The Buzz Archives2006-05-08T01:25:12-05:00ExpressionEngineCopyright (c) 2003, Clinton BallerNumber 63-BULLETIN-Nov. 4, 2003tag:bhambuzz.org,2003:index.php/weblog/index/1.642003-11-04T17:53:42-05:002006-03-13T15:20:18-05:00TODAY IS ELECTION DAY!
The Buzz supports McDaniel, Moore, McKeon and Plotnik2003-11-04T17:53:42-05:00Clinton Ballercmballer@visa-master.com
THE BIRMINGHAM BUZZ
"Cast your vote for intelligence and reason"
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The Buzz supports McDaniel, Moore, McKeon and Plotnik
* Please remember to vote. Polls are open till 8.
* Please ask your friends and neighbors to vote. Phone them. Email them. Ask them to ask their friends and neighbors to vote. Don't break the chain!
* Please join us for a post-election party at 8 p.m. at Big Rock, Maple at S. Eton.
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BE INFORMED...GET INVOLVED...SPREAD THE WORD
Forward this email to friends, neighbors and others who are interested in EXCELLENCE for Birmingham.]]>Number 62-Nov. 3, 2003tag:bhambuzz.org,2003:index.php/weblog/index/1.632003-11-03T17:52:27-05:002004-11-10T22:51:10-05:001) Be an essential link in the chain of victory; take 15 minutes to phone 3-5 neighbors
2) Election Briefs: Nov. 3, 2003
3) Comment: Cast your vote for change—honesty, integrity, leadership and vision2003-11-03T17:52:27-05:00Clinton Ballercmballer@visa-master.com
THE BIRMINGHAM BUZZ
"Cast your vote for intelligence and reason"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOTE NOV. 4!
The Buzz supports McDaniel, Moore, McKeon and Plotnik
In this edition:
1) Be an essential link in the chain of victory; take 15 minutes to phone 3-5 neighbors
2) Election Briefs: Nov. 3, 2003
3) Comment: Cast your vote for change -- honesty, integrity, leadership and vision
1) Crunch Time Dept.: Be an essential link in the chain of victory; take 15 minutes to phone 3-5 neighbors
Nov. 3, 2003
Elections like the one tomorrow can be won or lost by a single vote. Your participation, and the participation of sympathetic friends and neighbors, is essential for victory.
The Birmingham Buzz began publishing almost two years ago. Tomorrow is the culmination of an extraordinary effort and commitment.
We ask you to contribute by calling 3-5 friends and neighbors tonight.
Ask them to :
1) Vote.
2) Support Tom McDaniel, Scott Moore, Dianne McKeon and Julie Plotnik.
3) Call 3-5 of their friends and neighbors, asking them to do the same.
Together, we can restore intelligence and reason to city government.
2) Election Briefs: Nov. 3, 2003
Cops say what rest of City Hall thinks:
In a quarter-page ad in Sunday's Eccentric, the Birmingham Police Officers Association endorsed McDaniel, Moore, McKeon and Plotnik. Finally, somebody in City Hall stands up and publicly says what virtually everyone who works there for a paycheck has been thinking for more than a year now: It's time for a change. Did we see campaign signs in front of City Hall the other day?
Dixon's ditched wagon hitched to Lanzetta train:
We didn't feel great about leaving Russ Dixon behind when we made our endorsements a few weeks ago. But it was the right decision, and we could only hope that Dixon would remain independent. He is, at bottom, a decent man, and his presence on the Commission is far less damaging than Dante Lanzetta's. But politics and reality being what they are, we weren't overly surprised when Dixon signs began to appear alongside those of Lanzetta and running mates Seth Chafetz and Denise Grzech. What surprised us was that Dixon would allow the likes of Ralph Seger to include his name on a truly scurrilous piece of campaign garbage that went out last week. If he survives this election, Dixon will have a hard time living down his association with Lanzetta and Seger.
Who's buying his way into power?
Lanzetta, who habitually accuses anyone who opposes him of trying to "buy" their way into power, interestingly topped the list of campaign fundraisers so far, according to the Birmingham Eccentric. Lanzetta had raised $7,544. Challenger Julie Plotnik was the next biggest fundraiser, reporting $6,843. Lanzetta has blown away everyone, especially the other incumbents. Dianne McKeon reported contributions of $3,885; Seth Chafetz reported $2,920, and Russell Dixon a mere $1,385.
Elect who?
Candidate Albert Jackson Metzel (we've ignored him up till now for reasons that will become obvious momentarily) has been planting Electme.com signs around town without permission from property owners, and then has gotten indignant when they are removed. He considers them campaign signs, even though they don't contain a candidate's name, and even though they promote a commercial website. We've met Jack, and he seems to be a nice enough man. But behavior like this, along with his performances at recent candidates forums, has a lot of observers scratching their heads.
Sitting this one out?
Lanzetta cronies Paul Reagan and Peter Gough, who were so vocal in past elections with their underground newsletter The Be-Line, have been obviously absent this time around, at least obstensibly. Some of Lanzetta's campaign garbage bears their style, but they have mercifully spared us their presence at most public functions. Also absent from the Lanzetta campaign trail has been his chief hatchet-man Gary Kulak, chairman of the Planning Board. Lanzetta has continued to defend Kulak as "responsive," even as a majority of the Commission publicly says the Planning Board is "broken," and Kulak needs to be reprimanded, if not removed.
3) Comment: Cast your vote for change -- honesty, integrity, leadership and vision
Nov. 3, 2003
On the last day before the election, as we consider the issues and wrap things up, we can't help but think that honesty is the one, overriding issue.
It shouldn't be so difficult to figure out where the candidates all really stand on the issues. But when you have a cadre whose leader makes dishonesty a campaign strategy, well, the water begins to get a little muddy.
On one side, you have the Buzz-endorsed quartet of Tom McDaniel, Scott Moore, Dianne McKeon and Julie Plotnik. Only one is an incumbent. They don't agree on everything, but their stands are similar enough that many things can be said of all four. Throughout the campaign, they have respected the truth. We'll call them "the Good Guys."
On the other side stand Dante Lanzetta, Seth Chafetz, Russell Dixon and Denise Grzech. Three are incumbents. All (most regrettably Dixon) have abandoned honesty and integrity in their quest for continued power. We'll call them "the Other Guys."
So herewith is our rundown on the top five issues, and where the candidates really stand:
1. Lanzetta.
Yes, he is an issue unto himself, and perhaps the top issue in the campaign. Why? Because he has chosen to cap an 18-year career of public service by distinguishing himself as the most dishonest person in city government. One of his most outrageous and shameless lies occurred when he recently took credit for the Baldwin House senior citizens housing project. "Baldwin House would not stand today without the vision, support and hard work of Dante Lanzetta," he said. He went on to disgustingly claim that "Baldwin House residents owe their very homes to this man." In fact, Lanzetta had virtually nothing to do with the development or completion of Baldwin House. We could go on and on with specific examples of this man twisting and bending the truth to suit his objectives, and we'd be happy to do so. Suffice it to say here that he should be turned out of office. When you go to the polls tomorrow, be sure to cast four votes, because every vote not cast against Lanzetta is a possibl!
e vote in favor of him.
2. Development.
One of the most important issues in this campaign is also one of the least understood. It doesn't help matters when four radically anti-development candidates (the Other Guys) present themselves as moderates, and repeatedly and falsely make ridiculous claims about the true moderates (the Good Guys).
Here's where the Other Guys stand:
In the neighborhoods, they support a one-size-fits-all zoning ordinance that doesn't fit anything well. Lanzetta, who claims that he supports limits on so-called Bigfoot housing, actually voted against the Bigfoot Ordinance, claiming it didn't go far enough and it should be strengthened. Four years later, he's done nothing to bring back the issue. They talk vaguely about "neighborhood preservation," but they neglect our streets, sewers and parks -- even after we tell them in no uncertain terms (with the parks bond issue, with neighborhood petitions) that we want improvements and we're willing to pay for them.
With characteristic dishonesty, they propose to "win one for the neighborhoods" by supporting a costly, unnecessary and duplicative "historic survey" that would waste $500,000 of taxpayer money to photograph every home in Birmingham. It is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to further erode property rights and curtail residential redevelopment.
Also with characteristic dishonesty, they supported a tree ordinance that would have regulated trees on private property. Again, it was nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to increase the cost and difficulty of improving your property. They abandoned the initiative after residents turned out by the hundreds to complain.
In the downtown, they have installed and supported a Planning Board that is openly hostile to property owners and unabashedly obstructs development. They have taken the world-class Downtown 2016 Plan, which was written by a world-class team of planners that considered the input of hundreds of residents in the process, and dumped it -- without ceremony, and without the kind of public input that went into the plan.
They have made no attempts whatsoever to encourage any sort of redevelopment, even though vacancies and prime opportunities for redevelopment abound.
Adding insult to injury, they have been openly hostile to the Principal Shopping District and its board.
Here's where the Good Guys stand:
In the neighborhoods, to regulate Bigfoot and other residential development, they support the detailed Planning Board recommendations that were rejected in favor of the one-size-fits-all ordinance four years ago. The recommendations were developed by a past Planning Board populated by professionals. They recognized that lot sizes and neighborhood characteristics vary.
The Good Guys support the Parks & Recreation Master Plan, and understand that when we voted in favor of the Parks Bond Issue, we voted in favor of improvements. They will move on Booth Park, Shain Park and Poppleton Park, and make sure that Quarton Lake is wrapped up and ready for use by next summer. And they will insure that Barnum School, a worthwhile city investment, does not become a burden on taxpayers.
They support a reasonable resolution of the sewer-lateral issue, and believe that if a group of residents such as those on Harmon St. petition for street improvements, and 70% support the petition, then the improvements ought to be granted, not delayed.
In the downtown, they are firm believers in the original 2016 Plan, which called for three- and four-story buildings. They believe the best development is achieved when city officials cooperate with, rather than antagonize, property owners. They believe in encouraging and influencing the redevelopment of such properties as the former Shell and Sunoco gas stations, rather than discouraging and obstructing those redevelopments.
Underlying the Good Guys' stand on development is the basic understanding that the Headlee Amendment and Proposition A have changed municipal finance. Under these state-imposed laws, one of the only ways to increase income from taxes (and keep pace with inflation and rising costs) is to allow for development and redevelopment. Furthermore, you get the kind of development you want by cooperating with and cajoling developers, not by butting heads with them.
3. Fiscal Responsibility.
The City of Birmingham enjoys a AAA bond rating, which means that it pays its bills and has excellent credit. It didn't come about, as Lanzetta dishonestly claims, because of the policies of the commission over the past two years. It came about because of sound fiscal management by the city administration. It doesn't mean we are flush with cash. In fact, our reserves are dwindling, in part because of the unsound fiscal management of our City Commission over the past two years.
The Other Guys think it's OK to spend $1 million on a sidewalk to nowhere over the Adams Street Bridge, and $500,000 on a so-called historic survey. They think it's OK to look a gifthorse like the Michigan Department of Transportation -- which was willing to spend some $100,000 to improve the dangerous intersection south of the 555 Building -- in the mouth, and rudely send them packing. They think nothing of spending $50,000 to investigate the developers of the Willits Condominium, only to find that it was an exceptionally well-done project. They ignore the importance of downtown redevelopment to our bottom line, and have absolutely no financial plan for the day when our reserves are gone and the only alternative will be to increase taxes or cut services. Three of them recently voted to increase taxes, and none has promised no new tax hikes.
The Good Guys understand finance. McDaniel is a former top executive at General Motors who ran the company's Far East operations. Moore is a former commissioner with a firm grasp of the budget process. Plotnik is a financial professional whose background is such that even her political enemies voted to appoint her to the city's General Investment Committee. The Good Guys have promised no new tax increases. And they intend to keep the promise by working on increasing our tax base instead. They have a plan.
4. Micromanagement of the city administration.
Privately ask any employee at City Hall about morale, and you will hear about a crisis. Four city planners have quit in the past two years. More departures are imminent. Police and firefighters have been working without a contract for months. The city manager, a highly competent professional who once set the agenda for commission meetings and was one of the most vocal participants, now sits mute most of the time.
Despite having few professional qualifications, the Other Guys think they know how to run city government, and aren't shy about it. Commission meetings routinely run past midnight as the incumbents delve into every possible detail of every possible issue of administration. Commission meetings become the training ground for inexperienced, incompetent officials. Even someone like Dixon, with a relevant background in architecture, routinely abdicates any leadership role when design issues come before the commission. Appointed cronies stalk City Hall, ordering employees around. The Other Guy incumbents have appointed to our Planning Board a sculptor, a part-time dermatologist and a public defender.
It's no wonder that most City Hall employees want a change, and that the Police union courageously has come out publicly in support of the Good Guys.
The Good Guys understand the meaning of "stewardship" and "leadership." They understand that you hire and appoint competent professionals, and let them do their work.
5. Property rights.
When you buy into a community, you expect to abide by the rules. No one expects to be free from regulation. But when the rules change as often as the wind, and when the people making the rules have ulterior motives, it's time for a change.
Thousands of Birmingham homes and businesses have been rendered non-conforming -- that means technically "illegal" -- by rule changes imposed by the Other Guy incumbents. Measure the height of your home's roof. If it's more than 30 feet to the peak, and a tree falls on it, then forget about restoring it to its original state. This is just one example.
In the downtown, rule changes regarding heights -- even of shorter three-story buildings -- prevent property owners from constructing buildings with marketable commercial space. The Other Guys would have you believe these are "reasonable" restrictions, and that by criticizing them, the Good Guys support "unbridled development." That's just plain dishonest, and the Other Guys know it.
Does some development continue? In our downtown, nothing new is in progress. In our neighborhoods, the answer is yes. Is it the best kind of development, in keeping with the character of our neighborhoods? No. When you can't build a tudor home, when the Allen House and the Marshall Fredericks House would be illegal today, when residents still complain about the size and character and imposition of new construction, there's a problem.
When the incumbents propose an ordinance that would have required you to obtain a permit to trim a tree in your own backyard, there's a problem.
It's time for a change. Vote tomorrow -- and urge your friends and neighbors to vote -- for honesty, integrity, leadership and vision. Vote for Tom McDaniel, Scott Moore, Dianne McKeon and Julie Plotnik.
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BE INFORMED...GET INVOLVED...SPREAD THE WORD
Forward this email to friends, neighbors and others who are interested in EXCELLENCE for Birmingham.]]>Number 61-Oct. 30, 2003tag:bhambuzz.org,2003:index.php/weblog/index/1.622003-10-30T17:51:24-05:002004-11-10T22:50:07-05:001) Comment: Fat Cat Seger tries to buy election
2) City budget summary is posted
3) Comment: Election fliers best suited for trash
4) Both theaters may get new owners
5) City may toughen teen drinking law
6) Tougher drinking law draws support
7) Comment: City should listen to residents
8) Letter: Eccentric’s picks lack gender balance
9) Letter: Eccentric should have endorsed Plotnik
10) Letter: Don’t fall for Lanzetta’s scare tactics2003-10-30T17:51:24-05:00Clinton Ballercmballer@visa-master.com
THE BIRMINGHAM BUZZ
"Cast your vote for intelligence and reason"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOTE NOV. 4!
The Buzz supports McDaniel, Moore, McKeon and Plotnik
In this edition:
1) Comment: Fat Cat Seger tries to buy election
2) City budget summary is posted
3) Comment: Election fliers best suited for trash
4) Both theaters may get new owners
5) City may toughen teen drinking law
6) Tougher drinking law draws support
7) Comment: City should listen to residents
8) Letter: Eccentric's picks lack gender balance
9) Letter: Eccentric should have endorsed Plotnik
10) Letter: Don't fall for Lanzetta's scare tactics
1) Comment: Fat Cat Seger tries to buy election
Oct. 30, 2003
We've been wondering lately how one would buy an election in Birmingham.
We started thinking about it a few weeks ago after Commissioner Dante Lanzetta accused us of forming "a political action committee to raise thousands and thousands of dollars to hire high-priced political consultants to help them 'buy' this election."
We reminded you then that our PAC is a grassroots organization that has collected approximately $6,000 in small donations from the residents about whom Lanzetta claims to care so much. We also were quite straightforward about one of our primary goals: to unseat Lanzetta.
We came up with a few tongue-in-cheek ideas about how we could buy the election. We thought about hiring Tonya Harding to "hit" Seth Chafetz. We thought of buying back the police horse, running him at Hazel Park, and betting our wad on him to place. We even thought about buying a vowel for Denise Grzech. We figured our best (and most expensive) shot would be to buy free sewer laterals for everybody.
But seriously, we couldn't figure out a way to buy your votes if we wanted to.
Until now.
It appears that Lanzetta and his longtime crony Ralph Seger are quite adept at buying elections. Here's how they do it:
Seger, Fat Cat from a wayback, supplies the dough. The Quarton Lake Estates resident has been active in local politics for several years. He currently serves as chairman of the Barnum Study Committee, which has been dragging its feet for more than a year now trying to figure out what to do with Barnum School. Each election, Seger donates the maximum to each of his chosen candidates: $500 for himself, and $500 for his wife. In this election, the maximum adds up to $4,000. Then he forms a PAC (this time it's called Residential Action), and donates the max to his PAC. So now you have one man ponying up $5,000 to influence your vote.
Lanzetta, a master at using lies to monger fear, supplies the propaganda.
The result: Garbage in your mailbox like the piece that went out this week. In it, Seger's candidates are painted as saints, and everybody else as evil. We won't dignify the garbage by repeating it. But if you read it, look for facts, quotes or voting records. You won't find them.
What you'll find is a blatant attempt to instill fear by painting Lanzetta and his Radical Antis as moderates, and the true moderates as radicals. This is a time-honored and occasionally succcessful tactic. Don't buy into it, and don't let your friends and neighbors buy into it.
As we get deeper and deeper into Crunch Time, the candidates' true colors begin to show. It happened last time around, when a phony mailer went out that purported to be from developers in support of the moderate candidates. It was actually from the Radical Antis, and was probably financed by Fat Cat Seger.
This time, at least Seger put his home address on the garbage he's sending out.
2) City budget summary is posted
Oct. 28, 2003
Buzz readers can now access the 2003-2004 Approved Budget in Brief by clicking on the link in the right-hand column of our home page or simply by visiting http://www.bhambuzz.org/pdfs/budget.pdf. To download to your computer, simply right-click the link and choose Save Target As... The document was taken from the city's website at http://www.ci.birmingham.mi.us.
3) Comment: Election fliers best suited for trash
Oct. 26, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Joe Bauman
The window in my Maple Road office overlooks Poppleton Park, one of Birmingham's truly great neighborhoods. I have enjoyed countless walks along its streets, admiring the uniqueness of each house, the well-tended lawns and the mature trees.
The home directly across from my third-floor office has a large maple tree abutting the property line, and each autumn my colleagues and I anticipate its explosion into a riot of yellows, oranges and reds.
Just like it is now.
But just as sure as that maple tree is a true sign of fall, so is something else happening in my adopted neighborhood: Mailboxes all along those tree-lined streets are being stuffed with campaign brochures for next month's city commission elections.
I've been involved in covering plenty of local elections in the dozen years I have worked in Birmingham. By most accounts, this year's commission race is surprisingly quiet, given the fact that four of the seven commission seats are up for grabs and the community is at a significant crossroads of what kind of town it wants to be.
There isn't a whole lot of money being spent by the candidates, who seem to be content with letting their campaign brochures speak for themselves.
And that's too bad, because campaign brochures are like elbows Ð everyone has them, and they all pretty much look alike.
Campaign brochures are a glaring example of the power of incumbency. The folks already in office get to take credit for all things good in the community, whether they had anything to do with it or not, or even supported whatever it is they are not trumpeting.
This plays particularly well for Dante Lanzetta, the dean of the commission who is completing his 18th year on the commission.
Lanzetta's brochures make it sound like he single-handedly built Birmingham into the fine city it is.
For instance, Lanzetta takes credit for a thriving central business district and points to his support of both the Birmingham Principal Shopping District and the city's 2016 Plan as important tools in keeping it healthy.
Funny thing is, he has expressed a good amount of disdain for both in the past couple of years, but hey, that's politics, and Lanzetta has every right to take credit for all of the city's successes.
And curiously, Lanzetta takes credit for the construction of the Baldwin House, and in the same brochure trumpets the support of former Birmingham mayor and county commissioner Donald Jensen, who did everything in his power to block the subsidized senior housing development.
But Lanzetta is not alone in this practice. The other incumbents are doing the same thing, as do incumbents in every election in every city in America. That's how the game works.
So where does that leave the challengers? They are forced to either criticize their opponents, or drone on about how they are for clean and safe neighborhoods, quality schools and strong family values.
Spare me.
In all my years covering elections, I still haven't run across the candidate who is against clean and safe neighborhoods, favors crappy schools and wants an adult entertainment venue on every street corner.
My advice is the next time you receive a piece of campaign literature, throw it in the trash. If you really want to get to know your local candidates, read about them in the newspaper, attend a candidate forum, or pick up the phone and call them.
You'll get a much better idea of who they are, and what they really stand for.
Joe Bauman is managing editor for the Eccentric Newspapers.
4) Both theaters may get new owners
Oct. 26, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
With the departure of the power couple that opened both of Birmingham's movie theaters, speculation is swirling that the leases on both theaters may soon be sold to another company.
David Trepeck and Carole Ilitch Trepeck, who moved from Birmingham to California, founded Uptown Entertainment, a subsidiary of Ilitch Holdings, and spent some $7 million to renovate the Birmingham Theatre at 211 S. Old Woodward.
The theater revived that section of town and the couple later opened the Uptown Palladium 12 at 250 N. Old Woodward to rave reviews. The Palladium is a 73,000-square-foot complex with 12 auditoriums, 2,650 seats and wall-to-wall curved screens.
Both theaters are successful -- so much so that extra police were called in over the summer to handle throngs of teens hanging out in the city's burgeoning entertainment district.
The Trepaks didn't own the buildings that housed the theaters so a potential sale is for the leases and the ongoing theater operations.
The owners of both buildings said Friday that they have heard the leases are being quietly shopped around but that they wouldn't know of a deal until it is signed. Officials at Uptown entertainment had no comment.
5) City may toughen teen drinking law
Oct. 26, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
Throwing a teen beer bash won't be easy and those who do will be punished, said Cmdr. John VanGorder, of the Birmingham police.
"We want to make people accountable for their actions," said VanGorder.
Under proposed changes to the city ordinance against house parties, teens could be fined up to $500 or spend 90 days in jail for having or attending a house party where alcohol or other controlled substances are offered to minors. Though police typically ticket people who supply the alcohol, teens could be ticketed for attending a party even if they aren't drinking.
And the rules eliminate the age-old excuse that someone else brought the beer. "People will be compelled to break up the party or call the police if someone brings alcohol," said VanGorder.
Under the new rules that will be up for possible adoption by the Birmingham City Commission Monday, teens are required to either break up a party or call police if alcohol or drugs are present at a party.
Birmingham Police Chief Richard Patterson said the ordinance has been on the books since 1994 but the changes will offer better enforcement options. He also said teen drinking isn't a major problem in the city.
"In the '70s and early '80s, parents were having keggers for their kids' graduation parties," said Patterson. "They thought as long as they kept everyone on the property it was OK. But that kind of thing isn't going on anymore."
But that isn't to say that teens aren't partying when their parents are gone.
Last year, parents and educators intercepted invitations to a house party that promised alcohol. And a section of the yearbook from Birmingham Seaholm High School explored the topic of teen drinking at house parties. The feature quoted several teens who basically said drinking was a part of growing up. The remarks caused a minor uproar with some parents, but others said teen drinking was a fact of life.
According to police statistics, three tickets were issued for house parties last year compared to one the year before. And just five minors were arrested on alcohol charges last year compared with 10 in 2001.
Teens can also be ticketed for drinking and drug use under state law.
The meeting is at 8 p.m. at city hall, 151 Martin.
6) Tougher drinking law draws support
Oct. 26, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
The success of any new ordinance dealing with underage drinking at house parties will depend largely on how many people know about it, according to some Birmingham teens and parents.
On Monday, Birmingham City Commissioners will vote on whether to shore up their ordinance dealing with underage drinking at house parties to include $500 fines and possible jail time for anyone hosting a party where alcohol is provided to minors.
"There's always the traditional situation where the parents go out of town and the children throw a party without them knowing, but our real problem here and in other communities comes from parents' attitudes that it's all right for kids to have alcohol at parties as long as they know about it," said Peter Mueller, a parent of a Seaholm High School senior.
The new rule comes with the full support of the Birmingham Community Coalition, a group focused on preventing teen substance abuse and one upon which Mueller serves as a board member.
Coalition Director Lisa Machesky said the group fully supports the city's effort to stiffen its ordinance against underage drinking and hopes it provides some momentum in its fight to change public attitudes on the subject.
"We still have parents who believe it's OK for kids to drink a little as long as they are doing it at home," Machesky said.
The Coalition is borrowing a page from the Ohio Parents for a Drug Free Youth group to help in its efforts to get the word out about changes in alcohol laws whose Parents who Host Lose the Most, campaign has helped to change laws in 30 states.
"This is a great title and what that does is helps us to get the message out to the parents. Parents know this is specifically targeted to them and that's important," said Patricia Harmon, the group's executive director.
Harmon said stiffening laws against parents and teens who host parties where alcohol is served to minors is only half of the equation.
"It's kind of a carrot and a stick type thing. The tougher laws are like the stick telling parents and teens that they have to change their behavior or face the consequences. The carrot comes in after a while when we begin to see that people are banding together and changing their thinking on the subject," Harmon said.
For students like Seaholm senior John Zervos the changed laws are a good idea provided people know about them.
The ordinance eliminates a party host's ability to claim ignorance in cases where underage bring alcohol.
"I think people have to take responsibility for their own actions," he said.
Mueller agrees but said he understands putting the brakes on a house party can be difficult for a teen.
"I think it's tough and it takes a lot of maturity and courage. I think it helps if the parents are sending a clear message that drinking is just not tolerated in their house. I think if the other kids know that it can take the pressure off a little. With my kids, there were times I knew some of the other kids didn't come over because that was the rule," Mueller said.
7) Comment: City should listen to residents
Oct. 23, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
Three times the majority of residents on Harmon Street have petitioned the city commission to have their street paved.
For years, the city has placed temporary coatings on the street to such a point that the crown in the road now rises several inches above the sidewalk. Consequently, when it rains, the sidewalks flood.
The frustrated residents circulated petitions three times asking the city to finally pave the street and properly end the mess. More than 70 percent of residents in the affected area signed the petitions, which were presented to the city commission.
But the commission has refused to act. Several residents from surrounding streets have opposed the paving, saying it would destroy the rustic nature of the neighborhood.
That may be true, but it is also true that those who complained do not live on the street. It's not their front yards that are being flooded.
The majority of residents on Harmon have made it clear they want the repaving and they are willing to pay for it. Their voice should carry far louder than those who oppose the paving, but don't live on the street.
The underlying issue isn't asphalt - it's accountability and responsibility. The city commission has the responsibility to listen to all sides of an issue and make a measured judgment.
The commission has done half of its job. It's listened. Now it has to do the rest and accede to the will of the reasonable majority.
Pave the street.
8) Letter: Eccentric's picks lack gender balance
Oct. 23, 2003
The Birmingham Eccentric endorsements for the Nov. 4 city commission election are generally fair and thoughtful. I especially appreciate that in its support of some of the incumbents the Eccentric takes them to task for their lack of leadership over the past four years.
However, the newspaper's endorsements show an obvious disregard for gender balance. The Birmingham City Commission has always lacked appropriate female representation. I urge voters to select candidates that accurately represent our community by considering some our fine female leaders.
Shelli Weisberg
Birmingham
9) Letter: Eccentric should have endorsed Plotnik
Oct. 23, 2003
I am sorely disappointed by the Eccentric's endorsements for the position of Birmingham City Commissioner.
Certainly Julie Plotnik has the leadership qualities, business savvy and vision to help lead our city. For the past several years, Plotnik has worked tirelessly as a watchdog for the citizens of this community, regularly attending city commission meetings and staying abreast of the issues impacting Birmingham families.
Plotnik is a 12-year resident of Birmingham who has worked diligently to ensure that Birmingham moves forward as a vibrant community. She is an active parent in the public schools, works in downtown Birmingham and recently co-founded the successful Birmingham Farmers' Market.
Plontik is a dynamic woman who can bring balance, sensibility and vision to our city commission. She is a voice for the families of Birmingham, a voice that can provide stability and promote cooperation. Julie Plotnik is a woman who will work hard for our community and soundly lead it into the future.
Cathie Badalamenti
Birmingham
10) Letter: Don't fall for Lanzetta's scare tactics
Oct. 23, 2003
I am writing you this letter to voice my concerns regarding the current election for city commission. I moved to Birmingham in February of 2002 with the promise of a safe well-educated, fiscally responsible community and have since become concerned. I am now reading numerous pamphlets of propaganda that promise the stability I sought in my initial decision to move here.
If you actually read what some of these people are saying you will realize that most of their statements are false and baseless. What or who am I to believe? The candidate's rhetoric is confusing.
Dante Lanzetta, for instance, writes that he is passionate and outspoken against Bigfoot houses and for managing the size of down town development. What is a BIG FOOT house anyway? Is Mr. Lanzetta over-simplifying this issue and trying to scare us? Mr. Lanzetta is strongly urging me to vote against other candidates by expecting me to believe that they are for unchecked development and enormous homes.
Once again, he is using a scare tactic to confuse us. In my short time here I have only been able to draw the conclusion that the current city commission and planning board members are making critical decisions without any knowledge of the material they are ruling on. I have attended a few HDDRC meetings and have been appalled by the lack of professionalism there. Bill Dow, who has signed some of the letters being distributed, sits on the HDDRC board. He has done nothing but shoot from the hip on every issue put in front of him.
He makes decisions based on his aesthetic tastes and gut feelings, not pertinent information and real knowledge. I have seen him vote against a request simply because he doesn't like it.
The bottom line is that some candidates are claiming to have expertise and are currently working in areas they know nothing about. Concerned citizens who read their letters and take their claims as fact are being misled.
I encourage Birmingham residents to get the facts from candidates instead of relying on political rhetoric.
Robert Hewer
Birmingham
To be removed, send mail to info@bhambuzz.org
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BE INFORMED...GET INVOLVED...SPREAD THE WORD
Forward this email to friends, neighbors and others who are interested in EXCELLENCE for Birmingham.]]>Number 60-BULLETIN-Oct. 29, 2003tag:bhambuzz.org,2003:index.php/weblog/index/1.612003-10-29T17:50:58-05:002004-11-10T22:48:41-05:00Help deliver door-hangers this weekend!2003-10-29T17:50:58-05:00Clinton Ballercmballer@visa-master.com
THE BIRMINGHAM BUZZ
"Cast your vote for intelligence and reason"
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Neighbors for a Better Birmingham needs your help distributing approximately 4,500 door-hangers to the homes of Birmingham voters this weekend. It's a great way to get outside, get some exercise and so some civic good!
The door-hangers support candidates Tom McDaniel, Scott Moore, Dianne McKeon and Julie Plotnik.
Volunteers are asked to devote two hours (more or less) to the job. We will provide you with the door-hangers and a list of addresses of registered voters who participate in local elections.
Volunteers should:
1. Send an email with your name and phone number to coordinator Shelli Weisberg at smweisberg@comcast.net. If you have already volunteered, you need not do this.
2. Pick up your supplies between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday at 124 Peabody, the office of Christopher Longe & Associates Architects. You may park free in the old Shell station across the street at Woodward and Maple.
3. Deliver your door-hangers sometime Saturday or Sunday. Delivery must occur on these days.
4. Return the list of addresses to Weisberg, or phone her, upon completion.
If you have any questions, please feel free to phone Weisberg at (248) 535-7112.
To be removed, send mail to info@bhambuzz.org
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BE INFORMED...GET INVOLVED...SPREAD THE WORD
Forward this email to friends, neighbors and others who are interested in EXCELLENCE for Birmingham]]>Number 59-Oct. 17, 2003tag:bhambuzz.org,2003:index.php/weblog/index/1.602003-10-17T17:47:24-05:002006-03-13T15:15:15-05:001) Comment: Your vote will determine whether city struggles or thrives economically
2) Comment: Eccentric was only half right
3) Comment: Eccentric backs McDaniel, Moore, Chafetz and Dixon for city commission
4) Comment: Lanzetta shamelessly takes credit for Baldwin House, enlists project’s chief foe
5) Majority of commission says ‘fix’ Plan Board
6) Apply for absentee ballot if you can’t get to polls
7) Officials jockey for Ryder Cup committee
8) City on the prowl for wolf-dogs
9) Office building planned for downtown gateway
10) Dixon wants to keep bringing order to commission
11) Sign on to sign, distribute campaign handout2003-10-17T17:47:24-05:00Clinton Ballercmballer@visa-master.com
THE BIRMINGHAM BUZZ
"Cast your vote for intelligence and reason"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Comment: Your vote will determine whether city struggles or thrives economically
2) Comment: Eccentric was only half right
3) Comment: Eccentric backs McDaniel, Moore, Chafetz and Dixon for city commission
4) Comment: Lanzetta shamelessly takes credit for Baldwin House, enlists project's chief foe
5) Majority of commission says 'fix' Plan Board
6) Apply for absentee ballot if you can't get to polls
7) Officials jockey for Ryder Cup committee
8) City on the prowl for wolf-dogs
9) Office building planned for downtown gateway
10) Dixon wants to keep bringing order to commission
11) Sign on to sign, distribute campaign handout
1) Comment: Your vote will determine whether city struggles or thrives economically
Oct. 17, 2003
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Birmingham voters will elect four City Commissioners, We urge you to vote for Tom McDaniel, Dianne McKeon, Scott Moore and Julie Plotnik.
We're supporting only one incumbent -- McKeon -- because change is desperately needed on the Commission. This election will determine whether Birmingham thrives or struggles economically over the next decade; whether city services will be maintained or cut, and whether our tax burden will decrease or increase.
We think the current Commission is irresponsible and headed in the wrong direction.
They are not minding our municipal checkbook. They are voting to spend foolishly on such pet projects as the $1 million Adams Rd. sidewalk-to-nowhere and an unnecessary -- and costly -- "historic survey" of every home in Birmingham. They are focused on overbearing legislation that threatens our property rights and privacy -- the tree ordinance, the ethics ordinance, the historic survey, and more.
Their micromanagement of a capable city staff has resulted in a crisis in morale at City Hall. A Planning Board that many Commissioners call "responsive" is called "broken" by McKeon, who has demanded the chairman's removal.
Current Commissioners give only lip service to "neighborhood preservation," but what have they really accomplished for our neighborhoods? Many streets are falling apart, and they have neglected many of our parks and other public spaces.
McDaniel, McKeon, Moore and Plotnik understand the proper role of Commissioners in the administration of our city.
Their idea of fiscal responsibility is fiscal conservatism: They will focus on how to manage a municipality in the face of such tax-limiting laws as the Headlee Amendment and Proposition A. They will keep out of your business (and out of your backyard!); they will let city staffers do their jobs, and they will respect your judgment.
For example, when we voted two years ago in favor of a $25 million parks bond issue, we said we wanted improvements. Two years later, few have been made. We purchased Barnum School a year ago, but since then, the Commission has made little progress in determining its future.
Another example: When Birmingham residents participated in the Downtown Birmingham 2016 Plan several years ago, we helped chart a course for reasonable development of our downtown -- the kind of development that would bolster our tax base and help pay for the city services we have all come to expect.
But the current Commission has turned its back on the judgment of the community and a team of eminent city planners, and along with appointed cronies on the Planning Board, gutted the 2016 Plan and pursued a strategy of open hostility to virtually anyone willing to invest in our town.
The result: Our city's reserve accounts are dwindling, and city services, including police and fire protection, are at risk. Without fiscal responsibility and conservatism, there will be no alternative but to increase your taxes.
The choice is simple on Nov. 4: You can stick with an overbearing Commission and see services cut, taxes increased and our city struggle. Or elect McDaniel, McKeon, Moore and Plotnik for a more responsible government that will truly preserve our neighborhoods.
2) Comment: Eccentric was only half right
Oct. 17, 2003
The Birmingham Eccentric got it right this week when it endorsed Tom McDaniel and Scott Moore for City Commission. But it missed the mark with its endorsements of Russell Dixon and Seth Chafetz.
We agree with the Eccentric that it's time for Commissioner Dante Lanzetta to be turned out of office. Many astute observers of Birmingham city government believe this election will be won or lost on the outcome for Lanzetta. That's partly true, because with Lanzetta gone, a dark cloud will be lifted from the city, no matter who wins.
But there are good reasons why Dianne McKeon and Julie Plotnik should be elected, and Dixon and Chafetz should not.
One of the most obvious reasons to favor McKeon and Plotnik is the simple notion that more than one woman ought to sit on the seven-member commission. The Eccentric apparently would be happy with only one: Rackeline Hoff. We wouldn't.
We think the Eccentric was way off the mark when it said of McKeon: "It's time for a more involved and connected person." McKeon may have some shortcomings when it comes to leadership and an ability and willingness to speak out, but if she is anything, it is involved and connected. We think McKeon has already begun to show leadership and courage in speaking out with her call for the resignation of Planning Board Chairman Gary Kulak.
Julie Plotnik is simply a better representative of many Birmingham residents than Dixon or Chafetz.
As for those candidates: The Eccentric was 100% on the mark when it said Chafetz "has wavered." The fact is, one never knows how Chafetz is going to vote because he has been so susceptible to political pressure from Lanzetta and commissioners Donald Carney and Gordon Thornsby. We think Chafetz has compromised principles several times to keep in the good graces of Lanzetta's crowd.
Dixon, on the other hand, is capable of leadership but too often abdicates his responsibilities. He says too little too late too often. He is intelligent and reasonable, but he rarely tries to persuade anyone of anything. Furthermore, he holds himself out as the design professional on the commission, but he has shown little inclination for leadership on the many, many design issues that the commission has faced over the years.
The Eccentric was right: It's time for change. Three excellent candidates promise change for the better: McDaniel, Moore and Plotnik. And McKeon is the incumbent most likely to go with their flow.
3) Comment: Eccentric backs McDaniel, Moore, Chafetz and Dixon for city commission
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
Oct. 16, 2003
It would be an overstatement to say that Birmingham is at a critical juncture in its history, but clearly the city has drifted from the course it should be taking to ensure a solid future as one of Michigan's best communities.
Overall, the city commission has let politics and personal philosophies overshadow what is best for the town's 18,000-plus residents. The rigid, anti-development stance of some of the commissioners coupled with questionable spending decisions and ill-conceived proposals such as the ethics law and the original tree ordinance shows that some of the commissioners have lost touch with residents.
It's time to make some changes. Four seats on the city commission will be on the ballot in the Nov. 4 general election, and as the absentee ballots go out to voters this week, we urge voters to re-elect incumbents Seth Chafetz and Russell Dixon and support challengers Tom McDaniel and Scott Moore.
Chafetz, who currently serves as mayor, has wavered on some issues but ultimately has shown flexibility to make decisions based on facts and in the best interest of the residents. He promotes himself as an independent thinker, but he needs to demonstrate that more. Dixon also has demonstrated steady leadership and a reasonable approach to the development of the city and the way business should be conducted.
McDaniel is making an impressive first run at office. He clearly has an understanding of the issues facing Birmingham and has a solid vision for the future. His background as a General Motors executive no doubt helps in focusing on what needs to be done, but he also has a common-sense approach to problems that is refreshing and promising.
Moore is not a newcomer. He served on the city commission from 1995 to 1999 and did a turn as mayor. He has the experience and an understanding of Birmingham that a commissioner needs. Further, he has the vision of what Birmingham needs to be, which is neither heavily developed nor frozen in some impossible vision of returning Birmingham to a small, rural town.
And that brings us to our non-endorsements. Incumbent Dianne McKeon has consistently provided a lackluster performance on the commission when the city needs dynamic leadership. It's time for a more involved and connected person.
As for Commissioner Dante Lanzetta, he has given many years of productive service to the city, having been a commissioner for 18 years.
But he should have learned by now that by taking a virulent anti-development stance he is doing harm to the city. We do not advocate unbridled development. We have consistently stressed the need for balance.
Lanzetta has tipped the scales so far to the anti-side to the point that the city is suffering. Birmingham is developing a reputation as a place not to do business.
Lanzetta has lost sight that Birmingham needs to evolve and can do so without destroying its character as a community of neighborhoods surrounding a business core.
Unfortunately, Lanzetta has shown no indication of seeking a compromise path, and indeed, his campaign literature plays on the fears that development will ruin the city.
Fear may be an effective campaign tool, but it is not good foundation on which to build city policy.
Dante Lanzetta achieved a new low this week in his desperate bid for City Commission when he shamelessly took credit -- not once but twice -- for the Baldwin House senior citizens housing project.
Astonishingly, in some of the same literature he trumpets the support of a Birmingham resident who was one of the chief opponents of the housing project.
A campaign brochure boldly claims he "forged an innovative compromise that won affordable housing for seniors at Baldwin House."
A letter to Baldwin House residents that went out over the signature of Troy resident Paul Lin (but was paid for by Lanzetta's campaign committee) says "Baldwin House would not stand today without the vision, support and hard work of Dante Lanzetta." It goes on to say "Baldwin House residents owe their very homes to this man."
A short history lesson might be in order for Lanzetta and anyone who would believe his outrageous claims:
Baldwin House was built under a federal court order from U.S. District Judge Robert DeMascio. With or without anything Lanzetta may have contributed to the project -- and those who actually contributed to the project have difficulty remembering any significant contributions by Lanzetta -- Baldwin House would have been built. If DeMascio had to hire the contractors and supervise construction himself, the thing would have been built.
"To give credit for Baldwin House to Lanzetta is an insult to all the people who worked to bring senior housing to Birmingham," says Dorothy Conrad, who was recalled from the Birmingham City Commission in the late 1970s over her support for the project.
That Lanzetta in some of the same campaign literature invokes the support of former City Commissioner Don Jensen only adds to the insult. Jensen led not only the campaign against senior housing in the 1970s, but the recall campaign against commissioners who supported the housing, says Conrad.
An Oct. 7, 1996, Detroit News story marking the opening of Baldwin House said:
"Donald Jensen, a resident who opposed the complex, said at the time that residents were miffed they were paying astronomical mortgages to live in Birmingham only to have the poor move in nearby."
" 'Most of us worked hard all our lives to earn our way to Birmingham,' Jensen said. 'I think the citizens felt it was unfair for the government to put people in Birmingham on a subsidized housing basis.' "
With supporters like that, Lanzetta hardly needs enemies.
We've asked Lanzetta to support his claims. Don't hold your breath waiting for a substantive reply. Instead, use your energy to influence the vote Nov. 4.
Turn Lanzetta out of office. It's time to say "Enough!" to a City Commissioner who twists the truth so shamelessly and relentlessly.
5) Majority of commission says 'fix' Plan Board
Oct. 9, 2003
A majority of the Birmingham City Commission thinks the Planning Board is broken and needs to be fixed.
Criticism is focused on board Chairman Gary Kulak. Commissioner Dianne McKeon has called for his resignation or removal. Echoing many observers, she said Kulak is "out of control... Mr. Kulak treats citizens, staff and others with total contempt and disrespect. His only interest is to gain total control over all aspects of building and development in our city. He is attempting to accomplish this by micro-managing the Planning Department and the unnecessary re-drafting of many of our ordinances."
At a Chamber of Commerce candidates forum Tuesday, three other commissioners -- as well as candidates Tom McDaniel, Scott Moore and Julie Plotnik -- expressed concern over Kulak and the Planning Board.
Plotnik said the Planning Board is the "No. 1 deterrent to business" in Birmingham. She said "the current commission allows our Planning Board to bully businesses, and that has to stop."
Commissioner Russell Dixon, quoted in today's Eccentric, told attendees: "Something is not working properly at the Planning Board. It has deviated from site plan review to personal agendas. It's broken and needs to be fixed, and it is the commission's job to do so."
After the forum, Mayor Seth Chafetz and Commissioner Rackeline Hoff agreed that the commission must address the problem soon. Chafetz said the commission should take up the issue publicly at the next joint Planning Board/City Commission meeting Nov. 17.
Hoff said the problem has "gone on too long," but questioned whether a public airing, or removal of Kulak, is necessary.
McKeon, meantime, has called for Kulak's ouster. "I have asked the city manager to seek the advice of our city attorney on how Mr. Kulak can be removed. Of course, if Mr. Kulak wants to resign, that would also be acceptable," McKeon has said.
Kulak was nominated for re-appointment earlier this year by his mentor Commissioner Dante Lanzetta, who has called the Planning Board "responsive."
6) Apply for absentee ballot if you can't get to polls
Oct. 10, 2003
The City of Birmingham is accepting applications for absentee ballots. Visit http://www.bhambuzz.org/pdfs/abballot.pdf to download an application, which can be mailed or dropped off at City Hall.
7) Officials jockey for Ryder Cup committee
Oct. 16, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
It seems one too many city commissioner hopes to get into the 35th Annual Ryder Cup for free.
The city formed a host committee that will decide how best to approach the world's largest golf event, which will take place the week of Sept. 14, 2004, at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township.
The pro golfers involved are staying in Birmingham and the city wants to make sure it has a handle on traffic and security concerns long before 38,000 fans per day swarm the area.
No one knows what perks committee members will get but other Ryder Cup officials have hopped planes to see first-hand how such competitions are run in other towns. At the least, people on the Birmingham host committee may get a chance to meet the golfers at a party or two.
That prospect had commissioners competing Monday. Donald Carney, Rackeline Hoff and Gordon Thorsby all wanted in the select club but only two spaces were open. Carney said he was already involved in the Ryder Cup and could provide necessary background. Hoff said her experience as a public relations executive would be helpful and Thorsby said he was interested in the event and wanted to do his part to help.
With two commissioners absent, only Carney could muster the four votes needed to nab a spot, though he had to cast the deciding vote himself. Hoff got three votes and Thorsby received two and both voted for themselves.
The other seat will be determined at an Oct. 27 meeting when a full commission is expected.
8) City on the prowl for wolf-dogs
Oct. 16, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
Wolf-dogs can no longer stalk the streets of Birmingham with impunity.
"No we don't have a rash of wolf-dogs in town," said Don Studt, deputy police chief. "This is just a precautionary measure."
City officials adopted a new ordinance Monday that effectively bans the critters. Studt said the city had a suspected wolf-dog running the streets months ago and wanted to make sure proper rules were in place should another "Canis lupus Birminghamis" unexpectedly wander in.
"We caught the dog and had an expert examine it," said Studt, on the former suspect. "It turned out to be a shepherd mix, so we gave it back."
The city's new rule mirrors a state ban on wolf-dogs. The law includes an exception for wolf-dogs registered before 2000, but none are registered in Birmingham. If an owner came forward and admitted to harboring such an animal, it would likely be confiscated.
Police have no record of a wolf attacking anyone, but King Boots, a prize show dog, ate portions of his deceased owner before police killed him more than a decade ago.
9) Office building planned for downtown gateway
Oct. 9, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
The second half of the Maple and Woodward Ave. gateway to Birmingham will be an office building.
"It should be very easy to construct a handsome building without making it identical to the hotel," said Birmingham developer Edward Fuller. "We still have to go through the planning process, but the site will be developed office."
Fuller recently signed a purchase agreement for the former Shell gas station at Maple and Woodward.
He said he plans to turn it into a four-story office building that will complement a planned Hilton Hotel across the street.
Officials have complained for years that the pair of gas stations don't project a suitable image for the city.
In the Downtown Birmingham 2016 Plan, urban planner Andres Duany recommended transforming what are now two gas stations into a gateway to the city. He said the twin buildings should have a retail component.
"Concerning the twin buildings proposed, they are so rare in the United States that, if Birmingham were to conjure up a pair like the ones illustrated, they may well become a regional or even national landmark," said Duany, in the report.
Fuller said he is willing to build a complementary building, but much of it depends on the city's approval process.
Another developer is going through the approval process for a project that would replace the Sunoco Gas Station at 35001 Woodward with a five-story hotel with more than 100 rooms.
Under the proposal, a local landmark, Hunter House restaurant, would be torn down and rebuilt within the footprint of the hotel. The Hilton proposal includes underground parking. Building the parking garage would require dismantling Hunter House brick-by-brick so parking could be installed under it. The hamburger place is a throwback to the 1950s and it is the oldest restaurant on Woodward from Detroit to Pontiac.
The planning board has approval powers over granting a fifth story. The board can deny the fifth story of a building if it would, in the board's opinion, negatively impact the sunlight and air of neighboring residential or historic districts. The board can also deny a fifth story if the building isn't harmonious with adjacent structures.
Under city zoning rules, the fifth story must be residential, and the proposal includes 10 apartments on the top floor. It also includes retail spaces for the Maple Road frontage, which meets another requirement. Fuller's new office building can't be five stories under current zoning law so Duany's gateway concept won't be possible.
Fuller is the same developer who lured advertising firm McCann-Erickson into the former Jacobson's department store at 336 W. Maple. That building is being remodeled and the agency will come to Birmingham 2004.
Construction projects typically take at least two years in Birmingham.
10) Dixon wants to keep bringing order to commission
Oct. 9, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
Russell Dixon wants to continue bringing order to complex issues.
"I've been able to make a significant contribution to the work of the city commission," Dixon said. "Whenever there is a stalemate, I make a motion that moves the process along and it is unanimously approved. ... I am a clear thinker who is sensitive to the process."
Rather than choosing sides on divisive issues, Dixon is running for a third term on his track record of leadership.
"I've been talking to residents and they aren't interested in dealing with polarizing issues," Dixon said. "They are looking for people who can lead. They are looking for people who can make local government work."
Dixon said candidates often take positions on matters that aren't clearly defined, which leaves them back-tracking when all the information is available.
One issue that typifies the Dixon approach is sewer laterals. Some residents want immediate action, but Dixon takes the measured view of allowing study, then quietly offering possible solutions. Dixon said he favors doing more to help residents cope with expensive repairs, but he isn't willing to shout for change until he knows what changes should occur.
While much of the city is immersed in the question of whether development is good or evil, Dixon prefers to stay on the sidelines and offer guidance.
"When a town is new, zoning ordinances are written to encourage growth," Dixon said. "When it matures, there is a constant and necessary fine-tuning of the ordinances. That is occurring in Birmingham and it's a healthy process."
He said the city does, however, need to do a better job of defining where five-story buildings can be built. He wants to prevent them on narrow streets and eliminate discretionary approvals of them on wide streets.
Dixon is an architect with a local studio. His record of public service dates back to 1977, when he was appointed to the city's first historic district commission. He was instrumental in establishing the first historic district and later adding the Grand Trunk Train Station to it.
He also served on the board of zoning appeals from 1979-1986, then turned to neighborhood issues in 1993. As president of the Birmingham Villas Homeowners Association, Dixon led a movement to save Derby Middle School. The school district wanted to close it to save cash and Dixon and others convinced officials that the school was indeed an irreplaceable part of the community.
He later led successful initiatives to prevent the relocation of the Maple Road Kroger store and the expansion of East Maple to five lanes. He assumed a leadership role when elected to the commission in 1995.
His skills were tested in 1999. Dixon was named mayor following an acrimonious city election that once again centered on development. Dixon brought calm to turbulent times -- which is exactly what he wants to keep doing.
11) Sign on to sign, distribute campaign handout
Oct. 17, 2003
The Buzz is soliciting signatures for a campaign handout that will support the election of Tom McDaniel, Dianne McKeon, Scott Moore and Julie Plotnik to the City Commission.
The piece will touch on our campaign themes of limiting tax increases, being fiscally responsible, not wasting tax money and protecting property rights.
Your name would be a valuable addition to this handout.
Please join us in calling on our neighbors to support the election of these fine candidates.
We also need help distributing the handouts.
Please send an email to info@bhambuzz.org with your name, address, phone number and occupation, and please indicate if you would be willing to help with distribution.
If you have any questions about this, you may inquire via email to the above address, or you may contact any of the candidates directly:
Julie Plotnik
(248) 647-4319
jap1103@aol.com
Tom McDaniel
(248) 540-2677
mcdaniel_tom@hotmail.com
Dianne McKeon
(248) 644-8929
djmckeon@aol.com
Scott Moore
(248) 644-2875
sdm984@ameritech.net
Please: Aside from voting, this may be one of the most important steps you can take to support these candidates.
You can also:
* Send money. Donations of up to $500 per person (personal checks only, please; no cash) will be greatly appreciated.
* Put up lawn signs. Call or email Neighbors for a Better Birmingham, or any of the individual candidates, to arrange pickup or delivery.
* Walk with a candidate. Call or email any of the candidates.
* Host a get-together. Invite a group of friends to your home for an informal meet-the-candidates tea or coffee. Contact the committee or a candidate.
To be removed, send mail to info@bhambuzz.org
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BE INFORMED...GET INVOLVED...SPREAD THE WORD
Forward this email to friends, neighbors and others who are interested in EXCELLENCE for Birmingham.]]>Number 58-Oct. 6, 2003tag:bhambuzz.org,2003:index.php/weblog/index/1.592003-10-06T17:45:57-05:002004-11-10T22:44:39-05:001) Crunch Time Dept.: Get lawn signs; walk with a candidate
2) Comment: Dianne McKeon for commission
3) In interview, McKeon calls for Kulak ouster, blasts ‘contriving, conspiring’ on commission
4) Comment: Unappoint Kulak
5) Exodus resumes as planning staffer quits
6) Firm ready to occupy Jacobson’s space
7) Sewers won’t be on ballot
8) Comment: Weigh the sign ban with caution
9) Comment: A time to pass
10) Letter: Lanzetta’s time is up
11) Letter: Don’t fall for scare tactics; get specifcs
12) A touch of hipness in Birmingham: New development is priced to house the crowd that hangs out in this trendy suburb2003-10-06T17:45:57-05:00Clinton Ballercmballer@visa-master.com
THE BIRMINGHAM BUZZ
"Cast your vote for intelligence and reason"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Crunch Time Dept.: Get lawn signs; walk with a candidate
2) Comment: Dianne McKeon for commission
3) In interview, McKeon calls for Kulak ouster, blasts 'contriving, conspiring' on commission
4) Comment: Unappoint Kulak
5) Exodus resumes as planning staffer quits
6) Firm ready to occupy Jacobson's space
7) Sewers won't be on ballot
8) Comment: Weigh the sign ban with caution
9) Comment: A time to pass
10) Letter: Lanzetta's time is up
11) Letter: Don't fall for scare tactics; get specifcs
12) A touch of hipness in Birmingham: New development is priced to house the crowd that hangs out in this trendy suburb
1) Crunch Time Dept.
Get lawn signs; walk with a candidate
Oct. 6, 2003
Buzz-endorsed candidates need your support!
Lawn signs are available for pickup or delivery.
Volunteers willing to walk their neighborhoods with candidates are also needed.
Lawn signs can be picked up during regular business hours at Christopher Longe & Associates Architects, 124 Peabody. Park at the old Shell station at Woodward and Maple; the office is the southernmost stucco and green-trim Shain Townhome across Peabody.
You can also phone (248) 258-6940 to request delivery, or send an email to info@bhambuzz.org
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2) Comment: Dianne McKeon for commission
Oct. 6, 2003
The Birmingham Buzz endorses Dianne McKeon for City Commission.
McKeon has come a long way since she was elected to her first term on the Commission four years ago. Back then, she ran on a virtual slate with commissioners Seth Chafetz, Russell Dixon and Dante Lanzetta. To her enormous surprise, she was the top vote-getter. It turned out to be the nudge she needed to slowly but surely over the next four years assert her independence.
Today, she runs in clear opposition to Lanzetta, and completely independent of the others. All are seeking re-election.
McKeon took a huge step in the right direction this week by courageously calling for the resignation or ouster of Planning Board Chairman Gary Kulak. She also courageously called a spade a spade when she noted the "disingenuous attitude" and "contriving, conspiring and collaborative decision-making" by Lanzetta, Chafetz and commissioners Donald Carney and Gordon Thornsby that is abundantly clear to anyone who watches the commission.
We haven't always agreed with McKeon, but her intentions lately are good, and her voting record of late has been reasonable. Her door is always open, and her attitude is always positive. She is unabashedly impressionable. We like that. It means she isn't dogmatic, and she's always open to a variety of viewpoints.
She and her husband, Jerry, are always out and about, and are champions of the central business district, in which they live.
With a second win behind her, McKeon should be able to approach her job with more confidence, and hone her leadership skills. She'll be able to do that if Dante Lanzetta is unseated, and she is freed of his overwhelmingly negative and intimidating influence.
The Birmingham Buzz urges you to vote for Dianne McKeon on Nov. 4.
3) In interview, McKeon calls for Kulak ouster, blasts 'contriving, conspiring' on commission
Oct. 6, 2002
Birmingham Planning Board Chairman Gary Kulak should resign from office or face removal, City Commissioner Dianne McKeon says.
In addition, "contriving, conspiring and collaborative decision-making" by certain members of the Commission "is taking its toll on our town" and has made the city a "laughing stock" in some professional circles.
"I have asked the city manager to seek the advice of our city attorney on how Mr. Kulak can be removed. Of course, if Mr. Kulak wants to resign, that would also be acceptable," McKeon told the Buzz in a wide-ranging interview.
McKeon is seeking re-election to the Commission.
"During the early part of my first term, a name surfaced for consideration on the Planning Board that earned my vote," McKeon said. "In retrospect, it was the wrong decision. Mr. Kulak is in my view out of control. Supported by others, including some on the current commission, Mr. Kulak treats citizens, staff and others with total contempt and disrespect. His only interest is to gain total control over all aspects of building and development in our city. He is attempting to accomplish this by micro-managing the Planning Department and the unnecessary re-drafting of many of our ordinances."
"As evidence, once again a member of the Planning Department staff is leaving," McKeon said, referring to the late-September departure of part-time planner Kelly Mathews. "If every Birmingham resident knew the kind of day the employees in this department spend, they would be outraged. They are constantly wasting time on special reports or projects demanded by some commissioners and committee members," McKeon said.
"I am really tired of the disingenuous attitude of some members of the commission and their perception of what is good for Birmingham. Contriving, conspiring and collaborative decision-making is taking its toll on our town. In certain professional circles we are a laughing stock. We cannot keep staff, and building applicants are compromising their plans to avoid the Planning Board," McKeon said.
"In my 27 years of living in Birmingham, I've seen the pendulum on the commission swing dramatically in both directions, and neither direction is healthy. Whatever your personal interests are, or the agenda you bring to the table, failure to consider the suggestions and arguments of others ultimately cheats part of the community. My promise is to listen and learn and then base my votes on the merits of each individual situation. Our city is so many different parts - all good, and all why we live here. Balancing these parts by making good decisions is a commissioner's job," McKeon said.
"I have recently been asked what changes in positions and issues I've made since the last election," McKeon said. "The answer is simply, none. Since the day four years ago when I made up my mind to run for a seat on the city commission, I have been keenly interested in both neighborhood and downtown issues and have, and will continue to make decisions based on the merits of the facts and discussions that ensue. I absolutely do not have any other agenda. I am not aligned with any other commissioners to place certain individuals on the various boards or commissions; I do not meet with other commissioners between meetings and show up at the commission meetings with my mind made up."
"Keeping a good balance with the varying interests requires fair and open minded-decision making. I pledge to do that as a voice of reason on the commission. There are probably less than one hundred residents really active with the issues. If taxpayers knew of the micro-management by some commissioners and board members, they would be repelled by the foolishness and embarrassed with the results," McKeon said.
"Could our staff oversight be better? Of course! But when you traditionally operate with a lean staff and numerous special projects interrupting your week, you have a recipe for failure. And it seems that is precisely what the detractors are looking for as a reason to dismiss key staff members or to discourage longevity."
On the Orangeburg sewer issue, McKeon said, "Now, 50 years later, it's evident that Orangeburg was not a long-term solution. We all wish we could reverse the decision made 50 years ago. Moving forward to determine who is responsible for the replacement cost is a high priority with me. This is a heavy financial burden, and it must be fairly handled. As a homeowner, I certainly would not want to be faced with the cost. As a city commissioner, I must ask, if the city financially assists the affected homeowners, how is the cost to be spread over all taxpayers and residents?"
On Birmingham's finances, McKeon said, "Birmingham's financial picture is reasonably good, as we enjoy a Triple-A bond rating. While many factors go into the investment decision-making process, the bond rating is often the single most important factor. This rating is in a large part due to our city manager's diligence in managing our budget and controlling our expenses."
"However," she said, "I would like to see the city operate more cautiously. There are a number of projects or studies where we have spent too much and have too little to show for it. Shain Park is certainly a good example. We always seem to find the money to hire the next consultant or conduct the next study. I will continually question these requests and work diligently to foster millage reductions each budget year. We need to regain confidence by spending more prudently. Sidewalks to nowhere and $500,000 studies to photograph every home in Birmingham must not be allowed to happen."
McKeon, a frequently seen face downtown, concluded: "It is so unproductive to pit neighborhoods against our downtown interests. Our downtown business owners and merchants live in the neighborhoods and our residents shop in our downtown. It takes both to make Birmingham the community it is. So whatever your interest I will respect it with an open mind and a fair hearing. Together, we can work, shop and live in Birmingham with a great sense of pride and accomplishment."
4) Comment: Unappoint Kulak
Oct. 3, 2003
We've heard rumblings that city staffers and even a few top elected and appointed city officials are joining the calls from residents and others for the removal of Gary Kulak from the Planning Board.
Kulak, the board chairman, rules with an iron fist. In the contempt he shows for those who appear before him, and for the city staff on whom he depends, he mimics his mentor and chief backer, Commissioner Dante Lanzetta.
Perhaps worse than his rudeness, however, is Kulak's abuse of power. At every turn, he seeks to obstruct reasonable people seeking reasonable approvals for reasonable projects. There was a day in Birmingham when a petitioner could show up before the Planning Board and get a fair hearing. Nowadays, under Kulak, no sane petitioner appears without high-priced attorneys and architects in tow. Owners of the dilapidatd Waterfall project had to wait more than two years for final approval for their project. Respected Birmingham restaurateur Norm LePage had to likewise go through more than two years of hell before Kulak before obtaining final approval for a new banquet hall adjacent to his landmark Big Rock Chophouse -- a project that was widely and frequently supported by residents of the adjacent neighborhoods.
Kulak, who lacks any experience or skills relevant to his position, is one of the chief reasons why property owners find it so incredibly difficult to do business with the city. When your taxes rise because the city's tax base hasn't kept pace with rising costs, you'll know whom to blame. Kulak has chased away more investment in Birmingham than any other single person. Pretty good feat for a guy who doesn't own any property in Birmingham, and so bears none of that tax burden himself.
Reasonable cause exists for Kulak's ouster. We don't relish the messiness involved in removing him from office (well, OK, we admit it; it might be interesting to watch), but sometimes government requires us to do unpleasant things.
Of course, Kulak could resign and save everyone the trouble...
5) Exodus resumes as planning staffer quits
Oct. 3, 2003
Another member of the Birmingham city planning staff has resigned. Kelly Mathews, a part-time planner who had been with the city for little more than a year, resigned her position effective Sept. 25. City Manager Tom Markus said Mathews focused on site plan reviews and research, as well as day-to-day service work.
Mathews (who says she took a full-time position on the planning staff in Brighton Township, which is much closer to her home in Ann Arbor), brings to four the number of city planners who have resigned since the appointment of Gary Kulak to the chairmanship of the Birmingham Planning Board. She joins Community Development Director Patricia McCullough, and city planners Keith Edwards and Jill Bahm, all of whom resigned in the past two years.
Mathews' work brought her into occasional contact with Kulak, who has been sharply criticized by petitioners, city staffers and members of the public for rudeness and obstruction of projects before the Planning Board.
In an April letter to Markus, Louis Dortch Jr., president of Qdoba Mexican Grill, said, "I have attended dozens of planning, zoning and other types of municipal meetings over the years, and I have never been treated with such contempt and antagonism. Mr. Kulak seems to enjoy using his position to deride people seeking approval for their given project. His treatment of the local businessman or resident is only outdone by his deplorable abuse of the City of Birmingham staff," Dortch wrote.
"Ms. Jana Ecker and Ms. Kelly Mathews are both competent and enjoyable people to work with. Mr. Kulak treated each of these city employees with little respect, even though each had done their job," Dortch wrote.
Markus declined to comment on reports that city staffers and other high elected and appointed offcials are joining the call for Kulak's ouster. Kulak, who lacks experience in city planning, architecture or any building trades, was reappointed to the Planning Board this past spring after being nominated by his mentor, Commissioner Dante Lanzetta.
6) Firm ready to occupy Jacobson's space
Oct. 2, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
The local business climate just got a big boost, said Ted Fuller, the developer who just signed advertising agency McCann-Erickson to a long-term lease for the former Jacobson's building at 336 W. Maple.
"It think it's good for the whole town," said Fuller. "It will bring a tremendous amount of well-paid consumers to Birmingham."
Fuller ruled out a retail component for the building, which is currently being transformed from the former retail anchor of the downtown to a modern office building. He said the agency will occupy the entire 102,000-square-foot building so there will be no room for retail shops.
McCann-Erickson is relocating after 25 years in Troy. Garry Neel, executive vice president, said the move is necessary due to recent growth of the agency and the expiration of its lease at the Top of Troy building at 755 W. Big Beaver Road.
The company will move more than 300 employees in late 2004, after the former Jacobson's building is given a face-lift and new interior.
"The goal of this move is to provide a more dynamic work environment," said Neel, in a prepared statement.
McCann-Erickson investigated a variety of locations around metro Detroit, searching for a site that provided a desirable atmosphere without sacrificing its close proximity to local clients or incurring a sizable cost increase. In comparison to the other locations investigated, the Birmingham site offered McCann the best combination of affordability and overall appeal, said company officials.
The agency has several large, local clients including Buick Motor Division and Kroger Supermarkets. McCann-Erickson WorldGroup is the world's largest multinational advertising agency system, with operations in 131 countries.
7) Sewers won't be on ballot
Oct. 2, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
The deadline to call a Nov. 4 referendum on sewer laterals came and went without action from the Birmingham City Commission.
Birmingham City Commissioner Dante Lanzetta, Jr. said on Aug. 25 that he would "personally be in favor of getting this on the ballot as soon as possible." And Birmingham City Clerk Nancy Weiss said she could add it to the ballot if the commission gave her time to get the ballots printed.
That meant the commission had until Sept. 22 to approve ballot language, but the topic wasn't discussed at recent city meetings. Lanzetta said he didn't call for a vote because he was waiting to see the results of a study now being conducted by a joint committee of residents and city officials.
The committee is studying how other communities handle repairs and looking for a way to finance repairs without raising city taxes.
Also balking at the idea of a public referendum is the group of residents who asked the city to help pay for repairs in the first place.
Weiss said adding the question to the November ballot would cost an extra $12,000. Having a special election would cost thousands more.
Sewer laterals are failing all over town and residents have had to pay in the $10,000 range for repairs. The city started a program to cut the cost of repairs in half, but some residents have demanded more. They want the city to chip in and cover part of the repairs - a switch in policy that would cost the city millions of dollars.
8) Comment: Weigh the sign ban with caution
Oct. 2, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
It may not seem like a major issue, but the city's plans to ban most pole signs should be considered carefully, for it can have implications that go far beyond the nearest street corner.
The city is weighing giving merchants up to the year 2010 to remove all pole signs. The city had passed an ordinance in 1999 to forbid the signs, but grandfathered in existing signs, assuming they would disappear through attrition.
That hasn't happened and doesn't seem likely to anytime soon, so the city is putting pressure on merchants to get the signs down. Certain exceptions would be made for signs deemed "historic," such as the longstanding Alban's sign on Woodward. That's commendable, but already has raised the issue of setting a precedent by allowing exceptions.
The city should reconsider the entire sign ordinance.
The trend in recent years is for businesses to have flat signs on buildings. Overhanging signs and pole signs are falling out of favor. There are a number of reasons for this, including aesthetics - not that there is anything particularly aesthetic about the bland flat building signs. These signs, in fact, more closely resemble shopping mall store signs - and that is something the downtown business certainly should not want to emulate.
But bright signs in a business district can add charm to the street scene. They key is to ensure they are designed tastefully and, most importantly, maintained properly.
>From the 1940s through the 1960s, downtown areas used to glow with neon signs that added brightness and a sense of life to the business scene.
Downtown Birmingham is a pretty bustling place theses days, especially at night, but about the only glowing sign is at the Birmingham Theatre. We would not recommend a wholesale proliferation of overhanging signs, and perhaps they should be confined to the principal shopping district area, to make it stand out.
Downtowns need to establish and maintain their own identities and do whatever they can to present themselves as special places.
Birmingham needs to stand apart, not blend into every other shopping district.
9) Comment: A time to pass
Oct. 2, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
The city commission wisely chose not to turn the reappointment of three members of the Birmingham Principal Shopping District board into an issue.
The appointment of Jayme Leib Kirschner, Cheryl Daskas and Geoffrey Hockman had been lingering for months. The commission has not had the best relations with the PSD, dating back to the last city election when some members of the PSD placed campaign signs supporting opponents of some commission members in their store windows.
At one point, Commissioner Don Carney said the PSD needs some new blood and he wanted to see some new faces on the board. Actually, he has a point. Some of the PSD members have been on since its inception about 10 years ago. It could use an infusion of new blood to bring some new ideas.
But at this stage, just a month before the election, any move to block the appointments was bound to seem political. As Carney said at the commission meeting last week, "There is a time and place for debate and a time and place to pass, and this is the time and place to pass."
He was quite correct.
10) Letter: Lanzetta's time is up
Oct. 2, 2003
In his e-mail screed to the Eccentric announcing his intention to seek re-election, Commissioner Dante Lanzetta cited a need to finish the job as a reason for seeking re-election. His position on who should vote to authorize a Birmingham bond issuance to pay for citizens' sewer lateral replacements is, therefore, puzzling.
Commissioners are elected to make hard decisions, not popular ones. So, one wonders how this Lanzetta-conceived and -endorsed buck-passing would benefit him.
On the one hand, if a commissioner were to vote for a bond issuance, he or she could be seen as a budget-busting, appeasing spend-and-tax hostage of a small special interest group.
On the other had, if a commissioner were to vote against a bond issuance, he or she could be seen as a heartless, small print-obeying, technicality-abiding, foe of the neighborhoods.
A third position, or a variation thereof, is to allow the city to develop at its natural evolution, upgrading the commercial and residential neighborhoods, in turn increasing the city's tax base and revenues without raising the tax rate on homeowners. This type of solution, however, apparently is anathema to Mr. Lanzetta and his followers, who resist change, however positive.
It is hardly surprising, therefore, that Mr. Lanzetta proposes this buck-passing in order to actually avoid being on record in addressing the sewer lateral problem. To do so could be bad for the candidate who constantly claims to try to "win one for the neighborhoods" (as if any Birmingham commissioner or candidate in its history ever opposed the neighborhoods), and who had the lowest winning vote total the last time he stood for re-election.
If, instead of solving the sewer lateral problem, Commissioner Lanzetta is only thinking of ways how to avoid taking a stand on it -- ostensibly to avoid alienating his claimed core of neighborhood-centric voters before the election -- then why is he running for re-election?
Mr. Lanzetta, in his letter to supporters, shamelessly misappropriates many contributions by others to the city during his tenure. He also has had that same 18 years to help solve, or at least identify, the sewer lateral problem.
I suggest that his time is up.
Lex Kuhne
Birmingham
11) Letter: Don't fall for scare tactics; get specifcs
Oct. 2, 2003
As the race for city commission heats up, I am certain that Birmingham voters will understand that the issues we face are not all black and white, and that they will be wary of anyone who says they are. Some candidates (and even the Eccentric) might paint as black and white the issues of this coming election: Development vs. anti-development, or neighborhoods vs. downtown.
That is a disguise intended to divert your attention from real, complex issues, such as the maintenance of city services while controlling taxes, the process of local government, the needs of our infrastructure, or the future of our parks. Honest and direct debate on those complex issues isn't negative campaigning - in fact, it is the only way voters will know where a candidate stands. Simplistic slogans may scorn as "pro-development" those folks who just understand that "times change," that reasonable and controlled evolution should be allowed.
Unfortunately, some leaders and candidates are so fundamentally ANTI-development, that they speak and act against any viewpoint that accommodates any development at all. Individual property rights, even of those who live in neighborhoods, apparently count for little. Yet, you may hear some candidates suggest that they stand for "Neighborhoods First."
Their scare tactics claim an epic struggle between our neighborhoods and our downtown. Baloney. There is no monolithic "Downtown" entity or outside enemies against which neighborhoods are pitted. We who live in the neighborhoods want our downtown to be pedestrian friendly and safe, for we use and enjoy its services. A successful downtown contributes to a healthy tax base. Black-and-white arguments are usually rhetorical, occasionally contain innuendo and almost always lack specifics. In this election season, do not trust black and white "truths." Reject rhetoric, fluff and innuendo. Demand specifics. Anything less may lead to a Birmingham city government we do not deserve.
Scott D. Moore
Birmingham
Moore is a candidate for City Commission.
12) A touch of hipness in Birmingham: New development is priced to house the crowd that hangs out in this trendy suburb
Sept. 28, 2003
>From the Detroit Free Press
By Judy Rose
The last big piece of land with an exclusive Birmingham address is being developed as dense, hip, urban housing aimed at the young and the childless.
The 116 units at Eton Street Station will be row townhouses, artisan lofts and today's new buzzword -- live-work units. These let small entrepreneurs live over their business.
This 10 1/2-acre project fills Birmingham's biggest void. Here, much of the culture is young and swinging, but most homes are vintage and high-maintenance.
At night, when younger shoppers and diners go home, Birmingham residents, at 39.3 years old, are almost 3 years older than the rest of Oakland County and almost 7 years older than Michigan's median age.
What's more, the high cost of business space has forced small start-up businesses to seek cheaper digs, as in Ferndale.
"When you look at Birmingham today, it's becoming a 24-hour town," said Bernie Glieberman, CEO of Crosswinds Communities, which designed and is building Eton Street Station.
"In a 24-hour town, you need the kind of residents we're attracting -- that single person or childless couple who do have a lot of nightlife."
The prices -- stiff by many towns' standards -- are pegged for prosperous young Birmingham buyers -- the $250,000s to the $350,000s.
For Birmingham, $150 per square foot is actually a bargain. In the city's conventional house market, $250,000 usually buys a modest 1950s bungalow of 1,100 square feet.
But the first model at the development, which opened on Friday, is a flashy four-story townhouse, 2,100 square feet, including a trophy kitchen with granite countertops.
The location is the last big piece of vacant land in Birmingham -- 10 1/2 acres that used to hold an Erb Lumber yard, now moved to Macomb County.
"It's the last frontier in Birmingham," said Mayor Seth Chafetz.
31 of 49 sold already
Proof of Birmingham's pent-up demand for middle-price, urban housing comes from Eton Street's sales. Right now, the site is mostly bare dirt and a chain-link fence. The townhouse model opened just a little more than a week ago.
But at a base price of $319,900, buyers already have snapped up 31 of the 49 townhouses.
"More than half the first phase is sold and we're just having our opening party," said sales manager Chris Arvanites.
"Maybe we'll have our closeout party next."
Brigett Super and Chris Bouschet will be married Oct. 11. Three weeks ago, they bought a townhouse here, although it won't be ready till January and it cost more than they'd planned to spend.
"We saw an ad in the paper, and thought it was out of our price range" said Super. "Then we actually drove by and went in, and we loved it so much we knew where we had to live."
Enough so that they'll continue living with parents after their wedding while they wait for their townhouse to get done.
For fans of mass transit, Eton Street Station is directly next to Birmingham's Amtrak stop. So residents can catch a train to Detroit, Ann Arbor or Chicago.
Maybe best of all for the young or unencumbered is freedom from yard and maintenance chores.
Frankie Caruso owns three Birmingham boutiques: the Ritz, Caruso Caruso and Frankie and Debbie's. A single empty-nester with grown three children, he doesn't care that the townhouse has no back yard.
"I'm more interested in partying inside than what's outside."
For two years, Caruso said, he'd looked for a house in Birmingham. But under $500,000, he couldn't find a house that didn't need extensive remodeling.
He won't mind when the trains rumble through, Caruso said. "I find them very soothing.
"Now if I need to do business in Chicago, I can walk out my front door and board the train."
Far out for its time
Eton Street Station has been 7 1/2 years in the making. It was early 1996 when lumber magnate Fred Erb offered the land in a dramatic sealed-bid auction. Big-name developers competed not just on price, but on the appeal of their plan.
Crosswinds Communities' winning plan was far out for its time. Back then few had heard of live-work units.
Today they've become the hot ticket for small business folks. Not only can owners live over the store, they can build equity in their work space rather than pay rent to a mall or warehouse.
At a similar large new live-work development in Shelby Township, early buyers include a Web designer, an attorney and a trade show organizer.
Crosswinds' 17 other projects in southeast Michigan include live-work units in downtown Brighton and the 500-unit Woodward Place at Brush Park -- glamorous Detroit townhouses just north of Comerica Park.
This Eton Street area, just south of Maple and east of Adams, has been dubbed Railtown, because its eastern boundary is Canadian National Railway tracks.
A row of high-tension electrical wires follows the tracks.
Railtown is a mix of small 1950s houses, light industry, small commercial buildings, service shops like a hair salon as well as two restaurants -- the upscale Big Rock Chop House and the little Whistle Stop, whose homemade cakes, pies and lemon bars have an avid following. Soon Eton Street will start construction on three-story artisan lofts and the live-work units. They'll be ready for owners next summer. Earlier plans to sell carriage houses in the high $100,000s have been dropped.
Eton Street Station now has a model open for Phase 1 -- townhouses. Hours are 11-6 daily.
For more information call 248-258-8887 during model hours. To see a site plan, visit http://www.crosswinds.com.
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Forward this email to friends, neighbors and others who are interested in EXCELLENCE for Birmingham.]]>Number 57 -- Sept. 29, 2003tag:bhambuzz.org,2003:index.php/weblog/index/1.582003-09-29T17:43:48-05:002006-03-13T15:15:58-05:001) Comment: Scott Moore for Commission
2) Comment: Tom McDaniel for Commission
3) Crunch Time Dept.: Candidates, PAC need your support
4) Comment: Join 94 calling for Lanzetta to retire
5) In interview, Moore calls commission ‘broken,’ proposes a vote on Orangeburg sewer solution
6) Open letters heat up police labor dispute
7) City responds to cops: Ad is misleading; arbitration is way to achieve everyone’s goals
8) Cops plead in Eccentric ad: ‘Stop wasting money and cutting services; give us a contract’
9) City OKs banquet hall, but dooms train station
10) City eyes banning pole signs
11) PSD appointees win swift approval
12) West side will get flood relief
13) Campaign briefs: Sept. 19, 2003—McDaniel’s feet say, “Just buy the election!”2003-09-29T17:43:48-05:00Clinton Ballercmballer@visa-master.comhttp://www.bhambuzz.org
SEND US LETTERS AND FEEDBACK:
info@bhambuzz.org
In this edition:
1) Comment: Scott Moore for Commission
2) Comment: Tom McDaniel for Commission
3) Crunch Time Dept.: Candidates, PAC need your support
4) Comment: Join 94 calling for Lanzetta to retire
5) In interview, Moore calls commission 'broken,' proposes a vote on Orangeburg sewer solution
6) Open letters heat up police labor dispute
7) City responds to cops: Ad is misleading; arbitration is way to achieve everyone's goals
8) Cops plead in Eccentric ad: 'Stop wasting money and cutting services; give us a contract'
9) City OKs banquet hall, but dooms train station
10) City eyes banning pole signs
11) PSD appointees win swift approval
12) West side will get flood relief
13) Campaign briefs: Sept. 19, 2003 -- McDaniel's feet say, "Just buy the election!"
1) Comment: Scott Moore for Commission
Sept. 25, 2003
The Birmingham Buzz endorses Scott Moore for City Commission.
More than any other single candidate, Moore seems to understand the issues we face and the proper role of government. He is a proven leader (having served on the commission from 1995 to 1999, one year as mayor) with a good grasp of recent political history in Birmingham. He is clear-thinking, articulate, respectful of others and their ideas, and fair.
We like, for example, Moore's suggestion that we thoroughly research the Orangeburg sewer issue, and then take it to residents for a vote.
We also like his ability to see through the smokescreens sent up around the proposed tree ordinance, ethics ordinance and historical survey. All of these, he noted, sounded good in principal but were in fact nefariously motivated by the obsession of some commissioners with heavy-handed control.
Moore understands the interdependent relationship between our neighborhoods and downtown, and rejects attempts by candidate Dante Lanzetta and his followers to pit one against the other.
He would also advance our Downtown 2016 and Parks master plans, which commissioners have approved but have been slow to implement.
Most of all, Moore understands the economic realities of managing a city under the tax limitations imposed by the Headlee Amendment and Proposition A.
He astutely points out that our current City Commission is broken, with members failing to focus on what is truly important (economic issues, for example), and instead spending their time either micro-managing issues that are best left to staff (watch any five-hour commission meeting for abundant examples), or focusing on pet projects such as the aforementioned tree and ethics ordinances or historical survey.
Scott Moore would help set an agenda for the commission that would focus on what is important. He would help get the right things done.
We urge you to vote for Scott Moore for City Commission on Nov. 4.
2) Comment: Tom McDaniel for Commission
Sept. 24, 2003
The Birmingham Buzz endorses Tom McDaniel for City Commissioner.
McDaniel has the leadership skills and temperament we look for in a good commissioner. He retired from General Motors in 1995 after 29 years with the company, the last eight as vice-president in charge of Asian and Pacific Operations. He is an extremely qualified administrator.
Furthermore, he is balanced and fair. As Chairman of the Historical Board (on which he has served for four years) and as a seven-year member of the Historic District and Design Review Commission from 1995 to 2002 (two of which he served as chairman), he has been a champion for historic preservation in Birmingham. He spearheaded the creation of the Birmingham Historical Museum at the Allen House, and has been immersed for 15 years in his own historic preservation project -- the beautifully restored home on the southeast corner of Southfield and Lincoln that he shares with his wife, Susan, and their 12-year-old daughter, Christina.
While supporting historic preservation and the integrity of Birmingham's neighborhoods, McDaniel also understands the need for Birmingham to encourage sensible development. Without new investment and a solid tax base -- or an increase in taxes to its residents -- Birmingham can't sustain the services that are so valued here. To keep the town we want and need, he realizes we have to work with property owners and potential investors, not against them.
We like McDaniel's calm but firm demeanor when it comes to describing certain commissioners and their initiatives, and his practical approach to governance. He doesn't shrink from challenging Dante Lanzetta, for example, on Lanzetta's claim that unnamed developers are trying to "buy" the election. He called the proposed historical survey "a complete money-waster," and the $1 million sidewalk-to-nowhere over the Adams St. bridge "a classic example of the foolishness this commission has been engaged in." And he says commissioners "jumped the gun, bigtime" on the proposed tree and ethics ordinances, bringing them before the public, and unnecessarily stirring emotions, long before they were ready for formal introduction.
We also like McDaniel's positions on sewer improvements (he thinks the city can and should do more to assist residents) and the business community (he thinks the commission needs to mend fences).
Finally, McDaniel would give a boost to at least two ratified city plans that get plenty of lip service but little real support in the form of implementation by the current commission: the Downtown 2016 Plan and the Recreation Master Plan.
We urge you to vote for Tom McDaniel for City Commission on Nov. 4.
3) Crunch Time Dept.: Candidates, PAC need your support
Sept. 24, 2003
Candidates for the Birmingham City Commission, and Neighbors for a Better Birmingham, the political action committee formed by editors of the Buzz to influence the election, need your support.
Donations of up to $500 per person (personal checks only, please; no cash) can be sent to the following:
Neighbors for a Better Birmingham
124 Peabody
Birmingham, MI 48009
Committee to Elect Julie Plotnik City Commissioner
592 Henrietta
Birmingham, MI 48009
(248) 647-4319
jap1103@aol.com
Citizens to Elect Thomas S. McDaniel
1119 Southfield Rd.
Birmingham, MI 48009
(248) 540-2677
mcdaniel_tom@hotmail.com
Committee to Elect Scott Moore
984 Rivenoak
Birmingham, MI 48009
(248) 644-2875
sdm984@ameritech.net
The Buzz will announce an additional endorsement soon. You can also support candidates by agreeing to distribute literature or by holding an informal gathering at your home. Contact the candidates directly.
4) Comment: Join 94 calling for Lanzetta to retire
Sept. 29, 2003
Ninety-four concerned citizens have signed an open letter calling for the retirement or ouster of Dante Lanzetta from the Birmingham City Commission. It's not too late to add your name to the list.
Visit http://www.bhambuzz.org/dumpdante.html to see the letter and its signatories. It states simply: "We, the undersigned, believe it is time for Dante Lanzetta to retire from the Birmingham City Commission. If he chooses not to retire, we believe he should be voted out of office on Nov. 4."
More than 50 signers were added to the list in the first 24 hours after an initial call for support a week ago, said Buzz Editor Clinton Baller. "These people are really courageous, and my hope is that with publication of the list today, more people will come forward and publicly and fearlessly urge Lanzetta to step aside. He's been in office for 18 years now, and whether you agree with him or not, many people think that's long enough, and it's time to let others govern," Baller said.
To add your name to the list, simply send an email to info@bhambuzz.org
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5) In interview, Moore calls commission 'broken,' proposes a vote on Orangeburg sewer solution
Sept. 24, 2003
The Birmingham City Commission is "broken," with some commissioners creating an "us vs. them mentality," ignoring important budgetary issues, focusing on pet projects, and micromanaging city staff so much that creativity and morale at City Hall have been destroyed, says commission candidate Scott Moore.
Moore, an attorney, teacher and lifelong Birmingham resident, served on the commission from 1995 to 1999, and as mayor in 1999. He is seeking re-election.
"We have commissioners who profess to be 'for the neighborhoods' --- but what exactly is their record?" asks Moore. "Over the past few years, they have spent an inordinate amount of commission time, staff time and taxpayer money on things that hardly seem neighborly --- like new fees, higher taxes, fewer city services, and tighter restrictions on individual property rights. Tax dollars have been wasted on expensive pet projects, and on investigating city staff. Some seem to have gone out of their way to create an 'us vs. them' mentality between our neighborhoods and our downtown. They even refused state money to help make safe a white-knuckle intersection (Lincoln and Woodward) that many of us drive frequently. How is any of this pro-neighborhood?"
Moore's comments came in a wide-ranging interview about issues facing the city. He said the Orangeburg sewer issue should be thoroughly researched and then brought to voters for a decision.
"The Orangeburg Pipe controversy demands accurate information and community input for its resolution," Moore said.
"Who among us doesn't worry if we have a 'time bomb' lateral connected to our house? Unfortunately, too many of our fellow residents have already discovered the answer to this expensive question. Forget the hide-n-seek approach to problem solving that focuses on finger-pointing and defensive posturing; let's get all the facts out there, develop sound alternatives which will help achieve a just result, and then take it to all of us for a vote. A commission with sound leadership can make this happen. The city must plan and budget for infrastructure renewal, just as businesses and homeowners do," Moore said.
"Our downtown and residential areas are interrelated and interdependent," said Moore. "Most people understand that for the city to be financially sound we need both commercial and residential taxpayers to share the cost of city services. The failure of some on the commission to recognize this, to in fact go out of their way to polarize relationships with the Principal Shopping District (PSD), is not good for this city or its long-term health."
Differences of opinion are normal, inevitable, and even healthy, Moore said. "I believe that any differences can be worked through with open and skillful dialogue."
"I am determined that our city center will continue to be safe, friendly to pedestrians, and 'people-sized.' By utilizing our 2016 master plan and through sound fiscal management, I am determined to once again fully fund our fine Police Department, which helps make this happen."
One obvious goal of the City Commission should be the wise stewardship of the city's budget, Moore noted. Yet, he says, "this present Commission has seemingly been oblivious to the emerging budget crisis created by our "Prop A" world. Our taxes are high --- too high --- and we are right to demand that our tax money be used wisely and for the greatest common benefit. We all want quality services, a sound infrastructure and a safe environment, but Proposition A will make this increasingly difficult to achieve, unless there is solid financial oversight. When 75% of our tax revenue is capped at inflation (a good thing), but when the costs of running a city exceed inflation (a bad thing), there will ultimately be a gap."
"This year our city taxes went up and city services were reduced. We need a commission that understands that pet projects, high priced consultants, and money wasted on witch-hunt investigations is not good stewardship. We need a commission that understands that broadening the tax base by encouraging investment will maintain quality services without raising taxes. We need a commission that understands that seriously discussing city finances is an absolute necessity and an essential part of good government. When was the last time that the current commission did just that?" Moore asked.
On parks acquisition and improvements, Moore said the Parks & Recreation master plan is a good one and "will allow us access to state and federal tax money. Our Parks and Recreation Board has done a good job prioritizing and attempting to move important projects forward. I wish that I could say the same for the current Commission. I am concerned at the slow pace of the Booth Park improvements. Booth Park is an important piece of green space for the Mill Pond area, as well as for the city as a whole. I also feel the purchase of the Barnum property was a good decision for us and for future generations. The citizens committee has a difficult job of exploring ways to best utilize this property. Any viable plan for this space must to be self-supporting and not cost the taxpayer."
Commenting on the recent debate over an ethics ordinance, Moore said, "a big concern for the current Commission has been ethics. But ethics are about more than filing detailed lists of what you and your relatives own. Ethics have to do with the direct and honest expression of motives, being clear in your intentions and open in your goals, and providing government that is transparent to the stakeholders of this city."
"Let's talk about the ethics of proposing ordinances that sound so warm and fuzzy but are really intended to accomplish a hidden agenda --- one that is only found in the fine print. For example, ordinances that seem to focus on preserving trees and capturing the town's history."
"I mean, who can be against trees or in preserving one's history? I certainly am not! However, the gap between the stated intent of the proposed ordinances and the actual details powerfully suggests a different, darker agenda that could not stand the scrutiny of the public spotlight: the deliberate elimination of your ability to redevelop your property by the imposition of high fees, additional restrictions, and heavy-handed regulation by city government. That is simply lacking in honesty. We all deserve better. If it is worth doing, it can stand the rigors of fair and open debate."
"As I listen to friends, neighbors, and merchants, I have heard varied accounts of problems with city staff. I do not question the truthfulness of what I have heard, although sometimes it is the policy that is disliked, and the employee is merely performing as required," Moore said.
"It has been four years since I last was a commissioner, but I can tell you that our city staffers are committed to doing their jobs and performing their assigned responsibilities. Unfortunately, morale among staffers is the lowest that I have ever observed -- due to the micromanaging of the commission and its appointed board members. When every action is subject to mistrustful second-guessing, when an adversarial relationship with staff is created, then the public is hurt, and talented individuals are difficult to attract and retain. This is wrong. The proper roles of the City Commission, its appointed Boards, and city administration need to be re-established --- and when they are, balance and solid progress will follow."
Moore said the commission and appointed boards must respect their roles as public servants. "Our city, despite its relatively small size, is extremely complex in its issues and its niche within our immediate communities and region. Being an elected or appointed board member in our community is both an honor and a service. It is volunteer work and takes an inordinate amount of time and commitment, often at a personal sacrifice. However, our public servants must remember that when governance is driven by private agendas it does a disservice to those they serve. Those who come in front of the commission, those who live and work and do business in this city, deserve better service and more responsive government from our elected and appointed leaders."
6) Open letters heat up police labor dispute
Sept. 28, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
The labor dispute is growing ugly at Birmingham City Hall.
Birmingham police officers and firefighters have worked for more than a year without a new contact and decided to go to binding arbitration - a plan management was waiting for when they saw an advertisement in the Eccentric that turned up the heat on the previously civil talks.
"There is always conflict in contact negotiations," Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus said. "But this is unfortunate. That ad was nothing but an inflammatory bargaining tactic. I guess they are trying to build up sympathy."
In the ad, the Birmingham Police Officers Association claims the city is spending hundreds of thousand of dollars to do such things as paint the backs of stop signs green, plant flowers and install sprinkler systems that "serve egos, but not the citizens."
Police claim city managers got hefty raises - as much as 13 percent - while they can't get a fair offer that competes with surrounding communities.
Markus said the ad is rife with misleading bits of information. The improvements mentioned are paid for with taxes collected by the city's principal shopping district. That money can only go to improvements downtown, not to pay police. And the talk of pay raises were largely attributed to staffers who attained new job classifications, Markus said.
David Greenwood, president of Local 911 of the Michigan Professional Firefighters Union, said previously that health care is the major issue and that both unions were "basically trying to keep what we have now."
A date has not been set for arbitration and some 70 officers and firefighters are without a contract. All personnel are obligated to work under the old contract until a new agreement is reached so service to residents won't be disrupted.
Dan Schulte, assistant city manager, agreed that health care is a difficult nut to crack because costs are rising and the city has to find a way to deal with it.
"I don't have a crystal ball, but health care costs are rising fast," Schulte said. "It would be hard to believe that the type of coverage they have now will last."
In the mid-1990s, the city switched from Blue Cross medical coverage to Professional Providers of Michigan. At the time, the switch stalled contract negotiations so police and firefighters went to arbitration. A deal was struck two days into arbitration and the process was called off.
Union members pay $5 for generic prescriptions, $10 for brand-name drugs and $15 for office visits. Discussion centers on increasing employee contributions to the health care costs up to 20 percent to a certain level. The total amount an employee could pay would be capped and the city would also offer a reimbursement account that would allow employees to stash untaxed cash for future medical costs.
Workers are also seeking a salary hike, but officials from both sides of the bargaining table wouldn't provide specifics
Both sides went to mediation months ago, but the sessions ended in a stalemate with consensus far off on a few issues.
Published with permission from the Birmingham Eccentric.
7) City responds to cops: Ad is misleading; arbitration is way to achieve everyone's goals
Sept. 26, 2003
The City of Birmingham published the following letter in response to the Birmingham Police Officers Association letter.
An Open Letter to the General Public
Re: Birmingham Police Officers Association
Dear Citizens:
During the course of negotiations over the past two years the City has attempted to meet the economic concerns of the City's police officers in a fair and equitable manner. During this time, the City has consistently offered a wage package with increases identical to that of other City employees-including management employees and the City Manager. With regard to health care, the union leadership knows very well that the identical health care provisions recently approved for management employees would also be made available to police officers in a contract settlement. Such a wage and benefit settlement would assure the Birmingham police officers a highly competitive compensation package.
Unlike the private sector, unresolved differences between Michigan cities and their police officers unions are settled in binding arbitration. The Birmingham police officers union has filed their demand for arbitration with the State, and arbitration proceedings will be scheduled in late 2003 or early 2004. This is an expensive and time consuming process which the City has always sought to avoid by being fair and equitable with all employees. In the meantime, the current wages and benefits remain in place until an arbitration award is issued. Arbitration awards invariably establish wage increases as retroactive to the last day of the old labor contract.
In the meantime, the police officers union leadership is attempting to create public sympathy for their economic demands by placing misleading and inflammatory advertisements in the local press. We deeply regret any inconvenience that you may experience as a result of this, or any other activities designed to attract City residents to support their economic demands.
We hope that you will not be inconvenienced by employees who choose to exercise their constitutional rights of free speech. At the same time, we believe that the City's offers would have achieved both competitive compensation for police officers and fiscal responsibility on your behalf. We will continue to maintain a course during good faith negotiations and the arbitration process which will achieve these goals.
Sincerely,
Thomas M. Markus
City Manager
8) Cops plead in Eccentric ad: 'Stop wasting money and cutting services; give us a contract'
Sept. 25, 2003
The following open letter appeared on Page 2A of today's Birmingham Eccentric. Visit http://www.bhambuzz.org/images/Birmingham Police Ad.jpg to see a copy of the original ad.
Letter from the Birmingham Police Officers Association
To: The fine citizens and business owners of Birmingham
There comes a time when your Police Officers Association, which inherently practices patience and tolerance, feels the need to advise the public of issues within the city that affect our community.
We have been working without a contract for well over a year. We have been told by the city that they are under-funded and that personnel costs are unmanageable. As a result we continue to lose vital services.
Our Police Paraprofessional was laid off. The Paraprofessional handled routine police service calls, which allowed police officers more time on patrol. We lost our horse program, a vital community relations program, which resulted in less police presence in the Uptown. Our traffic enforcement unit was eliminated. We have lost these vital services, yet the city approved wage increases for City Administrators and Managers from 3% to 13.5% for the next one-year period. Meanwhile, our association cannot even negotiate a reasonable wage to keep up with neighboring communities.
Moreover, we sit back and watch hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars spent on costly endeavors. For example: We have painted backs of stop signs green, planted flowers and installed a sprinkler system on Woodward Avenue and approved sidewalks that serve egos, but not citizens. The list goes on and on. Millions of dollars are spent creating a visual sense of community while the Police Department infrastructure continues to erode away.
We have lost good police officers to other departments and the private sector because the city will not act. Nearly 25% of the patrol officers have left the city's employ within the last 5 years. We have pleaded for more officers to handle the changing demeanor of our uptown only to be forced to work mandatory overtime, draining the officers' ability to do a quality job. At the same time the city is demanding major reductions in health care.
Our concerns have been met with deaf ears and indifference. Never before has your Police Officers Association felt compelled to express ourselves in this way. We are professionals committed to the citizens and business owners of this fine community. We are concerned that if the city continues on this course of indifference, the level of service and protection will continue to deteriorate.
If you are concerned as much as we are, please e-mail your comments or questions to BirminghamPOA@aol.com
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We thank you in advance for your continued support of the men and women of the Birmingham Police Officers Association.
9) City OKs banquet hall, but dooms train station
Sept. 25, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
Brides will have another place to hold wedding receptions, but riders of the Amtrak train may be left out in the rain.
"This is exactly what our area needs," said Frank Carnovale, president of Birmingham's Rail District - an emerging shopping area on Eton Road. "The commission must consider a lot of rules, but Big Rock is something you can trust."
Carnovale was talking about a proposal to bring a 250-seat banquet hall called The Reserve to the Eton Road Corridor. After more than three years of trying, local restaurateur Norman LePage got approvals from the city Monday to build a 6,840-square-foot hall in the parking lot of his Big Rock Chop and Brew House restaurant at 325 S. Eton.
That the nod came after nearly two hours of debate came as no surprise to attendees of the meeting, who cheered when the final vote was cast.
"I'm very excited about getting the banquet facility," resident Pat McKenna said. "It's the best thing we could get for that site."
There were concerns over traffic, the width of a sidewalk and the hours of operation, but the most contentious issue was the fate of the Birmingham train station. Officials call it a train station, but it is actually a small, glass shelter in which riders of the rail can huddle to stay out of the rain. The shelter, which is in LePage's parking lot, will be leveled to make way for the banquet center.
"I don't want the Birmingham train station to move to Troy," Birmingham City Commissioner Dante Lanzetta Jr. said. "And I'm more concerned that it will be called the Troy train station."
Many Birmingham residents recall the days when LePage's chop house was a bustling train station. But that was long ago. Ridership is down all across the country and particularly so in Birmingham. The city used to lease 24 parking spaces from LePage, but recently reduced that number to four because so few people ride the train.
Some commissioners, however, were concerned that removing the shelter would all but kill the tradition of having a train station in Birmingham. They asked LePage if he would pay for a ramp to a new location for people to get on and off the train. LePage has been leasing parking spaces to the city for years, and he balked at the notion of paying for the ramp. His construction foreman estimated it would cost $60,000 to build the ramp.
But not all commissioners said the last-minute negotiation tactic was fair.
"The train station is not Mr. LePage's problem, it's the city's problem," Birmingham City Commissioner Rackeline Hoff said. "If we want something for the future of that train station, then shame on us. We knew about this project years ago. We could have done something ourselves. For us to hold up this project ... I think is very unfair."
In the end, the commission unanimously approved the special land use permit for the banquet hall. The agreement allows the facility to stay open until 2 a.m. LePage said he hopes to have it open a year from now.
Meanwhile, Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus has a meeting planned with Troy officials to determine if a joint project for a train station is feasible.
Published with permission from the Birmingham Eccentric.
10) City eyes banning pole signs
Sept. 25, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
Area business owners may have to dish out thousands of dollars to replace their building signs.
The signs at issue are mounted on poles, and the Birmingham City Commission is considering banning them by 2010. Pole signs are already against the city's sign ordinance, but some 50 pole signs were grandfathered in as non-conforming when the city revised the ordinance in 1999.
"The idea is to do this without any legal expense along the way and get rid of them," Birmingham City Attorney Tim Currier said.
Keith Deyer, chairman of the historic district and design review commission, suggested the ordinance amendment.
"We assumed since we haven't approved any other pole signs that they would go away, but they haven't," Deyer said. "If you let non-conforming signs stay up, why do you have an ordinance at all?"
Under the recommended amendment, a handful of signs, including the one for Alban's restaurant, 35064 Woodward Ave., may be preserved as historic, but all others would have to go by 2010. Barring historic designation, the only recourse a business owner would have is to appeal a demolition order to the zoning board of appeals.
The commission could have voted on the matter Monday, but chose to have a public hearing instead.
"I see two or three situations where this is particularly troublesome," Birmingham City Commissioner Dianne McKeon said. "Some of these people are small business owners who would have trouble paying to have a sign replaced."
Currier said the amendment would likely hold up in court because other cities have done it. He said cities have a right to their aesthetics and seven years gives owners enough time to pay for new signs.
The way the city rules currently work, non-conforming pole signs don't have to come down even if the business changes hands. A new owner can change the name by ordering a new panel for the pole sign and stay within the law by installing it within 30 days.
The new rules would protect that right for seven years, but by 2010 all non-conforming signs would have to be replaced.
Commissioner Dante Lanzetta said the commission could have a public hearing, but most people who attend would likely oppose the ordinance because it would cost them money to comply with it. And after the complaints are heard, the commission would still face a tough decision.
"Sooner or later we are going to face the hard vote of whether we really meant it when we passed the sign ordinance," Lanzetta said. "If not, we might as well let everyone have the same right to a pole sign. We can't duck it."
Birmingham Mayor Seth Chafetz said the city's image suffers because signs south of Lincoln on Woodward are unsightly.
In addition to calling for a public hearing, the commission referred the amendment to the city's principal shopping district for comment. No business owners spoke on the sign topic.
Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus said business owners weren't notified because the city didn't have to by law. He said the city would place a legal ad and do what it could to get the word out on the public hearing, which will most likely take place in October.
Published with permission from the Birmingham Eccentric.
11) PSD appointees win swift approval
Sept. 25, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
A year of acrimony gave way to reconciliation Monday as three volunteers were reappointed to the city's principal shopping district board.
"I recognize that there is a time and place for debate and a time and place to pass, and this is a time and place to pass," said Birmingham City Commission Donald Carney. "I wish the nominees well."
Carney made a resolution to reappoint the same three people who were denied last year and the resolution was unanimously approved with little comment.
Appointed to four-year terms were Jayme Leib Kirschner, Cheryl Daskas and Geoffrey Hockman. All three own area businesses and have been active in the PSD for years. Until Monday, they were serving in limbo due to a dispute with some on the commission.
Carney previously led a charge to revamp the PSD. He wanted to rid the board of founding members and replace them with new people.
Members of the PSD claimed Carney was motivated by political revenge - a charge Carney consistently denied.
The dispute started during the 2001 Birmingham City Commission election. Several retailers in the PSD supported a slate of candidates that opposed Carney and displayed the political signs of his opponents in their store windows. The PSD didn't officially endorse anyone in the election, but some city commissioners said the PSD shouldn't take positions on local politics at all.
When PSD members subsequently came up for reappointment, Carney said the entire department needed to be overhauled. He suggested sweeping changes including reducing the number of board members and putting the mayor in charge of appointments. A series of combative public meetings between the PSD and the commission followed.
The last time Kirschner, Daskas and Hockman were denied reappointment, merchants stormed out of the commission chambers, with several saying the majority of the commission was trying to wrest control of the PSD by stacking it with their friends and associates.
Carney denied the allegations but continued to question the $100,000 the PSD gets from the Woodward Dream Cruise. At one point, he openly asked current board members to resign in the hopes that a transfusion of new blood would revitalize downtown's retail scene.
Members of the PSD board didn't resign and the commission eventually approved its ability to collect taxes from businesses within the PSD - thus ensuring funding for years to come.
It was City Commissioner Dianne McKeon who asked for the reappointments to be put to another vote Monday. She said it was "just time to appoint them and move on."
Published with permission from the Birmingham Eccentric.
12) West side will get flood relief
Sept. 25, 2003
>From the Birmingham Eccentric
By Larry Ruehlen
The long-awaited project to alleviate basement flooding on Birmingham's west side was approved Monday.
"This should bring the relief that residents have been waiting for," Birmingham City Commissioner Rackeline Hoff said.
The commission approved a contract award for a joint $4.4 million project with neighboring Beverly Hills. The contract was awarded to Anderzack-Pitzen Construction, an Ohio company that hasn't done work in this area before.
Birmingham officials once pressured the village to expedite the project and even tried to find a legal way to loan the village money. The Beverly Hills Village Council said no thanks - the village intended to stick to its pay-as-you-go approach.
That approach took longer than Birmingham wanted, but Hoff said she was glad to see the project move forward.
The Acacia Park Drain was built in 1926 to serve 816 acres in Beverly Hills and Birmingham. Back then, the area was rural and had comparatively little concrete and few residents. Now it has 6,400 residents and a relative sea of concrete - factors that added shed water to an already stressed drainage system.
To combat the problem, a retention and treatment facility was built in 1994 to stop sewage overflows into the Rouge River. The facility didn't address the capacity problem, and in 1998 a major rain storm hit the area, flooding scores of basements.
Nature has spared both communities since then, but residents are still wary that the next flood is a major storm away.
The new project will avert such basement floods, said Renzo Spallasso, Beverly Hills director of public services, with 8,000 feet of new pipe. It will be installed along Beverly, Waltham, Warwick, Kinross and Southfield roads during the next year. The pipes will range in size from 24 inches to 96 inches in diameter.
Most of the work will be open-cut construction, which basically means digging trenches along the side of the roads. Preconstruction meetings will get under way soon and the shovel should hit the ground by the end of October, with completion in October 2004, Spallasso said.
The entire project is expected to cost $8.5 million, with Beverly paying $5.95 million and Birmingham paying $2.55 million.
Logistics dictate that the work must begin in Beverly Hills and proceed east to Birmingham, but the first phase will bring relief to Birmingham's Stanley Street neighborhood at 14 Mile and Southfield Road. Residents in that area have complained about flooded basements for years.
Once the first phase is done, the village will concentrate on designing the second phase while collecting tax dollars to fund the second phase. The second phase will add capacity to the Kinross_Bates area of the village, and it will begin in late 2005 and end in 2007.
For a basement to flood with the current system in place, the area would have to get more than 1.75 inches of rain in an hour.
Published with permission from the Birmingham Eccentric.
"After nine hours of door-to-door campaigning the last two days in Precinct 7, my feet are asking me, 'Why don't we forget all this and just buy the election, like Dante says. Forget the message and the 64% of the people who said they never heard of Tom McDaniel. Just liquidate some assets and get some of that PAC money, like Dante says, and we'll be all set'.
"My response is: 'I don't know who to give the money to. Noone at City Hall is on the take (thanks to the Ethics Ordinance), and we aren't running any media spots, so how do I buy this thing? Any ideas, anyone?' "
To be removed, send mail to info@bhambuzz.org
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Forward this email to friends, neighbors and others who are interested in EXCELLENCE for Birmingham.]]>Number 56 -- Sept. 16, 2003tag:bhambuzz.org,2003:index.php/weblog/index/1.572003-09-16T17:42:10-05:002004-11-10T22:40:53-05:001) In interview, McDaniel calls for ‘ombudsman’ on sewers and fence-mending with businesses
2) Buzz closes forum, invites signed letters
3) Comment: Moore, seeking re-election, says we can keep what we love and allow change
4) Comment: Surprise! Buzz backs Julie Plotnik
5) Buzz archives are brought up to date
6) Comment: There you go again, Dante2003-09-16T17:42:10-05:00Clinton Ballercmballer@visa-master.comhttp://www.bhambuzz.org
SEND US LETTERS AND FEEDBACK:
info@bhambuzz.org
In this edition:
1) In interview, McDaniel calls for 'ombudsman' on sewers and fence-mending with businesses
2) Buzz closes forum, invites signed letters
3) Comment: Moore, seeking re-election, says we can keep what we love and allow change
4) Comment: Surprise! Buzz backs Julie Plotnik
5) Buzz archives are brought up to date
6) Comment: There you go again, Dante
1) In interview, McDaniel calls for 'ombudsman' on sewers and fence-mending with businesses
Sept. 16, 2003
An ombudsman dedicated to helping residents cope with sewer replacements and a subcommittee of the Birmingham City Commission devoted to mending fences with the business community are among the proposals Tom McDaniel would advocate if elected to the commission Nov. 4.
McDaniel is making several suggestions he says will restore confidence in the commission, make city government more responsive to residents and businesses, and help the city "recover positive momentum."
"City Hall's performance on the lateral sewer problem hasn't been very good and, until recently, has been totally unhelpful to residents," said McDaniel in a wide-ranging interview about issues facing the city. "The city does bear some responsibility for the Orangeburg problem, and I strongly endorse the process now underway involving a residents group and the city administration trying to find workable solutions acceptable to both sides.
The identification of a contractor who will repair laterals at much less cost is a start, and so is the encouragement of residents to have their sewer problems fixed while their streets are being rebuilt, said McDaniel.
"While the taxpayers cannot, and should not, write a blank check to repair sewer laterals, much more can be done. The city needs to approve several contractors, and their work needs to be monitored to make sure, over time, that they are doing quality work at the lowest possible price. This way, affected residents can get competitive bids with confidence that the low bidder will do the job right," he said.
"Beyond all that, residents need a knowledgeable City Hall sewer ombudsman to provide answers to technical questions, scheduling and general information about the approved contractors. Today, people are having too much trouble getting any information at all, and this cannot continue. If the Engineering Department needs additional people to address this issue, then so be it. They should be hired ASAP," McDaniel said.
With regard to the business community, "the commission has a lot of fence-mending to do," McDaniel said. "Rightly so, they feel abused, under-appreciated and traumatized by attacks from certain City Commissioners. This needs to be fixed, or we will have a very difficult time recruiting new businesses, much less retaining the ones we have."
McDaniel proposes forming a subcommittee of the commission to have a series of working sessions with representatives of the business community to determine what is needed to mend fences and make doing business with the city easier and less expensive. "I would propose working with the Chamber (of Commerce), the merchants association and the PSD to set up three or four meetings, after which the subcommittee would report to the full commission and suggest steps that need action to benefit businesses and, therefore, the city, McDaniel said.
After all, said McDaniel, the City Commission "is really the board of directors for a very large business -- the business of Birmingham. The commission needs people who have experience, the right temperament, good judgment and positive leadership skills," said McDaniel.
"Unfortunately, some current Commissioners come up short on these qualifications, and that is foremost among the reasons why relationships with the business community are at what is probably an all-time low," McDaniel said.
He noted that one commissioner, Dante Lanzetta, has consistently attempted to gain support by instilling fear of unnamed developers and other "powerful interests" committing unspecified sins in our city. He challenged Lanzetta, who is up for re-election, to "name these conspirators and identify their misdeeds -- or else retract the allegation."
With regard to the neighborhoods, McDaniel contends that "homeowners want, first and foremost, to be safe and secure in their homes. Secondly, they want dependable city services and amenities at an affordable cost. And they want reasonably stable taxes. These are the things the commission should focus on instead of trying to choke off sensible, quality development, harassing the business community, and passing ordinances that undermine our property rights."
On preserving the charm and character of the City, McDaniel said that he has "a consistent record of supporting historic preservation in Birmingham." He is a member and past president of the Birmingham Historical Society; he served more than three years on the Historical Board (and has been chairman for two years), and he served seven years on the Historic District and Design Review Commission. He also lives in a carefully restored 105-year-old historic home.
"I am a strong advocate of saving what is worthwhile and, with the exception of protecting some real architectural gems, we have pretty much done that in Birmingham. There are more than 40 homes officially declared historic, and much of our downtown area also has been designated. We also have the Historical Museum, whose mission includes the preservation and promotion of Birmingham's history for the benefit of future generations," said McDaniel.
McDaniel was instrumental in forming the museum, which opened in the spring of 2000. He led the Historical Society effort to convince the city to turn the Allen House into a museum, developed a business plan and raised an endowment of more that $350,000, the income from which goes to the city to help fund museum operations.
McDaniel described the recently proposed historic survey as "a complete money-waster. The study would not have produced the kind of detailed, research-intensive information required to justify historic designation," he said. Instead, he believes it was intended to give proponents ammunition to obstruct redevelopment of private property. "Motives aside," said McDaniel, the study would have produced much data that duplicates what the city already has and would constitute a massive information overload for the few volunteers and city staffers who would use it."
Continuing on the subject of preservation, McDaniel points out that "the commission, in the last decade, has been reluctant to force historic designation on unwilling residents." A better solution is what he calls "commemoration or recognition." A good example of this is the more than 30 Wallace Frost homes in Birmingham, many of which display plaques that identify them as having been designed by this famous local architect. McDaniel said the City should pay for similar plaques for homes that are identified as having significant architectural or historical value.
Commenting on the 2016 Plan, McDaniel said it is high time the City Commission is held accountable for the progress, or lack of it, in implementing the various elements. "Taxpayers have more than $750,000 invested in the plan and design work done on various parts of it, so it is time for a full accounting of where we are and where we are going," he said.
He proposes a second commission subcommittee that would "review, in detail, the status and recommend to the full commission what needs to be done, what the obstacles are, and a road map to completion." An important part of this review would be input from the various boards and committees as well as the business community. He would also establish a six-month timetable to complete the review.
"This process puts the ownership and accountability back together at the commission, where it belongs," he said. "We need more progress -- and closure -- on 2016".
McDaniel also commented on the one-size-fits-all ordinances dealing with lot coverage and building heights in residential areas. "This makes no sense whatsoever and needs to be corrected on a priority basis. Why the Commission ignored the original recommendations of the Planning Board, which called for differing standards based on lot size, is a complete mystery."
When the Commission passed the lot-coverage ordinance in 2000, several commissioners said the issue needed further evaluation and should be reconsidered. Three years later, the commission has neither studied the effects of the ordinance nor proposed any changes.
2) Buzz closes forum, invites signed letters
Sept. 16, 2003
The Birmingham Buzz has temporarily closed its discussion forum for the election season, but invites readers to submit signed letters for publication on its website and email newsletter.
"Outside the context of an election, the forum was a lively place for folks to exchange ideas -- often anonymously," said Clinton Baller, Buzz editor. "During the election season, however, our editorial board decided that anonymity was inappropriate and a more stringent editorial policy ought to be followed."
The Buzz welcomes signed letters. Please email them to info@bhambuzz.org, and be sure to include daytime and evening phone numbers so that authorship can be verified.
3) Comment: Moore, seeking re-election, says we can keep what we love and allow change
Sept. 16, 2003
The following letter to voters was written by candidate Scott Moore:
As we enter this beautiful Michigan fall season, it's time to begin thinking about the Tuesday, November 4 election to fill four positions on our City Commission. There will be much discussion within our community about the issues that concern us at this point in our city's storied history. Whether we discuss ways to preserve our neighborhoods without sacrificing individual property rights, ways in which to increase revenue (in order to maintain services without having to raise taxes), or ways of maintaining the vibrancy of our downtown without destroying its town-like feel, we need to ask the question: "Can we keep what we all love about Birmingham and still accommodate the future?" As a life-long resident and former Commissioner and Mayor, my answer is YES!
I feel so strongly about the issues facing Birmingham that I have decided to run, once again, for City Commissioner. Historically, it has been our city's ability to change with the times that has kept our neighborhoods healthy and our downtown vibrant. If asked, we all could probably list the aspects of Birmingham we love. We might include a favorite walk through one of our tree-lined neighborhoods, where older and newer homes combine to enhance the beauty of our streets. We might name a spot in a downtown restaurant, or in the park, where we sip coffee and people watch. Yet, to hear some of our Commissioners, our city is in jeopardy; with our neighborhoods in deep peril and our downtown in mortal danger, as the result of growth and redevelopment. I don't believe that for a minute!
Think back with me to the 1980's and early 1990's. Empty store windows and "For Lease" signs were prevalent in our downtown, and sidewalk traffic was a mere trickle. We were without a movie theater (a historical mainstay in Birmingham), and without the diversity of restaurants, retail stores, galleries and housing needed to create a living city. Many of our residential neighborhoods were showing age and real estate values were, for many parts of the city, stagnant. Then, in 1995, residents, realizing that our residential and downtown areas were uniquely interdependent, but in need of redevelopment, voted in a City Commission that understood that:
* Downtown is more than a place to shop, it is a place that unites retail with restaurants, entertainment, jobs, housing and civic functions.
* Healthy housing stock and "walkable neighborhoods" are essential to a community's economy, vitality, identity and sense of place.
* Healthy neighborhoods do not exist without a vibrant, living downtown, and visa-versa. And,
* Considerable investment along with public and private creativity is always going to be needed to maintain what Birmingham has been for generations of families and business owners.
Many citizens, along with that newly elected City Commission (of which I was honored to be a part), and "world class" experts shaped this understanding into what has been known as the downtown Birmingham "2016 Plan." This plan, with some necessary tweaking, was a resounding success during the ensuing six years. Some problems were confronted and dealt with, but most everyone would agree that his or her home is more valuable, and that our downtown is more vibrant, than was the case a decade ago.
Unfortunately, over the past two years this plan has been gutted and discarded by a majority on the City Commission. It is apparent that many commissioners view change and development as something to be feared, and those who wish to invest in maintaining the vibrancy of our downtown or in securing our property values as enemies to be turned away. This attitude by the Commission now threatens our tax base, meaning that either our property taxes will need to be increased, or city services will need to be cut. The beginning of this unsettling trend is evident in the current 2003-2004 budget, in which the City Commission voted to increase taxes. The present Commission's desire to somehow hermetically seal the present (or return to the past) ignores the need for managed and healthy growth, and will inevitably result in the decline of the very thing that residents want to safeguard, i.e., a healthy, secure and vibrant city in which to raise a family or retire.
Many of our surrounding communities have noticed the success and desirability of our City, and have put considerable effort towards attracting the financing and entrepreneurship to duplicate it. This competition for resources and creativity is real, and unless we remain competitive, we will notice a leveling off in housing values and decline in our downtown.
As one who has recently become qualified to belong to the AARP, I have come to learn that growth and change are inevitable. The question for us is whether this change can be managed to allow us to benefit from its freshness without losing those things that "make Birmingham, Birmingham." Those who embrace change and those who fear or fight change will have differences. Politics is, by definition, the management of competing interests, and the crafting of a path among those competing interests that leads to the greatest public good.
Who do you trust to manage the future of Birmingham? While each of you judge candidates for City Commissioner based on the issues you deem important, I believe that all candidates should also be evaluated on three important points:
* How well does the candidate cope with the challenges and consequences of valid, but opposing opinions? A candidate who is an extremist, who sees the world and the choices before us only in black and white, will have little to contribute when choices have a little white, a little black and a lot of gray. Oftentimes these candidates care more about achieving a preset agenda than in facilitating fair and open discussion. They fail to understand that different opinions can be valid and that an opposing view can contribute something of value. Birmingham deserves commissioners who have the ability to listen, who respect and accept different points of view without the threat of retribution, and who will govern fairly.
* Is the candidate knowledgeable and can he or she think independently? Commissioners who cast their votes according to who has the last word, or who serve as a "yes person" to another commissioner do the city a disservice. The same can be said for those who are appointed by the City Commission to the various boards based solely on their willingness vote for narrow special interests. Birmingham deserves qualified, well-prepared commissioners who vote fairly and independently.
* Does the candidate treat others, both privately and publicly, with civility and respect? Civility comes in many forms. An example that remains vivid in my memory was the opening of the Palladium. The building of the Palladium was not without controversy and division within our community, some of which was justified. Despite hard fought compromises with the developer, and despite the fact that the developer (who is now the second highest tax payer in the city) faithfully fulfilled all that it promised, not one of the sitting commissioners (who received gratis invitations) attended the opening gala event to wish the developer or the new tenants well. No matter the individual stance of any City Commissioner towards this huge investment into our city, civility dictated better treatment. Civility also dictates that residents, business owners, and city staff who appear before the Commission are treated respectfully. Birmingham deserves commissioners whose behavior is a credit to!
the city.
We ALL want what is best for Birmingham. Can we keep what we love and accommodate the future? I think so, and I ask for your support on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2003.
4) Comment: Surprise! Buzz backs Julie Plotnik
Sept. 15, 2003
The Birmingham Buzz endorses Julie Plotnik for City Commission.
Plotnik, 37, is indefatigable.
She ran on a shoestring two years ago and lost by a hair. But her campaign, as well as her ideals, were and remain admirable. She's a working mom with aspirations for her family, and all she wants is a fair shake from her city government. Whether it's getting a handle on the wavering rules about how you can improve your home, or dealing with the unforeseen high cost of replacing a pipe connecting your home to the city's sewer, Plotnik understands the challenges we face in dealing with the city, and is in tune with Birmingham's homeowners. She is truly representative of a wide spectrum of Birmingham residents.
(Unfortunately, so many of those whom she represents are unaware and uninvolved in the political process, and don't vote. Her challenge two years ago was to get them to vote; it remains her challenge.)
As a downtown worker, Plotnik also keeps her finger on the pulse of our central business district.
She's been attending City Commission meetings regularly for more than two years now, which gives her the ability to hit the ground running the moment she's seated.
And she is a proven leader: She was co-organizer of the so-far successful Birmingham Farmers Market. For that alone, she deserves our support.
We urge you to vote for Julie Plotnik on Nov. 4.
5) Buzz archives are brought up to date
Sept. 15, 2003
The Buzz archive of back issues has been brought up to date. It now includes all 55 editions published since our first issue on Jan. 1, 2002. The Buzz offers a comprehensive look at Birmingham city government over the past 21 months, and represents a valuable resource.
We urge voters and others to peruse our archive by clicking on the "Read back issues!" or the "Archive of back issues" links on our home page, or by visiting http://www.bhambuzz.org/archives.html.
6) Comment: There you go again, Dante
Sept. 12, 2003
We've known for some time that Birmingham City Commissioner Dante Lanzetta plays fast and loose with the truth, but we were truly astonished by a letter he sent to Birmingham residents this week.
Seeking support for his re-election bid, and betting that a significant percentage of recipients don't know any better, Lanzetta starts out by appearing to take credit for 18 years of good deeds: everything from timely garbage pickup to a "bustling" downtown. In fact, most of the credit for our smooth-running city belongs to our excellent city staff. And far from expressing appreciation for our downtown and its contribution to our tax base, he has repeated referred to it curiously and derogatorily as a "petting zoo."
Then, with the amazing bravura of someone who actually believes his lies, he says the following:
"Powerful interests -- principally some developers and property speculators -- want a city government that will let them do whatever they want -- without scrutiny. They will stop at nothing. They have already formed a political action committee to raise thousands and thousands of dollars to hire high-priced political consultants to help them 'buy' this election."
For the record, the facts (of which Lanzetta is aware but chooses to ignore) are:
* Neighbors for a Better Birmingham, the only PAC to be formed so far during this election and so the political action committee to which Lanzetta must be referring, was founded by Buzz editors Clinton Baller, Shelli Weisberg and Christopher Longe. Unabashed, one of our goals is to unseat Lanzetta.
* All of the PAC's founders are Birmingham residents; none are developers or property speculators, and none has nearly the power of a four-term commissioner like Lanzetta. Baller operates a credit card merchant services business; Weisberg is a member of the Birmingham School Board, and Longe is an architect.
* The PAC has raised some $5,300 to date, all in small donations from Birmingham residents who populate the neighborhoods about which Lanzetta claims to care so much.
For some reason, only Lanzetta seems shy about expressing the truth. His desperate actions would be laughable if his odds of success in persuading otherwise uninformed voters weren't so strong. He depends on scaring uninformed voters, and fear can be a powerful motivator. With his base of support eroding before his eyes, he's taking huge risks to remain in office. His campaign of lies and innuendo is off and running.
If you didn't receive one of these letters, which you can read by clicking here, there's a good chance one of your neighbors did. Talk to them. Don't be shy. Tell them the truth. Lanzetta has served our community for 18 years. In that time, he has done some good. But he's changed. Now, he's full of anger and resentment. If ever he was a positive force in our town, those days are over. Now, he'll cook up phony issues, divide the community, and lie about his opposition -- all in a single-minded attempt to hold onto power. We think it's time he gave others the chance to govern. If he chooses, he can remain an effective voice from the sidelines.
Don't let Lanzetta and his lies win him re-election.
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Forward this email to friends, neighbors and others who are interested in EXCELLENCE for Birmingham.]]>Number 55: Sept. 11, 2003tag:bhambuzz.org,2003:index.php/weblog/index/1.562003-09-11T17:41:54-05:002004-11-10T22:39:37-05:001) Chamber plans candidates forum
2) McDaniel statement
3) Plotnik statement
4) Grzech statement
5) To slate or not to slate
6) Y takes High Road
7) On your mark
8) Get set
9) And they’re off!
10) Buzz position
11) In your face!
12) ‘Not Ready for Prime Time’
13) Bond business
14) Lanzetta support thin
15) Vote! Or else!
16) Comment: Farmers’ Market off to great start2003-09-11T17:41:54-05:00Clinton Ballercmballer@visa-master.comhttp://www.bhambuzz.org
1) Chamber plans candidates forum
2) McDaniel statement
3) Plotnik statement
4) Grzech statement
5) To slate or not to slate
6) Y takes High Road
7) On your mark
8) Get set
9) And they're off!
10) Buzz position
11) In your face!
12) 'Not Ready for Prime Time'
13) Bond business
14) Lanzetta support thin
15) Vote! Or else!
16) Comment: Farmers' Market off to great start
Campaign briefs: Sept. 11, 2003
1) Chamber plans candidates forum
The Birmingham-Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce will sponsor a Birmingham City Commission Candidates forum at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 7, at the Townsend Hotel.Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard will moderate. The forum will be taped for replay on public access TV. Visit http://www.birminghamareacableboard.org for a list of dates and times.
The Philip R. Seaver Title Co. will providing one complimentary drink to all participants; a cash bar will be open after that. There is no charge for the event. Seating, however, will be limited and is for chamber members.
2) McDaniel statement
The following statement from Candidate Tom McDaniel is taken from a letter announcing his Aug. 23 fundraiser:
"I have been a Birmingham resident for 33 years and have lived in the immediate area for 49 years. I am married and have five children, four of whom graduated from Birmingham public schools. I retired from General Motors in 1995 after a 29-year career.
"As you know, Birmingham is a special place. It has beautiful neighborhoods, a vibrant downtown and a strong tax base that funds public schools and municipal services that are second to none. Birmingham is also fortunate to have a professional and dedicated administration that contributes greatly to making our city an enjoyable place to live, work or visit. It is, in every respect, a city that works.
"It is also a city that needs continuous residential, commercial and infrastructure investment, as well as successful businesses, to maintain what we have all come to enjoy. Until recently, the majority of those who have served on the City Commission and appointed boards seemed to understand this reality and governed wisely. Unfortunately, that is now changing, and what has made Birmingham so successful is under serious threat.
"We need to preserve the charm and character of our city, but we also need to let our neighborhoods and downtown evolve sensibly. We have a 2016 Plan that is an excellent roadmap for downtown development. We have sufficient controls on house size and lot coverage to to allow our neighborhoods to retain their character. Why then do we have a group of commissioners and appointed board members for whom this is not enough? Why do they treat investors with such disdain and disrespect? Why do they jeopardize Birmingham's financial stability and outstanding bond ratings through micromanagement and wasteful spending? These and many other concerns have motivated me to get in the election fight."
3) Plotnik statement
The following statement from candidate Julie Plotnik is taken from a handout distributed among Birmingham voters:
"Birmingham is a wonderful community, and it takes all of us working together to keep it that way.
"That means we must work to preserve the character of our neighborhoods at the same time as we enact policites that keep our downtown thriving.
"Our neighborhoods and businesses are complementary communities, two parts of the same whole. It is essential to have thriving downtown businesses to help pay for our schools, police and other city services.
"We hope you will support our campaign as we seek to encourage progress in our communities, while preserving our neighborhoods -- without eroding our tax base.
"As your City Commissioner, I will only support policies that benefit ALL of Birmingham. Together, we can keep Birmingham moving forward."
4) Grzech statement
The following statement from candidate Denise Grzech is taken from her website, http://www.electdenise.com.
"I am running because I have the time, energy, dedication, enthusiasm, and a positive attitude to handle this responsibility. I enjoy living in a community with such vitality, and I would like to assist in helping others to achieve the future vision of this city. There are many individuals throughout the community that are experts in their fields and volunteer their services. By listening to each other, respecting all opinions, keeping an open mind, and working together, I believe that we can continue to strive for excellence, improving the quality of life for all residents through intelligent change.
"I am looking forward to talking with everyone personally regarding his or her ideas about the future of our city. I am committed to the citizens of Birmingham."
Campaign briefs: Sept. 9, 2003
5) To slate or not to slate
All indications are that Lanzetta, Chafetz and Grzetch are running as a slate, but at least one of the three denies it. Chafetz declared himself "independent" on Sunday during a brief chat at the Farmers Market. "We're all running independently," he told the Buzz. Later that day, of course, he showed up at the same block party where Lanzetta and Grzetch campaigned earlier. All three, and no other candidates, were invited to a so-called "candidates forum" arranged by Tom Elliott (you remember ... the bird-watching photographer) scheduled for this evening at the YMCA. (More on that below.) So we'll leave it up to savvy observers to decide if the group represents a slate. We suppose we'll know for sure if Chafetz and Grzech add their names to our Dump Dante list...
6) Y takes High Road
Organizers of a planned "candidates forum" at the YMCA this evening were given an ultimatum by the Y after it was discovered that the forum included only Lanzetta, Chafetz and Grzech. Invite all the candidates -- including Dixon, McKeon, McDaniel, Moore and Plotnik -- or move the meeting elsewhere, YMCA Executive Director Parrish Underwood told organizer Tom Elliott. "We're a community organization and a non-profit; we have to be inclusive," Underwood told the Buzz. Elliott, who planned to rent the space, told Underwood he'd move the event into St. James Park, which is adjacent to the Y.
Campaign briefs: Sept. 8, 2003
7) On your mark
Filing deadline for candidates for the Birmingham City Commission is Sept. 16.
8) Get set
Candidates for City Commission, as of this date, include (in alphabetical order): Seth Chafetz, Russell Dixon, Denise Grzetch, Dante Lanzetta, Tom McDaniel, Dianne McKeon, Scott Moore and Julie Plotnik.
9) And they're off!
Candidates have been out and about getting face time with voters. Tom McDaniel was seen knocking on doors Saturday, and he was joined at Sunday's Farmers Market by Dianne McKeon, Seth Chafetz and, of course, market organizer Julie Plotnik. Naysayer Lanzetta, who led the opposition to the market, was a no-show, as were Lanzetta lackeys Gordon Thornsby and Don Carney.
10) Buzz position
The Buzz will announce endorsements closer to the election. But you can guess who won't get our support: Lanzetta tops our hit list, with Chafetz coming in second. But more on that later.
11) In your face!
Lanzetta and Grzetch showed up at the Villas of Birmingham block party Sunday afternoon, unofficially invited by resident and HDDRC member Marcia Rowbottom, but hardly welcomed by the likes of Buzz editor Chris Longe and others. Seems Longe felt politics had no place at a social occasion, and seems neighbor and candidate Russ Dixon, who attended but refrained from campaigning, agreed. As if the Lanzetta/Grzetch appearance wasn't enough, soon after their departure, Rowbottom reappeared with Chafetz. That was more than Longe could take, so he angrily confronted Rowbottom like Sparky Anderson charging an ump. Rowbottom will be hearing (officially) from the neighborhood association's board.
12) 'Not Ready for Prime Time'
We borrow the phrase from the lexicon of our nemesis Lanzetta to describe his running mate Grzech and her new website. Check it out at http://www.electdenise.com. Why anyone would hitch her wagon to the runaway train led by Lanzetta is beyond us. Chalk it up to the same inexperience that makes her Not Ready for Prime Time.
13) Bond business
Speaking of the runaway train, it took aim recently at the Birmingham School Board and its campaign for a $135 million bond issue. Apparently, the train was none-too-pleased with publicized calls for him to step aside by Buzz editor and school board member Shelli Weisberg. She should be ousted, he told School Board President David Garrett, who was sufficiently shaken (by the prospect of Lanzetta opposing the bond issue?) to pressure Weisberg to curtail her after-school activities. Is an investigation by the new Ethics Board in order?
14) Lanzetta support thin
Lest anyone think the Buzz is alone in calling for Lanzetta's ouster, the list of respected Birmingham residents and politicos publicly calling for his retirement is a long one. Incumbent commissioners and others who backed his re-election four years ago are noticeably absent from his current roster of supporters. Add your name to the list of courageous Birmingham residents calling for Lanzetta's retirement: Send an email to info@bhambuzz.org now! We'll publish the list.
15) Vote! Or else!
The Buzz will continue its short tradition of publishing the list of voters who participate in the November election. Don't believe us? Check out the list from November 2001 by visiting http://www.bhambuzz.org/pdfs/voter_list.pdf.
***** Vote Nov. 4*****
16) Comment: Farmers' Market off to great start
Sept. 8, 2003
The first Birmingham Farmers Market exceeded expectations in almost every respect Sunday. The weather was spectacular, the turnout was phenomenal, and sales were through the roof. It showed what good people can do when they put their heads together toward a common, worthwhile goal.
Organizers Julie Plotnik (a Buzz editor and candidate for City Commission), Stephanie Jacobson and others deserve our thanks and congratulations. They overcame some minor organizational headaches -- not the least of which was a harrowing appearance before naysayers at the City Commission -- to put on a truly first-class event.
Most of the concerns about noise, traffic, cleanup and rats -- yes, rats -- were unfounded and should be put to rest. Even neighbors who experienced heightened traffic in their neighborhoods seemed delighted overall with the event. Doubts about the market's location should also be put to rest.
Parking Lot #6 was a perfect location, close to downtown and right in the middle of the under-exposed gallery district. Tightly enclosed by the Rouge River and surrounding buildings, the market had a warm and cozy feel, something we can't imagine achieving in the Eton Corridor, which was a suggested alternative.
The challenge now is to smooth out all the wrinkles and begin to approach the market as a regular weekly occurrence. Marketmaster Don Hobson needs to bring in the right mix of vendors to attract the most customers. And organizers need to deal with any perceived traffic and parking issues. What seemed to be minor inconveniences on Sunday could take on greater significance as the event becomes a regular weekly thing. Some signage and a few strategically placed traffic directors could solve most of those problems.
We can't resist the temptation to remind our readers that Commissioners Dante Lanzetta, Donald Carney and Gordon Thornsby all voted against permitting the market. All were noticeably absent on Sunday. Lanzetta is up for re-election, and those who enjoyed the market should remember his opposition when they go to the polls in November.
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THE BIRMINGHAM BUZZ
"Cast your vote for intelligence and reason"
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In this edition:
First Farmers' Market is Sunday
Sunday is Opening Day for the Birmingham Farmers’ Market.
The market will run every Sunday for eight weeks from Sept. 7 until Oct. 26, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. in City Parking Lot #6, on the east side of North Old Woodward, north of Harmon in the Gallery District.
More than 20 booths will feature a diverse array of locally and regionally grown produce, including organic vegetables, fruits, flowers and garden plants. Beyond this traditional selection, specialty cooking stations from Birmingham food merchants such as Aunt Olive's Good Food 2 Go will provide a variety of freshly cooked foods.
Come shop, eat and listen to music in a festive atmosphere. Special features such as children's activities and a package pickup station will further enhance the experience for attendees.
More detailed information and a map can be downloaded at http://www.bhambuzz.org/pdfs/marketmap.pdf. Please pass this along to all of your friends. We hope to see you there!
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