Progress for the Teachers, Brush-off for the Rowers, and Beer for Carhartt

It ain't over 'til it's over but it looks like the Marquette teachers' contract dispute with the school board is moving closer to resolution.

It's about time.

Union rep Stuart Skauge says a meeting between the two sides on Tuesday was the most encouraging they've had to date. They made progress. They'll meet again May 29th.

Until now, the main obstacle to an agreement has been "steps" and "lanes" for teachers. "Steps" allow teachers, through seniority and experience, to increase their pay . "Lanes" provide a boost when the teachers further their education and boost their credentials.

Pretty basic stuff, common among school districts across the nation.

But the board wants to eliminate them. Surely, it seems, there's got to be value in experienced and credentialed teachers. Why not reward them?

And it's not like the teachers are demanding huge pay raises. Actually, their latest contract offer, prior to Tuesday's meeting, was a zero percent pay raise the first year...and a zero percent pay raise the second year. Zero.

Just keep the steps and lanes, they say. Reward a teacher for her experience and her desire to further her education.

Yes, there's an argument to be made for requiring greater accountability by teachers, and basing their pay more on their performance than their seniority. But until we come up with a fair and reasonable plan to do that, let's move on.

Marquette prides itself on being an enlightened and family-friendly city. An eleven month old unresolved teachers' dispute doesn't enhance our reputation.

It also keeps about $10,000 a week out of teachers' pockets. That's money that would likely be spent here in the community.
----------------------------------------------

It was dismaying to hear a couple of residents suggest on Wednesday that maybe the Upper Peninsula Community Rowing Club should just move out of Marquette and relocate instead to Teal Lake.

Seriously?

The comments came at a City Commission hearing on the club's now controversial proposal to build a boathouse with private funds at Founders Landing.

Yes, it is public land and we're all for preserving the coastline, but 60 foot boats need to be stored somewhere, out of the weather and away from possible vandals, and the boathouse, as designed, would not block any views and it would not hinder access to the beach. And it would be open to all residents.

And let's be honest, this isn't a Hilton or a Red Lobster or a T-shirt shop they're proposing to build. It's a boathouse.

If the Founders Landing site is too objectionable, fine. Come up with another location where the water's not too rough and there's enough room to turn the big boats around. The options are extremely limited.

But let's not suggest that these active, community-minded rowers who actually enhance our coastline should just pack up their boats and get out of town.
----------------------------------------------

What's the first thing you think of when you hear the word "Carhartt"?  It's probably not beer.

But later this year, the famed clothing maker, in conjunction with the New Holland Brewing Company, will be introducing a new Carhartt beer. It'll be called the Carhartt Woodsman, a barrel-aged pale ale.

Beer and sturdy work clothes--a natural fit.

We'll be celebrating the introduction of the new brew this October outside Breakers Roadhouse on Baraga Avenue.

A big party. Wear your Carhartts, drink your Woodsman.
----------------------------------------------------

Speaking of Carhartt, Getz's, one of the biggest online distributors of Carhartt clothing in the nation, recently got a boost from the clothing company.

Carhartt announced that, starting June 1st, Amazon will no longer list about 40 Carhartt stores carrying their clothes. Instead, they'll list only five stores, and Getz's will be one of them.

That'll give Carhartt more control over their product distribution, and it'll  drive more business to Getz's.

Filson, the maker of upscale clothing and bags, recently worked out a similar deal on Amazon with Getz's.

Marquette's favorite clothing store continues to flex its muscles around the nation and around the world.
---------------------------------------------------

No surprise here.

The Carmike theater complex is shutting down June 5th. No point in trying to compete with the fancy, new complex on the other side of town.

One of the managers at Carmike says none of her employees were hired by the new theater, so they're out of jobs.

As for the building itself, it's hardly an architectural gem. Basically a box. It'd be surprising if it wasn't razed.

You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com

Forsberg Future, Boathouse Battle, Lovelace Criticism and Upfront For Sale

Rumors have been circulating that Forsberg Flowers, a longtime Marquette institution on Third Street, is going out of business.

Not true, says co-owner Lou Ann Balding (a Forsberg), but the property is for sale. In fact, it has been for a year now.

Why the sale? Balding simply says it's to "keep our options open." She's not comfortable getting more specific than that.

Meantime, though, Balding says business continues normally. A rumor (false) that Forsberg's was no longer selling corsages and boutonnieres certainly didn't help during the prom season.

Forsberg has been making things pretty for us since 1971.
-----------------------------------------------------

The boathouse controversy is heating up.

Background: the Upper Peninsula Community Rowing Club wants to build a boathouse near Founders Landing that would house its boats, along with those from the NMU rowing teams...and any other human-powered boats that other citizens might want to store.

They'd do it with all private money and they'd maintain it. No taxpayer money, no public obligations.

The rowers insist the beach would still be open to everybody, as would a viewing area on top of the structure.

Sounds fine, except that back in the 90s, the City Commission declared that the still undeveloped shores along Lake Superior should remain undeveloped.

That declaration, according to an increasing number of petitioners and a heavily promoted campaign on Facebook, should remain sacrosanct.

The intent, of course, was to prevent selling the city's coastline (and soul) to private developers. God knows, a lot of towns have been ruined by unrestrained greed.

But would a boathouse for citizen and student rowers truly violate the spirit of the declaration? Marquette's justifiably proud of its marinas. Sure seems like a facility for rowers and kayakers would be less expansive, intrusive and exclusive than the marinas...and less noisy.

A tough call.

The City Commission, which has initially endorsed the idea of a boathouse, will likely decide the issue within the next couple of months.
------------------------------------------------

Marquette County Sheriff Mike Lovelace is back in town and he's hearing a little criticism.

Some are calling him an absentee sheriff. He's calling it politics.

Lovelace, who's held the job for 18 years, concedes he's spent most of 2014 at his home in Arizona but he's had to do it, he says, only because his wife has been dealing with serious heart problems. She's been in and out of hospitals.

But even when he's been out of town, he's handled the department's conference calls, emails and faxes. There have been no problems with the operations of the department, Lovelace insists. No hiccups.

His undersheriff, Jack Schneider, has been filling in admirably, he says.

And that's where the "politics" comes in.

Late last year, Lovelace announced he was retiring but he was doing so with the expectation that Schneider would inherit the job until the next election. However, the county had other ideas and opened the job up to other applicants.

That's when Lovelace suddenly stepped in and said, "Never mind, I'll unretire and keep the job until 2016."

So he's still got the job, he's now back in town and he's tending to the health of his wife of 40 years. He owes it to her, he says. Can't blame him.

But don't expect the politics and the criticism to just fade away.
-------------------------------------------------

You got a spare 3.9 million dollars?

If so, you can go out and buy the Rosewood Building which houses Upfront, along with some retail and office space.

The Upfront, more than a year and a half after closing, is now officially up for sale.

Owner Rhys Mussman had been coy about his plans for the building until now.

Any buyers for a gorgeous building in an unsurpassed location? Maybe we should pass a hat.
----------------------------------------------------

As for the Carmike Theater next to Econo, you've got to wonder about its future now that the fancy new theater complex in the Township is set to open later this month.

The Carmike corporate folks in Columbus, Georgia aren't saying much about their plans for the theater.

Well, actually their legal department said, "We got nothing to tell you, and we'll tell you when we're good and ready."

Hard to imagine that Marquette could support two theater complexes, but who knows? We've done it before.

Stay tuned.
-------------------------------------------------

Get prepared for a cool summer.

That's what WLUC weather guru Karl Bohnak says. A frosty winter like the one we've just experienced (It's over, right?) generally leads to a late- starting summer with temperatures that usually stay below average.

Doesn't mean we won't have hot spells, just not as many or as hot.

Just what we want to hear as we're staring out at the dreary skies, the ugly, little patches of snow, and the miles upon miles of stubborn ice still clogging Lake Superior.

How cold was the winter? How about 5 degrees below average in April? Nine degrees below average in March. Ten degrees below in February, 8 degrees below average in January and December.

Historically frigid, Bohnak says.

Bring on the cool summer and those balmy 60 degree days.


You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com