Tequila, Toys, Tricky Tabulations, TV, Tap Rooms, and Twisting Arms

SALT OR NO salt?

Sol Azteca, the Mexican restaurant overlooking the Lower Harbor, got the good news last week that, at long last, it will soon be able to serve margaritas...and Corona and anything else containing alcohol.

Its liquor license was finally approved.

The restaurant has been open for a nearly a year but it took several months to buy a liquor license, and then when it came up for approval before the Liquor Control Commission, it was turned down. Reason unknown.

In any case, it appealed the rejection and won.

Sol Azteca, at last report, was waiting for the actual license to arrive. When it does, it can go out and start stocking its bar and serving its customers. Best guess is that will happen next week.

Word was, some of the restaurant's customers over the last several months got up and walked out upon learning alcohol wasn't available. Many others loaded up on spirits downstairs at L'Attitude before or after their Mexican meals.

But it's a new day at Sol Azteca and not a moment too soon. It's tough to pay the bills at a high profile location when you're selling tacos, burritos and enchiladas.
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SPEAKING OF TIMING, how about a new toy store setting up in Marquette just one month before Christmas?

It's Great Turtle Toys, which was hurriedly stocking the shelves at the location of the old Food Co-op on Monday. It'll open this week.

It's actually a pop-up store, meaning it's only a temporary store for now, unless the owner decides to extend his stay. An employee says they'll see how sales go.

No sign outside yet. Inside, you'll find games, toys, remote control devices, etc. You gotta admit, it's something Marquette needs, especially this time of year. It's kinda like Toys "R" Us, only one billionth the size.

Incidentally, there's another Great Turtle Toys on Mackinac Island and in Clarkston.
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PREPARE FOR MORE changes at TV 6.

The station's new co-anchor at 6 pm, Sophie Erber, will also be co-anchoring the 7 pm and 11 pm newscasts with Greg Trick, starting December 10th.

That's a good indication that management likes the reaction they've been hearing about Erber who arrived here several weeks ago from Florida.

By the way, you wanna get into TV? TV 6 has reporter openings at two of its bureaus.  Abby Miller left her Iron Mountain job last month, and Sara Blakely is leaving her Houghton post on December 5th.

News Director Steve Asplund says the two reporters just decided to move on. So it goes in a business where smart, young people can look forward to job that pays in the low 20s (at best) and offers every other holiday off (maybe).

Oh, and there's also the snow and the cold. And the equipment to lug around. And all of us critics out there who don't like the way you look and sound.
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TALK ABOUT ELECTION intrigue.

Things are still being sorted out in Ishpeming, almost a month after the election. First unofficial returns of the voting had Mayor Mike Tall beating challenger Justin Koski for a council seat 964-961. Then the official county tabulation came in and results were reversed: Koski 960, Tall 955.

Now it gets more complicated. The state still has to certify those results, likely in December, and when that happens, Tall, the apparent loser, will ask for and be granted a recount.

But wait! Before that happens, the new councilman, apparently Koski, will likely be sworn in which means that if by some chance he loses in the recount, then he will be booted out of his seat before he even gets it warm.

And there's more! In the election, no one ran for the two-year-term seat, so it's now vacant. That means the new council (with Koski as a new councilman) will have to appoint someone to the two year seat. And who's among the likely candidates for that seat? Mike Tall, that's who.

Ah, politics. Ya gotta love it.
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ANY DAY NOW, we should be hearing from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  They'll tell us how much of a rate increase we'll have to pay to keep the outdated, costly and under-utilized Presque Isle Power Plant open.

The deadline for the notification is December 1st, although that could be pushed back to January 1st.

We don't want the damn plant but we've got to keep it open for the sake of the grid and for the reliability of the power supply and....blah blah blah.

What's especially outrageous is that FERC initially ruled that the UP would have to pay virtually all the costs for the plant. That could be especially tough on businesses and people on a fixed income.

UP and Michigan politicians are twisting arms to make sure that doesn't happen.

We'll see. It's inevitable we'll have to pay more for our electricity. It's just a matter of how much more.
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THE COGNITION BREWING Company in Ishpeming is just about ready to open, but not quite.

They're still working on the venue which is the long-vacated tap room of the old Mather Inn. Should be a great space when they're ready.

They're also dealing with getting their liquor license approved. They expect no problems with that. We wish them well.

They had been hoping to open in November, then it was Christmas, now it's January. In the meantime, they're waiting for their outdoor sign to arrive, their redoing their website, they've hired an operations manager, they're setting up their online store (selling growlers and such), they're....well, they're doing everything but opening their taps and selling beer.

So it goes with a new business.
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SPEAKING OF WHICH.

The Marq, Marquette's much anticipated farm-to-table restaurant, remains a work in progress.

The original hoped-for opening date was August which means today must be August 121st.

There's still work to be done inside and outside and oh yeah, there's also that pesky and familiar little item known as a "liquor license" to be dealt with. But it's going smoothly, we're told. Sure. Okay.

Best guess for an opening date? February.

Foodies are counting the days. One more thing: the interior of The Marq, featuring blacks and golds, is unlike anything else you'll see in town.

Just a tease.

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.

TV6 Co-Anchor, Right-to-Farm, Fitness Craze, and Rainwater Toilets

STEVE ASPLUND AND Greg Trick will soon have a female co-anchor sitting across from them at the TV6 anchor desk.

Her name is Sophie Erber, fresh out of a Masters program at the University of South Florida. She'd previously graduated from University of Tampa in the honors program.

A co-anchor? We haven't seen that since the days of Elizabeth Peterson and Jackie Chandonnet.

It's a further indication that TV6's new owner, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, has money to spend and intends to head off the challenges of Local 3, WJMN's new newscast team, and ABC 10.

Dual anchors at TV6 were ditched several years back by the previous owner, Barrington Broadcasting, in a cost-cutting move. Times have changed, ownership has changed.

Erber is scheduled to arrive in the UP in  a couple of weeks. You'll see her on the air as a reporter initially as she familiarizes herself with the area...and then she'll sit down in the 6 pm co-anchor chair. Eventually, plans call for her to appear on the 6 pm, 7 pm and 11 pm newscasts.

One more report, that Asplund won't comment on but everybody else at TV6 will, tells us that morale at the station, especially in the news department, has soared since the former ND Regena Robinson abruptly left late last year, and Asplund took over. 

One staffer referred to Robinson's tenure as "two and a half years of hell."
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A FEW YEARS ago, Forsyth Township and Randy Buchler, a local farmer, were battling each other in a courtroom. Today, they're working together to come up with new and fair zoning ordinances on backyard farms.

Take note, Washington DC. This is a story about how government is supposed to function.

Quick background: Buchler and his wife have been raising laying hens and sheep (for wool), along with vegetables, for the last decade at their Shady Grove Farm in Gwinn. However, a few years ago, the Township Planning Board determined that the Buchlers were in violation of the township's zoning ordinance.

The township took them to court but, surprise, the Buchlers actually won. The judge ruled that Michigan's right-to-farm act trumped the county ordinance. The ruling garnered national attention.

So, was there bad blood between the victors and the losers?

Nope. The planning board is now drawing up new ordinances that will fit in with the township's master plan and it wants Buchler, with his experience and knowledge, to help them. The board also acknowledges that its residents have made it clear they want to loosen the rules when it comes to raising livestock on their property.

How about that? A government that listens to its constituents, doesn't hold grudges, and simply wants to govern.
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HOW MANY FITNESS gyms does Marquette need?

Well, we just got another one. Anytime Fitness, without any fanfare, opened its doors on Washington Street across from Shopko August 1st, and the manager claims they've already signed up 100 members. Mostly by word-of-mouth.

Radio ads are just starting. The official grand opening won't take place until the end of the month.

It's not just some modest little hole in the wall, either. It's a brand new two story facility. Anytime Fitness now boasts 2600 gyms worldwide. It's one of the fastest growing chains in America.

The new gym comes on the heels of Snap Fitness, on US 41, closing down. Not enough clients?

So again, do we need another gym? There are now about a dozen in and around town, some specializing in personalized training, others offering a wide array of activities, still others keeping their doors open 24 hours a day.

We've become a fitness-obsessed society although you'd never know that by looking at our ever expanding waistlines.
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YA GOTTA LOVE this.

Have you seen all the attractive landscaping outside the new Marquette Food Co-op?

It's all being irrigated by rainwater captured on the roof of the store. Simple but brilliant and far-seeing. That's what sustainability is all about.

Oh, one other thing. The toilets at the Co-op are also using water from the roof. Flushing is provided by rain.

It's amazing what you can learn by reading informational signs on the back of the commodes.

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

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