Cities Consider Municipal Merger
DETROIT (WWJ) - There's talk about the cities of Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck merging.
With all three cities struggling with their own respective budget woes, a marriage may sound like a good idea.
Detroit City Councilman Kwame Kenyatta sees it as a way out for cities struggling with budget woes.
"We have to fend for ourselves. Urban America is suffering and its struggling to survive because there is no urban agenda in this country from the President in office, from Congress," Kenyatta said.
The merge is an idea that has been considered before, but this time add to the mix a Governor who plans to reward municipal mergers by putting more revenue sharing dollars on the table.
Kenyatta believes shared services may be the first step to improvement.
"Ultimately, we may want to look at some type of a physical merger, which would bring numbers up, and then approve us for more dollars that could serve both Hamtramck, Highland Park as well as the city of Detroit," Kenyatta said.
The Mayors of Highland Park and Hamtramck spoke with WWJ's Vickie Thomas, saying they are not interested in merging.
Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski said a merger would solve Detroit's population problem, but would create problems for her city.
Majewski is, however, interested in having her city's police department patrol areas of Detroit that border Hamtramck.
What do you think? Would merging the cities help solve their budget woes? Leave your comments below.
