Gaines Rock Problems Continue, Home Prices Climbing, Restaurants for Sale, Labor Turmoil, Covid Concerns, and Bugsy's Panic

The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

THIS DOESN’T LOOK good…Six weeks ago, we talked to Bernard Glieberman, one of the executives at HRS Communities which is developing the Gaines Rock townhomes on Lakeshore Boulevard, and he assured us that landscaping would be going in within a few weeks at the complex…It still hasn’t gone in, it still looks like a construction zone…City officials aren’t happy. “If they don’t get it done soon,” says Dennis Stachewicz, the Director of Planning and Community Development, “we’ll be doing the landscaping ourselves with the $5000 bond they posted.”…It likely wouldn’t be elaborate landscaping, but it would clean the mess up.

There’s more to the problem than that: Stachewicz says he’s heard that contractors haven’t been paid, and some residents are irate over interior jobs that haven’t been completed…Keep in mind, we were told initially that the development would be completed in the spring of 2022…We’ve made two attempts to contact HRS to get their response; so far, nothing.

What’s surprising is that HRS is the same developer that transformed the old Orphanage into the the Grandview apartments. No major problems there, but Gaines Rock? That’s clearly a different story.

HOME PRICES IN Marquette County continued to increase this summer—a 10% climb over the same period last year…From June 1st to September 18th this year, the average sales price was $287,000. Last year, it was $261,000…Interest rates, of course, have jumped to 7% and beyond…178 residential properties are currently up for sale countywide, with 53 of them pending. So, we’re still in a buying mood…”The market used to soften in the winter months,” says RE/MAX realtor Chris Cosco, “but since the pandemic, that hasn’t really been the case, even with the higher interest rates.”

HOW ABOUT THE commercial market? Here’s what’s out there right now: The Villa Capri in Marquette, $2.3 million…Buck’s in Ishpeming, $549,900…The Marq in Marquette, $430,000…Buster’s in Negaunee, $359,000…Jack’s Hideaway in Gwinn, $315,000…A&M Cafe in Skandia, $299,900…Drifa in Marquette, $299,000…and Shannon’s Home Cooking in Gwinn, $124,900.

IT HAD TO happen…Ever since Meijer moved in five years ago with its spacious, modern, well-lighted store, the other supermarkets knew they had to up their game…Super One Foods did it first, and what an improvement! A gorgeous interior. A clear, upscale feel to the entire store…And now Tadych’s Marketplace (formerly Econo) has followed suit. A major transformation underway there to spruce it up, along with the addition of a Caribou Coffee shop (including a drive-through) and a modern cafe offering quick and easy food and beverages.

LABOR TURMOIL DOWN south…The United Auto Workers are on strike against three domestic automakers…They’re asking for huge pay hikes to compensate for the last several years when their wages were battered by inflation. They’re also not thrilled with the fact that GM CEO Mary Barra is now making $29 million a year…Maybe she could spread that around a little bit.

The strike comes as Americans are feeling more and more sympathetic toward unions. Gallup’s latest survey indicates that 71% of us now approve of labor unions. Last year, it was 68%, and just before the pandemic, it was only 64%…In 2015, according to the Pew Research Center, only 48% of us had a favorable view of unions.

MEANTIME, IN THE UP, the labor movement is trying to capitalize on the increasing pro-union sentiment AND the increasing need for more workers in the trades…This last Spring, the Carpenters and Millwrights Union sponsored a Job Fair that attracted 275 students, and this summer conducted a six week construction camp for 30 youngsters aged 14-17…The kids learned a craft, and they also made money—$12 an hour. What a deal…A quarter of the students were girls. “They (the girls) did an awesome job,” says Brian Kerrigan, the regional director of the union. “Their attention to detail was spectacular.”

IT’S NOT A crisis yet, but it’s worth our attention…The COVID numbers are going up in Michigan…Last week, confirmed cases rose to 3,666, up from 2,528 the week before…This, according to Bridge Michigan…That’s a 45% increase in one week…And confirmed COVID deaths increased from 6 to 20 in a week…By the way, the brand new COVID booster vaccines are now available locally. How many of us will get them? That may well depend on the severity of this latest COVID upsurge.

A FAULTY CHARGING cord and a cell phone alarm that didn’t go off because the phone was dead—those are the culprits that finally ended Bugsy Sailor’s astonishing 1718 day run of photographing sunrises in and around Marquette. “I was in a panic,” he admits, when he finally woke up and glanced at the clock, more than a half hour after the sun had risen. He still intends to finish out the year with sunrise photographs, and then he’ll determine what he’ll do next. “It was a good awakening for me,” he says of the hiccup in his sunrise marathon. “Was I doing it just to continue the streak?” No, he says, because the joy is in the journey—his daily sunrise ritual— and not the destination.

POSSIBLE HELP FOR our ongoing teacher shortage…In Lansing, Republicans and Democrats are working together (Yahoo!!!) on a bill that would allow retired teachers to return to their classrooms immediately after retiring without losing their pensions and healthcare benefits…Currently, they have to wait nine months before returning to the classroom…This comes as administrators, in many cases, are struggling to find paraprofessionals, janitors, bus drivers, college students—anybody!—to fill the teacher void in our classrooms.

TIINA MORIN’S FINGERS are crossed…Marquette’s Arts and Culture Manager is waiting to hear whether Marquette will be awarded two grants from the state to revitalize the vacant Chamber of Commerce building on Front Street…The RAP (Revitalization and Placemaking) and Spark grants total $1 million. “We need a trailhead for the culture trail which is going in next summer,” says Morin. The grants would convert the building into an informative trailhead and serve as a welcome center to Marquette, while providing event space, office space for meetings, office space for the Arts and Culture department, new parking, restrooms, new landscaping, solar lighting, and more…

WE’VE APPARENTLY GOT a few nice days ahead of us, but Autumn, in fits and starts, is slowly settling in…Cooler days and nights lie ahead which means…SOUP TIME! Restaurant chefs here, thankfully, are skilled soup-makers…Some of our favorites: French Onion at the Vierling, Avgolemono at Vango’s, Seafood Bisque at Lagniappe, and Lemon Chicken at the Iron Bay. How about a bowl of hearty soup, a hunk of French bread, and a glass of wine while sitting back and watching the skies slowly darken over Lake Superior?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

-Martin Luther King Jr.

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