BENZIE
New bus route could link TC, Frankfort
Plans are revving up for a new bus route between Traverse City and Frankfort.
Bay Area Transportation Authority and Benzie Transportation Authority will jointly investigate the possibility of establishing a fixed route from Frankfort to Traverse City, through Interlochen. It could be a popular route to serve communities in both Grand Traverse and Benzie counties, officials said.
"We want to find as many opportunities to work together and link people in," said Tom Menzel, BATA's executive director.
Menzel discussed the new venture during a BATA board meeting on Wednesday.
A comprehensive transportation study and cost analysis will be completed to create such a fixed route. Services already exist between the two locations, but not on a set-time schedule, said Susan Miller, executive director of Benzie Bus.
"We're really in the infant stages of it. We have to do a study to see where passenger stops would be and set a time schedule," she said.
Rob Bacigalupi, chairman of BATA's board, said a collaboration between the two public transit agencies would be "great." "We have folks who want to come into Traverse City for whatever reason, shopping or if they work here," he said. "Any time we can get somebody out of a single occupancy vehicle, it's a good thing." Menzel said he hopes to have a fixed route established by Oct. 1, while Miller said she hopes the job will be done by year's end.
Additionally, BATA board member Tina Allen announced her resignation, effective June 30. Allen will resign because of a new employment opportunity, she said.
GRAND TRAVERSE
Talking trash pays off for neighborhood
TRAVERSE CITY -- Renee Kaufman came up with a simple idea to save her neighbors money on trash collection. It worked wonders, and cut their bills in half.
Kaufman used the purchasing power of 259 homes in her Holiday Hills Neighborhood Association to seek bids from three area trash haulers. The low bid came from American Waste of Kalkaska: $11 a month for pickup of residents' trash and recyclables.
"Instead of having trucks on our streets four days a week, we're getting down to one, and we'll only have trash sitting by the roadside one day a week," Kaufman said. "It's great and it's saving us money." Two months into the agreement, about 70 percent of the neighborhood of five subdivisions now uses American Waste, with more switching over every month as contracts with their previous haulers expire, Kaufman said.
"If you give me 300 customers I'll give you $11 a month, too," said Ed Tobey, of American Waste. "It's just a matter of economics. If we are going to service a whole subdivision like that, ($11) is something we can do." Holiday Hills' deteriorating streets play host to far less truck traffic these days, as well.
"It's worked out very nicely for the community as a whole, and I'm very happy with it," said neighbor Donna Cameron.
TCAPS board adopts $90M budget, deficit
TRAVERSE CITY -- Administrators in Traverse City's public schools will plan for a $5 million deficit next year after school board members unanimously adopted the district's budget.
Board members voted 6-0, with member Alice McNally absent, to approve a roughly $90 million budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year, set to begin July 1.
The budget as adopted anticipates about $84.7 million in revenue, including an estimated $6 million in federal stimulus dollars, which falls below the $88.4 million received this year.
Administrators initially expected a $3 million deficit next year, a figure that since has increased due to "some assumptions that I don't think are going to be maintained at the state level," said Paul Soma, chief financial officer for Traverse City Area Public Schools.
They no longer are planning for any per-student funding increase from the state, different from the $100 increase estimated this spring when board members made about $2.4 million in general-fund cuts.
Also, Soma said, the district budgeted to receive $250,000 in interest revenues next year, down 40 percent from this year.
The state contributes more than 87 percent of the district's general-fund revenue through its per-student funding, and the economic recession has taken its toll.
Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to reduce per-student aid by $110, as well as slash funding from areas including Michigan Virtual High School and vocational education programs.
State budget cuts threaten clinic
TRAVERSE CITY -- College student Angela Hecker finally found affordable health care last November, but it could be gone by fall.
Hecker receives medical service from Grand Traverse County's Youth Health and Wellness Center, which serves students aged 10 to 21 from a five-county region. The clinic could close if proposed state funding cuts are adopted.
The Northwestern Michigan College Student said she doesn't know what she'll do if the clinic closes.
"I wouldn't have a doctor and most places charge a lot," Hecker said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee recently eliminated all $4.7 million in funding for child and adolescent health centers from next year's state school aid budget. If the cuts hold, Grand Traverse County's Youth Health and Wellness Center will lose $175,000, more than half of its funding.
The clinic served about 1,100 young people in 2008, many without health insurance or a family physician. Nurse practitioner Pattie Friedli said the clinic is geared toward teens who are more comfortable at the clinic located in the Career Tech Center on Parsons Road.
"If we close, the whole region is going to suffer," Friedli said. "They'll end up not getting care, or they'll go longer without care. That will equal lost days of work, lost days of school, a sicker community." The clinic operates school, a sicker community." The clinic operates on a sliding fee scale, but also bills insurance and Medicaid, which brings in about $52,000 of its $324,000 annual budget.
Jill Kuhlman, a former patient, used the clinic to obtain vaccinations.
"It was so much cheaper," Kuhlman said. "If the clinic closed, it would be a lot harder to get effective health care at a cheaper cost."
TC to shield residents from septage costs
TRAVERSE CITY -- Traverse City commissioners pledged to do all they can to keep city residents from paying costs associated with Grand Traverse County's troubled septage treatment plant.
And their belief is city residents aren't likely to shoulder costs needed to prop a facility that's expected to fall deeply into the red in the next few years.
"City residents need to have some assurances that the ownership is not theirs," Mayor Michael Estes said.
Commissioner Chris Bzdok, also the city's mayor pro tem, serves on the county's Board of Public Works and recently made recommendations on how to approach an investigation into potential liability related to the septage plant.
Residents try to stay cool during heat wave
TRAVERSE CITY -- Sprinklers were more for kids than lawns, car washes more for the person washing than the car on a day when temperatures reached record highs.
"We hit 95 in Traverse City, which tied a record high," said Tom O'Hare, 9 & 10 News chief meteorologist. "When you throw in that humidity, that humidity is making a big difference, making it feel that much muggier. It's pretty impressive." The heat was expected to break Wednesday evening, but those who live and work in Traverse City found numerous ways to deal with furnace-like conditions.
"We certainly complained about the cold," said Joyce Rouse of Traverse City. "Not complaining now; I might go jump in the water." Residents relaxed under downtown awnings with cold drinks and ice cream.
"Anytime it gets hot like this, our numbers are very strong. We love this weather," said Joe Welsh, Cold Stone Creamery manager.
TBA, employees reach 2-year deal
TRAVERSE CITY -- Educators in the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District approved a new deal after 16 months of bargaining behind closed doors.
The two-year contract for the district's education association will last through next year. The association includes about 230 psychologists, occupational and physical therapists, nurses and Career-Tech Center teachers, among others.
Union employees ratified the agreement June 11, and the district's board approved it June 16.
Under contract terms, employees will receive a retroactive 2.25 percent pay increase for this past school year and a 2 percent raise next year.
They will continue to pay 10 percent on their health insurance premiums with a switch to a medical plan under the Michigan Education Special Services Association, or MESSA, that allows them to choose in- or out-of-network coverage, Superintendent Mike Hill said.
Moving to the new plan, called Choices II, will save the ISD $257,000 this coming year, Hill said. Union members also will receive a third planned professional development day, likely to be held when classes aren't in session, association President Chris Korbel said.
Pollinated surf deters some beachgoers
TRAVERSE CITY -- A day on the bay turned into a gooey mess for some local beachgoers.
A thick, yellow film -- a moveable mass of pine and spruce pollen -- coated sections of water and shore Thursday at Traverse City's Clinch Park Beach.
"People are real hesitant to get in," said Sean Seekins, head lifeguard. "But they're not going to get sick." Some beachgoers weren't convinced, eyed the floating goo, then fled to find another swimming hole.
"We didn't know what it was, and some kids are allergic to pollen," said Melanie Schaub, Kid's Club Instructor for Alphabet Soup Learning Center.
Winds push pollen masses ashore, where a machine that combs sand eventually will collect the stuff, Seekins said.
Not everyone shied from the silty mess.
"It sticks to your feet when you walk out, that's about it," said a nonplussed Guy Shelton, of Kingsley.
Building to go forward at Front and Park
TRAVERSE CITY -- A hole in downtown Traverse City may soon be filled.
What's described as a bustling retail and residential building is expected to rise at the long-barren, fenced corner of Front and Park streets as more tenants sign on, though the developer won't say how many are in the fold.
"It's enough to get me to put my neck out and move forward with the project, enough to tip the scales in my favor," said developer Thom Darga, owner of Big Olives 2 LLC, of Suttons Bay.
The project stalled this spring when the main commercial tenant -- a bank -- pulled out. Now construction is expected to be completed by the end of May 2010.
Plans still call for a martini bar, coffee shop and specialty grocery store and more options are in the works.
LEELANAU
Radio-controlled aircraft swoop into Empire
TRAVERSE CITY -- Snoopy first crawled atop his doghouse in 1965, transformed into a WWI flying ace, and battled the Red Baron. Charles M. Schultz's iconic character will fly again this weekend.
Upwards of 40 pilots and 80 planes will buzz the Empire airport during the 31st annual Traverse Area Model Pilots Society Fly-In on Saturday and Sunday. The event will include aerobatics and scale helicopters and airplanes, replica aircraft and jets.
"We have such a diversity of airplanes," said Mark Hamlyn, who has flown radio controlled planes for 24 years. "Anything that can get in the air, we fly, including some unusual stuff. Snoopy will be flying in his doghouse."
MANISTEE
Energy fair expected to draw crowd
ONEKAMA -- Daryl Holwerda remembers the Michigan Energy Fair's early days, when folks wandered past his electric company's exhibit booth more curious than committed to reducing energy consumption.
Those days are long gone.
"It went from people saying, 'Yeah, we're interested and intrigued,' to people saying, 'I have a project,'" said Holwerda, sales and marketing manager for Windemuller Electric Co. "When people are saying, 'I have project,' that's what's in it for me. For us, it's dollars and cents." In just four years, Michigan Energy Fair evolved from an event primarily frequented by environmentalist types to a high-tech, cutting-edge exhibition that attracts a variety of business, consumer and political interests.
State officials these days trumpet alternative and renewable energy.
Print this story
E-mail this story
