Comments on: Jan 4-17 – What should we do this year?

By: Bill Plough

Bill Plough — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:29:07 +0000

Contract for all fire and police services. We cannot afford the departments we have right now.

By: Katrina Graves

Katrina Graves — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:13:02 +0000

I think what would help with TC is since we are a huge tourist town we should think of advantages for us who live here in Traverse City all year long and also the people who come and visit us. think it would be nice to see more activities for the community and maybe more bike trails and hiking trails to let people see what traverse city is really about. I would like to see NMC offer more programs of studies for students to bring more people in. Traverse City is a beautiful town and if we do more as a community expecially during cherry festival it would bring in so much more money for everyone. i think bringing something in for the kids to do during cherry festival will make families come her more to.

By: Jon Thoms

Jon Thoms — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:56:01 +0000

i think it will benifit TC if the movie theartre on US 31 is rebuilt in a new style; amphitheatre seating, more screens, and more of a movie selection. It will bring in so much revenue and will provide more activities for tourists as well as residents of TC. Not only build a new theatre but keep the theatre in the grand traverse city mall as is, for children movies.

By: Julia Wagner

Julia Wagner — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:17:51 +0000

I think our first priority should be to protect our neighborhoods from traffic, noise, commercial encroachment and nighttime light polution. We need to protect the positive things we have that make others want to live here. Our neighborhoods should be our havens. We do not need to give up our streets to cut through traffic which makes our neighborhoods less safe for adults and children. We pay a high price for police protection and residents should see them inforcing speed limits on residential streets.

By: Amy Hoge

Amy Hoge — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:35:02 +0000

I would like to see Traverse City have Amtrak service to Chicago. Public transit of this caliber is needed if we want to become a world-class city. Chicago is a major hub for Amtrak and many residents and visitors would utilize this form of transit. I’d like to see our elected officials and other who are working on planning research this possibility.

By: Tammy Sauve

Tammy Sauve — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:24:58 +0000

I would have to be in favor of enhancing Grand Traverse shore line for the simple fact that our county would be even more desirable and appealing to tourists than it is now. Looking at most financially successful coastal cities in America you’ll find a great beach front that is usually one of the top reasons that motivate tourists to pick that particular spot for their vacations. Upper Michigan can use more tourist attracting glamour that will boost our economy and shout “were the hot spot”. makes sense to me..two thumbs up from my point of view.

By: M'Lynn

M'Lynn — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:33:17 +0000

How soon we forget that Northern Michigan was deforested a century ago. Even today we have no old growth forests remaining. The people of northern Michigan value their trees and would oppose any plan to cut down healthy forests just to throw in a fire. Burning our forests in an attempt to fight global warming makes no sense.

Leading health organizations universally oppose biomass burning for the negative effects on health and personal welfare.

Biomass pollutes worse than the coal it is intended to partially replace. It creates as much as twice the CO2 (the gas contributing to global climate change) as does coal.

Biomass burning has the potential to generate litigation from people who object to the destruction of forest lands, and degradation of health and air quality.

We need to invest in “real” green solutions. Perhaps we ought to look into becoming a partner with the Scandia offshore wind power generation project.

For more information about Biomass and sensible solutions, including Conservation, please visit http://JobsAndEnergy.com

By: Sarna

Sarna — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:10:31 +0000

Congratulations to TCLP for meeting the State mandated goal of 10% renewable energy generation – a goal that I believe they have accomplished a few years early!!

I ask that the City now step up and match our electric utility’s renewable efforts with efficiency efforts. I suggest updating building codes to require new buildings and renovations to have standards that will lead to more energy efficient structure, namely:
1. building envelopes (insulation and mass),
2. capacity for solar gain (siting on parcels and passive solar technologies),
3. daylighting (many countries have minimum commercial standards for access to daylight), and
3. HVAC systems (Energy Star mandate, incentives to capture waste heat)

Secondly, I suggest a review of our street lighting.
1. Enforce darksky best practices and add hoods to all existing lights
2. Reduce public lighting to minimum best practices safety standards
3. Mandate that unnecessary outdoor lighting is turned off (e.g. car lots between 2 and 6am) (e.g. electric substations)

By: M'Lynn

M'Lynn — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:11:50 +0000

Biomass burning is a seriously bad idea–here’s why

Biomass plants are dirty and unsafe, and make people who live near them ill.

Green energy from wind is wonderful.

Natural gas which is abundant in this area makes sense in the interim.

Conservation of energy is always a great idea!

http://JobsAndEnergy.com/Biomass

Massachusetts has just placed a moratorium on the new construction of Biomass plants. Traverse City similarly should oppose biomass burning.

The wisdom of Biomass burning is coming into question around the globe. It has been found that it can take hundreds of years to recapture and re-sequester the carbon burst created when burning it (some studies suggest thousands of years). Biomass burning is not sustainable in most places, including Michigan. Wood for biomass burning is now being shipped from poor developing nations to fuel existing power plants in Europe. The biomass process is generally felt to be as dirty as coal.

Learn more about biomass, conservation, and clean green energy alternatives at http://JobsAndEnergy.com/Biomass

By: Sarna

Sarna — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:31:15 +0000

Increased efficiency IS base-load power.

TCLP’s goal of 30% renewable by 2020 is commendable when compared to other regional utilities. Biomass is a natural consideration given this goal and I commend the goal of owning our own small-scale generation facility. But, it feels like the cart before the horse.

I am concerned that this renewables goal has been bandied forth before a fixed energy efficiency goal and strategy has been formed. I’ve heard Ed Rice speak of an 80% improvement in efficiency, but looking at 2009′s strategic goals, I don’t see it. With the MPSC’s optimization requirements, TCLP has amended their future trends from a 2% annual growth to 1%. That’s growth, not reduction.

We need to seriously consider reducing consumption. Look to Juno AK and what they did after a sustained expensive blackout. It will require significant participation. This can be made fun and fulfilling for our residents and visitors – even a tourist attraction in itself.

Reducing our electricity consumption makes getting 30% of our baseload power from renewable sources more manageable.