Redevelopment of Central for medical arts facility, housing, top 2006 local story
Published 12:06 am Friday, December 29, 2006
By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Dowagiac in 2006 experienced a year of progress and transition, headed by the partially-completed $5 million redevelopment of 1926 Central, empty since the new middle school opened in 2005, into a medical arts facility and 30 units of senior housing.
City Manager Bill Nelson resigned after 10 years to return to his native Ohio next month, while Larry Crandall's retirement as school chief elevated his assistant, Peg Stowers, to superintendent.
JANUARY
Cass County Drug Enforcement Team made 204 arrests in 2005, including 51 in Dowagiac and filed 334 total charges, according to its year-end report.
Street value of narcotics seized exceeded $1.2 million.
Dowagiac received 27.6 inches of snow in December 2005 – including five inches on Dec. 2, another three Dec. 3, four inches Dec. 6 and six inches Dec. 9.
Installation of a video arraignment system linking the Cass County Jail to the Fourth District courtroom was completed Jan. 19, Interim Administrator Kerry Collins reported.
Harvey and Janet Ross have returned to Silver Creek Township from New Orleans, where scum coats the ravaged landscape, houses still "vomit" debris more than four months after Hurricane Katrina and "horrendous" traffic makes even ghostly neighborhoods seem to bustle.
Commissioner Robert Wagel, R-Wayne Township, was re-elected Jan. 5 to his third term as chairman of the Cass County Board of Commissioners.
Robert Powers of Marcellus was re-elected to his 16th year as chairman of the county Road Commission.
Eau Claire High School senior Christopher Karn entered the ranks of Eagle Scouts Jan. 15 at First Christian Church as the 31st of Troop 563.
First Source Bank's Dowagiac center moves to 223 S. Front St. on Jan. 30.
Joe Howell bought the former Rexall store in the late 1980s for Dowagiac Drugs. The new site two blocks south of the former location by Beckwith Park features an ATM.
Marci Guerra's variety store opened Jan. 23 in the former Hairitage at 132 S. Front St. The Dewey Lake resident started working for a women's apparel store in Chicago at 16. She sells new furniture and antiques, plus a variety of items for home and office, including toys, tools and kitchen goods.
FEBRUARY
Greater Dowagiac Chamber of Commerce's Ice Time Festival Feb. 4 is the 10th.
Granger, Ind., native Theresa Savidge, has lived in Dowagiac for 11 years. She opened Homespun Memories in The Painted Lady's and Harvey's East former location at 143 S. Front St. during the ice festival.
Artrain USA, co-sponsored by Dogwood Fine Arts Festival and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, returns to Dowagiac Feb. 25-26.
Kevin Martin of Niles, a 22-year veteran in the carpet business, opened a shop on Commercial Street behind Underwood Shoes following the retirement of his dad, James, and the sale of J.R. Martin on M-51 South.
Southwestern Michigan College's $4.5 million information technology (IT) center will open for the fall of 2007, President Dr. David Mathews advised Dowagiac Rotary Club Feb. 9.
Tasting millage defeat twice in 2005 stiffened SMC's resolve to cut costs – not corners – to protect its core mission by focusing remaining resources.
Looking ahead, SMC's State of the College update is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2007.
Borgess Lee Memorial Hospital's medical staff elected Mohammad Zaman, M.D., to serve his eighth term as chief of staff in 2006.
Forty DUHS students visited Chicago Feb. 7, including Dowagiac's own Aaron Heeter at opulent Drury Lane Theatre, where he is technical director.
They attended the world premiere of the Edgar Allan Poe musical "Lady Madeline" at Steppenwolf Theatre, followed by a rare tour.
MARCH
Former school board member Mary Jo (Stolley) Mersereau retired after working at the Dowagiac post office since 1969. Growing up, her family owned Silver Creek Lanes bowling alley.
Commenting March 27 on former councilman Leon "Andy" Anderson's suggestion that creating a new hospital in a more spacious location might be wiser than tearing down Central to build a medical arts facility, Third Ward Councilman Dr. Charles Burling, president of the Borgess-Lee Memorial board, said it's already been rejected as not financially feasible.
According to the Dowagiac Downtown Development District (DDA) annual employment survey, 1,226 people are employed in 2006, down 20 from 1,246 in 2005. Bulkmatic, which transported for Mennel Moving, shifted 26 workers to Niles. Borgess-Lee Memorial Immediate Care moved to the hospital. Ameriwood's numbers fell by 56, although it remains the largest job provider in the DDA district at 371. Zeke's, with 45 employees, is the largest non-industrial downtown employer except for the city's 58 employees.
Daily News Publisher Jan Griffey was honored as "Woman of the Year" March 21 by the Niles Four Flags Area Chamber of Commerce. She came to Niles in 1989 as managing editor of the Daily Star and became Leader Publications president in 2004.
Ford officials from the Detroit area visited Dowagiac March 20 to congratulate Chuck Wimberley on C. Wimberley's 25th anniversary.
After 12 years of preparation, dredging began at Dodd Park near Sumnerville. This pilot demonstration project will divert the flow of the Dowagiac River from the dredged and straightened inter-county drain back into the original meandering channel abandoned in 1928.
Demolishing Central and replacing it with a $5 million medical arts facility and 30 units of senior housing is the "preferable alternative," Mayor Donald D. Lyons said at the March 13 city council meeting.
A market study confirmed Wal-Mart scoured the city for a 25-acre site, optioned property south of town for a store, but ultimately braked.
Mayor Lyons said March 7 Dowagiac is selling quality of life, not explosive growth.
Spiveys added eBay auctions to Creative Vinyl Signs on M-51 North.
Thirty-seven million people waking up in poverty every day in the richest nation on earth poses "the great moral issue in America today," John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee, former North Carolina U.S. senator and 2008 presidential candidate, said March 8 before The Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan College.
Miss Watervliet Jamie Hartmann was her community's first Miss Blossomtime March 6 during the 100th anniversary of Michigan's oldest and largest multi-town festival.