Three quick updates -
TCLP
First, TCLP is doing strategic planning next week. Leading up to that, and in the wake of last November’s charter votes, the board is reaching out to residents and stakeholder groups. TCLP is meeting with commercial and industrial customers today, with environmental groups tomorrow, and with the owners of the utility (the residents) next Wednesday. Here is an invitation from board chair Mike Coco.
Dear Neighbors:
The Light & Power Department Board of Directors will be holding a public open house. The purpose is to offer an opportunity for community members to provide input to the L&P strategic goal development process.Our citizen-owners will be able to provide direct feedback to our board members in a one-on-one setting. The feedback we receive from the communityassists, and will continue to assist, the Light and Power Board and staff in developing our strategic goals.
Your feedback will help us prioritize the organizations resources. We hope you will attend. Here are the details:
Strategic Planning OpenHouse
- February 23, 2011
- 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
- Governmental Center (400 Boardman Ave.) second floor County Training Room
A summary of Light & Power’s current strategic goals is attached. If you have any questions about this meeting or other topics, please feel free to contact myself or one of your board members at any time. Each of us would be glad to speak with you.
We look forward to connecting with our neighbors on the 23rd.
Here are last year’s goals:
1. Ensure employee and public safety.
2. Acquire diversified electric generation assets and achieve 30% of our electric power requirements through renewable energy resources by 2020, as financially responsible.
3. Insulate customer rates from volatile power market prices.
4. Provide a high level of system reliability, including local generation.
5. Emphasize customer and community relations.
6. Continue to serve as a leader in sustainable energy strategies and energy conservation.
7. Promote a culture of continuous improvement throughout the organization.
8. Support economic development in the community.
Hotel Indigo tunnel
Tomorrow (Friday) at 8 am the DDA will be deciding whether to spend $100,000 on design and engineering for a tunnel under Grandview Parkway from the soon-to-be-built Hotel Indigo to the Open Space. The DDA will also be deciding whether to sign a contract requested by the hotel developer that obligates the city to spend $1 million to build this tunnel before the design and engineering occur. This is a huge waste of money that is not necessary for the hotel to be built, and which could be spent anywhere in the downtown, warehouse, or bayfront areas to much greater public benefit than a long hole in the ground located a stone’s throw from the signalized intersection at Union St to the east, and the designated crossing at Oak St to the west.
It’s also bad government. The idea that we would commit to spending $1 million of your money for something that we don’t even know what it will look like or how it will function (or what we will do with Grandview Parkway while it’s under construction) simply because an out of town developer wants us to is short sighted and could look foolish later. I hope you’ll let the DDA board know your feelings on this before we take steps we cannot reverse. You can reach DDA board members (of which I am one) here: http://www.ci.traverse-city.mi.us/boards/ddaboard.pdf
Governor’s budget
And finally, the Detroit Free Press reports that the Governor’s budget proposes tying revenue sharing to the consolidation of services by local governments, something we’ve been arguing for in this space for a while. http://www.freep.com/article/20110217/NEWS06/102170539/Gov-Snyder-s-budget-would-cut-school-city-spending-business-taxes-reduced-1-8-billion?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|FRONTPAGE.
It appears the future is upon us now.
4 comments
Comments feed for this article
February 17, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Clayton
Downtown is a priority area of the city, but there are plenty of other areas in town that could benfit from such a large chunk of cash. If we’re going to spend so much money, it had better be 110% justifiable to everyone who pays taxes in the area. A large tunnel that will cost a million dollars for a hotel is just stupid. If they really want it, let them pay for it out of pocket. Traverse City is dong just fine without a big hole underneath the steet.
Also, if we were to spend that kind of money, what about the winter roads in TC, the fire department, the schools that have thier budgets slashed every year? If we have that type of abundance in spending, we should find some way to give money to other city departments and places that need it. If we built a tunnel for the tourists and this hotel while teachers are being laid off and schools are slashing budgets, I for one would be a very annoyed. Lets stick to spending money more wisely, and stop entertaining ideas of spending unnecessarily right now. Untill the economy is better and we aren’t slashing budgets left and right, we can’t afford it.
February 17, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Brian Haas
I agree with both Elizabeth and Libby. I believe there could be a number of creative ways to invest $1M (or less) in the Warehouse District to improve both pedestrian and vehicle access/flow all along the parkway.
February 17, 2011 at 2:21 pm
Libby Tomlinson
I agree with Elizabeth. Though I love seeing the Warehouse District flourish and am in favor of measures to help that, I feel that $1M is a LOT to spend on just one feature, that may or may not help much. Perhaps an at-grade, lighted, well-marked crosswalk in the vicinity would be a better investment. No doubt there is a need for a safe crossing near Hall Street, for the Warehouse District, and with the BATA station there (if we are to encourage its use as well, especially by tourists).
February 17, 2011 at 10:51 am
Elizabeth McNicholas
Agree with you wholeheartedly on the matter of the tunnel. Don’t let the hotel developer make that a contingency of the project. They’re not the only ones that can do what they want to do on that site. Plus, if they were smart about it, their consultants would have them lobbying for a lighted intersection (so traffic stops and pedestrian activity is increased – not decreased – at that corner), to foster commercial activity at their new building and along that strip. My 2 cents.