Maria Taylor, Farmington City Council Member

  • Home
  • Maria Taylor, Farmington City Council Member

Maria Taylor, Farmington City Council Member I am your local Farmington City Council member. Follow my page to stay current with all things Farmington.

This week’s feature is Greene's Hamburgers. Located at Orchard Lake / 10 Mile, this Farmington icon has been slinging ...
30/05/2026

This week’s feature is Greene's Hamburgers. Located at Orchard Lake / 10 Mile, this Farmington icon has been slinging sliders and diner fare since 1957. Its white-clad tile exterior is classic Americana, and inside, swivel barstools and the smell of charred beef and onions mean that authentic greasy-spoon-diner feel has never gone away. It's a real Farmington landmark.

I love this quote from owner Dan Sutton in a Farmington Observer article marking the restaurant’s 65th anniversary in 2022: "You want to talk about a melting pot in this city? You will get every walk of life in this place. It doesn't matter who you are."

Do you have a favorite Greene’s memory — or a go-to order?

Follow along for more iconic Farmington moments every Friday.

📷 Farmington Historical Commission

New business alert! What a great spot for a sweet treat place, right next to Dinan Park. Have you been by yet?
27/05/2026

New business alert! What a great spot for a sweet treat place, right next to Dinan Park. Have you been by yet?

Memorial Day in Farmington 🇺🇸 Today and every day, let us honor those who have sacrificed everything for our country by...
25/05/2026

Memorial Day in Farmington 🇺🇸 Today and every day, let us honor those who have sacrificed everything for our country by living our lives to the fullest and giving back in our own communities.

This week’s feature is the giant flag that hangs over Grand River. Each Memorial Day, Farmington Public Safety raises ...
22/05/2026

This week’s feature is the giant flag that hangs over Grand River. Each Memorial Day, Farmington Public Safety raises it from a ladder truck in the alley just east of City Hall, where it flies over downtown during the parade and throughout the day.

Before I bought my house, I used to live in the fourplex right across the street. I always loved seeing people stop and take photos of the flag stretching across the downtown skyline. Everyone looks for it. It is part of Memorial Day in Farmington. It often makes appearances on the Fourth of July and Veterans Day, too.

This photo is mine from 2021. I take a lot of Farmington photos, and this remains one of my favorites. If you’ve got pictures of the giant flag in your camera roll, share them in the comments!

More iconic Farmington moments every Friday - follow along as we celebrate a year of being America’s Main Street.

18/05/2026

Big storms about to blow through:

18/05/2026

On the agenda for tonight’s Farmington City Council meeting, 7pm at City Hall:
-Second reading of ordinance update to add 2 alternate positions to Historical Commission
-A couple routine items, like setting public hearing notice for 2026-27 City budget
-Closed session: confidential correspondence from City Attorney

AGENDA:https://farmgov.com/media/a1mb33kr/5182026-council-meeting.pdf

This week’s feature is the Walkabouts group at the Farmington Farmers & Artisans Market.Every Saturday at 10am, you’ll...
15/05/2026

This week’s feature is the Walkabouts group at the Farmington Farmers & Artisans Market.

Every Saturday at 10am, you’ll see people gathering near the west entrance to Riley Park. They're there for the Walkabouts tour. Each week, organizers spotlight a different piece of the community — a historic home, local business, community site, or one of the farmers or vendors from the market. The group walks to the featured stop, hears a short talk, and then heads back together. Sometimes it's homeowners (like Laura Meyers, pictured below) sharing research they've done on their homes. Other times, community officials are invited to speak on topics of local interest.

It’s a great way to learn more about Farmington and its history, spend time outdoors, and chat with new people along the way. The walks are about a mile round trip, and participants can log miles walked and earn a little incentive. Also, on occasion you actually get to walk through one of the historic houses. My house was featured last year and it was a blast.

If you’ve participated, what’s been your favorite stop so far? And if you haven’t, maybe this is your sign to join. All you have to do is show up Saturday at 10am.

Follow along for more Farmington moments every Friday.

Part 2 of last week’s Farmington City Council recap: DTE update.On Saturday at the farmers market Walkabouts tour, I str...
14/05/2026

Part 2 of last week’s Farmington City Council recap: DTE update.

On Saturday at the farmers market Walkabouts tour, I struck up a conversation with the man walking next to me. I asked where he lived: Farmington Meadows.
“The frequent outage zone,” I said. “How’s your power doing?” This was the subdivision where, on some streets, the power could go out on a sunny day or stay out for days after a storm.
“Actually, it’s gotten a lot better over the past year or so,” he said.

And the data backs that up. DTE’s latest numbers show major reliability improvements in Farmington over the past five years – including on some of the historically problematic circuits.

Mayor Joe LaRussa, who has been working this issue relentlessly for years, crunched the numbers from DTE’s past 5 years of quarterly reliability data (2021-2025) and found:

✅ 65% reduction in power outage frequency (average of all Farmington circuits)
✅ 95% reduction in power outage duration (average of all customers in Farmington)
✅ 85% reduction in power outage duration for impacted customers (this metric only accounts for customers impacted by an outage)

At the meeting, I asked the DTE representative what specifically drove the improvements. They pointed to two main things:
1/ More aggressive tree trimming
2/ Installing sectionalizing devices that isolate outages so nearby areas can keep their power on (pictured below are reclosers installed in Ypsilanti).
We were also told that most of DTE’s major infrastructure investments in Farmington have now been completed, and the city is on a 5-year tree trimming cycle.

To be fair, I think sustained pressure from residents and City Council helped keep Farmington on DTE’s radar. Back in 2022, Council sent DTE a letter outlining what success would look like: no Farmington resident should experience less reliable electrical power than any other Farmington resident. Council spent years pushing for improvements, asking hard questions, and lobbying for investment. Unreliable electricity was a big problem for a lot of people, including a member of my own family who ultimately moved out of town in large part because of it. I’m glad the data is finally showing meaningful progress.

Yes, rates continue to rise. And no, this is not the same as undergrounding every line. But reliability in Farmington today is significantly better than it was a few years ago, and that matters – especially for a small city dealing with a utility we don’t control.

Have you noticed improvements in your neighborhood?

Last week’s Farmington City Council recap was a long one, so I’m splitting it into 3 parts. Part 1 is an update on Farmi...
13/05/2026

Last week’s Farmington City Council recap was a long one, so I’m splitting it into 3 parts. Part 1 is an update on Farmington Founders Festival.

At the May 4 Council meeting, our new event contractor, James Gietzen of JAG Entertainment, presented the Founders event application, which we unanimously approved. A lot of community feedback went into this year’s plans, and I’m encouraged by the direction things are heading. A few highlights:

-Farmington Road will focus more heavily on crafters and artisans, with Fired & Fused and Skep Space doing live demonstrations. JAG has been working to rebuild relationships with higher-quality craft vendors, which will likely take a couple years, but I expect improvement this year already. Please give our organizers a little grace as they build momentum.

-The food court will stay in the same area, with more emphasis on local restaurants. Heights Brewing and Princess Mediterranean are already signed up. One thing I appreciated hearing is that the JAG team spent a day downtown walking door-to-door to ask businesses for input.

-The beer tent will feature Big Shiny Toons, Power Play, and 50 Amp Fuse, plus co****le and Painting with a Twist. “Different bands” was a big request. We did get one; James said many bands were unfortunately already booked by the time JAG’s contract was finalized late last year, but they’ll be working to expand entertainment options going forward.

-Riley Park is being reprogrammed as a more family-focused area: think bounce houses, LEGO activities, face painting, a second stage, and maybe a couple small rides for kids. Touch-a-Truck will also return. While we’re not doing Fido Fest this year, dogs will still have a place at Founders, thanks to a local business that has stepped up to help coordinate.

-The Farmers Market will move to FHS again, with discussion of a shuttle so people can head to the market to shop after the parade. The parade and Color Run will continue as usual.

I think it will take a couple years to fully reshape Founders Festival, but this first look left me feeling like we're on the right track. If you haven’t yet, please follow Farmington Founders Festival for event updates. You can also sign up to volunteer.

This week’s feature is Farmington’s new food scrap recycling program. What started off late last year as a trial run, ...
08/05/2026

This week’s feature is Farmington’s new food scrap recycling program. What started off late last year as a trial run, with bins at Riley Park and Farmington Farmers & Artisans Market, has quickly gained popularity and expanded to a curbside program – and at no additional cost to the City or to Farmington residents. Food waste is the most common item sent to landfills in Michigan, and I’m glad for the opportunity to help cut back on that.

Are you doing curbside food scrap recycling? Post your bin in the comments for inspiration! Back when the program was announced, there was some debate over what was the “optimal” setup. Inquiring minds would like to see what works for you. 😁

The stainless steel container pictured is mine. It lives below the kitchen sink, and I make a habit of tossing coffee filters/grounds in there every morning.

More info on the program, which runs April-December as part of yard waste collection: www.farmgov.com/city-services/public-works/recycling-information. Please share with any neighbors who don’t know about it! FYI that this program is for residents of City of Farmington, Michigan, not Farmington Hills, although our friends in FH are more than welcome to drop off food scraps in the bins at Riley Park. The bins are there year-round.

Follow along for more Farmington moments every Friday.

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Maria Taylor, Farmington City Council Member posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Maria Taylor, Farmington City Council Member:

Shortcuts

  • Want your organization to be the top-listed Government Service?

Share