Rep. Geiss, other area lawmakers host ‘This is Your House’ town hall meeting in Taylor
- Apr 14, 2017
- 2 min read
State Rep. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor) was the host of a town hall event Wednesday at Wayne County Community College District’s Downrvier campus that also brought in Reps. Darin Camilleri (D-Brownstown Twp.), Cara Clemente (D-Lincoln Park), Abdullah Hammoud (D-Dearborn) and Christine Greig (D-Farmington Hills) to talk with residents.
Greig, while not representing Downriver or Dearborn/Dearborn Heights worked at Masco Corp. before turning to politics and is the minority floor leader.
Frank Liberati (D-Allen Park) was unable to make it at the last minute.
The event was one of nine similar meetings scheduled across the state through mid-May that are aimed at connecting with residents and finding out what is important to them.
After brief introductions, the panelists talked about their committee assignments, the best way to contact them or their offices and some of what they have been working on since being sworn in at the start of the year. Geiss and Greig are in their second terms, while the others are first-term legislators.
The event, branded as “This is Your House,” drew about 20 people who talked about topics that were important to them.
Hammoud told the crowd the best way to contact him and most of the other representatives is to call them or talk to them at a coffee hour, though they all are on social media as well.
He said nearly every state representative has at least one social media platform.
Geiss agreed that calls are best.
“Postal mail can take up to 10 days to get to our offices,” she said.
Emails can end up in spam folders, social media messages can be lost, but phone calls are easily answered and can get a resident help much faster, they said.
Geiss also said that when sending an email, make it original; don’t just use a form letter from one of the many groups that write them on various topics. She said a personal note is much more effective than something that is just a form letter.
The budget was a key topic during the session, as the state is working on next year’s budget.
Greig said there is an underfunding of about $1,200 per student for public schools in the current proposed budget. She said they are working with the governor to change that and to add more money for “at risk” students in every district, not just in specific schools as it is now.
Other key topics were a proposed law to make anyone running for president on a Michigan ballot reveal five years of tax returns, restructuring to a flat tax instead of the current system, automotive insurance, what’s happening federally, and infrastructure.
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