontiac, to see what we can do with General Motors for the utilization of that which is going to be empty and which jobs are going to be lost. NICHOLSON We're looking at so-called incubators kinds of things where you can give low rent to entrepreneurs to start new small businesses.

A big facility going out of business in Pontiac would almost be a perfect incubator spot for small businesses to come in. 1 We are just as concerned as you are about the repositioning of all the people who have been displaced. We want to. sit down with everybody in a few weeks and see what we can do to try to work with retraining the people who have been displaced in those jobs. SOSNICK Maybe he can talk to some people in the private sector because they might have, some thoughts as to what to do with some of those aging plants.

You could say that General Motors has a responsibility to their shareholders, and they do, as to the corporation. On the other hand, they also have a responsibility to the 6,500 people that gave them four years, or 1 2 years, or 1 6 years or 20 years. The year ahead The panelists were asked what they thought must happen in 1987 to make Oakland County a better place in which to live and work. SOSNICK Business goes in cycles, unfortunately. And we have been in an up-cycle for the past four, five years.

It would certainly seem to me there's going to some sort of a leveling off, a downturn (in 1987). There is some way to marry the private sector and the public sector and make it work. Whenever I've needed to talk to (Murphy) I could see him that afternoon or the next morning. If you have that kind of response, why you can always find a way to make things happen. MURPHY This year is a very important year for us on the 696 issue.

We've got (the solid waste incinerator) project that should be in design so that we can, in 1988, start construction. That is an absolute. We have been working on that for nine years. Roads are always going to be there. We have to sit down and we have to start saying we haven't got the money, what is it we have to do in order to Improve the system.

We have to deal with the relationship with the local units of government. We've got to continue to build that. ROTHSTEIN I would like to see that highway (I-696) finished, so we can be riding on that before the year 2000. Economic stability, maintainingur, SEE THE NEW SPRING AND SUMMER BRIDAL GOWNS OF i RENOWNED DESIGNER, FRANK MASANDREA presented by Paul Diamond MONDAY, JAN. 512 to 9 P.M.

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Brown Birmingham, Ml. Call 644-4140 SURVEY, from Page 1A from the layoffs, said Kenson Siver, director of information services for the Southfield Public Schools. Inadequate funding was seen as the most pressing problem facing the schools this year. Others said the schools need to provide more social services such as drug, stress and violence counseling and vocational training. Mark Wollenweber, Huntington Woods city manager, complained of "Bad teachers protected by their unions." Money, Including lost federal revenue sharing, was listed as the most serious problem facing individual communities.

Traffic problems came In second, and water and sewage, third. Several mentioned the need for programs to help children of working parents and services for the newly unemployed. Twice as many respondents op that, because we pay for our Other communities, they're totally; funded by the county (and state). ROTHSTEIN Our city just passed a $24 million bond issue for improving our infra-; structure, our roads. The people are going to be paying! for that probably for 20 years.

(It) Is going to be a big problem; because If the state or the county! decides to levy another road tax, our people are just not going to be able to afford it. 1-696: Boon or border? Not since the early 1960s, when 75 was opened and became Oakland County's Main Street, has a highway had the potential to affect life in Michigan's most prosperous county. When the 1-696 project is completed in 1 989, it will provide the first easy east-west access for county residents and businesses. Community leaders hope 1-696 becomes a boon for both. But others worry the freeway will isolate southern communities, linking them to Detroit.

They fear 1-696 will form an unofficial border with Wayne County, creating a perception that cities like Ferndale and Oak Park are more a part of Detroit, and its problems, than Oakland. ROTHSTEIN When we talk about 1-696, we talk about it as an asset to the community. There are a lot of people who say it's extending the borders like in Oak Park of Detroit from Eight to Teri Mile RoadJ That Is a real misconception. Terrible. There will be development along 1-696 off the Ten Mile corridor.

I Our whole Eight Mile corridor has1 improved in the last three, four years, lf! you're going to look at the buildings and the construction that has gone up there. MURPHY Given the right kind of business or housing going in there, it can Improve the whole area. Jack Driker from our (economic development) department is working with those people, meeting with theni down there to help them plan what is going to happen so we don't have that. Everybody's got to set some sort of a plan so that you can do something with all that land. SOSNICK You know, developers can do just so much.

And we kind of get used to doing a certain kind of development. There is no reason why something couldn't be done in that area. I'm not suggesting that I be the one to do it. But someone will come along and do something. You know, development usually follows a road system.

And now with new roads being opened up along 696, there Is no reason why those areas I fl ORTHODONTIST ON STAFF BRACES FOR KIDS OR ADULTS $69 DOWN and $69 a month for 25 months total just $1,794 Trust CONVENIENT FAMILY DENTISTRY to give you or your children a good looking, healthy smile and straight teeth. FREE INITIAL ORTHODONTIC CONSULTATION ALL INSURANCE ACCEPTED PONTIAC E. Boulevard N. at Perry PHONE 335-6164 WATERFORD Elizabeth Lk. Rd.

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