This letter is to explain why I am supporting Pat Lesko for mayor and Lou Glorie for my council representative, and not the present incumbents. I am a townie, and proud of it. I have lived in Garden Homes, which is on the northeast of Miller Avenue and Maple Road for over 50 years. Anyone who is aware of the area knows what a great neighborhood it is. Garden Homes was annexed to the City of Ann Arbor in 1969, when Bob Harris (Democrat) was elected mayor. Our neighborhood was suffering from lack of proper wells, septic fields, etc.

The 1st thing the new mayor did was ask what the residents of the area, both owners and renters, wanted! This resulted in the Garden Homes Association being formed, surveys taken, and City Council listening to the neighborhood as to how to proceed. The city hired a project co-coordinator to work with the neighborhood (Laurie Wargelin, who became the city’s 1st CD Director).

It took a few years, but the work of the people and expenses (covered by the city) resulted in the HUD project, Neighborhood Development Plan, being successfully implemented. We worked with 3 mayors, Harris, Stevenson (Republican) & Wheeler (Democrat) to build our neighborhood into what we have today, and I am sure, the tax revenue has more than paid the city back for the investment it made in the project. The point? The mayor and council worked with the citizens (voters) toward what they wanted. Today, when land is available, the current administration calls all the developers who contribute to them and ask what they want to do. It seems like it’s the citizens who will be impacted have to fight the City/Developer group, and of course, they usually win. I want a mayor and council representative who will ask me what I want, not the developers, what I want, and not the developers This is why I support Pat Lesko and Lou Glorie over the present administration. Also that fact that our roads and bridges are falling apart while we pay 800,000 for a fountain also support my decision. Lois M. Mayfield Ann Arbor