Florence Detective Shreds Hendrix & Sak

 

Pictured is the former Gibson Guitar factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Read on for a pithy critique from the Florence Detective as he exposes Eugene Sak's plan for a Reverb Hotel on Court Street and the coronation of Dick Jordan's pal Jackie Hendrix Jr.

Kalamazoo's Best Kept Secret

There was only one surprise associated with the July 30th Florence city council meeting, but it was a mini-shocker.  It was not the vote by the council to replace the District 2 seat left open by Dick Jordan’s retirement.  That was a unanimous vote for Jordan’s  hand-picked successor Jackie Hendrix Jr.  Despite cries of foul play from the public regarding someone being appointed and not holding a special election, the council voted unanimously to give the “job to Jackie”.  No, this reporter and almost everyone who had followed this council for any period said that they were going to usher in the person that those with money and power wished to have a seat on the council. They are a rung above Dick Jordan.  The “power behind the throne”.  There are some very monied interests in District 2 who want to make more money on projects in the city that will need the council’s approval if they have not already gotten it.  And they are the ones who really got their hand-picked choice for the council seat.  Monied interests getting their way....move along, nothing new to see here.   

No, the shocker came in from Eugene Sak's corner.  He is still after city approval for the old Downtowner Motor Inn renovation into a Hard Rock hotel.  Granted, his request for money from the city to do the remodeling has been whittled down considerably.  He went from asking for $70 million down to $9 million down to a sales tax rebate and infrastructure improvements that supposedly would benefit the city.  The city would not be out one dime of taxpayer money according to Sak.  He made the plea a couple of meetings ago and his lawyer was back at this meeting again, hat in hand and needed an answer NOW or the Hard Rock people were supposedly moving on.  I thought of the story of the old woman and the snake, Eugene Sak being the snake but some of the council seemed to think it should be voted on right away.  Jimmy Oliver was so in favor until I wondered if he had been promised free drink tickets at Hard Rock Cafes to get the council’s approval.  At that particular meeting, Jordan was leaving and Blake Edwards was his usual sleepy self.  Bill Griffin had a blank stare on his face and it seemed to be up to Michele Eubanks and Kaytrina Simmons.  They both said they would not make any decisions until they had time to study the latest proposal for this hotel.  Despite practically being asked how they could pass up this golden opportunity from Oliver, they both held their ground.  There would be time to make decisions. 

So, the lawyer for Sak came before the council again only this time had gotten with Billy Musgrove the city attorney and worked out some kind of deal for a 50% tax break up to so many millions and infrastructure breaks up to $175,000.  He stood at the podium explaining away and stated that time was of the essence since the “Hard Rock” people were giving a deadline of August 5th for everything to be signed.  It seemed he was going to make progress until he got to Michele Eubanks. Mrs. Eubanks had done her homework.  First off, she stated she could not support anything involving Eugene Sak given his history with Hearn trailer park. He had let the property get into a state of disrepair that threatened the health of the tenants he rented to and a threat to the city since he had bought the property.  But, on top of that, she had investigated the Reverb hotel division of the Hard Rock Cafe chain.  In the original presentation they had used Kalamazoo, Michigan as an example of one of the hotels they owned in a smaller market.  Mrs. Eubanks had found that not only was there not a finished Reverb hotel in Kalamazoo, there had not been one spade of dirt turned toward the project.  Everyone got very quiet except for Jimmy Oliver who almost got defensive in his questioning as to why it would make a difference.  He repeated the line from Sak that the project was not going to cost the city anything but Michele said she did not trust this venture.  Oliver did not like it but he was out flanked on this one.  Eubanks had done her homework and exposed Kalamazoo's best kept secret!