Monthly Archive

This week the city commission appointed three dynamic new members to the Downtown Development Authority:  Leah Bagdon McCallum, Joe Winowiecki, and Harry Burkholder. 

A northern Michigan native, Leah Bagdon McCallum worked in Detroit and Chicago before returning home, where she is now director of fund development at Goodwill Industries.  A member of the TC Young Professionals and the Zonta club, Leah and her husband live on 17th Street.
 
Leah feels a vibrant, liveable, walkable downtown has a role in keeping young people in this community.  She says:

“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve on the DDA board – and excited to play a role in future growth to come to Traverse City.”

Joe Winowiecki is CFO of a local technology company and a CPA who brings a wealth of business experience and financial acumen to the DDA.  A board member of Sunrise Rotary and Big Brothers Big Sisters, and a former TCLP board member, Joe and his wife Mary live a block from downtown, on Fifth Street.  He says he wanted to join the DDA becuase he is a big fan of what TC has become:
 
“I am excited to become part of the DDA board to help continue to foster the exciting downtown business, social, and family environment.  As part of a growing Traverse City based technology company, I believe Traverse City has all the attributes required to attract technology businesses, the quality jobs that they bring and become a leading technology city in the state and country.”

Harry Burkholder was profiled earlier on this site when he was appointed to parks and rec:  http://planfortc.com/2010/06/09/meet-harry-burkholder-new-parks-rec-member-june-10/.  A land-use planner, Harry said in his interview that a strong downtown benefits the whole city, and he looks forward to discussing innovative improvements for the use of public spaces in the downtown districts. 

These highly qualifed and enthusiastic individuals will jump with the rest of the board into some big decisions about the future of downtown TC, the warehouse district, and the waterfront. 

These decisions were covered on this site here:  http://planfortc.com/2010/06/27/the-most-influential-board-you-probably-dont-pay-any-attention-to-dda-june-28/ and in this TV 7&4 story: http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=477354. 

They will also be part of the DDA’s work to maintain the city’s economic momentum well into the future. 

Leah, Joe, Harry – welcome aboard.  The city will benefit greatly from your service.

core of the new waterfront

Here’s what’s happening in the city this week -

Bayfront – the bayfront plan is getting its final review by the city commission Tuesday night.  The final plan can be downloaded from the city’s website – http://ci.traverse-city.mi.us.  The city’s first grant application – to the MI Natural Resources Trust Fund for the childrens’ natural play area on the old zoo property and universal access to the boat ramp and beach – scored a 365 out of 540, which we are told is a strong score and looks likely to get funded.  The grant request is for about $450,000, with a DDA already committing a match of $450,000 for a total of around $900,000.  The final trust fund decision is in December, and later this fall we hope to have news of an innovative effort to secure significantly more funding for our waterfront from other sources.  

Broadband - Merit Network is holding a community meeting on broadband in TC.  The meeting is at 4 pm on Wednesday at the Hagerty Center of NMC.  Merit was recently awarded $33.3 million in federal stimulus money to  build 1,270 miles of fiber-optic infrastructure in the Northern Lower and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan.  The company is holding informational meetings in communities along the fiber path. Members of the public can register for this meeting at http://www.merit.edu/meritformichigan/meetings/

Non-discrimination ordinance – Also Tuesday, the CC will introduce the non-discrimination ordinance drafted by the Human Rights Commission, and schedule the ordinance for a final vote on September 20th.  My views on the ordinance, as well as a lively reader discussion about it, are at: http://planfortc.com/2010/08/07/protecting-the-rights-of-everybody-august-8/.  TV 7&4 did a good story on this ordinance, featuring HRC chairperson Marshall Persky, at http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=494562.  Look for an article in this Sunday’s Record Eagle as well.

TCLP will be voting on a bridge contract to supply coal-fired electric generation from Lansing for a few more years to buy some time while the utility searches for a new source of dispatchable baseload energy that is both cost effective and acceptable to the community.  Their meeting is Wednesday at 5:15 pm at the Hastings office.