DEARBORN — With 22 candidates in the running for seven City Council seats in Dearborn, Kristyn Taylor, 26, has emerged as the youngest of them all. Taylor, who has been a prominent community activist since moving into the City a few years ago, discussed some key points with The Arab American News on why she has decided to run for City Council.

Taylor, who originally ran for a City Council seat in 2009 as a write-in candidate, has since advocated on behalf of many citizens’ concerns. She sat on the City’s swimming pool subcommittee in an effort to prevent some of the local pools from closing down. She also advocated against closing down Dearborn’s public libraries after Mayor Jack O’Reilly had shared plans of doing so to eliminate some of the City’s deficit. 

She consistently blogs on her own website to inform residents about the latest Dearborn news and what steps need to be taken to contact city officials and remain in the loop. 

At the last City Council meeting, Taylor passionately spoke  out in front Mayor O’Reilly regarding her concerns over an $8.5 million donation from Severstal, the steelmaking plant located on Rotunda Drive. The City had planned to use that money to facilitate a planned move into a new city hall building later this year. But Taylor, backed by residents, told city officials that the money should be used to improve many of Dearborn’s public services, which have been slowly diminishing over the last few years.

One of Taylor’s biggest concerns with the City is the limited accessibility provided to residents by city officials. 

“There are more doors that are closed to residents than opened. That’s a big problem that needs to be fixed. When you have leaders who actively engage with residents, other council members and city workers to find solutions, that’s when we can be the most effective and that’s how we can attract more residents and businesses into the City. Communication is a key issue and resolving that will be a catalyst to solving other problems,” Taylor told The Arab American News.

Taylor says the City should fear losing young residents because officials have not been addressing their concerns. Along with lack of accessibility and fewer public services, residents have also spoken out against Dearborn’s strict ordinances and restrictions on what they can and can’t do on their properties. 

Taylor.

Taylor does bring up an interesting point regarding the lack of communication between residents and the City. During the last few City Council meetings, The Arab American News witnessed first-hand residents coming out in droves to express their displeasure toward restrictions such as garage use and fire pit use in their homes. But many of these issues end up getting tabled, and then go by unnoticed when it’s time to address them. With lack of information and lack of accessibility, many residents simply give up on trying.

“I’ve spoken to new residents who have chosen to live here, and they are questioning why they should stay. They are not feeling the connection to Dearborn. They aren’t being engaged and they aren’t finding any employment opportunities. On top of that, decisions like the Severstal money and how it will be spent really brings to question where the City is headed and if residents will still have a place here in the future,” Taylor added. 

Taylor says despite not being a Dearborn resident for long, she’s invested in the City because it reminds her of her hometown. Born in California on a Marine Corps to a mother and father who were both in the Marines but are now divorced, Taylor grew up in the Chicago suburbs. She later moved to Michigan where she lived with her mom in a rural town near Jackson. 

Taylor became connected to Dearborn when she met her fiancé, Phil Mattern, a resident of the City, while she attended Eastern Michigan University (EMU) for her Bachelors in Electronic Media and Film, with a Minor in Marketing. Taylor eventually moved to Dearborn in 2008, and afterwards completed her Masters at EMU in Integrated Marketing Communications. Just last week she graduated from Wayne Law School, and now holds a Jurist Doctorate degree.

Since moving into Dearborn, Taylor has also formed a relationship with the Arab American community. In 2011, she began working as a Case Coordinator for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Michigan (ADC-MI), where she handled discriminatory cases with government agencies in Dearborn and its surrounding areas. In January 2013, she left her position there to work for the Employment Immigration Law Firm Joseph Kallabat & Associates, P.C. in West Bloomfield.  She says her time at ADC-MI exposed her to the community’s struggles and concerns.

“My experience at ADC was incredible. I learned how beneficial it is to have organizations who bring voices of the community out. My time there was a good opportunity to understand the community and the different concerns that one culture might have over another. When you aren’t involved in a community, it might be hard to understand how issues impact them. That experience made me aware of that distinction, and aware of the need to approach any issue by looking at the perspectives of varying cultures,” Taylor says .

Taylor hopes she can land a seat on the City Council so that she could be a bridge between Dearborn’s communities and Dearborn’s officials. 

“I’ll never know all the answers to all the questions, but I’m not afraid to ask. There is more to Dearborn than just one person, neighborhood or area. We are a collection of cultures and neighborhoods. We should always ask who is not being considered and how it is going to affect them. Every community should have a representative or a liaison, and I believe I have the ability to build those relationships,” Taylor added. 

To learn more about Kristyn Taylor’s run for City Council, or other current issues that may effect the quality of life in Dearborn, visit her blog at //kristyn4council.wordpress.com/.