Re-Elect Patrick McLean

During my two decades in Ypsilanti, I have been engaged with numerous boards and organizations, some in a professional/paid capacity and others strictly as a volunteer.  These have included volunteer service on the Normal Park Neighborhood Association; the Friends of Rutherford Pool; the Washtenaw Community College Board of Trustees; the Ypsilanti Housing Commission; and the Ypsilanti Ethics Commission.  I have also held paid positions with the Washtenaw Area Council for Children, an organization I directed that focused on effective parenting and abuse prevention, and the Ecology Center, an organization that works primarily in southeastern Michigan on a broad range of environmental and environmental justice issues. 

The common thread with all of these roles and organizations is that they are part of the educational and social services fabric of our community.  Every one of these organizations is focused, in whole or in part, in inclusivity and improving the lives of those in our community.  They are all the kinds of organizations that our city and our City Council should be supporting, promoting and partnering with.  They are directly relevant to the work of council in that City Council, a part time body with limited resources, cannot directly provide the kinds of educational and social services supports that these groups do.  But Council can, with the city administration, make sure these organizations have the tools and resources to do their work in the community. 

A perfect example of this kind of partnership is the Friends of Rutherford Pool.  This organization was formed more than a decade ago when it became clear that the old pool, which had an estimated life of 25 years, was more than 40 years old.  The mechanicals were clearly on their last legs and were literally being held together by duct tape.  The group recognized that the pool was a valuable asset.  The members of that group, of which I was a part, came together and, over several years, raised more than $1 million to completely rebuild the pool.  The newly built pool was consciously designed to be inclusive in many ways: for those with physical disabilities; for groups from swimming clubs to those who cannot swim at all; for those in all corners of Ypsilanti, not just those in the surrounding neighborhood.  The city provides some in-kind support for the pool (e.g., allowing pool staff to be paid through the city payroll system), but city direct funding has been very limited.  The building of and programming at the pool show how the city and community groups can work together for the betterment of the community.  If I were to continue to serve on City Council, I would want to support and promote as many of these kinds of efforts throughout the city as possible.