Number 5: January 23, 2002
1) Posted docs mean $$ for city.
2) Woodward Median Project advances.
3) Quarton Lake Planning begins.
4) Hungry for hits.
5) Talk is cheap.
6) Chuck Moss writes.
7) Planning packet posted.
8) Mark your calendar.
9) To be removed.
The Birmingham City Clerk is testing the electronic delivery of complete commission meeting packets to city staffers, and will expand the project soon to City Commissioners. By summer, the packets should be available to the public via the Internet. After five years, Clerk Nancy Weiss expects to cut printing costs from the current average of $854 per commission meeting to just $150. The commission held 31 meetings in 2001.
If successful, the program will be expanded to other city boards, Weiss told the commission at its long-range planning session last Saturday.
Commissioners will soon be offered the use of laptop computers and printers at city expense. The commission packets will be distributed to them on CD-ROMs in Adobe Acrobat format. The clerk currently posts summary agendas on the Internet, and distributes full hard-copy packets of information to the commission by hand each week. Members of the public can purchase packets at City Hall for $5 per meeting.
2) Woodward Median Project advances.
The City of Birmingham hopes to begin construction of the first phase of the Woodward Median Improvement project this spring, Community Development Director Patricia McCullough told the City Commission last Saturday. Final construction drawings are being done, and the commission should be presented with a recommended contractor in March or April.
The $520,000 project, which covers approximately one-half mile of Woodward between Brown and Oakland centered on Maple Road will be funded in part by a grant.
It involves landscaping and some minor road construction. Final design work is being done by Land Design Studio, Royal Oak.
Click on the following link to see a drawing of the plan in your browser Woodward.jpg . To save the drawing to your computer for viewing in the graphics program of your choice, right-click the link and choose Save As.. or Save Link As...
Phases 2 and 3 of the project have yet to be approved by the commission. Phase 2 would include landscaping and minor road construction of the remaining 1.5 miles of Woodward from the Mobil gas station at the north to the 555 Building to the south. Phase 3 would add artwork.
3) Quarton Lake planning begins.
Dredging of Quarton Lake is scheduled to begin in the late fall or early winter of 2002, with restoration of the park to begin in the Spring of 2003, the Quarton Lake Ad Hoc Committee was told at its first meeting Monday night.
Lake sediment has accumulated faster than anticipated since the most recent dredging in 1972, the committee was told. Sediment traps will be installed at the north end of the lake to alleviate future buildup. Tests have shown the sediment is environmentally safe enough to be put in a landfill.
Tests of water quality show a level of bacteria unsuitable for full body contact, a condition that is expected to improve upon project is completion.
Committee members include City Commissioner Don Carney, and residents Tom Elliott, Beth Gotthelf, Mark Hester (representing the Quarton Lake Neighborhood Association), Jared Rundell (representing the Mill Pond Neighborhood Association), Ed Schulak and A. Ray Stevens (representing the Parks and Recreation Board).
Also attending the meeting were City Engineer Dennis Dembiec and representatives of Hubbell, Roth and Clark, the city's engineering and environmental consultant, and Wade-Trim, the city's park planning consultant.
Various dredging and transport alternatives will be presented to the committee for evaluation at its next meeting. All involved agree that project needs must be balanced with the needs of the adjacent neighborhoods.
The committee must also consider how the park will be restored.
The project is expected to cost $1.6 million, $900,000 of which will be paid for by grants already obtained by the city. The city is seeking further grants.
The south end dam will be inspected after the lake is drawn down. If dam or valve repairs are necessary, they will be at additional cost.
Committee meetings are scheduled for Feb. 26, Mar. 26, May 6 and June 3. All will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Department of Public Service, 851 S. Eton. Residents are encouraged to attend and help decide the future of Quarton Lake.
Read the City Engineer's Nov. 9 report to the City Manager about the project at http://www.bhambuzz.org/pdfs/quarton.pdf.
Read the city's grant application at http://www.bhambuzz.org/pdfs/grantapplication.pdf.
Read an October description of Wade-Trim's scope of work on the project at http://www.bhambuzz.org/pdfs/scope.pdf.
4) Hungry for hits.
The Buzz is growing quickly, but we're still hungry for hits, subscribers and supporters. We're currently peaking at around 40 hits a day, with roughly 300 subscribers and more than 50 supporters. But those numbers are peanuts when you consider that Birmingham has nearly 10,000 households. Please take a moment NOW to spread the word. Forward our web address, http://www.bhambuzz.org, to everyone in your email address book. Tell them it's good. Ask them to subscribe. Tell them it's free!
Help us meet our first goals of 1,000 subscribers, 100 supporters, and 100 hits per day!
5) Talk is cheap.
So why not participate in the Buzz discussion group? Here's why: Because no one has broken the ice! It's like a party: Nobody dances until some brave soul hits the dance floor. So we're going to try to break the ice by asking our friends -- you know who you are! -- to post some comments.
Just click on the following link -- http://www.bhambuzz.org/public.html -- or on the "Discuss" link on the left side of our home page.
Talk about anything: those monstrosities they call the Willits and Palladium, paving Booth Park, non-native species taking over our town... you name it!
Have some fun!
6) Chuck Moss writes.
To the Buzz:
Thank you for running an excerpt of my January 13, 2002, guest op ed piece in the Birmingham Eccentric. The full version will be available on my web page, http://www.chuckmoss.com.
However, I am warning everybody -- not singling out the City Commission.
Let me re-emphasize: The impacts of Headlee/Prop A are neither pro- nor anti-development. They are cold equations, uncaring and impersonal as a hurricane. The bottom line is simple: To maintain current services and pay for infrastructure costs, EVERY CITY must grow its revenue stream.
How to do this is a matter for public debate, but now no one can say they weren't warned.
Chuck Moss
Oakland County Commissioner
7) Planning packet posted.
January seems to be the time for long-range planning, and both the City Commission and the Birmingham Buzz are in the midst of it.
We'd love to be able to instantly make our site complete, with full, factual reports on everything of interest in Birmingham city government -- including the commission's Jan. 19 long-range planning session -- but unfortunately our resources and time are limited.
We therefore are making available to you the packet distributed in advance of the commission's planning session and used as an agenda and guide to many of the reports and discussion on Saturday. It is well worth reading, and will bring you up to date on several issues of interest. Look to the Buzz for future reports on many of the topics covered. The file is big, so we suggest you right-click on the following link and either Open in New Window... or Save Link As... Find it at http://www.bhambuzz.org/pdfs/comm_lrplan_011902.pdf.
8) Mark your calendar.
* City Commission, 8 p.m., Jan. 28, City Hall.
* Presidents Council, 7 p.m., Jan. 31, 2252 Yorkshire (east of Eton).
9) To be removed, please send a request to info@bhambuzz.org
{{PERIOD}}
Posted by on 01/23 at 10:33 AM
Next entry: Number 6: February 4, 2002
Previous entry: Number 4: January 18, 2002