Exiles from LA and Chicago, High Tech and Low Tech Jobs, Unemployed Sociologists, and Lug Nuts

THE DEAL TO sell the Landmark Inn, announced a few months ago, still hasn't been finalized but it's getting closer. The transfer of the liquor license and a few other minor details are all that need to be ironed out.

Graves Hospitality, which is buying the hotel, hopes to have it done in January...or by March at the latest.

Meantime, they're going ahead with transition plans. The Landmark's senior managers have undergone Graves training, the corporate chef has come in to take a look at the Landmark, and Graves executives are planning changes at the Landmark's upscale restaurant, Capers.

They won't be specific about their plans yet, but they do anticipate a significant change in the physical layout of the restaurant, as well as in the menu and the price point.

Translation: Graves wants Capers (Will they change the name?) to be younger, hipper, more welcoming, and less expensive.

Let's be honest. Even those of us who love the current Capers have to admit it's a little staid and stodgy, entirely appropriate for special occasions and big budgets, but less so for the younger, on-the-town crowd who are seeking an appealing destination for food and drink.

The man who will be managing the new food and beverage operations at the Landmark is Mike Mering. He's a local boy who's coming home after a decade in Chicago where he's most recently been the general manager of The Bedford, a highly-regarded "New American" restaurant.

Why the return to the U.P? He wants a lifestyle change--the outdoors, the friendliness, the ease of getting around. Yeah, we can relate to that.
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A SIMILAR STORY over on Third Street.

Superior Productions, a video production house, has been bought by B.J. and Kristen Alden. They've renamed it Northcoast Post.

The Aldens have family here in Marquette and also downstate but for the last 15 years or so, they've lived in Atlanta, where B.J. worked as a producer on CNN's Larry King Live, and in Los Angeles where he worked at FUSE, a video music channel.

Enough of the big city life, they say, enough of the glitz, glamor and insecurity.

They'll jointly operate Northcoast Post where B.J. will produce and edit, and Kristen will be art director and graphic designer. They'll continue to work with Superior's local clients--weddings and such--but they've also lined up corporate and institutional clients from across the nation. They can offer them high end design, graphics, and animation.

The Aldens are young, talented and energetic.

And what do they like about Marquette? Life is easy here. Their home, work, and children's school are all within blocks of each other.

Can't really say that about Los Angeles and Atlanta.
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WE SENSE A trend here.

Young people re-locating to a spot that, ten years ago, was considered too remote to offer a rewarding professional challenge.

That's what the new Smartzone will be all about--luring young, web-savvy, high-tech entrepreneurs to Marquette with the promise of resources, counsel, and networking that might ensure success.

Next step for the Smartzone is appointing a board of directors and finding an executive director. That should come within the next few months. After that comes the push to find the smart young guys and gals with great ideas and a little bit of money.

Can high-tech and web-related businesses succeed in Marquette? Hell, yeah. Take a look at 906 Technologies, Elegant Seagulls, Stang Decision Systems, RTI Surgical, Frontier Medical Devices, Biotech Navigators, Devicepatent. com, and others.

Yes, you can make money here, and live within five minutes of where you work, and buy a nice house for under $200,000...if you can put up with five months of winter.
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ANOTHER TREND.

Making technical education sexy and appealing here.

There are too many college graduates out there with sociology and literature degrees, and heavy student debt, who can't find appropriate jobs. You'll see them working at box stores, selling computers and TV's, or working as baristas at Starbucks.

The jobs simply aren't out there for them. But there are jobs, here in the U.P, for plumbers, auto technicians, and heavy equipment operators. Jobs that can pay $50,000 a year and more, and allow you to stay here where you want to live.

That's where the Career Technical Education (CTE) committee comes in. They got together a year ago--five of them--to get schools and colleges in the U.P. to focus more on good technical training because that's what local companies said they wanted and needed. They had the jobs but they couldn't find trained people to fill those jobs!

Now CTE has 19 members and about 30 companies working with them, and they're busy.

Ishpeming High School now offers a Geometry in Construction class that has students building and renovating structures. Marquette High School will offer the same class next year. NMU offers an auto technician program that gives the students paid internships at car dealers. An HVAC program may be next.

Programs at Negaunee High School, Marquette High School and NMU offer students the opportunity to get their high school degrees while simultaneously getting college credit in clinical science or industrial maintenance, tuition free.

And these kids will find jobs and make some money, enabling them to buy their computers from those frustrated sociology majors at the box stores.
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REMEMBER THE DOUG Garrison Show?

It was a slick, locally produced interview show that ran on TV6 for more than two years but then went off the air about a year ago.

Well, it's back on Local 3, the CBS station, and Garrison, who's talented and ambitious, hopes and thinks this time he'll get solid support from his employer. At TV6, he had to buy the half hour of time from the station, pay all the employees and then go out and sell commercials.

At Local 3, all he has to do is produce and host the show. The station picks up the costs and sells the commercials.

The show has aired a only couple of times so far, at 6:30 pm on Sundays before 60 Minutes--a great time slot but it's been irregular because it's frequently pre-empted by NFL football. After football season, it should air regularly.

The UP needs locally produced shows about the UP, but they need to make money. Maybe this will work.

Oh, rumor has it that some clown from Word on the Street will be on this Sunday's edition of the show.

(Correction: Garrison's show aired on TV6's sister station, Fox UP.)
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CALLING ALL CONTRACTORS.

The city needs someone to build a brand new, relocated Municipal Services Center. The old one's being torn down to make way for the new hospital.

The budget for the new building is $18 million, so if you've got a power saw and a hammer and some nails, you might want to put in a bid.

The city hopes to narrow it down to five companies a little later this month, then choose the builder by the end of January.

Site of the new building is still undetermined. City officials say they'll hold a town hall meeting before they make a final decision on the site. Understandably, they don't want to step on too many toes here in town.
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A FINAL NOTE that may further help explain why big city boys and girls are fleeing to remote outposts like the Upper Peninsula.

Reporter takes his vehicle into Pomp's Tires suspecting he needs new tires for the winter. At the very least, he'll get them rotated.

After ten minutes, reporter is informed by Pomp's employee that tires still have plenty of tread. No need to buy new ones.

Great. Reporter saves a few hundred bucks. So just rotate them.

Twenty minutes later, car is ready, tires are rotated. Mechanic reminds reporter to bring the car in after 50 miles to get lug nuts adjusted.

Great. Will do. The bill says $24.00.

Reporter: "Okay, how about I pay by debit card?"

Mechanic: "Oh no, it's free. You owe nothing. You bought the tires a couple years ago so it's free. Don't forget about the lug nuts."

Reporter, his wallet untouched, leaves shop thinking, Golly, we sure live in a nice 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 on Facebook and "like" it.

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.

 

 

  

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.