October 18, 2005
Looking for an Editor!
I am looking for an editor for Watchdog (this site). Someone who will monitor, create guidelines and enforce them, to do a number of things for this site that I do not have the time to do.
Does anyone have a son or daughter, a grandmother or grandfather, or someone who has a bit of time (it will certainly not be a full time job!) who is interested in the internet, in issues in South Haven, maybe a bit interested in web design?
The program that drives this site is very popular and used as the content management system on some very mainstream websites, namely about.com. About.com uses this exact program so that all of its many (paid) contributors can add content to that website. It might not be a bad skill to acquire and I am more than willing to teach anyone with an interest.
Please email me if you, or if you know anyone who is interested.
Thanks, Denise Hartmann (creator of shwatchdog.org)
Posted by Denise at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2005
Goodbye to "Our Town"
This will be the end of *Our Town* for me.
Friends who know me well are aware that politics in the city of South Haven is not a joy in my life, it's a duty . My joys are my family, my home, my work, my friends, my pets. My joys are laughter, cooking, gardening, partying, dancing, lunching, reading, Chicago, music and single malt scotch. And South Haven. But not politics.
I had quite enough of city politics in the '90s, trying to build my business and my home. I just wanted to be left alone.
I first came forward from "private life" about 3-4 years ago when the Downtown Development Authority proposed 230 advertising banners
to hang up and down North Shore Drive, down Water Street in lake views and in our residential neighborhoods. Competitive businesses had scheduled their advertising banners to hang in MY windows surrounding Yelton Manor on both Dyckman and North Shore Drive. The City Council, faced with the fact that the banners were illegal according to the sign ordinance, changed the law. They convinced themselves (and tried to convince residents) that if we couldn't have advertising banners on light poles, well, we couldn't have Christmas decor or American flags either. It stretched credulity, but it worked. In the end, due to the courage of a few vocal residents (like Dave Paull, for instance), the awful banners ended up staying on commercial streets, but they stayed OFF of our residential neighborhoods. But I was pretty PO'd and now I was paying attention for sure.
In the next years several more bad ideas were hatched at City Hall. One was to rezone all of the North Shore Drive peninsula from Dyckman to North Beach into something called "Traditional Resort Neighborhood". The problem was to find a legal way to permit Bundy's Bakery to have 4 seats. But the solution proposed was to rezone the entire peninsula permitting commercial development of North Shore Drive. This crazy idea was despite the fact that, except for the lone corner of my business at Dyckman, it has been zoned residential since forever. The plan failed, thank god; they found another way to help Bundy's seat some people. But without people showing up and saying NO WAY, it might have happened.
At that point I felt a bit under siege, but the worst was yet to come.
During the same years the city redrew the zoning maps and somehow my business property went from being zoned Neighborhood Business to being zoned Residential. This simple clerical error could have had significant detrimental effect on my future use of and/or sale of my business property. It took me almost a full year of phone work and showing up at Planning Commission and Council to get my authentic zoning reestablished.
In the meantime, the city was changing dramatically.
DDA had doubled in area and in wealth.
Plans were in the works for the Celery Pond and the Central Business District; plans that included high rise development.
Perfectly healthy trees were chopped down at Dyckman Park.
Huron Street parking lot was being built without Planning Commission overview.
DDA came out with an astonishingly greedy and ridiculous plan to spend over 20 million dollars of taxpayers money (over 5 year period) to defile all corners of the city with a series of 20-30 billboards shaped like sails and for wasteful radio and TV advertising.
Ordinances against transient rentals and commercial signage in residential neighborhoods were now not being enforced, blighting our neighborhoods and damaging legitimate lodging properties. This is still true.
Sherman Hills PUD went through and they clearcut the riverside.
National Motors came through in the night and tore down their building, despite an approved plan to restore it.
Council passed a highrise mixed use PUD for Wells St. despite the outcry of 600+ signatures on a petition and Planning Commision disapproval.
Gigantic outskirt schools were built though the Master Plan calls for neighborhood schools.
School, drug enforcement, street paving and the college millages, all passed with trust by voters, were looted by DDA TIF capture.
The city tore down 20-30 full-grown healthy trees on Baseline for a bike path that goes nowhere in both directions.
A dense, highrise PUD was being introduced for the Indiana School.
A tacky PUD was being planned for Maple St, despite the alarm of longtime neighbors.
Then a plan went forward to change the law AGAIN, this time to allow PUDs in the CBD. The first draft actually read: "Height will not be a consideration for PUDs in the CBD." Hello high-rise downtown.
Council was insulting citizens and passing rules to restrict public speech at meetings.
Anyone could see that the city was in a crisis. Mostly because we had all gone home to a quiet "private life", expecting our city to stay quaint and quiet and expecting our city government to be reasonable and connected to the desires of residents. Didn't happen.
And we were all asleep at the wheel, admittedly. We were not watching. We have ourselves to blame, sure enough. We were not watching.
Well, now we are. Residents have awakened and we are all now talking about the future of South Haven together.
I think progress has been made and consensus is forthcoming.
I'm done, for the most part.
I am sorry for the ruffled feathers along the way, but being provocative is sometimes a necessary tactic. I have always said that I serve better as a thumbtack on the chair of power than I do in the seat itself. But I am still sorry for the butts I have poked, really I am. And I much prefer consensus.
I am not going to stop paying attention. I am still going to make waves if/when the city tries to sell us out, blight our views or otherwise let us down. And I sure would like to see DDA cut back its area and let the library, college, seniors and others have their fair share of tax money.
But I don't want to keep poking any more. Things are on a roll, and I am rolling home. To all the things I really do for life and joy.
I do not own this website and anyone is welcome to take over the Our Town blog with the approval of the site's owner, Denise. I thank her for letting me use this site for the purpose of discussion. I wish we would have had more widespread participation, but it is, well...as it is.
Again, I am sorry for hurt feelings. I hope the result, a better South Haven with a more responsive citizenry and city government, will be worth the price. I apologize especially to Kevin Anderson, who I know has been just doing his job. He has never been vindictive or retaliatory, and this is commendable. He's actually been quite responsive. I just think he needed to hear what was desired by all. But I have been occasionally unfair to him, publically, and I'm sorry.
It's his elected Council that deserves our distain.
I hope this Mayor is ousted. I hope a better Council is voted in. South Haven will get what South Haven chooses.
I love South Haven. Thanks to all who love her too.
Posted by Elaine at 06:28 PM | Comments (1)
October 10, 2005
Meet The Candidates
The AAUW will sponsor a meet the candidate night at Lake Michigan College - South Haven on Thursday October 20 at 7:00 PM. All Mayoral and City Council candidates are invited. Each candidate will make a statement and there will be a question and answer period. All interested citzens are encouraged to attend.
Posted by Elaine at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2005
Sewer Solutions
Anyone notice the long pipes coming out of manholes all over town? One runs from The Huron Street Parking lot all the way through the post office parking to Broadway. There are others.
Last night I asked City Manager Kevin Anderson what they were.
I won't have the technical details, but basically it's a cool bandaid fix on old sewer infrastructure. A sleeve is inserted into the pipes, then super-heated to make it adhere to the original pipe, creating a very strong pipe. They are also dealing with lots of tree root invasion and videotaping the length of the system.
That makes me feel quite a bit better about reducing the chance of the sh*t hitting the fan, so to speak, in our basements.
Posted by Elaine at 09:07 AM | Comments (1)
Representative Government in Action is Beautiful to Behold
I hope anyone who was at the or watched last night's Planning Commission will offer their interpretation of what they observed. Something important changed at some point in that meeting and I'm hoping that we can identify it and replicate whatever it is at every level of City government. Some dynamic or specific action began to move the direction of the meeting from antagonism and frustration on both sides to what feels like the beginning of a true collaboration between citizens and representatives.
Was it Pat Gaston's well crafted speech explaining why she thought Planned Unit Developments were not a good idea? Was it the sheer number of letters the Planning Commission had received that spoke unanimously against PUDs in the CBC? Was it Jim Glas breaking the barrier of convention and directly asking citizens what they wanted? Was it Pat's admission of guilt in not participating in the Master Plan revision? Was it Sandy Fenske's honest statement of how she feels dismissed and belittled by some Council members? Was it Ken Manley's finally saying that we have a real problem of trust here in City Government and having his fellow Commission members willing to consider that possibility and address it? Was it Don Bemis skillfully conducting a meeting that allowed all to speak while insisting on respectful exchange?
Was it something else or was it all of the above working in an effective synergy? Whatever it was it was a beautiful example of citizen volunteers hearing what perhaps they would rather not have heard about a document that they had worked diligently on and truly believed was finished. It was government alive and responsive. Everyone who participated deserves the thanks of the South Haven's citizens. I hope we can identify the action or process that opened the door to effective communication and action. If we can we will continue addressing the many changes South Haven faces in the same energetic and thoughtful manner as we saw last night at the Planning Commission.
Posted by Julie at 08:46 AM | Comments (1)
Councilman Dave Paull
OK, here's where I get flack from some folks, but I've said it privately SO many times when someone disparages him and now I'm due to say it publicly.
I think Dave Paull has everything it takes to be a great Councilman. That's why I signed his petition to run and that's why I will vote for him in my Ward 3.
Dave Paull is plenty smart and he has a wealth of experience, having been on Council, on Commissions and Mayor before. I have seen him face difficult choices and make some risky decisions that were the RIGHT thing to do, politically expedient or not. He also has never stopped paying attention, caring, thinking, attending. He has courage to step up to the plate at this difficult time. He's a loving family man and an affable neighbor. He's darn respectable.
I do not expect to agree with everyone's position all the time, and there are certainly times when I wish Dave Paull wasn't so...well, moderate. But that's simply because I'm...well...extremist. I believe that Dave takes the middle ground--some see it as on the fence--not because he wants to please anyone or everyone. He takes the middle ground because it's usually the right place to stand.
I sincerely believe that Dave is led by his heart and his head and, besides, I just plain like him personally.
I will not stop disagreeing with Dave when I think he's wrong. And I certainly expect he'll be reminding me when he thinks that *I* am wrong. Neither of us has cornered perfection and we both make mistakes, duh.
But Dave Paull is no villain. He is an asset to South Haven.
Posted by Elaine at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2005
Dorothy Appleyard for Mayor of South Haven!
Knowledge. Passion. Balance. Commitment. Dignity.
These are the reasons why South Haven will elect Dorothy Appleyard as Mayor.
Dorothy Appleyard has attended every City Council and Planning Commission meeting for many years. She also regularly attends DDA meetings and she chairs the Parks Commission. She studies. She knows the issues. She has the courage to speak her mind. She is one smart, hard working lady.
Dorothy Appleyard has a balanced view about the growth of South Haven.
Deeply rooted in a lifetime of love for the history of town, Dorothy
believes strongly in protection of the city's natural beauty. This includes protection of our vistas from high rise buildings, yes, but not a reactionary anti-development agenda. She has a strong, wise agenda for balanced growth and thoughtful protection of the irreplaceable charm of South Haven.
Dorothy Appleyard has a serene respect for the voices of residents. She listens. She treats people kindly and encourages open minds, open information and open speech. She herself speaks softly and respectfully. Dorothy Appleyard feels strongly that reestablishing trust and open communication between residents and City Hall will be a hallmark of her administration. She will facilitate for consensus and progress. She can heal a divided community.
These are all qualities sorely missing in our current administration.
We are so fortunate that a strong, informed, respectful leader like Dorothy Appleyard has stepped forward to face the important issues
in South Haven.
It gives me great pride to cast my vote for Dorothy Appleyard for Mayor of South Haven.
Posted by Elaine at 11:43 AM | Comments (9)
October 04, 2005
" Misinformed" Residents Irritate City Council
City Council is on the defensive. And it aint pretty.
It's certainly gratifying that the flurry of letter writing and speaking up at meetings has gotten their attention. But we don't need officials getting so defensive that they lose their perspective.
Dave Paull went into a tirade about an email he received concerned about a proposed 7 story building at the Bohn site. "There is NO proposal for anything of the kind!", he bellowed, chastising the supposedly ignorant fool who wrote to him. (It was a young person that Debbie Zuckerman knows, actually. Nice way to encourage participation in the future.) Then Paull tells us that there WAS a proposal for the Bohn property but that it has been withdrawn. Well, gosh, how is the young resident supposed to know that? My husband Robert sits on the Board of the DDA, the Authority coodinating the Bohn project, and even the DDA doesn't know the 7-9 story project was "withdrawn".
But don't try to convince us that the project never existed and that we're imagining it. We've all seen the proposal. We've seen the developers standing in a giant crane on the property scoping out their heavenly views. And we know that this 7-9 story development proposal was the impetus behind the new PUD ordinance permitting PUDs in the CBD.
Anyway, the gist of the letter was to oppose taller buildings downtown. That should be what is taken to heart by City Council.
Larry King, constantly snapping his gum with a wide open mouth (ugh), also smugly suggested that the letter writers may wish to "correct" their letters to the editor voicing opposition to the bike path. Seems the issue "hasn't been decided". Really? I was at that meeting. Certainly we listened to lectures about "joining East to West" and "looking to the future" and "the importance of the sidewalk to the college". Sure seemed like four out of seven votes approved $400,000 for the project a month ago.
Certainly the newspaper saw it that way. But now, with the Township saying they will not participate in the cost, Council appears to be backing off the idea, which is fine by me. But don't try to tell us that it was never decided.
At least Councilman Tim Stegeman set it straight. He said "Seems to me you are swinging this around". Thanks for that, Tim.
Posted by Elaine at 08:19 AM | Comments (8)
October 01, 2005
The New PUD Ordinance: Taller Buildings?
There's a lot of letter writing and talk going on about the proposed PUD (Planned Unit Development) ordinance, set for final public hearing at the October 6 Planning Commission meeting.
The major concern is still the same: will it bring higher buildings to
downtown South Haven? The answer is: if passed as it's written, probably.
PUDs have, previously, NOT been allowed in the CBD (Central Business District). The new ordinance permits PUDs in the CBD.
The language of the proposed ordinance appears to restrict building heights to traditional, historical ordinance heights:
"Height of Buildings: Except as may otherwise be provided in this
Article, no building shall exceed forty-five (45) feet and three and one-half (3˝) stories."
Well, that's a red herring. The devil is in that small detail there: "Except as may otherwise be provided in this Article....". In the case of PUDs, unlike other development, what is "provided for" is that City Council can WAIVE any and all aspects of the building ordinance, from sidewalks, street widths, heights, green space, density, anything they please.
Let's get the facts straight from Merriam-Webster:
Entry: waive
Pronunciation: 'wAv
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): waived; waiv·ing
1 archaic : GIVE UP, FORSAKE
2 : to throw away (stolen goods)
3 archaic : to shunt aside (as a danger or duty) : EVADE
4 a : to relinquish voluntarily (as a legal right)
5 : to put off from immediate consideration : POSTPONE
6 : to dismiss with or as if with a wave of the hand
synonym see RELINQUISH
PUDs, in theory, are a method for enhancing creativity in development.
In practice, they are used as a way to get around the standard building ordinance.
Not only CAN height restrictions be waived with PUDs, City Council has recently proven that they WILL waive the height ordinance. Despite vociferous opposition from the community to the tune of 600+ signatures on a petition, City Council approved the Wells St. highrise PUD.
If PUDs are permitted in the CBD, you can be quite sure that the historical height limits in downtown will be...well...historical.
Posted by Elaine at 07:19 AM | Comments (0)