Noisy wheels get the grease in local government

By Colleen Miller

Copy Editor

The election is over, but democracy can happen every day. 

There are dozens of people in everybody’s pockets holding office ready to be complained to, nagged at, persuaded, or whatever your favorite method is for getting what you want. It works because you elect all these people, presumably, and they want to keep you happy. If they don’t, they run the risk of losing their office or seat to somebody who can promise to make you happier, safer, richer, etc.

An excellent success story starts with me living off Tienken Road nearby campus. Until a couple weeks ago, there were tire-blowing potholes that caused an excruciating sound when semi-trucks and lawn maintenance trailers passed by. Every time it rained or snowed the holes got deeper and hub caps littered my lawn. Every day in the winter there would be one person shoveling asphalt out of the back of a road commission truck with nobody to watch traffic. Talk about dangerous. The road was just as terrible a little east of Rochester Road, where swerving was necessary to keep your suspension from exploding. 

I wrote to the city to see if there was some sort of re-pavement in the works and if there was a legal loading limit, because I was sure the trucks were what was ripping up the road. I didn’t receive a response; apparently it wasn’t worth Rochester Hills’ time to inform me that Tienken was a county road and not under their jurisdiction. That is, until I wrote a similar e-mail and copied it to my elected officials, being clear to mention that I vote.

I received numerous e-mails in the following weeks from the offices of my representatives in the Michigan Legislature informing me of the contact they made with the Oakland County Road Commission. I also received an e-mail from the road commission about plans for Tienken in the future (which didn’t include the stretch in front of my house) and that they sent somebody out to monitor for violations of the loading limit.

I was still sort of unsatisfied and ready to write again about the pathetic state of the road in front of my house and how their plans to patch as needed weren’t sufficient. But then it happened on a glorious Friday morning; instead of hearing puncturing rubber and rattling cargos I heard the “beep beep” of a construction vehicle.

Every problem area I whined about has been resurfaced. Not only did I make it bearable to sit in my living room with the window open, but I can drive to Rochester without appearing hammered. The county will save money, save time, and maybe even save the life of a road commission worker.

So maybe you’ve never voted in elections other than the presidential one because you don’t know anything about who is running. Seek them out, because those are the people that represent you and what you want from the government. Here’s a run down of the people you can contact:

•Local: Try your city council, your mayor and your police chief. Look for them on your city’s website.

•State: Your elected officials in the Michigan Legislature depend on your House and Senate districts, listed on your voter registration card. Your state representatives and senators are who you want to go to for local concerns, you can find them and the legislation they are involved in at www.legislature.mi.gov. 

•National: Similar to the state Congress, the U.S. Congress elects a House Representative from your district, but two Senators from the entire state. 

So don’t wait until a decision is made to gripe about it; with a simple e-mail, you can influence the decisions made on your behalf.