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IronMountainIssues.org |
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December 2007 Postings 12-28-2007-01 This is being posted on
Friday, December 28. The countdown to the first council meeting
with the new members is down to ten days. I can hardly wait. The
remaining incumbents could form a coalition and we will have a lot
of 4-3 votes. May God have mercy on them if they try this tactic,
because I won't. 12-27-2007-01
As a citizen and property owner,
I have a right to know how badly our fire protection has been
undermined by what this council did - that goes far beyond
giving them room to save face. Why mention this now? Read on.
The unofficial word on the street is
that the ISO has finally been to town to reevaluate, and that
we have lost our class 4 rating. The word is
we are now a class 6. What's more, this new rating was
made known - in writing - to the city manager
BEFORE the last council meeting, and he did not see fit to add
it to the agenda or even mention it in his manager report. If
that ain't important enough to mention, what is? This will
siphon money out of the local economy and into the insurance
companies. Local businesses will feel the hit first. Watch
for your new property insurance bills. And city government
apparently thought it was more important for us to know who
won a tree decorating contest. C'mon January.
12-26-2007-01 The new council has a brand new issue to discuss. Why was an early retirement with full benefits just approved, after we've heard for years that the pension system is strained? There was no benefit whatsoever to the City in doing this, but it cost us all a bundle of money. Was this done properly? I think it deserves a thorough looking into. 12-24-2007-02
Web master
Thanks for keeping us updated on
this site.
If it was ever necessary to keep
this site going and updated so the citizens know what is
happening, it is now!
The three new council members will
be holding this council accountable for it's decisions and past
actions and the community will need to be informed all the way
about what they have done!
These next 2-3 months will be a
little more than just informative and revealing.
Merry Christmas
12-24-2007-01 Things have been a little slow since the election. I plan on keeping this site up and running in the future. I think things will pick up come the New Year. I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Webmaster 12-23-2007-01 Is this site temporarily
down? I haven't seen a post in quite a while. A lot of interesting
things re coming up in the new year. 12-21-2007-01 It's been a little quiet
on this website lately. With the election over and the Christmas
season in fully swing, that's understandable. 12-14-2007-01 At least one reason the
Utility Agreement connected with the 425 agreement was so flawed is
because Marquart didn't even run it by the Iron Mountain City
Attorney. I don't know who wrote it up in the first place. Only
Marquart, or Marquart in conjunction with the Breitung
Township Supervisor or Breitung Township had their attorney write
it up loosely and in favor of the township, which would be
understandable from Breitung township's standpoint. 12-11-2007-02
I’m all for the city council taking
their time and giving a hard look at the water and sewer
agreement with Breitung. It was not a good plan in the first
place, and they have finally taken some steps in the right
direction, thanks in part to input from newly elected but yet to
be seated members.
So don’t get me wrong when I say why
the hell did they put forth and agree to such a flawed plan in
the first place? Why did they come to an informal agreement with
Breitung, then renege, causing even more strife with Breitung?
Then our mayor tries to say how well we are getting along with
our neighbors. It was obvious in the news stories that Breitung
does not hold the same opinion. They didn't even vote on
the same version, sending a message to Iron Mountain. What was
our council thinking? Was it a rushed agreement just to have
ANY agreement before the election? I think so. You know that
old saying about how some people could screw up a free meal?
January 8 can not come soon enough for me.
12-11-2007-01
The city of Iron Mountain can save
massive amounts of money by restructuring the Fire Department.
The best bet would be to go with a PART PAID / PAID PER CALL
system.
As for health insurance rates for
city employees.....what is the average age of the current
firefighters?????? How many are over weight??????? How many are
CHAIN SMOKERS??????
12-9-2007-03
The merits of the agenda of the past
council will be debated in
12-9-2007-02
Response to 12-7-2007-02
Not insane? Okay, but, you had to
say so. I do believe I recognize your particular brand of
"sanity" and thinly veiled hatred. You just have everything
backwards or twisted is all. You can stuff your obsessive
pursuit of more minimum wage jobs, too. That does absolutely
nothing for our future. We need a larger base of good paying
jobs with benefits, something you never seemed to grasp, and you
never had to worry about, unlike the poor, regular folk you look
down upon. We don’t need to continue filling the pockets of the
already well off, with city money, no less. We need this whole
town to grow, not just the wallets of a privileged few who have
been suckling at the drying teat of the City for the past four
years.
You and yours have become fairly
transparent. This city had more things screwed up in the last
years than at any other time in our history, so I definitely
consider the source when listening to different versions of
sanity and truth. Your version did not stand up to the test the
last election was. Give it up. This City has been raped and
looted by a select few long enough.
12-9-2007-01
The Tousignant and Marquart era wanted to take
credit for the few new businesses that have built or located in
Iron Mountain during their tenure, mainly Holiday Inn Express,
Walgreens, two or three downtown shops, and the New McDonalds.
How about the businesses that have left or closed
their doors during their watch. What about Save-a-Lot Grocery,
Sam Goody/On Cue, Best Western Executive Inn, Zepher Gas
Station, Oliva’s Market, Marathon Gas Station, Peninsula Oil
Station, Bath & Beauty, Streetwear, The Premiere Center, Great
Northern BBQ, Selin’s, Deli on Hughitt, Whittock Supply, Back
Door Bar, Khory Manufacturing, Budget Dollar, Interstate
Welding, Brick Oven Pizza, Pizza Perfecta, Beccos, Moon Lake
Motel, Peninsula Beverage, Auto World, T & T Store, Auto
Bath/Auto Lube, Edies Interiors, Photo-One, Hot Dog Heaven,
Border Grill, Northland Equipment, Blimpies, U.P. Pet Supply,
Jim’s Sport Shop, A-1 Automotive, Square Deal Saw Shop, Rex
Appliance, Janies Bar, Inner Limits, State Wide Real Estate,
Talk is Cheap, Quality Cleaners, Sandy’s, LR Vincent Trucking,
and of late Ivy Manor and Fed-Ex.
Looks like Blomquist and Associates building is
for sale along with several other business places. I could make
another long list of existing businesses which are currently for
sale.
Was this their idea of progress and retaining
business and jobs. And how many prospective businesses were
scared away by their uncouth tactics.
I agree, this new council needs to turn this
trend around and retain the jobs and business that we have. The
few new businesses that locate here, will more than likely do so
on their own, without interference by Big Brother.
12-7-2007-02 No - to the person answering my post. I am not insane. I thought Iron Mountain could provide decent jobs seeing that the main concern of everyone here is to lower fees and taxes. I thought we were trying to keep new business out of our town so that we can go back to the days when Jim Urbany was the city manager and no one ever got angry at what the city did because everything was nice and status quo. I think he also had a mustache. I thought we wanted to stay in the past and make sure that those fancy rich business owners take their tax revenues and jobs and go to some other town. We happen to like our crumbling sidewalks - it suits us just fine. We don't want new people around here stirring things up. All this talk about rich business owners - luckily we have business owners like Mr. Corombos, Mr. Toedter and Mr. Rosen - they are just like all of us regular people just barely getting by. 12-7-2007-01
To the poster of 12-05-2007-06
Your feeble attempt to slander and
discredit a very good person in this community has not gone
unnoticed.
It would be very wise for you to be
more careful in all future postings.
A word to the wise should be
sufficent.
12-6-2007-03 I had some trouble understanding what the author of post 12-5-2007-06 was saying. However, one line stuck out like a sore thumb. “If people want a nicer place to live they should get a better job and buy their own house.” Are you INSANE? Trying to find a job that can support a family in Iron Mountain is harder than finding a needle in a haystack. Don’t forget that living in Iron Mountain is hardly cheap. Between the user fees, water/sewer bills and property taxes, who can afford to live here at all? Take a look around at all the For Sale signs in town. If people don’t wake up, you’ll have a nice little ghost town with a pretty downtown and only wealthy business owners living here. 12-6-2007-02
correct me if I'm wrong ( I'm sure
someone will) but the area that this so called casino is going
is'nt even in the city limits of Iron Mountain, is'nt this
website to deal with Iron mountain issues? To me and I'm not for
this or see how this could happen is Breitung townships
problems.
12-6-2007-01
I agree, I've had it with
the landlords being demonized in Iron Mountain..Landlords stand
up! Take your dumpy rentals and unsafe 400 sqft 4plexes,
your lack of concern for your renters and your fellow landlords
by allowing rent absconders to continue to rent to other
landlords in Iron Mountain and take them ALL to Kingsford,
Norway or Breitung Township where you will be unchallenged to
provide safe housing and continue to cost each other thousands
of dollars in rent because you don't check on who you are
renting to and where they may have lived before! STAND UP I
SAY... STAND UP stop the insanity and oppression and take your
rentals out of Iron Mountain.. for your own and your wallets
sake!
(P.S. By the way, this applies to
those landlords who have no concern for the neighborhood their
rentals are in...those that are trully capable and concerned
about fellow humans please stay...we need more of you.)
12-5-2007-07 The mayor and a couple
of his plants in the audience referred to the landlords as
extortionists. Who is trying to do the extorting?
To extort is to try to extract something (usually money) from
somebody by force, threat and intimidation. 12-5-2007-06
Unbelievable. The council is trying
to shove through an ordinance requiring landlords to be held
accountable for the safety of the people who rent from them. If
people want a nicer place to live they should get a better job
and buy their own house. Why should those who have rental
properties have to worry about that. Deacon Don is right -
everyone is a liar but him. He is constantly concerned about the
welfare of those less fortunate and makes his living by helping
people get out of paying back their credit card debt. This is
just one example of how hard he works to help people less
fortunate. Iron Mountain doesn't need a rental ordinance and
just because other cities have one is no reason for us to buckle
under the pressure. I'm sure the Catholic church wouldn't want
city government butting into the business of providing safe
housing and who knows that better than Mr. Christy.
12-5-2007-05
Similar situation to what Dickinson
County may be dealing with. Gun Lake Indian Tribe in lower
Michigan. Grand Rapids area, Interesting reading.
Google on...
12-5-2007-04
Are the remaining council members ever going to wake up? They
have, at most, two years remaining before they too get voted
out. If they continue to support unfair, illegal, immoral, and
unethical moves by Marquart, their time could be even less. The
people have spoken clearly with the recent elections. We aren’t
afraid of you and we’re tired of you acting like you own this
city. You don’t represent the majority; and we aren’t sitting
back idly and letting you continue as you have been.
This whole rental ordinance is out of hand. Yes, we need
something to make slumlords accountable. I’ve been watching
other cities. Many have found ways to get a handle on rental
properties by enforcing the maintenance codes that already
exist. I don’t understand why this council & Marquart want to
nail only landlords. Mr. Burke said that he has personally gone
around and visited the rental properties in town. Did he go
knocking on doors to see the insides? I grew up in a house that
looked rather shabby on the outside; but was remodeled and safe
on the inside. You can’t always judge a book by its cover. I
fear this ordinance will force landlords to either give up
rentals all together or force them to make such drastic changes
to their properties that the rent will no longer be affordable.
Oh, and lets do it fairly. If rentals must comply, that MUST
include the city owned rentals. Just because they are HUD
controlled should not exempt them. Many private landlords have
HUD eligible rentals. I know, I’ve lived in a few. If they
aren’t exempt, neither should the City-owned ones.
I also say, as has been said before… until council members and
their families are made to comply with maintenance and blight
codes, no one else should be targeted.
We, as citizens, aren’t against everything that the council has
rubber-stamped. We are, however, against the unfair manner in
which so many things are executed.
12-5-2007-03
What a sad display of leadership at
Mondays council meeting!
When is the city council going to
get it? The landlord association is not the enemy in this
ordinance dispute regarding safe housing.
Having discussed this issue with
many landlords, all that I have talked to have stated that a
rental ordinance and registration is necessary, but it must be
fair and legal.
What is so wrong with that?
The council has repeatedly refused
to sit down with the members and have an honest dialog about
their concerns and the concerns of the city and even though our
mayor has lied about all of the meetings he attended and all of
the ammendments they added at the whim of the landlords, the
majority of the people realize his motivation! (control, control
and more control while hiding behind a gavel)
In a few weeks he will be history
and a bad memory for this city and then maybe control will be
brought back to the people!
Until then -- keep pluggin landlords
--- be fair, but don't give in to the lies and deception of a
mayor who has no conscience!
Being the lowest vote getter in both
elections, is there anyone, other than his few loyal
friends, relatives and Marquart who support his lies, that don't
know what is going on?
12-5-2007-02
Bizzaro. Extortionist. Despicable.
Words our mayor used on Monday to describe an upset citizen with
legitimate concerns. That is outrageous. (My spell-check didn’t
like bizzaro, but it must be right because the mayor said it.)
Thank God he will be gone very soon. After hearing all of the
news versions of the story, I can’t believe that the city
manager ever thought he could say the City won the lawsuit
against the landlords. They sued for unconstitutionality, and
they won those points. The judge found several areas that were
unconstitutional. How can that be seen as a victory for the
City? It was not.
I have had it with the landlords
being demonized. How would anyone else out there feel if the
City tried to shove something illegal down your
throat? The firemen know what that feels like. And the sewage
backup victim. And the broken water main victim. And the city
retirees. Maybe even Tunnel Vision. And on and on. What about
being jerked around by the City? Who else knows what that feels
like? Breitung? Kingsford? MIOSHA? DEQ? ISO? Do I need to go on
with these lists? Kudos to the landlords for standing up for
themselves.
When are you supporters of the
current council going to wake up and see what they have been
doing over and over and over? Do you really want to be known as
someone who supports this way of doing business? Shame to
you! This most recent election was not based on simple
differences of opinion in the direction the City should be
going. It was more based on doing whatever the City does in a
legal and ethical way. That should NEVER have to be an issue in
an election, but it was. This City has egg on its’ face that
will not go away for a long time. That is the legacy of the
ousted incumbents and their remaining supporters on the council
and upper management. Thank God the citizens saw through most of
their smoke and mirrors.
12-5-2007-01 Concerning the casino controversy......Is it possible that this is why The Island Resort and Casino has become so involved in local events such as the ski jump and now the Christmas parade? Is this their "foot in the door"....so to speak? 12-4-2007-02
I
think the issue of whether the casino is right or wrong is not
nearly as important as whether or not we will be able to vote on
whether or not it should be allowed. If I wanted to do
something similar on my property I would have to get the
approval of every neighbor within 300' of my property boundary.
I know because I checked into operating a small low impact
campground. After discussing the idea with some of the
neighbors and learning they would not be in favor of such a
thing I decided not to pursue it. I had to get this approval
because I would have needed a variance on the current zoning,
but even though the casino is probably already zoned
properly--it should not go in without getting the approval of at
least the neighbors. The issue of the casino being right or
wrong for the community is one issue. The bigger issue is they
way it sounds like they are going to muscle this thing is is
un-ethical. The people living in the general vicinity of the
construction should have some say on the matter.
12-4-2007-01 Word is and from several good sources. The old pine mountain golf course has been sold to an unnamed Indian Tribe. This land must sit for three years at which time they can put it into federal trust. Once in trust the Casino can be built. 12-2-2007-02
Oskar, for the first time, I must
disagree with you. You make a very convincing argument for
gambling casinos, but you forget one very important point.
Gambling is still considered a vice. Yeah, it may generate some
money, maybe even a lot of money, but so would a brothel. Can
you imagine the tourism we’d get if we legalized prostitution in
the county? For all the same reasons, it is as right a thing to
do as a gambling casino. And wrong for all the same reasons.
It’s just a matter of where you draw your moral line, and it is
an issue of that nature. Morals. How would you feel about a
NAMBLA weekend retreat here in Iron Mountain? It’s all where you
draw the line. The moral standards of this entire country have
been sinking deeper and deeper into the gutter for decades. That
is real, and has even been used by our enemies as an excuse to
attack us and our culture. Do we really need to catch up in our
little corner of the country? Some things are worth more than
money, or at least they should be.
I saw that you acknowledged the weak
can be negatively affected by gambling. I have seen that up
close more than once. Lives ruined, marriages ended. Good
people. too. Just weak. And our society jumps to exploit that
weakness. Mighty white of us, 'eh? Gambling can be as
devastating to a family as an alcoholic can be. Or drugs. I
would consider it lowering ourselves if we allow a casino. Up
to now, I have silently agreed with every post you have ever
sent in.
12-2-2007-01 To 11-30-2007-02 12-1-2007-03 12-1-2007-02
In response to 11-30-07-03: 12-1-2007-01
To Reassure: Dave, Bruce and myself
have been receiveing packets, per request, for every council
meeting. We wanted to be up to speed for when we are actually
taking office in January. Within these packets so far have been
issues that have grabbed our attention... and we have done what
we have always done: researched and dug below the surface of
Mr. Marquart's words to the Council.
There hasn't been a packet yet that
wasn't in need of watchdog eyes. One involved the "A" Street
reconstruction and Mr. Marquart suggesting to the council to
"borrow the $435,000 internally" because the State Revolving
Funds weren't available now. This is on the heels of the S2
Grant we received and the $435,000 would have come as a 2.5%
loan, kind of a second half of the S2. I dug around and both
are from the DEQ. If we don't end up receiving the SRF money,
we have to pay back the S2 grant, which was about $72,000,
with interest.
Suggesting to the council to borrow
that money internally is crazy in my opinion, when there is no
guarantee of the money ever coming our way. Not to mention, I
can't find anything in the Charter that even allows us to do
such a thing. I'm trying to find out now if the reason that we
aren't receiving the SRF money has anything to do with the fact
that we used part of the S2 Grant money to pay Tunnel Vision.
The S2 Grant is from the DEQ and it's purpose is for
not polluting.
I did try to bring this up to a
council member.
The DDA by-law amendments and Rental
ordinance amendments are also issues that require further
"scouting." Heck, even Mr. Marquart's recent letter to the
council about the sewage dumping stated that it happened in
July/August and that it was tree roots and debris.
If you noticed, the issues on the
Water-Sewer agreement with Breiting Township that were brought
up here on this website before that first meeting were then also
voiced by council members and the Agreement was tabled. The
revised one makes much more sense and will be discussed on
Monday.
So, we can make a
difference. Even with only three new members.
I'm certainly not afraid to ruffle feathers; all I care
about is what is right for our City.
We were at a TIFA meeting, and I
tried to voice my concerns with various STS Consultant amounts
that I believe are being spent with nothing to show for it. Mr.
Brule felt that I just had it in for STS, but Jeff VanLaanen
actually stood up and stated that it was time to look around and
compare pricing on engineering firms. Dale Alessandrini was
also trying to put that point across.
I think you will all see that there
will certainly be more balance from now on. Nothing
will fly under the radar. The packets that the Council receives
from the City Manager can be taken at face value, or they can be
studied, researched, and questions can be asked before
the meeting. It also doesn't hurt if more residents show up at
meetings to ask questions and hopefully, they will feel
comfortable enough to do so now. At the very least, on this
website there should be as much discussion as possible before
irreversible decisions are made.
I guarantee that Dave, Bruce and
myself will do our very best for you.
Sincerely,
Tina Peterson
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