Ann Arbor mayor talks roads, transit and job growth in unofficial 'state of the city' address

Mayor John Hieftje used part of his unofficial "state of the city" address to the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor on Wednesday to discuss the condition of city streets.

"We did get behind on roads, but I want to give you a little hope there," Hieftje told the crowd gathered inside the Michigan Union. "I think we're catching up pretty fast."

Hieftje received some pushback on that issue, as not everyone in the audience was convinced the city is doing enough to address crumbling city streets.

"Maybe you're on some different streets than I'm on," said Rotarian Doug Freeth, calling attention to poor conditions along Ann Arbor-Saline Road and East Stadium Boulevard.

Another member of the audience complained about the condition of Huron Street, which Hieftje pointed out is managed by the Michigan Department of Transportation.

"Again, the city is trying to catch up, and I think after next year we will have caught up," he said, suggesting the city's road quality reports show improving conditions.

Hieftje said the city got behind on fixing streets while the city was saving up street millage dollars to rebuild the Stadium bridges. But after nearly $14 million in federal funds became available for the bridge project, the city was able to turn its attention back to repaving streets.

The mayor relayed figures on how many lane miles of streets were repaved or reconstructed in recent years — 3.6 miles in 2009, 5.3 miles in 2010, and 4.7 miles in 2011.

"But in 2012, spending went from $8.74 million to $18.34 million," he said. "And we thought that in 2012 we probably did about as much road construction as you can do in one year, because the orange barrels were up everywhere and it was difficult last summer to get around town."

Hieftje added, "We're going to do it again this year, and with a few carrying over from last year, there'll be 30 miles repaved in the city this summer, so watch out for those orange barrels."

Aside from roads, Hieftje took the opportunity on Wednesday to talk about the city's finances, public safety, economic development, the Greenbelt Program and transportation. His remarks were upbeat as he painted an optimistic outlook for the city as it continues to grow.

Hieftje pointed out Ann Arbor's population is growing — up 2,000-plus residents from 2010 to 2012 — and University of Michigan economists have predicted the county will add 12,961 new jobs from 2013 to 2015. That's in addition to the 11,978 jobs added from 2010 to 2012.

"We continue to have the lowest unemployment in the state," Hieftje said, touting the growing hub of tech companies that have moved into downtown Ann Arbor.

Hieftje said the formation of Ann Arbor SPARK has made a big difference on the economic development front in Ann Arbor, and the arrival of a Google office downtown put a "stake in the ground" for some of the high-tech companies like Barracuda Networks that have followed.

"I was just having a conversation with the brokers who are handling the Borders building and they think there's probably 1,000 tech workers right on that Liberty corridor right now that didn't use to be there just a few years ago," Hieftje said.

"The interesting thing about the tech workers who are coming into our city is they provide us with some young people to bridge the gap that we've always had in our city between college students and, frankly, what was an aging population," Hieftje said. "We needed to prepare our city to hand off to another generation of people who are willing to step up and serve."

Noting that many of the tech workers he talked about are typically in the 25 to 38 age range, Hieftje said he's happy to see an influx of young people coming into Ann Arbor. But with a growing population and job base comes challenges, he said, pointing out there's growing traffic congestion.

"The university has a new parking structure going up down on Maiden Lane," he noted. "And if you look back over the last couple of decades, you find that every two or three years the city or university is having to build a parking structure."

Hieftje said he I doesn't believe Ann Arbor would have the robust activity it has downtown without the parking that's been provided, but he would prefer not to build another parking structure.

"I think we could all agree we want to continue to have robust job growth in our city, and the solution that I see is probably increased and better transit," he said.

Hieftje said the city is going to see serious traffic gridlock by 2020 if more investments aren't made in public transit in the coming years. If the city doesn't take action, he said, the job growth that's expected for Ann Arbor is probably going to go somewhere else.

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.