The Cambensy/Veridea/NMU Foundation Controversy, the City of Marquette Weighs In, What About Housing?, Delta Disses Sawyer, and Zephyr Up for Sale

The Latest From Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

“I’M DISAPPOINTED. I wish we could have had a more productive dialogue with her before the letter came out…Now we have a public spectacle, with lawyers drawing up letters…It’s a mess.”…The words of City Commissioner Cody Mayer, reflecting on State Representative Sara Cambensy’s controversial allegations about the Marquette General Hospital land deal in a letter to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

The AG now has the letter and is presumably investigating Cambensy’s several allegations… Nessel has also just received a letter from Marquette Mayor Jenna Smith (speaking for the entire Commission), reiterating the Commission’s support for the land deal which would transform the abandoned hospital site into a mostly residential neighborhood. The letter referred to Cambensy’s allegations as “spurious assertions.”

Mayor Smith has tried to be diplomatic. “She (Cambensy) has done a lot of good for our community. This is not a direct rebuttal of her. We just don’t want anything to impede the process.”

“We’re not saying, ‘Don’t investigate,’” says City Manager Karen Kovacs. “We’re just saying, ‘Don’t wait.’ Without assurance of this demolition funding, it will make this project more challenging.”

Brad Canale, the CEO of the NMU Foundation, which has been guiding the development deal for the last ten months--and raising questions in Cambensy’s mind--writes simply: “We have nothing to hide…Taking action for the betterment of our campus community and our larger community is something we are proud to be doing.” 

City Commissioner Fred Stonehouse is…uhhh…less diplomatic. “It doesn’t make any sense what she (Cambensy) is doing. It looks like a deliberate act to sabotage the project.”

Cambensy, now in her final term as State Representative, has been the target of numerous attacks since she sent the letter to the AG…From Veridea (the land developer): “Cambensy made all of her charges and assertions without ever once reaching out to Veridea or Mr. Mahaney (CEO) with her concerns”….From NMU’s Board of Trustees, regarding her allegation that former NMU President Fritz Erickson’s termination was tied to his concern about the land deal: “This is a false assertion that Dr. Erickson, himself, has stated for months.”

From City Commissioner Jenn Hill (now the Democratic nominee for Cambensy’s seat): “I am deeply disappointed by Rep Cambensy’s false allegations against me…” Cambensy’s letter wrongly stated that the wife of Veridea CEO Bob Mahaney had made a campaign contribution to Hill—seeming to imply a political payoff.

If Cambensy intended to create a political firestorm in her last year as State Rep, she certainly succeeded. The blowback has been intense.

In her defense:  1) She has the right, even the obligation, to voice the concerns of her constituents. 2) There was the “appearance” of a possible conflict of interest in the deal (Bob Mahaney is both the CEO of Veridea and an NMU Board member). 3) Veridea was the only developer to offer its services for the project. 4) Cambensy claims that, months ago, she asked the Foundation for details on the project—the cost, a timeline, the involved parties—and she never got any answers. No transparency. 5) There were other projects—rebuilding the Jacobetti Home for Veterans, the $10 million Buffalo Reef Coal Dock jetty, funding for schools and government—that she thought were more worthy of state funding than a private land deal.

On the other hand, some of the charges (eg Hill, Erickson) she made were just plain careless. And it certainly seems there should have been a greater and earlier effort (from both sides) to resolve her concerns about the Veridea deal…At the very least, Veridea, NMU, the city of Marquette and City Commissioner Hill wouldn’t have been blindsided by the bombshell letter to the Attorney General.

Of course, lost in this unseemly political and legal squabble is Marquette’s continuing, glaring need for more affordable housing—one of the problems the Veridea development was designed to alleviate. That problem remains, and will be with us for years to come, regardless of what the AG decides…If she does decide there was, in fact, some underhanded dealing in the Veridea/NMU Foundation/Lifepoint project, well, we could be back to Square One with a mostly abandoned 23-acre parcel in the heart of the city.

AND THEN THERE was only one. Just one Delta flight per day to and from Marquette. What the heck?...The new reduction in flights by Delta takes effect in October, and the reason, according to Duane Duray, the Airport Manager at Sawyer International, is pilot shortage. “It’s been a problem for ten years,” he explains. “Covid just made it worse. Some pilots just decided to retire early, so now the airlines started recruiting pilots out of the regional jets.”… Major airline pilots make far more money than regional pilots.

The silver lining may come with American Airlines regional carrier American Eagle, which flies out of Marquette six times a week. Duray anticipates that, before the end of the year, they will be flying 76-seat jets out of Marquette, rather than the 50-seaters…Better than nothing.

FUNDING FOR THE new Kids Cove playground at the Lower Harbor is just about complete. $1.4 million needed to construct a new, safer playground accessible for all children—at last report, only about $11 thousand more was needed… “Omigod, I’m so excited!” says the ever-enthusiastic Nheena Ittner, who’s been working with others on the project. “We’ve been plodding along on this since 2015, and now it’s going to happen!”…The anticipated opening of the new playground? June of next year.

SO, YOU’RE THINKING all that earth-moving action in the parking lot of the former Office Max is evidence of somebody new moving in? Maybe Olive Garden!...You would be wrong….Dennis Stachewicz, Marquette’s Director of Community Development, informs us there’s a collapsed culvert underneath the parking lot…The property owners are just fixing it.

MEANTIME, L&M FLEET SUPPLY, which bought the old Shopko store property next door several months back, announced it won’t open the new store here until 2024…It’ll open a new Escanaba store first, in spring of next year.

JUST LISTED. THE Zephyr Wine Bar and Café up for sale, along with the fixed-price Cellar Restaurant downstairs. $625,000 for the whole kit and kaboodle…Daniel Rutz co-owns both the Zephyr and Everyday Wines a few blocks away. “They’re both doing really well,” he says, “but together, they’re just too much for us. I want to go all-in on one, and that one is Everyday Wines (recently expanded). It better fits my lifestyle.”…A highly-rated business, a prominent location, in an up-and-coming city, at a seemingly reasonable price…Check your wallet.

A SERIES OF unannounced soft launches in the last week for The Honorable Distillery downtown, and now it’s open for good, according to co-owner Anne White… “We’re ready, we’re all dialed in,” she says…Seven days a week for the rest of the summer, and then, come fall, they’ll decide what the future schedule will look like…Bottoms up!

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