On the Ballot: Scott Warheit, City Commission

Age: 28

Family: Not married, no children; Father Glenn is a former Royal Oak small business owner.

How many years as a Royal Oak resident: 3.5

Occupation: Warheit is an attorney with the law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C.

Previous civic experience:  Warheit has frequently attended city commission meetings over the past four years.

Answers to Key Issues

Following are Warheit's answers to questions asked at the on Sept. 28.

What is the right retail/restaurant mix for downtown?

“I live downtown. Unfortunately, the retail portion of my building has been empty. Sometimes we’ve made it a little more difficult at the table here than we need to allow new businesses to move in. We need to develop downtown and move it down past 11 Mile. The Emagine theater was a good start.”

How do you feel about the Fresard property/Kroger issue?

“I think the Kroger debate was a giant missed opportunity. Living right next to the Fresard dealership I can tell you it is an eyesore. We should have worked more with Kroger to come up with a solution, a Royal Oak solution that made sense. We needed to work with them to come up with a unique Royal Oak solution rather than demanding that they do it exactly one way and having Kroger say, ‘We’re only going to do it one way.'”

What is your opinion of the non-motorized plan?

“I think the non-motorized plan is a great start. I think it’s something that we need to be discussing as a city. We need to be talking to residents and local businesses that will be affected by changes in our sidewalks and things like that. One of the reasons I bought my home in the downtown was because of its walkability.”

Here are responses to questions from the Royal Oak Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee.

What compelled you to run for the City Commission and what issue would you like to address first if elected?

Attending City Commission meetings, Monday after Monday, where I saw first-hand some of the mistakes I thought the commission was making, including not communicating as well as we should with local residents and businesses, compelled me to run for commissioner. That is a problem I will fix.   

Everyone agrees that it is important to bring jobs to Royal Oak. What three specific changes would you propose to implement job creation?

1. Fix Royal Oak's reputation as unfriendly to businesses to encourage new investment to fill our vacant storefronts and properties.
2. Streamline government to make it easier for current businesses to expand and grow.
3. Open the lines of communications with existing businesses and businesses owners and the City.

 It is important to stimulate all business corridors, including those outside of the downtown area. What specific actions would you undertake to accomplish that?

We must work with all businesses to ensure they thrive. Working with and encouraging the creation of organizations like "11 Mile Has It All," we should have community events to highlight these businesses and areas of the City that do not get the attention like our downtown does.

Contact Information

Phone: 248-267-3259

Email: swarheit@gmail.com

Website: www.votewarheit.com