Memorial Day Parade

I had the pleasant opportunity to walk with current 60th District State Representative (and former Mayor of Kalamazoo) Robert B. Jones in Kalamazoo's Memorial Day parade on May 26th. Thanks to Mark Miller for snapping the image. For more photos from the parade, go to West Michigan Rising at: http://www.westmichiganrising.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=295

Commissioner McCann at Swearing-in Ceremony

The 47th Kalamazoo City Commission was sworn in this evening at City Hall. Sean McCann was re-elected with a total of 5803 votes, placing him third after Hopewell (6118) and McKinney (6064).
Photo: Dominick Gladstone

Sean McCann quoted in Monday's Gazette Editorial

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

"Last week, Kalamazoo City Commissioner Sean McCann urged the administration to shed more light on the departures. 'There's the notion all of this is tied to the 2003 prostitution investigation,' he said. 'If this is not the case, we owe it to the public to offer an explanation.'

"We agree."

To read the whole editorial, click here.

Tour a Norman Carver, Jr. house in Parkwyn Village

Loads of Letters to the Editor

Check out Sunday's slew of letters in the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Highlights of Sean at the Second Candidate Forum

Preliminary Survey Results

A few months ago, we began distributing a short survey with four multiple-choice questions about City issues and how the City was doing in addressing them. What follows is an overview of the results to-date.

Surveys distributed
7000 (100.00%)
Surveys returned to date
343 (4.90%)

Male
135 (39.36%)
Female
138 (40.23%)
M/F (two voters)
31 (9.04%)

Age
18-30--21 (6.12%)
31-55--106 (30.90%)
56-75--136 (39.65%)
76-95--45 (13.12%)

Question 1--City Met or Exceeded Expectations
1 Downtown Revitalization 183 (53.35%)
2 Parks & Recreation Programs 126 (36.73%)

Question 2--City Aspects or Services Need Improvement
1 Economic Development 186 (54.23%)
2 Neighborhoods 161 (46.94%)

Question 3--City's most pressing concerns (check two)
1 Jobs 215 (62.68%)
2 Poverty 137 (39.94%)

Question 3--City's least pressing concerns (check two)
1 Historic Site restoration 162 47.23%
2 Parking 140 40.82%
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Obviously, these are early numbers. We'll be getting more data in the weeks ahead. We promise to publish more comprehensive results soon.

National Night Out--plus the Dunk Tank