© 2024 WEMU
Serving Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, MI
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
0000017d-4e0c-dda1-a7fd-4fde73920000

Soapbox Summer 2018 - Christopher Taylor

Myra Klarman

Christopher Taylor is seeking your vote to be re-elected Mayor of Ann Arbor.  This is the candidate's submission to the 2018 WEMU Soapbox Summer.

Hi, my name is Christopher Taylor and I’m the Mayor of Ann Arbor.  It has been my pleasure and honor to serve as your Mayor since 2014, when I pledged to improve basic services and
enhance quality of life.
 

Since 2014, we’ve accomplished quite a lot -- the roads have been terrible for decades, but we
are spending millions more now every single year and are on track to have 80% of our roads
rated Good and Excellent by 2025; we’ve intervened in the 1,4 Dioxane lawsuit to demand
stronger clean up and protect our drinking water.  We’re in line to obtain best practices
accreditation for the Ann Arbor Police Department by Fall of 2018; we’ve completed all Tier 1
and Tier 2 pedestrian safety projects near our schools to help keep kids safe; we’ve accelerated
stormwater projects; planted 1000s of new street trees; improved our LGBTQ equity score from
77 to over 100; dedicated $2.3 million in new money to affordable housing, pedestrian safety,
and climate action; and we built a universal access playground in Gallup Park. Our finances are
strong, and our AA+ bond rating reaffirmed.
 

I’m running for re-election this year because there’s so much more to do, and I just love our community, and I know I’m not alone in that.  I hear the same thing from people every single day.  We’re not perfect, but people tell me this is the best place they’ve ever lived, and they take pride
in what we’ve built together.  And I think at City Hall, we have a role to play in that.
 

First and foremost, we’re responsible for our basic services: streets, sidewalks, stormwater,
clean water, sewer, police, fire.  These are the things we do and have to do every single day,
and I’m committed to making them better and better because they are the core of what makes
Ann Arbor a great place to live.  Over the next four years, I want us to increase road spending,
roads 80% Good and Excellent; take further and real action on 1,4 Dioxane; secure safe
drinking water with a refurbished Water Treatment Plant and improved water main networks; I
want us to reduce neighborhood flooding with more stormwater projects.
 

But we’re not just a basic community.  Ann Arbor is not going to be the best place you’ve ever
lived if it’s not the most equitable place you’ve ever lived, if it’s not the most sustainable place
you’ve ever lived.  Funding and implementing our affordable housing plan so we can improve
diversity and inclusion; making us an age-friendly community to help seniors age in place;
starting up and supporting a trusted policing commission; funding and implementing our climate
action plan so that we can do our part; improving our composting and recycling systems; and
making sure that we are the most pedestrian and bike friendly town you’ve ever lived in.  My priorities are Ann Arbor priorities.  Basic services, equity, sustainability.  That’s why I’m
running for re-election, and that’s why I’d be grateful for your vote on August 7.
 

Website: www.TaylorForA2.com