River Rouge and Ecorse

[1953]

When I worked Downriver I visited this area often. I came to the conclusion that the area was ill-served by small communities without adequate resources to manage themselves, and each with poorly-performing brands. Instead, I surmised, the area might best be served by re-incorporating under the old Ecorse Twp. charter, from which the five cities there were created [[Ecorse, River Rouge, Melvindale, Allen Park, and Lincoln Park).

Doing this would give them about 100,000 people and let them come up with a new name and identity. They could shed some of the cost of redundant leadership in the five small communities and attract better professionals with better paying government jobs. The kind of City Manager you get for a city of 100,000 is usually better trained than the one you get for a city of 8,000.

That said, there are longstanding differences between these communities that would need to be set aside by forward thinking people in order to make this happen. Still, it seemed the right thing to do. You could maybe even consolidate some of the school districts there, too.

1953

[mtburb]

When I worked Downriver I visited this area often. I came to the conclusion that the area was ill-served by small communities without adequate resources to manage themselves, and each with poorly-performing brands. Instead, I surmised, the area might best be served by re-incorporating under the old Ecorse Twp. charter, from which the eight cities there were created [[Ecorse, River Rouge, Melvindale, Allen Park, Lincoln Park, Southgate, Wyandotte and Taylor).

Doing this would give them about 100,000 people and let them come up with a new name and identity. They could shed some of the cost of redundant leadership in the five small communities and attract better professionals with better paying government jobs. The kind of City Manager you get for a city of 100,000 is usually better trained than the one you get for a city of 8,000.

That said, there are longstanding differences between these communities that would need to be set aside by forward thinking people in order to make this happen. Still, it seemed the right thing to do. You could maybe even consolidate some of the school districts there, too.

1953

Fixed. Plus, Taylor was once part of Ecorse Township before it split off into it's own township.