On 23rd of January, the eve of midterms at Dakota Highschool–I attended a meeting at the Cobo Center to meet and hear from Michigan’s Big Four, on the issues and interest of the four communities at make up this part of Michigan including: Macomb, Wayne, Oakland, and Detroit with their executives alongside the Mayor of Detroit (the big four). At the meeting the four officials answered an array of questions and touched upon many topics but one did catch my ear overall. Nearing the second half of the meeting, Macomb County Executive, Mark Hackel was asked: “What is the biggest challenge or issue facing your county.” To this Hackel revealed, unsurprisingly, to be the conditions of the road in Macomb. I was utterly fascinated in how Hackel planned on fixing this issue, fixing the batter and cracked–pot hole riddled roads that as one Dakota student so brilliantly described as: “sucking.”

To my dismay, Hackel didn’t go over his plans on how to rectify this problem, only ensuring the crowd that it’s on his list of things to do. Likely right behind: getting sandwiches, apple juice, and fruit for the picnic he’ll undoubtedly be having on the side of 23 mile amidst watching people struggling to get down the street in their Ford Focuses, not built to withstand rock more hole punched than the moon. Pray for us.