It’s Time to Wake Up!

As most of you know, I have tried to be relentlessly and perhaps annoyingly optimistic as our city has moved through the contention of last year and into the conversations of 2025.

As summer draws to a close, I remain in awe of our fellow residents who volunteer so much time and energy navigating both the policies and personalities as they review the zoning code.

A lot of ground has been given, but there are some who continue to disregard, degrade and disrespect the work that is being done. A Councilmember went so far as to call volunteers to the Tree Board "Tree Nazis" in public. (Keep in mind, the whole point of the Board is to protect and promote the health of our trees in town, and the work in question was their effort to try to keep the bluff from falling onto 3rd Street.)

Last year, I said I felt a bit like Charlie Brown. Every time I think we are making progress, Lucy pulls the ball away. It is frustrating. But I think that causing frustration is the point. The constant goalpost movement, the olive branches that are yanked away, the kind acts that are erased. All on purpose.

This seems to be the playbook. Make every meeting contentious. Make compromise seem like giving in. Make it so nothing is enough to satisfy the gaping hole of grievance. Sound familiar?

Nothing is good. Nothing is true. No one is honest. Only they have the interest of Harbor Springs in mind. Only they can fix it (for the small fee of $75,000, their current fundraising goal).

Most people don't have time for it all. And that's what they are counting on. That people of goodwill and common sense just give up.

Here is my advice, and it is hard:

Let's be honest, very few residents of Harbor Springs are closely following what is happening at City Hall or with the Planning Commission. It's been summer and we are busy. But fall is coming and it is time. We need our neighbors to start paying attention.

Rather than giving up, we need to wake up.

We have City Council elections coming on November 4th. We can continue the chaos and grievance that mirrors our national politics. Or we can choose a different path.

It’s up to us, Harbor Springs.