Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun marks 100 days in office, talk city's future
Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun says some major milestones have been accomplished in his first 100 days in office.
"We have a lot of hope that the way he's going with his vision, the city is going to be the best here," said Hassan Bazzi, a longtime community activist.
Since Baydoun officially became mayor after winning a full four-year term during the recent election, thousands of tickets targeting blight in the city have been issued.
"Another 10,000 tickets will be written to make sure that we go from a decrease of 20% to a decrease by 50%, so those are real expectations that we're setting forward," Baydoun said.
Since the appointment of Police Chief Michael Guzowski, officers have written more than 6,200 citations for reckless driving, flashing stop signs are getting installed, and body cameras with language translation technology are coming.
"We just secured funding for a drone program, so we're going to be deploying that here in the next few months. Today, we're promoting three lieutenants, three of our sergeants and lieutenants, so we're trying to rebuild the leadership kind of that we've lost over the last year," Guzowski said. "We have some issues with funding, so sometimes we can be behind a little bit on that, but those are all things that we're aware of, that we're working hard to implement, working hard to get so many more things that you want to do; it's going to take a lot of hard work."
Not to mention, the department is getting a new K-9 officer to join Twix in the field.
According to the mayor, he inherited a budget deficit worth millions of dollars from the previous administration.
Which is why he created a grants department that has already applied for more than $100 million.
So far, $1.8 million has been secured.
"I don't see us not getting any money. So with the money that we're bringing forward, we're hoping that those will help offset some of those costs, but as far as things like the new Van Houtan Park, money is there for them. There's money for the new splash pad," Baydoun said.
The priorities continue with plans to address flooding, a new fire station is breaking ground in September, road construction projects to fix the aging infrastructure are in the works, and the city is developing a master plan for the first time in 20 years.
"It's about the time that things will develop for the best of the city, for the rest of the residents; we'll see projects come in and the right for the job, and we put all our trust in Him, and we're helping as a community, the administration, to move the city forward," Bazzi said.
It all has community members feeling optimistic about what's to come in the next few years.