Pleasant Ridge mayor decides not to seek reelection
Pleasant Ridge Mayor Kurt Metzger announced that he will not seek a third term as mayor in November. Metzger, center, started his time as mayor in 2013 with, from left, city commissioners Bret Scott, Ann Perry, Jason Krzysiak and Jay Foreman.
Photo provided by Kurt Metzger
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PLEASANT RIDGE The mayor of Pleasant Ridge has announced that he will not be seeking reelection this fall.
After eight years as head of the Pleasant Ridge City Commission, Mayor Kurt Metzger revealed in April his decision not to run for reelection in November.
Metzger, 74, won his seat in 2013 and ran unopposed for a second term in 2017. Coming into this year, he said he didn’t want things to get stale or feel like he was going through the motions.
As part of the weekly series
MichMash, hosts Jake Neher and Cheyna Roth talk about why the state has been lagging in population growth.
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While the state’s population has grown, it hasn’t grown enough. Since 2010, Michigan’s population has grown 2%, for a total count of 10,084,442. According to the Census Bureau, that’s the fifth-lowest population growth in the nation.
And if you’re surprised by this, you haven’t been listening to MichMash!
Three years ago Neher said of the state’s lagging population, “Consider the fact that since we lost a seat after the 2010 Census, losing a congressional seat, another one, that would not help one bit.”
Image credit: State of Michigan
Michigan’s lost congressional seat signals a much larger problem with population.
Last year’s Census count found that Michigan is not growing as fast as other states, which will result in the state losing a congressional seat. Now that we’ll soon be down to 13 districts instead of 14, there’s a question of how this will affect Michigan’s congressional district map.
“Obviously fewer people is going to result in fewer dollars from the feds and fewer dollars down to the local levels. That is a big problem and certainly an issue that needs to be addressed.” Kurt Metzger, demographer and mayor of Pleasant Ridge