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

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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

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.

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

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

Hospital Deadline, Golf Course Rejection, and Another Frigid Winter

 

WELL, HERE IT is, the end of August, the supposed deadline for a decision on the relocation of Marquette General Hospital, so it should happen this week, right?

Don't count on it, if the city's Roundhouse location is one of the two final candidates, which we hear it is.

The thing is, the City Commission's subcommittee on the hospital would have to approve a possible deal and then the City Commission as a whole would have to vote publicly on it before the city could assure Duke LifePoint that the deal is a go.

That's not likely to happen by the end of this week.

Now, if DLP has already decided it's selecting the Township site behind the Westwood Mall, that's a different story. It could happen this week.

But what we hear is that DLP is still having talks with the city over the Roundhouse site--questions answered, details clarified--while communications with the Township have been silent for about a month. That may mean DLP is totally satisfied with the Township offer while it's got doubts about the city's offer.

Or it may mean...

Oh hell, who knows what it means?
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IN CASE YOU'RE wondering why the Marquette Golf Club ended talks with Duke LifePoint a week ago, here's why.

The club, after building the highly acclaimed but financially taxing Greywalls course almost a decade ago, remains about four million dollars in debt. It's a tough nut to crack.

A substantial offer from DLP for half of the Heritage course could have solved the problem but DLP's offer was somewhere in the neighborhood of three million plus. After taxes and various costs, the club would have cleared maybe two million at most, probably less.

And they would have been left without a clubhouse and a pro shop. If they had rebuilt those and taken care of other maintenance issues, their remaining cash from the sale would barely have made a dent in their debt.

And they would have been saddled with a nine hole course and an eighteen hole course divided by a huge hospital complex which, for the next couple of years, would have been nothing more than an ugly, dusty construction zone.

Hardly a wise strategy to attract new golf club members.

What could Duke LifePoint have offered to change a few minds? "Ten million would have been a good number," according to one member, half jokingly. Or maybe not.
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THE TRIALS AND tribulations of ABC 10 continue.

News director and anchor Rick Tarsitano has left the Ishpeming-based station for a more lucrative position on Lake Michigan--Chicago's WGN.

Bigtime. Big station. And both Rick and his wife are from the Chicago area.

He'll be a sports producer there, not on the air for now, but don't rule that out in the future. He's a talent who provided some much needed stability at the chronically underfunded ABC 10.

"Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be TV journalists..."

Rick's had to walk a rocky path ever since he got into TV a few years back. He was hired as an off camera producer (for peanuts) at TV6 and struggled to get on the air, despite having a strong work ethic and obvious talent. He was frustrated. Then he was explicably canned.

Then, he caught on as a reporter at ABC10 (for fewer peanuts)...at one point considered going back to TV6...then with the departure of ABC 10's news director Cynthia Thompson, he found himself appointed the new news director and anchor and who-knows-what-else (for a few more peanuts).

And now, less than a year into his tenure, he's off to Chicago in an entirely different role.

Ya gotta be flexible as a TV journalist. And willing to live on peanuts. Small market TV does not lead to riches.

Meantime, ABC 10, the little engine that could, will continue to chug forward. A new news director and anchor have yet to be named.
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AS IF POWERHOUSE TV 6 needed any more advantages...

The Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns TV6, recently announced that it's also taken ownership of WLUK in Green Bay. Yeah, the same WLUK that used to broadcast Fox programming and Green Bay Packer games in the UP.

None of that will change because Fox UP (also owned by Sinclair) now has rights to that, but the ownership change is significant because now the news departments of TV6 and Fox UP will be able to readily trade stories with WLUK. Together, they'll be offering blanket coverage of the UP-Green Bay region.

The rich get richer.
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BY NOW WE'VE all heard the dismaying news that this upcoming winter may be as bitterly cold as last winter. So says the Farmer's Almanac which claims an 80% accuracy rate.

So what says local weather guru Karl Bohnak? Surely, he'll dispel such nonsense.

Well, as a matter of fact...no.

He says water patterns in the Pacific Ocean point toward a cold winter. Looks like we'll have a weak El Nino which also lends itself to a cold winter.

There is a greater likelihood of an eastern US-based frigid winter, rather than a Midwest-based freeze, but here in the U.P, we're still likely to feel it.

Bohnak reminds us that we had a frigid winter in '95-'96, and that was followed by record-breaking cold in '96-'97, so there's precedent for this.

Swell.

One ray of sunshine here: September should be an average month, maybe even a bit warmer and sunnier than average.

Woohoo. Let's throw a beach party just before we head down to Getz's to buy our mittens and swampers.

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.

 

Golf Course Is Out, Coast Guard Is Out to Lunch, and Huron Earth Deli Will Serve Lunch No Longer

LOOKS LIKE WE can cross one of Duke LifePoint's options off the list.

The Marquette Golf Club Board Wednesday morning voted to cut off all negotiations with DLP regarding a possible location for the new Marquette General Hospital.

Duke LifePoint, at last word, had been considering half of the Heritage course as one of its three options for relocation. But communication between the golf club and DLP over the last few weeks had gone silent and DLP's last offer to the club had been woefully inadequate.

Not only that, but the ongoing negotiations and gossip had upset the club membership and some of the surrounding neighbors. So, the board said, Enough.

Which apparently leaves DLP with two sites left on its list: 1) the 42 acres behind the Westwood Mall in Marquette Township, and 2) the Roundhouse property on the western fringe of downtown Marquette.

Maybe there's some unpublicized, darkhorse candidate out there. Who knows? We should have an answer by the end of this month.
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REMEMBER THAT GREAT property trade that Marquette made with the US Coast Guard several years back?

You know, the one in which the city got almost nine acres of coastal property for a public park, and the Coast Guard, in return, received one and a half acres on which to build their fancy new station.

Worked out great. The Coast Guard immediately built their $5 million, 6000 square foot facility in 2009 and opened it up to rave reviews, and the city...well...uh...the city...well, it seems that the city, you know...

The city still doesn't have squat.

Five years later, the city still doesn't have ownership of the property. It's fenced off. "No trespassing" signs abound.

Why the delays? Last year's government shutdown is one supposed reason. Whatever. That reason's getting old.

The government has determined that before the city takes ownership, the lighthouse and the other buildings on the property need to be repainted to encapsulate the old lead-based paint. Okay. That should take...what?...two or three weeks?

The real reason for the delay apparently is government bureaucracy. Despite pressure from our elected representatives, the Coast Guard clearly has not made this a priority. We all love the Coast Guard and appreciate what it means to Marquette, but clearly five years should be more than enough time to complete a deal. A deal was made and a promise was made but neither so far has been honored.
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HOW WOULD YOU like to work 70 hours a week and not earn a paycheck?

Welcome to the world of Andrew Sear, the owner and chef at Paladino's Café at the Peter White Public Library.

He, along with a tiny staff, has been at it for three months now turning out what most consider to be remarkably tasty and inventive food. Eclectic. Fusion. Local produce, local meat. Farm-to-table.

Problem is, it's a tiny café with a limited clientele and limited revenue even as its catering business grows. Thus, so far no paycheck for Sear. He's paying the bills, that's all.

So what's the plan?

He's looking to grow--start another Paladino's, a larger café-deli, preferably in Marquette but he's not ruling anything out. He's looking for investors, people with money who believe in his food and his vision. That hardly makes him unique, but you can't fault him for trying and dreaming and working 70 hours a week.

This week's special, by the way, is the Hot Mess which includes roasted pork, pickled red onions, kimchee, Michigan brie and bread. Yeah, that would be fusion. And eclectic.
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NOT TO PLAY middle man in all this, but a venue Sear and his angel investors might be considering is the building on Third Street currently housing Sweet Basil and MacDonald's Music Store.

If you passed by in the last week, you couldn't help but notice the For Sale sign on the building. The sign is roughly the size of a minivan.

Great location. It also includes four apartments. Two showings so far. $349,000.

As for Sweet Basil, business owner Shelly Morley says she'll either stay in the current location, or move it elsewhere in town if the new building owner asks her to move. But Sweet Basil, which has built a substantial catering business over the years, is not going away.
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ON THE OTHER hand, the Huron Earth Deli on South Third Street is going away.

The little café and deli tucked away into a mostly residential neighborhood is shutting down a week from this Friday. A shame. Good, wholesome high quality food here.

What this tells you is that even if you work hard and offer a great product, the profit margin in the restaurant business is tiny, sometimes non-existent. For every Vango's, there are a dozen good restaurants that go under within a couple of years.

The Huron Earth Deli building is up for sale at $325,000, but there appears to be a very interested owner from out-of-state. Another restaurant? We'll have to wait and see.
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THE BAYOU IN Harvey is now brewing its own suds under the brand name Chocolay River Brewery.

After a series of delays, the beer is now flowing under the direction of brewmaster Grant Lyke.

Here's what they have to offer so far:
   Bayou Blonde Ale
   Blueberry Wheat
   Gitchigoomie Black Ale
   Shot Point Wheat
   Rock Cut American Pale Ale

Needless to say, a distinctly local flavor.

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.

B and B News, Upfront Interest, Hospital Guessing, and Eccletico Encores

IT'S NOT A sure thing yet, but it's getting there.

The long awaited Nestledown Bed and Breakfast on Lakeshore Boulevard, across from Picnic Rocks, may be just a few weeks away from groundbreaking.

Ken and Sue Schauland bought the property two and a half years ago and tore down the existing building with the expectation that they'd soon be building a unique B and B on prime property right across the street from the beach.

Not so fast. Zoning, financing, and environmental concerns cropped up. In fact, in the eyes of some, the project seemed dead.

The Schaulands (who Sue describes as "regular people with a dream") persisted. Now, they have one final financing obstacle to overcome, and with any luck, they'll put shovels to the ground by the end of summer. Their hope is to be open for business next summer.

The Schaulands both have Scandinavian blood and Nestledown will feature a distinctly Scandinavian theme, complete with a sauna. It'll consist of six guest rooms in the main building, and one room, for longer term guests, over the garage.

Question: Why doesn't the city of Marquette currently have any B and B's? There are  a few in the area--in Sands, on M-28 toward Munising and in Big Bay--but none in the city proper. Strange. It seems like an ideal location--scenic and outdoorsy but with plenty of shops, restaurants and bars. Nestledown may be carving out a niche all to itself.

In any case, Lakeshore Boulevard is coming alive. Looks like Lakeshore Cottages, a group of seven condos, will be going in up the block from Nestledown...then a mile away, they'll soon be breaking ground on the Clark Lambros Beach Park...single family homes continue to be built at the corner of Fair and Lakeshore...and Cocos recently underwent a renovation.

Traverse City, here we come.

Just kidding.

Maybe.
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THE UPFRONT BUILDING downtown remains for sale, but it is drawing interest.

Six potential buyers, two of them corporate, have taken a look at the property so far. No offers yet.

The asking price remains $3.9 million. Realtor Dan Keller says the current owner Rhyss Mussman has at least twice that much invested in the property.

Upfront has plenty going for it--great space, attractive venue, solid infrastructure.

Now all it needs is an investor with money, vision, and a willingness to bet on Marquette.
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THE GUESSING GAME continues on the hospital relocation front.

Rumors are running rampant--"The Roundhouse property is definitely out!" "No, it's the odds-on favorite!" "The golf course is rapidly losing favor!" "The township site is all but a sure thing!"

Bottom line, no one but a select few at Duke LifePoint know how the process is going.

What we do know is this: the Township has submitted all its documentation regarding the 42 acre site behind the Westwood Mall, and Duke Lifepoint, in response, has said virtually nothing to Township officials for the last three and a half weeks. Good news? Bad news? Who knows?

The city, which apparently still has the golf course and Roundhouse sites under consideration, has had "dialogue" with Duke LifePoint recently, but nothing that could be characterized as "negotiations." Just questions.

Questions. That pretty well characterizes this entire story. The final answer, if we're to believe Duke LifePoint, should come by the end of the month.
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QUITE A SCENE at the Ore Dock last weekend.

The increasingly popular string group known as Eccletico tried to finish their set and make room for the headline band, but the boisterous crowd wouldn't let them go. Eccletico, worried about overstaying their welcome, did play one encore but the crowd would have been much happier with five or six.

They're a group of up to 15 members (it varies) who all play string instruments, along with a drummer.

They play hit songs--rock, pop, country, jazz, folk, alternative--but they class it up with their strings. The music is infectious and exciting. Just imagine a line of violinists stomping their feet to the music and you get the idea.

Don't be surprised if these violinists and cellists start attracting groupies.

Eccletico's next gig is at Harbor Fest, Saturday, August 23rd, from 3:30 pm to 5 pm.
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AN INTERESTING AND eclectic little shop has opened up next to Frosty Treats on Third Street.

It's Superior Vitality, which features in its cute but compact space, a raw juice and smoothie bar, organic soaps and lotions, herbs, hemp products, massage and Reiki therapy, clothes, cards...and breast prostheses and bras.

It's the brainchild of Penny Aldrich, herself a breast cancer survivor. The idea is to provide convenient and comfortable service to other breast cancer survivors, and to invite all of us to enjoy a healthier lifestyle.

If you're interested in the First Chakra juice at Superior Vitality, your beverage would include red beets, carrots, ginger, fennel and lemon. The Fourth Chakra juice would consist of honeydew melon, pear, apple, cucumber, kale, celery, parsley, and lime.

Gotta be healthy, right?

Certainly a teensie bit healthier than the sweet, succulent and oh-so-popular soft serve ice cream and yogurt next door at Frosty Treats.


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.

Hospital Anticipation, Truck Route Compromise and Hiawatha's Empty Seats

THE DECISION IS is getting close.

Duke LifePoint  has been dealing directly with the city of Marquette and Marquette Township for the last couple of weeks regarding the three possible sites for the new hospital.

The township says they've now supplied Duke LifePoint with everything they need on the site behind the Westwood Mall, and everything's in order. The township is just waiting.

The city is still negotiating on its two sites--the Roundhouse property and the golf course--but it's also filed the requested papers.

How much actual back-and-forth bargaining is going on? It's uncertain. Who knows? Maybe it's just starting, even though the original deadline for a decision was about a month ago.

What is certain is that Duke LifePoint is holding most of the cards in this high stakes game. Both the township and the city dearly want the hospital and are willing to accommodate the hospital's demands....up to a point. As one city official put it recently, "How much are we willing to give them to keep them in the city? If we have to spend too much--money we don't have--is it worth it?"

If they had their druthers, most Marquette officials and merchants would love Duke LifePoint to choose the Roundhouse site because it would amount to immediate urban renewal. The neighborhood would be transformed, money would pour in. But the golf course property would be just fine too.

And the township? They're just saying, with full-throated enthusiasm, "Come on down!" They've got their hands on their shovels and their eyes on the prize.
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A COMPROMISE COULD be near on the truck route controversy that has had the city and township exchanging hostile words and glances.

Here's what the compromise would look like: Marquette would pass a truck ordinance that would send all westbound, eastbound and southbound trucks along Wright Street to US 41, but the ordinance wouldn't take effect for a couple of years.

In the meantime, all parties involved--the Road Commission, the city and the township--would work on getting a bypass built that would send truck traffic around the edges of the city and the township.

And once funding and permitting are secured for the bypass, the city would then designate McClellan (over likely vehement protests from residents) as the north-south route through the city.

Bottom line: for now, the big trucks could continue, as they do now, to use all roads in the city for the next couple of years.

With two major exceptions. (This is known in the news business as "burying the lead.") In this proposed compromise, truckers would no longer be able to drive on Lakeshore and Third Street except for local deliveries. That would be a major change that would take effect immediately (and would be cheered by local residents and merchants.)

The township's not exactly embracing the proposal because it still feels, with some justification, that the city is trying to dump its big, lumbering, noisy, polluting truck traffic into the township. But the two municipalities seem to be getting closer.

The long term solution to the problem--the bypass--is, at best, three years away from construction.
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ANOTHER HIAWATHA MUSIC festival is in the books.

Great weather, great crowds, great fun, great music.

Well, about the music. For aficionados, it was wonderful and artistic and eclectic. But did you take a look around during the daylight hours at the seats in front of the main stage?

Most were empty. Performers were playing to a sea of empty seats. Some of the performers even mentioned it. It's got to be dismaying to them. Hiawatha attracts more than 3000 festival-goers, but for some daytime acts, only about 100 people, sometimes fewer, seemed to be actively listening. That's three percent.

The other 97% were elsewhere, at campsites, workshops, at the beach, on the streets, at the food booths. Anywhere but at the main stage where the supposed attractions of this traditional music festival were performing.

Maybe it's just time for us to acknowledge that Hiawatha is more about communalism--the joy of being together with friends and family--than it is about traditional music.

Which is fine. You just feel kinda sad for the performers who were up on stage playing their music for a mute and static crowd of empty chairs and blankets.

Maybe "traditional" music is something that we all respect...but we don't necessarily love.

Maybe we should look into Justin Bieber's availability next July.
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NEXT TUESDAY'S CLIFFS Natural Resources shareholder meeting and election has directors, officials, employees and shareholders sipping their coffee nervously.

Casablanca Capital is attempting a takeover that could affect jobs, salaries, bonuses and share prices, as well as the future direction of the mining company. The impact could be felt here at both the Tilden and Empire mines.

One positive sign in all this, amid the corporate conflict, the declining steel prices and the seemingly imminent closure of the Empire mine (yeah, we've heard that before), is that ArcelorMittal, one of Cliffs' partners, is spending big money to partially reline a huge blast furnace in Indiana.

That's where iron ore pellets from Empire and Tilden are melted into pig iron.

Does that mean ArcelorMittal is anticipating extending the Empire contract beyond 2016? Not necessarily, says one Cliffs official.

But hey, we'll take any good news we can get our hands on.
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ALL'S WELL THAT ends well.

Remember the nasty little spat between the Marquette Farmers Market and Farmer Q's last year and early this year? It ended with Farmer Q's and their downstate produce noisily pulling out of the Farmers Market, telling their friends and customers they were moving downstate, then suddenly reversing course and moving into a new shop in south Marquette.

Some of us were concerned the Farmers Market might suffer because Farmer Q's had offered a wide variety of fruits that simply weren't grown in the UP.

Good news. The Farmers Market crowds have not diminished since last year. They still average about 700 customers every Saturday, the same as 2013, according to the DDA. No serious growth either, but every year, the UP farmers are growing more local produce, and the crowds will likely increase.

And Farmer Q's? Business is great, according to owner Susan Brian. Revenue's up 50% over its old location on Washington Street. More walk-in traffic, more visibility and more parking at its location on US 41.

So everybody wins here--the Farmers Marquette, Farmer Q's, and the customers.
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YOU MAY NOTICE some vaguely familiar young faces on the streets and  beaches and in the bars and restaurants of Marquette the weekend after next.

Nearly a dozen alumni from TV6 and Fox UP are returning to the UP for a reunion.

Among them: Phil DeCastro, Aaron Martin, Nikki Junewicz, Natalie Jovonovich, Mike Bedard, Nikki Davidson, Noel McLaren, Beth Jones, Eric Kane, and Andrew Lacombe.

What's ironic is that many of them, if not most, probably dreaded coming up to the remote, primitive, frozen tundra of the UP when they first got their broadcasting jobs here...Yet, now, a few years later, having thoroughly enjoyed their stay here and the relationships they built, they're returning.

Welcome back.

Last call is at 2 am.

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