Hospital Location, Recall Campaign, UP Culinary School, and Mining Journal Legal Threat

So now Duke LifePoint is down to the nitty-gritty of wheeling and dealing with the city, the township and the property owners over the future location of Marquette General Hospital.

It's been down to three possible locations for at least a month--the Heritage Golf Course site, the so-called Roundhouse property, and the township property just off of Wright Street--and negotiations with the various property owners, public and private, are well underway.

When it finally announces the site winner, Duke LifePoint wants the property deals all signed and sealed, with no last minute snags.

Those "in the know" will tell you Duke LifePoint would prefer, all things being equal, that MGH stay in the city. The township disagrees and says their site is shovel-ready.

The Roundhouse site may not be shovel-ready, according to some sources. In fact, there's word that Duke LifePoint may want further remediation on the property--like another thick layer of soil--before it erects a $300 million hospital on the site.

Not only that, but Duke LifePoint may want further financial considerations in the deal.

The golf course site? The Marquette Golf Club has a nagging $4 million dollar debt. It would like to get out from under that burden, but even if Duke LifePoint agreed to that, would golf club members vote to split their golf facility in half? Greywalls 18 holes would be on one side of a huge, congested hospital complex, and a truncated Heritage course would be on the other.

Not terribly appealing, but then again, neither is a $4 million debt.

So that brings you back to the township property which seems like the simplest deal, even though some have voiced concern about the township's ability to provide infrastructure and services. Bull, say township officials.

Actually, both the city and township officials are staying remarkably tight-lipped on the whole process. They either don't know or they're not talking.

And Ed Banos, the Chief Executive Officer for MGH, meantime is badmouthing all three sites. None of them is ideal, he says, they're all lacking.

Kinda like three homely girls (or guys), but you gotta take one of them. There's probably some truth to it. There's probably also the wee hint of a negotiating ploy in there somewhere.
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The ill-conceived recall petition against three City Commissioners appears to be dead in the water.

The Board of Election Commissioners said the petition contained factual errors and couldn't proceed unless it was revised.

Problem is, Michael Neiger, who initiated the campaign, is now on his way to the Arctic Circle in northern Canada and won't be back for a couple of weeks. So he won't be doing any rewriting or resubmitting anytime soon.

Actually he's a fascinating guy. A 25 year veteran of the State Police who retired as a Detective Sergeant. Worked in a crime lab. Graduated NMU with a degree in criminal justice, got a PhD in political science from Wayne State. He's paddled all the way from here to the Arctic Ocean.

He does work for Michigan Backcountry Search and Rescue, and in fact, his expedition into the Arctic Circle over the next couple of weeks will be in search of two people who were murdered there over a half century ago.

Yeah, kind of an interesting guy.

His recall campaign was motivated by his desire to keep private development off the city's coastline. It now appears that the city commissioners fully intend to make the controversial boathouse publicly owned and operated. That, he concedes, eases his concerns. He'll have the next couple of weeks in the wilderness to think about it.
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A culinary school in the UP?

Yep. Not in Marquette but rather on the far east side of the UP in Hessel. The program director for the brand new Les Cheneaux Culinary School is NMU graduate Zach Schroeder.

The school, which starts up in September, will emphasize local farm-to-table products.

Local investors are now having the Hessel Bay Inn reconstructed to house the school which expects to enroll 12-14 students for the one year course. The Inn will also serve as a working restaurant where the students will get real-life experience.

Schroeder is now contacting restaurants throughout the UP as well as Lower Michigan to make certain his students get jobs when they graduate.

And Schroeder himself? He's only 27 but he's acquired experience at Upfront and Company in Marquette, at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and the Drummond Island Resort and Conference Center, as well as downstate.

Now he's ready for a new challenge. Seems like he and the folks in Hessel are tapping into something--local food--that's getting bigger every day. The evidence is clear. Local farms here are expanding and increasing, the Food Coop just recently doubled in size, and The Marq, a farm-to-table restaurant on Baraga Avenue, will be opening later this summer.
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Coco's, which recently completed its outside deck, is becoming an appealing place to go on those sultry summer afternoons and evenings.

They're now featuring live music Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and sometimes Sundays.

A great place for beachgoers, bicyclists and walkers to stop in for a drink or two and a bite to eat.

Coco's had been hoping to capitalize on its location across from the beach by setting up a sand volleyball court but was told by the city, no deal unless they constructed an eight foot fence around the court.

Huh? The court would be located a good distance away from the road but rules are rules. Coco's, after its recent renovation, doesn't have the money for the fence, at least for now so...no volleyball court.

Too bad. So it goes.
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Remember Hakem Dermish?

He was a young sportscaster for TV6 about 8-9 years ago. Well, if you're an avid ESPN watcher during the late or weekend hours, you've probably seen Hakem. He's made the bigtime. He'll likely to become more prominent on ESPN or other sports channels in the years ahead.

He's got a natural, fluid, likable style, something he showed here almost from day one. Some folks have it, most of us don't.

Other TV6 alums who are moving ahead in their careers:

Pooja Lodhia is in Houston.
Samantha Liebman and Noel McLaren are in New York.
Jerry Hume is in Orlando.
Kathy Kuretich is in Santa Luis Obispo, California.
Charlie Marlow is in St. Louis.
Phil DeCastro, Heather Sawaski, Gabrielle Mayes and Andrew Lacombe are in Green Bay.
Yona Gavino is in Milwaukee.
Natalie Jovonovich is in Dayton.
Emily Pace and Chris Abbotts (Website director) are married and in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Emily Lampa is in Salisbury, Maryland.
Eric Kane and Gabriella DeLuca are in Norfolk.
Nikki Junewicz is in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Nikki Davidson is in Des Moines.
Aaron Martin is in Roanoke.
David Fath (Fox UP) is in Charlotte.
Wesley Williams is in Monroe, Louisiana.
Brad Soroka (Fox UP) and Meagan Quigley (who are engaged) both recently left Jackson, Mississippi.

The list goes on and on. And it doesn't include some of the very best and smartest alumni who decided to leave the business in the last few years. It's a tough and demanding job, and not very conducive to building a strong marriage and happy family.
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No one's gone to court yet in the dispute between the Mining Journal and Marquette Social Scene, the young digital upstart.

Last week Mining Journal publisher Jim Reevs threatened to take legal action against Brice Burge, the editor of Marquette Social Scene, after Burge posted a way to work around the Mining Journal's new website paywall.

Burge didn't back down but he's had no subsequent contact with Reevs or any attorneys.

Oh, actually, he has heard from the Mining Journal. From a reporter. He's been asked questions about his candidacy for the City Commission. It's good to know the legal dispute isn't preventing the news department from doing their job.