Thursday, July 26, 2007

Planning Board's Shain concerns multiply

The Birmingham Planning Board beefed up its recommendations on Shain Park Wedneday night, adding restrooms and a 14-foot wall across the south side of the park to its already-expressed concerns about the placement of the parking ramp.

Concern about oversight of the design process and the placement of exhaust fans also came up, but was not part of the resolution sent to the commission.

Shain Park was back on the board's agenda because its original hearing in April was improperly noticed. Several residents who live or own property adjacent to the park, who did not appear in April, showed up at the hearing to protest the wall, which is intended to shield them from noise.

But all four property owners told the board they would rather look at a parking lot or listen to loud music than be faced by an imposing brick wall.

The board is already on record favoring placement of the parking ramp entrance on Henrietta, rather than Bates. Community House President Shelley Roberts told the board Wednesday the Community House favors placing the parking entrance on Henrietta. The Planning Board resolution asks the commission to place the entrance on Henrietta, to minimize or eliminate the wall and to seek price quotes on bathrooms.

Planning board OKs 3 bistros

The proposed outdoor cafe at the Whistle Stop

Cosi, Papa Joe's and a new restaurant called Cafe Via were approved for bistro liquor licenses, and the Whistle Stop was approved for a new outdoor cafe Wednesday night by the Birmingham Planning Board.

Cosi, which scaled back its proposal for a outdoor cafe platform from six to three parking spaces, was approved only after it abandoned the platform altogether. With only five members participating, supporters of the 2016 Plan-inspired street platforms couldn't muster the necessary four votes for approval. Members George Dilgard and Sam Haberman opposed the platform, saying they thought it was unsafe. Gillian Lazar recused herself, and Mark Nickita was absent. Chairman Robin Boyle and members Brian Blaesing and Bryan Williams supported the platform. Cosi said it would reconfigure the outdoor cafe on the sidewalk, and the board agreed to give city staff the authority to administratively approve the outdoor dining component of the license application.

Papa Joe's was approved only after it agreed to expand its outdoor dining component. The upscale grocer, which serves an extensive selection of prepared foods on-premises, was the fourth existing establishment to apply for a bistro license, and the only one in the Triangle District.

Cafe Via, the ambitious brainchild of Birmingham developer Edward Fuller and architect Christopher Longe (a Buzz editor), was the first new establishment approved for a Bistro license. The cafe is an integral part of the new development Fuller is building in the former parking lot between the Birmingham Theatre and the former Midtown Cafe. It will occupy the former Marty's Cookies, and the cafe will emanate from the rear of the space, with a large outdoor cafe. The front of the space will be devoted to retail space.

Also approved Monday night was a proposed streetscape and outdoor cafe for the Whistle Stop restaurant on S. Eton St. in the Rail District. The cafe was designed by Rail District architect and booster Frank Carnovale.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Wanted: Three good bistro applicants

The City Commission has said it will consider issuing eight new bistro liquor licenses this year -- six to establishments that have been around for at least five years, and two to new businesses.

So far, four existing establishments have applied, and one new business. At this point, it looks like it will be first-come, first-served. That doesn't seem to be a problem, because there is a dearth of existing establishments that either fit the bill for a bistro license, or want one. And there doesn't seem to be an overwhelming demand from new businesses.

The four existing businesses that have applied are Elie's, Salvatore Scallopini, Cosi and Papa Joe's. The new applicant is downtown Birmingham's biggest property owner, Edward Fuller.

Assuming all the current applicants are approved, that leaves room for two existing restaurants, and one new one.

Get 'em while they're hot, folks.

Outdoor dining options growing

The number of outdoor dining options in Birmingham will grow significantly soon if the applications and plans of numerous restaurants come to fruition.

Cosi, Papa Joe's and Birmingham developer Ted Fuller go before the Planning Board Wednesday for bistro liquor licenses, which require outdoor cafes. Cosi is making its second bid to the board. Along with Papa Joe's, it brings to four the number of existing establishments seeking bistro licenses. Elie's and Salvatore Scallopini's have already been approved by the Planning Board and face City Commission scrutiny soon. The commission has said it will entertain six applications this year from existing businesses, and two from new businesses. Fuller's is the first new business to apply for a bistro license.

Fuller is proposing Cafe Via for the space formerly occupied by Marty's Cookies in his building on the south side of Maple between Woodward and Old Woodward. The outdoor cafe would occupy the rear of the building in an evolving development that includes Fuller's new building on Old Woodward and a soon-to-be-started private parking structure facing Peabody St.

Also expected to open an outdoor cafe soon is Forte, which was approved for a cafe some years ago but abandoned it because the city prohibited serving alcohol on the sidewalk. That prohibition was recently lifted, and the restaurant renewed its permit.

Also on Wednesday night's Planning Board agenda is a request from the Whistle Stop on S. Eton St. for an outdoor cafe. The restaurant is proposing improvements to the streetscape, but is not requesting a liquor license.

Soon to be heard by the Planning Board is an application for an outdoor cafe for the Corner Bar. That application was postponed because of a backlog in the board's agenda.

And pending with the city is an application from Panera Bread for an outdoor cafe at Maple and Old Woodward, where it intends to replace Sherman's Shoes and People's Pottery. Panera is not applying for a bistro liquor license.

Here's a list of existing* or planned outdoor cafes that are composed of more than just a few tables on the sidewalk:

*220 on Merrill
*Brooklyn Pizza on Henrietta-No liquor
*Dick O'Dows on Maple
*Canella's on Hamilton-No liquor
*Elie's on Pierce
*Big Rock Chop House on S. Eton
*The Community House
Salvatore Scallopini on Old Woodward
Cosi on Old Woodward
Forte on Old Woodward
Panera Bread on Old Woodward
Papa Joe's on Woodward
Cafe Via on Maple
The Corner Bar on Pierce
The Whistle Stop on S. Eton-No liquor

Ain't Email Great Dept.

Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:43:00 -0400
From: "Steffke, Mike" [Mike.Steffke@getcosi.com]
To: Clinton Baller [cmballer@visa-master.com]

Clinton,

Thank you for candid feedback in the Birmingham Buzz as well as taking the time to send an email. It's always great to hear when we're doing well, but more important when we need to improve.

We have made numerous improvements to the store over the last several months, including power washing the building and sidewalks, new menu boards, fresh paint, professional flower pots, new upholstery for all the furniture and enhanced the floors. We have plans for a complete remodel, possibly as soon as next year.

I will be in attendance at the planning hearing with the General Manager this Wednesday. If you are there I would like to meet you... I hope that you will return soon and I look forward to continuing to serve you. Again thank you for your time and concern -- guests such as you who give us honest feedback help us continue to improve Cosi operations.

Best Regards
Michael T. Steffke
District Manager
Team Michigan
Cell 313-801-3293

Friday, July 20, 2007

Cosi needs to clean up its act

Cosi suffered a temporary setback to its application for a bistro liquor license a couple of weeks ago, not because it is a generally dirty establishment, but because it had proposed a gigantic 700-square-foot outdoor cafe that would have occupied six precious parking spaces at the corner of Maple and Old Woodward.

Assuming the restaurant scales back its cafe proposal, it should be a shoo-in for a bistro license. We look forward to enjoying a glass of beer or wine with our pizza, or just sitting back with a cocktail around 10 on a weekend evening and watching passersby at Birmingham's busiest intersection.

But the restaurant has to clean up its act, and the city needs to make sure the agreement into which it enters with Cosi gives the city sufficient power to insure that the restaurant goes above and beyond basic health requirements for cleanliness. The outdoor cafe tables and sidewalk on which they sit are too often littered and filthy, as are the men's room and the floor of the main dining room.

Cosi, which serves decent salads, good sandwiches, great pizza and divine s'mores, is otherwise careless. It shows particularly in the lack of pride for its prime location, and was evidenced by the fact that not a single employee showed up for its important liquor license hearing before the Planning Board.

Salvatore's and Elie's were represented not only by their owners or managers, but by Ron Rea, the talented local designer who was hired by each restaurant to revamp for the licensing. Cosi planned few changes, aside from its outdoor cafe proposal.

As the city takes more applications from potential licensees, it can't be certain they will have the committed owners and talented designers of Salvatore's and Elie's. It must therefore be especially vigilant about all aspects of the business's designs and operations. So far, the city has shown it cares greatly about the general size and shape of these bistros, and has paid particularly close attention to their outdoor cafes. But the details -- menus, interior finishes, cleanliness and more -- are what give a place character. There's a big difference between Streetside Seafood and Subway, both of which qualify in size and shape as bistros. The city needs to license bistros of rich character like Streetside, and then make sure they stay that way.

Reminder: Don't miss Jazzfest

... in Shain Park through Saturday. The schedule is on the Community House website.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Birmingham needs new dog park -- and fast!

We haven't read the Michigan Supreme Court decision on Birmingham's dog park yet, but we can imagine reading the looks on the faces of the many patrons of the park when they show up only to find it closed.

The dog park, though located in Bloomfield Township, was an enormous asset to the community -- a social center for humans and canines alike. And it proved that a dog park can be clean and well-maintained, relatively quiet -- all-in-all a good neighbor, despite the lack of welcome from neighbors in Bloomfield Township.

Birmingham needs to act fast to replace the closed park with at least one, perhaps more, dog parks within its own boundaries. Several locations come to mind: the vast Poppleton Park, Barnum, Roeper. The city needs to consult with the citizens group that spearheaded the Springdale park, and come up with a solution soon. The dog park proved its value, and must be replaced.

Supremes nix dog park

Late-breaking story in the Detroit News.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Let's talk trash: It's a criminal offense

Our friend, Karen Fox, writes:

Every year, residents of Birmingham pay their fair share of city taxes. Some of the money pays for necessary services like police, fire and emergency, education and infrastructure development. This probably comes as no surprise.

But what might surprise you is to learn that your tax money also supports the salaries of code inspectors who drive up and down the streets of Birmingham to monitor when you put your trash on the curb and when you remove your trash cans, if you use them.

Fellow citizens, let’s talk trash.

Did you know that you are committing a “criminal offense” if you put your trash outside more than 12 hours prior to the established pickup time or leave your trash cans after the 24 hour after pickup time? As ridiculous as it sounds, it’s a fact, and I learned the hard way.

My “crime” was putting my garbage outside a day before the 12-hour pick up time because I was leaving for a two-week business trip. Of course I had no idea my action would result in a citation accusing me of a criminal offense. While I unsuccessfully tried to resolve this issue with the City of Birmingham, I also found out what else our taxes pay for -- contractor fees to pay the prosecuting attorney, a non-city employee, to prosecute residents that commit such horrific criminal offenses.

With no recourse, I was forced to hire an attorney to help make sure I didn’t end up with a criminal record as I headed to court for judgment day. My citation was reduced to a driving violation for “impeding traffic,” and my sentence was to pay a $135 fine. While the amount may not be large, the absurdity of this situation is gigantic.

So let’s think about this. Residents of Birmingham pay more taxes compared to many other cities around the country. Why? Apparently so we can pay city employees and contracted prosecuting attorneys to take us -- the taxpayers -- to court for putting trash out a day early.

Should residents be allowed to put their garbage out whenever they want, for as long as they want? Of course not! Understandably, neighbors don’t want to see garbage sitting on the curb for days on end. However, putting trash out one day early certainly shouldn’t be considered a criminal offense. There are pedophiles, drug dealers, drunk drivers and murderers roaming the streets, while precious resources are wasted to prosecute people whose only offense is a trash can violation. Shouldn’t our tax dollars be put to better use?

Quite frankly, the whole situation is just garbage!

Monday, July 09, 2007

Hearing officer's waivers concern city

More than half of the assessments to property owners who failed to shovel snow or cut grass and weeds over the past three years were waived or adjusted by the city hearing officer, the Eccentric reports, raising concern from at least one city official.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Dick Cheney: The Darksider

For those of us who lacked the time to read the Washington Post's 20,000-word expose of Dick Cheney's secretive and lawless vice-presidency, Hendrik Hertzberg summarized it well in this week's New Yorker. It is a must-read.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Sicko makes us angry, sad

We saw Michael Moore's new movie, Sicko, the other night. The fact that Al Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay get better health care than many Americans made us angry, and the fact that Ground Zero volunteers who now suffer from respiratory disease had to go to Cuba to get health care brought tears to our eyes. The film is playing at the Birmingham Theatre.

The Focus-Grouped Park: Cities build new parks, and debate what to put in them.

From the Wall Street Journal

By Jon Weinbach

There's a new status symbol for American cities and it's not a soaring office tower or retro stadium. To many civic leaders, nothing says progressiveness and prosperity like an elaborate urban park.

Hudson River Park, New York; 550 acres; Opened 2003 Construction, partly on top of old piers, is continuing along Manhattan's West Side. It's the largest open-space development in New York since Central Park, with green spaces, trails for bikers and Rollerbladers, and free wireless Internet.

On a scale not seen since the "City Beautiful" movement of the late 19th century, public green spaces are proliferating. In Irvine, Calif., work has begun on a $1.1 billion recreational area that will be 60% larger than New York's Central Park. Private donors in Houston financed the bulk of a $93 million downtown greensward, while the mayor of Louisville, Ky., wants to ring the city's borders with 100 miles of trails. In all, 29 of the nation's biggest cities have added nearly 14,000 acres of new parkland in two years -- the equivalent of about 11,000 football fields.

But even grass and trees can be complicated. Citizens and planners across the country are getting tied up in a larger debate about what a park should be -- one that often pits people who believe in peace and quiet and the soulful contemplation of nature against those who prefer zip lines, Frisbee golf and hang-gliding.

In the Twin Cities, some residents don't agree with the decision to build a public sports field with artificial turf. Park builders in Dallas are trying to find room in one new project for a backgammon area. And an effort to rehabilitate Manhattan's Washington Square Park has been met by three lawsuits so far -- including an attempt by preservationists to keep the city from moving the central fountain about 15 feet to the east. "You'd think we were proposing to build a nuclear waste dump," says Adrian Benepe, the city's commissioner of parks and recreation.

Gold Medal Park, Minneapolis; 7.5 acres; Opened 2007 Built on a set of old parking lots, site aims to foster quiet activities like picnics and strolls rather than sports. It was financed by a $5 million donation from former United Health Care chief executive William McGuire.

At a public meeting earlier this month in Louisville, about 150 people came to weigh in on Floyd's Fork Greenway, a 27-mile stretch of parks, bike paths and canoe launches to be built along a scenic creek. After the presentation, residents furiously scribbled suggestions on project maps that hung around the room. Among them: "A nature trail can't run along a highway!"; "Leave an area large enough for a hot air balloon launch"; and from one particularly agitated person, "Many people were not notified of this meeting." Ralph Stanton, a goateed tile contractor in his mid-50s, was concerned that the park plans didn't include a trail wide enough to accommodate all three of his horses. "Kentucky is the home of the Derby, but we've got to go to Indiana to ride," said Mr. Stanton, clutching his cowboy hat. "They ought to get the horse people more involved."

Symbols of Democracy

For decades, local and federal governments had cut back on park budgets as funding needs grew for education, health care and safety. That marked a change from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when urban parks were held up as symbols of democracy, public health and progressive social planning -- and received generous government support. There was another surge of park building during the "Great Society" era of President Lyndon Johnson, but as more city residents fled for the suburbs, many urban parks were not properly maintained -- and green spaces deteriorated or disappeared.

Federal money is still hard to come by. The Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program that provides grants for state and national parks, will receive about $28 million this fiscal year, down nearly 80% from 2002. Another initiative, the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program, has not been funded in five years.

BeltLine, Atlanta; Over 1,200 acres; Opening unknown The initiative, which awaits funding, would double Atlanta's park acreage. It calls for converting this former quarry into the city's largest park.

A number of factors are spurring the current parks boom, from research about the health benefits of green space to interest from private donors and corporate sponsors. Developers who once fought with conservationists are now pushing the idea, after discovering that successful parks -- such as Manhattan's Bryant Park and Atlanta's Piedmont Park -- can dramatically increase property values.

City leaders are also using parks as a marketing tool. In an effort to draw young professionals and graying suburbanites, a number of cities including Denver, Philadelphia and San Diego have gentrified their downtowns recently. But politicians are finding that most of the new residents grew up with access to running trails, sports fields and the like -- and expect to have the same access in the city.

The largest increases in park space over the last two years took place in sprawling municipalities like Houston and Jacksonville, Fla., but even densely packed older cities such as Cleveland (with 187 new acres) and Philadelphia (22 acres) are finding ways to create new open space, often on former military bases or industrial sites. Seattle's nine-acre Olympic Sculpture Park, opened earlier this year, was built on a former oil-transfer site. Other cities have focused on building parks on reclaimed brownfields -- industrial or commercial sites tainted by pollution -- especially near valuable waterfront or downtown real estate. Pittsburgh, the long-time hub of the U.S. steel industry, redeveloped a 283-acre slag dump along the Monongahela River a few years ago, converting it into a residential complex and 200 acres of green space.

New York is in the midst of "the biggest period of park construction and redevelopment since the 1930s," says Mr. Benepe, the parks commissioner. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who sat on the boards of two local park foundations before taking office, recently increased the parks department's operating annual budget to about $355 million -- double the total in 2000. The city's most ambitious projects are building a park on top of an abandoned elevated railway line in Manhattan and converting the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island to a 2,315-acre recreation area.

As cities increasingly rely on corporate donors, real-estate developers and private, not-for-profit entities for park funding, they're facing some criticism. When Chicago's Millennium Park, opened in 2004, named prominent areas after corporate sponsors such as SBC, Boeing and British Petroleum, some traditionalists cried foul. Several cities have recently devised guidelines for sponsorship and naming rights -- in Denver, a company has to contribute 50% of all capital costs to get its name or logo on a new park.

Millennium Park, Chicago; 24.5 acres; Opened 2004 Some have criticized the park for naming prominent areas -- including the Frank Gehry-designed BP Bridge, pictured here -- after corporate sponsors.

But in most cases, the arguments revolve around one issue: the purpose of a park. In Chico, Calif., work on the city's new master plan for Bidwell Park has been hamstrung by a fight between preservationists and disc golfers who have been using a remote part of the park to play the Frisbee-inspired sport. Environmental advocates say the golfers are damaging trees and compacting the soil. At a meeting earlier this month, two golfers said their course should not be treated any differently than bike or hiking trails.

Planners for downtown Houston's 12-acre, $93 million Discovery Green park, which is set to open next year, wanted to create a "critical mass of activities" to generate buzz in a long-forgotten area of town, says Philip Myrick, vice president of Project for Public Space, a New York nonprofit that helped conceive the park's programs. Throughout 2005, the group conducted about a dozen small meetings with different "stakeholders" -- ranging from Hispanic community leaders to downtown employees to elementary-school students -- and held workshops for anyone interested in contributing ideas. The Hispanic community wanted open space for events, while the students proposed adding a "zip line" ride, a pulley suspended from a cable wire that allows thrill seekers to fly through the air.

The final park plans included a dog area, a jogging trail, a puppet theater and a "birthday veranda" for parties -- but no zip line.

Bocce Ball and Dogs

"Just having a baseball diamond, a grove of trees and a couple soccer fields is really the old model," says landscape architect James Burnett, whose firm is designing a $80 million park in downtown Dallas that will cover a sunken eight-lane freeway. The current plans for the site, tentatively called Woodall Rodgers Park, include a bocce ball court, a backgammon area, spaces for leashed and unleashed dogs and a botanical garden. "The program list can get very long," he says. "The discussion is always heated."

Great Park of Orange County, Orange County, Calif.; 1,347 acres; Opening 2009 (projected) Plans for the $1.1 billion project, on a former military base, include a 2.5-mile man-made canyon and a massive wildlife corridor. Most visitors will need to drive there, since it's far from residential neighborhoods.

In some ways, the skirmishes over space mirror previous controversies over park land. After Central Park opened in the 1800s, New York City commissioners were overwhelmed by public requests for boat rides and more activities, even though landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted imagined the park as "purely passive space," says Witold Rybczynski, a professor of urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania and author of a 1999 biography of Mr. Olmsted.

But now that prime urban real estate is much more scarce and expensive, "it's much more challenging to satisfy everyone's notion of what a park should be," he says. As a result, many of the new projects share a theme-park quality, with neatly organized areas catering to different groups. "You want to please as many people as possible, but we've become so different," he says.

Few parks today match the cost or scope of the Great Park of Orange County in Southern California, on the site of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The decision to build the park came after years of battles over the fate of the base, which closed eight years ago. In 1994, county voters narrowly approved a plan to convert the base into an airport, but opponents stalled the effort until 2002, when voters approved a measure overturning the airport plan in favor of a park.

The Navy handled the sale of the base, dividing it into four parcels. In 2005, Lennar Corp., the nation's second-largest home builder, bought all four lots for about $650 million. In order to build on the site, Lennar had to turn over a chunk of the land to the public for park development, contribute $200 million toward the creation of the park, and spend another $201 million on infrastructure. For its part, Lennar plans to create a sprawling, 3,400-unit residential development around the park, as well as a 750-acre "Lifelong Learning" area that's slated to include a college campus and senior housing.

The park won't begin to open until 2009, though its first attraction, a balloon ride that will take riders 500 feet in the air, is scheduled to debut on July 14. (The balloon will be orange, naturally.) Last March, the park's designers announced a projected cost of about $1.1 billion -- not including the funds needed to construct a planned set of museums or a botanical garden.

No to Advertising

To generate revenue, the park is exploring sponsorship, naming rights and sublease options, as well as charging fees for parking and certain events and activities, like evening softball games. However, earlier this month the park's board of directors voted not to put advertising on the new balloon ride, despite estimates that it could bring in as much as $250,000. (Visitors may be charged for parking though.)

Discovery Green, Houston; 12 acres; Opening 2008 The park -- located between the city's two recently built sports venues, the Toyota Center and Minute Maid Field -- is expected to cost $93 million.

Like most park projects, this one has youth sports organizations and enthusiasts of every stripe angling for prime turf. Last year, the board asked for suggestions how to develop the park's 165-acre sports area -- and got an avalanche of proposals. The list includes a "casting pond" to teach aspiring fly fishermen, a research center to study children's exercise habits, and a "California Sports Hall of Fame" honoring local athletes. Mike Meier, a 56-year-old hang-gliding manufacturer from Orange, Calif., concedes his request for hang-gliding space probably won't get top priority. Nonetheless, he spent "about 30 or 40 hours" putting together a 12-page proposal, which included sketches of a bowl-shaped hill where beginner-level pilots could learn how to take off. "It wasn't a Madison Avenue-like production," he says. "I'm not holding my breath."

In contrast to most urban green spaces, which are centered around pedestrian access, few people will be able to walk to the Great Park -- aside from residents in Lennar's new homes. (The site is in a remote area a few miles northeast of Interstate 5, far from anything resembling a neighborhood.) There are plans to create a light-rail service that will connect an enlarged train station in Irvine with stops at the park and a nearby shopping center, but even Roy Cooper, the park's operations director, admits that transportation is a major obstacle. "If we provide alternative, convenient transportation, we might have a shot at getting people out of their cars -- but this is Orange County," he says.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Buick fires McCann; city office loses $122 million in spending

The Birmingham office of McCann Erickson was rocked Wednesday when General Motors shifted an estimated $122 million in ad spending away from the office without a review.

Click here for the New York Times report.

Click here for the report in Crain's Detroit Business.

Click here for the Adweek report.