Mayor hopes to draw big-box grocery store to Muskegon Heights

MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. (WOOD) — Muskegon Heights is working to improve parts of the downtown area, and the mayor has her eyes set on attracting a large supermarket.

“I have big dreams for the city Muskegon Heights,” Mayor Bonnie McGlothin said. “What’s happening now is we are trying to finish up things that were started, such as the Broadway corridor and the streetscape for Broadway. … We are still figuring out what is going to happen in the splash pad. We worked on the design for that.”

She said her goal is to breathe life back into housing and clean up the city.

“Trying to beautify the city so residents can see a little change in what’s going on,” she said. “And then the houses are going to take a little bit longer and a lot of work. And I’m also in a little venture to start looking for a grocery store for the city of Muskegon Heights.”

She said there is a demand for new resources like a big-box grocer.

“They are all small,” McGlothin said, referring to the local grocers the city does have. “And the residents want a big supermarket for all of their needs, not just some of them. And there are products that the stores now do not have that they would like to have in their store, so that is one of my goals; my big goal.”

It’s a lot to do in her four years in office, but McGlothin said Muskegon Heights is firmly planted and city officials are focused on improving the quality of life for residents.

That includes working to reduce violence. She said Muskegon Heights police are investigating a number of recent shootings.

“Some of them are cross-city, cross-municipalities where things are happening, so they are working to get together to get all of that taken care of,” McGlothin said. “I’m sure the state police are involved as well as the city of Muskegon and Muskegon Heights, so it’s just going to take their knowledge and experience to solve that, but I’m more than positive it will be solved here soon.”

Muskegon Heights administrators are working on the budget for the next year and filling some crucial empty seats in city government. For example, they are actively searching for a new city manager .

“We are still looking for a city manager and then we have retirements coming up, so all of those positions will need to be filled,” McGlothin said.

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