LambertsOnline

Our Top Posts for the Week Ending 6-16-13

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:50:00 +0000

According to Feedblitz (a website tracking service), the top blog posts on LambertsOnline for the week ending 6/16/13 were...

100 Things Tigers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

Saluting Krista Manfredi and the Athens Theatre Company on 40 Years

May 2013 Joint Troy City Council and School Board Meeting

Troy High School 2013 Senior Citizens Prom

Appeals Court Rules that Troy Does Not Own Transit Center Land

The Dane and Dave Show Premiers

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:01:00 +0000

As previously communicated, Troy Mayor Dane Slater and Troy City Councilmember Dave Henderson will be co-hosting a television program called The Dane and Dave Show.

According to The Dane and Dave Show Facebook page, the program starts airing this week on CMNTV (channel 18) at these days and times...

8:00am on Tuesday
1:30pm on Wednesday
4:00pm on Thursday

Their very first show is also available online. You can see it below.

The Dane and Dave Show from video producer on Vimeo.

Weekly Top Posts: 2013-06-16

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 04:00:01 GMT

Thank You Troy Athens High School Track & Field Coaches

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:54:00 +0000

Assistant Coach Heppner, Coach Cook, Alex, Assistant Coach DuFresne

Our son Alex completed his second year of Track & Field at Troy Athens High School. We want to take this opportunity to thank the coaching staff for all of their hard work.

Thank you Coach Cook, Assistant Coach DuFresne and Assistant Coach Heppner!

May 2013 Joint Troy City Council and School Board Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 03:56:00 +0000

On May 28, 2013, the Troy School Board and Troy City Council held a joint meeting to discuss some of the issues facing the City and the School District. I believe the last time such a meeting was held was when I served on City Council (sometime around 2002 or 2003).

Click here to read/print the draft minutes from the joint meeting held at the Troy School District Services Building.

Unfortunately, there was only one member of the media in attendance to provide a report on the meeting. Thank you to the Troy-Somerset Gazette for covering the joint meeting. Click here to read their news article about the May 28th meeting.

While it doesn't appear that any actual business was conducted, there was a lot of good information provided at the meeting based upon my reading of the draft minutes and the Gazette article. Yes, citizens may have missed out by not attending. But, the Troy School District and the City of Troy missed out by not taping the meeting for later public viewing.

100 Things Tigers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 03:58:00 +0000

Terry Foster and Dave

Tonight I purchased two autographed copies of a new book by Detroit sports writer and radio personality Terry Foster. (One of the copies is for my Father-in-law for Father's Day but it's a surprise.) The book is 100 Things Tigers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.

Click here and here to read some more information on Terry's book.

My Monday through Friday driving home from work "ritual" usually includes listening to Terry Foster and Mike Valenti on 97.1 The Ticket sports radio show. Thus, it was a real treat not only purchasing this book about my favorite sports team but also meeting Terry Foster in person.

Click here to buy Terry’s book at Amazon.

Weekly Top Posts: 2013-06-09

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 04:00:01 GMT

Saluting Krista Manfredi and the Athens Theatre Company on 40 Years

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 03:57:00 +0000

Krista Manfredi and the Troy Athens High School Theatre Company celebrate their 40th Anniversary this year.

To recognize this accomplishment, on 4/15/13 the Troy City Council adopted a Proclamation in Recognition of Krista Manfredi - Athens Theatre Company. Here's part of the proclamation...

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved, That the Troy City Council extends special recognition to Krista Manfredi, for her dedication and devotion to the Athens High School’s Theatre Program and for her tireless service and dedication to the world of theatre; and Be It Further Resolved, That the Troy City Council and all of Troy’s residents congratulate Krista Manfredi for being such an inspiration to the students at Athens High School and wish her continued success in all future endeavors.

Alex and Ms. Manfredi

Click here to read/print the entire resolution.

To the right is a photo of our son Alex and Ms. Manfredi taken at the 40th Anniversary Party of the Athens Theatre Company held back in March. She's a great teacher and a wonderful individual and we can see why she's built such a successful program at Athens High School.

Below you will see a video from the 4/15/13 Troy City Council meeting at which the Proclamation was presented. In addition to the formal proclamation, there were several speeches (including one by actor Martin Klebba) and a surprise musical presentation. Below the video are some additional photos taken of Athens Theatre Company students, friends, and supporters in attendance at the 4/15/13 City Council meeting.

Sustaining Socially Cohesive Communities

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 03:56:00 +0000

Retrofitting the Dream: Housing in the 21st Century is a new report by futurist Joel Kotkin. As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, Kotkin is Distinguished Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange, California; a contributing editor to the City Journal in New York; a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Civil Service College in Singapore, and a Fellow at the National Chamber Foundation.

Here's an interesting quote by Mr. Kotkin in his introduction to the report...

...Most serious studies have shown that lower-density, homeowner-oriented communities are more socially cohesive in terms of volunteerism, neighborly relations, and church attendance, than denser, renter-oriented communities. Suburban and lower density urban neighborhoods are particularly critical for the growth of families and the raising of children, an increasingly important factor in a ‘post-familial’ era of plunging birthrates. To be sure, housing has been changing rapidly from the model developed in the 50s, and this process will continue over the next generation. Houses today are more energy efficient, and look to accommodate home-based work, as well as extended, multigenerational families. Similarly, the suburbs and low/mid density urban communities are already far more diverse, in terms of ethnicity and age profile, than the homogeneous communities often portrayed in media and academic accounts. This trend is also likely to accelerate...

Tuesdays with Councilman Henderson for 6/5/13

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 03:50:00 +0000

Image via Troy Patch

Troy City Councilman Dave Henderson gave me an ongoing "OK" to post his Tuesdays with Dave reports. As a public service for those of you not on Facebook, Dave's report from the 6/3/13 City Council meeting is posted below.

June 3rds meeting highlights are going to be pretty short this week. Gavel to gavel was 37 minutes. That’s what I call productive governing…

We had a proclamation for Pastor Jack Mannschreck from Big Beaver United Methodist Church, who also gave the invocation to start the meeting. Pastor Mannschreck is moving to a new congregation after spending 11 years at his church in Troy.

We also gave a proclamation to Sam Clay & Jo Rhodes who celebrated the 25th anniversary with Medi-Go Plus. Medi-Go is a company started by Jo Rhodes to assist the elderly in Troy. Lots of great work in Troy over the years.

We had only 2 public commenters… I just want to comment on one. The topic of how much time we give to comment at a meeting comes up now and again. When I was first elected, we gave 5 minutes total to speak at the beginning of the meetings. There were occasions where over 50 people have lined up to speak at a meeting… that’s about 4 hours of just public comment. Meeting starts at 7:30, business doesn’t actually get under way until 11:30… a couple times we had meetings until 3:00 am. Quite a contrast between that and Mondays 37 minute event. A year and a half ago, we revised our rules of procedure to break public comment into two parts, commenting on actual agenda items is at the beginning of the meeting, but was shortened to 3 minutes. This was done to allow people the chance to have input with items we are going to vote on later. We then allow an additional 3 minutes for any item not on the agenda, but it is near the end of the meeting after all other business has been taken care of. We did this to allow residents tuning in to see Troy business, then tune out if they choose to not watch public comments about things they may or may not have interest in.

At the end of the day, we actually allow people 6 total minutes if you want to speak, that’s an additional 1 minute of time every meeting. Not sure how this doesn’t make sense, but I thought I’d throw it out there to clarify what and why the change was made.

We approved the purchase of new carpet tiles for worn areas in the Police Department, and we approved the renewal of a contract for the purchase of custodial cleaning supplies, and we discussed an ordinance that should be firmed up at the next meeting regarding fireworks during holidays. It will mirror the state law, and restrict, as is practical, locally… that’s about it.

During council comments, we soft rolled the announcement of the Dane & Dave show… The first show is just about complete, and is slated to air around the week of June 17. I’ll post our schedule as soon as it is known. For those that don’t already know about it, the show is a collaborative effort between the Mayor and I with a great deal of donated assistance from the volunteers at CMNtv (the folks that bring us the LWV debates at every election cycle). We plan on showcasing all of the great entertainment venues in the city, aiming at one show a month. We have about 5 ideas already outlined for future shows, but are open for other ideas that you might be interested in. Our first episode is at Sanctuary Lake Golf Course, where we talk to Don Tillar, the GM from Billy Casper Golf, about the outsourced operations, and our great golf courses in general. Keep in mind, Dane & I have exactly zero background as thespians, except for my role as linus at a play at Larson Middle School in 7th grade. I’m not sure there were critics at that time, but I am sure I would not have gotten 2 thumbs up for the performance… that said, we hope to get better at this as we get used to doing it. We both feel the potential added scrutiny over and above our simple politics is worth it, as we try to get the word out about all the great stuff we have to offer as a community. So be kind (or not) in your critique of the show when it airs.

Have a great week… see you next time.

Dave

Our Top Posts for the Week Ending 6-2-13

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 03:52:00 +0000

According to Feedblitz (a website tracking service), the top blog posts on LambertsOnline for the week ending 6/2/13 were...

Benne on Religion and Politics - Chapter 3

City of Troy 2013 Memorial Day Ceremony

Tuesdays with Councilman Henderson for 5/22/13

Troy Zoning Board of Appeals - May 2013 Meeting Recap

Troy ZBA 2013-14 Officers Elected

Weekly Top Posts: 2013-06-02

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 04:00:01 GMT

The Dane and Dave Show

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 03:57:00 +0000

It looks like Troy Mayor Dane Slater and Troy City Councilmember Dave Henderson will be co-hosting a television program called The Dane and Dave Show. Not too many details have been released, but I would assume it will be broadcast on the local public access channel, Community Media Network (CMNtv).

Click here for The Dane and Dave Show Facebook page.

Click here for The Dane and Dave Show Twitter page.

We'll post more details when they become available.

Troy Zoning Board of Appeals - May 2013 Meeting Recap

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Thu, 30 May 2013 03:36:00 +0000

At the bottom of this post is the video recording of the 5/21/13 Troy Zoning Board of Appeals meeting.

Click here to view the agenda from the May 21st meeting.

Click here to download the entire Agenda Packet from the May 21st meeting.

City of Troy 2013 Memorial Day Ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Tue, 28 May 2013 03:57:00 +0000

Troy Veterans Plaza

As I've been reminded (but sometimes forget), Memorial Day is not about those who serve today (Armed Forces' Day) or those who have served (Veterans' Day). It is about those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our Nation.

I haven't attended a Memorial Day commemoration in several years, so I decided this morning to attend the event at Veterans Memorial Plaza in front of Troy City Hall. The Troy Veterans Memorial Committee and the City of Troy do a great job organizing the annual Memorial Day Ceremony for our community! Also, thank you to the Troy Heritage Concert Band for providing the patriotic music for the ceremony.

I've posted a few photos below from the 2013 Troy Memorial Day Ceremony.

Tuesdays with Councilman Henderson for 5/22/13

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Mon, 27 May 2013 03:58:00 +0000

Don't blame Councilman Henderson. I'm late picking up his post from 5/22/13.

Troy City Councilman Dave Henderson gave me an ongoing "OK" to post his Tuesdays with Dave reports. As a public service for those of you not on Facebook, Dave's report from the 5/20/13 City Council meeting is posted below.

Tuesdays with Dave (Happy Memorial weekend edition)

I’m going to have to rename this, it appears. I rarely get this out on Tuesdays… any ideas?

We had Assistant Pastor David Cole give the invocation, and an inspiring Pledge of Allegiance led by the Tiger Cubs of Cub Scout Pack 172 From Wattles. Nice job guys.

The meeting started with a presentation from a second grade class at Costello on “Why Troy is a Great Community” They went on field trips to various locations in Troy as well as a bus tour of the city. They wrote and produced a power point presentation for us, and confirmed to us all that our future is in good hands.

The Troy City Employees casual for a cause program presented the Troy Community Coalition with a check for $ 597.00. We presented a proclamation recognizing the Robert Allen Group for 75 years in business, and their generosity to the city of Troy through donating funds to plant a wildflower garden on City Hall property. AFSCME Local 574, one of the collective bargaining units in the City of Troy, offer an annual scholarship to a Troy student. This years recipient was Ankita Mangual from Troy High School.

We approved the 2013/14 annual budget with little fanfare. City Manager Brian Kischnick and his management team, with council, were well prepared for the vote, through a series of study sessions that began the first of the year. Well done team.

We approved the Troy DDA budget as well, and a plan for the future of the DDA is going to be rolled out very soon. Mr. Kischnick and the DDA Board have been exhaustively working on remedies for declining tax capture issues in the 16 Mile corridor. More info TBA.

An easement and license agreements were approved with Grand Trunk RR for the transit center. Work is progressing still, and we continue to work diligently on solutions to the property issues at hand. I’ll update as soon as I am able.

An agreement was presented to council for another Hookah Bar. There were a few questions asked by council, and answered by the city, no one on council moved the issue forward for a vote. The meeting adjourned relatively early.

I’d like to take a second to talk about the news about MJR Theater, and how that exciting project came about. Keep in mind, I’m not talking about it to toot anyones horn here, but sometimes the sun and moon align, you end up in the right place at the right time, and something big works out. I’m happy to have been part of the process. And I hope this story illustrates how simply being an ambassador for the city and talking about the good stuff can have an impact.

Back in January, I mentioned in my Tuesdays with Dave blog that a movie theater or something cool would be nice at the corner of 15 & Livernois? I threw it out there, with a challenge to you all to respond with other ideas, and there were several good ones that came out as well. That night, I was in a mens group that I was hosting, and I mentioned it to a friend of mine that I knew was involved in MJR Theaters. He wasn’t optimistic at first that the time was right or the location was right, but promised to open the dialogue up with the owner for me. We spoke several times over the next few weeks trying to get a sense of whether this was going to be viable or not… fast forward to the first part of April. I received a phone call from my friend who wanted to meet me for luch. At lunch he indicated that the owner was coming to town, and he had a small window of opportunity to meet with me about the situation. He expressed concerns over zoning etc., and I quickly brought Mark Miller and Glenn Lapin (the economic development team in the city of Troy) in the loop since we now had something to talk about. I had mentioned my talks subtly to them prior to this, but there was nothing concrete. I set up a lunch meeting, MJR Theaters also brought the owner of the property with him. To all our astonishment… it looked like this was happening, all we had to do was cross a few t’s and dot some I’s regarding zoning (which we quickly handled by calling Brent Savidant over to lunch midway through our chat). The rest, as they say, is history.

Cudos to Mark Miller, Glenn Lapin, and Brent Savidant for essentially dropping everything and meeting with us without any real expectation at the time something this good was basically a reality. The potential for further development here is high, most of us envision restaurant(s) and other feeder businesses on this corner once the word gets out that this corner is alive again.

On a more reflective note, Kelly and I have been married this year for 31 years. We met at the Kmart store at 15 & Livernois about 35 years ago. We both were working co-op jobs through highschool, she worked in sporting goods, and I was a fledgling auto mechanic. Not to get too corny, but we rode the merry go round in front of the building a couple times, and she still calls me her blue light special. When I was young (early 60’s), my folks shopped at the grocery store that shared the building with Kmart, we grew up about three blocks from that location. The building has been there practically my entire life, and was the basis for a lot of really great memories as an employee, a customer, and a husband prospect. The new development is going to be a little bitter sweet. I’ll temper that thought with the notion that new memories will no doubt be made with my grandkids at the new theater. Thank you MJR Theater for choosing Troy. Welcome, and we won’t disappoint you.

One last teaser… I have an idea that was “forced” on me by a friend as part of an ongoing promote Troy effort. I’ll probably be able to fill you in a little more on the next edition of Tuesdays with Dave, but I’m excited about it, and we start working on the project this evening. I know I didn’t give you a lot to go on, but if all goes well this evening, the next time we chat, we’ll have plenty to talk about… stay tuned.

Everyone have a great Memorial weekend. See you next month.

Dave Henderson

Weekly Top Posts: 2013-05-26

Sun, 26 May 2013 04:00:01 GMT

Benne on Religion and Politics - Chapter 3

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Sun, 26 May 2013 03:58:00 +0000

Sorry about the lack of recent posts about the book I'm reading, Good and Bad Ways to Think about Religion and Politics by Dr. Robert D. Benne. As I read through this book, I'll be using a Study Guide developed by John T. Pless, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions at Concordia Theological Seminary.

Chapter 3 of Benne's book is The Fusionists. The first question from Pless for this chapter is: What happens when religion and politics are brought together so closely that they meld together?

To help answer this question, here are a couple of excerpts from Benne's book on page 25...

A very bad way to think of the relation of religion and politics is to bring them so close together they actually meld together. They become fused. This is just as destructive to true Christianity as to separate completely Christian claims from politics. Fusing creates politicized religion or religionized politics, a disaster for both religion and politics...

...Instead of salvation freely offered by God in Christ, politicized religion offers salvation to those who work for particular political causes...

This sentence from Benne on pages 37-38 is a good way to sum up this chapter...

While such fusion damages politics less than it does religion, it does add an aura of absoluteness to policies that are anything but certain.

Troy Transit Center Lawsuit Update - 5/23/13

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:55:00 +0000

Photo via Local 4 News

As previously communicated, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that the City of Troy does not own the land where its new Transit Center is being built.

Earlier this evening (5/23/13), Troy City Councilman Dave Henderson provided this late-breaking update related to the lawsuit on his Facebook page...

This just in on the transit center property situation... The city today filed a motion for reconsideration in the Michigan Court of Appeals today. Grand Sakwa will have an opportunity to file a response, and then the three judge panel will decide whether or not to grant the motion. The two arguments (reasons to file) are:

A) The court committed palpable error by improperly relying on extrinsic evidence to bind Troy to a "transportation center" of a particular size and scope.

B) The court committed palpable error by concluding, as a matter of law, that the transportation center was not "funded".

In our language, we're asking the court to take a look at this again, we feel they made a mistake.

Grand Sakwa also filed a Motion asking for Immediate Effect of the Court’s Ruling. We will file a response to this motion by the deadline of next Thursday.

As I promised, I'll update each step of the way as permitted, without letting any cats out of the bag. You'll hear it here first.

Hopefully, behind-the-scene negotiations are going on between the City of Troy and Grand Sakwa to resolve this dispute with a beneficial solution for the taxpayers of Troy.

Troy ZBA 2013-14 Officers Elected

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:55:00 +0000

Congratulations to Troy Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Allen Kneale and Vice Chairman Glenn Clark. Allen and Glenn were both re-elected at tonight's meeting of the Troy Zoning Board of Appeals.

I'm sure that they will continue to do a fine job and I'm looking forward to serving with them for the next year.

Our Top Posts for the Week Ending 5-19-13

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:37:00 +0000

According to Feedblitz (a website tracking service), the top blog posts on LambertsOnline for the week ending 5/19/13 were...

Tuesdays with Councilman Henderson for 5/14/13

Thanks Troy Athens Athletic Boosters

Marty Knollenberg for Mayor

Our Top Posts for the Week Ending 5-12-13

Troy High School 2013 Senior Citizens Prom

Weekly Top Posts: 2013-05-19

Sun, 19 May 2013 04:00:01 GMT

Troy's 2013 Recognition of Police Week

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:56:00 +0000

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week.

As stated on its website...

...the City of Troy Police Department joins the nation in honoring those police officers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the citizens they served. Troy honors three of our own who have made this sacrifice:

Officer Charles Smetana was killed on December 11, 1969. He was responding to an injury accident in the early morning hours when his patrol car struck the overpass abutment at Big Beaver and I-75.

Officer Martin "Marty" Chivas was killed on April 22, 1974. He was investigating a burglary in progress at a service station located on Rochester Road at Interstate 75 when he was shot and killed by the burglars.

Officer Charles "Chuck" Mulvihill, died on September 11, 2001. He was on duty three days earlier and suffered apparent heart failure while responding to a call for service.

Here in Troy, we're fortunate to have an excellent Police Department. Below are some Tweets and photos related to Troy's 2013 recognition of Police Week.

View the story "2013 Police Week in #TroyMI" on Storify

Thanks Troy Athens Athletic Boosters

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Fri, 17 May 2013 03:58:00 +0000

A great big thank you to the Troy Athens Athletic Boosters. Last Friday they presented our son with an Underclass Enrichment Grant so that he can attend a Cross Country camp this summer.

The Athens Athletic Boosters are committed to providing student athletes with as much support as possible. Their primary goals are:

Senior Scholarships and Underclass Grants.
Team needs the school district can't provide
Moral support

Click here to learn more about the Athens Athletic Boosters.

Tuesdays with Councilman Henderson for 5/14/13

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Wed, 15 May 2013 03:35:00 +0000

Troy City Councilman Dave Henderson gave me an ongoing "OK" to post his Tuesdays with Dave reports. As a public service for those of you not on Facebook, Dave's report from the 5/13/13 City Council meeting is posted below.

Drum roll please... After sort of a hiatus, Tuesdays with Dave returns.

Thanks for your patience the last few weeks. Work and vacation got in the way of timely blog posts here. The Real Estate world has been on fire, and my wife Kelly & I took our 30th anniversary vacation to Orlando last week… keep in mind our 30th anniversary was last year (May 8th), but we postponed it a year because timing was poor in 2012 to take time away.

Back in the saddle this week though… Last nights meeting began with the invocation then we were led by Brownie Troop 74802 from Costello Elementary in the pledge of allegiance.

The first order of business was to swear in our newly elected Mayor Dane Slater. Dane completes the Mayoral term vacated by the recall this past November, and he serves through the next election cycle in 2015. Congrats Dane.

We had the final budget presentation by the nature Society, presented a proclamation for Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and presented a proclamation to SafeBuilt for Building Safety Month.

We were presented draft proposals on an ordinance for Sober Living Facilities in Troy. This was the second meeting of discussion on these facilities. Council decided to postpone this again while we continue to collect data and have questions answered regarding zoning and placement of future facilities. One comment I’ll make about this topic is that it seems that these are an important part of mainstreaming recovering addicts on their final stage of wellness. We need to figure out a way to allow these with limitations into our community through an ordinance, and prohibiting them is not legal. This is one of the reasons it seems to be taking council so long to finalize this item. Stay tuned.

We approved going into closed session to discuss the litigation regarding Grand Sakwa and the Transit Center property. I promised an update, but closed sessions are designed so that we can discuss sensitive items especially items currently in litigation. That said, I can’t provide an update at this time. Please know that every person on council is working on your behalf to get to a quality resolution to this issue. The conversation was good, and we’re not leaving any stones unturned as we move forward. I promise an update as soon as I am able.

Council approved an ordinance regarding Hookah lounges. For those unaware, hookah lounges have been springing up in Troy and other communities of late. They are gaining in popularity, and are essentially social gathering places where people can go and smoke a diluted form of tobacco on a “community water pipe” for lack of a better description. Smoking lounges generally are legal and legitimate businesses regardless of how we individually feel about smoking. I enjoy the occasional cigar, and have observed first hand the social event of passing around a hookah in some of the lounges I have been in. It doesn’t seem like a bad thing to me. That said, there are about 5 of these new businesses in Troy. We have seen an uptick in citizen complaints near these locations due to noise and litter at late hours of the night. There is no alcohol served, but they invite at times a bar like atmosphere late into the night. The police have spent a lot of time recently on calls to Hookah establishments. In the news recently, you may have seen a report of a shooting at a Hookah bar in Troy, parking lot fights, and noise issues past respectable hours for the neighbors. It is not an easy thing to decide how to regulate a very new industry especially when that industry hasn’t proven to be able to self police and keep their client base under control. Keep in mind, the police have responded to incidents at Hookah lounges more often than the local bars this last year…

The ordinance was met with a little resistance by the local business owners, mostly objecting to our ordinance change that went into effect immediately covering hours of operation. Our new ordinance allows hours of operation only until midnight. It was decided to review the hours of operation portion of the ordinance in 6 months. In that six month time frame, we will hopefully see a more respectful client situation (no shootings or fights in the parking lots), as owners of Hookah lounges take charge of their businesses, and control their destiny. A new industry is welcome in Troy, but we all want them to be great neighbors.

We approved an agreement to place a 40 hour/week police officer at the Somerset Collection. Somerset collection is paying for salary, benefits, and many incidentals in full for this full time officer. In and of itself this is a zero cost scenario for the city. We have the added benefit of not sending on duty officers to the mall as frequently as we have been, freeing up manpower for the rest of us. This move was a net gain for the city coffers, and gained unanimous support by council.

We approved a new scoreboard and limited sponsor signage and fencing for the high school baseball field behind Arvin Meritors building on Maple Rd.

Finally we went into a study session regarding Economic Gardening in Troy. There is no question we need to continue building our business community in an effort to fill our vacancies in commercial properties. The tax revenue generated will continue to ease the strain of the downturn from the last decade. The presentation given last night is worth a view on the city of Troy website. The city has been undergoing a philosophical change for several years, inviting business to Troy. Anyone involved in starting a new business understands how difficult it is to navigate your way through the process with a city, between building permits, signage regulations, fire safety etc., life can become stressful. The idea from top to bottom in Troy is to make it easy for the new business to set up shop in Troy… we are continuously improving our processes, and the business community is standing up and taking notice. Job well done Troy.

I hope this satisfies your itch for info this week… see you in a couple weeks.

Dave

Our Top Posts for the Week Ending 5-12-13

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Mon, 13 May 2013 03:53:00 +0000

According to Feedblitz (a website tracking service), the top blog posts on LambertsOnline for the week ending 5/12/13 were...

Troy Angiosarcoma Awareness Race-Walk

Troy 2013 Mayoral Candidate Forum Recap

Marty Knollenberg for Mayor

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's 107th Birthday

Senator Pappageorge Endorses Marty Knollenberg for Troy Mayor

Weekly Top Posts: 2013-05-12

Sun, 12 May 2013 04:00:01 GMT

Troy 2013 Angiosarcoma Awareness 5K Road Race & Walk

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:45:00 +0000

Last Saturday, I ran in the Angiosarcoma Awareness 5K Road Race and Walk in Troy. The race/walk was organized by Ryan Humphrey, a graduate of Troy Athens High School. Very appropriate that the race headquarters was at Athens High School.

The purpose of this race/walk is to raise awareness and money to fund Angiosarcoma research.

This was the first time that I've run in a race on the streets of Troy (in the neighborhoods near Athens High School). After the race I posed for a photo with another runner. Here I am pictured below with the lovely and much faster runner Kelly Henderson. Not only is she married to Troy City Councilman Dave Henderson but she is training to run a complete Marathon this coming Fall!

K-9 Parish Comfort Dogs

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Ellyn) — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:38:00 +0000

A dog is a friend who brings a calming influence, allowing people to open up their hearts and receive help for what is affecting them. These are trained Comfort Dogs for Lutheran Church Charities. They interact with people at churches, schools, nursing homes, hospitals, events and in disaster situations. Most recently they've been in Newtown, CT and Boston, MA.

For more information on the dogs, click here.

The dogs and their handlers recently appeared on Good Morning America. Click here to learn more about these amazing Golden Retrievers!

Congratulations to Troy Mayor Dane Slater

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Wed, 08 May 2013 03:49:00 +0000

Mayor Slater (via the City
of Troy website)

Congratulations to Dane Slater on his victory in today's special election for Mayor of Troy. While I supported Marty Knollenberg, I believe Dane will do a good job serving as our Mayor.

I'm not sure if I've ever posted the passage below from Romans 13 before. Regardless, here it is...

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

While I'm disappointed that Marty lost, I'm even more disappointed by the Troy Citizens United campaign flyer that was mailed out last Friday attacking Dane Slater. You can see part of it below. I've edited out some of the offensive images on the flyer. I realize that many people inside and outside of Troy are claiming to be members of Troy Citizens United. It would be unfair to paint with a broad brush and point a finger ~~figure~~ at a group of people who didn't have anything to do with creating and mailing this flyer. But, hopefully someone will be courageous enough and step forward to claim responsibility.

Edited front page of "Troy Citizens United" campaign flyer

I'll close this local campaign commentary with an excerpt from a recent blog post by Pastor Todd Wilken...

...There are only two kinds of politics in the public square or in the Church: Dishonest and Honest. Honest politics requires, above all, NOT LYING. If you have a position, don’t say you don’t. If you’ve chosen a side, don’t say you’re neutral. If you support a candidate, do so without lying about the other candidates...

Weekly Top Posts: 2013-05-05

Sun, 05 May 2013 04:00:01 GMT

Appeals Court Rules that Troy Does Not Own Transit Center Land

noreply@blogger.com (David Lambert) — Sat, 04 May 2013 03:55:00 +0000

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled today that the City of Troy does not own the land where its new Transit Center is being built.

Here are links to a couple of new stories on this loss for the City of Troy in Court:

Here's the story in today's Crain's Detroit Business...

Troy city officials did not properly fund plans for a multi-modal transit center by the time a 10-year deadline had lapsed to do so under a consent judgment agreement with Grand/Sakwa Properties Inc., the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled. The three-judge panel unanimously this week overturned an Oakland County Circuit Court ruling from 2011, which had given summary judgment in Troy's favor in a lingering legal dispute. At issue was a June 2000 consent judgment in a Grand/Sakwa lawsuit against Troy, where the city agreed to acquire a portion of the land near Maple Road and Coolidge Highway for $1 to develop a transit center. Complicating the matter, the project broke ground in November.

"While it made various attempts to finance the planned project toward the end of the 10-year period, it did not have a supply of money available for the project. Under any of the commonly-understood definitions of the term, the transportation center was not 'funded' and, therefore, title to the disputed property reverted to Grand/Sakwa once the…2010 deadline passed, and (the company) was entitled to judgment as a matter of law," the ruling states.

The agreement comes with a caveat that "if the transportation center is not funded by the city within 10 years…then all right, title and interest of the city in the property designated as the transportation center shall revert to (Grand/Sakwa)." Farmington Hills-based Grand/Sakwa transferred title to the 2.7 acres under dispute to Troy in 2001.

The city and neighboring Birmingham had by 2010 secured several funding commitments from federal, local and other sources for the center, with a preliminary estimate cost of $8.4 million that later escalated to $10 million. But Grand/Sakwa now contends the project did not reach full funding the way that its consent judgment requires, and brought a motion the following month to revert the property back to private ownership. Lori Grigg Bluhm, attorney for Troy in that case, was not available for comment on the ruling Friday afternoon. Mark Miller, director of economic and community development for the city, said no decision is made on whether to appeal and Bluhm will have to review the matter with the city council first.

The council's next scheduled meeting is May 13.

Dykema Gossett PLLC attorney Alan Greene, counsel to Grand/Sakwa, said Friday his client hasn't indicated in any proceedings what it intends to do with the land. There were compelling arguments on the funding status issue, though, he said. "It wasn't even that close," he said of the funding status. "The biggest chunk of the money was supposed to come out of a federal railroad grant and, at the time we took action (in court), all they had received was an approval for their grant application. They still needed to complete studies and other procedural matters before the grant could be formally awarded." Greene also said he was still reviewing the ruling Friday and had not yet had a chance to discuss it in depth with Blum or with Sakwa.

The Crain's article states, "A February status report on the transit project describes underground work such as water and sewer leads and building foundations." Actually, a lot more work has gone into the project as can be seen in the photo below.

Photo via Local 4 News

Hopefully the City of Troy and Grand/Sakwa can arrive at a mutually, beneficial agreement on use of the site. I continue to believe that the Transit Center is a good investment if it's used as a station on Governor Snyder's proposed rapid bus system. However, it's important for the City Council and staff to ensure that any agreement with Grand/Sakwa does not cost the citizens of Troy any more of their tax dollars.

LambertsOnline

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