2016 
Candidate Interview: Robert Buxbaum for Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner (video)
(Crystal A. Proxmire, June 9, 2016)
Oak Park, MI – In the County-wide race for Water Resources Commissioner (formerly titled Drain Commissioner), the Democratic Incumbent Jim Nash faces Republican challenger Robert Buxbaum on the Nov. 8, 2016 ballot.
“I’m an engineer and I was sick of griping about the stupid things I saw being done. You gripe and you gripe, and you say ‘oh I can do this better.’ After a while you decide to do something about it,” Buxbaum said.
“Some of it’s what’s being done that I felt shouldn’t be done like they’re building a giant tunnel cistern under Middlebelt, which is a technology that really doesn’t 
belong there. It’s tying up traffic and I don’t think it will ever work right.
“And then there’s things that should be done that aren’t being addressed like The flood of 2014, which looks like it’s based on bad flow control, and just bad drainage, just other things that really got me annoyed.
“Then in the summer you’ll notice the beaches are closed just about every other week. Last year, 2015, it was closed more or less as often as it was open. And that’s because we dump sewage, nearly raw sewage, into our lakes and rivers. That’s not right. We should be doing a lot better than that. And we can. It’s just, I am an engineer and I think I can. And if you don’t know engineering, there’s nothing you can do. Just sit there and say ‘Oh. Act of God. Oh another week, another act of God.’ And you say no, it’s an act of stupidity, get out of the chair and I’ll tell you what’s to be done. That’s why am doing it.”
In his interview with oc115, Buxbaum shared ideas for improving drainage in Oakland County, including the addition of natural drainage features, adding permeable pavement in bike lanes, and requiring that all construction projects be looked at as opportunities.
Also check out our Elections Section or use the search bar at the top to find stories for your 
community.
All candidates are invited to do an interview and we are doing our best to connect. If you are a candidate that needs information, please email us at editor@oc115.com.
This post will be updated with the links to the interviews of other candidates as they become available.
The oc115 is a nonpartisan news source and interviews are done to help voters get to meet their candidates. We do not endorse any candidates, and statements made in candidate interviews are not fact-checked, though if we know of any errors we will include them in our story.
If you support independent journalism and local news coverage, please consider donating towards oc115 operating expenses at https://oaklandcounty115.com/reader-support/. Also help spread the word about oc115.com by sharing posts that you think are valuable, such as this one.
Learn more about this candidate’s campaign at: http://www.electbuxbaum.com/.
Top Bar Menu
Oakland County Times
Reader supported local journalism
