Mayor announces reelection bid
Ferndale Mayor Melanie Piana announced Thursday she is running for reelection to a second two-year term in November’s general election.
Piana served 10 years on the City Council before she was first elected mayor in 2019.
During her term as mayor the council has continued its reputation for seeking progressive policies in the city.
“I want to continue the great work of the City Council … the city has been a progressive place,” Piana said. “Whenever I talk to residents and ask what they like about Ferndale they say they like our walkable community, and the city being welcoming and having good access to shopping (and restaurants). Ferndale is a place where you can be who you are.”
Piana has a master’s degree
in urban planning from Wayne State University and has worked in economic and development organizations, many of them nonprofit groups.
Personally and professionally, she said she is interested in building “inclusive and equitable communities.”
But like other cities, Ferndale is dealing with the pandemic and looking
ahead to what is next.
The city wants to strengthen the local economy and help businesses get back on their feet, though aid has been available with federal dollars and county grants that the city can’t deploy, Piana said.
One big upcoming issue involves an effort to make safety improvements on Woodward Avenue through Ferndale and Pleasant Ridge.
The two cities have joined in seeking a federal grant of $3.9 million through SEMCOG to reduce a lane of motor
vehicle traffic on Woodward and put in protected bike lanes on both sides of the avenue.
Ferndale and Pleasant Ride will find out if they will get the grant in July. If so, they can partner with the Michigan Department of Transportation, which controls Woodward, to include the changes during MDOT’s Woodward repaving project next year, Piana said.
Initiatives Piana said she is committed to include maintaining quality services for residents, a variety
of housing options, “transportation freedom,” and climate resilience.
“As mayor I set a vision of Ferndale becoming a carbon neutral city and doing our part” to reduce carbon emissions, she said.
Ferndale is moving to have a study done on its greenhouse gas emissions citywide that Piana said will help the city to reduce its carbon footprint.
In the upcoming November election the seats of city council members Greg Pawlica and Laura Mikulski are also up this year.