Traverse City Record-Eagle

Election 2007

November 8, 2007

New commissioners not anti-business

By Bill O'Brien

TRAVERSE CITY -- They didn't run for office on the "pro-business" platform touted by incumbents, but newcomers to the city commission said they're not against the business community and want to see it thrive.

Candidates swept into office during Tuesday's overhaul of the city commission said they'll challenge city perks like publicly financed parking, but they also want to ease the business tax burden and foster commercial growth outside the immediate downtown area.

"I still have to contend that taxes are a huge issue for our businesses," said Mayor-elect Michael Estes, who swamped two-term incumbent Mayor Linda Smyka.

The previous commission's handling of a stalled public parking proposal as part of a mixed-use development at 145 W. Front St. became a lightning rod issue during the campaign. Estes criticized that project, as did fellow challengers Jim Carruthers and Barbara Budros, who were elected to new four-year commission seats.

But Estes said he hasn't closed the door on another public parking deck downtown, if the public is convinced it's a sound proposal.

"I really don't see it as that complicated ... I think the citizens have to be convinced it's a worthwhile project," Estes said. "The big issue is the public liability."

Some downtown business interests said they're cautiously upbeat about the overhauled commission. They acknowledged that public parking proposals will get more scrutiny but were encouraged by some of the campaign positions they've heard. "I'm optimistic," said Gerald Snowden, a downtown developer whose parking deck proposal was quashed by city staff and state Sen. Jason Allen early last year in favor of Federated Properties' project on West Front Street, a move that became a political albatross for the incumbents.

"I think if (the revamped commission) lowers taxes, increases government efficiency and reduces bureaucratic red tape, I think you'll see the downtown take off," Snowden said. "I think the fact that they want to lower taxes is a signal to me they want to improve the business community downtown, and for the rest of the residents as well."

Commissioner-elect Jim Carruthers, who finished second in the three-candidate race behind Budros, believes he was cast as "anti-growth" during the campaign. Incumbent Ralph Soffredine won the third seat, while local businessman and incumbent Scott Hardy finished a distant fourth.

"They were trying to market me as anti-business, anti-growth, and that's not me at all," Carruthers said. "But there's so much more to develop than downtown ... I'm just saying let's spread it out a little bit more."

Mark Eckhoff, chairman of the city's Downtown Development Authority, agreed the debate over public parking was a "tipping point" in the election, but is confident the DDA can work well with the new commission.

"I think we're going to move ahead ... it will be different from what the last commission did, but I'm sure that's what the people that voted for them hope they do," Eckhoff said. "We don't have a separate agenda."

Proponents of another public parking deck in the Old Town area said they haven't given up on their plans, even if the new-look commission promises to take a long look at such a proposal. Dan Dingeman, an attorney for Hagerty Insurance on Cass Street, the leading proponent for an Old Town parking deck, said he's met with all three newcomers to talk about the idea. "None of them, to our mind, have foreclosed it," Dingeman said.

"They have expressed different ways to get to that solution."

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