Week in Review: Facts Matter

"Mask up!"

Week in Review

City Council, Monday, February 17

Approval of the Agenda

• Councilman Bruns, on the Economic Development Corporation’s $25,000 “Wayfinding” tourist signage purchase: “I would rather have that be in New Business than in the Consent Agenda so that we can talk about it on its own merits.”

• City Manager Mackie: “The reason that is in the Consent Agenda is that the EDC has its own funds. . . The Council isn’t necessarily approving their purchase, because they have their own operating revenues.”

  • Mayor Pro Tem Paladino, on the recommendation in the packet: “What does it mean by, ‘City Council authorize the finance department to process the payment’ then?”

  • Mackie: “This is authorizing the finance department to cut the check.”

  • Paladino: “It sounds like we could stop them from spending the money.”

  • City Attorney Toby: “Their funds are accounted for under the City’s accounting system. But they are the EDC’s funds, just like TIFA’s funds are TIFA’s funds.”

  • Councilman Bentley: “I have no particular issue with this signage. . . But I resent being asked to authorize things that I don’t have a decision about.”

Motion from Bruns to move the item to New Business, seconded by Bentley. Bruns, Paladino, Bentley, and Jogger for; Flynn, Morrissey, Socha, and Stuchell opposed. Motion failed.

SAD Policy Update

The new Special Assessment policy introduces distinctions based on whether or not lots are zoned as (1) residential, (2) commercial, or (3) industrial, with different caps for each. Though residential caps remain unchanged under the new policy, the updates do ease the burdensome interest rate, extend the payback period, and take into account the length of road frontage of a given parcel.

• Paladino: “This originated from my concerns with the SAD policy. . . I wanted to see if we could reduce the interest rate on the SAD payments, increase the timeframe of the payment from ten to. . . fifteen years, and also find a way to better proportion the benefits that the property gets from the improvement to the price that they pay for the improvement.” Unsatisfied with the changes: “The whole goal of this was to reduce the amount that each individual parcel pays. I’m not entirely satisfied with that. . . I would like to get it down to three, or even two thousand dollars per parcel.”

• Mackie: “We changed it from a per-lot distribution to have some categories. . . Residential would stay with the $5,000 cap; commercial would go up to a $10,000 cap; and industrial would go up to a $15,000 cap.” On the interest rates: “We had it at six percent, because that’s the top amount that the Charter allows.”

• Bentley: “One of the things that motivated Mayor Pro Tem Paladino was the desire to reduce the caps for residential. We didn’t do it this time, but we hope to do it soon.”

In effect, some said, residents will tend to pay less despite the $5,000 cap remaining as is. Unanimously passed.

Monroe and Barry Street SAD Public Hearings

Last year, the residents of Barry Street collectively signed and submitted a petition in a vain attempt to free themselves of Council and Staff’s desire to specially assess them. People of Barry Street, and all other run-down streets: They’re coming for your pocketbooks.

• Councilman Flynn: “The residents of Barry Street signed a petition saying, ‘We don’t want this’. . . But each individual person is supposed to send us a letter, so does the petition no longer count?”

  • Paladino, in response: “I spoke with City Staff earlier this week. That petition is non-binding on Council.”

• Councilman Socha, on how to override even a valid petition: “Just so Council is aware, if we do get a number of letters, Council can still pass it with a supermajority. . . We still have that autonomy.”

Council moved unanimously to set the public hearings for both SADs for the March 3 meeting (the appropriate date to attend and object).

Dial-a-Ride Fare Increase

The Dial-a-Ride Committee recommended an incremental fare increase across all age demographics.

• Bentley, reminding Council about its excessive empathy for jittery pilots and their newly-renovated hangars: “I’m going to vote Yes, but not without bringing up the Airport. . . We’re not putting $100,000 into Dial-a-Ride, and we’re increasing fares.”

Council unanimously approved, with conscience unscathed.

Board Appointments

Penny Swan Political Activist made her grand return from Facebook to politics, putting in her bid for the Officer’s Compensation Board. She did not disappoint.

• Bentley, on Swan’s unhinged & Decent Facebook rhetoric: “I don’t know these people personally, but I think I’m aware that one of them has called members of this Council Nazis, and for the Officer’s Compensation Board, that seems worth noting.”

• Swan, resentful & Ethical: “I have never, ever called any individual a Nazi. I’ve said we’ve done Nazi-like things here. But I’ve never called any individual a Nazi.”

Believing, as we do, that Ms. Swan would only ever present the pure Facts, never engaging in the dreaded ad hominem or accounting for those Facts in the light of an unholy spin, we perused her Facebook page so that we might prove Bentley wrong on her behalf. While she may have written some libelous things, while she may have sold unsubstantiated gossip about her neighbors to the Guardian for cheap celebrity, while she may have served as the mouthpiece for the Development Mind, Ms. Swan never—never!—engaged in the deeply hateful rhetoric that defines the conservatives of this community: a nasty rhetoric which has, sadly, even afflicted this very publication in the past. But no—we repent; we become Decent. See below Facts laid bare.

Exhibit 1: here you can see Ms. Swan (quite factually) referring to Councilman Paladino as “Hillsdale’s white supremacist.” What reason is there to doubt this? We have only observed him speaking with white people at Council meetings, after all. Could there be any explanation for this aside from white supremacy? Clearly not. Ms. Swan quite reasonably adds that he would like to have those who disagree with him—people that he apparently nominates for political boards—“locked in the basement.” How could this be disputed? In all likelihood, this stunning & brave warning saved hundreds from that grim dungeon that could only be Paladino’s basement.

Exhibit 2: next we observe a post from last November, penned after Paladino was chosen to be Mayor Pro Tem by Council’s far right majority. On this occasion, Ms. Swan reminds the people of Hillsdale that the seemingly-wholesome Paladino is a “clear fascist,” comparable to Adolf Hitler, of Nazi Germany, and Benito Mussolini, of fascist Italy. If you recall your history lessons, both of these infamous men had, like Paladino, a passion for transparent parliamentary dialogue (governed by Robert’s Rules), a penchant for incremental Charter reform, and a man bun. Likewise, all of the above men are noted for their moderate rhetorical tones and quiet family lives. The similarities are, once more, uncanny.

In light of the posts above, it may seem to the reader that Ms. Swan lied before Council—but no! we become inDecent again. As you can see, Bentley is the true liar: after all, Swan never directly called anyone a Nazi; she only compared them to Nazi figures and called them fascists and said they wanted to torture others in basements. Rest assured: lying is impossible for one whose very words and Facts are one. And the Facts Matter.

(After the brief burst of sound and fury, Council did not indulge Ms. Swan in her desire to be persecuted, appointing her, along with two others, to the committee.¹)

Public Comment

• Shannon Gainer, on crippling fees: “We’re paying to get into the park. We’re paying to use our beach. We’re paying to dock our boats. And now we’re paying $100. . . to rent the pavilion.”

Road Diet

According to Mackie, Council granted Staff permission to pursue the Road Diet grant already. This update initiated a longer conversation—

• Mackie: “We did some research on it, and it was something that the Council had approved back in June of 2024. . . And nobody remembered that.”

• Bentley: “We were told that they would present a plan to us. . . Where’s that at?” On the “secret plans” of staff and MDOT: “The citizens’ frustration with the secret consultations with the experts, when as far as I’m concerned, they spoke loud and clear that they don’t want the bike lanes. And yet we are going to plow ahead because we can?”

  • Mackie: “No one said we’re going to ‘plow ahead.’”

  • Bentley: “We who oppose the project feel like we’re being jerked around. . . The inertia of the project seems to be out of the citizens’ ability to be heard.”

  • Paladino: “The application will be submitted this month or early next month. The plans will be re-proposed in about a month. We will know whether we got the money in the fall. If that is then approved, we will do it in 2027. Lots of time here.”

  • Socha: “I spoke with. . . [Jonesville] City Manager Jeff Gray this week, because the City of Jonesville is going through a Road Diet on [U.S.] 12. . . Mr. Gray told me that not one Road Diet has been re-striped back to its original plans; they’ve all been well-received. Mr. Gray also said, with some negative feedback, they are going to have bike lanes down the edges of the road. . . the State provided the City of Jonesville an $870,000 grant to do some beautification of the sidewalks and the rest of the streets in the downtown that the city would not have received [without the bike lanes]. . . I don’t understand why that’s such a big deal. If nobody uses them, nobody uses them. If we’re going to get some money from the State, I don’t understand why that’s a stopping point.² It seems silly to me. . . I’ll vote for it.”

Where to next? Influential letters have been written to influential people; speeches have been spoken in back rooms; fake-transparency public meetings have been held, wherein the experts heard what they wanted and muted the rest. Guided by Grant Logic—the theory that all grant dollars should be applied for and accepted, regardless of the song and dance the city must do to get those dollars—the Road Diet’s institutional momentum has gathered, and may well prove impossible to slow down. Who, after all, will say No to an already-gotten grant?

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External Links

• “Masking is so important to slow down the spread. . . Mask up!” JJ Hodshire.

• “LifeWays has an excellent reputation with its current services in Hillsdale County and is a collaborative partner in identifying solutions for programs and services for the at-risk population of Hillsdale County.” Circuit Court Judge Sara Lisznyai.³

• “I believe in this case there was evidence based information presented that the sensory rooms decreased future substance abuse.” Brad Benzing.

• “I think it will force small businesses to shut their doors over time.” Lisa Slade.

• “When I moved to Hillsdale, I was just immediately drawn to the downtown, and I knew I wanted to open pizza with a wood-fired oven.” Joshua Mincio.

• “One key factor in our current predicament is a massive ‘talent collapse’ in Western politics, which is historically very dramatic.” Dominic Cummings.

• “For about three centuries, the West has been beset, not always in the same place at the same time, or in the same ways and to the same degree, with elites who pride themselves on despising what they have not created.” Anthony Esolen.

• “The old college football is dead.” John Slaughter.

1. Swan has, of course, not been operating alone. See here Mr. Jeff King’s indulgent (and enabling) suggestion on Swan’s page that Bentley “let his inner Nazi shine brightly” at a meeting last year after he insisted that Council follow ordinary Charter procedures.

2. Perhaps because it’s ritual humiliation at the hands of the State?

3. Who, outside of the Developmental Mind and their mouthpieces, talks about LifeWays’ “excellent reputation”? Does Judge Lisznyai know anything about LifeWays? Does her honor really admire such an organization? We will take her at her word—