While serving as a City Council Member and Mayor, Pete worked with numerous governmental and non-governmental agencies, boards and commissions to accomplish the following:

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

  • Purchase of Freight House and development of Farmers' Market
  • Creation of the West Michigan Industrial Park
  • Adoption of the Main Street approach to Downtown Development
  • Creation of a façade grant program

CO-OPERATIVE VENTURES

  • Establishment of the Ypsilanti District Library
  • Partnership with Ypsilanti Township and EMU to develop the corporate training center and hotel complex on Whittaker Road
  • Establishment of College of Business in downtown
  • Joint EMU-Ypsilanti Police Patrols

COMMUNITY

  • Community policing
  • Mandatory rental inspection program
  • Huron River Corridor Park Plan for the development of the River Park System
  • Grants for neighborhood parks including Prospect and Parkridge
  • Expanded public transportation through AATA and what was then Dial-A-Ride

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

  • Energy audits for City buildings
  • Referendum to allow for production of electricity at Peninsular Paper Dam
  • Provided site for Ypsilanti Recycling Project's recycling drop-off station
  • Utilized CDBG money for weatherization and energy efficiency for low income home owners
  • Organized the City s curbside recycling and compostable collection system and expanded the drop-off Station in Depot Town while with the Ypsilanti Recycling Project

ANTI-DISCRIMINATION

  • Expanded anti-discrimination protection in City policies to include marital and student status and sexual preference
  • Vastly increased minority and women representation on City boards and commissions
  • Divested police and fire pension funds from the apartheid regime in South Africa
  • Opened up hiring process to attract more women and minorities to police and fire services

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

  • Balanced budgets
  • Kept debt at a manageable level
  • Adapted to the loss of a million dollars annually from Federal Revenue Sharing and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program
  • Adusted to the reduction of State Shared Revenues and loss of state fire protection money