A New Sandwich Shop, a New Fish Truck, Veterans Home and Cliffs-Dow Uncertainty, Electric Car Enthusiasm Waning, e-Bikes a Hazard, and Our Depressed Teenage Girls

The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

IT’S TAKEN A while, but Beefs is finally getting ready to open in Marquette. It’s been a long and winding journey for the beef and sausage sandwich shop which originally had hoped to locate at the Third Street Marketplace, but couldn’t find the money to secure the deal…Then Beefs ran into a lease problem with its original location in Houghton, and closed down there…

Now, once it gets approval from the Health Department, it will open in the basement of the Masonic Center—not exactly the most prominent location in town. “It’s going to be a big challenge but I’ve got a hot brand and people are looking forward to it,” says Mike Glenn, the ever-optimistic owner of Beefs…Anticipated hours? 11 am to 11 pm, Monday through Thursday. 11 am to 3 am, Friday and Saturday…Seems awfully ambitious.

MARQUETTE’S NEWEST FOOD TRUCK, VanLandschoot & Sons Fish Market, has been open for a month now on Lakeshore Boulevard, in front of the closed-down Fred’s Rubber Stamp, across from the beach…Doing well, offering up whitefish, perch, walleye, and cod…VanLandschoot is a five-generation business out of Munising. Dennis VanLandschoot recently sold his computer business, and bought the fish business from his brothers. “So I went from high tech to low tech, but I think it’s really important to keep the family business going,” he says…The truck has a two year lease on its location in Marquette. It’ll be open from May through October.

NOW THAT WE know that the new Veterans Home will be located in Marquette Township, we’re wondering what will happen to the Jacobetti Home for Veterans once it’s vacated…The property is owned by the state…“My fear is that it will become an abandoned property,” says Mayor Sally Davis. “The state will decide what happens next with it, but we’re hoping they’ll collaborate with us. It’s on our radar to find a solution.”…It’s a valuable property, just off the highway and not far from downtown.

AS FOR THE Cliffs-Dow property—which had been considered the likely venue for the new Veterans Home—there’s even more uncertainty. Veridea had been considering a development at the site but those plans were halted while the city was negotiating the deal for the Veterans Home…So now, what happens? “It’s up to the City Commission to re-engage on the issue,” says City Manager Karen Kovacs, “and I hope before we decide anything, we have a community conversation about it. We want to hear from the residents…”

It’s a sensitive topic for two reasons: 1) There are still some environmental questions about the soil, and 2) Many residents oppose any further development near the lakeshore…Kovacs says Cliffs-Dow is not likely to become a park or a dog park because the city needs tax revenue, and that’s potentially a valuable location…Mayor Davis says the Commission hasn’t even discussed the property at this point. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it remains an empty lot for the next several years,” she adds.

NOT SO FAST…Our switchover to electric cars isn’t happening as rapidly as we expected just a few years ago…According to Bridge Michigan, Michigan has optimistically spent $1 billion in corporate incentives and pledged hundreds of millions more for EV projects—and so far those projects have resulted in a measly 200 jobs…The companies that got those financial benefits have downsized or delayed their projects…And then there’s this telling statistic: GM sold 2.6 million cars in the U.S. last year. Only 75,000 of them were EVs.

US NEWS just released its list of best places to live among the top 150 metro areas in the nation…and…Michigan didn’t do so well. The survey took into consideration quality of life, crime, air quality, affordability, and the job market…Ann Arbor did fine, placing 19th, and Grand Rapids placed 45th…but Kalamazoo (90th), Lansing (104th), Flint (146), and Detroit (149th) all landed in the bottom half. Only San Juan, Puerto Rico placed lower than Detroit…The top three? Naples, Florida..Boise, Idaho..and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

NEWS ABOUT MICHIGAN’S education system is also disappointing. According to Kids Count, which measured the most recent data from 2021-2022, just 1 in 4 Michigan fourth graders was proficient in reading. The same with eighth grade math…Further, the chronic absenteeism rate during that year was 40%—of course, that was during the pandemic. Likely, it’s gotten better recently. And 1 in 5 students did not complete high school on time. All of them alarming numbers which had Michigan ranked 41st out of the 50 states on education. It was Michigan’s worst ranking ever…We’ve got some work to do.

WE’VE BEEN HEARING complaints about electric bikes zipping by—and frightening—walkers on our biking and walking paths…“We do get some complaints, and police have issued tickets,” says Jon Swenson, Marquette’s Director of Community Services…Turns out there are three types of electric bikes, and only one of them is legally allowed on the paths. Class 1 e-bikes don’t have a throttle and max out at 20 mph. You have to pedal them, or they stop. Those are allowed…Class 2 e-bikes also max out at 20 mph, but they have a throttle. Not allowed…And Class 3 e-bikes top out at 28 mph, with a throttle. Also not allowed…So, where should you be riding those bikes with a throttle? On the side of the road but, needless to say, you have to watch out for motorists.

TEENAGERS, ESPECIALLY GIRLS, are increasingly using anti-depressants…According to a University of Michigan study, anti-depressant use by adolescents nationally has soared since 2016, with a big jump occurring during the pandemic…In December of 2022, 1 of every 22 middle and high school girls were being prescribed an anti-depressant—a 95% increase in seven years. Yikes…And for women between 18 and 25, 1 in 14 were taking anti-depressants. That was a 74% percent increase…Not good, not good at all…Maybe we should prescribe Taylor Swift concerts instead of pills.

SO, WE’RE UPSET about the rising prices of homes in Marquette County. Well, a native Californian recently got a reality check on a trip back to his home state. To his hometown 25 miles south of San Francisco, actually to the neighborhood where he spent his pre-adolescent and adolescent years…Ahh, his cozy little home was still there, mostly unchanged, three bedrooms, one bath, 1300 square feet on a postage stamp lot. In a pleasant but absolutely ordinary middle class neighborhood…The average price for homes there? $1.3 million. Nothing under $1.1 million. Yeah, Californians make more money than most of us, but still…

POEM OF THE WEEK

And the Moon and the Stars and the Night

Long walks at night--
that's what good for the soul:
peeking into windows
watching tired housewives
trying to fight off
their beer-maddened husbands.

—Charles Bukowski