Eastpointe, MI - Thoughts of the Day

Another fine day in the City of Eastpointe

Listed are a few thoughts covering items that need attention or should be looked into along with a courtesy response from either our Mayor and/or Council.
Ok, benefit of the doubt, these items may have been overlooked by various city officials or staff.

1. When trees are removed from public property such as medians, parks, due to disease, very little green canopy left due to age, etc. noticed they are not typically replaced. Trees are a very important part of our eco system as well as adding beauty to our environment. The few new trees noticed are quite small and spindly, how about planting tress with a larger diameter trunk say 2-3" minimum? You have the staff and equipment. Hopefully someone listed in the budget for new tree's and replacements.

2. Tree maintenance needs to be kept up on a regular and frequent basis. Don't let growth of suckers and low hanging branches get out of hand, once a year is just not sufficient.

3. It was last year, that a resident (Mr. Brown) made mention, expressing concern on the improper mulch "Volcano" rings placed around the city trees. This is not healthy and incorrect, which will cause tree damage, harbor insects and disease, mold, and many other problems. Yes it does look nice. This can be corrected by simply pulling the mulch rink away from the tree trunk. Who ever did this does not clearly know there job. If you're not sure check into and ask first! Please correct immediately and take care of our / my trees.
http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/mulching.aspx

4. Junk mailings continue to be thrown onto porches, yards, bushes on a regular basis which is illegal without proper permits from the city. City ordinances cover this and should be modified that any such mailings must have a single point of contact (name and number) where one can be reached. Right now there is no information listed on these packages of individuals or companies to contact. (Mailings are typically inside of clear plastic bags).

5. Eastpointe has 2 city channels, one is currently used for information and the other under utilized, only used over the past several years for the Safety Millage presentation. This second channel could possibly be further utilized by local citizens and possibly business's. This available channel(s) are for public use which means there could be various forums, Town Hall meetings and so on. Our previous Mayor Harvey Curly utilized this one channel, interviewing others, discussing events. This would be a great opportunity for our high school students who are studying in this field of broadcasting, allowing them to have a real, live, first hand experience.
The city has some amount of AV equipment sitting idle which was part of an agreement between Comcast and the city. The assistant city manager was responsible for seeing that the equipment was to be utilized for city events but, unfortunately had no idea on how to use it, or the time to research it. For reference, an individual that hosted events for Comcast offered his services but was turned down by ???

Also as part of an agreement, Comcast was to pay in either a lump sum or payments to the city, which was to be used for the sole purpose of public telecommunications meaning, use by the residence's.
Just where did these funds go, how much was received?
Possibility of Misappropriation of funds?
Come to think of, didn't a resident ask this a year or two ago?

If the city is not going to use this equipment then sell it (not worth much if anything due to the vintage) or at least let select individuals use it for city functions and get some use out of it.

One of our residence (Mr. Ken Brown) has been seen many times, video taping community events, town hall meetings, parades, Gratiot Cruise, ethnic festivals, The Ritz, Shiverfest and many more. He was mistaken many times as a television cameraman and responded, "I'm volunteering, filming events for the city, that maybe it will be on the city channel". People were so excited that these city events would be televised, seeing themselves on TV as well as being able to record it at home, show other family members, those that are unable to venture out, an important event in there life, all positive comments.
We are clearly missing out on a "Family Town" representation.

Who knows, maybe Mr. Brown would be interested in filming from time to time with dedicated support from our folks at city hall.

HeavyMetal001 - Your comments and factual information was appreciated, Thank-you.