OK everybody, one more time, let's sing this tired refrain: "Do it for the kids! Our poor bored babies have no place to ride and nothing to do. If they can't have a motocross park, they'll be vandalizing YOU!"
On Thursday, 28 Oct 2010, Robin Longenecker writes on the Michigan Moto Mania facebook page, "MTG Tues Nov. 9 at 7pm Hayes Civic Center. This Next ZBA meeting with a vote shouldnt have public comment but bring you kids in their riding gear and show who will suffer on top of our town and businesses. The kids willl suffer ALOT! This the BIG ONE! Please plan to attend and show your support with respect and dignity!"
First of all, if those kids have riding gear, it's not sitting on a shelf in a closet waiting for Moto Mania to open. They've been using it to ride somewhere. Polka Dots, maybe? If Moto Mania never opens, those kids' parents will still find other places for them to ride. Where were they riding before the idea of Moto Mania came on the Harrison scene? That's probably where they've been riding all summer. It will just be more convenient for them to take their kids to Moto Mania than to take them to the facilities they've already been using.
Harrison wasn't suffering from a lack of a Motocross business before Doug Longenecker came to town. How can you miss what you never had to begin with? The want of a motocross business is not causing this town or the other businesses to suffer. The entire country is suffering from a recession, not just Harrison. This business is NOT going to save any one else's business singlehandedly, and anyone who thinks it will is fooling himself.
Genine Hopkins chimed in with this opinion: "No one is using the kids. They have worked hard on the area that Doug set aside for their BMX riding...Also, the debacle over MMM - yes, it was an error by whoever was supposed to notify the neighbors - tells the business world that we are... country bumpkins who don't do things right and cost businesses, that new businesses aren't welcomed. If new businesses don't open, unemployment will remain high - really, how many jobs are there in Harrison or even Clare County? That includes these kids. So they are greatly affected by the precedent set by this mess."
I'll break that down: "No one is using the kids."
- Really Genine? Dressing them up in their riding outfits and parading them in front of the Zoning Board of Appeals in order to sway the members of the board who are about to vote is not using the kids? "It's for the kids" is an effective selling tool. You can rationalize it any way you want, Genine, kids are being exploited in order to serve an agenda. The fact of the matter is that it's also for Doug and his business. He and Robin are not above using kids as a means to an end, and the above quote bears that out. But hey, it's an end favored by the Board of Trustees and the Planning Commission and the Clare County Cleaver, so the end justifies the means, isn't that right Genine and Robin?
"They have worked hard on the area that Doug set aside for their BMX riding..."
You mean that deviation from the Site Plan that was approved on 17 May 2010? That was another "for the kids" gimmick designed to bolster support for Moto Mania. The BMX area on Moto Mania is yet another violation of the stay on the Gamble-Longenecker property. Steve Rauch is already working on a BMX park for the kids in Hayes Township. Why was Steve promoting both the Hayes Township BMX park and the Moto Mania BMX park? Aren't they competing interests? Isn't that why Doug's original plans for a BMX park in Moto Mania fell out of the original plan? He didn't want to compete with other businesses and interests in Hayes Township as I recall. If the time and resources spent and devoted to the BMX area at Moto Mania had been applied to the Hayes Township BMX park, the Hayes Township park would be closer to becoming a reality and the kids would be that much closer to having a facility in town that is safer to get to on a bike.
Mostetler Road is not the safest road to ride a bike on, yet the kids we are so concerned about will be placing themselves in harm's way by riding down Mostetler Road to get to Moto Mania to ride on Doug's BMX area. But once again, the end justifies the means in Hayes Township.
"Also, the debacle over MMM"..."tells the business world that we are... country bumpkins who don't do things right and cost businesses, that new businesses aren't welcomed."
Well, Genine, that's an accurate description of The local government in Hayes township. They are country bumpkins who don't do things right. Their malfeasance is partly to blame for state of Hayes Township's economy. If I owned a business, I would think twice about putting it in Hayes Township. After what I have seen of how they conduct business on the Planning Commission and the Board of Trustees, I would hesitate to invest in this township until they get their act tightened up by a lot. They have little regard for their own ordinances, and until that changes, no business is safe in Hayes Township. It definitely does cost businesses.
The fact that businesses are allowed where they don't belong is not good for business and does give the impression that business are not welcome. Businesses are definitely not welcome in areas where they do not belong. Neighbors of such businesses do not embrace those businesses going into their neighborhoods.
But I want to emphasize that we fully embrace and welcome all businesses that are properly located.
"... yes, it was an error by whoever was supposed to notify the neighbors..."
Once again this is a mischaracterization and a gross understatement. This is merely one of the myriad of errors that have led us to where we are today. This blog is a chronicle of all of the missteps and mistakes made by the Hayes Township government.
"If new businesses don't open, unemployment will remain high - really, how many jobs are there in Harrison or even Clare County?"
The unemployment situation in Harrison and Clare County has less to do with whether or not a motocross business opens in Hayes Township than it has to do with the general economic malaise that is currently affecting the state of Michigan and the rest of the country.
"That includes these kids. So they are greatly affected by the precedent set by this mess."
The kids are most certainly greatly affected by the precedent set by this mess. A poor example has been set for them about how to properly conduct business. They are affected by influences who are bad examples.
If Moto Mania does not go through, their lives will go on and they will find other venues to fulfill their desire to ride just as they have been doing since before Moto Mania was even an idea in Harrison.
Kids are resilient. They will not "suffer" if Moto Mania does not open. But that won't stop the temper tantrums coming from the adults who don't get what they want. And threats of vandalism have already been made.
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