Livonia City Council candidate Steve King launches a new blog for sharing views on Livonia's future

Sept. 2, 2011 - PRLog -- Livonia City Council candidate Steve King has launched a new blog for sharing views on Livonia's future with concerned citizens and local business owners.

As a school board trustee, Steve King was the only member that had a blog that allowed for open communication with stakeholders. This new blog is a continuation of that transparency as he seeks a seat on the Livonia City Council.

Steve King is an everyday American fighting to leave a better Livonia for our children. As a parent, progressive Livonia school board member, teacher, administrator, and youth sports coach, Steve knows the real world challenges families face.

As a business owner and builder, King knows progressive & responsive government can help business grow. This blog shares Steve King's views of Livonia and proposes positive solutions to help the city adapt to this new era of constant change.

Here are some answers Steve King provided during recent media interviews:

What do you consider to be Livonia’s top three challenges going forward?

Like most aging suburban areas around the country, Livonia is seriously challenged by falling tax revenues and low regional occupancy rates in the city’s commercial and industrial sectors and the lack of a cohesive vision to promote future growth.

The Livonia business climate 2011 (statistics provided by http://democracity.org/)
The City of Livonia’s industrial market vacancy rate is approximately 23% compared to the Metro-Detroit average of approximately 18%; office space vacancy is at roughly 18%, below the average of 21% but still behind the cities of Royal Oak (12%), Novi, Farmington, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills (all roughly 16%).

Vacancies have driven down property values and adversely affected local businesses and homeowners.

As a member of council how would you begin to address the high vacancy rates for commercial properties in Livonia?

To grow businesses in Livonia we need to intelligently identify what kind of businesses will provide quality jobs for our fellow citizens, and go after them. I think it is safe to say we do not need any more drug or dollar stores.

I am interested in advancing a “green” sector that will lead to good paying sustainable jobs. Building upon the success of A123 batteries and using public private partnerships we can create an environment that will encourage other manufactures of new energy products to establish a business presence in Livonia.

Please visit SteveKingMichigan.com for more information.

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Steve King is a life-long Livonia, Michigan resident who is fighting to leave a better Livonia for our children. He is running for the Livonia City Council to bring many new ideas and positively impact the business climate and quality of life in Livonia.