In this installment of "Know your city," Dr. Willis Dunbar invites Cornelia Robinson and Vice-Mayor Glenn Allen to debate whether or not Kalamazoo should remain the largest debt free city in the nation, a status it has held since 1937. Allen argues that being debt-free is neither totally good nor totally bad, that the city should be prudent about debt and that any interest paid out on bonds would significantly affect the city's capital improvement budget. Robinson argues that "thrift is good as a means to an end, and not as an end in itself," and accuses the city of using the debt free slogan as a shield to avoid public conversations about unpleasant decisions. Robinson also cites the current need for school expansion as an example of when need outweigh frugality.
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