Now, after a year of debate on how to solve the problem, Commissioner Michael Andrzejak asked his colleagues on the commission to dump the idea of selling the golf course and begin a sincere dialogue on how to pay for hiring more cops in a city where narcotics violations jumped 21.7 percent in one year and crime increased 18.7 percent from 2000 to 2005.
"I'm going to leave it to the administration to look to where they reformulate the budget and absorb the costs. The police chief says crime is up Royal Oak had 150 (drug) overdoses. It's an epidemic," Andrzejak said. "The city needs an action plan to address this."
At Monday's meeting, the commission approved Andrzejak's request to reject all proposals for Normandy Oaks because the 2005 bids are now invalid due to a sagging real estate market.
Offers ranged from $4 million and $18 million for the 49-acre property, but many developers have said the bids would need to be re-evaluated based on market conditions. At a budget study session in early February, city officials recommended that a nonbinding vote of the people was needed to determine whether to even sell the nine-hole golf course.
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