Traverse City Record-Eagle

Election 2011

October 30, 2011

Our view: Werner, Carruthers, Budros

When Tim Werner talks connectivity, he means it literally. As in connecting the neighborhoods, downtown and business areas along Garfield and 14th Street. As in better streets and sidewalks, giving neighborhoods input on downtown projects and applying the lessons learned downtown elsewhere in the city.

An engineer by training, Werner says he wants to be "level-headed" about city problems. He wants a stronger city administrative staff and would be willing to revisit the idea of a community development director.

Werner is smart and soft-spoken and thinks before he talks. He likes the practical direction the city has taken under outgoing Mayor Chris Bzdok; he favors the non-discrimination ordinance.

Werner is the best of a pretty good field of commission newcomers.

Jim Carruthers is one of those people who isn't afraid to express his opinion. But that's just part of the story. The effervescent and outspoken Carruthers is a good listener, does his homework and is a strong advocate for what he believes in, including the city's non-discrimination ordinance. Carruthers has roots in the city neighborhoods and is vocal about neighborhood interests. He defends his reputation as a "naysayer"; "If there's going to be public subsidy for a project, we want to know what the public benefit is," he says.

He'd like to see some funding flow to areas outside downtown and Traverse City Light & Power funds used for wider projects.

He deserves four more years of asking the tough questions.

Barbara Budros likes to ask questions. The private-practice attorney and mediator recently took some heat when she asked about the city's two tax increment financing (TIF) districts and how they work. If re-elected to a second term, she said, she'll keep right on asking.

Budros said the commission often gets incomplete answers from city and Downtown Development Authority staff — sometimes not the whole truth. She wants more attention paid to process and the long-term ramifications of projects. She doesn't like commissioners being pressured to approve developments that appear to be hastily pieced together. And she wants to know more about the city's fire department options. She also supports the non-discrimination ordinance.

She has earned another term.

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