Hospital Property Progress, Spaceport Questions, Another Youth Suicide, Choral Concert Controversy, and Two Entertainment Gems in Marquette

The Latest From Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

THE PUBLIC WILL have its say. Two informational sessions scheduled for Tuesday (2 pm and 5:30 pm) at the Northern Center on NMU’s campus on the development of the old hospital property. The NMU Foundation is hosting it… “It’s an opportunity to let residents know where we are now, and what’s next,” explains Dave Nyberg, NMU’s director of business engagement and economic development…Also, an opportunity for residents to say what’s on their mind.

Just a wild guess: We’re going to hear a lot about affordable housing.

Following those meetings, there will be two smaller, more casual get-togethers next week involving community leaders and working professionals. Focus group situations.

Regarding the unnamed “master developer” recently chosen for the project by the NMU Foundation Board, there is no written agreement yet so it’s unlikely the developer will be identified at Tuesday’s meetings.…In fact, last week was the first time Board members actually met face-to-face with the developer.

May 31st is the looming deadline by which time the Foundation needs:  1) a written agreement with the master developer, and  2) an agreement (namely Brownfield money approved by the City Commission) that would fund the razing of the property and preparing it for construction.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” says City Commission Cody Mayer. “But if we can turn an abandoned piece of property in the heart of the city into a vibrant place to live, we’d be very interested.”

DOUBTS ABOUT THE Spaceport…Supporters of the Spaceport, which has been proposed for a huge tract of land on Lake Superior northwest of Marquette, can’t be thrilled with a recent article in The New Yorker…It’s titled “The Plan to Make Michigan the Next Space State”…It reviews the concerns about the environment, noise, disruptions, and possible required evacuations of some residences on launch dates.

But that’s not the salient point of the article…This is: A recent study of the project concluded that it would be “high risk and low return.” Until now, economics has been the primary justification for the Spaceport—that it would bring hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars, maybe more, into the UP economy… Further, according to the study, there are 13 other Spaceports in the US but “7 of the 13 US Spaceports had no revenue-producing launch activity”….Yikes. Maybe we should think about this before leveling a couple thousand acres of forest land.

IT HURTS…We get news of yet another young person’s suicide locally, this one at Aspen Ridge Elementary. That makes three in the last couple of months…Different reasons for all three apparently, but it still begs the question, Why? Why are so many young people finding life so stressful, so unbearable that they choose to end their lives?...We can devote all our time, money and energy to counseling them—our usual response—but the problem lies much deeper than that….It’s our coarsened culture, our declining values, and the excessive emphasis we place on money, achievement, power, appearance, and status. That’s America in the 21st century, unfortunately.

CHORAL MUSIC UNDER attack…Hard to believe, but in these crazy, polarized times, anything goes…The Marquette Choral Society had to postpone two concerts last weekend because of a Covid outbreak. 13 choir members came down with the illness…That’s a lot, so for performance reasons (apparently not for health), they had to call off the concerts…Social media scribblers weren’t appeased—“Stop spreading fear!” they wrote. “Get over it!”…The irony, of course, is that these screaming scribblers would never be caught dead in a choral concert…Which, incidentally, has been rescheduled for May 14th and 15th at Reynolds Auditorium.

SPRINGTIME GOLF…The Heritage Course at the Marquette Golf Club opens this morning (Saturday) for the season—walking only for now, no carts…The range is also open for the season…As for Greywalls, they’re going to wait for maybe ten days, to “baby” it, as club professional Mark Gilmore puts it… “Most of the greens on both courses are in good shape,” he assures us, “but there’s still a little bit of snow in the valleys.”

GLOOM FOR MARQUETTE DOGS…Tourist Park is about to close down its dog park for the season as the city prepares it for campers over the next six months. Amazing that a progressive town of this size doesn’t have a year-round dog park (UPAWS does run a dues-paying park well outside of downtown)… “Funding is obviously an issue,” says Jon Swenson, the city’s director of community services. He also says they’ve searched available city property but can’t find a big enough tract…Possibilities? Working something out with the Township on the property it’s converting to a multi-use park, or looking for help from BLP which may have available land…A good first step, according to Swenson: Start a private group to lobby for a dog park.

SO MARQUETTE IS one of the best places in the US to locate if you can work remotely—so says a recent survey…Home and apartment prices, environment, safety, connectivity, recreation, etc are among the reasons…And how about entertainment? Last Saturday evening said it all: Both Blackrocks Brewery and Ore Dock Brewing Company filled with partiers (nothing wild), great beer and sensational music…Two remarkable venues, both recently expanded. Admirable aesthetics and acoustics…There’s space at both for high decibel music and quiet conversation….Larger cities would be thrilled be thrilled to have just one of these breweries—we’ve got both.

REASON NUMBER 546 why we love the UP…So the forgetful guy discovers last Monday that his Amex card is missing from his wallet…Omigod!!! Call AMEX immediately! Cancel the card! Order a new one!...The forgetful guy is normally one to react that way and fret about it for the next 24 hours imagining that some identity thief is out there racking up bills on European vacations, spa treatments, and a high-end Tesla…But then, after realizing that this is Marquette and determining where he had last used it (Blackrocks), he calmed down. Not a crisis…And on Monday afternoon, he made his way back to Blackrocks where the employee pleasantly and routinely returned his card.

(A reminder: Man About Town is a newsletter, not a blog. It arrives by email, free of charge. You can tap the Subscribe button below to sign up. Know someone who would like to subscribe? Let them know they can go to www.SubscribeToMAT.com and they can sign up there.)