No Power to the People
Don’t kill the messenger. Some of you haven’t cared for Word on the Street’s continued coverage of the MSHS nickname saga, and I get it. I’m tired of it too. Well, here’s another one that won’t go away… power outages at the Westwood Mall.
Yes, it happened again, earlier this week. Mall ownership failed to pay their electric bills on time so the Marquette Board of Light and Power cut the cord and left the mall, and the businesses trying to make a buck, in the dark.
It wasn’t long ago that I wrote a pretty complimentary article about what appeared to be the long-awaited comeback at the Marquette Township shopping center. A few new businesses were coming in and it looked like the place was going take advantage of the area’s burgeoning popularity. However, it wasn’t long after when the power was turned off due to lack of payment from the mall owners, the Kohan Retail Investment Group of Great Neck, New York.
If the power issue was just a one-off, okay, stuff happens. But this stuff has happened no fewer than 7 times in the last year.
A visit to the Kohan website shows ownership or management of four dozen shopping centers across the country, including the Westwood Mall. I have to imagine they run most of them better than ours, but, anecdotally, I’ve seen negative comments about Kohan regarding the Lansing Mall in Lansing.
Again, the locally owned businesses trying to make it, in spite of the obstacles put up by Kohan, are not to blame. And, according to Scott Martin of Martin Sports, neither is local management. “Joe, the mall manager, is without a doubt why we are currently leasing there.”
It doesn’t help that the mall’s big dogs, Dunham’s and Kohl’s, aren’t under the Kohan umbrella and subsequently aren’t affected by the power outages. Martin says, for the most part, the independent business owners are in a tough spot. “Right now our only options are publicly shaming the property owner or hoping that one of our corporate stores (Maurices, Bath & Body Works, Tradehome Shoes) get their legal teams on it.”
Visit the Westwood Mall website (thewestwoodmall.com) and you’d think the place is some kind of high-end shopping and dining destination. You’ll see beautiful people… laughing, shopping, eating. There’s even a VIP Member option, for those who want to be first in line for “hot deals, the inside scoop and special promotions.” Here’s my inside scoop… the website appears to be the only thing the Kohan Group is good at.
For now, the power is back on, but Martin’s comments probably reflect what most of the business owners out there are feeling. “What we cannot tolerate is the repeated interruption of our workflow. It affects our business and our employees negatively. We’re all family owned. The impact is reaching far past the cash registers.”
Copy and paste. It’s getting old.
High on the HOGS
The negative connotations that come along with the acronym which serves as the name for the local Harley Owners Group hardly describes those bikers. Hogs? You’d think they’re all about taking, when the exact opposite is true.
You might remember the many years they raffled off a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with the profits going to Bay Cliff Health Camp. That was a pretty successful fundraiser. Yeah. Like more than a million bucks successful.
Though they still raise money for Bay Cliff through the Tom Spencer Memorial Ride, they’re currently restructuring their charitable activities. One new beneficiary is Marquette’s Trillium House, a hospice care facility which offers a holistic, home-like environment for those in need of short-term care.
They held their initial fundraiser Tuesday night at the Crossroads Restaurant with raffles, bucket drawings, 50-50 tickets, and just plain old donations, in addition to what the Crossroads kicked in from the evening’s special meal revenues.
They’re still working on the event’s total take, but according to Trillium House Executive Director Melissa Cavill, every dollar helps. “We work directly with our local hospice agencies to provide guided support and care, and depend on the philanthropic support of our community. Our goal is to raise $10,000 to be deposited into the Dan Mazzuchi Care Fund to help cover the cost for those who have limited resources.”
Carol Seger, Director of the Superior Chapter of the Harley Owners Group, says they plan on doing it again. “This was our first partnership with the Trillium House and we will definitely be having one next summer.”
For a first-time event, Seger says it went better than expected. “I want to give a shout out to the Crossroads and owner Nick Bazinette for the effort put forth by him and his staff. We knew the event was going to be a success but nobody expected that many people! The donations were the best I have ever seen at a bike night.”
The local HOG chapter has been together since 1987 and currently has 125 members. I don’t ride, but if I did, I’d be darn proud to ride with a HOG.
Did you know about this? It’s free!
For the young movie lovers in your family, the Thomas Theatre in Marquette offers a Free Summer Series, featuring the kinds of films kids might be willing to come inside for.
According to Thomas Theatre’s Valarie Andes, “If you have young children that haven’t been to the theater yet, this is the perfect option to see if they will sit through a movie. If they can’t, then you don’t feel bad about the ticket, since it’s free. School age kids need something to do in the summer, and nothing beats a free movie with friends.”
The series started in May (sorry I just picked up on this) and continues through September. Selected films are free twice a day each Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The full schedule can be found at their website at thomastheatregroup.com.