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March 2007 Postings 3-31-2007-04 The post below was sent to me and some of the links do not work. I am working on creating a single page with all the links on it. Some of the Links in the post are web sites that I have to go a get a link to. It will take me a day or two to get all the links linked up. The Page will be called HOT LINKS Thanks for your patience Webmaster 3-31-2007-03
Here are some documentation links from archived
posts - not a complete listing - I got tired of the harping (Kurt,
Marcus) that everything here is just opinion:
City Charter language regarding civil service
hiring requirements:
Various links that show how public was misled
when they voted on the fire amendment:October, 2005 ISO letter:
October 10, 2005 Letter
Page from 2005 MIOSHA report:
MIOSHA Report
November, 2005 city manager news article:
November 2005
Response to manager’s gag order of the firemen:
http://www.imfd.org/gag2.jpg
City manager’s letter ordering direct
deposit:
Direct Deposit Memo
State law prohibiting the order:
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-Act-390-of-1978.pdf
Cool Cities website - T.I.D.E.
requirements (gay requirements):
Cool Cities website
International magazine article using Iron
Mountain as the perfect example of what NOT to do to your police and fire
departments:
http://www.imfd.org/folly.html
Michigan Freedom of Information Act link:
Learn more here about gathering
public information
Info on Gilbert & Associates - getting thousands
for reassessment without winning a bid:
News article showing city manager
suspended a firemen without grounds, suspension not upheld by civil service
commission:
other link
July, 2006 letter from the ISO informing
the city that they will not be able to retain the class four rating:
ISO Document
Michigan Court of Appeals language on the
"Bolt" decision - our jacked up water rates may fall under this ruling:
http://www.michbar.org/opinions/appeals/1999/101299/5280.html
Link to the Federal Railroad
Administration regarding train horns:
Federal Railroad Administration: FRA
City Fee Schedule, showing huge increases in
some areas, plus new fees:
May, 2004 news article laying down many City
problems - some of which the council was in the infancy of creating at that
time:
May 18, 2004 newspaper article
Spread sheet showing astronomical amounts of
money wasted on Rich Brook in just a few months:
Spreadsheet
Two links regarding the hiring of the Main
Street Coordinator:
Youtube link that shows the contrast between a
council that allows freedom of speech at their meetings, and what we have in
IM:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pXSWjVzdaF8
Pennsylvania news article that lists the City
Manager’s job history:
Another Pennsylvania news article reporting on
the City Manager getting fired from Wilkinsburg, PA:
http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990108wilk6.asp
TV6 News links to stories about the self-serving
attempted recall that proceeded the 2003 election:
http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/story.asp?s=1381343
http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/story.asp?s=1275416
http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/story.asp?s=1420416
TV report showing how many students Bay West
ALREADY has in the area:
Online definition of "duplicity" - a Freudian
slip(?) in a news letter from former Kingsford mayor Steve Zurcher:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/duplicity
Humorous Youtube link to a video on Battle Creek
- Cool City. The very end says it all:
Two very interesting links about Bryan Crough,
that DDA "miracle-worker" that was brought in by Marquart & Tousignant in a
transparent attempt to spin their parking lot dream into realization:
Michigan Attorney General Opinion on Open
Meetings:
http://www.ag.state.mi.us/opinion/datafiles/1970s/op05284.htm
ISO letter from December, 2006, showing
frustration that they have not been able to reach Marquart by phone to set
up a date for re-rating the City (apparently he never returned their calls,
either):
ISO Letter
TV6 News video - Mayor takes credit for cleanup
at 1200 Grant:
http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/Link.asp?L=232574
Charlotte, NC new article showing city owning up
to sewage-filled house:
3-31-2007-02 There are a lot of alleys in need of repair, to help many other elderly people to access their homes. I wonder why the only alley that seems to have been repaved in the past 30 or so years is one that runs alongside Mr. Rosenthal's house. 3-31-2007-01
Looks to me like Kurt's 21
"facts" turned into chopped liver by time post
3-30-2007-01 finished putting them through the grinder. Good work
there, 01.
Some people forget there are a lot eyes on
this site. Many of the brains behind those eyes have carefully stored
a lot of information. It can be unleashed at a moment's notice on naive
spinmeisters. Kurt should have learned something from Marcus' (or the
Mayor's) pitiful attempts at distortion.
3-30-2007-01 It took about a half-hour of my time to copy, paste and comment on the FACT post that appeared yesterday My comments are in bold parenthesis. 3-29-2007-05 After this, I am done here, this is not a "forum" it’s a one sided blog for people who hate the city and see nothing good. (If it’s one-sided, why was your post accepted?) #1 Fact: my water pressure is ten times better than it was. (Ten times what? Certainly not ten times the previous water pressure, or your house lines would have blown) #2 Fact: With water improvements come greater expansion (Maybe eventually, but not since they were put in. The highway upgrade was not related to the bond issue. That’s where the expansion has been taking place). #3 Fact: Walker and Kramer are ten times safer than they were. (How do you keep coming up with this ten times number? How many accidents can you recall at Walker and Kramer drive. It’s better, but the cost for such a simple project was way too high) # 4 Fact: My street is smooth (Lucky you. Fact: Mine isn’t) #5 Fact: At least one alley has been repaired so that elderly people can safely get to their house its impossible to resolve every problem immediately (One alley in the whole city? Impressive! Do we now repair alleys only when the elderly can’t get to their house?) #6 Fact: 1100 blk of Houghteling has been repaved (This one was repaved because of sewer work. Three houses are the only regular users of this dead-end, one block street). #7 Fact: the 700 blk of Fairbanks has been completely rebuilt. (True, but again because of sewer work.) #8 Fact: The 800 blk of Fairbanks is a mess. (And the 900, 1000 and 1100 block as well. This is a heavily traveled street.) #9 Fact: Streets on the west side have been repaired Hemlock and "A" st I believe. (Hemlock was done under a previous administration. I am not aware of any paving on “A” Street) #10 Fact: The 900/1000 blk of East "C" has been paved. (Yes, as part of the LaFave development I believe, again because of sewer and/or water line installation. Notice how your paving sites are sewer and water related, not mill and pave projects.) #11 Fact: Repaving costs money (Did I miss a post that claimed it was free?) #12 Fact: All roads can't be paved at once. (Who ever said they should be? All of the roads don’t need paving, just a lot of them). #13 Fact: Expansion in the City of Iron Mountain continues (Modestly, yes, and mostly on the highway. This administration had nothing to do with that.) #14 Fact: Medical Coverage for the City has skyrocketed (It’s a problem faced by every city, township, county, and state in the whole country, not unique to Iron Mountain) #15 Fact: The city has been (at least in their own way right or wrong) proactive in controlling current and future labor costs and benefits thus saving you the taxpayer's money now and into the future. (Retirees and active employees understand this. It is the confrontational attitude of the administration and failure to study the many creative alternatives that other employers have worked out that causes the ill-will) #16 Fact: Sometimes change hurts (Brilliant observation of the obvious) #17 Fact: Status Quo was not working and the City was drowning in previous administrations and council's inactivity and mistakes. (Obviously something was wrong for the poster to vow never to return back in the sixties.) (All administrations make mistakes. Someone listed 16 major ones in a post a few days ago, and someone else added another six major ones, all made by the current administration. Can you name an administration that has made more than this one. The administration immediately before this one made some dandies, but this one has set an all time record by a wide margin.) #18 Fact: this site does not provide unbiased information and anyone with opposing viewpoints is attacked and maligned. (This site is open to all information, including yours. Any opinion expressed here is subject to debate, criticism or praise. If more people are critical than praising, don’t you think maybe, just maybe, it reflects the community’s attitude toward this administration?) #19 Fact: The voters of this city have spoken and clearly felt that the city was on the right track (whether that is still the case will be seen) (The voters merely threw out some previous office holders. They hoped for improvement. How they feel in November, or maybe in an August primary if one is needed, will be the first performance scorecard for this administration. The voters will determine, for their performance for the first time. What’s this “felt the city was on the right track” nonsense. If they felt the city was on the right track, they wouldn’t have pitched the incumbents) #20 Fact: True unbiased facts do not require attacks (Allegedly true unbiased facts are always presented as such, but sometimes they don’t stand up under close scrutiny. That’s why the language has developed such expressions as stretching the truth, half-truths, spinning and bold-faced lying. What is a liar? Someone trying to convince you that what he is telling you is the truth when he knows he isn’t because it serves his purpose and motives. Marquart and Tousignant are in the top 2%. That’s an estimate, not a FACT, by the way. Trouble is they aren’t smart enough to get away with it. They are run-of-the mill liars, not world class liars. Those are found in Washington and even they get caught in their own web regularly) #21 Fact: Facts can be interpreted and reported and viewed as one sees fit (Yes, and isn’t it frustrating when those dummies you try to convince don’t see it your way because they have dug up the facts for themselves. I know, I know. They are stubborn as a mule, thick headed, numb skulls, idiots, and lame-brained. Since this was your final post, it looks like we’ll have to muddle through without you. It’ll be tough, but we’ll give it our best shot. 3-29-2007-09 I'm the second person on this forum to ask this question: What is a GAMES convention, mentioned in post #3-12-2007-13? Whoever posted it, could you shed a little light on what that's about? 3-29-2007-08
Aside from Mr. Rosenthal writing down his
opinion and calling it fact (such as, his water pressure is ten times better
- that’s just an opinion, and exaggerated, at that), I hope he will come
back and contribute something factual to this website. A great start would
be answering the post about the blight ticket. Another would be to verify
whether or not he stands by his statement that a judge decides what is
factual - such as the judge’s finding that he was booted out of his union.
Is that factual, or just some judge’s worthless opinion, Mr.
Rosenthal? It’s all documented here on this website, and was mentioned in a
very recent post.
There were a couple of other items that I just
didn’t understand in his post. The biggest one was the line about the voters
of the city clearly feeling that the city was on the right track. What is
that about? The last time the people voted on anything, they slam-dunked the
city’s "right track". What are you talking about, Mr. Rosenthal?
Your last listed "fact", I have to agree with,
the one about how facts can be played with. You are perfectly
describing the shameless political spin that has taken over City Hall. I'll
leave you with a quote, but I don't know who originally said it. It
describes, I think, what you seem to want all of us to do.
"Opinion is that exercise of the human
will which helps us to make a decision without information."
3-29-2007-07
Response to 03-29-2007-05
Glad you are not coming on any more. The truth
really hurts hey!
Lets see now --- Are you Rosenthal, or the Mayor
or are you Marcus? --- or could you even be Marquart?
3-29-2007-06
Someone left a post on 3-11-2007-07 concerning blight on the
property of a Councilman‘s family member:
Mr. Rosenthal, you are determined that all sides of a story
are told. I would challenge you to tell us YOUR side of the story concerning
the Tchokreff property at 608 West ‘C‘ Street.
Wasn’t that property in fact cited for blight? Weren’t you,
in fact, the citing officer? Tell us why nothing came of that case. We truly
would like to be certain to get all the FACTS of this story.
3-29-2007-05
After this, I am done here, this is not a a
"forum" its a one sided blog for people who hate the city and see nothing
good.
Fact: my water pressure is ten times better than
it was.
Fact: With water improvements come greater
expansion
Fact: Walker and Kramer are ten times safer than
they were
Fact: My street is smooth
Fact: At least one alley has been repaired so
that elderly people can safely get to their house-its impossible to resolve
every problem immediately
Fact: 1100 blk of Houghteling has been repaved
Fact: the 700 blk of Fairbanks has been
completely rebuilt
Fact: The 800 blk of Fairbanks is a mess
Fact: Streets on the west side have been
repaired Hemlock and "A" st I believe
Fact: The 900/1000 blk of East "C" has been
paved
Fact: Repaving costs money
Fact: All roads can't be paved at once
Fact: Expansion in the City of Iron Mountain
continues
Fact: Medical Coverage for the City has
skyrocketed
Fact: The city has been (at least in their own
way right or wrong) proactive in controlling current and future labor
costs and benefits thus saving you the taxpayer's money now and into the
future
Fact: Sometimes change hurts
Fact: Status Quo was not working and the City
was drowning in previous administration's and council's inactivty and
mistakes. (Obviously something was wrong for the poster to vow never to
return back in the sixties.)
Fact: this site does not provide unbiased
information and anyone with opposing viewpoints is attacked and maligned
Fact: The voters of this city have spoken and
clearly felt that the city was on the right track (whether that is still the
case will be seen)
Fact: True unbiased facts do not require attacks
Fact: Facts can be interpreted and reported and
viewed as one sees fit
3-29-2007-04 I was wondering if there would be anything on this subject in your forum. I am not sure if the Prosecuting Attorney will be running for re election this year also. If so, people must know what kind of job he and his office DOES NOT do. I found out personally why many people call him "Monty Hall", let's make a deal!!! and our victims are still and will remain scared victims as long as he remains in this office. There are too many times he plays with ones life and emotions. By the time the case reaches the judge, it is almost a "done deal". And people are so quick to blame the judge that presides over the court case. He/she can only do what is presented before them. The victim has to accept the representation from that office. He/she has no other alternative. A known fact that some police officers, both city and state are fed up with that office because many charges are changed. Lesser penalties are then handed down to the criminals. It is time that you, Mr. Prosecuting Attorney look at those cases with your heart and legal mind. Stop playing a game with what is a horrific problem with domestic violence. That is why this has become a nation wide attention. It must stop, but won't stop if you "make deals" and help out the criminal. First offense is a beginning of what can happen to the suburban housewife that was originally from Upper Michigan. The final outcome can become "death". Think about it, and stop plea bargaining. 3-29-2007-03 I'd like to add to the comments about the cones at 1200 Grant Street. After looking at the pictures posted here, I can see no factual evidence that the City had those cones put there. It seems to me that cones owned by the City have stenciling on them that show ownership of the cones. You cannot see that on any of the cones in the pictures. So, did the City put those broken down, dirty cones there, or did someone else? 3-29-2007-02
Some of the posts are suggesting
that the illegal actions by the City Manager and City Council be
brought to the attention of the Attorney-General. They will, at
the proper time.
A group is currently compiling a
list of the actions taken in the past three years by:
(a) The City Manager, on his own,
beyond the limits of his power
(b) The City Council by votes
taken that are questionable and possibly illegal
(c) Actions by the Mayor on his
own. The Mayor has very limited power under this form
of government.
The group wants to pick and choose
the issues it presents to the Attorney-General very carefully
and be sure they are serious enough to get the full attention of
the Attorney-Generals office and pass legal muster. The
research is ongoing and serious. The way it is shaping up,
there is a growing list of valid legal, and possibly criminal,
issues.
If the City Manager has any vision
of walking out of Iron Mountain with 120 days salary when he
gets dismissed, he is in for a rude shock. He is much more
likely to be facing not only civil, but criminal violations and
huge legal bills.
This investigation has nothing to do
with any election. It is proceeding regardless of election
results. Very deep pockets and much pro-bono legal work is
behind this effort. That's all I can say for now and for the
foreseeable future.
3-29-2007-01
I don’t know what Kurt’s motives are, but, the
FACT is that on a lot of city issues, there were NO facts given to the
people - only spin - until this website and its predecessor came along.
He is urging moderation now that people are stirred up and venting
over the FACTS that have been presented here? Why is that,
Kurt? If this website is not giving the complete factual data on issues,
it’s because we can’t get them from the City. People post what facts they
can manage to wheedle out of city hall, and they give up those documents as
if you were asking them to cut off their arm.
I know it would probably take a lot of
time, but I hope the webmaster can find that time to extract the numerous
facts presented in posts with documentation links and put all of those facts
on the informational buttons on the home page. The trouble is, Kurt,
that the webmaster would have to create more buttons on the home page
because of all the facts that are sitting there, lost in archived posts.
The webmaster is doing a very good job of posting every fact that comes his
way. Why does that bother you?
3-28-2007-12 Fact #1 The City water main broke at 1200 Grant Street. Fact #2 The result of that break was the damage documented on this web site. Fact #3 The City manager and council to include the mayor did nothing for 10 days. Fact #4 The Elk's Lodge, Bill Revord and Dale Alessandrini organized a call for action. Fact #5 The Mayor is on TV 6 taking credit for the organization of the help. Fact #6 If the frost was still in the ground it would not have caved in. Fact #7 The City of Iron Mountain pumped raw sewage into a Flesheim Street house and the back flow was not natural or gravity related. Fact #8 We have more pot holes on our City streets than the surface of the moon. I could go on and on. Please do not state "And this site provides COMPLETE factual information! yeah right." You have not provided one factual piece of data. Please, read your comments and you will see that your FOREST is totally opinionated. If you have facts, provide them to the web master and I am sure they will be posted. 3-28-2007-11
In response to get abackbone...
And this site provides COMPLETE factual
information! yeah right. As I said, three sides: one side the other side and
the truth.
A speeding ticket conviction is not a
disargreement or a discussion its a violation based on complete facts and if
necessary decided by a judge on complete facts. The violator sees it one
way, the police officer sees it another way and based on the facts
presented, the judge decides where the truth is. I've won and I've lost...
doesn't change my perception. What I am saying is each side sees things from
their own perspective. Judge on facts not on one sides' perception of what
is right. As much as the administrators here feel they present complete
facts..they don't. The facts are presented in favorable light to this
"side's" belief in what is right. As does the city. I am sorry if an
opposing view to the "facts" presented here is admonished with "get a
backbone" it is offensive to me that the very people that are "rising up"
against the city's supposed tyranny are responding with tyrannical views and
anger at oppostion to what they feel is right. If that is not tyrannical I
am not sure what is. If their views are indeed as "correct" and "black and
white" as they say this response of "get a backbone" would not be necessary.
They would encourage opposing views and discussion because they would be
right without question. Their "facts" would stand to opposition because they
indeed were the complete facts. Its interesting that opposing view points
are attacked for their writer's character and not for their substance. The
purpose of my last post was to help people realize that they must
decide based not on one source but on all sources, to see that in order to
decide you must gather as much information from as many sources as possible.
Does a judge or jury decide guilt or innoocence based on the prosecutions
version of the case? Based on the defendant's version of the facts? No I
think not, both sides are presented, information is gathered and somewhere
in both sides' versions the case is decided. So if indeed we are presenting
a forum for discussion than lets discuss, not name call, not admonish.
Present ideas, present facts, present opinions and welcome opposing views
discuss them then resolve...
3-28-2007-10
I have found out about your web site through
various people talking about what a good job done for creating this site. I
decided to visit the site and to my surprise, it is a shame of how our city
leaders are running this town. And you as the tax payers of this town, have
your hands tied in watching the "mistakes" made over and over again by the
same people that were voted into this office. I had moved away from Iron
Mountain in 1962, and vowed I would never return. But, through many things
occurring in my life, I had decided to return for family reasons. And first
let me say, there hasn't been too many changes in this town, since I have
graduated from high school. That is a shame already!
I held an elected office in our little village
where I resided and it isn't easy work to to try to enforce law and
regulations, but what we did, was above board, and we kept people happy to
the best we could. We did not have any "under the table" botches!!! And we
were always inspected by higher authorities within our State that overseas
and governs issues. I would suggest that with all that has been printed in
this site, that these articles are sent forward to the Attorney General, or
the Authority that governs above this local city council and have it
investigated. Also, we had to be a voting resident of our little town to
hold an office, and be paid. I guess it don't matter for your Planning
Official to be paid from our tax dollars and commute from Ishpeming. Do you
think he/she is for the best interest of our voting citizens of Iron
Mountain? This town has not "grown" up yet, and is still being operated
like it is a "village"... What a shame, as our town could be a beautiful
town. What is with all the hotels and motels being constructed? Where do
these people eat? Some people would like some nice dining. Are the owners
that already have a monopoly on the dining in this town afraid to let some
other good mid range restaurants come into town? Afraid of competition?
One dining place elects not to be open one of the days of the week, and
there are not many dining places to choose from, other than mostly fast food
places, and pizza. I do believe that there are many travelers that would
like to have a nice place, that offer a wide range of food, with a nice
atmosphere.
Think about it Mr. City Manager... or should we
be custom to your kind of dining? I have not been able to keep up with what
is happening in this city, but I can assure that if we had a problem in our
little, less budgeted village that has happened to some of your tax payers
residents, that had the unfortunate thing happen like a ruptured sewer or
water break, we would have went far and beyond to accommodate our citizens
in our village. And I am sure as all villages, townships, cities, etc.,
there is insurance to help that citizen. Or, Mr. City Manager, are the
monies not available for some other resource that has not been voted on by
the people of this city? Shame on you and your other members of your
council.
3-28-2007-09
Poster 3-28-2007-05 should lighten up!! He totally missed the humor of post 3-28-2007-01. Does he honestly believe the writer didn't know cones are not a permanent solution to anything? Did he really think the writer was serious when he said the city would probably order 5,000 cones?
If he did, he needs more help than this site
can offer.
3-28-2007-08 In response to you Kurt, are you joking or you just a joke? Or is it that you have your nose so far up where it doesn't belong? I think that maybe you are somewhere in the middle. I think maybe the city officials just don't like hearing the truth and don't like the fact the people of this city have had enough and are speaking out. Congrats!!!! to the people. It is about time that our voices get heard. The city has concentrated so much on bringing new business in at any cost. Do you really think that any respectable business would come here with our roads the way they are? Instead of building up the downtown, why doesn't someone try to clean it up first. And why all of the hotels? Why not more decent restaurants instead of new fast food places? Why not build something for the kids of this city? Why not help our elderly people? After all, they built this city. To the people, has anyone thought of bringing these clear law breaking issues to higher up? They need to be exposed to everyone. How can an investigation get started into the city council? What is being done? We can all talk about it and what has happened and what continues to happen, but maybe meetings should be held to find ways to stop this. Maybe we should do our own investigating. Where there is a will, there is a way. 3-28-2007-07 The City has really taken charge of the 1200 Grant Street Problem. 4 Orange cones to warn of the sink hole and some MISS DIG Paint. What happens now if a kid falls in that hole or rides a bike into the hole on the street? Who will be responsible for that. A true council of leaders would say "getter done and do it right"! I was in that basement to help with the clean up effort. The middle of the basement floor heaved up almost a foot. It lifted with such force that the toilets upstairs were lifted off the floor. The basement floor must be broken up and new plumbing installed. The force of the water also pushed the house towards the lake. This force opened gaps in the basement wall in which day light can be seen through them. Blindness and arrogance will not solve this or any other problem. 3-28-2007-06
Hmm, three sides to every story, eh? There is no
more black and white in this world? There is no more right and wrong? I
always thought the truth was always right. Black and white, not gray.
Are you saying that if you give me a ticket for
speeding, and I take it to court and say I was not speeding, that neither of
us was right? That the truth is somewhere in the middle? You’re kidding,
right?
Think about that, Kurt. In the case of the
people of Iron Mountain, the PEOPLE are the judge. The ONLY way the people
can make the right decision is if they are given complete, factual
information on an issue. The council and manager give only one side of an
issue - always twisted, and you know it, just like the speeding ticket
thing. You are dead wrong to say the truth is
always somewhere in the middle, especially if false statements are involved,
and that has happened on several occasions.
Get a backbone.
3-28-2007-05 I love the comment about the cones
and yellow paint, it shows how much that person really knows about how to fix
the problem with the yard. Kurt Rosenthal is correct in what he said. 3-28-2007-04
Reference the pictures of the caving in
ground...Let's all be patient...the ground is still frozen its not the most
appropriate time to repair ground ,as we ALL know, so once again, lets keep
an open mind. Another shining example of inflammatory, one sided remarks and
incomplete information. Let's look at the forest and not just the trees.
And before anyone gets their nose out of
joint...it is indeed a tragedy that this happened but lets be patient and
let the DPW do their job which they do quite well....
As I type this I am reminded of the "starving
children" commercials...instead of photographing and complaining, just feed
them. IE If you think the woman needs help..help her don't just complain. IE
Bill Revord, Dale Alessandrini and, like it or not, The City of Iron
Mountain. Thank you for your concern and help for this fellow human being.
(let the nitpicking begin....)
Kurt Rosenthal
3-28-2007-03
Here are some additions to the list provided in
post #3-27-2007-01
Civil Service
- Hired several people without going through the civil service system as
required by the City Charter. Police dispatchers, part-time code enforcement
officer, etc.
Code Enforcement
- Hired a code enforcement officer who, 1. Didn’t survive the screening
process for hiring in the police department and 2. How he gets paid is a
total mystery - his salary does not appear on the city payroll OR vendor
reports. Between the two, ALL city expenses are supposed to be accounted
for.
Fire Department
- Degraded our level of fire protection, all the while claiming they made us
safer. The ISO would not be breathing down the City’s neck if what they did
had no affect on the level of protection. MIOSHA has also been involved,
even though it’s "none of their business."
Union Busting
- Hired a union busting city manager that was so gung-ho and tyrannical
about it that, ironically, the city office workers unionized for their own
protection. (See the firefighters lawsuit on the litigation page. One of the
counts is union busting - against the law. Also, in that lawsuit, a footnote
says the police officers were booted from their union for doing what they
were being forced to do. That is more irony - the patrol officers were
caught in the cross-fire while the City was trying to bust the firemen’s
union.)
City Records
- Hired a city clerk whose note-taking at council meetings virtually assures
that you will not be able to get useful information from the council meeting
minutes he draws up. Is that just a coincidence, with so many people
interested in the goings-on of our government lately? I think not.
FOIA -
Violated the Freedom of Information Act by not providing requested
documents. Also, the act is abused regularly by using the "more time
needed" loophole.
3-28-2007-02
To all new faces here...
Remember this: in every discussion, in every
conflict, there are three sides to every story. The view of one side, the
view of the other side and...somewhere in between... lies the actual truth.
Keep an open mind, decide for yourself. Do not be led by the views of anyone
except for yourself.
Kurt Rosenthal
3-28-2007-01
So the solution to sink hole and the large
pot hole in front of Mrs. Occhietti's house is to get spray some yellow
marking paint and place cones.
I looks like we'll have to round up a
dozen Red Hat ladies and a couple pick up trucks of fill to solve this
problem for the city, too.
If the solution for pot holes is to place
cones in front of them, I guess we'll see a payment for 5000 cones on
the next vendors report.
Congratulations to John Marquart and DPW
director Bob Becotte for their innovative solutions.
3-27-2007-07 I would just like to say that I visited this website for the first time today 3/27/07. I must say, it confirmed what I already suspected and knew about our low life Mayor and City Manager. I was also happy to learn that they visit this website often. They are a true disgrace to this town. I understand that there was an incident at Mame's bar involving the Mayor's pocket boy which nothing came of. Do you think that it was because of his last name or that he does the Mayor and City Manager's dirty work??? In response to the question on why so many Iron Mountain residents are putting their houses up for sale, I would have to say that the number one reason would be because of our Mayor and City Manager and the dirty dealings, and yes there are many. The Mayor runs this town like he does Real Estate. I was so disgusted to hear what was done to that poor 88 year old woman. You should be ashamed of yourself Ken Tousignant and John Marquardt. What the two of you did was low, dirty, a disgrace to men (but then again), sick, etc......Wonder what you would do if it was your mother???? Answer, probably the same thing. Enough for now....more postings from me and definitely a lot more people as I am definitely going to spread the word like wildfire about this site and get people to post. 3-27-2007-06
First of all I'd like to thank the WEB MASTER
for the great service that you are doing for our city. As long as we can
keep all of this information coming in, maybe we can get the desired results
come election time.
If only the sewage back up had happened to Mr.
Rigoni or Ms. Jacobs, and then the broken water main at one of their close
friends house, we wouldn't be having all these articles written about
our inept city leaders.
3-27-2007-05 Pictures of 1200 Grant Street with the ground caving in. 3-27-2007-04 Here's what happens in a city with
competent leadership: 3-27-2007-03
I think the first post today, 3-27-2007-01
was one of their best I have ever seen on this site.
Sixteen perfect bulls-eyes right at the
heart of the city council and city manager.
If any post said it all, it was this one. I
wish every voter in Iron Mountain could read it.
Personally, I'm making copies of it and
passing it around.
3-27-2007-02
Webmaster
Thank you for your History of the Website
post. Well done.
I hope you fully understand the impact this
site is having on our community. You are a public servant in every
sense of the word. You are having a major impact on the future of Iron
Mountain by making this site available to us for discussions and a
source of information.
I would also like to thank the people who
have taken the time and effort to get and scan documents to you. I don't
know of any city that has a similar public discussion website run by
volunteer(s).
You efforts are sincerely appreciated.
Thank you.
3-27-2007-01
How would you like to run for
re-election and your voting record includes all of the following:
This what the Silverspoons four are
facing.
1. Blight Ordinance -
Totally botched. It has been sitting with the executive
committee made up of Tousignant, Van Laanen and Rigoni since around
July. Not a word on it. It has to be redrawn eventually, in the
meantime, no enforcement.
2. Rental Ordinance -
Totally botched. After the third version (and the legal
costs that accrue) it will have to eventually be redrawn no matter
which way the court rules.
3. Sewer back up - Totally
botched A citizen, Rob Guguerre, has sewage pumped into
his home by the city and they refuse to pay.
4. Water main break -
Totally botched An 88 year old widow of a former city
employee finds her basement flooded. It takes the community minded
Elks Club to do the clean up because the city won't pay.
5. Fire Dept Lawsuit -
Totally botched City loses, gets scatching letter from
judge, spends many tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars.
6. Bloomquist development project
- Mishandled Probably violated the open meetings
act by holding an unposted meeting on the site. Probably violated
the law by canceling the scheduled and advertised Public Hearing on
the matter.
7. Bandshell project -
Totally botched City wants to eliminate 30 needed parking
slots in violation of its own laws on needs of the adjacent
businesses.
8. Downtown pavillion, etc.
Firestorm erupts Without consulting affected
businesses, drawings are ordered from STS consultants which would
have eliminated 37 parking spaces, in addition to the 30 for the
bandshell area, build a pavilion nobody asked for.
9. Reassessment Totally
botched Gross errors found by Equalization Department by an
assessor who got a sweetheart contract and is way overpaid for a job
that is far from completed, and if it ever is completed, will not
come anywhere near justifying the cost.
10. Legal fees
Outrageous Fees with both the City Attorney and outside
legal firms have reached astronomical amounts, far higher by far
than anything in the history of he city.
11. Underground wiring
Unwanted and unneeded The city propose spending over
$150,000 for one block in the 400 block alley of Stephenson Avenue.
Building owners would also incur thousands of dollars of additional
hook up costs.
12. Street paving Negligible
Miles of city streets need paving, but the city officials
give scant notice. Too busy with grandiose schemes that will do
nothing for businesses or residents.
13. Cool Cities A joke
There is no money for the city in this silly program. Just another
government boondoggle program. How many times do we have to restudy
the same issues and reach the same conclusions.
14. Main Street Program.
Another cost to the city Hire a coordinator, nothing will
happen.
15. Public Works Director
Worthless additional cost Even department employees don't
know what he does. Cost to taxpayers. $48,000 base salary, health,
pension, driving allowance extra.
16. Community Planner
Another Unneeded New Employee Base pay $37,500 plus
benefits, commutes from Ishpeming, won't move here. What caliber of
person do we think we are getting for this wage.
That's just the tip of the
iceberg, taxpayers. Remember the mayor's campaign slogan?
He was going to give us the
"City we deserve" I don't think this is what we had in mind.
3-26-2007-03 I had the occasion to drive by 1200 Grant Street today. You remember, the house that was flooded after the water main break. I recall people wondering where all the dirt came from to form the mud in the basement. Well, it looks like the heavy rain last night solved that mystery, as there is now a caved-in trench/sinkhole in the poor lady's front yard. Have a heart, city officials. 3-26-2007-02
WebMaster,
You are doing an incredible job with this
site. Keep in mind that this is what the citizens of this community needed
to have, so they could be informed of the terrible things that have been
done to their city since Marquart and Tousignant have been on this council.
Through them, the rest of the council have been brainwashed into thinking
Marquart was right while at the same time he was
destroying the morale and infra-structure of Iron Mountain.
The majority of citizens are very disappointed
in this council and those who are serving. We expected far more from them
than rubber stamping Marquart's whims and tactics! They will have to explain
themselves after Marquart is fired and the Mayor is replaced.
Marquart and Tousignant have tried to claim
credit for so much in this city that came about because of the efforts of
others. It was not because of their leadership, it was because of
concerned business owners and citizen's who care! To me, that is an
indication of distortive methods and 1/2 truths to further their own cause
and self interest's for some council members who stand to profit at the
expense of others. We all know who they are!
We don't all agree with city
government at all times, but along with the disagreements, at least came
respect for what the council was trying to do. This
respect disappeared after this man came into our mist and now the community
has awoke to the damage already done. (So did other community's in the past)
Respect for citizens and their opinions
is none existent with this council!
Marquart and Tousignant's time is almost up! If
not, we will be in a world of hurt!
Tell others, write to the "speak -out" and
"Voice of the people" and list this web site number to everyone you come in
contact with including articles in the paper.
Come November, this will probably be the most
important election this community has ever experienced!
Keep up the good work WebMaster!
3-26-2007-01 The History of this Website - by the Webmaster This site is a successor to a site that was called Public Curiosities. That site ceased operating because of the time constraints of its webmaster. That webmaster then offered assistance in starting a new one, but stated he would have very little time to help in the future. I came into the picture when someone found out I could manage one. I volunteered and www.ironmountainissues.org went live on August 20, 2006. Until the Speak Up article appeared in The Daily News on Saturday, March 24, 2007, a full seven months following its start-up, this site was strictly word-of-mouth. My function is to screen the posts. All manner of opinions are offered and discussed, pro and con, on a wide variety of issues. I also received many scans of documents that people had received through from the City of Iron Mountain through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), newspaper articles and many other sources. Many of them were very interesting and informative. In those cases, I created buttons and established a category for them. My only motive for volunteering was to create a platform for discussions on issues affecting the City of Iron Mountain. I was amazed by the amount of information that came in, by the sophistication and knowledge of many of the writers on various issues, and especially by the number of visitors. I never thought such a narrow purpose website would generate the numbers it has. I have learned a great deal myself. It is the writers, not I, who choose what they want to write about. Which way the pendulum will swing on any given issue is up to them. There are so many viewers and writers that corrections on various points are common. I do not control opinions. I have refused to post only half a dozen or so posts since last August because they were so off the wall. I do not correct spelling on posts. All e-mails are discarded after posting. They are archived by month on the site. I am always open to suggestions for improving the site. No purpose is served by disclosing my identity. The focus of the website should be on the city and the many issues that concern the voters and taxpayers, not on me. I expect the viewer ship to continue rising as more people become aware of the site and the election season approaches. 3-25-2007-04
Some new visitors may be interested to know that
there are seven months of archived public forum comments.
They are interesting because some have documentation links included in
them. After you click on public forum, click the black box at the top
labeled forum home page to access the older comments. There were a lot of
very interesting things said and discussed.
3-25-2007-03
Gentlemen :
Hope that our side streets on
the West Fide will soon be repaired by filling in the deeeeep holes
(especially in the 500 block of Spruce ST.). Maybe some day we can
actually get this and many other cross streets re-black topped! They really
need it. It will save our tires and suspension systems on our cars.
Thanks M.Kesler, Taxpayer
3-25-2007-02 When have you ever seen the City of
Iron Mountain not get along with Breitung Township, Norway or Kingsford? 3-25-2007-01
Yesterday's Speak Out alerted
readers to the existence of ironmountainissues.org. This is my first time
here and I find it very informative; albeit, I'd be very nervous if I were
an elected official!
I can see the necessity of
anonymous commentary, but it seems only fair to see somewhere on this page
an informational button showing how this site began and its creators. Come
on, own up. Go public.
3-24-2007-04
Thank you.
3-24-2007-03
Based on information contained in the Vendor
Reports, the City's property and liability insurance carrier appears to
be the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority (MMRMA). One of
the entries identifying MMRMA can be found in the July, 2006 Vendor Report
which can be accessed on this site's home page under the Vendor Reports &
Claim Summary link.
3-24-2007-02 It says the city's insurance company is investigating the problem. Who or what is the city's insurance company? Does anybody know? 3-24-2007-01
For anyone interested in the standards,
practices, policies, ethics, etc. associated with the City Management
profession, visit
www.icma.org for information.
3-23-2007-07
I just finished reading post #03-23-2007-06.
When you talked about the new construction in Iron Mountain, you did not
mention the new college. I agree that the City is spending our tax money on
promoting frivolous, fanciful pipe dreams designed to attract new retail
businesses that will pay their workers part-time minimum wage without
benefits. I think they should be focusing on attracting new industry with
our tax money, instead. The local business people should think about that.
Do they want the rich business owner shopping at their business, or would
they prefer the business owner and twenty or a hundred of
his employees shopping there?
Back to the new college. With all that you
said, isn't it ironic that the city is having a new college built? This
will give all the young people with no decent outlook for their future in
Iron Mountain a way to get out with an education, giving them a chance
at a better job someplace else. Ironic, to say the least.
3-23-2007-06
I have some thoughts on the way our country is
going that I think deserve some serious thought by others. These thoughts
are mirrored in a recent article by Mark Gaffney that I saw in the Detroit
News, 03-16-2007. They are directly relevant to Iron Mountain because of how
things are being done at the local level. I think that our business
community - commercial & industrial - should think seriously about this.
When you reduce a worker’s ability to spend in
our local economy, say, by cutting their benefits or pay, their ability to
pump up the local economy is seriously diminished, due to having a lot less
disposable income after paying out-of-pocket expenses. Does anyone really
think we can compete with Chinese workers that make less than one dollar an
hour and have no benefits?
Reducing or eliminating pensions and/or retiree
healthcare coverage tends to make paupers out of the retired. They can no
longer be thought of as healthy consumers. The more you cut, the more
consumer spending decreases. If it gets to a certain point, we call it a
recession.
One more thing that suffers is this. What kind
of loyalty does a part-time employee with no benefits have to his employer?
Where is the incentive for efficiency and productivity? As soon as that
worker finds a decent, full-time job with benefits, he will be gone, even if
it’s to another state. Isn’t that what is happening to Michigan right now
and, to Iron Mountain itself? And, how can that worker contribute to the
local economy if he/she is fighting just to keep even with the necessities?
Unfortunately, this is exactly what is happening
at the state and local level. Just locally, think about all the new
construction for new businesses. We have, most notably, new motels and
restaurants going up. This is after we had Walmart, Home Depot, Subway,
Sherwin-Williams, Little Caesars, etc. These are almost exclusively minimum
wage, part-time jobs with no benefits. How is that helping our local
economy? Contrast that with the destruction of Khoury’s manufacturing. Not
the greatest wages, sure, but they had some benefits to offset that a
little.
We have the City out-sourcing work - the
cemetery and garbage come to mind. Instead of having full-time workers with
benefits performing the jobs for a very comparable rate, we now have fewer
well-compensated people able to spend in our local economy. You can’t tell
me the GAD employees are getting comparable wages and benefits after their
management gets a big cut of the contract amount. So, a smaller number of
dollars is left over for the local economy.
Another example of the City’s short-sighted
thinking is what they did to the police and fire departments. Maybe they are
saving a few taxpayer dollars with the cuts and cross-training. Maybe. I
have not seen any proof of that, but I remember the estimate being around
$200,000.00 a year. Is that really boosting the local economy? The ISO
could, and probably will change that when the city is re-rated soon. What
good is that $200,000.00 savings if our property insurance rates rise? It’s
a double whammy because, not only do we have less fire protection, we also
have more money leaving the local economic picture and going to big
insurance companies. I predict that figure will far surpass the 200 grand
figure we "saved". I think that money would be better spent by having enough
actual firefighters to provide quality fire protection, thereby keeping that
money in the city for local economic growth, don’t you?
Our local economy is headed for a disaster if
City tax spending keeps going in the current direction, ignoring the
deep problems they are creating in essential areas, in order to make money
available for flights of fancy. 1.3 million dollars for a parking lot is
outrageous - maybe even negligent - when you look at the entire economic and
financial picture of the City, and that's just one example of many in the
last three years.
We need our City and its business community to
think very seriously about these things. This was not meant to be taken as
just a city government issue. We don’t need more restaurants and motels as
badly as we need new industry that will pull new money into the community,
and give its workers enough pay and benefits to have the disposable income
necessary to boost other aspects of the local economy. Sure, tourist income
is necessary, but a lot of that outside money will never be spent in Iron
Mountain because of the lack of benefits and low pay of the workers in those
industries. Cutting wages and benefits hurts everyone, not just the workers.
3-23-2007-05
Response to post 03-23-07
I agree and I think most concerned citizens
agree, that we must have the right people run for council.
Dale Allessandrini, Ted Corombos, Jim Urbany and
a few other names that have past experience in city government like Joe
Rogina (past acting city manager) would do very well for this city and are
people with integrity and not afraid to stand up against opposition and
dictator tactics.
It is easy to get rid of people like Marquart,
Tousignant, and Rogini! Just remind people what they have done to this city
over the past few years and how they will continue to waste tax dollars for
personal gain. Citizens of Iron Mountain are not stupid and many of them
have already been affected by this council's tactics.
Be aware though --- These people will begin
damage control very soon and will distort and tell 1/2 truths and use the
media to convince people they are right and the citizens are wrong! We must
campaign as never before and make the truth known! This posting is our
greatest hope!
If anyone writes into the Voice of the people or
Saturday's speak out, they should ALWAYS give the web site of
ironmountainissues@ironmountainissues.org and encourage people to dial
in for the truth.
Finally, those who write in must provide
accurate and truthful information that exposes Marquart, Tousignant and
others for what they really are. Name calling and other innuendoes will not
convince the public. Truth will!
Lets go citizens! Start the campaigning now and
don't let Marquart scare or intimidate you!
He's like a bully --- stand up to him and he
melts like a snowball in hot weather. Watch him twist his mustache and you
know you got him! As far as Tousignant, he hides behind the bully. Get rid
of the bully, and he will also be gone.
3-23-2007-04
The post today that complained about the
Mayor and City Manager both going to the MML convention will not
be any happier to know that City Clerk Jordan Stanchina and
that Britanny (whatever her last name is) who runs Main Street program
left Tuesday morning to join the dynamic duo in Lansing.
Stanchina has been on more trips in his year
or so as City Clerk than the previous Clerk took in decades of city
service.
3-23-2007-03 I have seen the January and February 2007 payroll and vendor reports for the City. There is still no record of how the code enforcement officer is getting paid. What is going on there? I heard from a city employee that they had to be issued a second set of W-2 forms this year, because the first ones they received had the wrong employer ID number. How does that happen? Could these two things be connected somehow? Who is the Code enforcement officer working for, if not getting paid by the City? Is their now a phantom company set up to hide costs? I think these are valid and very serious questions that deserve answers. 3-23-2007-02 It just was'nt Marquart and
Tousignant that went to the MML meeting in Lansing they also toke Jordon the
treasure and Britney the main street coordinator. According to my sources
Britney did not have any reason to go and that the DDA is her boss not Marquart.
Why oh why are we flipping the bill for all the travel? The Manager and Mayor
left on Monday and the other 2 left on Tuesday for the 2:00 meeting on Tuesday.
So why did they leave a day earlier? 3-23-2007-01
Post 3-22-2007-01 did get a little carried
away with optimism. He/she also brought out some good points. Watch
for the council review of Marquart's performance. Watch for the pay
raise they give him. He is sure of a 3% raise, but it can go up to 10%
according to his contract. It's available on this site.
How the election turns out depends
first and foremost on who runs. We don't know
yet who will run. In a city the size of Iron Mountain, word gets around
pretty fast on the reputation of candidates. Even if you don't know all
of them personally, your friends, associates, other family members, etc.
will and can give you good feedback.
One advantage new candidates have is the
voting record and statements made by incumbents over the past four
years. In the current situation, there has been so much publicity and
controversy over so many issues that were not handled properly that new
candidates have a big advantage they usually don't have.
Again, it depends on who runs. Their
reputations will become well known in short order. The reputation of
the incumbents versus that of new candidates will be the determining
factor.
3-22-2007-05
I have a question…
Are we, the taxpayers, paying for this trip that the Mayor
went on with Marquart (the MML meeting that had them both absent from the
council meeting)? If so, how is that justified? In our local system of
government, the mayor is just a title given to one appointed councilperson.
His main purpose is to conduct the Council meetings and perhaps handle a
little PR. Why do we need to foot the bill for him to accompany the City
Manager on a trip? Isn’t Marquart capable of getting enough out of these
meetings without the Mayor’s assistance? For a group that is supposedly
trying to trim the budget, they sure know how to waste money when it comes
to themselves!
I’ve never seen an administration spend as much on travel
expenses as this one has. How many needed expenses could be covered if they
spent less on all these trips…. especially the ones when they chartered
planes and sent several ‘delegates‘ to do what one person alone could do?
That’s just unheard of in the past administrations.
3-22-2007-04
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence,
it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never
for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."
George Washington
3-22-2007-03 I'm not sure Mr. Marquart, or this
current council, including the Mayor, are even convinced that they are despised
by so many. They all seem to move in small circles of supporters and,
therefore, are blinded to the whole picture. If they were even remotely aware
of the discontent among the majority, some on this council might be thinking
twice before agreeing to everything this Manager and Mayor propose. They show no
signs of being aware. 3-22-2007-02 To: Writer
3-22-2007-01 and like-minded individuals. 3-22-2007-02
I am a little disturbed about recent comments
here that talk about how things are going to change at the next election.
Some writers sound like they think it’s a done deal. Nothing is ever a sure
thing. The current council members still have a lot of influential friends
out there, quiet as they might be. The problem with that is they have the
right friends - the ones who vote religiously. Don’t count your
chickens yet. In order to affect change, there will have to be a
concerted effort to get people out to vote who don’t do it on a regular
basis, and an ongoing effort to counter the spin machine that will be
kicking into overdrive very soon.
So far, the best counter to the city spin
machine has been this website. More people need to hear about it. I wish
this site would erect a large billboard somewhere in the city. That would
cost money, but I'm confident that would not be a problem, given the number
of people who would gladly make a donation.
3-22-2007-01
Based on past history, John Marquart
gets fired after an election. His old council buddies
get kicked out and the new ones are elected by a public fed up with his
antics. The same thing will happen in Iron Mountain in January.
The print media as well as radio and TV,
which he courts shamelessly, also see through him eventually, and become
far more balanced as time goes on. This is happening here too. This
time around he also has this website to contend with. As a clearing
house and community information exchange, it has been very helpful to
all of us.
In April, he gets his annual performance
review by the City Council. It will be interesting to see how they
handle it this year in view of his many huge lapses in judgment and
obvious lack of management and people skills. His glib tongue, got him
the job in the first place. It has worn out its welcome with the voters,
but probably not with the misfits who represent us.
Another glib one, the mayor, will praise him
to high heaven. Of course, we know him all to well by now. I hope he
runs for re-election so he can be properly embarrassed.
I have heard some very formidable people are
seriously considering running this fall. If it's true, there is still
hope for open, honest and competent government in Iron Mountain, and a
new City Manager.
3-21-2007-04 Can you believe what a resident from Norway wrote in the Daily News tonight about the city taken fast action on the water flooded basement. Some Jack Obrion wrote that even the Mayor went on T.V. to ask for help. Its to bad that he does not read the paper he puts articles in. The City did not have anything to do with the clean up it was the Elks club. We need to set the record straight that the city had over a week to do something and did nothing until the paper ran an article about the Elks organizing the clean up. Get your facts straight before you write a article in the paper please. 3-21-2007-03
I don't think the City Manager and Mayor
will be all smiles when they return from another junket and read the
front page of the Tuesday, March 20 edition of The Daily News. Three
stories on the front page, all of them showing the administrative
deficiencies of Iron Mountain city operations.
Then in Wednesday's edition a Letter to the
Editor from Jack O'Brion of Norway asked how a second floor toilet can
overflow for any other reason than the high water pressure the city put
into the sewer line to try to blow out a blockage just below Rob
Giguerre's house. That's as obvious an open and shut case as you will
ever see.
Not responsible, the city said, in a letter
signed by the lady who is Chief Financial Officer. Why would a Chief
Financial Officer even get involved in this in the first place?
Because when the going gets
tough, our gutless City Manager John Marquart hides behind skirts,
that's why. He literally forced her to sign the letter because he is
her superior. So we can now add gutless to the long list of adjectives
that describe him accurately including compulsive liar, arrogant,
heartless, mean, control-freak and incompetent to name just a few.
3-21-2007-02
I would like to thank Ms. Lodhia for her honest
and forthright comments. She is a refreshing change from her predecessor. I
look forward to hearing more from her in the future and hopefully she now
realizes that our City Manager and Mayor do not always present the truth
when asked. It always pays to get all sides of a story.
Keep up the great work Pooja.
3-21-2007-01
According to The Daily News article on the
Monday Iron Mountain City Council meeting, both City Attorney Jerry
Pirkola and Acting Mayor Doug Rigoni told Rob Giguerre that his sewage
back flow problem is still being investigated by the City
administration and its insurance company. They said they were going
through a "required process."
More crap. If they were telling the truth,
why has Giguerre already receive a letter denying the claim?
Will this City Council, City Manager
(and now add the City Attorney to the mix)
EVER TRY GIVING AN HONEST ANSWER - JUST ONCE.
Seems like the epidemic of lies started by
Marquart and Tousignant is spreading around there.
City Hall should be renamed the "Hall of
Lies."
3-20-2007-08 There must be a change in the wind. First, we see the TV6 reporter showing us what she's made of, and being favorably recognized for it. Then, the Voice of Iron Mountain for decades, Frog Country's Aaron Harper. The day would not be complete without also giving kudos to the Daily News for their excellent reporting on last night's council meeting. Great job today all around for our local media. I think it was John Marquart who once said in a newspaper article, "The times they are a-changin.'" 3-20-2007-07
For those who claim this site has too
much whining, look at the well-deserved compliments that have been paid
just today to Pooja Lohdia, Larry
Swartout, Ted Corombos and Jim Hogan.
The cream rises to the top.
3-20-2007-06
You know how Marquart & Tousignant are usually
on the radio with Aaron Harper every Tuesday morning after the council
meetings? This morning, we had the refreshing opportunity to hear Mr. Larry
Swartout on with Mr. Harper. Aaron did a great job of
allowing, nay, encouraging Mr. Swartout to repeat his
information for those who did not attend the council meeting. Thanks
Aaron. You da man!
The same goes for Pooja Lodhia. It is so
refreshing to see so much integrity present in a news reporter. I'm sure
you will go far, Pooja.
3-20-2007-05
Anyone who was at the City Council
meeting last night heard Larry Swartout, Dickinson County
Equalization Director, explain in a very clear and concise way, the
failings of Rich Brook, the Iron Mountain Assessor.
The Council chambers were packed and
about a dozen people had to stand for the whole meeting. There were
empty chairs though. Marquart and Tousignant were at some Michigan
Municipal League meeting in Lansing. Sally Jacobs was excused
because of a previously scheduled vacation. Robin Tchokreff, who
probably has the worst attendance record in history of the city,
was, well, missing again.
Nevertheless, Swartout got their
attention. He gave many examples of grossly mispriced properties.
This, he pointed out, is inexcusable. Brook, who wasn't there, has
frequently stated that some properties had been incorrectly assessed
in the past. Apparently he thought he could solve this problem by
setting his own new record for incorrect assessing.
To its credit, this website and many
posts by various people had predicted this problem long ago. They
were dead right. One more example of Marquart's magnificent
hiring's, shrouded in a bid process that was tailored so only Brook
could get it. Am I right in noticing the chickens coming home to
roost?
3-20-2007-04
Hats off to Larry Swartout for an excellent
presentation at the City Council meeting last night.
What a breath of fresh air to hear someone
competent explain the work of someone incompetent, namely Rich Brook,
Iron Mountain's mediocre and grossly overpaid excuse for an assessor.
Thanks, also to Dawn (don't remember her
last name) who is the assessor for Kingsford and Breitung Township. She
took a well deserved shot at Mayor Tousignant who had been quoted
earlier in The Daily News as saying the other assessors in the county
should follow Brook's example.
She said, in so many words, "No, we'll do it
right." Touche!!!
3-20-2007-03 For those of you who missed this in
The Daily News....... 3-20-2007-02
Pooja Lodhia is to be commended on her
post. Well-written, honest and admitting some short-comings on her
part in the past, she is going up the learning curve very quickly.
It can be very daunting for a young lady
from Louisiana, looking for her first job upon graduation from
college and finding it with TV 6, to find herself in Iron Mountain,
a city she had probably never heard of a year before.
Alone, knowing no one in the area, she
found herself thrust into the high pressure requirements of the TV
world. She knew nothing about the area, its history, local politics
or anything else. She not only had to find and do stories, she has
to lug the quite heavy camera and tripod every where she goes.
Poodja will never be mistaken for a Russian woman weightlifter. She
is small in stature, but energetic and hard working.
I believe all of us should give her some
slack. She may have been used to some extent by the
Marquart-Touisgnant spin machine in the past. We know they use the
media for self-serving purposes of every chance they get. I think
she's a fast learner and will be far more careful going forward. It
is not in her best interest to be perceived as a dupe for them by
viewers of TV 6. Her credibility is much more important to her
career and opportunity for future advancement, and I'm sure she
realizes it.
3-20-2007-01 Dear Pooja Lodhia: 3-19-2007-05
After reading all of the posts on this forum, I would
like to both explain my actions and ask for your help. I'm Pooja Lodhia,
the TV6 News reporter for Iron Mountain. I'm not from around here, and I'll
admit that I'm young, inexperienced, and don't have a very strong background
in area politics. However, I believe that the people of Iron Mountain
deserve my most valiant efforts to put forth truthful, unbiased news,
whatever it may be. I believe this forum is a great way for members of the
community to engage in a thoughtful discussion of city events. As a
reporter, I think it's my responsibility to be involved in this discussion.
In my story last week about Ms. Occhietti's home, I
chose to speak to Ms. Occhietti, her son, and the mayor. I knew that the
Elks had planned a drive before city officials had, but I chose to
concentrate on the city's efforts because my story was about what happened
to Ms. Occhietti and how the city was dealing with it. I did not mean to
imply that nobody else in the area was doing anything to help Ms. Occhietti
and her family, but, as is the nature of news, I only have a limited time to
get my point across. I believed (and still do) that the most pertinent
information at the time was what the city was doing in response to a
situation that they obviously caused. I understand that many area residents
felt slighted by the way I chose what to report on, but part of my job is
choosing specific information to create a coherent story. So many people in
the city are doing so much to help Ms. Occheitti, and, with my limited time
(one minute and thirty seconds), how can I possibly mention all the people
helping her?
As for my "being in the city's back pocket," I honestly don't think I'm
in anybody's "back pocket," and if you all think differently, I encourage
you to contact me anytime with story ideas and information that you believe
that I'm not reporting on or incorrectly reporting on. I realize that
I interview both the city manager and the mayor a lot, but they
are integral to most city operations, whether anybody likes it or not.
Please feel free to call me at 774-0166 or email me at
plodhia@wluctv6.com.
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you,
Pooja Lodhia - TV6 News
3-19-2007-04 Thanks Mr. Corombos for the honest and very informational answer to a posted question. 3-19-2007-03 North Star (Systems Control-Boss Snow Plow) Parking Lot issue by Ted Corombos, TIFA Board Chairman An inquiry was posted at post # 3-18-2007-01 about the history of the large parking lot behind North Star Industries operations. I will try to explain the history of it. Four or five years ago, before all but one of the current City Council members and before John Marquart was City Manager, the city was approached by North Star Industries. They stated they were running out of space because their business was expanding. They asked if the city and/or TIFA could get involved with their expansion plans and move things along. Their first choice was a five acre parcel across Quincy Street from their current operations. That site had been purchased years earlier from the city by Peninsula Beverage, but they had not developed it. They built their building just south of that parcel. North Star’s proposal was that the city, actually TIFA, purchase that land and deed it over to them. In exchange, they would build new offices and a parking lot on that site. They would also make major changes at their current operations by eliminating all the cramped offices and convert that area and more to needed manufacturing space. The cost of all this ranged from $6,000,000 up to $15,000,000, depending on various scenarios. Peninsula Beverage offered to sell the land for $20,000 per acre or $100,000. Their original purchase price was either $1,200 or $1,500 per acre. TIFA would be paying a premium for the land, but the capture of even the lower, $6,000,000 proposed expenditure, would have made it financially viable. TIFA would capture their investment in a few years. North Star, quite sensibly, wanted an environmental study done before getting a deed, so they would not be facing future liabilities. TIFA hired Coleman Engineer to do a preliminary study for around $5,000. They found some methane. TIFA and North Star agreed to do a more in depth study of all five acres, not just the few holes that were part of the first study. They split cost of the study 50-50. It came to just under $20,000. The premise was that hopefully, some of it may be methane free. It wasn’t. This parcel was used years ago by the city and local wood products manufacturers as a wood landfill. The city mostly put stumps of trees in there. All of this was filled over when the city developed the area into an industrial park, in some parts by as much as twenty-five feet of fill. As a result of these studies, building on the land was out of the question. The methane risk was too high. North Star asked for proposals from Kingsford, Niagara, Aurora and perhaps other units with the thought in mind that they may move out of Iron Mountain. The State of Michigan was losing many jobs as it was and was not anxious to have over 200 more jobs lost to Wisconsin or other states. A grant was applied for and received, for up to $1,000,000, from the state to remediate the site for parking purposes only, if the city would match 10%. TIFA agreed and pledged $100,000. The actual cost came in under $700,000 as I recall. TIFA’s presumption was that by taking all the parking away from the manufacturing area, North Star would expand in that area with new offices and enlarged manufacturing capabilities. While all this is going on, Iron Mountain was looking around the Pine Mountain area to build a water reservoir. In the process, they discovered that Timberstone had mistakenly used some land for the golf course that was still city-owned. If the city had reclaimed it, it would have been quite disastrous for Timberstone, which was up and running. As luck would have it, the same principals owned Peninsula Beverage and Timberstone. A no-money land swap was arranged. That’s how Iron Mountain ended up with the five acres that are now the parking lot for North Star. The city swapped land they didn’t know they owned for land they wanted and TIFA saved $100,000. Then things get even weirder. Both the Peninsula Beverage building and the Khoury Assembly building up the hill became available. North Star bought both of them. North Star is really two businesses. They manufacture Boss Snow Plows and also manufacture complex electrical panels for the utility industry. They have had problems storing the inventory build up of Boss Snow Plows, which is seasonal business. The Peninsula Beverage building alleviated this problem. At the Khoury building, they built a substantial office complex and I am told they moved some or all of the electrical panel business there. The Khoury building is outside of the TIFA district. The size of the parking lot, somewhere around 500 spaces I believe, was built under the premise that all manufacturing operations would be in the original location. There was an allowance for future growth and for ample parking during shift changes. As it turns out, with the electrical panel division up the hill at the former Khoury property, all of the employees working up there also obviously park there. As a result, as events evolved, it turns out the parking lot is way too big. My understanding was that some arrangement would be made between the city and North Star whereby North Star would be responsible for all costs, plowing, maintenance, resurfacing and a fee in lieu of taxes. I assume such a contract has been entered into. If you’ve read this far, you understand why I said in my earlier post that it had many unexpected twists and turns. I hope my explanation satisfies you. 3-19-2007-02
In reference to post #3-18-2007-04. You are
right. There is a lot of unnecessary whining and ego-swelling going on here.
I think the finger-pointing is well-deserved, though. I disagree that people
are not doing anything about it. The whining and finger-pointing are coming
from a feeling of helplessness, from being constantly ignored when voicing
opinions to the council and manager. From being shoved aside time after
time in favor of special interests. What else CAN people do in this
situation? It’s true there are many, many problems in this city. This
council and manager have managed to create more problems than they have
solved. They have not even managed to tread water with the old problems
that were already there!
Seems to me the Mayor has managed to brag about
many items, including things he had nothing to do with, so I don’t see where
you are coming from, unless it’s hypocrisy. In fact, the mayor has even
bragged about problems he has created, trying to call them successes. This
website is giving people a chance to do what they can to voice their
opinions. That IS something. And it's about time, too.
3-19-2007-01
To the writer of post # 3-18-2007-01 who
inquired about the parking lot by Boss Snow plow operations: It is a
question that deserves an answer. I will try to get a report on this site
in a few days. It is a long and complicated story covering about 4 to 5
years with many unexpected twist and turns. Ted Corombos, TIFA Chairman
3-18-2007-04 It surely seems to me that there is a lot of whining and finger pointing as well as ego swelling going on here in this great city. Grow up, if you want something done, you have the American right to run for council, manager or even the mayor yourself. Don't point the finger and act like you have all the answers when you aren't doing anything about it. Sure it was great to see the local support of the recent flooding, but there are hundreds of problems in our city and I'm sure the city is doing what they can because I don't see anybody else bragging unless it gets them some PR or they see an opportunity to place blame rather than to look at the big picture and work towards progression. 3-18-2007-03 The thought occurs to me that the mayor and city manager are actually jeopardizing the success of the Cool Cities program, and that is really a crying shame. These programs offer so much that people are not even hearing about and increasingly don’t care to hear about. They keep trying to make us something we’re not, while totally ignoring what we ARE. You can’t make us Traverse City. We have no water, a major highway running through town, and bitterly cold winters. They keep quoting parts of the cool cities philosophy, which is, in essence, “the new urbanism”, “pedestrianism” “Traditional neighborhood design” and etc. Even Walmart is looking at this philosophy…considering an urban look and downtown locations for two of its Golf Coast stores destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. We get it. But to try to copy another city that isn’t even remotely like us, and to pick and choose grandiose ideas out of the sky and try to apply them here is totally irresponsible. To shove them recklessly and arrogantly down the throats of people who have lived here all their lives, invested in the downtown, and care about their neighbors is just totally not acceptable. We all want change, we want improvements, we want to stay here. But talk to us, get our input. We know more than you what we need because we’ve been doing business downtown for many years. You’re turning people off to Cool Cities and before long there’s going to be no more enthusiasm. It’ll die like a lot of other ideas. There are valuable tools out there for us to use, but please – GET A PLAN that works and to do that, you have to start listening. Brian Crough’s presentation (DDA chairman, Traverse City) was interesting. But the mayor and city manager must not have heard him say “I’m big on knowing yourself and knowing what your community wants” and they also must have tuned out the part about the PARKING RAMP Traverse City built…which has retail shops and restaurants right in it. And…how far do those people walk to get where they’re going?? 3-18-2007-02
I don't know what happened at the so-called
emergency meeting of the City Council. I know that nobody from the City
Council showed up Saturday at Mrs. Occhietti's house to help. Just as
well. They would just have been in the way.
The mayor, despite his self-serving PR blurb
on TV 6, would not have been greeted with open arms. Same for Marquart.
There is structural damage to the house.
Now we'll see if the city kicks in. And let's not forget Mr. Giguerre
as his sewer problems. These city created messes aren't over with
yet. They hope the publicity fades, but it won't. Too many are
watching them now.
3-18-2007-01 I would like to know more about the parking lot built in the industrial park by Boss snow plows. Someone on this web site mentioned that the city now owns this land, and of course now the parking lot. Is this true? If so, how did the city go about purchasing the land? Did TIFA pay for the land? Did the city? This whole thing smells like rotten eggs too me. Please help! 3-17-2007-02
I was hoping to see information this morning on
how the emergency council meeting went. No such luck. If they don’t pony up
and actually take responsibility for that flooded basement, this poor woman
will have been victimized twice by this city administration. Nobody seemed
to care the first time, when they cut health insurance. In fact, a few
council members actually snickered when another elderly widow addressed the
council when that happened. I was there. I saw it. Disgusting. No one
cared then. Why?
I hope this helps the other poor guy with his
flooded basement, too.
3-17-2007-01
I never did think our immature Mayor
Ken Tousignant had much in the way of brain matter. His
comments on the video clip on this forum proved he has even less than
the little I gave him credit for.
Did the idiot think he was going to
fool Iron Mountain residents, who had read the facts of the disaster at
June Occhietti's home in the front page of
The Daily News?
He may have fooled residents of
Houghton, Marquette, Ishpeming, Negaunee and other areas who don't get
our newspaper, but the dingbat forgot one thing.
They don't vote in Iron Mountain elections. We do. We
saw through this sham immediately, and have one more piece of
information for November, not that we needed more.
An earlier post stated that 1000 residents
would storm city hall if our illustrious city manager tried to suspend
Officer Revord. He/she was probably a little low. I, for one, would
bring along an ample supply tar and feathers as well and do the job
right.
3-16-2007-09
The Mayor, as always, tries to take credit
for something he didn't do. The clip on this website shows the
pitiful, desperate DAMAGE CONTROL effort by the Mayor
to take credit after the Elks, Bill Revord and Dale Alessandrini had
already organized the drive to clean up Mrs. Occhietti's home.
It was only after he knew the horrendous
backlash the city created for itself and a community drive was already
organized to help Mrs. Occhietti that he made any move at all. Pooja,
the local TV 6 correspondent, did not bother to get comments from the
drive's organizers. She seems to be in Marquart's and Tousignant's hip
pocket.
Don't worry about any
suspension of Bill Revord. It will be
cold day in hell when a City of Iron Mountain employee cannot do good
community work on his off- time.
If Marquart tried to suspend Bill Revord, a
contingent of 1,000 angry citizens would be organized
within 24 hours on Bill's behalf and storm City Hall in a scene that
would be unlike anything this city has ever seen. Then TV 6 and Pooja
would have some really dramatic footage.
If you don't believe us, Marquart, try it.
Your intimidation days are over.
3-16-2007-08 You must watch the TV 6 clip and then listen to how the Mayor is taking credit for organizing the help project. http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/Link.asp?L=232574 Warning it might make you sick to your stomach when you hear him. 3-16-2007-07
Adding to comment 3-16-2007-05, speaking about a
rumor to suspend a police officer:
That rumor seems to be spreading like wildfire,
as I had heard it myself at a downtown morning kaffee klatsch,
and before seeing it on this website. I think that, maybe a year ago they
might have tried that, but there is too much scrutiny now.
3-16-2007-06
TV6 News link to flooded basement story last
night. You be the judge.
3-16-2007-05 Please do not be fooled by who the real leaders are. Bill Revord, Dale Alessandrini and the Elks Lodge are. The first response by the City Manager and the Mayor was to leave this woman on her own. Do not be fooled by the Cities propaganda machine on who took charge of the situation. The citizens of this town did, not the politicians. It was only after the City Manger made a huge mistake, thinking the City was immune from this situation because of the Michigan's Sewer Law Public Act 222, that they decided to help this woman. I had also heard that the City Manager wanted to suspend Bill Revord (Iron Mountain Police Officer) for embarrassing the City for organizing the help. Rumor only. Very disturbing how this City Manager, Mayor and the Council think. Very disturbing. 3-16-2007-04 News Release on the volunteer clean up March 16th, 2007 News Release Iron Mountain Elks Lodge 700 Bill Revord, Community Activities Chair The volunteer clean up response called for by the Elks Lodge 700 can be scaled back somewhat after a generous donation from the Violla Environmental Services of Norway. This is great, we find we can now announce that the call for community elbow grease can be scaled back somewhat. Violla Services had contacted the City of Iron Mountain Thursday and were at the Grant Street hone of June Occhietti that afternoon. In a matter of 45 minutes they were able to literally suck the heavy mud right off the basement floor. The Elks project committee thanks Violla Services for this major contribution tot this effort. This will allow us to now call off the Bucket Brigade as what is left is the destroyed appliances and furniture that will have to be hauled out and wash down and to suction up the remaining muck. Another major contributor to this effort has been Colleen and Mike Carey who have donated the expertise and equipment of their Service Master Company. Had tools in the form of squeegees and gloves have been offered up by True Value Hardware in Kingsford and are very appreciated. The outpouring of concern for the plight the Occheitti family has found themselves in has been unreal. It is a crystal clear example of why we choose to live in Dickinson County. I would like to thank the many folks that were ready to respond to t he call to clear that basement of the mud with bare hands and buckets.... We now have the need for no more than about 20-25 volunteers who are able to do some heavy lifting. We know by calls received at the call center and Elk member's homes that well over 100 were responding. We cannot thank you enough. Any question please contact the Elks Project Call In Center at 774-5357 or Bill Revord at 774-3659. Bill Revord 3-16-2007-03 I watched the TV6 early news last night. I was so glad to see that the mayor has stepped up and organized a cleanup brigade for the mud in the basement at 1200 Grant Street. I don’t understand why people are trying to give credit for this to Bill Revord and Dale Alessandrini. Given the mayor's shining moral character, he would not stoop so low as to take credit for something he didn’t do, would he? The newspaper must have got the story wrong the day before. I hope the cleanup is a resounding success, regardless of who organized it. 3-16-2007-02
I heartily endorse post #3-15-2007-02 that
suggested three names for the city council. I have heard that
Dale Alessandrini is almost sure to run. That's good. He was
a good watchdog when he previously served and has a deep interest in
city affairs.
The other two names, Ted
Corombos and Jim Urbany are awesome
suggestions. I can't think of two people in the whole city more
qualified. Let's do everything we can to encourage them, but don't wait
till you run into them to do so. Write or call them -
NOW.
Ted Corombos 774-1400 or
774-7367 1115 Wells Street
Jim Urbany
774-9378 212 N. Pine
3-16-2007-01 I am wondering why the persons
organizing the clean up of the Grant St house turned down a free vacuum truck
that is capable of removing a majority of the mud from the elderly woman's
home? I do understand that a volunteer effort is being organized - I see the
merit in this. I am curious as to the reasoning here. Why not have the machine
remove the bulk of the waste? Why did they wait to get involved until others made the effort? 3-15-2007-03
Thanks for the ISO issue
update post along with the letter from the ISO to John Marquart. I
guess our City Manager was too busy to return repeated phone calls from
July to December 2006, a period of five months.
Not too smart of you, Johnny-boy. You can
sweep things under the carpet for only so long When it becomes as
lumpy as your carpet has become on many, many issues, you might want to
consider a graceful exit from Iron Mountain before November, or for sure
before the new members are sworn in in January.
At your age, it will be difficult to explain
why you got the axe in three out of your last
four jobs. The headline story in The
Daily News announcing your firing will follow you the way the
Dormont dismissal did. If a prospective employer then found out about
this website, I don't think you'd find a $20,000 a year job. You know
how to flip hamburgers?
You'd
have to find a very dumb council in some Podunk town with no electricity
and certainly no internet. Something to think about, Johnny-boy.
3-15-2007-02
I would like to recommend Dale Alessandrini for
our next nominee for city council. He is knowledgeable, not afraid to face
tough issues, he holds the mayor, manager and council accountable for their
actions and can be trusted to do what is right and fair for the whole
community of Imt.
Ted Corombos and James Urbany are 2 others whom
we can trust, have experience, integrity and good knowledge of city
government and I hope they too consider running for office. With their
efforts, we will get rid of this corruption!
When you see them, encourage them to help us!
3-15-2007-01
Remember the ISO "non"-issue? Those slowly
turning wheels seem to be moving there, too. Judging by the July, 2006 ISO
letter posted on this site, this later letter, dated December, 2006, has the
appearance that someone is running for cover.
3-14-2007-14
I agree that some posts on this site get a
bit, shall we say, lively. Nevertheless, where else can citizens learn
as much as they've learned in this ONE place.
This site has had the courtesy to link the
the City of Iron Mountain website. Be assured that
courtesy will not be reciprocated.
This site is not self-serving. It allows
all manner of opinion. If the general public believes the city is not
run for "the greatest good for the greatest number" of its citizens, and
chooses to express their views, it is not the fault of the website.
This website is as close to a total community gathering place we can
hope for. It is probably a close approximation of the views of the
entire community. It's a never-ending straw poll of voter interests and
concerns.
The City Council and City Manager would be
wise to heed these concerns. So far, there is no evidence that they
have done so.
3-14-2007-13
Congratulations
Dale Alessandrini, Bill Revord and Elks Club
Your quick action in
mobilizing the clean-up effort for Mrs. June
Occhietti is a true example of community involvement
at its best. What a contrast to the position of
our city officials. The Daily News,
to its credit, gave EXCELLENT FRONT PAGE coverage
to your efforts.
For both Bill and Dale,
this is far from their first effort in community
service.
At Bill's urging, Dale,
with the help of the Laborer's Council he heads,
have been involved in the green area improvement at
Carpenter & B, the site of the old Erickson gas
station. Bill has been seen more than once watering
that area and I believe cutting the grass.
They were both heavily
involved in the northside ball field (now renamed
Chapin Field). The dugouts were put in by the
Laborer's council. Other good citizens also
cooperated.
They would both be
excellent additions to the city council, but Bill is
a Iron Mountain Police Lieutenant and is prohibited
by law from running. I hope Dale runs this fall.
He got a very bad and unfair rap because of his
association with the old hospital property. That's
history. His service and dedication to Iron
Mountain is indisputable. Run, Dale, run.
3-14-2007-12 I would like to thank Mr. Bill Revord and Mr. Dale Alessandrini and the Elks membership for taking control over the water flood situation that occurred at this older women's home on Grant St. I am also happy to see that our community is taking care of our elderly citizen even though the City will not. I hope that a lot of volunteers show up. Once again, thank you 3-14-2007-11
I would like to ask for restraint from some of
our writers in this web site.
As you are, so I am also, very angry at this
council, manager and mayor. What they have done to this city and to many of
it's citizens, is reprehensible, and they have caused far more damage than
they have done good in most areas. Division among it's citizens, and anger
over distortions, 1/2 truths, arrogance and ego seeking self interests are
even more reason for us to get rid of this city government in November and
hold them accountable!.
However, this site has also become a name
calling venue and though much of what has been said is true, it serves no
purpose in helping with the real issues.
It is understandable for the anger, because the
manager and mayor think alike and together they think they have control over
all matters in this community. They think wrong! They have push us too far
and now Pandora's box is open and cannot be closed until we get rid of them.
Write in with all of the facts, express your
opinion about matters to the whole community, encourage others to do the
same and wait for a few more months! This will end soon.
The community has rallied and will put an end to
this arrogance in November. Remember, we will not only elect a new council
and mayor, but we will get rid of a dictator who should have never been
hired in the first place! Maybe after being fired from his 4th job, he will
learn that people are human beings and they are to be treated with dignity
and respect, especially in a beautiful community like Iron Mountain, where
we care about each other!
As far as Marcus Blomquist goes, just consider
the source, place him on ignore and don't dignify his comments with a
response.
3-14-2007-10
Reply to 3-14 2007-05
This was not a closed meeting. I personally, at the last council meeting during public comment invited the council members to look at the property to consider what the ramifications of the sale would be. Anyone could have come and given their input for or against. I would think that you would be pleased that the council members took the time to see first hand what problems would be caused by the sale. I would like to thank those council members for making the extra effort and going to the site. They very well could have just taken someone's word or looked at the plans saying this looks good on paper let's do it. Give credit where credit is due. Robert Bouche 3-14-2007-09
As you can see in Marcus’ latest post:
3-14-2007-08, he continues to avoid the real issue - doing things
secretly, behind our backs, with our tax money. It could have been a
flower shop grant, with the mayor owning a flower shop. It could be a new
construction grant, with the mayor owning a construction company. You get
the picture. You cannot defend against the real issue hear, Marcus. IF YOU
COULD, YOU WOULD HAVE DONE SO ALREADY.
3-14-2007-08 Posting Material I will not post letters to this site that merely criticize a person sexual orientation. This site is designed to get information to the public on issues that we are facing. A persons sexual orientation is not considered an issue. I don't want this site to become a battle of opinions. Please lets just keep it to the issues we face and as much fact as possible. Thank You. Webmaster 3-14-2007-07 The very fact that you use the
phrase "Gay Agenda" is homophobic. Is there a "Jewish Agenda"? The Nazis thought
there was. Is there a "Black Agenda" to take over inner cities? The KKK thinks
there is. Is there an "Arabic Agenda" to take over taxi service in the New York?
Is there an "Asian Agenda" to take over spelling bees? 3-14-2007-06
If ANYONE thinks this
whole downtown thing is anything less than as massive effort to make
the downtown a GAY HAVEN, they aren't paying
attention.
Our mayor is on a MISSION.
The whole Cool Cities program has an underlying thinly
veiled Gay theme. Read the Mackinac Center website.
The mayor brings in
a DDA director from
Traverse City to make a pitch. This Bryan Clough character has been
living off the public since he hit town. See post 3-7-2007-7.
The November election is do-or-die time
for Iron Mountain voters. If the weasel dictator Mayor runs and
gets re-elected, we have some serious problems.
Thanks to whoever posted 3-07-2007-7.
It reconfirmed in spades what I believed all along.
This site gets plenty of hits, but I
think it needs even more publicity. Tell your friends, Write to
the Speak Up column. If this site needs financial support, I'm sure
they can get plenty from the decent citizens and taxpayers. It is
truly a god-send.
3-14-2007-05
Open Meeting Act
Michigan Attorney General's Opinion on meetings
to discuss sales of publicly owned real estate:
3-14-2007-04 I would like to apologize for not catching the remark posted on this site in reference to "flamers". That post has been deleted. Webmaster 3-14-2007-03
Marcus wrote this in post #3-11-2007-06:
"Also I find the homophobic
area of this site quite pathetic."
The only area he could be talking about is the
Cool Cities tab. After looking at that, I can only conclude that he wants
factual documentation suppressed. There is nothing BUT documentation in
that area. Homophobic? Why is it homophobic? The entire purpose of that
area is to show that
1. There is, WITHOUT QUESTION, a homosexual
agenda in the Cool Cities program, and that
2. The people were NEVER told about that part of
it. A deliberate omission of controversial information.
There is nothing homophobic about showing that
there could be a secret agenda for ANY reason. It just happens to be the
gay issue is all. Marcus, you appear to be the most hate-filled person I
have ever seen. Much worse than the people you throw stones at every time
you send a fresh load of crap our way. I hope you have a contingency plan
for when you get cut off from your gravy train.
P.S. He is right about the "flamers" comment.
Totally inappropriate and counter-productive.
3-14-2007-02
Reply to was the charter violated?
These people were there at my invitation. So they could see first hand what problems would be caused or not caused by the sale. In my opinion the charter was not violated. It was my idea to have them there not theirs. About the problem that I had with Marcus. That is between him and I. I would hope that contributors to this site would refrain from name calling. Just stick to the facts. That is the best way to get your point across. Robert Bouche 3-14-2007-01 Mr. Mayor, you should be ashamed of yourself for using a so called friend to do your dirty work for you. I know who Marcus is as well as you. I also know he was always a very polite, compassionate, respectful young man. Instead of using him for your dirty work, maybe you should consider helping him by getting him to finish school and go on to get a better education, instead of using him to take a punch for you. If you have any kind of self respect for our city or your position these things would not being going on at all and shouldn't be. Mr. Bouche as well as any-other business owner in our town deserves a lot more respect and consideration from you and our council. We vote for you and deserve a much better showing than that. I personally would like to see an apology here that is very much deserved. Your behavior has been reprehensible I'm sure to anyone who knows of this incident. 3-13-2007-09
Two things:
1. What the heck is a "GAMES convention"? Are
you referring to the Timbers incident?
2. Mr. Bouche, I hope you also sent your post in
to the Daily News as a letter to the editor. We already knew Marcus was a
liar. Now we know he is an arrogant little toady, too. Like the tiny
little dog barking big when the bulldog is around.
3-13-2007-08 Quote from post 3-13-2007-03 "The meeting was to address problems with sale and abandonment of city property. Myself, Mark Blomquist, Mayor Tousignant, Dan Burke, Sally Jacobs, Jeff VanLaanen and John Marquart." Sounds like the Council, City Manager and Mayor violated the City Charter and the Law!!!!! 3-13-2007-07 If Mr. Bouche is correct in describing who was present from the Iron Mountain City Council at the meeting behind his business last Friday, I believe it would be a violation of the open meetings act, in which a majority of the council being present. I hope the meeting was posted. Probably not, just another disregard for the charter and the law. 3-13-2007-06 Dear Webmaster, Iron Mountain Issues Association, and Supporters, The service you're providing with this site, warts and all, is highly commendable. Seems to me that the very existence itself of this noisy, messy, but fair forum with its free and growing exchange of facts, opinions, and ideas is as important or more important than the actual content here. A person doesn't get much exchange and discussion through the local media anymore, and none at city council meetings, which look like indirect, uncommunicative, and insane forensics exercises. No one converses there. Those things are just pro forma presentations every two weeks engineered to exclude as much public participation in government as possible. I'm grateful that you provide this site. I know a growing number of others are too, though some hope you'll try to eliminate some of the heavy and voluminous static so we can more easily find the many clear signals here and there. But, even as it is, thank you. Keep up the good work. 3-13-2007-05
There is not much more to say about
Marcus Blomquist's character, intelligence, maturity or lack of
respect. Mr. Bob Bouche said it all. (See post
3-13-2007-03) I had heard about this incident before Mr. Bouche's post,
and not from Mr. Bouche. It was described to me exactly as he posted
it.
More surprising is that his dad, the Mayor
and the City Manager, all much older and hopefully more mature than
Marcus, did nothing to intervene. That also tells me a lot.
To Marcus: If you ever had
a tiny shred of credibility left with any viewers, it is gone forever.
To Mayor Ken Tousignant:
You'll have to find another patsy to agree to let you use his name, not
that we wouldn't see through it anyway.
3-13-2007-04
The City has low income housing that is exempt
from the rental ordinance. The housing is very attractive and kept up well
by the housing commission. The argument on sucking up city services on run
down rentals is ridiculous when you look at how many times
the police are called to the nice looking housing on Phil Rahoi Drive. Nice
housing did not change the people, or the amount of time our police have to
spend with this element. It's a stupid argument.
It's too bad there are a few
authentic slumlords out there making it worse for everyone, property values
included. You should be ashamed, because you
unjustly made all the decent landlords into targets along with yourselves.
Also, it was nice to see someone call Marcus
on the carpet after a face-to-face meeting.
3-13-2007-03
Response to 03/12/2007-07
Marcus I will be more than happy to tell you my name. It's Robert Bouche. At a meeting behind the police station in Iron Mountain on Friday 03/09/07 I had the distinct displeasure of becoming acquainted with you. The meeting was to address problems with sale and abandonment of city property. Myself, Mark Blomquist, Mayor Tousignant, Dan Burke, Sally Jacobs, Jeff VanLaanen and John Marquart. This meeting had absolutely nothing to do with you. In I had no idea who you were when you arrived. It didn't take long for me to find out. I was speaking to the mayor about plowing snow and where it was going to be stored. In your foul mouthed arrogant way you decided you had to defend the mayor and disrespect me at the same time. Not to many years ago there would have been a very different outcome to this foolish mistake. As we all do, well most of us anyway, I have become wiser and able to maintain my composure. When confronting you I had to make a very conscious effort to do so. What was totally reprehensible was that neither your father, the mayor, nor Marquart had enough guts to put you in your place. In my opinion that says only one thing. This was all a plan to have you instigate me enough so that I would lose my temper and put my hands on you. That way they would have me right where they wanted and the outcome of the special meeting on Monday night 03/12/07 would have been much different. Instead of the meeting being canceled, developers would have gotten their property, the strip mall would be going in, I would be sitting there with a public alley with no public access. This is speculation! It sounds feasible doesn't it? Marcus, if you if feel the need to address me in the future, I am Mr. Bouche not Bushcat. That name is used by people that know me well or are friends. You sir are neither and never will be. The sale of this property by the city was never a personal thing. Your disrespect of me and your father just letting it go has made it very personal. You have done nothing more than to strengthen my resolve. A suggestion would be, that your father or the mayor teach you the meaning of the word respect. Otherwise you are going to be causing them many more problems in the future. 3-13-2007-02
WEBMASTER
Your heroic efforts in maintaining this
wide-open website are providing a platform that is unprecedented in the
history of Iron Mountain.
You are truly a public servant in
every sense of the word.
If, as some have posted, most of the
comments are against the city officials, that represents the feeling of
the contributors. You are not censoring the website. If you were,
Marcus and others would have been barred.
I am constantly amazed by the deep digging
up of documented facts by the various posting
participants. A lot of citizens are expending a lot of time getting the
information they post here because they care.
This website is a true representation of the
community. Unlike City Council meetings, the open exchange of ideas is
encouraged, not discouraged. This website has done more to lift the
veil of secrecy than would be possible under any other venue.
I know I speak for thousands when I
say Thank you, thank you, thank you.
3-13-2007-01
I got a kick out of the new ELECTION
TIME CLOCK on the home page!
Add another 55 days,
and you get the date of the swearing in of the new City Council.
The Reign of Terror ends on
January 6, 2008.
Shortly thereafter, City Manager
John Marquart will be fired for the third time
in his last four jobs.
Iron Mountain will the
belong to the people once again.
The nightmare will be over.
3-12-2007-14
What company insures the City of
Iron Mountain?
3-12-2007-13 Marcus - your buddy the Mayor's character is supposed to be pure and above reproach. Well, ask him to describe the last time he hosted a GAMES convention in Iron Mountain. And bring us the answer, if you dare. He knows what I'm talking about. Why isn't THAT promoted on the city website? Maybe we should get some of the pictures on there. Or, failing that, on here. 3-12-2007-12
Marcus Blomquist,
Though you don't have any clue about what you
are talking about and clearly you don't analyze the facts, nor spend the
time needed to make judgments on the real issues in this city, it is
none-the-less humorous to read your comments.
Everyone knows who you are and just considers
the source of where the comments came from. After that -- a good laugh and
filed away.
Tell your friend the mayor Hi.
3-12-2007-11 This site is getting around 10,000 hits a month and growing. Of that there are over 1,500 different address's visiting this site. Granted some people are return guests. With 8,000 residents in this town and almost 20% are visiting this site and expressing a dissatisfaction with how things are being conducted at the leadership level, I would say that there are more than just a "couple mystery contributors" to this site. Thanks for caring. I get no personal gain from providing this site or the work requires to maintain it. None! Webmaster 3-12-2007-10 Please itemize the monthly vendors report to reflect the additional police and fire protection cost associated with rental properties. Because a tenant plugs 10 items into 1 outlet does not make the landlord at fault. There are posts listing council members who's own property do not adhere to the Cities Ordinance's. Yet, were do we find these ordinances listed. The Cities web Ordinance Site area has not been updated since 2005. Oh, I'm sorry do as I say not as I do. And you must read our minds to figure out what is going on. It costs too much money to put up with the B.S. is this town. I think that is why people move to the township and that is why the township is so distant from our City. The judge ruled that the current rental ordinance is greatly flawed and must be corrected before it will hold water in court. The City Manager and City Attorney assured the council that that the last amendment was the best they could do. Not!!! Who has wasted the money here? Is this ordinance going to fix my decline in property value due to no jobs in the area or a budget deficient due to the creation of a bandshell downtown? Not!!! Just because the City Assessor assessed 10 million more in property value does not mean the city has 10 million more in its budget. Shame on you, you are a fool. Judgment day is near. 3-12-2007-09 Thank you for your support, but please, in all due respect do not put words into my mouth, I do not agree that this is the worse council, while it has its moments of question, it is the first to think beyond the present. I would say that the worst city council was the one that felt that Iron Mountain's city limits were big enough thus handcuffing future generations of residents with its current size and limiting the opportunity to what was on hand at the present (then) instead of looking to future growth and needs. Something we must no be creative to pursue. 3-12-2007-08 $96,000 in fees = The overwhelming amount of police, fire and city services drawn to low income rental dwellings in man hours and overtime to follow up on the incidents that occur there and a fraction of the amount that property values are lowered in the surrounding properties. If you really think that these properties don't draw the man hours I am describing just ask. AND don't lower surrounding property values you are blinded by your own needs. 3-12-2007-07 Here we go. It seems Mr. Rosenthal
that anytime someone disagrees with the couple mystery contributors to this
site, attack and smear is the only response. Welcome to the club. Fun isn't it? 3-12-2007-06 Mr. Tchokreff does not live on West
C Street; but his house is a sight. He has unregistered junk cars in his back
yard, a stove pipe sticking out the front porch of his house... just general
disarray. And look at Mr. VanLaanen's properties... junky yard, run down
garage.... Let's make THEM comply with the ordinance FIRST! 3-12-2007-05
I'm glad to see someone brought up Robin
Tchokreff's house. Don't you just love that stove pipe, or whatever it is
poking out of the front porch! He also has un-licensed vehicles and
assorted junk in his back yard. At least last time I was back there he did.
He's not the only board member with less than desirable property either.
What's fair for one has to be fair for the other.
Just like these water and sewer issues... If a
council persons house, or their relative's, were flooded by the city crews,
would theirs get paid for?
3-12-2007-04 In response to the post of 3-11-2007-07: By all means, why isn't the City making Council members AND THEIR FAMILIES come into compliance with the new Blight Ordinance. Shouldn't they (and their families) be setting the example for the rest of the citizens. I've been by Councilman Tchokreff's house too. If he can get away with the condition of his house and yard, why can't the rest of us? C'mon City Officials... BE FAIR! 3-12-2007-03
To the person who wrote in to this web site and
said that $96,000.00 in fees is fair for the landlords.
Scenario:
Your neighbor's home is run down and not
safe to live in. It is a fire trap and very unsightly to all in the
neighborhood and it clearly lowers the value of your property.
You have 2 choices.
(1) Have the city enforce the existing codes and
get the home repaired and in good condition again at no cost to you..
(2) Have the city past another ordinance and
charge you a fee of $80.00 for helping to clean up your neighbor's home.
Which are you going to choose? Think you should
pay for your neighbor's neglect?
Read about the facts before you make judgments
about something you know nothing of!
3-12-2007-02 Reference to post 3-11-2007-09 What services are these dwellings getting from the City that cost $96,000? A landlord does not get Homestead Tax Credit! We pay Tax on the money we profit from, if there is any! We pay for the same services that any other house in the City pays! We pay 44 mills in the City of Iron Mountain. A person in the Township pays 22 mills. What do we get for our additional 22 mills. Now don't say water and sewer. That's an additional charge on your water bill, and pumping raw sewage into your house is free. What we are seeing here is residents of Iron Mountain venting their frustration. We are banding together to change things in this community. Having a bandshell for the Hog Wild Fest is not the change we are looking for. Wasting money to hide behind technicalities rather than facing the problem and solving it. Delay, Delay and Postpone is the tactic of a person who doesn't know what they are doing. Tell you what you want to hear rather than what you need to hear. I feel the winds of change blowing on this web site. 3-12-2007-01
Has the city has either been
getting sloppy legal advice? The City
Attorney is not intervening enough when the council and manager go off
half-cocked. The City Attorney may not be in the loop early enough, but that
is unlikely.
Whatever the reason, the city is involved many kinds of litigation. There are enough missteps already to trigger a series of lawsuits, aside from those already in progress. Does the City Attorney have an interest in preventing lawsuits, or is it in his and his firm's financial interest to have to defend the city. Clearly, the second possibility yields far more billable hours. The legal costs this city council and city manager has incurred are unprecedented and astronomical. People and groups don't sue the city because they have nothing better to do. They do so because they believe they have been aggrieved. The City Attorney wrote the Blight Ordinance, that has been sitting with the council's executive committee (Tousignant, VanLaanen and Rigoni) since last July. It has not been enforced since the public stormed the council chambers in protest. The Rental Ordinance, another creation of the City Attorney, has been revised twice and is due for a third revision. The billing clock keeps running. How much has this sloppy ordinance cost the city, not only in preparation cost, but the subsequent litigation it triggered? The Fire Department litigation cost the city many tens of thousands of dollars, and the city lost. The judged ripped into the city mercilessly in his decision. When you have a rogue, loose-cannon, egotistical City Manager running loose and a City Council that doesn't have a clue, the City Attorney has a client that can be quite profitable. Will we get our city back in November, fire the City Manager, and get down to the serious business of running this operation sensibly? Ever wonder why Kingsford, Norway or Breitung Township don't have a site like this one? It may just be that they have reasonable councils and boards running their affairs. 3-11-2007-09 I do call $96,000 fair because the city spends that and more in services provided to these dwellings so, in order to recoup expenditures and reduce costs, it is both fair and cost effective. $50 a year per unit spread out over 12 months of rent, not all that hard for a landlord to recoup...if his property is safe and passes. Otherwise, they fix it or call it a done deal and unload the property either way, one less dangerous, uncitely, rental running down a neighborhood, ruining its neighbors' property values and one more low cost house for a deserving family to hopefully purchase at low cost and reinstill pride in ownership and better themselves and their city. Seems pretty simple. 3-11-2007-08 The City of Iron Mountain is NOT SELF-INSURED. 3-11-2007-07
Speaking of the property maintenance code and
hypocrites. Has anyone ever been by Councilman Tchokreffs brothers house? I
think it's on the 600 block of W. "C" St. Looks like a real fire hazard,
death trap, dope house, low rent , scum bag place to me. Send the local cops
into his house unannounced and see what they can find during their
safety inspection.
"Big Brother is Watching"
3-11-2007-06 I am responding to a few posts
against me. let me clarify something. I am far from an idiot for one thing and
just because I didn't graduate high school means nothing. I got my GED and did
some schooling at bay. Also I dropped out for more personal issues then just to
drop out. I did not even know the mayor at the time. I think its pathetic that
you slam me. Is it because you have nothing else to say that you have to attack
me? Also I find the homophobic area of this site quite pathetic. Referring to us
as flamers is far from appropriate. You want to post things. Post facts not the
crap you continually post. 3-11-2007-05
Mr. Rosenthal, you have taken quite a verbal
beating for your comments lately. I just want to say that, in my book, it
was courageous and proper for you to post that clarification in post
3-11-2007-03. It also showed some personal integrity. I mean that.
Let's give the guy a little break here, folks.
He is not in the same category as Marcus Blomquist, who throws dirt
everywhere and is proven wrong by documentation over and over and over. If
writers were not so harsh in their response to Mr. Rosenthal, I think he is
smart enough and open enough to weigh the pros and cons without the negative
bias caused by criticizing him. However, it is definitely not in his best
interest to risk retaliation by openly agreeing that the current city
government is the worst we have ever seen.
(In the interest of diplomacy, I am trying very
hard to ignore that fact that there was plenty of factual documentation on
this website on many issues that he could have looked at before he wrote
in. He should have thought of this before signing his name to anything.)
3-11-2007-04
Mr. Rosenthal
You have no idea what you are talking about! Why
do you think we have the International Property Maintenance Code (ordinance)
past by this city council in Aug 2004. It is designed to take care of these
bad landlords and poor substandard housing in the whole city. Don't try to
throw out the baby with the dirty bath water!
Problem for the city is --- it also covers the
run down residential homes which are far more in number than rentals!
Enforce the code we already have and the city home owners will be in an
uproar and that is political suicide for the city government! They know it
and so do the landlords. Do you actually think the occupants of run-down
residential homes have their lives in less danger than tenants just because
it is not a rental unit or do you not think their life is not as valuable!
Seems to me, if the city collects $30.00
registration plus $50.00 inspection for 1200 rental units, it adds up to
$96,000.00 in the city's coffers. Do you actually have enough fortitude to
call that fair?
If it were not for Marquart and the Mayors
arrogance and self interests, this dispute would have never gone this far.
They were told several times at a council meeting that we would not lay down
and allow this discrimination. We also told the council we would work out a
solution that we all could live with. Marquart's ego will not allow him to
lose, even when it cost's the tax papers $1000.00 of dollars. (Then he has
enough guts to say that he was responsible for the organization of the Land
Lord's Association! (That was a ploy that backfired on him because he
thought we would all lay down and accept his agenda of discrimination.
Rest assured, this is not over yet. An appeal to
a higher court, ----- a boycott, ----- another appeal, and finally a new
election to replace this corruption is still to come!
If you are so concerned about fairness, then
read about the facts, think it out and then don't be like the council
members who are brain washed by Marquart. (He distorts the facts and
tells 1/2 truths and the council believes him! Why do you think he was fired
from the last several jobs! Are all past city councils wrong and only
Marquart is right? When you smell smoke, there is usually a fire!
Finally, you stated people on this site hide and
lack courage because they don't sign their name. That is so far from the
truth!
Working for the city, caring about your job and
family, dealing with reprisals, does not make you a coward. It does make you
vulnerable though, when you have a city manager who thrives on this kind of
intimidation and thinks he is safe by distorting the law!
Wake up and see what has happened to the city
that you claim to love.
3-11-2007-03
Clarification:
I am sorry that it sounds like I meant to
categorize everyone that needs low-cost housing as criminal element. I did
not intend to do that. I intended to categorize the LANDLORDs that let their
buildings become eyesores, fire traps, and dangerous places to live, those
that have no concern for their property OR the property owners that surround
them NOR concern for the neighbors themselves. These are what I meant to
categorize as DRAINS on our community and CITY. Those landlords that merely
rent to tenants because the state provides the rent, those that rent to
people without concern for the BACK rent OWED other landlords or the damage
they have brought to other structures. I apologize to the hardworking people
who just need affordable housing. Not only do they need affordable housing
but it should BE SAFE housing.
Kurt Rosenthal
3-11-2007-02
I took a moment to look up the city code for
parking facilities, and found the following rather interesting.
Sec. 74-482 General Requirements for Parking
Facilities.
(3) Reduction of Parking Area. No
parking area or parking space which exists at May 31, 1995, or which
subsequently thereto is provided for the purpose of complying with the
provisions of this chapter shall thereafter be relinquished or reduced in
any manner below the requirements established by this chapter.
The code goes on to explain the amount of
parking required per type of building use. After a quick ride from Brown St.
to "B" St., I would conclude that there is already a shortage of parking
spaces downtown. (Note: I'm sure I could be off a few as the code didn't
mention beauty solon/ porn video shop requirements.) And of course my own
experience of trying to park close to the businesses I'm
patronizing brings me to this conclusion also. I vote the city council give
up on the downtown parking lot idea!
Now for a few of my positive suggestions:
(Nothing new, just maybe someone will listen this time)
1. Use the city park pavilion for more
activities. You just spent all that money to update, now USE IT! Hold your
farmers markets, flea markets and other such activities there. A little
money spent on advertising by the groups using it will get as much
attendance as the current operations downtown. Plus it's always dry inside.
2. Do we even have a business in town that sells
snow skis? Do we have a cross country ski trail at city park? Now let's see,
if that business would rent the pavilion and offer people to try cross
country skiing, could that be a win-win situation?
3. How about a snowshoe BINGO run?
4. How about 4th of July activities actually
held on the 4th of July? The parade is the best in this area, let's
keep people in town ALL day and night. Games, vendors and such at city park
would be awesome. Fireworks on the 4th. More people would be willing to
donate money for fireworks if they were actually shot-off on the 4th.
5. Downtown businesses need to get out and find
what other groups are doing. Do downtown businesses work with let's say DAHA
to see when hockey tournaments are in town? Do they help sponsor food,
lodging and entertainment packages for the kids and their families?
6. Those of us that don't own a business should
not have to spend our taxes promoting downtown. Business owners need to step
up and promote themselves!
7. If the soccer, football and baseball leagues
want better fields, let the associations prove they are worthy. Put
ALL the parents to work as volunteers for a few years. Make it part
of their by-laws. Sports have become a drop-off and run deal for parents
these days. Work with your children on creating something nice, maybe this
will give them some respect.
I could go on and on. If this city council is
so interested in putting the downtown in the 21st century then make
everything a call ahead with your cellphone/drive-thru business. If they are
interested in saving the whole city they might want to look "back to the
future".
3-11-2007-01
The City of Iron Mountain is self
insured.
3-10-2007-05 Let’s flood the city manager’s car with 3’ of water and mud and then tell him his insurance won’t pay because it was obviously caused by … whoever obviously did it. He has to spend $$$ out of his pocket to get a new heater and pay for cleaning it up and other damages. What do you think will happen?? I do have a suggestion. The poor woman should try to join in the other lawsuit – start a class action suit. I bet others will join in. Just trying to give some positive input here! (we should all try harder…I suggest that if you say something negative, you should have to counter it with something positive!!) 3-10-2007-04
I know what Mr. Rosenthal is saying in his
follow-up post. He is not wrong about how the police are more apt to respond
regularly to certain neighborhoods and certain rental houses over and over.
However, it disturbs me that all renters who cannot afford better housing
are being stereotyped by our police officers. And, that the city sees
the landlords as somehow responsible for the private behavior of their
tenants.
If I buy a gun at Kmart and then shoot someone,
Kmart is not responsible. Smith & Wesson is not responsible. And so on. That
lawsuit and many like it have come and gone.
What I am hearing between the lines from Mr.
Rosenthal is very upsetting. The way to get rid of the criminal element in
town is to (1.) drive the price of rental units up so that cheap thugs are
not attracted to the city. Fine. What about the many more people out there
of decent character who are in the same boat financially? Are they scum,
too? Does that make it appropriate for the city to (2.) have an excuse to
"inspect" a person’s private living quarters, and maybe find something else
while they are there? Another reason for thugs to not want to live here,
yes, but at what cost?
The International Property Maintenance Code
addressed every possible problem out there in this respect. It was never
enforced, and we now have an extra ordinance for rentals that allows city
officials to bill landlords for the privilege of performing illegal search
and seizure of private property. Is that what we are willing to give up our
freedoms for? I greatly sympathize with Mr. Rosenthal, because his point is
valid, but a police state is not the answer.
3-10-2007-03
In regards to Mr. Rosenthal's comments, I find
your definitions of courage and cowardice laughable, and at the same time,
quite sad.
When you sign your name to an anonymous website
only to blindly defend the people that sign your paycheck,
this is not courageous in my book. "Kissing up", "brown-nosing", and a few
other words come to mind, courage is not one of them though.
In the future, if you're not too terribly
consumed with currying favor with the present City administration, can you
at least admit that there are deficiencies in the City government? Can you
scrape up enough courage to admit they treat their citizens
and employees like dirt? How about admitting they spin, twist, lie, and
distort the truth when the need suits them? How about coming up with an
original idea to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Iron
Mountain, instead of trying to make yourself look good by simply agreeing
with whatever your employers say?
There are proper, moral, and ethical ways to
conduct business and effect change, This council has yet to find those ways.
Courage indeed.
3-10-2007-02
I find myself agreeing with Mr. Rosenthal
on at least one point. There were a few posts with documentation showing the
very distinct probability that the mayor has a hidden agenda that dovetails
with his sexual preference. I took the point of those posts to be the hidden
agenda, not the sexual preference itself. Then, a few people write in and
start gay-bashing. That’s the part I agree with Mr. Rosenthal about. Those
who were quick to write in with that kind of thing should go back and
re-read the original posts with documentation and they will see that
sexual preference is not the issue, but what
the mayor is doing in relation to that, with our tax money, and behind our
back is definitely a legitimate issue.
3-10-2007-01
In response to 03-09-2007-9,
Sir it is you that does not have a clue as to
the drain of resources the rental (low end) units are to this city and its
community and the danger they impose to the renter and its community. You
must own one of these units for if you really had experience with the
slanted stairways, basement bedrooms w/no windows, ancient wiring, poor
construction and maintanance you would see that something has to be done.
The danger to their occupants and the people that have to rescue them is not
acceptible. Just because a state agency has waved its wand and said they
will allow/pay for lower income people to stay there doesn't make them safe
or a benefit to their city, neighborhood or neighbors. Its a nice thought to
say that the stay insures they are safe but its just a thought. It COSTs
everyone in the neighborhood in property values. This ordinance while,
intrusive to some, really does not affect the ones that care. Why? because
the one's that care take care of their property thus can demand enough rent
that they can absorb the costs and dont rely on state agencies to pay the
rent for them, which in turn DONT draw the people that demand services..So
to tell me that the rental problem is beyond me you know not what you say. I
have been in almost EVERY low end rental unit in this city..some that are
burned out some that have had assaults occur inside and some that are just
plain hazardous to everyone that enters them much less live their and I
return to them over and over and over and over. Something has to be done
about the delapidating neighborhoods in our city. If one step is to make
landlords insure they are safe, well constructed and well maintained then so
be it. thus everyone's property values go up, demand for services goes down.
3-9-2007-09 Mr. Rosenthal: Obviously you don't have a clue. The rental problem is beyond your understanding. The city wants the landlords to pay for more B.S. Here's a question. If the rental unit is already inspected by a Michigan State Agency then why does the landlord have to pay again for a city inspection? The City units do not fall under this ordinance because they are fall under a Michigan State agency program. The City Council would like you to believe that the ordinance is for the safety of the renter. If the rental unit is that bad then leave. There are plenty of units for rent in this town. Or do they stay because they owe too many other landlords back rent. The rental business is not all glamour. What you are reading on this web site is not hate. Its my right, as an American and a Veteran, to express what ever concerns I may have about what every subject I like. I read concerns about our civic leadership or lack of leadership. In one sentence you would like us to believe that everything is OK and not to complain, but then what about the gentleman with raw sewage pumped into his house or the elderly lady with a water main that breaks and floods her basement. I do see the forest through the trees and is looks like dirty pool to me. 3-9-2007-08
So much hate....none of the recent posts or any
of them for that matter have provided ANY positive suggestions or ANY
suggestions at all for that matter, they just spread HATE and ANGER. Those
that question and spread hate about the ideas and the people that share
them, (and that's what they are ideas), what ARE YOUR SPECIFIC ideas and
suggestions on how to improve Iron Mountain (other than a new council which
to you is easy)? Do you have real, VIABLE suggestions based on what has
worked or do you just want to spread hate. We don't only need jobs but
we need quality people to STAY here to fill them and COME here to fill
them. What do you suggest about how to retain families?? Low end rentals and
dilapidated neighborhoods and no cultural opportunities? Yeah that will
work. Or is it diversity, recreational opportunities, and a community that
cares about its property etc.
I will admit, there are concientious landlords
out there and it shows, because no one knows which the good rentals are.
Why? because these landlords are concerned about property values (their own
AND their neighbors). We only see the bad. Its unfortunate but the VAST
majority of public service man hours is drawn by the rentals that the city
itself is trying to improve so these few problem areas won't drain the
majority of services, thus the city becomes more efficient, cost effective
and able to fix more roads etc.
Those of you that haven't experienced some of
the rentals in this town really have no business commenting on them...there
are some, more than you think, that are unsafe, unsightly and downright
dangerous and these are the ones that your TAX dollars support because they
are the vast majority of calls for service. So, your tax dollars support the
minority of rentals because they draw the most service. So it would make
sense that if you address the issue-rental property- you save expense on one
city service so it can be placed into other city services..pretty simple,
when you see past the trees and into the forest. IE see past the HATE.
While you may not agree with the ideas, at least
someone is trying SOMETHING to catch Iron Mountain up to the 1990's, wait
its 2007 and we are behind. But at least SOMEONE is trying something to
catch us up, not just spreading HATE and ANGER.
Its easy to rant and rave and spread hate behind
the cloak of anonymity its quite another to have the courage to think of and
share ideas in an attempt to improve your community. You choose: courage or
cowardice
Kurt Rosenthal
3-9-2007-07 What the heck is this sneaky deal with the City constructing new city facilities in the northeast corner of Cemetery Park and a major road project from Stephenson Avenue south on Jackson and Campbell to the city limits, along the eastern edge of the cemetery? Where's the official public news about this and where's the money coming from? Is this one of Marquart's fait accompli schemes like he pulled in Dormont and then informed everyone after it was all done and it was what no one wanted? http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_173182.html Every time I drive past lately he's got all sorts of surveyors and tree-cutters and designers and DPW vehicles down there. Besides, when the City wanted to build the Department of Public Works down there in the 1990s, didn't the residents down there hire the attorney Nancy Finch and they forced the City to stop because whoever bequeathed the cemetery's land to the City stipulated it be for burial and cemetery and funereal purposes only? I bet you anything Marquart and the Mayor and their highhanded gang are trying to sneak this through illegally before anyone knows what's going on, then the City is going to plead ignorance and say oh yeah, who knew, well we can't very well tear it down now that it's up. Those creeps. Well Pirkola the City Attorney should know. If he's been informed. They better not even try to get away with this. Enough is enough. It's just one thing after another with this City Manager and his stormtroopers. And you never know what he's up to until the wheels are in motion or they've already completed their stupid schoolbook Ivory Tower schemes and we have to deal with the consequences and pay the bills. This bozo seems to be just dismantling Iron Mountain and trying to whimsically reshape a part here and a part there at his will. It seems criminal that we have to wait until November to elect a new City Council that will throw this self-serving clown and his cohorts out on their ears. What kind of hit are we going to take until then? 3-9-2007-06
Another City-caused HOMEOWNER tragedy
in Iron Mountain.
This time it's an 88 year old widow
of a deceased city employee. Location: 1200 Grant St.
The facts:
A water main breaks in the street in front of her house. Her basement
gets flooded with over 3 feet of water and 9 inches of mud. The city
crews shut off the main, repair the break, and pump the water out of her
basement. They bring in heaters into the basement to dry the mud.
That's exactly what any competent and compassionate city crew should do.
Enter City Manager John Marquart
into the picture. He orders the heaters to be taken out and have all
city employees leave the site. The furnace was damaged beyond repair by
the 3 feet of water. The son of the widow had to get a furnace company
to put in a new furnace quickly. He shoveled enough mud so the new
furnace could be installed. A washer, dryer and hot water heater are
also reportedly permanently damaged.
According to Marquart, the
city isn't responsible, same as the Rob Giguerre sewer back-up.
How an 88 year old widow is
somehow responsible for a main water line breaking in front of her
house, unless she was playing with dynamite 8 feet below the pavement,
is hard to explain. But Marquart is somehow pinning
the blame on her. He is stuck because helping her out would jeopardize
the lawsuit the city is facing in the Giguerre case.
Her homeoner's policy won't pay, her agent
said, because the cause was OBVIOUSLY a city failure.
That's it, friends and neighbors.
That's how much compassion Marquart has for the widows of city
employees. Absolutely disgusting!!!!
3-9-2007-05 Now John Marquart is picking on a 88
year old lady. The 6" water main in the road broke, flooded her basement with
water and mud. 3-9-2007-04
Comment on 3-7-2007-4
The editor of the Daily News often conveniently leaves out portions of citizen time at the council meetings that conflict with what the councils opinions are. Believe me I know, it has been done to me on several occasions. Don't you know that he is part of the Sol-Blu council also. The fine reporter that covers the council writes the story and he edits out the parts he doesn't like. 3-9-2007-03
It is unfortunate that the city manager felt it
was okay to mislead the public again by stating the discriminatory rental
ordinance was declared legal and they would start enforcement. Fact is that
much of the ordinance was not declared legal and many changes must be made
that do in fact violate the rights of tenants and landlords! The changes
that must be made are a major part of the ordinance, but that must
have slipped the city managers mind, ---- how convenient!
With that being said, we also know that just
because something is legal, according to the law, it does not necessarily
make it morally right. Perhaps a prime example would be Row Vs Wade
abortion issue. Another example is the OJ Simmons case. What about Ron
Giguere’s sewer infested home! It is a sad time in our city’s history,
when a city government reaches a point that they hide behind the legalities
of the law as an excuse to discriminate against the community.
Contrary to what our mayor and city manager have
tried to portray, the land lords, citizens, home owners and business owners
of this community are hard working, caring and honest people who are
investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into this community to provide
safe and comfortable housing for themselves and to those who cannot afford
to buy a home as well as provide services that are much needed in Iron
Mountain. Many are pillars in this community. They are leaders and advocates
of good city government and fortunately, for the good of this city,
they are not afraid of city hall intimidation tactics!
By the overwhelming support of letters, phone
calls, emails, and verbal expression on this web site, it is obvious that
the majority of the citizens in Iron Mountain understand how “out of
control” our city government is under the present leadership.
This is Iron Mountain Michigan. We don’t know
how it is in Dormont, Borough, but in this city, we care about each other!
We will get rid of this man who is arrogant, egotistical and thinks he is
God, along with the mayor who is simply a puppet for the manager.
If city government is allowed to discriminate
against landlords and citizens in this manner, and use our tax dollars to
make themselves wealthy, through paving and real estate sales, commissions,
and adjoining restaurant advantages, deceptions and ½ truths, where does it
stop in the future? It didn’t end with the fire department or police
department or with TIFA tax dollars or the city hall parking lot being
turned into a community gathering place, adjoining a council members place
of business! Will it end when another tragedy happens like a sewer backup
that almost destroyed a citizen’s home? (At the very least, where is the
compassion we have a right to expect from our city officials?) Hiding
behind the vagueness of a law to get out of accepting responsibility for the
city’s mistake, is a coward’s way out and is typical of this mayor and
manager, supported by the council!
The needless waste of city tax dollars by those
who are discriminated against, is not the result of frivolous lawsuits. It
is indeed about the disrespect and unwillingness of the council and city
manager to be fair to the people in this community! The citizens and
landlords are not the enemy! They are now a group of united citizens who
will bring an end to the outrageous actions of our leaders. (This is now
about reclaiming our city from a council out of control)
It is our right as citizen’s of this community
and it is our obligation and moral duty to continue our opposition to
decisions unfair to this community and we will continue to do so under
appeals in the courts and at election time.
Ever wonder why Marquart rents a home instead
of buying one? He doesn’t pay a penny in real estate taxes to this
community. When he gets fired again, he can just pick up and move away like
he has done in the past. With a salary of over $107,000 with benefits and a
large severance, he has no concerns for the future, (at the tax payers
expense!)
It is human nature to remain silent and not get
involved when a certain wrong doesn’t affect you, but ultimately it will
directly or indirectly affect you in the long term and by not speaking out
now, it could be too late in the future. (The damage will have already been
done) This is a citizen issue! It is a community issue! Do not be afraid
--- that is what city government is counting on!
For the general public information, council
members who have supported the mayor and city manager in many of these
injustices are listed here. Mayor Ken Tousignant, Manager John Marquart,
Doug Rigoni, Jeff Vanlaanen, Robin Tchokreff, Sally Jacobs,
Dan Burke, and Eden Caudell.
This can and will be stopped in the up coming
election in November, but it will take the help of everyone. (It is time to
clean house and re-claim our city!)
If you are a citizen who is concerned, please
contact this web site and make your views known.! (Don’t hide behind someone
else’s name though as some do!
3-9-2007-02
Just wanted to drop a quick message to say
Thanks for having this site. I have used your site several times to review
posted city information. I don't want to become one of the "Large Scale
Users" that city manager John Marquart mentions in his 2006-07 budget report
he wants to charge $2.00 a hit for using the cities web-site. Another
"Special Interest Tax" ? If you want to know what is really going on in this
city it will cost you extra to find out. I thought OUR taxes were
already paying for this service. Anyone else notice how vague the new city
clerks meeting minutes are getting? I guess this makes it harder for the
public to find the real truth.
P.S. I hope that Doug Rigoni heard the
"Expert" from Traverse City say: " there's no value in asphalt".
3-9-2007-01
In comments made by City
Manager John Marquart to many people, he insists the outrageous
downtown developments he and the city council are proposing at will be
bid out by May 1, 2007, come hell or high
water.
Marquart wants all this done in time for the
Hog Wild thing that is scheduled for sometime in July.
When asked who is going to pay for all
this, his answer is always - The City.
Nothing is provided for this project
in the City budget.
TIFA has budgeted for some sewer
work and some paving, nothing more. Nothing has been done on the
engineering, much less bidding on any of this.
I think Marquart has made some promises to
the Hog Wild Committee, unbeknownst to any of us, and is now in the
HOT SEAT. If not, why is he pushing so hard and so
fast? What is the rush.
None of this was contemplated during the
budgeting process by either the City Council or by the TIFA Board.
If Marquart put himself in the
HOT SEAT by making outrageous promises to the Hog Wild
Committee that's his problem. It is certainly in his character and make
up. That's why he got fired in two of his last three jobs.
It's time to make it three out of his last four.
It is hard to imagine that someone
who has been in some kind of administrative job for the last 30 years
can be so inept. Only a City Council that is more inept than he is
could possibly tolerate him. That's what we have. At least until
November.
3-8-2007-03
Post has been deleted
3-8-2007-02
While reading the second link posted in
3-7-2007-7, I couldn't help but notice that TIF funds were questioned in
Traverse City.
It seems that those who realize TIF is not the
"Golden Egg" need to join forces and STOP it in its'
tracks. TIFA Act 450 125.1814 Sec. 14 (2) states:
The authority shall expend the tax increment
revenues received for the development program only in accordance
with the tax increment financing plan. The governing body may abolish the
the tax increment financing plan when it finds that the purposes for which
the plan was established are accomplished. In fact several cities in
Michigan have abolished their TIFs prior to the expiration date, either
because they met the plans goals or the city was in financial distress due
to TIF.
If you don't own a business down town, and
you are a property owner outside the TIF district, it's time to
UNITE and bring Iron Mountains' TIF to an end! Regardless of what
some may post on this site, the tax payers outside of the TIF District are
paying higher taxes to offset revenues generated by TIF. The proof is in the
pudding! Look what happened to your taxes when the police and fire pension
revenues were no longer captured by TIF. The amount of revenues required for
the pension plan were spread out to all tax payers in the city, not
just the homeowners. This reduced your taxes. Now multiply that for other
special city and county taxes and you will have even less responsibility for
taxes. Unless of course the taxing entities keep the millage increases
required to offset losses associated to TIF.
If the current council continues to create new
projects, and continues spending TIF funds against what the TIFA Act states,
I guess it's time to get the state involved.
If it's the goal of this city manager and
current city council to make Iron Mountain "Big City" like, I would
recommend that the downtown property owners start paying for parking lots
and all the expenses associated with them. Let each property owner pay for
snow removal of the sidewalks and parking lots like they do in the "Big
City". Just think of all the jobs this would create. Maybe 50 full-time jobs
at $20,000.00 each just like the proposed mini-mall. The city doesn't plow
the parking lots for the businesses outside of downtown. Bring back the
parking meters if you need revenue for downtown. It's all about the downtown
lately. How about the rest of us taxpayers!
3-8-2007-01
Well, the new assessments should drum up a lot
of business for local, licensed appraisers/assessors. Gee, Andy, I wonder
if Stephen’s Real Estate has any licensed assessors? Too bad they can’t
possibly do all of the market value assessments that they will probably be
asked to do in such a limited time. What happens to the property owners who
want to protest their new assessment, but can’t get a reappraisal done
before the board of review because there are so many other people doing the
same thing? Are they out of luck and stuck with their new Brook-erized
property value?
If this issue is not the stick that finally
breaks the camel’s back on the outrageous antics of this council and city
manager, Iron Mountain residents have no hope. (and no one to blame but
themselves for allowing this to continue for three and a half years) The
very smart ones are already leaving town. I guess that opens up housing for
those who know what the Cool Cities program is really about. Maybe it’s part
of the plan. I am dismayed that the Daily News sat on the equalization
director’s letter - which was a solid, stand-alone piece of real
Iron Mountain news - until they could counter it with that line
of crap from Rich Brook. Da' News, you oughta be ashamed of yourselves for
being so blatantly biased.
3-7-2007-08
They never give up. The city hall gang
is still pushing for a pavilion, green space, rest rooms and the
bandshell that nobody wants.
Where is the support for
the bandshell? Is there a
groundswell I haven't heard about? I must have talked to a couple
hundred people over the past year where the subject came up, and I
can't recall a single person, outside of the city hall gang, who
didn't laugh at the idea, roll their eyes or describe it in language
the webmaster wouldn't allow. Not one
person thought it made any sense.
A so-called pavilion that
looks like a cattle trough makes even less sense.
Who needs it? A Farmer's Market that runs for a couple of hours on
Saturday? Has a groundswell for a pavilion has slipped me
somehow.
Rest rooms.
We're paying taxes for the library across
the street. The proposed rest rooms will be less than 200 feet away
from the perfectly adequate library rest rooms. The library is
open from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00
PM on Saturday and Sunday til 3:00 PM. Who is walking around in
the area beyond those hours desperate for a rest room?
Have we had a rash of people
wetting their pants in this area because they couldn't make it to
the library?
This is the kind of thinking our
elected officials are engaged in. Let's not even get into spending
$150,000 to put underground utilities in one (1) block.
Meanwhile, don't gripe about your
unpaved roads. These people have more important things to
consider. Our only hope is that TIFA flatly refuses to go along
with these mindless schemes.
3-7-2007-07
More Cool Cities/Main Street fallout?
In reference to the news article on the downtown
parking lot and this new expert Marquart & Tousignant have brought in,
here are two online items of great and direct interest:
Aside from the tremendous opposition this
guy and his stupid, uh, vibrant ideas were faced with in Traverse
City, the gay connections just keep getting more and more blatant.
When are the people of this town going to wake up? Is this what we really
want? Does anyone give a damn?
3-7-2007-06
OK, all you incompetent assessors in
Dickinson County, whether from the cities of Kingsford and
Norway or from any of the townships - the Mayor of Iron Mountain
has issued your marching orders. You should follow the lead of
Iron Mountain's assessor because he is at the cutting edge of
assessing, and you aren't. See: The Daily News, Tuesday, March
6, 2007, Page 3A.
Never mind that the Dickinson County
Equalization Department has taken him to task two years in a
row. Never mind that the State tax overseer concurs with the
County. Forget the wild inconsistencies that were found in a
sample of his work. You should follow his lead.
For his defense, Rich Brook wrote a
45 page report to the city council. A 45 page report? Does this
indicate an obvious sense of inferiority or what?
Maybe all you incompetents should
take a page out of his game plan. Offer to do your units for
$50 per parcel, make sure it is a no-bid situation so you're
sure of getting it, don't worry about getting a letter from the
Equalization Department. Just get your Mayor or Supervisor to
tell the rest of the world to follow your lead - your next job
may be to reassess New York, Chicago or even Baghdad, where you
can get probably arrange hazard pay without ever leaving the
Green Zone.
3-7-2007-05 Brian Crough, the Traverse City DDA
director, sure said a lot of things that the Mayor and Marquart have already
said. I wonder if he 3-7-2007-04 RE: 03/06/07
Community Forum at the Chippewa Club regarding vibrant downtowns 3-7-2007-03
Daily News story: http://www.ironmountaindailynews.com/stories/articles.asp?articleID=5322
Here is an excerpt from the news story:
"In looking over what Iron Mountain has planned
for the lot, Crough said, it’s necessary to get everyone relaxed on parking
and look at a better use of the land.
"You are trying to maximize the value of that property. There is not much value in asphalt," he said."
I think that says the "expert" is recommending
losing a lot more downtown parking spaces. EXPERT? Why, because he is on a
Lower Peninsula DDA board? Is that what the downtown businesses really want?
The night before this article was printed, there was another article that
said they are still planning on getting rid of 30 spaces in the lot closest
to Hughitt Street. And that’s not a big enough loss, according to this guy?
What the hell is going on here? The businesses
give their input on losing valuable parking, then Marquart & Tousignant
bring in some "expert" to tell them why they are going to do what they want
anyway? I wonder how many "experts" were screened before they found one who
would say what they wanted.
3-7-2007-02
On comment #3-6-2007-03
I think this website should put up a poll on the
home page. Should John Marquart be fired, or should he stay?
3-7-2007-01
The City Assessor has bs'd his way again! The
article in the Daily News in which Rich Brook explained the letter from the
Equalization Department regarding the reassessment not being put on the 2007
roll was pathetic! He always has an excuse for his screw ups!! To imply
that other Assessors in the County are not as good as he is..well that sure
is good news! Some Assessors care enough about their jobs to attempt to do
things correctly...Rich seems to think he knows Everything and he is
clueless! Has anyone else noticed he is late with mailing out the
assessment notices again this year? By law they were to be in the mail 10
days before the Board of Review, which is Monday, March 12th. By sending
the forms out late he does not allow a person much time to build a case
against him to attend the Board of Review...that is his plan! I wonder
how the City feels about spending $150,000 on information that will not even
be used this year?
3-6-2007-05 My question is this. If Marcus Blomquist and the Mayor are such close friends and Marcus is related to the Blomquists that want to buy the property adjacent to the police station. How can the Mayor have any say or vote on this property sale? 3-6-2007-04
Does anyone have one single reason why the
Chief Financial Carol Bartolameolli gets stuck with having to sign the
letter explaining why the city won't pay Ron Giguere for filling his
house with
sewage?
You, in the back row. What's your guess?
"He's learning from the mayor. Tousignant
has been hiding behind Marcus for months on this site. Before that he's
used his "domestic partner", his sister and brother to sign letters to
the editor. The mayor is also not above hiding behind skirts. He had
some woman nobody knew act as the front in his completely failed recall
effort."
"Correct. Next question. Someone a while
back on this site called them the twin what?"
"Twin weasels."
"Congratulations. You get an A for the
day."
3-6-2007-03
Want to get rid of John Marquart
and any of the Flab-four Silverspoons up for election who are
dumb enough to run?
Very simple. All new candidates take a
position. "I'm for firing John Marquart" or
"I'm for keeping John Marquart" If at least
four candidates appear and take a position for getting rid of him, they
will easily win.
Marquart is so despised by so many
people that no-one can run on a pro-Marquart platform and hope to win.
Those dumb enough to seek re-election have
no defense. They all voted for his contract. His most vocal proponent,
the Mayor, is especially vulnerable because he is so disliked to begin
with because of his smug, arrogant personality.
Keep the faith, gang. Iron Mountain will
survive this "Reign of Terror". Four good people with the guts to step
up to the plate is all it will take. I have high hopes it will happen.
3-6-2007-02 Sewer Litigation There is a new page dedicated to the Sewage problem that we are facing. Sewage Issues 3-6-2007-01
I laughed until I almost threw-up about our Mayors comment that he sees Iron
Mountain City as another MayBerry. I will agree with him on one point. It is
another MayBerry, but it is run by Gomer Pile and Barney Pfiff. Come
November, we will be replacing these two, along with most of the city
council and claim our city back to it's people! How did this man ever get
into this city with his past record?
3-5-2007-01
I see today's Daily News is reporting the
reason(s) why the City of Iron Mountain is refusing to assist Mr. Ronnie
Giguere with the "cities" back-up of fecal matter into his residence. What
idiot would honestly believe that the city work crew didn't cause
this to happen? Oh yea, Marquart and his new engineer would!
It looks like Mr. Giguere has a very good case against the city. I just hope that one of the useless individuals this county has in the judicial system has the guts to finally put "right from wrong", ahead of politics. I see City Manager John Marquart has shown his true colors again, by hiding from his decision and making the chief financial officer explain away his decision! What does she have to do with this decision? One would think that Mr. John Marquart via the city council, would make the decision. I don't recall seeing anything about the city council discussing this matter in public. Was this done in another of their private meetings? Mr. Giguere had no litigation filed against the city at the onset of this situation, so discussion should have been held publicly. Is this really the decision of the current city council? I really hope that the individuals that keep pushing for a new council this year, mean it. John Marquart has managed to spend more of the tax-payers money on legal fees than repairing roads outside the TIFA District. I just don't get what some people see in this guy! If there's one thing he learned in life, it appears to be self promotion. Isn't it about time for him to cut and run?
Have A Good Day!
3-4-2007-06
I am starting to believe that Marcus
Blomquist himself may be a city issue.
In post #11-03-2006-06, he writes,
"the fact that I am a friend of the Mayors has NOTHING to do with the fact that I have my own opinions based on knowledge of issues and a wide variety of people I know and respect." Then, in post #12-26-2006-01, he writes, "Remember I'm not in the closet in anyway, I sign my name and you know I'm gay!" Then, in post #2-24-2007-02, someone writes, "There's no point in harping at Marcus. He never even graduated from high school. I'll bet until he met his buddy the mayor he couldn't tell you how many members sit on the city council. "These, and hints in other posts are leading me to a very disturbing conclusion. I have no idea who Marcus is. But, there are other posts that refer to him as a kid, and young. How young? He freely admits he is friends with the mayor, who is openly gay. Did Marcus truly drop out of school after becoming friends with the mayor? If so, is that the kind of moral character we want in a mayor, i.e., influencing children to drop out of high school, and then flagrantly hiding behind their identity and using them as a mouthpiece? Tell us, Marcus. Did you drop out of school after you started hanging around with the mayor, who might be twice your age? A very simple question to answer. You may be an issue yourself - and a tragic one - if these very reasonable assumptions are true. If not, you deserve the chance to correct the perception that myself and many others are forming. 3-4-2007-05
You also failed to address the fact that the
police and fire departments are using private property to access their
garages. So it seems to me that there is already a problem with access
without selling the only property that the city owns that could alleviate
the problem. So why doesn't the city keep it and make the alley go out to
Fleshiem that way it will service the mall and the rest of the businesses
and the city keeps control of it.
3-4-2007-04 The public will not have public access but easement through the property that will belong to the developers. So what happens when trucks or vendors need to access the other businesses or the fire and police stations and the easement is blocked by delivery trucks or the two drive through windows have cars backed up on to the street. Also I have been told that there will be a big problem with snow and I drove over there today and I can see that when they no longer have this property to put the snow on it is going to be a traffic hazard for the police and fire departments not to mention the traffic from Summers lumber and Mayme's. all the developers care about is their own pocket books not the people that have been there for years. Also you talk about developing the down town well why don't we first fill all the empty buildings before we start building more. 3-4-2007-03 Response to 3-4-2007-01 post on the vote for the property. Have you seen the plan for that property? The public will still have access to the alley. If fact the plan for the new building would fix that area up nicely, not mention bring some business to the downtown area. I am trying hard to understand your concern about this sale. On one hand this web site talks about attracting new business and then on the other hand complains that we don't want to change anything. Please make up your mind. We cannot bring back angle parking for the downtown area. 3-4-2007-02 In response to leaving Iron Mountain, I also
moved from Iron Mountain to Breitung Township in 2005. This is known
in history as "voting with your feet". I no longer believed that IM was
making wise financial decisions. 3-4-2007-01 The city council is about to vote on the sale of piece of property adjacent to the police parking lot for eight thousand dollars. At this time the only public access to the alley connected to this property is through the police parking lot which i don't think the cities insurance co. would go for if they knew. This alley also serves three businesses, Summers lumber and timber company , Mayme's Bar and Sullys Barber shop also the Police and Fire stations. This alley has never been abandoned but at the same time it has no public access. And this piece of property they want to sell is the only way to have public access. At this time it my understanding that the police cars and anyone wanting to gain access to the back of the stations cross private property to get there because of the sharp corner in the police parking lot The businesses that own this property have been very good about letting them cross their property But if the council votes to sell the property this cooperation will end. All these businesses want is public access to a public alley. I know of no other alley in this city that doesn't have public access. There is public hearing on whether to sell the property on March 12th in the council chambers. I encourage people to attend and give their opinion. I also have some advice for the council. Think long and hard on this one because there is a lot more involved here than just selling this property. 3-3-2007-02 Looks like we have heard from a laid off firefighter. We got what we wanted? What do you mean? Marquart & Tousignant have both repeatedly insisted that our fire protection has not changed. I assume that's what you're referring to. 3-3-2007-01
A big part
of the non-reality thinking that goes on at city hall is because the Fab-four
don't live in the world of theirt constituents. Two of the four
married doctors. The other two slid into family businesse due to
genetics, not because of any special competence.
How many
kids is the mayor raising, clothing, feeding, saving for their
education? He can lead the meaningless Sol Blue lifestyle, as
could anyone with his negligible overhead. Are we supposed to be
impressed?
The four
Silverspoons have no concept of what the working class families are
going through. Every one of them is living a higher lifestyle, but
not because of anything they have accomplished on their own.
It hasn't
prevented them from acquiring a snooty, we know better than you,
know-it-all attitude. Sorry, Silverspons, but that doesn't
cut. You have given us a close up look of the definition of
spoiled-rotten.
3-2-2007-02 The people of Iron Mountain got what they wanted. Everyone was to afraid to speak out against the city council clowns. You wanted it, you got it. The best thing I ever did was to leave IM after being "laid-off" by the city. Deal with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3-2-2007-01
Another misleading quote from Marcus Blomquist:
"NO TAXPAYER has ever contributed to TIFA unless they are a business in the
TIFA district."
Wrong again, Marcus.
Ask Ted Corombos what happened back in 1985 when Councilman Joe Sacchetti
brought to a council meeting a list of residential property owners who lived
in the TIFA district, who did not want their residential property to be
included in the district. They were included, and they are still paying into
TIFA, whether a business or not. If my memory is not serving correctly,
please step in, Ted.
Stop trying to spin everything, Marcus.
Most people are not against the downtown businesses, and have said so.
Don't try to make it look like people are saying something different.
It's the council and manager that are causing all the problems, not the
businesses, and that's what the posts are saying.
Also, people who are accusing you of being a
ghostwriter for the mayor have known the mayor far longer than you have,
and have dealt with this kind of thing before.
3-1-2007-01
Post # 2-27-2007-03 titled Midgets
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants was absolutely brilliant and
right on the money.
If good people don't step forward to run for
the thankless job of City Council member, then I guess we get what we
deserve: Ineptness, bad decisions, unending controversy, bad
ordinances, pie-in-the sky schemes, hidden agendas, lack of compassion
and arrogance.
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