trusty getto

Advance Ypsilanti PAC floated a post (This is not about Burger King) on their blog last weekend. I use the term “blog” loosely, as they don’t welcome comments, which shows either an ironic sense of humor or a hilarious lack of self-awareness.

But I digress.  The Burger King post is like most of the other posts on Advance Ypsilanti PAC.  There’s a lot of poor quality fruit (sour grapes, specifically), a fair amount of fat (opinions devoid of substance), all wrapped up in a pretty package, but there’s not a lot of beef.  There’s a lot of talk about passing zoning for the hollow shell of a titanic mess we now refer to as Water Street, but there’s no actual explanation of why.  Advance Ypsilanti PAC complains there’s no leadership, but somehow manages to omit the fact that one of the authors of the post sat on City Council and helped lead us into this mess.  There’s no mention that this property has been a non-starter for well over a decade now, or that multiple developers have either pulled out or passed on starting a project here. There’s no explanation of how passing zoning, which would narrow options for the land rather than expand them, could conceivably increase the City’s options.

There are several posts, but the site is only updated sporadically.  My favorite one is the Open Meetings vs. Open Process post.  The post begins by stating, “AY PAC applauds all efforts by our city to promote open processes, meetings and decision making” and then lambastes City Council for making things more transparent too quickly.  Later on in the post the author states, “AY PAC applauds all efforts by our city to promote open processes, meetings and decision making,” while characterizing the process by which our city government became more transparent “suspect.”

I don’t know about you, but any process by which our government becomes more transparent can’t happen quickly enough, so far as I’m concerned.

Advance Ypsilanti PAC’s mission statement is a list of platitudes that only the Grinch could possibly disagree with.  Where are the facts upon which you base your opinions, Advance Ypsilanti PAC?  Where’s the beef?

Don’t miss the most recent Ypsilanti Youth Theatre play, “A Comedy of Errors” directed by Robert Papineau.  It is highly entertaining, the kids and sets are fantastic, and you won’t want to miss this one.  Tix are $8 at the door.  Performances are Saturday at 2 and 7 and Sunday at 2.

AnnArbor.com has a fantastic slideshow that you should definitely check out.  Many thanks to AnnArbor.com for the fantastic coverage!

Because I live less than a half block from the hollow, burned out shell that was once the Thompson Block, I went to the Ypsilanti City Council meeting on Tuesday. I wanted to tell Council that the inaction on the Thompson Block has affected me, my family, and my neighborhood. I wanted Council to know that there are no simple solutions to the problems this fire has caused, and that there are many competing interests that must be considered now that the building has been devastated by the fire.

I am happy to report that Council was well prepared to respond to my concerns, as well as the concerns of many of my neighbors who also came to the meeting. Our elected officials are definitely aware of the myriad interests at issue in this unfortunate situation, and their comments indicated a deep understanding of the complexities at play.

Unfortunately, I was surprised and disappointed with Mr. Beal, owner and developer of the Thompson Block. Although Mr. Beal comes across as a friendly enough guy, he appeared to believe that his interests were superior to the interests of those who live in the surrounding neighborhood. He seemed to think that he is entitled to do whatever he wants for however long he wants, regardless of the impact on his neighbors. Rather than exhibiting a can-do, cooperative attitude, he seemed more focused on blaming others and avoiding responsibility for the unfortunate situation he finds himself in.

Mr. Beal openly admitted at the meeting that he was underinsured, and that his underinsurance has caused a massive problem for him (and by extension for the rest of us). Although I feel awful for his bad luck (and he is certainly entitled to our sympathy), he and he alone is responsible for the risk he took. By failing to purchase an appropriate amount of insurance, he has shouldered our community with the terrible consequences of this fire. He does not seem to realize that at night, he gets to leave the Thompson Block to go home. The rest of us leave our jobs and come home to the eyesore and safety hazard that was once the Thompson Block.

The City’s attorney, John Barr, gave an outstanding presentation that demonstrated why it is in the City’s interests to hold Mr. Beal’s feet to the fire. I think Mr. Barr said it best when he stated that the City of Ypsilanti will never be in a better position to bargain with Mr. Beal than it is now. Now is the time to act. If progress is to be made on the Thompson Block, then Council will have to set the timetable, enforce it, and keep the pressure up to make progress. If Mr. Beal doesn’t have the money to continue with the project because he didn’t secure a proper amount of insurance, then he may have to give up the building.

During the meeting, I began to wonder if Mr. Beal is in over his head. As I watched the presentation, it became clear that Mr. Beal’s plan for the Thompson Block is economically dependent on a liquor license he doesn’t have, a zoning variance that he hasn’t yet applied for, and a bar/music venue that has inadequate parking and that, if opened, is likely to ignite the ire of those who reside in the neighborhood in which it located. Under these circumstances, he may as well have no plan at all.

I thank Council for holding Mr. Beal’s feet to the fire. I urge Council to continue to do so.

The wedding reception was wonderful. We had friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, babies, barbecue, beer and more. It was a memorable night, and we are so grateful that so many friends and family, some of whom traveled very far, chose to spend this special time with us. Meredith’s birth mom and dad, and a bunch of siblings came. We had college friends. Attendance exceeded our expectations as people from as far as New York, D.C., Chicago, Indiana and Nebraska came. We truly had a wonderful celebration together.

Here are some pictures. As more roll in, I will post them.

This is my neighbor John, sucking on a rib:

This is Jennifer’s baby, Meadow Rose, with my mom:

This is a picture of Meredith’s birth father, who came in from Cleveland:

I think you all know Crazy Dave from his previous appearances on this blog:

This is (from left to right) my cousin Tom (who comments on my blog as Favorite Cuz), Jeff and my cousin Terri, and Rachel.

My father brought some wonderful picture boards made of wedding pictures and scattered them around for our guests to see. Here’s the wonderful cake that Amy Doyle made:

Here is Beth and Brian:

Even the cops came! When the band started up, one of my creepy neighbors called the police. Despite the fact that it was 6:30 in the evening on the Saturday night over Labor Day weekend, and a live music festival was planned for the park later in the night less than a quarter mile away, some people just can’t endure the inconvenience of others have a good time. So, after about an hour of the band, and much to the disappointment of the rest of my neighbors (who aren’t creepy and many of whom were enjoying the music), a couple of Ypsi’s finest shut it down. Even though they thought the complaining neighbor was being unreasonable (particularly given how early it was, they said), they didn’t permit us to try turning down and insisted that the music go, or we would be cited.

That’s my father, Marty and I speaking with the police officers (who we did offer ribs to):

One partygoer told me, “I haven’t been to a party with cops in so long. Thanks for making me feel young again.” After the band departed and darkness fell, we had a fire in the pit while the kids played. We ended up trading stories about creepy neighbors, both near and far.

Meredith and I are so very grateful for all the family and friends that came to share this day with us. It turned out to be a spectacular final summer weekend. Thank you all for coming!

Ypsilanti’s Little League is proud to acknowledge that, back in 1973, when faced with a challenge to its policy of permitting girls to play alongside the boys, fought and won the right to include girls in little league baseball. A historic and very interesting video news story from CBS News’ archives is below. Much of the video looks as if it were shot at Candy Cane Park, which must have been called College Heights Park back in the 70s.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkciYjOGbNo&hl=en&fs=1&]

Special thanks to Ypsilanti’s Little League for posting the video in its website.

Dear Senator Coburn:

I read your report on stimulus waste with great interest. One of the projects that you have wrongfully deemed wasteful sits less than a block from my house, down at the end of my street here in Ypsilanti, MI. The Ypsilanti Freighthouse is a historic building that until just a few years ago operated as a community meeting place and center. For many years, our annual local festival, the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival, held its opening ceremony and dinner at the Freighthouse.

Year around, members of my community would hold their wedding ceremonies, receptions and other community events at the Freighthouse. Civic organizations would hold successful fundraisers there. Most Saturday mornings during the summer, a country and rock band made up of local old-timers would perform while members of my community and their children would come and drink coffee or juice and listen to the live music. Our Farmer’s Market used to be held there. Every once in a while, the community would come together for a free or inexpensive group Salsa dance lesson or other community, family-friendly event at this locale.

Sadly, a few short years ago, some structural defects came to light at our beloved Freighthouse. When these problems were discovered, the building had to be closed to the public for safety reasons. Although the community banded together, formed a non-profit charity and raised thousands of dollars in hopes of bringing the building up to code and opening it, we quickly realized that a quick fix was not to be. The repairs that would be required were far too expensive for a local community non-profit to raise.

I write this open letter with the hope that the people who read your report and engage in the kind of fact-checking that you and your staff failed to engage in find this letter on the Internet. In particular, I hope that when they do find this letter, they begin to realize how irresponsible and baseless your report is. Although I cannot speak definitively to the other 99 projects listed in your report, I can testify that your woefully uninformed treatment of Ypsilanti’s beloved Freighthouse strongly suggests that the rest of your report isn’t worth the paper it is printed on. It’s not worth the cost of the bandwidth needed to download it.

Instead of taking an opportunity to engage in a meaningful public debate about how stimulus funds are being used and have been used, you instead chose to pull a short quote out of context. Instead of expressing an honest opinion about your differing priorities, you instead chose to neglect your civic duty, and ignore facts that would have been simple to elucidate, had you made nary a modicum of effort to do so. Instead of focusing on uncovering true waste in our government, you chose to openly ridicule a historic community asset that we value, that we have donated our hard earned income to improve, and that so many in my community have generously worked hard toward saving and preserving.

You do not seek to inform. You seek to hoodwink and bamboozle. You should be ashamed.

Those that elected you, Mr. Coburn, deserve better. Those of us here in Ypsilanti who pay our taxes and love our Freighthouse deserve better. You owe everyone in my community an apology, sir. If you are the “watchdog” you claim to be, and if you take your elected position seriously, you will re-check the basis for every single criticism in your report and issue a correction for every error you find. Moreover, you will remove the Ypsilanti Freighthouse from your list, and you will admit that the project is not the least bit wasteful, but a worthy civic project that stands to benefit my community in ways that you clearly will never understand.

Cameron Getto
Ypsilanti, MI

Image from the Friends of the Freighthouse website. Please visit them and donate.

Word on the street is that there will be free ice cream for the kiddies at the end of tomorrow’s Memorial Day Parade.

After yesterday’s highly successful Memorial Holiday Concert, the parade will be a perfect way to finish out this holiday weekend!

The scene is last evening, on Monday, May 18, at about 7:45 P.M., just a few minutes after the Human Relations Commission opened its first hearing into the use of the name “Ypsitucky Bluegrass Festival.” Only I’m not at the meeting. In fact, I’m not even in Ypsilanti. I’m in Northville at a social function that has been planned for some time. Crazy Dave is there, and he narrates the following story:

I had just spent my first summer in Michigan working for a large law firm. I was working with my uncle Don, who is a great guy. The firm I was with was fantastic. I had met a wonderful woman who I was dating (who we all know now he married).

I got back to New York and was hanging out with some of my buddies. I told them all about how I was living in Berkley and hanging out in Royal Oak, which was trendy at the time. I told them about this great firm I was working for, and how I wanted to join the firm after graduation.

One of the firm’s clients was a city called Taylor, which some people curiously referred to at Taylor-tucky. My buddies started laughing uncontrollably, practically falling on the floor laughing.

My buddy turns to me and says, “You mean, like, there’s a difference between Michigan and Kentucky?”

It is looking more and more like our new Council majority has come through for the citizens of Ypsi yet again. I have it on reasonably good authority that when the budget is presented to Council, it will not contain new cuts to public safety.

We will see who the winners (and the losers) are when the envelope is finally opened and the new proposed budget is finally unsealed . . . I’ll keep you posted, so to speak.

UPDATE: The City is no longer proposing cuts to public safety in its budget, per the Ann Arbor News.