Econemy and Jobs
PLAN TO FIX:
- Breaking the credit crunch to help businesses invest and grow
- Making Michigan’s tax structure more business friendly
- Cutting the red tape
- Standing up for Michigan manufacturing
- Making Michigan the world leader in new energy R&D and production
- Replicating Lansing's International Development Zones Statewide
- Rebuilding Michigan's Failing Infrastructure and Fix Our Roads
- Stopping falling home values
- Freezing tuition costs
- Keeping our kids and grandkids here
- Strengthening education
- Fighting for Fair Trade, Not Free Trade
Education
PLAN TO FIX:
- Expand access to Pre-K education with the goal that every 4-year-old in Michigan in the year 2020 will be enrolled in high-quality preschool
- Full-Day Kindergarten
- An all-out attack on the drop out rate
- Hold parents accountable for the attendance of their children in school
- Create "right track academies" where disruptive and truant children can go to get the education and help they need
- Increase the availability of before- and after-school programs for elementary school children
- Expand students' graduation options through creative partnerships with community colleges in career and technical fields and with alternative schools so that students have another way to earn a high school diploma
- Provide career and technology training for 21st Century jobs
- For students who are incarcerated, tie their release to high school graduation at the end of their sentences
- Keep Class Sizes Small
- LTT: Let Teachers Teach
- Pay for it: Consolidate administrative and purchasing services within the state's 500+ school districts, allowing dollars to filter down to the classroom level to bridge the gap between high-achieving and low-achieving school districts
- Provide stable, predictable funding to school districts, colleges, and universities
- Restore the Michigan Promise, increase access to higher education, and strengthen partnerships between universities and state government to prevent tuition increases
Energy
THINGS VIRG DID:
- Virg was the first to develop an office dedicated exclusively to green development and environmental sustainability, uniting businesses, organizations and citizens alike in pledging to reduce their carbon footprint, ensuring cleaner land, water and air for future generations
- Virg was among the first in the nation to develop a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), and a “Green School” program. According to Lansing’s Go Green website, The Green Schools Program is designed to involve students, teachers, and staff alike. Through the reduced consumption of resources and energy, schools will use less money to operate properly. This ultimately allows school districts to invest more in our children. Increased efficiency of operations and use of resources produces favorable learning and teaching environments. We can transform teaching tools and schools themselves into learning centers for increased economic, educational and environmental performance
- Virg worked to make Lansing’s Board of Water and Light (BWL) one of the most cost-efficient and green utility providers — the BWL’s new solar array is a model for how utilities can take steps toward reducing our dependence on non-renewable fuel sources
- Virg led the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) in supporting the Climate Protection Agreement. Under this agreement, mayors across the nation are working to meet or exceed the Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities, through actions ranging from anti-sprawl land use policies to public information campaigns
- Virg made Lansing the first Michigan city to sign on to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star Challenge — a national call to action to improve the energy efficiency of America’s commercial industrial buildings by 10 percent or more
- Virg made Lansing home to the state's largest solar array
- Virg brought the world's first dual LEED platinum building to Lansing
Environment
VIRG'S RECORD:
Virg Bernero is one of Michigan’s most environmentally progressive mayors and will bring a powerful commitment to protecting Michigan’s air, water and land resources as our next governor.
As Mayor of Lansing, one of Virg’s first official actions was to establish the Greater Lansing Go Green Initiative and hire the city’s first full-time environmental coordinator. At the same time he signed the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, accepted the US EPA Energy Star Challenge to reduce energy usage by 10%, and issued an Executive Order requiring the City of Lansing to adopt a series of measures to conserve energy and utilize alternative, renewable resources to reduce the city’s dependence on foreign oil. He established the city’s first Renewable Portfolio Standard, setting an ambitious goal of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Virg has also worked with community leaders in Lansing to make the city more walkable and bikeable, earning Lansing national recognition.
Virg has also been a forceful and effective leader in improving the water quality of Lansing area watersheds through the city’s Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) separation project, which he expanded to include innovative, award winning urban rain gardens that naturally filter contaminants from storm water runoff before it can reach our rivers. He also directed the City’s Public Service Department as they sought out and remediated dozens of point source sewage outfalls that were contributing to the pollution of the Grand River.
Virg Bernero is one of Michigan’s most environmentally progressive mayors and will bring a powerful commitment to protecting Michigan’s air, water and land resources as our next governor.
As Mayor of Lansing, one of Virg’s first official actions was to establish the Greater Lansing Go Green Initiative and hire the city’s first full-time environmental coordinator. At the same time he signed the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, accepted the US EPA Energy Star Challenge to reduce energy usage by 10%, and issued an Executive Order requiring the City of Lansing to adopt a series of measures to conserve energy and utilize alternative, renewable resources to reduce the city’s dependence on foreign oil. He established the city’s first Renewable Portfolio Standard, setting an ambitious goal of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Virg has also worked with community leaders in Lansing to make the city more walkable and bikeable, earning Lansing national recognition.
Virg has also been a forceful and effective leader in improving the water quality of Lansing area watersheds through the city’s Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) separation project, which he expanded to include innovative, award winning urban rain gardens that naturally filter contaminants from storm water runoff before it can reach our rivers. He also directed the City’s Public Service Department as they sought out and remediated dozens of point source sewage outfalls that were contributing to the pollution of the Grand River.
EQUALITY
VIRG'S RECORD:
When a group of white supremacists converged on Lansing in 2006, Virg quickly organized a counter-rally to celebrate diversity and inclusion. This celebration, known as Diversity Day in Lansing, has become an annual event where people from all walks of life and all backgrounds come together to learn about each other's rich heritage. As Mayor of Lansing, Virg Bernero also hosts the annual Mayor's Ramadan Dinner. This event is an opportunity to bring together people from every faith to share a meal, to celebrate interfaith cooperation, to learn about the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and to raise money for the Great Lansing Food Bank and the Mid-Michigan Food Bank.
When a group of white supremacists converged on Lansing in 2006, Virg quickly organized a counter-rally to celebrate diversity and inclusion. This celebration, known as Diversity Day in Lansing, has become an annual event where people from all walks of life and all backgrounds come together to learn about each other's rich heritage. As Mayor of Lansing, Virg Bernero also hosts the annual Mayor's Ramadan Dinner. This event is an opportunity to bring together people from every faith to share a meal, to celebrate interfaith cooperation, to learn about the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and to raise money for the Great Lansing Food Bank and the Mid-Michigan Food Bank.
Healthcare
HIS' PLAN:
Creating the groundbreaking Ingham Health Plan, a countywide health insurance program that provides basic health care coverage for people without health insurance
Creating the Otto Community Otto Community Health Clinic, which serves many low-income parents, children, and residents in the community
Public Safety
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