KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo Mayor Dave Anderson is urging a subcommittee to come up with recommendations to stem gun violence, and do it soon.
The city and the county passed resolutions declaring gun violence an emergency last October, both subsequently allocating a million dollars from federal COVID-19 relief funding for prevention programs, but nothing has come forward.
Anderson pressed the group of three commissioners to start making recommendations, and he would like to see them by the next commission meeting.
Vice Mayor Don Cooney and Commissioner Esteven Juarez have been promising a plan for months. Both sit on that committee, and agree the time has come.
They say the goal isn’t to beef up law enforcement but rather to create community programs that will prevent the violence from happening in the first place, before it becomes a police matter.
The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners will get an update on their own $1 million plan this afternoon.
(reporting from John McNeill)
