Macomb County Exec Challenges 'Red Headed Stepchild' Image
MOUNT CLEMENS (WWJ) – According to Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, a 2010 census report confirmed that the county added over 50,000 new residents - the highest growth in the state of Michigan in the last decade.
Yet Hackel said most people talk about Macomb County like Metro Detroit's "red-headed stepchild. "I think it's just because we let other people speak on our behalf," he told WWJ Newsradio 950's Sandra McNeil.
"We let other people kind of brand and market us," he said. "But Macomb County is more than just the things we make. We are blue-collar, and we should be proud of that, but we are more than just the things that we make."
Hackel said that people wonder why the county does not have a university, but ...
"We do," said Hackel. "Macomb County Community College is the greatest two-year institution in the entire country, in my opinion."
Hackel said he's been on a mission to re-brand Macomb County, highlighting assets including the busiest boating waterway in Lake St. Clair and a growing upper-middle-class population.
