I learned about another educational/cultural resource in the area, The Association of Lifelong Learners associated with the  Alpena Community College. Here's the website. Alpena is 30 miles south of Rogers City. There is also a community college in Petoskey, 60 miles west of Rogers City on Lake Michigan.

I gotta love a town that has a statue based on THE Statue of Liberty in its main lakefront park by the marina.

I try to schedule my trips to Rogers City to coincide with the meetings of the various groups I am involved with.  This week there is a lot going on.  I went to four events today.

First, a 7:30 a.m. meeting of the CDA, Community Development Authority, concerned with the enhancement of the business district.

Then,  breakfast of the Wacky Weeders, the volunteers who help the city's park district during spring, summer and fall plant, weed and mulch the seven city parks, the grounds of the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse and the Presque Isle Historical Museum. During the winter months the group still meets every Wednesday morning to go walking and have breakfast afterwards at Karsten's.

At lunch I attended the meeting of my Zonta chapter. During the winter we only meet once a month because some of the members go to warmer climates for a few months.

Mid-afternoon the City Council's ad hoc Grow Committee met. I am a member of that committee and as a result of the meeting I will be working on press releases to help promote the city.

I arrived in Rogers City on Saturday night and read in the current issue of the weekly local newspaper, The Presque Isle Advance, founded in 1878, that the accuracy tests for the voting machines would be held at city hall this morning and the public could attend.

So, I went. I was the only member of the public there. The machines are all new not like the vintage number in the photo at left.  The process had already begun by the time I arrived.  All fourteen township clerks were there putting the machines through a variety of processes ending with the locking of the machines.

The Michigan primary is February 28. It's an open primary. The election officials are planning for a large number of usually Democratic Party voters asking for Republican Party ballots.  It could be an interesting night. Lots of Michiganders liked George Romney when he was Govenor in the 1960's.

Chicago is a BIG city.  And it holds lots of public meetings. I added more to the calendar

Today the Wrigley Building moved a step closer to becoming an officially designated landmark. And Wrigley Field moved a step closer to getting a new configuration of the Budweiser bleachers and a huge (75 feet long by nearly eight feet high) LED sign.

I betcha you thought the Wrigley Building was already a landmark. Not so. It may have been that the Wrigley Company may not have wanted the restrictions landmark status brings. But the new owners of the building are “delighted to have the opportunity to be a steward of the property.” 

At their meeting this afternoon the Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted to make a recommendation to the Chicago City Council that the Wrigley Building be designated a landmark.  They also voted to recommend to the Chicago City Council the approval of Class L Property Tax Incentive for the property. 

What I found most interesting in the presentation about the Wrigley Building and the proposed updating of its retail spaces is how a new retail corridor linking North Michigan Avenue and North State Street could be created by retail development along the river and through the Trump Tower to State Street.

The Commission also heard a report related to the designation of DuSable High School in Bronzeville as a landmark.  More interesting than the official presentation were the public remarks of the ninety-three year old alum of DuSable, the historian Mr. Timuel Black.

After the Commission’s meeting adjourned the Permit Review Committee of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks met.  The only item on the agenda relating to a public facility and not residential property concerned the proposed bleacher reconfiguration for a patio and the construction of the huge sign on a section of the right-field bleachers.  This was the first item on the agenda but it was pushed back because there was no input from Alderman Tom Tunney which I thought was very odd. Someone contacted his office and about an hour later he appeared. He supported the changes but seems to want the Cubs to come up with a signage plan for the facility. There was disagreement on this item and it passed by only one vote.


 

I attended the meeting of the Cultural Advisory Council at 8:30a.m. this morning. Nora Daley, former Mayor Daley's daughter chairs the council.

This is the group of cultural mavens selected to oversee the process creating the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan that Mayor Rahm Emauel "mandated" when he took office.  The city's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events is managing the process using outside consultant groups. The lead group is Lord Cultural Resources out of New York.

The last time the city went through the process of creating a cultural plan, it was done by the Harold Washington administration in 1986.

On today's agenda was a power point presentation of the process. There will be four town hall meetings this month, about ten neighborhood meetings, and about ten focus groups.  The deadline is a plan for review by autumn. 

I think I will make a point of attending as many of the meetings as I can.  Because (1)  I like art and theater etc. and (2) the process is going to take place within  a year.

Today marked the launch of the projects website.  Check it out here, sign up for updates, and get your friends together and attend the meetings.