Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

The word of the day is Obfuscate:  Definition of   obfuscate 1 a :  to throw into shadow  :  DARKEN b :  to make obscure obfuscate  the issue 2 :  CONFUSE obfuscate  the reader   Intentionally or not, the Unity School investors and their attorney(s) are masters of obfuscation. By messing with timelines, or ignoring them, and jumbling up the order in which things happened they can put forth a good story that makes them look like victims. See my notes below. One of the condo partners left me this comment along with a copy of what their attorney read to the Planning Commission on Monday June 10.  Below that please see an email from Mr. Zandstra to City Manager Mike Burns - notice the email is copied to Todd Schaal - Zandstra's partner in the project.  I have highlighted the portion in red that gets under my skin - the attorney attempted to discredit by obfuscation my earlier posting about the demand that the...

I have been on the City Council now for a little over half a year. Still learning new things every week.  It has come to my attention that some folks in Lowell believe the City Council is holding up progress when it comes to the proposed condo project on the Riverwalk in the old school buildings. Bull-shizzle. Not the case at all. Let me give you a bit of a time line to demonstrate how much City Manager Mike Burns, the DDA, and the City Council have been trying their best to make the condo project a reality. 1. I was a board member of the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) for a couple years before being appointed to fill Jeff Phillips council seat late last year. While on the DDA, Mike Burns came to us with the recommendation that we become a recognized Brownfield site. In short, doing so would allow anyone purchasing a building or buildings with something like asbestos in it to be able to apply for and easily receive tax credits to offset the expense of asbestos abatement. ...

Lowell has roads that need work. It is a fact; 63% of our local streets are in poor condition. Another fact is that the City, like most other municipalities in Michigan, has no funds to fix the roads. We have two options – cut back on services and put the cost savings into the streets or raise funds. There is going to be a proposal on the November ballot asking Lowell voters to approve a City income tax with the monies collected to be dedicated to improving our roads. The tax will be 1% for residents and ½% for non-residents and it will be packaged with a 5 mill reduction for property owners in Lowell. Before we dive into the income tax, I want to address two popular methods suggested by folks to lower expenditures. The first one is to eliminate our police department which represents about $860,000.00 of our three million dollar annual budget. It is the single biggest expenditure.  The wisdom on the street is that if we eliminate the LPD, then our policing needs will be...

I just spent an informative hour with Steve Donkersloot, the General Manager of Lowell Light & Power.  (Steve is the tallest person in the picture of LLP people above. ) We got together because I had lots of questions about Green Energy in Lowell, so Steve invited me over. Let me share some of the high lights with you of all the things I learned. First, let me brag a little. The State of Michigan has mandated that all electric utilities acquire 15% of their total energy from renewable sources by 2021. Steve told me this morning that as of right now, LLP is on track to be at 20% or slightly more by 2020. Fantastic, they are on course now to go above and beyond the State requirements by exceeding the target number SOONER. Win - win. Another great part of the above equation is that all of LLP customers who are so inclined can help that number get higher faster. There are about 2,300 residential and 500 commercial customers of LLP. Any or all of us can designate how much g...

In spite of the glowing reviews and the buzz around Lowell, I was NOT prepared for the fantastic performances that blew me away last night when Mary Poppins hit the stage at the Lowell Performing Arts Center. A bit of background - I was lucky enough to be a part of the Hope College Summer Repertory Theater when I was in high school. They let something like 15 or 20 high school kids from around the state participate as Theater Apprentices. I was exposed to professional actors, directors, and tech people as well as talented Hope College musicians and actors. For a couple of years after that I was a lighting tech for the Civic Theater, Spectrum Theater, and Circle In The Park (when it was in John Ball park and the lights/sound were done in a booth we climbed up a ladder to get in). I once owned a jingle studio up north and partnered with a coloratura soprano who had toured the country. Lastly, I ran sound for the WITL-O-Meters, the house band from WITL-FM in Lansing and we opened for...

WARNING: Styrofoam is one of my Pet Peeves. First off, I want to repeat what I have said and written many times. Good stewardship of the environment SHOULD NOT be a political consideration. Taking care of the planet from which we get everything we eat and drink is just common sense. Yup, I am well known as a greenie - a tree hugging old hippie who walks to work and rides an electric motorcycle. You know who raised me to be one? An ultra conservative, Republican mama - she is the one who had me read "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson when I was in the 5th or 6th grade. Mom taught me about recycling before it was popular. She was a life long user of Amway's SA-8 laundry soap because it didn't pollute ground water. My mom was taught to take care of the Earth by her mom - who was equally conservative and was raised on a farm and taught to take care of her source of food and drink. Can we please put aside politics and just talk about common sense? Here is my main...

I had a great opportunity to share some of what makes me tick when the Lowell Ledger asked me some questions the week after my appointment:  Why did you want to be on the Lowell city council?   Seemed like the next logical step for me. I love me some Lowell and I believe that giving back to the community that supports our store is the right thing to do. I have been involved with the Chamber, the Marketing Committee, and have served on the DDA since 2014, but now that we live in Lowell I can be on the Council.   What are some of your favorite things about Lowell?   How long of an answer do you want! The foundation of most of the things I love about Lowell are summed up in the word compassion. Great community that supports each other, in spite of our differences: Pink Arrow, FROM, Rotary, Gilda's Club, and a host of others. Our schools rock - we have great sports teams AND The Rock Fusion Orchestra. We have two rivers - TWO RIVERS! We embrace f...