Who's Running for City Commission?, Got an Idea for MSHS nickname?, Tourism Downturn, Gloom for Fishermen, Masonic Sale Possibility, and Smartphone Over-Stimulation

The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

AND JUST LIKE that, it’s Fall. High temperatures dropped from 85 to 50 in three days. Welcome to the UP. Put your shorts away in the bottom drawer, pull your jacket out of the dusty closet.

ELECTION DAY IS a month away. Marquette voters will be choosing three Commissioners to help chart the city’s course for the next several years when there will be a litany of challenges—economic, environmental, demographic, educational, and housing among them.

Six candidates will be on the ballot but one of them, Corey Swanson, is no longer a candidate because he has since moved to Negaunee…So, that leaves five candidates for three positions, all supremely qualified, all intimately involved in the affairs of Marquette

In alphabetical order:

MARGARET BRUMM…a patent attorney, 65 years old…She’s currently a board member of BLP, and she’s run for City Commissioner several times in the past. She’s a constant presence at City Commission meetings, and has regularly weighed in publicly on numerous issues. She’s outspoken but polite. To some, she might seem like an irritant, but to many more, she’s admired for her devotion to her city.

“I’m detail-oriented,” she says. “With my legal training, I go through documents with a fine tooth comb.” She’d like a say in the city’s master plan which is now nearing completion, she has environmental concerns about developing the controversial Cliffs-Dow property, and she believes the city should hire a full-time grant writer who might find financial help for developing new housing in the city.

JESSICA HANLEY…Executive Director of the Children’s Museum, 37 years old, an incumbent Commissioner…Her primary concerns? Finding more housing for residents, protecting the environment, banning any more development along the lakeshore, and promoting tech in the city.

“I want to make sure that this is a town where my son can live if he chooses to in the future,” she says. “The hardest part is finding housing for young people. Right now, we’re exporting our young people to other cities. That has to stop.”

CODY MAYER…a bank official, 26 years old, an incumbent and the current Mayor…He was the youngest mayor in Marquette history when he was elected to that position a year ago…He’s proud of what the city is accomplishing: 500 units of housing coming on line in the next few years, several million dollars in grants for tech and outdoor recreation, and a balanced budget.

“I want to continue creating a diverse economy in Marquette,” he says. “Something beyond tourism. And as Commissioners, we have so many ways to have a positive effect on people’s lives. I want to continue that.”

SARAH WIENSCH REYNOLDS…a bartender, formerly worked in a law office, 38 years old, a former, highly respected two term City Commissioner…She’s concerned about the housing shortage in Marquette, protecting the Heartwood Forestland, and properly developing the Cliffs-Dow property.

“I have a 12-year-old daughter,” she says, “and I want her to grow up in a community we can both be proud of. I’m happy to say that she’s very interested in what I’m doing and what’s happening in the city of Marquette.”

PAUL SCHLOEGEL…the General Manager of Northern Energy Solutions, 51 years old, appointed a City Commissioner a few years back and subsequently lost in a close election…He’s a current board member of the BLP. For years, he’s been involved in numerous volunteer committees serving the community…He’s a self-described moderate, non-partisan.

“I hang my hat on four major issues,” he says. “Managing the city budget, taking care of our infrastructure, making certain we are planning our land use properly, and finding housing for people who want to live here.”

ELECTION DAY is November 7th. It’s an off-year election, which means relatively few people will actually turn out to vote. Which means every vote will count that much more.

HAVE YOU GOT an idea for the new Marquette Senior High School nickname? If so, the MAPS Board of Education will want to hear from you. “We’re creating a tool that will allow people to come up with suggestions,” says Board Chairperson Kristen Cambensy…We’ll hear more about the tool in the next several days. Then, in mid-November, the Board will take a look at all the submitted suggestions, and before the end of the year, vote on a new nickname…Just a wild guess: one of the suggestions will likely be “Redmen.”

“IT WAS OKAY, but not a banner year.” The words of Susan Estler, the CEO of Travel Marquette, regarding the tourism numbers this summer…Overall, occupancy is down 1% this year, revenue is down 2%…Reasons? She points to increased international travel and increased visits to theme parks…You might recall, during the pandemic, vacationers flocked to Marquette County because our COVID numbers were relatively low, and our outdoor lifestyle and sparse population seemed safe and appealing. Now we’re back to being just a nice place to visit on the shore of Lake Superior…By the way, Estler, herself, just got over her first bout with COVID. She was a little late to the party, but yes, it’s still out there, and people are still suffering.

CLIMATE CHANGE WILL soon be hitting home…As Michigan Bridge reports, the Great Lakes Basin is warming, and that could spell doom for some species of fish—namely trout, salmon, walleye, and cisco. They need temperatures in the streams and rivers to stay below 70 degrees; anything warmer, and they’ll need more food, they won’t reproduce, and they’ll be more vulnerable to predators…“We have turned a corner, I believe,” says Dana Infante, an Michigan State professor who researches climate impacts on rivers. “People are starting to talk about it.”

STILL NO BUYER for the Masonic Center building in downtown Marquette. The list price is $2.8 million. It’s been up for sale for nearly six months…“One person is looking at purchasing the building,” says Ryan Engle, the former building manager who remains involved with it. “It’s just a matter of making the numbers work.” The Masonic, located in the center of downtown, currently has 20 tenants, most of them related, in one way or another, to arts, crafts, and innovation.

The Masonic Arts, Theatre, and Innovation Company (MATI) had been hoping to buy the building, but couldn’t make it work financially. MATI is still hoping to be a player in the project whenever the building is sold…“I don’t know. I’m not aware of any possible offer on the building,” says a frustrated Nheena Ittner, who’s a MATI board member. “Maybe we’ll hear about it at our board meeting next week.” That meeting will be the first one they’ve held in months.

ON THE OTHER hand, there is progress at the new Kids Cove playground in the Lower Harbor…The old wooden playground has been dismantled and removed, grading is underway, and the electrical infrastructure has been installed…They’re still a few hundred thousand dollars short of what’s needed for the new, safe, and hardy playground that will be welcoming to all children, including those with physical disabilities…But, if you’d like to unburden yourself of $250,000 or so, you could claim naming rights to the playground…and you’d be helping the city and the kids. There are worse ways to spend your money.

MORE GOOD NEWS that the city has been waiting for…It’s received a nearly $600,000 grant to turn the vacant Chamber of Commerce building on Front Street into a cultural hub and a kind of welcome center for visitors to Marquette. The Revitalization and Placemaking Program (RAP) grant is designed to revitalize a public space in a traditional downtown…That’s exactly what this grant will do for Downtown Marquette.

SO NOW THAT summer’s gone and most of the tourists have gone home, restaurants in town are finally open for the locals again…No, not exactly….The wait for a table at Lagniappe last night (Friday) was 90 minutes.

PARENTS OF TEENAGERS might already know this: in a typical day, according to Web MD, the average teen receives 237 notifications on his/her smartphone. 237!!!…25% of the notifications come during school hours. Yeah, that might be a little disrupting…The median amount of phone use during school is 43 minutes. The top uses during the school day are social media (TikTok!!!), You Tube, and gaming.

Of course, the numbers will vary from teenager to teenager, and some parents and schools have cracked down on phone use but still, these “smartphones,” for all of their virtues, might be making our kids less smart…Come to think of it, that might also apply to us adults.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

―Winston Churchill

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