Original Story: detroitnews.com
The first significant snowfall of the new year in Michigan triggered massive highway pileups that killed at least three people, injured about two dozen and closed multiple freeways.
An estimated 193 vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction crash in which one person died and 22 were hurt on Interstate 94 between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek late Friday morning. One of the vehicles was a truck whose load of fireworks ignited, shutting down the freeway in both directions for hours.
"Right in front of me the trucks started to go crazy. You couldn't see a single thing at the time of all the accidents. I was able to pull off and just watch semi after semi and semi and semi hit each other and cars hit each other. I mean people were going full speed ahead," Micah Stanislowski, who was involved in the crash, told WWMT (channel 3) in Battle Creek. A Michigan car accident attorney represents clients seriously injured in automobile accidents.
Meanwhile, one person died and another was critically injured in a crash involving 12 jackknifed semitrailers and 15 cars on southbound U.S. 23 near Willis Road, south of Ann Arbor, Michigan State Police said. And on Interstate 75 in Birch Run Township, near Flint, a man hauling scrap with a trailer was killed after his pickup left the freeway and struck a tree. U.S. 23 was reopened around 10 p.m. Friday.
Michigan State Police Lt. Rick Pazder said the I-94 chain reaction crash occurred about 10:07 a.m. Friday between mile markers 88 and 92.
Police said Jean Larocque, a 57-year-old male trucker who worked for a Quebec company, died. Among the 22 injured were two firefighters hurt when the fireworks ignited. One suffered ruptured eardrums and the other an injured back, police said.
Four of the injured were taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, where they were listed in good condition; six were transported to Bronson Battle Creek Hospital with minor injuries; and six were taken to Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, where their conditions were unknown. A Michigan personal injury lawyer represents individuals injured due to the negligence of others.
Non-injured drivers ensnared in the pileup were taken via bus to a local Galesburg school.
HAZMAT officials initially requested a three-mile evacuation radius at mile marker 90 on I-94, near the border of Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties. One of the semis involved in the accident contained 44,000 pounds of hazardous material. By 3 p.m Friday, officials said all material in question had burned off.
Pazder said it was too early in the investigation to determine the cause of the crash, but noted there was snowy weather and the roadway was icy. A Michigan auto accident lawyer is following this story closely.
"It's a terrible, terrible event," he said, adding 11 fire departments, nine medic companies and three police forces responded to the crash. "A lot of work goes into clearing up something like this."
According to the National Weather Service's Kalamazoo station, the weather at the time included heavy snow with visibility of a quarter mile. The temperature was 8 degrees, with a wind chill of minus 3 degrees.
"As I approached I realized that all the cars were stopped in front of me," said Heather Jackson. "I seen some in the ditch and I seen cars behind me coming at me at regular speed and I knew if I didn't go into the ditch I was going to be hit."
Erica Frederick of Kalamazoo said she was eastbound on I-94 to take her dog to a veterinarian in Battle Creek when traffic came to a standstill.
"Traffic was moving at about 45 mph, and it was snowing heavily," she said. "I came around a curve, and traffic was stopped. I went from 45 to zero and ended up at a dead stop for at least an hour."
Frederick saw a big, black cloud of smoke over the freeway. "Then the radio said there had been a pileup and that one of the semis was full of fireworks and they were going off at the scene. People started getting out of their cars and walked toward the fire, which was maybe one-fourth mile away. I stayed in my car."
Then the first responders started to show up. "I saw EMS vehicles arriving the whole time I was stopped," Frederick said. "Then they brought in a bus, and I could see survivors being helped onto the bus. They had blankets wrapped around them."
Liz Skrzypek of Canton Township and her husband, Jeff, were headed to Chicago on I-94 west Friday afternoon when they took a detour onto the business route to avoid the crash scene. "On the way, we saw a lot of cars off the road, several on the median and on the side of the road in ditches," she said.
Fifteen cars were involved in the U.S. 23 crash early Friday afternoon just north of Milan, Michigan Police Sgt. Michael Sura said.
Sura said the crash remains under investigation, but "there were whiteout conditions."
Around 1 p.m., "there was a solid sheet of ice with drifts," said Scott Hall of Milan, who works at the BP gas station on Willis. "With the blowing of the snow... you can't see."
A second crash in Washtenaw County tangled traffic on U.S. 23 from Willow Road to the Monroe County line.
The fallout from a day of treacherous conditions was reminiscent of other weather-related pileups in recent years in Metro Detroit and the Midwest.
On Jan. 23, 2014, three people died, and more than 20 were injured in a massive, 46-vehicle crash near Michigan City, Ind., about 30 miles outside of Chicago. The smash-up involved two box trucks and 18 semis and occurred during whiteout conditions. Among the three victims were Thomas Wolma, 67, and his wife, Marilyn, 65, of Grand Rapids. The third victim was Jerry Dalrymple, 65, of Chicago, who died along with his dog.
A 30 car-and-truck chain reaction on Jan. 13, 2013, on I-75 in Detroit killed three people, including a 7-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl, and sent 13 others to the hospital.
Besides the crashes Friday, the weather led to school closures across the state.
Kalamazoo College closed on Friday along with hundreds of elementary, middle and high schools. Some districts that shut for the day included Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Saginaw and Traverse City. Some Kalamazoo-area schools were closed for the third consecutive day. Grand Valley State University and Grand Rapids Community College also closed.
Meanwhile, the emergency room at McLaren Oakland hospital in Pontiac was closed to new patients after an external water main break flooded parts of the hospital early Friday, officials said.
The break led to "several feet of flooding in the ER," said Sharyl Smith, vice president of marketing, planning and public relations.
14 January 2015
05 January 2015
EDITORIAL: DON'T FEDERALIZE ALL WATER
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Nothing better symbolizes the dangers of cracking the federal regulatory door than the Clean Water Act. Initially passed to limit discharges into "navigable waters," two government agencies are preparing to expand the act's reach once again in a way that would put nearly every drop of water in the United States under federal control. A San Antonio Water Rights Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
The Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency want to redefine "waters of the United States" subject to regulation to include nearly every pond, wetland, ditch, drain and dry and pothole in the country. Virtually no body of water, no matter how small, would be out of reach.
This is not what Congress intended when it passed the Clean Water Act in 1972. At that time, the scope of the law was intentionally limited to align with Congress' authority to regulate interstate commerce. Its power extended only to waterways that could be used as commercial channels of navigation that cross state lines. An Austin Water Rights Lawyer assists water districts, municipalities, industry, and landowners in all aspects of water law.
That was an appropriate delineation of power, and did not intrude in a major way on the rights of the states to manage their own resources.
But the Corps and EPA have steadily stretched the definition well beyond what lawmakers intended, and have done so despite being slapped down by the courts.
In 2001, the Supreme Court in SWANCC vs. Army Corps of Engineers, forbade the agencies from regulating "isolated water bodies," meaning those that were not connected to interstate waterways.
Rather than comply with the court's interpretation, the agencies pushed ahead, deciding that any water that could possibly find its way into a navigable waterway was fair game for regulation, including culverts and agricultural drainage ditches. That placed much of the nation's farms under the Clean Water Act's thumb, and set up Rapanos vs. United States in 2006, involving a Midland area farmer. A Houston Water Rights Lawyer represent clients in issues that arise in water rights litigation, mediation, arbitration, and in trial.
John Rapanos grew corn on fields that were surrounded by century-old drainage ditches and criss-crossed with tiles, a clear indication that the property was never intended to be a wetland. Still, the EPA pounced on him when he filled in a low spot on his farm that held standing water for a few weeks during the wet season.
Rapanos was threatened with prison and nearly bankrupted before prevailing in the Supreme Court, which ruled the agencies could not automatically regulate wetlands just because they have a hydrological downstream connection to navigable waters.
Even that second ruling hasn't deterred the EPA and Corps. In clear defiance of the Court and Congress, they are now preparing rules that would give them potential authority over all tributaries, even the smallest of streams, and almost all standing water.
In the end of year spending bill, Congress inserted exemptions to the regulations for certain farming practices, but stops short of overturning the rules. The new Congress must step in and bring the agencies in compliance with both the law and the court rulings.
The Clean Water Act specifically promises to "recognize, preserve and protect the primary responsibilities of the states" to regulate and protect the water contained within their borders.
Federal agencies charged with carrying out the law are trampling on that promise and must be checked.
Nothing better symbolizes the dangers of cracking the federal regulatory door than the Clean Water Act. Initially passed to limit discharges into "navigable waters," two government agencies are preparing to expand the act's reach once again in a way that would put nearly every drop of water in the United States under federal control. A San Antonio Water Rights Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
The Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency want to redefine "waters of the United States" subject to regulation to include nearly every pond, wetland, ditch, drain and dry and pothole in the country. Virtually no body of water, no matter how small, would be out of reach.
This is not what Congress intended when it passed the Clean Water Act in 1972. At that time, the scope of the law was intentionally limited to align with Congress' authority to regulate interstate commerce. Its power extended only to waterways that could be used as commercial channels of navigation that cross state lines. An Austin Water Rights Lawyer assists water districts, municipalities, industry, and landowners in all aspects of water law.
That was an appropriate delineation of power, and did not intrude in a major way on the rights of the states to manage their own resources.
But the Corps and EPA have steadily stretched the definition well beyond what lawmakers intended, and have done so despite being slapped down by the courts.
In 2001, the Supreme Court in SWANCC vs. Army Corps of Engineers, forbade the agencies from regulating "isolated water bodies," meaning those that were not connected to interstate waterways.
Rather than comply with the court's interpretation, the agencies pushed ahead, deciding that any water that could possibly find its way into a navigable waterway was fair game for regulation, including culverts and agricultural drainage ditches. That placed much of the nation's farms under the Clean Water Act's thumb, and set up Rapanos vs. United States in 2006, involving a Midland area farmer. A Houston Water Rights Lawyer represent clients in issues that arise in water rights litigation, mediation, arbitration, and in trial.
John Rapanos grew corn on fields that were surrounded by century-old drainage ditches and criss-crossed with tiles, a clear indication that the property was never intended to be a wetland. Still, the EPA pounced on him when he filled in a low spot on his farm that held standing water for a few weeks during the wet season.
Rapanos was threatened with prison and nearly bankrupted before prevailing in the Supreme Court, which ruled the agencies could not automatically regulate wetlands just because they have a hydrological downstream connection to navigable waters.
Even that second ruling hasn't deterred the EPA and Corps. In clear defiance of the Court and Congress, they are now preparing rules that would give them potential authority over all tributaries, even the smallest of streams, and almost all standing water.
In the end of year spending bill, Congress inserted exemptions to the regulations for certain farming practices, but stops short of overturning the rules. The new Congress must step in and bring the agencies in compliance with both the law and the court rulings.
The Clean Water Act specifically promises to "recognize, preserve and protect the primary responsibilities of the states" to regulate and protect the water contained within their borders.
Federal agencies charged with carrying out the law are trampling on that promise and must be checked.
A NEW YEAR, NEW HOPE FOR LAWMAKERS
Original Story: freep.com
Resolutions are like flowers — pretty when they bloom on New Year's Eve, but often rather stale by the time any real reckoning for them comes around.
But they can also be useful divergences from the norm. A chance to dream, just for a bit, about things we might do better.
In Michigan, and southeast Michigan in particular, the list could be auspicious.
What if statewide, for instance, we committed to actually solving problems based on facts and merit, rather than indulging in hyperbolic ideology?
We're thinking specifically here about last year's legislative meltdown over roads, where the practical solution was obvious (more money for better maintenance along with tighter restrictions for the vehicles that do the most damage) but the agreed-upon abdication pushed all the decision-making to voters in a half-baked proposal. The anti-tax crowd cowed enough legislators to prevent the best, but politically difficult, ideas from winning the day.
It's instructive to compare the Legislature's handling of roads to the state's management of Detroit's financial crisis. After years of disinvestment and avoidance, the state actually stepped up to force tough decisions in its largest city. Billions in debt and liabilities were reorganized or chopped down, and a 60-year slide now seems poised to reverse.
Be it resolved that the Legislature take some cues from the handling of Detroit's financial woes in the way it addresses roads and a host of other issues like education and local government funding. Let's see how long the glow from that resolution lasts.
Locally, the best resolution can be summed up in two words: Don't blink.
Detroit's new financial lease on life is the opportunity of a generation, but there's much that needs doing to take full advantage — and that's not just for Detroiters. We can't afford to have key parties cower from the challenges that are now much more manageable, but still unfinished.
True, city government must deliver services better, primarily focused on blight removal and public safety. But it will still be somewhat cash-strapped, and the need for help from the outside — from quarters that have long sat on the sidelines as the city declined — could not be more acute.
Private interests who have held back investment in the city need to join companies like Quicken Loans, Blue Cross and General Motors, and jump into the revitalization of the city's Central Business District. State government, having helped the bankruptcy along with $200 million for the grand bargain, must commit to build on that investment with money for neighborhood revitalization and the building of real economic opportunity.
And Detroiters themselves must continue to insist that things can, and will, be better — by holding elected officials accountable and making strong choices at the ballot box.
Be it resolved that Detroit's potential turnaround becomes more real in 2015, by building on last year's historic momentum.
New year, new hope. Let's toast to it with fervor, but then get right back to work.
Resolutions are like flowers — pretty when they bloom on New Year's Eve, but often rather stale by the time any real reckoning for them comes around.
But they can also be useful divergences from the norm. A chance to dream, just for a bit, about things we might do better.
In Michigan, and southeast Michigan in particular, the list could be auspicious.
What if statewide, for instance, we committed to actually solving problems based on facts and merit, rather than indulging in hyperbolic ideology?
We're thinking specifically here about last year's legislative meltdown over roads, where the practical solution was obvious (more money for better maintenance along with tighter restrictions for the vehicles that do the most damage) but the agreed-upon abdication pushed all the decision-making to voters in a half-baked proposal. The anti-tax crowd cowed enough legislators to prevent the best, but politically difficult, ideas from winning the day.
It's instructive to compare the Legislature's handling of roads to the state's management of Detroit's financial crisis. After years of disinvestment and avoidance, the state actually stepped up to force tough decisions in its largest city. Billions in debt and liabilities were reorganized or chopped down, and a 60-year slide now seems poised to reverse.
Be it resolved that the Legislature take some cues from the handling of Detroit's financial woes in the way it addresses roads and a host of other issues like education and local government funding. Let's see how long the glow from that resolution lasts.
Locally, the best resolution can be summed up in two words: Don't blink.
Detroit's new financial lease on life is the opportunity of a generation, but there's much that needs doing to take full advantage — and that's not just for Detroiters. We can't afford to have key parties cower from the challenges that are now much more manageable, but still unfinished.
True, city government must deliver services better, primarily focused on blight removal and public safety. But it will still be somewhat cash-strapped, and the need for help from the outside — from quarters that have long sat on the sidelines as the city declined — could not be more acute.
Private interests who have held back investment in the city need to join companies like Quicken Loans, Blue Cross and General Motors, and jump into the revitalization of the city's Central Business District. State government, having helped the bankruptcy along with $200 million for the grand bargain, must commit to build on that investment with money for neighborhood revitalization and the building of real economic opportunity.
And Detroiters themselves must continue to insist that things can, and will, be better — by holding elected officials accountable and making strong choices at the ballot box.
Be it resolved that Detroit's potential turnaround becomes more real in 2015, by building on last year's historic momentum.
New year, new hope. Let's toast to it with fervor, but then get right back to work.
29 December 2014
ENBRIDGE OIL SPILL SETTLEMENT IS $6.25M, NOT $6.75M
Original Story: woodtv.com
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) — A settlement over a 2010 oil spill in southwestern Michigan is worth $6.25 million, not $6.75 million as lawyers reported earlier in December.
A new filing has been made in Grand Rapids federal court. Judge Gordon Quist still must approve the deal between a Canadian company and residents and land owners near the Kalamazoo River. A Tulsa Oil and Gas Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
The size of payments will depend on proximity to the water.
A pipeline leak spewed more than 800,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek. The pipeline belongs to Enbridge Inc., based in Calgary, Alberta.
Enbridge has agreed to donate $150,000 to local groups committed to environmental conservation, such as the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council and the Calhoun Conservation District. A Texas Energy Lawyer is experienced in representing clients involved in energy disputes.
The company has estimated cleanup costs to be about $1.2 billion, including $227 million on environmental consultants.
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) — A settlement over a 2010 oil spill in southwestern Michigan is worth $6.25 million, not $6.75 million as lawyers reported earlier in December.
A new filing has been made in Grand Rapids federal court. Judge Gordon Quist still must approve the deal between a Canadian company and residents and land owners near the Kalamazoo River. A Tulsa Oil and Gas Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
The size of payments will depend on proximity to the water.
A pipeline leak spewed more than 800,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek. The pipeline belongs to Enbridge Inc., based in Calgary, Alberta.
Enbridge has agreed to donate $150,000 to local groups committed to environmental conservation, such as the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council and the Calhoun Conservation District. A Texas Energy Lawyer is experienced in representing clients involved in energy disputes.
The company has estimated cleanup costs to be about $1.2 billion, including $227 million on environmental consultants.
EATERIES MAKE PATIOS A WINTER DINING HOT SPOT
Original Story: detroitnews.com
Restaurant manager Rose Drys knows the look: the doubting, skeptical faces of customers offered a seat on the patio when it's as cold as ice cream outside.
"When we ask, 'Inside or out?' they look like, 'Yeah, right, I want to sit outside,' " says Drys, who runs Stella's Black Dog Tavern in downtown Plymouth.
"Sometimes it takes convincing to get people to believe they won't be cold. Once they sit out there and see how nice it feels, how nice everything looks outside in wintertime, they don't want to sit anywhere else." Enclosure Guy offers outdoor patio enclosures and plastic curtains for your business.
Stella's began investing in a year-round patio about two years ago by adding a heater and glass door walls that go up when temps comes down. The warming features were stepped up last year with thick warm chair cushions that are used only in cold weather. Rugs were also rolled out. And on Nov. 20, a fireplace went in. It will be removed come summer.
Stella's is among Metro Detroit eateries that have decided to keep outdoor eating areas open year-round, and they are finding that winter patios are good for the customer experience and for their business bottom line.
For customers, it's a way to enjoy the sights of winter — skies, snowflakes and snow-trimmed trees, bundled-up pedestrians, street and twinkling lights — without feeling chilled. For business owners, it preserves precious seating, which can be cut by as much as half when outdoor tables go into winter storage. Put your outdoor seating to good use with an Enclosure Guy outdoor patio enclosure.
As customers warm up to winterized dining rooms, restaurant owners, managers and chefs are seeing requests for outdoor seating are just as hot in the fall and winter as in summer and spring.
The fireplace and patio at Local Kitchen is a favorite spot for the Hughes family of Royal Oak. If they can't get a seat at the interior patio, nearest the fireplace, they go to the exterior patio.
"It very cozy and homey," says dad Brian Hughes. "The fireplace can get a little smoky sometimes, but it's like sitting around a campfire, the smell, the warmth. It's nice."
While fire pits and outdoor heaters are nothing new, the latest version brings more warming features. There are transparent, opaque and white plastic tents that can attach to the ground and keep the cold air out. There are personal heaters and dedicated room heaters as well as removable glass walls and permanent fireplaces. And building renovations can ensure that patios are protected from the elements.
At Social Kitchen & Bar in Birmingham, the patio, or The Via, is the place to be for many customers, says general manager Michael Gray. "People don't mind waiting for a table in The Via."
The Via is on the side of the building, just off the restaurant's main dining space, and looks onto the street. It's divided by glass partitions so people can see into the restaurant and covered with a tent/canopy that zips up to keep the wind out.
Above each table are electric heaters "that are extremely effective," and each is on its own individual breaker. The room has its own standard thermostat as well, Gray says.
"We actually get requests to sit out there no matter how cold it is outside," Gray says. "The perspective there is different. The people watching, the sights outside. … It's built-in entertainment."
The Via seats 48 and up to 60, if necessary. The space is popular as a rental for group gatherings, as is the case with other restaurants' outdoor patios.
"I think this is the trend. You never want to shrink dining space," Gray says.
Down the street, Café Via — a separate business — manages to maintain an outdoor patio that is warm and unusually elegant all year long. Several restaurants in Birmingham — The Bird & The Bread, Market and others — offer al fresco dining.
Red Crown in Grosse Pointe Park has enclosed its patio with a tent and uses large space heaters, as does Da Eduardo in Grosse Pointe Woods. Morning Glory in Grosse Pointe Farms adds a floor-to-ceiling glass wall each year to fully enclose its small patio. And when Bacco Ristorante in Southfield remodeled its patio, it added heaters and an insulated enclosure.
When the owners of Local Kitchen & Bar in Ferndale took over a restaurant space at 344 W. Nine Mile for renovations in 2012 "it was a prerequisite that we have a larger patio that be used any season," says developer and executive chef Rich Halberg.
The patio was changed to run the length of the building and made large enough to seat 100-120. It's divided into three sections moving in from the restaurant outward, from least exposed to most exposed. There is a fireplace between the indoor and outdoor spaces and clear plastic walls that can roll up and down.
Last year they decided to secure the walls to the ground to protect the tables from the cold, and the outdoor patio, which seats about 50, also has a warm air blowing furnace, says Halberg. It's well worth the investment, he says.
"The feeling of being indoors for winter, for our long winters, can make you feel claustrophobic," he says. "This lets people be able to sit outside and enjoy the outdoors. Plus, it gives us the space we absolutely have to have all year long."
Restaurant manager Rose Drys knows the look: the doubting, skeptical faces of customers offered a seat on the patio when it's as cold as ice cream outside.
"When we ask, 'Inside or out?' they look like, 'Yeah, right, I want to sit outside,' " says Drys, who runs Stella's Black Dog Tavern in downtown Plymouth.
"Sometimes it takes convincing to get people to believe they won't be cold. Once they sit out there and see how nice it feels, how nice everything looks outside in wintertime, they don't want to sit anywhere else." Enclosure Guy offers outdoor patio enclosures and plastic curtains for your business.
Stella's began investing in a year-round patio about two years ago by adding a heater and glass door walls that go up when temps comes down. The warming features were stepped up last year with thick warm chair cushions that are used only in cold weather. Rugs were also rolled out. And on Nov. 20, a fireplace went in. It will be removed come summer.
Stella's is among Metro Detroit eateries that have decided to keep outdoor eating areas open year-round, and they are finding that winter patios are good for the customer experience and for their business bottom line.
For customers, it's a way to enjoy the sights of winter — skies, snowflakes and snow-trimmed trees, bundled-up pedestrians, street and twinkling lights — without feeling chilled. For business owners, it preserves precious seating, which can be cut by as much as half when outdoor tables go into winter storage. Put your outdoor seating to good use with an Enclosure Guy outdoor patio enclosure.
As customers warm up to winterized dining rooms, restaurant owners, managers and chefs are seeing requests for outdoor seating are just as hot in the fall and winter as in summer and spring.
The fireplace and patio at Local Kitchen is a favorite spot for the Hughes family of Royal Oak. If they can't get a seat at the interior patio, nearest the fireplace, they go to the exterior patio.
"It very cozy and homey," says dad Brian Hughes. "The fireplace can get a little smoky sometimes, but it's like sitting around a campfire, the smell, the warmth. It's nice."
While fire pits and outdoor heaters are nothing new, the latest version brings more warming features. There are transparent, opaque and white plastic tents that can attach to the ground and keep the cold air out. There are personal heaters and dedicated room heaters as well as removable glass walls and permanent fireplaces. And building renovations can ensure that patios are protected from the elements.
At Social Kitchen & Bar in Birmingham, the patio, or The Via, is the place to be for many customers, says general manager Michael Gray. "People don't mind waiting for a table in The Via."
The Via is on the side of the building, just off the restaurant's main dining space, and looks onto the street. It's divided by glass partitions so people can see into the restaurant and covered with a tent/canopy that zips up to keep the wind out.
Above each table are electric heaters "that are extremely effective," and each is on its own individual breaker. The room has its own standard thermostat as well, Gray says.
"We actually get requests to sit out there no matter how cold it is outside," Gray says. "The perspective there is different. The people watching, the sights outside. … It's built-in entertainment."
The Via seats 48 and up to 60, if necessary. The space is popular as a rental for group gatherings, as is the case with other restaurants' outdoor patios.
"I think this is the trend. You never want to shrink dining space," Gray says.
Down the street, Café Via — a separate business — manages to maintain an outdoor patio that is warm and unusually elegant all year long. Several restaurants in Birmingham — The Bird & The Bread, Market and others — offer al fresco dining.
Red Crown in Grosse Pointe Park has enclosed its patio with a tent and uses large space heaters, as does Da Eduardo in Grosse Pointe Woods. Morning Glory in Grosse Pointe Farms adds a floor-to-ceiling glass wall each year to fully enclose its small patio. And when Bacco Ristorante in Southfield remodeled its patio, it added heaters and an insulated enclosure.
When the owners of Local Kitchen & Bar in Ferndale took over a restaurant space at 344 W. Nine Mile for renovations in 2012 "it was a prerequisite that we have a larger patio that be used any season," says developer and executive chef Rich Halberg.
The patio was changed to run the length of the building and made large enough to seat 100-120. It's divided into three sections moving in from the restaurant outward, from least exposed to most exposed. There is a fireplace between the indoor and outdoor spaces and clear plastic walls that can roll up and down.
Last year they decided to secure the walls to the ground to protect the tables from the cold, and the outdoor patio, which seats about 50, also has a warm air blowing furnace, says Halberg. It's well worth the investment, he says.
"The feeling of being indoors for winter, for our long winters, can make you feel claustrophobic," he says. "This lets people be able to sit outside and enjoy the outdoors. Plus, it gives us the space we absolutely have to have all year long."
FRAUD INVESTIGATION INTO ACCUSED FAKE LANDLORD
Original Story: woodtv.com
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Grand Rapids woman who tenants said pretended to be their landlord and collected rent but then ‘took our money and ran’ is now the focus of a criminal fraud investigation.
Cheryl Murphy told Target 8 last week that she didn’t know what she was going to do about a place to live. She said she and her husband had paid $1,400 to Amanda Straight to live with her in a house on Griswold Street SE through February.
What Murphy didn’t know when she handed over the money is that Straight doesn’t own that home. She was a tenant renting it. Murphy said Straight took her rent money but never paid the actual property owner. A Plymouth Landlord Tenant Lawyer has experience representing clients involved in eviction disputes.
The real landlord is in the process of evicting Straight, who has since moved to another house. It is at least the third eviction notice she has faced this year, but Straight has never shown up for a court date.
Murphy, her husband and another tenant are going to be thrown out of the house on Griswold, too. Murphy said they didn’t have anywhere to go and didn’t have the money to find a new place.
After Target 8’s story aired, Tamara Holmberg — who doesn’t know Murphy — decided she had to do something to help. She started a GoFundMe.com account.
“We were able to raise, after the fees and everything, $1,400,” Holmberg said.
Tuesday, she presented Murphy with that $1,400 in cash, which was collected from mostly anonymous donors. The money will be used to help Murphy and her husband find a new place to live.
“They didn’t have to do this. They don’t know us. They have their own families and people to take care of that are close to their hearts, and for them to reach out to us and our situation that we were placed in , it has been a really overwhelming experience,” Murphy said.
The Grand Rapids Police Department said it also learned about Straight’s alleged shady dealings from Target 8. After the story aired, police started getting calls from other victims. GRPD forwarded the case to the Metropolitan Fraud and Identity Theft Task Force for investigation. No charges had been filed against Straight as of Tuesday. A Birmingham Eviction Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
Sara Czachorski told Target 8 she was also ripped off by Straight. She lived with Straight at a house on Kalamazoo Avenue SE that she thought Straight owned. But she realized something was fishy.
“I knew things weren’t obviously OK. There were times where several people (would come to the house). She wouldn’t answer the door,” Czachorski said.
Straight kicked her out unexpectedly, she said.
“A couple of days later, we filed for small claims,” Czachorski said.
Czachorski told the judge that Straight owned her over $1,000 for an unreturned security deposit and cable and Internet service that was supposed to be included in Czachorski’s rent. Straight told her Czachorski’s name would have to appear on the bill and she would pay Sara.
“She said, ‘Well, they won’t let me get it in my name,'” Czachorski recalled. “She said she didn’t have good credit.”
Czachorski won a judgment against Straight when Straight, once again, did not show up to court. A Rochester Landlord Tenant Lawyer assist property owners in regaining possession of their land from tenants refusing to abide by the terms of their lease.
But she is being summoned there again. Murphy has also filed a small claims case for the rent Straight took from her. The case goes before a judge Jan. 7.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Grand Rapids woman who tenants said pretended to be their landlord and collected rent but then ‘took our money and ran’ is now the focus of a criminal fraud investigation.
Cheryl Murphy told Target 8 last week that she didn’t know what she was going to do about a place to live. She said she and her husband had paid $1,400 to Amanda Straight to live with her in a house on Griswold Street SE through February.
What Murphy didn’t know when she handed over the money is that Straight doesn’t own that home. She was a tenant renting it. Murphy said Straight took her rent money but never paid the actual property owner. A Plymouth Landlord Tenant Lawyer has experience representing clients involved in eviction disputes.
The real landlord is in the process of evicting Straight, who has since moved to another house. It is at least the third eviction notice she has faced this year, but Straight has never shown up for a court date.
Murphy, her husband and another tenant are going to be thrown out of the house on Griswold, too. Murphy said they didn’t have anywhere to go and didn’t have the money to find a new place.
After Target 8’s story aired, Tamara Holmberg — who doesn’t know Murphy — decided she had to do something to help. She started a GoFundMe.com account.
“We were able to raise, after the fees and everything, $1,400,” Holmberg said.
Tuesday, she presented Murphy with that $1,400 in cash, which was collected from mostly anonymous donors. The money will be used to help Murphy and her husband find a new place to live.
“They didn’t have to do this. They don’t know us. They have their own families and people to take care of that are close to their hearts, and for them to reach out to us and our situation that we were placed in , it has been a really overwhelming experience,” Murphy said.
The Grand Rapids Police Department said it also learned about Straight’s alleged shady dealings from Target 8. After the story aired, police started getting calls from other victims. GRPD forwarded the case to the Metropolitan Fraud and Identity Theft Task Force for investigation. No charges had been filed against Straight as of Tuesday. A Birmingham Eviction Lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
Sara Czachorski told Target 8 she was also ripped off by Straight. She lived with Straight at a house on Kalamazoo Avenue SE that she thought Straight owned. But she realized something was fishy.
“I knew things weren’t obviously OK. There were times where several people (would come to the house). She wouldn’t answer the door,” Czachorski said.
Straight kicked her out unexpectedly, she said.
“A couple of days later, we filed for small claims,” Czachorski said.
Czachorski told the judge that Straight owned her over $1,000 for an unreturned security deposit and cable and Internet service that was supposed to be included in Czachorski’s rent. Straight told her Czachorski’s name would have to appear on the bill and she would pay Sara.
“She said, ‘Well, they won’t let me get it in my name,'” Czachorski recalled. “She said she didn’t have good credit.”
Czachorski won a judgment against Straight when Straight, once again, did not show up to court. A Rochester Landlord Tenant Lawyer assist property owners in regaining possession of their land from tenants refusing to abide by the terms of their lease.
But she is being summoned there again. Murphy has also filed a small claims case for the rent Straight took from her. The case goes before a judge Jan. 7.
23 December 2014
CHEAPER OIL, FATTER WALLETS AND A NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
Original Story: nytimes.com
Oil prices have plunged so rapidly that financial markets are treating them less as an opportunity than a danger, like a falling knife.
Currency rates are gyrating, oil-producing countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran are hurting, and sectors of the bond market are threatened.
But unless you’re directly involved in the commodity markets, you may not be following the futures price of a barrel of oil. What hits home, especially if you drive a car with an internal combustion engine, is the price of gasoline: It has become spectacularly cheap.
Even in New York City, where gas prices are among the highest in the continental United States, drivers are beginning to smile. On average, a gallon of regular costs less than $3 within the city limits, according to the AAA.
And for the nation as a whole, average prices are staggeringly low, at least when compared with recent levels. On Friday, the average for a gallon of regular was $2.45, down sharply from the 2014 peak of $3.70, reached on April 8. While gas prices have been falling for months, most forecasters, including the federal government, say the end is not yet in sight. Windshield glass repair kits are affordable and easy to use.
Painful as this may be for wildcatters in North Dakota and Texas — as well as oil companies in Siberia, Latin America and the Persian Gulf — it’s an immediate boon for hard-pressed American consumers: We’ve got more money to spend, and, based on history, we’ll spend it.
The only big question is whether — during this particular energy cycle — we will devote some of the windfall to items with long-term benefits, like repair and redevelopment of our battered infrastructure and measures to conserve the environment.
But there is little doubt that low gas prices lead to extra spending across the economy. In fact, there are signs that some of that spending has already started.
“The magnitude of the gasoline price drop is profound,” said James D. Hamilton, professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego. “It is a significant boost to the spending power of most Americans. And the data shows that when Americans get this spending power, they go out and spend it.”
An intriguing AAA poll suggests that prices are already low enough to make a psychological difference. The poll, taken in March, found that $3.30 was the point at which half the driving population found that prices were fair.
At current levels, the average price of gasoline across the nation is 85 cents below that $3.30 fair-value level, and it has stayed under that threshold since the first week of October. What’s more, the AAA expects prices to drop as much as an additional 20 cents a gallon by New Year’s Day.
When gas prices break below a three-year trading range and then fall significantly lower, as they already have, people start to feel better about spending, Professor Hamilton said.
“When prices drop, that should stimulate demand, and I think that’s happening,” he said. The latest reports on retail sales, vehicle sales and consumer confidence have all been strong, he said, and “the fall in gas prices is a big part of it.” Auto glass chip repair kits allow you to perform professional repairs.
In 2015, the government predicts, these trends are likely to continue: Gas prices are expected to remain very low, helping to reduce gasoline costs for the average household by $550 for the year, bringing them down to $1,962.
That should have an effect on the entire domestic economy. Despite the surge in American production that has contributed to the glut in supply and the fall in prices, the United States remains a net oil-consuming nation. That’s why the overall effect of falling oil prices should be positive for the United States — and harmful for net-producing nations like Russia — although it is hard to calculate the actual numbers.
Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics in London, made a stab at it with some back-of-the-envelope estimates. Based on full-year 2013 data from Capital Economics, a price decline of the dimensions we’ve already seen would cut six percentage points from the gross domestic product of Russia, a very severe blow.
For the United States, which is both a big producer and consumer of oil, some of the positives and negatives would balance out, resulting in a net addition of roughly one percentage point to annual G.D.P. The true number is debatable, but it’s clear that there will be a boost. And in a period like this, in which the economy has already picked up steam, it opens up some policy options.
Several factors have contributed to the price declines. An increase in oil production, especially in the United States, is part of the story, but so is a reduction in global demand.
“Outside the United States, much of the world’s economy has slowed down, and that’s had a big impact on global demand for oil,” said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust.
In addition, conservation efforts worldwide, including fuel-efficiency standards in the United States, have contributed to slackening demand and falling prices. We simply don’t burn as much energy as we did a few years ago to achieve the same amount of mileage, heat or manufacturing production.
But when prices drop, we run into a basic economic problem that could reverse some of these improvements in energy efficiency and conservation. With lower prices, demand rises and people consume more. Bargain gas prices induce people to hit the road. The AAA projects that during the year-end holiday period, people will drive 4 percent more than they did during the period last year. They also may be tempted to buy bigger, gas-guzzling vehicles. That’s happened before.
Certainly, if these trends continue as expected, fuel consumption will increase while the more expensive forms of oil production, now rendered less economical, will decline. With less supply and more demand, energy prices can be expected to rise again. We could be back, more or less, where we started.
That would be good for energy producers but not necessarily for anyone else. It’s why Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, has called on policy makers around the world to impose taxes on carbon emissions and cut incentives for fossil-fuel energy production. “In fact, this is a golden opportunity,” Ms. van der Hoeven said earlier this month. “Policy makers can take actions unthinkable a year ago.”
Professor Hamilton pointed out that a carbon tax of $25 a ton — which the Obama administration has advocated, but Congress has opposed — converts to less than the amount that oil and gas prices have already fallen. A carbon tax wouldn’t be painful right now, but it would provide an incentive for energy efficiency.
There’s another economically interesting option. The nation’s bridges, highways and mass transit systems are in dire need of a big infusion of capital — and a major source of such money, the national Highway Trust Fund, which relies on gasoline taxes for revenue, is nearly depleted.
The national gas tax, 18.4 cents a gallon, hasn’t increased since 1993. With falling gas prices, a tax increase would barely be noticeable at the pump. Such measures would make a great deal of economic sense, if politics didn’t get in the way.
Oil prices have plunged so rapidly that financial markets are treating them less as an opportunity than a danger, like a falling knife.
Currency rates are gyrating, oil-producing countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran are hurting, and sectors of the bond market are threatened.
But unless you’re directly involved in the commodity markets, you may not be following the futures price of a barrel of oil. What hits home, especially if you drive a car with an internal combustion engine, is the price of gasoline: It has become spectacularly cheap.
Even in New York City, where gas prices are among the highest in the continental United States, drivers are beginning to smile. On average, a gallon of regular costs less than $3 within the city limits, according to the AAA.
And for the nation as a whole, average prices are staggeringly low, at least when compared with recent levels. On Friday, the average for a gallon of regular was $2.45, down sharply from the 2014 peak of $3.70, reached on April 8. While gas prices have been falling for months, most forecasters, including the federal government, say the end is not yet in sight. Windshield glass repair kits are affordable and easy to use.
Painful as this may be for wildcatters in North Dakota and Texas — as well as oil companies in Siberia, Latin America and the Persian Gulf — it’s an immediate boon for hard-pressed American consumers: We’ve got more money to spend, and, based on history, we’ll spend it.
The only big question is whether — during this particular energy cycle — we will devote some of the windfall to items with long-term benefits, like repair and redevelopment of our battered infrastructure and measures to conserve the environment.
But there is little doubt that low gas prices lead to extra spending across the economy. In fact, there are signs that some of that spending has already started.
“The magnitude of the gasoline price drop is profound,” said James D. Hamilton, professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego. “It is a significant boost to the spending power of most Americans. And the data shows that when Americans get this spending power, they go out and spend it.”
An intriguing AAA poll suggests that prices are already low enough to make a psychological difference. The poll, taken in March, found that $3.30 was the point at which half the driving population found that prices were fair.
At current levels, the average price of gasoline across the nation is 85 cents below that $3.30 fair-value level, and it has stayed under that threshold since the first week of October. What’s more, the AAA expects prices to drop as much as an additional 20 cents a gallon by New Year’s Day.
When gas prices break below a three-year trading range and then fall significantly lower, as they already have, people start to feel better about spending, Professor Hamilton said.
“When prices drop, that should stimulate demand, and I think that’s happening,” he said. The latest reports on retail sales, vehicle sales and consumer confidence have all been strong, he said, and “the fall in gas prices is a big part of it.” Auto glass chip repair kits allow you to perform professional repairs.
In 2015, the government predicts, these trends are likely to continue: Gas prices are expected to remain very low, helping to reduce gasoline costs for the average household by $550 for the year, bringing them down to $1,962.
That should have an effect on the entire domestic economy. Despite the surge in American production that has contributed to the glut in supply and the fall in prices, the United States remains a net oil-consuming nation. That’s why the overall effect of falling oil prices should be positive for the United States — and harmful for net-producing nations like Russia — although it is hard to calculate the actual numbers.
Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics in London, made a stab at it with some back-of-the-envelope estimates. Based on full-year 2013 data from Capital Economics, a price decline of the dimensions we’ve already seen would cut six percentage points from the gross domestic product of Russia, a very severe blow.
For the United States, which is both a big producer and consumer of oil, some of the positives and negatives would balance out, resulting in a net addition of roughly one percentage point to annual G.D.P. The true number is debatable, but it’s clear that there will be a boost. And in a period like this, in which the economy has already picked up steam, it opens up some policy options.
Several factors have contributed to the price declines. An increase in oil production, especially in the United States, is part of the story, but so is a reduction in global demand.
“Outside the United States, much of the world’s economy has slowed down, and that’s had a big impact on global demand for oil,” said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust.
In addition, conservation efforts worldwide, including fuel-efficiency standards in the United States, have contributed to slackening demand and falling prices. We simply don’t burn as much energy as we did a few years ago to achieve the same amount of mileage, heat or manufacturing production.
But when prices drop, we run into a basic economic problem that could reverse some of these improvements in energy efficiency and conservation. With lower prices, demand rises and people consume more. Bargain gas prices induce people to hit the road. The AAA projects that during the year-end holiday period, people will drive 4 percent more than they did during the period last year. They also may be tempted to buy bigger, gas-guzzling vehicles. That’s happened before.
Certainly, if these trends continue as expected, fuel consumption will increase while the more expensive forms of oil production, now rendered less economical, will decline. With less supply and more demand, energy prices can be expected to rise again. We could be back, more or less, where we started.
That would be good for energy producers but not necessarily for anyone else. It’s why Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, has called on policy makers around the world to impose taxes on carbon emissions and cut incentives for fossil-fuel energy production. “In fact, this is a golden opportunity,” Ms. van der Hoeven said earlier this month. “Policy makers can take actions unthinkable a year ago.”
Professor Hamilton pointed out that a carbon tax of $25 a ton — which the Obama administration has advocated, but Congress has opposed — converts to less than the amount that oil and gas prices have already fallen. A carbon tax wouldn’t be painful right now, but it would provide an incentive for energy efficiency.
There’s another economically interesting option. The nation’s bridges, highways and mass transit systems are in dire need of a big infusion of capital — and a major source of such money, the national Highway Trust Fund, which relies on gasoline taxes for revenue, is nearly depleted.
The national gas tax, 18.4 cents a gallon, hasn’t increased since 1993. With falling gas prices, a tax increase would barely be noticeable at the pump. Such measures would make a great deal of economic sense, if politics didn’t get in the way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
