Queen City Burgers Making the Switch, NMU Requiring Masks, the Old Hospital Site Looking for a Buyer, and a Father and Daughter Struggle to Find Help

Read the latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

YOU GOTTA ADMIRE Dave Guizzetti, the co-owner (with Eric Curtis) of Queen City Burgers. The young business struggled through the pandemic and now they’re being forced to leave their current location on US 41 because TruNorth Federal Credit Union has bought the property for their new corporate headquarters…So Queen City was left stranded, homeless, discouraged? No, they’ve found a new home a half mile away, in the old Subway building.

And Guizzetti, no suit-clad executive, is there alone in work clothes, applying paint to a door. “I wouldn’t ask anyone to do something that I wouldn’t do myself,” he tells you. It’s also tough to find workers these days…Queen City leaves its current venue September 30th. Reopens at its new restaurant in early October. 

A much bigger space for diners, complete with a living room atmosphere, a large parking lot…and a drive-through. That’s huge –it puts them in direct competition with the national chains. And they’ve already established a reputation for putting out gourmet burgers.

The much-loved Marquette Baking Company hasn’t opened its doors yet for retail business, but they’re now making their bread and specialty items, under the new management of the Marquette Food Co-op….Nheena Ittner, the director the UP Children’s Museum, which is next door, is expecting the bakery, when it does open its doors to the public, to expand its food offerings….41,000 people visit the museum yearly—they come out of there hungry. Seems like a win-win-win for the museum, the bakery, and the Co-op.

Major changes in NMU’s masking procedures. 1) Everyone, even those with vaccinations, involved in moving into the dorms later this month will need to be masked.  2) Everyone will need to be masked in classes and labs.  3) Faculty and staff can require masks of everyone in their offices.  4) Unvaccinated students will need to wear masks even in the common areas.

The University of Michigan, Michigan State, Wayne State, and Grand Valley are now requiring all students to be vaccinated. Not NMU, at least not so far….The overall student vaccination rate at NMU, as of a few days ago, was a not-so-impressive 63%.

The highly infectious Delta variant has made its way north. More masks seen on the streets here. Looks like the rest of us will soon be reaching into the back of our sock drawers to retrieve our old masks.

So what’s happening with the old, abandoned hospital property? Nothing apparently. A ghost town. Duke Lifepoint is trying to sell it but no takers so far….“We’d love to turn that property into middle income housing but the costs to clear it, as I understand it, would be staggering,” says city commissioner Cody Mayer…Reportedly millions to clear it. Multi-millions.

Mayer, incidentally, confirms that he’s been approached by some people with money and influence to run for higher office. Congress maybe. He says his only focus now is on serving Marquette as a commissioner, but he’s not ruling out anything in the future…He’s a member of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians, by the way.

Local entrepreneur Keith Glendon has been struggling through troubled times lately—a 14-year-old daughter suffering with an eating disorder, anxiety, depression, PTSD. They’ve taken repeated trips downstate to get help…Most recently, they had to set up camp in a hospital waiting room for three days and two nights until a bed in the adolescent psychiatric unit finally opened up.

There are no such beds in the UP. “You wouldn’t believe how many people in the UP are having to deal with this,” Glendon says. “They’ve talked to me. Their kids are suffering.”….He’s started a petition to get more help for them in Michigan.

More help is needed for them everywhere. Just ask Simone Biles. These are crazy, stressful times, especially for young people.

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