MEIJER INQUIRIES, MARIJUANA DEFIANCE, HOSPITAL FUTURE, CLIFFS MAGIC TRICK, AND AN IDLE LONGBOAT

IF YOU'RE ONE of those shoppers desperately hoping for news that Costco is expanding into Marquette, sorry, this ain't it.

No Costco sightings yet.

However, two property owners on US 41 in Marquette Township report that they were recently approached by a representative of Meijer, the superstore from downstate, to see if they'd be willing to sell their land to Meijer.

One was told that Meijer was looking into three possible locations in the U.P. and this would likely be one of them.

No word on the whether the property owners would be willing to sell.

Again, these were just inquiries, and Township Manager Randy Girard says his office has had no communication with Meijer.

The Meijer chain, which is headquartered near Grand Rapids, boasts more than 200 "hypermarkets" or "supercenters" in five Midwestern states. The stores are a combination grocery and department store, sometimes with a gas station. Kinda like a Walmart, certainly not a Costco or Sam's Club.

Marquette Township may have lost the hospital sweepstakes but it certainly seems to be winning the hearts of the box stores.

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MICHIGAN'S HALF-ASSED, half-hearted medical marijuana law may be facing a challenge here in Marquette.

A new marijuana dispensary, the Green Room, has opened up on West Washington Street in the last month, even though a state appeals court ruled that such dispensaries are illegal.

If you walk into the Green Room, you'll be told by a man sitting by the phone that he can't tell you anything unless you're a member of the "private club."

Go to their website and they'll tell you to get a medical marijuana card and then you can become a member of the "private club."

How do you get a card? Get a doctor to stipulate that you might be helped, medically, by marijuana. Easy-peasy. Some doctors dispense permission slips like candy on Halloween.

Then you pay a fee to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program and, bingo, you get a card. 146,000 Michiganders now have such cards.

Which brings us to the state law that some sadistic lawyer drew up and we the voters approved. We decided we didn't want to continue an outright ban  on pot--that would have been too backward--nor did we opt for straight legalization--that would have been too progressive--so instead we got this silly, complicated, legally questionable mess.

The law says stores or dispensaries can't sell pot. Nope. Not doctors either. Just "caregivers" who are allowed to grow up to 12 plants in their basements or other enclosed areas. "Patients" find "caregivers" and they make a deal. Patients get their pot, caregivers make their money. A drug deal, in other words.

It's no secret that the majority of the patients are recreational users. So what? We drink alcohol too.

The last we heard, pot-smokers weren't starting many bar fights nor were they beating their wives and girlfriends.

But we're apparently not yet ready to make the step toward full marijuana legalization, which leaves us with this crazy law and leaves the Green Room in legal limbo.

Marquette County Prosecutor Matt Wiese is aware of the Green Room's existence. On its face, he believes it's illegal under current Michigan law. But until he has substantive evidence against it, he won't bring charges. He won't say whether a case is in the works.

So for now, that means the Green Room can continue to dispense its medicine.

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YOU MAY HAVE noticed that construction has resumed at the Founders Landing condo complex.

They're laying the foundation for the parking garage of the Gaines Building which will be completed next summer.

Nine units, all told. Five have been sold.

Once Gaines goes up, that leaves only one more building to finish up the project which generated controversy early on because of the buildings' height, but which has been supported by the city because the condos provide property tax revenue.

And the buildings--from the lakeside, at least--you have to admit, are attractive.

Next up for the partners in the Founders Landing project is the building that'll be erected just north of the Hampton Inn.

That'll be two levels of parking with 230 spaces, topped by up to four levels of retail, residences and offices.

Financing, according to one of the partners, Ron Thorley, should be wrapped up within a month. Construction should start within a year.

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SPEAKING OF CONSTRUCTION, what's next for the soon-to-be abandoned Marquette General Hospital?

That's what the city would like to know. Duke LifePoint owns the building complex and will almost certainly sell it...but to whom, and for what purpose, and when?

So far Duke LifePoint isn' t tipping their hand.

Possibilities? Turn it into residential apartments or condos. Or NMU housing. Or make it mixed use--retail, office, and residential. Tear it down and build single family homes and apartments.

Or how about this idea? Move the Jacobetti Home for Veterans to the hospital? It'd be a bigger and more modern facility for our vets.

Regardless, the city would like to know what lies ahead. What it doesn't want is a monstrous, abandoned building in the middle of town.

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AMID ALL THE the controversy over the proposed boathouse for the Upper Peninsula Community Rowing Club, local builder Mike Potts has a suggestion.

He says we should be thinking less about the sleek racing shells of the rowing club, and more about hardier longboats, which are far better suited to the frequently rough waters of Lake Superior.

Just so happens he has such a longboat, actually a 32 foot Cornish pilot gig. He and some friends and fellow builders have built it over the last five years. It's now lying under a tarp outside Fred's Rubber Stamp Shop on Lakeshore Boulevard.

He'd like to see it used more. At events. By a rowing club. For races. For coastal outings. For anyone who just wants to get out on the water, even in the spring and fall. Potts insists the boat is extremely safe.

He'd like to see another one built, maybe by alternative high school students. It sure sounds like a project that technically-minded kids could get into.

Potts says these longboats are becoming very popular on the east coast and in England. Why not here? They have a history to them, they have tradition. Sounds like something Marquette could embrace.

Imagine this: Longboat races between clubs in Marquette, Munising and Houghton, cheered on by crowds on the shore. And after the races, retire to the nearest brew pub for a raucous award ceremony, some hearty camaraderie, and a drink or two. Yeah, sounds like Marquette.

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YOU GOTTA HAND it to Cliffs Natural Resources.

The mining company has perfected  a magic trick. You invest money in its stock and...Presto!...your money disappears.

Cliffs shares started the year at $27. Now they've sunk below seven dollars.

And this just in! An analyst for Credit Suisse has just downgraded his stock price estimate for Cliffs from $10 to $1.

One dollar, as in four quarters. Ten dimes.

A few years ago, Cliffs was trading at $100 a share.

All in all, a dandy year for Cliffs: managerial ineptitude, a hostile takeover, layoffs, facilities closed, others for sale, plunging demand, excessive debt.

One bright spot: The Empire mine, previously set for closure, was saved earlier this year for a couple more years. That saved 600 jobs.

That's something to celebrate for the New Year while we nervously await the next vanishing act.

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MARQUETTE'S GETTING MORE love from the national press.

This time from The Week, a well-regarded British magazine that puts out a U.S. edition.

The December 26th issue features a story on "fat bikes" in Marquette. Those are the bikes with fat tires, lightly inflated, that more of us are riding in the snow these days.

It's the latest wintertime trend, and Marquette's in the vanguard of the sport. The article points out that the Noquemanon Trail Network now has a 15 mile snow bike trail considered one of the best in the country.

Of course, fat bikes can be expensive. A good one will cost you about 100 shares of Cliffs. But act fast, because tomorrow the price could go up to 500 shares of Cliffs.

 If you've got news, email me at briancabell@gmail.com.

A No-Holds-Barred Conversation About Our Hospital

SOMETHING DIFFERENT THIS week.

Let's call it a candid conversation about our community's hospital, with the voices of people from the inside--employees who work at UP Health System Marquette, formerly known as Marquette General Hospital.

We've all heard the murmurings, mumblings and grumblings within the hospital over the past few years, and they seem to have gotten louder since Duke LifePoint took over. But understandably few of the hospital's nearly 2000 employees want to voice their criticism publicly. They worry that they might lose their jobs.

And the media, who have their own economic concerns, also seem reluctant to take on what is arguably the most powerful institution and business in the county.

So we'll take a crack at it.

A couple of notes first. The four employees who spoke to us did so anonymously. We'll call them Doctor A, Doctor B, Physician Assistant, and Nurse.

After we conclude with their comments, we'll get responses from hospital CEO Ed Banos.
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WHAT MANY OF us have heard anecdotally over the last couple of years, especially recently, is that doctors are leaving the hospital. Quitting. Bailing out.

"Absolutely," says Doctor A. "It's not normal turnover. Doctors are fed up. It hasn’t been good and now it's getting worse."

"There's definitely been a spike in 2014," Doctor B agrees. "People are always coming and going, but we’ve lost some key doctors recently, and many of them were people we spent a long time trying to recruit. A big part of it is a lack of respect. The administration makes it clear that everyone can be replaced at any time. You can hit the road if you don’t like it."

So what's caused the problem? Is Duke LifePoint the culprit here? Well, that may be a little simplistic and unfair.

"The transition to Duke LifePoint has been rocky," the Physician Assistant concedes. "But nonprofits are being bought up by for-profits all over the country. This kind of transitioning is taking place everywhere, not just in Marquette County. When you make changes like this, people get apprehensive because you wonder whether the administration is looking for people to cut."

The Nurse noticed the change almost immediately. "When Duke LifePoint took over, they told us we had to get our nursing budget under budget," she says. "Otherwise, we were told they'd start slashing the staff. They were threatening people. I have a lot of friends whose positions were eliminated and some of them were awesome people."

"Ed Banos recently told a meeting 'We're going to get rid of negative people,'" Doctor A explains. "That sure seemed like a threat. If we try to bring issues up, we're reprimanded, we're called naysayers. A nurse recently brought up a problem and she was called a troublemaker. But she was right!"

The Nurse has kinder words for the CEO. "I have seen Ed Banos around. He seems to be putting in an effort, but the rest of them (the administrators), we never see them. I don't even know who they are. And the problem is, they're making staffing decisions without knowing what it takes to work on the floor."

"Comunication is essential," the Physician Assistant tells us. "The senior administrators need to let us know what we're doing and why, and they should listen to us. They don't do that very well, especially the senior staff. We never see them."

Possibly the biggest problem, according to the four employees, lies in the fact that the hospital is now owned by a for-profit, out-of-state corporation.

"Every decision comes out of Tennessee now," Doctor B says. "That's made a huge difference."

 

"Our supervisors and managers here have no say," the Nurse agrees. "Nobody at the hospital has any say. Everybody is a number. Everybody is replaceable."

 

"We're now practicing corporate medicine," Doctor B continues. "It's all about money. It used to be, What can we do for the community's benefit? We used to feel that we had a medical mission. No more. That feeling is gone."

 

"It's all about money," Doctor A says. "See more patients, earn more money, but do it with less staff. What can we do about it? We can leave or we can do what they want. We have to see more patients, we have to make more money. We're being asked to make a profit on people's suffering."

 

The single, indisputable fact is that Duke LifePoint is in business to make money. It has to be concerned with the bottom line. That's the nature of the beast. Increasingly, whether we like it or not, that's American medicine in the twenty-first century.

 

"An administrator said to me, 'What can be done to increase your productivity and our revenue?'" the Physician Assistant tells us. "It’s that simple. We all realize that’s what they want and if we want to keep our jobs, that’s what we have to do."

 

"There's a constant pressure to see more patients," Doctor B says. "It’s always, 'Can you see two more?' We’ve always been encouraged to increase our patient load but now the emphasis has really changed. It's always 'Can you squeeze a few more in?'"

And for the doctors who aren't seeing enough patients, there can be consequences. Their performance and salary are determined by their total of Relative Value Units (RVU's) which takes into account the number of patients seen and the severity and complexity of the patients' conditions. Doctors are encouraged to boost their RVU's.

 

"And they have a scorecard at the end of the month," Doctor A explains. "The fewer the patients, the worse. Names and identities are attached to the scorecards, so everybody knows the score. They try to shame you. It's like churches that used to publicize who put how much into the offering plate."

 

So is there something wrong with encouraging doctors to be more productive?

 

"Absolutely," says Doctor A. "Patients get the idea that we have to hurry up because we have other patients waiting so when they're talking to us, they leave things out. And then we as doctors are going to miss something because of the pressure to hurry up."

 

Clearly, there is pressure--to see more patients, to make more money, to make certain the hospital is economically viable.

 

"It’s a competitive market," the Physician Assistant points out. "Duke LifePoint is worried about Aspirus. Its just like Walmart in competition with Target."

 

"There's a fear of Aspirus," Doctor A agrees, "a fear that Aspirus is stealing our patients. And that's a possibility because patients are fed up with the long lines, the long waits, and appointments that are too short. The lack of attention. I don't blame them."

 

The picture they paint isn't pretty, but they concede that this may not be just a local problem.

 

"For a city this size, this is a good hospital," the Physician Assistant tells us. "We're blessed to have the physicians and the technology we have. Yes, we have egos and problems, but that’s probably like everywhere else. My feeling is the major villain in all this is the insurance companies and federal government with Medicare and Medicaid. They force us to treat patients like numbers, not individual patients."

The doctors are less kind.

"The Hippocratic oath says nothing about money," Doctor A says. "We all swear by it, but that's not how we're allowed to practice." 

"I'm not really optimistic about the future," Doctor B says. "How can you recruit doctors to a damaged place full of bitter doctors?" 

 

And the Nurse has the final word. "The hospital today is not about taking care of people. It's all about big money, big business." She pauses. "You know, I love my work. I love taking care of people but everything has changed and it's sad. It's really sad."

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NO SURPRISE, CEO Ed Banos has a different take on what's happening at his hospital.

Unusually high turnover among doctors? Not really. "We've had some specialists who've decided to leave recently," he explains, "but overall turnover has been normal. And those who decided to leave left for good jobs." 

 

Banos says he and an outside group have done their best to gauge employees' morale, and their conclusion is that it's actually rising.

 

"This has been a busy summer and a busy fall, and people have been working a lot of hours, but overall I think we're doing well," he insists. "And our patient satisfaction scores are improving. When I came here a year and a half ago compared to now, our quality scores are up."

How about the criticism that Duke LifePoint is pushing the staff to see more and more patients?

"I'd like to say its like that in any business," he explains. "We’d like them to see more patients and serve more patients. There are standards in this business and we want our doctors to perform what a normal practice can do. We’re trying to stop patients from migration. We don't want them to go to Green Bay."

As for the charge that the hospital is trying to weed out staff members who are maybe...too negative, Banos doesn't deny it.

"We make thorough evaluations of all of our employees and we take those evaluations seriously," he says. "We have a commitment to quality. We want to make sure we’re all on the same page here. We want to act as a team. If not, then maybe some employees might find that they're not the right fit for our hospital."

He says he understands that transitions can be difficult and that he, himself, is still relatively new to the hospital, but he insists he's trying to build a positive relationship with his staff. 

"I can't get out and see all 2000 employees every month," he tells us. "I do structured rounds and informal rounds every month and and we have employee forums. I try to get out as much as possible, especially in departments under stress."

 So ultimately, why is there such vehement criticism of the hospital and the way it's now operated?

"I think it’s only a small minority who aren’t happy in their jobs," Banos concludes.

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SO THERE YOU have it. Two very different sides of the issue.

 

Now, you could conclude that the four employees, from different departments, are not representative of the rest of the hospital, and that maybe they're just whiners.

 

Or on the other hand, you could decide the CEO is oblivious or disingenuous, and Duke LifePoint is nothing but a cold-blooded, cold-hearted, money-grubbing corporation.

 

It goes without saying that all big businesses and all big institutions have problems. Employees are frequently critical of management. Who hasn't thought, at one time or another, that his or her boss was an idiot?

 

But the internal, critical noise does seem to be a little louder here. 

 

Transitions are tough. Maybe we'll get over it. A brand new, state-of-the-art hospital, still at least a couple of years away, will certainly help.

 

It's just that hospitals occupy such a special, unique place in their communities.
 

We care deeply about them because they take care of us. And this is our hospital in our community.

 

 

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

If you want to be notified when Word on the Street is posted, go to Word on the Street by Brian Cabell and "like" it.

 

 

  

An Iconic Structure, a Dismal Rating, a Conflicted Candidate, and a World Class Marathoner

AN "ICONIC STRUCTURE." That's how Duke LifePoint describes the yet-to-be built Marquette General Hospital. Architecture buffs gotta love that.

Right there on US 41, less than a mile from downtown Marquette, we'll  have the UP's answer to the Opera House in Sydney and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Okay, maybe that's a bit of hyperbole but it's good to know the new MGH isn't going to be simply a big, functional box. It'll be impressive. It might even be pretty.

DLP still intends to break ground next spring. That may be a little ambitious given all the state bureaucratic hoops they still have to jump through, all the hearings, all the continued negotiations with the city. DLP and the city want the process to be deliberate and transparent.

Problems inevitably crop up. Right now, for instance, some folks at Chippewa Square are wondering if the new bridge at Grove Street will limit access for their tenants and clients. The city will have to provide reassurance.

Also undecided is where the new Municipal Services Center will go. There are plenty of sites available, but the city would like to team up with another governmental entity--like the county, state or school district--to build a bigger, combined facility to reduce costs for everybody.

Lots of wheeling and dealing lie ahead before the iconic structure on US 41 starts taking shape.
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AMID ALL THE excitement about the plans for a brand new Marquette General Hospital, here's something that MGH management can't be all that thrilled about.

Becker's Hospital Review has announced their ratings for what they're calling "National Patient Engagement" for hospitals nationwide. The criteria are readmissions rates, patient satisfaction, and the extent to which the hospitals offer information and tools to help patients engage in self-care.

Marquette General Hospital was ranked.....743rd in the nation. Not exactly a ranking that you'd proudly post on the wall of your lobby.

The top three in the nation, no surprise, were three different branches of the Mayo Clinic.
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THE MARQUETTE CONVENTION and Visitors Bureau, after a long, trying process, has apparently hired a new executive director to succeed Pat Black.

The deal isn't finalized yet but no problems are expected.

The person, with no direct tourism experience, is from Garden and will be commuting to Marquette for at least the first six months. All of which raised initial concerns by some in the tourism business here.

Now, some background on the selection process. It was conducted by Stang Decision Systems, a local firm that helps companies across the nation select better employees. Stang uses a comprehensive and highly scientific method to rate the candidates for a particular job.

It involves not only the traditional resume questions but also a lengthy personality assessment and a problem-solving component, as well as interviews for the finalists.

It's a system that has worked well. Stang is building a stellar national reputation.

In the case of the CVB director's position, the person with the highest ranking was the person who was ultimately offered the job. The CVB Board could have chosen a lower ranked candidate but decided not to.

The commuting issue was definitely a red flag, but it was dismissed because the candidate was so damned impressive.

One other thing: Spencer Stang, who runs the company, says direct experience (say, working in a tourism bureau) can be highly overrated when searching for the right employee. You'd much rather have a smart, personable candidate with transferable skills and leadership qualities, than a less impressive candidate who's already working in the industry.
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STANG DECISION SYSTEMS may be a model for what Marquette is hoping to attract in the years ahead.

Marquette's SmartZone is probably six months away, maybe less, from attracting start-up high tech companies to the city. The financing for the citywide program and the appointment of a board to run it still have to be ironed out, but there's plenty of momentum there.

Local officials are already looking at potential entrepreneurs and angel investors.

What gets them excited is the MTEC SmartZone experience in Houghton and Hancock over the last 12 years: more than 40 companies and 400 jobs created, and millions of dollars generated.

No, Houghton-Hancock is not Silicon Valley, but it's not bad for a region that's considered by many to be located at the end of the earth.

Marquette would like some of that action. Likely entrepreneurial candidates here? The life sciences for one--more companies like Pioneer Surgical, Frontier Medical and RTI Surgical. Other possibilities that would seem to fit are Sports Medicine, Information Technology, Social Media and Natural Resources.

The word is out. Marquette will be trying to lure smart, young, high tech entrepreneurs looking for tax breaks and an appealing (sometimes chilly) outdoor lifestyle.
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SPEAKING OF ENTREPRENEURS, Jesse Schramm is a classic case of a young man who's done well.

He runs Checker Bus and Checker Transport, both of which have radically upgraded transportation services in Marquette, and he operates about 150 housing units in the city. He's also a developer.

He's also running for one of the vacant City Commission seats this November. Sure seems like the Commission could use a young, entrepreneurial business voice during its deliberations. There haven't been many over the last several years.

But that brings us to this little twist in the story: Schramm and his wife are contesting their city taxes on four properties before a Tax Tribunal, and Schramm is also suing the city over its planned relocation of a recycling
center near one of his properties. So he's suing a city that he hopes to soon represent.

Probably not the best timing if you're hoping to win political office.

Schramm concedes that, but offers no apology. He's a businessman who feels that too often, the current politicians don't understand and appreciate how difficult it is to run a successful business. He has a point.

How much sympathy and support does he have? We'll find out November 4th.
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GOOD LUCK TO Marquette's world class marathoner, Tracy Lokken.

On Sunday, he'll be competing in the Twin Cities Marathon, which will include the US Masters Championship for men over 40 years old. Lokken, who trains right here on the sometimes frigid streets of Marquette, has won the Masters three times and has to be considered one of the favorites again.

Despite the fact that he just turned 49. That's remarkable because he'll be up against men who are 40, 41, and 42. Aren't you supposed to decline with age?

Not Lokken. He ran his best time ever, 2:21, just last year in Duluth. He ran a 2:22 in Boston. That's well under the world record of just under 2:03, but that was set by a 30 year old man.

By the time you're approaching 50, you're supposed to be settled in your easy chair, drinking beer, packing on the pounds, and dreaming of your glory years.

Not Lokken. He runs as many as 140 miles a week in preparation for races. On 49 year old knees, with a 49 year old heart.

One more thing to consider. The world record for a 50 year old is 2:19:29. Next year, Lokken, if he continues to improve with age, could be flirting with that record.

Amazing. The man deserves a parade.


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

If you want to be notified when Word on the Street is posted, go to Word on the Street by Brian Cabell on Facebook and "like" it.

Turmoil at Cliffs, Internet Cafe in a Bank, and a World Premiere in Marquette

THESE ARE TOUGH times for Cliffs Natural Resources but so far the local office is keeping quiet. Can't blame them. Who knows what lies ahead for them?

Here's what's been happening recently for the mining company that's long been one of Marquette County's biggest employers and most involved corporate citizens:

1) Its Duluth office, with 30 employees, is closing down. Those employees apparently are being offered jobs elsewhere.

2) Cliffs has reportedly hired Deutsche Bank to sell its coal assets in West Virginia and Alabama.

3) The company's also hired the Jefferies Group LLC to sell its Australian iron ore mines.

4) One of Cliffs' directors, Richard K. Riederer, has resigned from the board citing bullying by other board members as a reason for his departure.

5) All of this, of course, comes in the wake of the hostile takeover of the Cliffs' board by Casablanca Capital several weeks back, and the dumping of then CEO Gary Halverson.

None of these moves should come as a surprise. Casablanca, dismayed by Cliffs' dismal stock performance over the past few years, had promised major strategic changes and cuts when it seized control.

Whether those cuts will hit closer to home remains to be seen.
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SOME COMPANIES SEEM to see the future and embrace it.

A great example on Third Street in Marquette. The River Valley Bank branch recently closed down for a few months to make some remarkable changes.

When they reopen in late November, here's what we'll be seeing:

An internet café and lounge inside the bank. Yeah, that's right. Free cappuccino, free Wi-Fi, free iPad access, comfy chairs, and a fireplace. Oh, the popcorn's over there.

C'mon in, even if you're not a customer of the bank. Sit down, log on, surf the web, enjoy the java, give your feet a rest, take a break from the cold.

River Valley is calling it "the bank of the future." It'll also feature individual "teller pods," rather than a long, forbidding partition between tellers and customers. The tellers and bank managers will be out in the open and mingling constantly, rather than hidden away in their offices.

This new concept is being tried out on the East and West coast at some banks, and River Valley is now putting it into practice at their Wausau, Madison and Marquette branches.

An official says the idea is to give the bank--normally a boring, staid institution--more of a Starbucks feel. Sounds pretty good, especially when the coffee, the popcorn and the iPad access are all free.
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YOU MAY HAVE noticed that the Union Grill in south Marquette is up for sale.

Owners Terry and Christie Doyle have decided to pare back their business interests a bit with the awareness that they're not getting any younger. It was the same sort of reasoning that recently convinced Christine Pesola to loosen her ties to her beloved Landmark Inn.

The Doyles will, however, remain intimately involved with their primary business, the Vierling.

In fact, come November 15th, they'll undertake a major renovation of the kitchen at the Vierling and also of the underutilized front room which, to this point, has just been used for overflow, not for dining.

The Doyles plan to put a couple of TV's in the room, give it more of a hip, brew pub feel, and offer full dining, as well.

As for the Union Grill, which offers high quality food and barbeque in what's considered a fast-casual restaurant (slower but better than fast food, faster but less formal than a normal, sit-down restaurant), it'd be a shame to see it go. It's unique to this town.

The Doyles aren't rushing the sale--it's not even listed with a realtor yet.
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NO WORD YET on how long it'll take the city and Duke LifePoint to iron out a contract for the relocation of Marquette General Hospital.

One official suggested that the contract itself may present more difficulties than the original Memorandum of Understanding between the two parties. Let's hope that's not the case. DLP wants to start building next spring.

And let's get ready for the complaints from motorists and residents in the neighborhood of the new hospital. Erecting a bridge on Grove Street over US-41 and constructing a roundabout a few hundred yards west of there will not exactly be dust-free and congestion-free.

It'll be a mess for at least a few months.

One final thought about the entire Duke LifePoint search that has consumed the community for the last year: likely, the critical factor that turned DLP toward the Roundhouse property and away from the golf course and the township site was Roundhouse's eligibility for Brownfield funds. The township and the golf course couldn't offer that.

A Brownfield project can offer millions of dollars to a developer. That's important to a for-profit corporation.
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HOLD ON. ONE final, final observation about Duke LifePoint and the city.

City Commissioner Don Ryan's eloquent and clear-minded summation last week of the deal that was reached for the relocation of Marquette General Hospital had to remind some of us that we're losing three wise, conscientious, even-tempered commissioners this November.

Ryan, Fred Stonehouse, and mayor Bob Niemi are all leaving because of term limits. You might not have agreed with all their decisions during their tenure but you can't deny that they're smart and devoted and polite, and commission meetings have generally run smoothly.

And the city, despite some daunting challenges, is moving ahead.

Maybe our three retiring commissioners could move to Washington DC and teach those clowns how a government is supposed to be run.
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A WORLD PREMIERE in Marquette!

It sounds a little hyperbolic but it's true. The play Willpower takes to the stage this Thursday and Friday at Kaufman Auditorium.

It was written by Marquette novelist Tyler Tichelaar. The director is Moire Embley, the musical director is Jeff Bruning. They're both locals. The actors are local, the singers are local.

So yeah, this is local and it's original.

The story itself isn't too bad, either. It's about Will Adams, a young man in Marquette at the turn of the 19th century who overcame a mysterious, crippling disease to write poetry, essays, magazine articles and an operetta.

At the end of his life (at age 32), he was paralyzed from the neck down, but he was still determined and creative.

A lesson for all of us. And we'll be the first to see it this Thursday and Friday at Kaufman.


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

If you want to receive Word on the Street as soon as it's posted, go to Word on the Street by Brian Cabell on Facebook and "like" it.

 

Duke LifePoint Chooses Roundhouse

After a year of deliberations and negotiations, Duke LifePoint has made its decision. It wants to relocate Marquette General Hospital to the Roundhouse property in Marquette.

A DLP executive will attend next Monday's City Commission meeting to make the proposal for the purchase of the property.

It is not a done deal yet. The City Commission must still accept the offer and details must still be worked out in a formal contract, but it seems highly unlikely that anybody or anything will stand in the way of a deal that means so much to the city of Marquette.

Here are some of the highlights of the proposed deal as listed in the Memorandum of Understanding:


Duke LifePoint would pay the city $4 million for the land containing
the Roundhouse site and the property on which the Municipal
Service Center stands. It's a total of 37 acres.

Duke LifePoint would drop its two Tax Tribunal cases against the city for  the current Marquette General Hospital. That's a big relief to the city which was facing a major shortfall in tax revenues if DLP had succeeded at its Tax Tribunal.
  
The city would help DLP get a 12 year, 50% tax abatement on the
Roundhouse/MSC property.

The city would design and construct a roundabout or other signalized
entrance to the new hospital off of US 41. This would be located at
about 300 yards west of Grove Street on US 41, roughly connecting
the current MSC site and the Norlite Nursing Center.  
  

 

The city would design and construct a new bridge over US 41 at
Grove Street. That means the surface intersection of US 41 and
Grove  Street would be eliminated. 

The city would realign Baraga Avenue to tie into Spring Street to 
allow better access to the new hospital.

The current MSC building would be torn down and relocated.


Other major improvements would also have to be made--electrical, water, sewer, environmental and the like--but the deal, as it stands, has been agreed to by Duke LifePoint and a subcommittee of the City Commission.
Now, it'll be up to the full Commission to sign off on it.

The one essential piece of this agreement is that the entire development would be declared a Brownfield Project. In other words, it's being developed on devalued former industrial or railroad land.

The Brownfield designation would enable DLP to set up a so-called TIF district (tax increment financing) which would allow it and the city to recapture tax dollars on the property and pay for all of the infrastructure improvements. Total cost of all the changes and improvements: $30 million dollars.

The city seems confident that virtually none of the costs will be borne by the city's citizens.

It's long and complicated, to say the least, but the money men and women will figure it out.

Construction of the hospital and a medical office facility on the same campus will take about two years.

What happens to the old hospital and the current medical center? No answers yet.

One thing at a time.

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

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MGH Is Counting Down, Eagle Mine Road Is Ever Widening, and a College Preacher Is Spewing Hate

TWO WEEKS, MAYBE less. That's when we'll have a deal for the new Marquette General Hospital. That's when all the courting and numbers-crunching and speculating will finally end.

Two apparent candidates remain in the running for the nearly $300 million project--the Marquette Township site just behind the Westwood Mall, and the city of Marquette's Roundhouse site, on the western fringe of downtown.

The Township submitted its deal several weeks ago. Duke LifePoint, the owner of the hospital, seemed satisfied with it, and the two sides have not had substantial talks since then.

The city, on the other hand, has been having on-and-off chats with DLP in the last several weeks, but no one is characterizing those talks as negotiations. Just questions and answers.

Two weeks, maybe less. Then one of these municipalities will finally be able to  start a friendly and prosperous collaboration with Duke LifePoint.
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IT'S ABOUT TO happen. After a decade-long struggle, the Eagle Mine outside of Big Bay will begin harvesting billions of dollars of nickel and copper in the next couple of months.

Have you been out there lately? The road to the mine--510 and AAA--is a startling, ten mile long, 50-100 yard swath of denuded land. The Road Commission, which is constructing the roadway with $45 million from Lundin, concedes it's wider than necessary but says that was the wish of the property owners. They wanted the timber.

Okay. We get it. This whole project is about money.

Further, one official suggested that this gash across the landscape might actually help the wildlife in the spring because the cleared area will melt before the forest does and maybe provide some early vegetation for the hungry animals. Of course, the critters, while snacking, will have to dodge the huge ore trucks roaring past at 50 miles per hour.

Let's not kid ourselves, part one. The road and the mine will have an environmental impact on what was a pristine area. How serious will it be? We don't know. Let's hope it's something less than what the environmental groups have predicted.

They're the ones who publicized the leakage of groundwater into the Salmon Trout River a couple of weeks ago. That's their job from now on: they may have lost the war to stop the mine but they'll be maintaining a close watch on every move that Lundin and the Road Commission make. They'll be ringing the alarm bells if something goes awry.

We should be thankful for them. The mine and road are realities but maybe...just maybe, the environmental damage can be mitigated by an alert and enlightened citizenry, and by an extra-conscientious mining industry that may want to extend its welcome it in the U.P.

Let's not kid ourselves, part two. The mining companies know there's a lot more ore...and money...down there. At the end of the Eagle Mine's supposed eight year life (and likely before then), the companies will be flashing more cash and asking for an extended stay in the U.P.
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NO ONE SAID it would be easy.

The July TV ratings have come in, and WJMN, the new entrant in the local TV news wars, can't be all that thrilled.

In the coveted 25-54 age demographic, which matters most to advertisers, WBUP (ABC 10) had slightly higher ratings than WJMN. Fox UP, likewise had higher ratings for its 10 pm newscast.

What that means is that TV news viewers don't readily change their news habits, even when the new competitor--WJMN--has a known and capable anchor and news director in Cynthia Thompson, a solid anchor at 11 pm in Gabe Caggiano, and an established parent station out of Green Bay--WFRV.

It'll take time.

In case you're wondering, the runaway leader in the July ratings, of course, was again TV6. That's been the case for the last half century. Tradition is hard to overcome.

On the other hand, WBUP (ABC 10) continues to compile an impressive website showing with more than two million page views last month. Needless to say, a lot more people are reading their website than are watching their newscasts.
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THE OPENING DATE for The Marq, the new farm-to-table restaurant in Marquette, was supposed to be August...but here we are in September and they're not quite ready to serve. Not even close.

Three or four months out, businesspeople are always optimistic, but then personal, financial and governmental realities set in.

The new opening date for the Marq is November.

Drop by the site of the old Rubaiyat restaurant and you'll see plenty of construction underway inside and out. The restaurant's eight investors promise that they will not overspend on the re-do of the building, which was one apparent reason for the demise of the Rubaiyat.

The restaurant's space is being opened up, however, allowing more sunlight to flow in, and recycled woods and other materials uniquely treated are being used throughout the restaurant.The Marq is also setting up a full bar for drinkers and eating customers. The design is being handled by University Michigan architecture professors Adam Fure and Ellie Abrons.

Seventy-two seats total in the restaurant which will feature as much local produce and meat as Austin Fure, Adam's brother, a classically trained chef, can find. He says the menu will change regularly to reflect the fact that available produce in the U.P. necessarily changes.

Sounds like the right restaurant in the right place at the right time.

Expect hiring to start within a month.
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INCOMING NMU FRESHMEN last week quickly learned that college life is just a wee bit different from high school.

A traveling preacher out of Texas showed up on campus to noisily denounce fornication, pornography and blasphemy. He called some of the female students whores, told just about everybody they were going to hell unless they changed their ways, and saved some of his harshest words for a transgender student.

All in all, a swell couple of days of evangelism that was chronicled by NMU's North Wind newspaper.

The preacher, whose name is Chris LePelley, has apparently left town to spread the good word on other campuses. Nevertheless, some NMU students are now trying to start a group known as NMU Love. It'd be a way of saying we disagree with hate speech, biblical or otherwise.

That's fine. Or you can just ignore the hate-spewing, spotlight-loving clowns and let them shout their nonsense at the sky.

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

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