Can you spot the hypocrisy?

Traverse Connect Candidate Questionnaire Responses

Commissioners Henschell, Nelson, McAllister, Jewett and Morris all voted to NOT move forward to even get an estimate on a feasibility study to eliminate the current GT Road Commission and bring it under the the umbrella of the rest of the county services.  They believe the county road commission is doing a fine job.  While I agree, the work they do is great, the areas of focus are not.  They do need more funding for local roads, and we may be able to accomplish that without raising property taxes only IF we bring the road commission under the county services.

Commissioners McAllister and Jewett neglected to answer the Traverse Connect questionnaire.

Rob Henschell:

What specific infrastructure projects would you like to see to make our region more attractive to potential businesses and residents?

Grand Traverse County has around 1000 miles of local roads. It would be a worthy goal that the world likens our roads to driving on 1000 miles of black glass, the smoothest in the world. That’s a bit lofty and unrealistic, but BHAG’s (big hairy audacious goal) create progress and our roads need progress.

Darryl Nelson:

What specific infrastructure projects would you like to see to make our region more attractive to potential businesses and residents?

One example: We have some serious growth pressure on our transportation corridors in the county. As the county has grown, some of our roads need to be brought up to meet the growth, plus have the underlying water/sewer/electrical/high speed data capacity improved so that business and/or housing can find it economically feasible to invest further along the road. This requires planning. We cannot maintain the local roads, keep up with the corridor roads, and invest in improving roads to bring economic growth without a multiyear plan, AND funding. I would like to begin some more deliberate discussions toward this goal.

Penny Morris:

What specific infrastructure projects would you like to see to make our region more attractive to potential businesses and residents?

With the challenges of exponential growth in businesses and the resulting need for housing, I would like to see improvements to our roads as well as traffic controls. Very often, traffic congestion contributes to safety concerns, particularly during peak hours. This is an issue I am currently working on within my own district.