Tuscarora Township Board Battles To Control Our Minds

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Potter Stewart, reluctant to try to define pornography, famously said, “Perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it.” The subject of propaganda is much more easily defined: Propaganda is information, ideas or rumors deliberately spread widely to influence opinions. As reported by the Washington Post in September, government propaganda at the Federal level is unfettered with $760 million dollars spent to hire private advertising firms. No Congressional Committee oversees this flood of biased government information. State and local governments spend unknown amounts of taxpayer funds that must surely exceed billions of dollars annually promoting their agendas.

Regular followers of the op-ed pages probably read House Representative Lee Chatfield’s apology and careful explanation of why he voted for what he thought was the lesser evil in the recent road funding bills. Those articulate efforts at damage control are propaganda and are in stark contrast to Tuscarora Township Supervisor Mike Ridley’s bogus rant meant to garner sympathy. Ridley’s rant, almost two weeks after my letter was published in another paper, was critical of the use of this quote; “The broad masses of the people are not made up of diplomats or professors of public jurisprudence nor simply of persons who are able to form reasoned judgment in given cases, but a vacillating crowd of human children who are constantly wavering between one idea and another.”

Hitler penned that in his early autobiography, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). Mein Kampf was used as propaganda to gain sympathy for his evil ends and the control of an entire country. The quote is not hate filled. The man who wrote it was. It addresses how propagandists see the masses as pawns to be played.

Supervisor Ridley wrote that my use of that quote bordered on hate speech. The quote is one often used by organizations, Jewish and secular, that are dedicated to assuring that we never forget the loss of millions of innocent lives that occurred in the Holocaust. Supervisor Ridley’s diatribe using the invective words “hate-filled,” “motivated by an agenda for revenge,” and “disgusting” was his attempt at propaganda masquerading as emotional outrage to gain unwarranted sympathy and manipulate people.

He and the Tuscarora board have supposedly suffered terribly as victims of free speech from what he calls the opposition press. Is Supervisor Ridley that rarest of animals, a thin-skinned politician? To paraphrase Shakespeare; “methinks thou dost protest too much.”

I have never voted for or against any Tuscarora board member in any election. I am not in the controversial sewer district. I only moved to Indian River and Tuscarora Township in 2013. I did attend one annual Tuscarora board meeting prior to the move, and it was very clear the board did not have majority support at that meeting or at the following two annual meetings.

The Tuscarora board exhibits their adversarial our way or the highway behavior at every public meeting. Where is their rank and file majority support at the annual meetings? A few board cronies invariably stand and voice support or instead direct insults to the majority of attendees. The only right that cannot be ignored at the annual township meeting is the right to approve or vote down a raise for the board members. I voted with the majority at the last two annual meetings opposing any raise for these poor examples of representative government.

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Supervisor Ridley claims the Tuscarora board, who coined the term “our board,” has suffered Congressional inquiries, criminal complaints, civil suits, depositions and a recall election in 2014. None of that would occur in a small town with elected officials that truly represent their electorate. No one seeks the police, the courts, or a recall unless they have exhausted all other options. “Our board” is again ignoring ethics and laws to push the Eagles Nest Road special assessment district,SAD, through. Eagles Nest mirrors some of the injustices and inequities exercised in the sewer district. Five of 15 property owners on Eagles Nest Road voted for paving. “Our board,” then acting in dictatorial fashion, adds 119 parcels that are not on Eagles Nest Road to the SAD and saddles those property owners with 80 percent of the paving cost.

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I know government propaganda and waste when I see it. I will not be coerced into silence and allow Tuscarora politics as usual. Vote them in; let them appoint their cronies to do as they please. Keep your mouth shut, pay your taxes, and repeat in four years. That is truly “beyond the pale”.

Mullett Board Tells Another Fib to Delude MNRTF Board

Click on this link to see the latest on the never ending saga of Tom O'Hare's attempts to use grants to fund the TDA Streetscape.

City of Cheboygan DDA-Pipe Dreams vs Reality

What public body can acquire and dispose of property, create and implement development planning, promote economic growth, authorize and collect taxes, issue bonds, borrow money, and use Tax Increment Financing (TIF)? What public body can do all that while not being accountable to voters? The answer is a Downtown Development Authority (DDA). The DDA Act 197 of 1975 was another government intervention in the natural evolution of business and our communities. The stated objective was “to correct and prevent deterioration in business districts” and “to encourage historic preservation”. That objective has been manipulated and convoluted too often by well meaning DDA Boards all over the state that have ignored the stated objective of the act.

I remember when virtually every retail business excluding a few gas stations, motels, and corner stores were “downtown”. Although my childhood “Main Street” will always be Mitchell St in Petoskey, Cheboygan’s main street seemed grander perhaps because the less familiar Woolworths waited to tempt me to spend my 25¢ allowance. In my lifetime I’ve watched as brick and mortar retailers evolved into standalone stores, strip malls, indoor malls, and now commercial power centers. Most of our “downtowns” have not died, but have instead stayed the same while the rest of the world evolved. Downtowns are bastions of independent specialty retailers and gift shops, dining and nightlife venues while retaining many financial, professional, medical practitioner, and other office based professional businesses.  Cheboygan outdoes most small cities with a downtown that includes car dealers, a lumberyard, motel, convenience store with gas and even a car wash.

The City of Cheboygan DDA was established back in 1985 and is majority funded by Tax Increment Financing. The Cheboygan DDA/TIF District encompasses most of what we call the downtown from just north of Court St and about a block west of Main St and east across Cheboygan River and then north on both sides of the river to Lake Huron. In 1985 this “downtown” area was assessed or valued at $6,317,755. Over the last 30 years, as property values increased due to inflation or market influence, TIF allowed the DDA to collect the increased taxes that would otherwise go to the City of Cheboygan, Cheboygan County, Cheboygan Library, Senior Citizens and other real needs. From 1985 thru 2007, the DDA skimmed $2,478,329 in new tax dollars off the top. In 2007 the DDA forecast another $2,470,900 in captured tax dollars thru 2017. The big recession, unforeseen by the DDA, probably slowed that TIF revenue growth. Until I see different, I‘ll assume that about $250,000 is annually be diverted to DDA accounts. Think of it as robbing the poor to pay the rich. 

Unarguably there have been many small and incremental public improvements done by the DDA including park improvements, wayfinding signs, and enhancements that have created a more pleasant environment.  The 2009 Main Street reconstruction included new curb, gutters and sidewalk, storm sewer and water main system replacements and traffic signals. That was an MDOT project and included the City’s actions to replace and resize utilities as part of the project. A Transportation Enhancement grant was used to improve the downtown streetscape and barrier- free facilities. This project was not solely, or even majority funded by the DDA, and would have proceeded in some form with or without a DDA.

Arguably, some of the DDA “projects” are gift horses that should not have been accepted by the city. The pedestrian bridge will give headaches and cost city taxpayers for decades to come. That bridge to troubles was funded in large part by a $500,000 Vibrant Small Cities Grant apparently administered by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. The MSHDA stated mission “provides financial and technical assistance through public and private partnerships to create and preserve safe and decent affordable housing”. Are our homeless staying in the heated elevators?

 

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation says a DDA is “is designed to be a catalyst in the development of a community’s downtown district.” The difference between theory and practice is the fact that DDA projects like Cheboygan’s pedestrian bridge are not catalysts to growth but are instead little used and impractical embellishments that will continue to waste your tax dollars for generations.

 

 

There have been many issues with the pavilion before and after construction. The former Woolworth store was allowed to deteriorate beyond saving; but how could it cost the MEDC Grant of $439,440 the plus a $107,360 local match to tear down one building?  Replacing downtown buildings with publicly owned entertainment venues is ill-conceived. It forever eliminated one or more storefronts, property tax revenues, and the jobs that retailers or offices would have created. How much did the pavilion cost before the known problems, liability, and costs were handed off to the City?? The total figure was reported as $1 million dollars.

The Cheboygan Downtown Blueprint 2004 and other input were documented by the DDA in 2007 naming dozens of pie-in-the-sky projects. These dream projects, including another bridge and pavilion, conservatively total more than $36 million dollars. Does the Cheboygan DDA just go on forever or will taxpayers get angry and stop this madness? 

Back it In-Back it In-Sing Along With The Tuscarora DDA

The Tuscarora Township DDA still refuses to recognize "stupid". 

A good idea, stupidly implemented becomes stupid. Signage, pavement markings, and now a decision to print windshield cards to educate people on how to act stupidly is not a solution. It is always going to be stupid to expect vehicles closely following each other on a 35 MPH main street to stop in the travel lane and allow a vehicle sufficient room to safely back blindly into an angled parking space.

The Cheboygan County building’s “security system” seemed to come out of the blue and blind-sided us with the stupid premise that county employees and insiders are not a security risk while the rest of us are.

Unlike the county building, there were news reports and red flags raised, but too many of us sat in silent ignorance as Indian River’s back-in angle parking went from a stupid idea to the stupid reality it is today.

In July 2013, the Cheboygan Tribune reported “The public got its first look at the proposed trailhead development design project in downtown Indian River …” “Bill Sanders, of Sanders and Czapski Associates of Marquette, provided a power point presentation to the public Thursday on the concept plan for the project.” (Including back-in angle parking.)“ A 15-member trailhead committee representing Marina Park, the Downtown Development Authority, DDA, Inland Lakes Schools, the Indian River Chamber of Commerce, the Beautification Committee and the township board have been working with the MDNR and Sanders to create a 'vision of place,' for the trailhead, explained (Parks Commission Chairwoman Sally) Snyder.

Here were all the ingredients needed to implement a stupid idea; the Tuscarora Township Board, Tuscarora DDA, and outside “experts” including Emily “DNR Trails” Meyerson, trailhead designer Sanders, and streetscape design firm Gourdie-Fraser all working together toward a “vision.” It does not matter when the back-in angle parking idea was introduced; someone should have recognized it as stupid. These out-of-town experts all have offices in their respective locales on city streets with conventional parallel parking. I guess they spread their gospel but don’t practice it.

These self-professed experts are quick to introduce new buzz ideas ignoring possible impacts. In March 2014, Emily Meyerson said, “from a planner perspective, the reverse angle parking is a hard mental change for people to make, but it's much safer. The studies are all proof across the board,” she said. “It makes sense. If you have kids in the car and you open the doors, the kids are going towards the sidewalks. And if you want to put stuff in the back of your car, you're standing at the sidewalk. It all makes sense. It's just a mental shift.”

Is back-in angle parking always safer “across the board,” always stupid, or does it sometimes make “sense”? It can have safety benefits within some narrow contexts. From numerous studies, the best use of back-in angle parking is on low traffic count streets where there are dedicated bike lanes or bike routes mixed with on-street parking. Back-in angle parking will squeeze in a few more spaces than parallel parking while reducing bike-vehicle accidents by eliminating the hazard of vehicles blindly backing out into a street in front of a cyclist. The trade-off is often an increase in fender bender accidents as people collide with adjacent cars while backing in.

A heavily traveled two lane county primary road where the speed limit is 35 mph is no place for back-in parking. Well meaning local people and experts who should know better left us with a $100,000 mess. With the east side of one block redone; we have no ADA crosswalk cuts at the River Street or Lake Street intersections; unsafe and unneeded back-in angle parking in front of the chamber office; no ADA parking spot for the public restrooms; an ADA cross-walk in mid-block that will eliminate a few more parallel parking spaces in front of the Dairy Mart; reduced lane widths with the bump-outs; and a single off-street ADA parking space that violates ADA guidelines.

All of these inconveniences and faults with fewer parking spaces than the original parking lot and on street parallel parking offered. The bump-outs and narrowed northbound lane also frustrates through traffic as vehicles sit in block long lines behind those turning left onto River or Lake Streets.

Will we see more of the same at a total cost that may exceed $1 million dollars? More bump-outs, back-in angle parking, narrowed lanes, elimination of existing on/off-street parking and business driveways with the elimination of all on street parking for RV’s and vehicles pulling trailers or boats.

Will the “improvements” drive the few remaining retail businesses from Indian River’s main street? Should we allow the appointed people on the Tuscarora Township DDA Board who do not answer to voters, and the Cheboygan County Road Commission to continue to destroy Indian River’s main street? We better find the right answers. We must demand the Tuscarora board and Cheboygan County Road Commission, which has the final authority on county roads, restore Indian River’s main street to a sane, safe and practical design.

Cheboygan County Building: Never Argue With Stupid

Quoting Mark Twain, “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”

Don’t confuse the need for a security system at the Cheboygan County Building with the ineffective system that has needlessly inconvenienced hundreds of visitors while providing no real security to employees or visitors. We in Cheboygan County are not immune from the threat of violent acts that we see all too often in the news. It is serious business and we need to do more than pay lip service to the need for security in our municipal buildings and Courts. Experts recognize that our Courts, Judiciary, employees, and law enforcement are always at increased risk because they enforce our laws. Put simply, that means controls that might not be needed in a municipal office building are needed in older municipal buildings that mix Courts with other public offices.

The newly installed security doors and monitoring system ignore a basic premise needed to make everyone as safe as possible. Everyone but you and me has a swipe-card to enter through any door in the County Building without passing through a metal detector. Everyone? Cheboygan County Administrator Jeff Lawson provided these current numbers for people, who using a card, enter through any unguarded door, without being scanned, and bring anything including a weapon into the building. There are 141 employees or persons that work in building or for other organizations, 9 elected officials, 17 attorneys approved by Court, 15 appointed Board members, 27 State or local DHS and assessors, 23 Police Officers, and, almost forgot, 2 delivery people. That adds up to 234 cards issued in the first few weeks. Cheboygan County averages 2.41 people per household and that means there are already over 560 people with easy access to a card. In reality, anyone who borrows, finds, steals, or grabs a card from an unsuspecting employee can breach the present “security” system and enter the building with a weapon. 

"Secured"? Even the TSA Allows Keychains

Here is more “stupid” stuff. Everyone stands outside in the weather, rain or snow, waiting, while someone by trial and error discovers how much metal can get in. If the metal detector continues to deny you access, simply say you have a) steel toed boots, b) metal prosthetic, c) artificial knee, hip, rods, plates, titanium screws, d) a big cowboy belt buckle, e) any combination of these “free cards” or make up something original that will get you past the remotely controlled access with a metallic object that could be a weapon. Anyone who enters the building, either by the main door or with a swipe card, can easily let anyone else in through any of the unguarded doors. Likewise, anyone can stash any weapon or contraband outside an unguarded door and retrieve it at will by just holding the door open as they reach out and grab it. Lockers being installed just outside the main door to save multiple trips to your vehicle to stash key rings or charm bracelets will also be a convenient place to leave your weapons or drugs while appearing in Court. This stupidity has already cost taxpayers over $100,000 and the cost will grow as fixes and band-aids try to make it work.

Is there a smarter way? Yes, there is no need to reinvent the wheel with numerous references available that explain how the Court and by necessity the County Building security system should work. This link: http://courts.mi.gov/Administration/SCAO/Resources/Documents/standards/cs_stds.pdf has 14 pages of Michigan Court Security Guidelines from 2002. There are recommendations that the Cheboygan County Building should implement as internal security controls on a “need to know” basis. On the public side, “it is recommended that the court limit access to one main entrance and exit; however, all entrances should have weapon screening. “Entrances without screening should be locked and equipped with an alarm and a sign reading, “Emergency exit only; alarm will sound. “All persons entering the court facility should be subject to security screening.” A proper weapon screening station has: “Adequate room for people to congregate inside, out of the weather, without being so crowded as to present additional security problems.” Call your County Commissioners and ask them to stop the stupidity by implementing a security system that meets the Michigan Court Security Guidelines.