If

you would like to volunteer for this improvement effort or would like additional information please call Larry Clark at 464-9047 May 10, 2013

News for the South Corridor:

Here comes Clean-Up Day!

If it isnt already on your calendar, please plan to give some time Thursday, May 16 (and Friday, May 17 if we dont get as much done as wed like!) to South Corridor Clean-Up Day, 9 a.m. 4 p.m. Staging headquarters is at K-Mart.
1. Weve got LOTS going on in the clean-up effort and an impressive list of donated materials, so the more pairs of hands to help in this first South Corridor work bee, the better. Heres the outline of action:

Steve Plowman is heading up the May 16 workday. Well divide into two groups, half working north to The Courtyard, half south to South Partridge Point Road, beginning on the east side of US-23 and then working the west. We hope to have at least 30 people. SAFETY IS NUMBER ONE. M-DOT will use cones to channel traffic into one lane while we work on the east, then will switch the cones so we can do the west side. It is supplying yellow vests, trash bags, shovels, rakes, and brooms and will also provide THREE electronic signs at Werth, US-23/Grant, and South Partridge Point/US-23 saying South Corridor clean-up; please drive carefully. The driveways to businesses are our focus. Well be raking grassy areas, sweeping,
and picking up trash. Howard Welsh of Gambles and Steve Plowman of Plowmans Collision will supply bucket trucks and Dennis Schultz of Timm Construction will offer a dump truck and a place to unload dirt. M-DOTs street sweeper will remove the final traces.

Well have 40 pots of flowers (the flowers donated by Pied Piper, the pots by Bonnie Plowman of the Garden Club) to place up and down US-23, but thatll happen in later spring maybe Memorial Day when the weather is warmer. We are looking into the most efficient and effective ways to keep those flowers watered.
And theres more!

Were working with M-DOT on a grass re-seeding test area between the bike path and curb. ABC Hardware is donating grass seed and HLI and Me-Bob lawn service will keep the grass mowed along the bike path! Wow! A service group has volunteered for a one-time clean-up of one area business if that business agrees to keep it up after that. Since the road between Bear Point and K-Mart has become something of a dumpsite, weve offered to help the owner clean that roadway so that it can be used for bike and foot traffic, which the owner welcomes. Alpena Recycling will donate pipe for a gate, and weve

found a volunteer to do the welding so that the road can be effectively closed to vehicles. Were contacting youth groups to help paint and fix-up US-23 lots this summer where residents are unable to maintain their properties. The Boys & Girls Club is eager to help with several chores, including painting, and Sherwin-Williams is willing to donate paint. Other agencies, including Habitat for Humanity, are also interested. Alpena Recycling will pick up non-running vehicles for a fee of only $10. The Welcome to Alpena sign that had been on the east side of US-23 just past Thunder Bay Motel has been taken down. A new sign reflective of the communitys rebranding theme, Sanctuary of the Great Lakes, will be crafted and erected somewhere else. If business names are missing from this report, its because we cant remember/list everybody who is helping and donating. EVERYBODY has been supportive and great! 2. Update on the Business Association: More than 20 people attended the latest meeting on May 7 and the South Corridor Business Association is hoping for even more at the next session Tuesday, May 21, at 5:30 at Alpena Mall. All are welcome. Participants will be involved in the May 16 clean-up day, agreed to a business membership fee structure, and are eager to move forward with the SCBA. Representatives continue to work with Chamber of Commerce officials to see if the organization can become a subset of the C of C and thus earn 503-C designation. 3.Update on Alpena Tow nship involvem ent: A number of South Corridor business owners and citizens attended the May 6 meeting of the Alpena Township Board, taking the opportunity to make various points regarding South Corridor improvement and continuing to seek township support. As the meeting ended, the township offered no immediate support or involvement with the South Corridor group, although trustee Brenda Fournier did make a motion to review the townships blight ordinances with an eye toward updating or possibly strengthening the rules. The motion died for lack of a second. Trustee Stan Mischleys follow-up motion to review the blight ordinances in 2014 passed unanimously. Issues raised by South Corridor citizens: Hal Neiman of Neimans IGA: Weve brought business and tax revenue to the south corridor and weve done it on our own. Now were asking for township cooperation to make the south side entrance to Alpena look a little better than it does. The money thats been spent has all gone to the west entrance (M-32) and the south corridor businesses are wondering when its our turn. Gary Parteka, citizen: When is the township going to do something about blight, and specifically Thunder Bay Motel? It has been vacant for the 22 years Ive lived on Bear Point. The roof is falling in and windows are still broken out, although some are boarded up now. This is what people see when they drive into Alpena and its a disgrace not just to Alpena Township but to all of us. Its harming our property values. At what point is this board going to consider Thunder Bay Motel blight? A year from now? Five years from now? (Mr. Parteka also read a list of South Corridor clean-up projects involving volunteers and donated materials.) Karen Hill, citizen: Some of the nicest neighborhoods in Alpena Township are behind those two motels on the corners of Bare Point, but youd never know it. To get back to them you have to drive past Thunder Bay Motel and all that blight. Betty Westrope, citizen: If the township doesnt have the money to address all of its blight issues, do what a homeowner does: take it one project at a time. Address the worst issue or issues first, like Thunder Bay Motel, and then move on to the next one. Bob Young, Youngs Appliance and Furniture: Weve heard all of the things the township cannot do to help the South Corridor groups work because it has limited

resources, staff, etc. but tell us: what CAN the township do to help this effort? Larry Clark, citizen: We ought to be able to find a way we can work together, collaborate, cooperate, to make the south entrance to Alpena a more attractive spot. It would bring the township more tax revenue and make people more likely to want to stay awhile when theyre passing through. Our group and the township should work together to develop creative solutions for blight that do not cost the township additional money. Perhaps we could hire a blight enforcement officer like Sanborn Township has done. The cost of his salary could be funded by increased citation revenue. Secondly, we could form a blight committee to investigate ways of increasing revenue and cutting costs concerning blight reduction. Regarding Thunder Bay Motel, Township Supervisor Marie Twite said the owner, Walter Gruschke, was initially willing to let the motel part of the property (not the house) be razed as part of a fire department training but backed out because of the (South Corridor) group. Another township trustee suggested business owners make Mr. Gruschke a reasonable offer on the motel, to which several responded, We have. The current sale price is said to be $139,000.