Democrat Dave Coulter, mayor of Ferndale, named Oakland County executive

[Seven&wyo]

I don't know much about his policies, bit Ferndalr is no doubt a beautiful city, hopefully now there will be more comradery among Detroit and Oakland.

[Scottathew]

I don't like the shenanigans of Woodward resigning and then unresigning, that was a stupid move from the start. However, I am happy with the choice for the new county executive. It was funny watching all the Republicans talking out their butts saying that they should appoint a Republican to the position as if they would do the same thing if the situation was reversed.

It's been nice watching Oakland County turn blue.

[EGrant]

If anything, the mayor of Ferndale should have a good understanding on the symbiotic relationship between Oakland Co. and Detroit, while also protecting the interests of his constituents.

[Danny]

Now Oakland County can escape from the White version of Coleman Young leader and get into a Barack Obama-esque leader.

[casscorridor]

Hopefully he can push the restart on regional transit

[CassTechGrad]

After this we'll look back on the Coleman Young era as "the good old days".

[Colombian Dan]

John Nichols and L Brooks Patterson were the last of a generation. They both stood their ground, right or wrong. Oakland county will be changing fast now.

[Wesley Mouch]

With this change, what policies 'on the ground' need to be changed? We know LBP wasn't loved by many -- but what specific policies need to be changed?

[Hypestyles]

well, best of luck. Still, the regular election is still, what-- next year?

[iheartthed]

With this change, what policies 'on the ground' need to be changed? We know LBP wasn't loved by many -- but what specific policies need to be changed?

Didn't the inner ring suburbs object to the I-75 widening project?

[Scottathew]

With this change, what policies 'on the ground' need to be changed? We know LBP wasn't loved by many -- but what specific policies need to be changed?

One example would be a few years back when we had a 70-80 million dollar surplus Patterson used it to lower taxes instead of sending it toward the roads. Low taxes are great, but not if our infrastructure is crumbling. The county has too many neglected roads [[speaking specifically to ones owned by the county).

[LongGone06]

With this change, what policies 'on the ground' need to be changed? We know LBP wasn't loved by many -- but what specific policies need to be changed?

Wasn't loved by many? He was loved enough to be serving his seventh term as County Exec. I didn't always agree with Patterson, and often was frustrated by his anti-regional rhetoric and policies; but, he was a strong exec, particularly in his early terms when Oakland County was among the wealthiest nationwide. It will be interesting to see how things change as Oakland County does indeed become more "blue," and if this change will continue the trend of growth and wealth moving toward Livingston.

[mwilbert]

His approach, uncongenial as I found it, was for a long time a good fit for the people of Oakland County. But times change, and I suspect that it's been a while since he could have been elected if he hadn't been an incumbent.

A lot of what needs to changed is just atmospherics, and a lot of that is just Patterson's style and history. What policies need to be changed really depend on what your vision of the world is like. Patterson's approach to keeping Oakland County financially viable was encouraging endless sprawl, because given the way Michigan taxation works, new development is the main path toward increased revenue. If the next generation of leadership thinks that's not as good an idea as he did, they are going to need some new policies, and they may not think every new road project ever proposed is a good idea either.