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Health & Fitness

Neighborhood Residents don't hate all of downtown Royal Oak

Even people predisposed to think that businesspeople are all crooks have come to the defense of two Royal Oak businesses, one big, the other small, one relatively new, the other so old that many consider it historical. Two unrelated actual or anticipated developments have generated enough angst that the matters are brought up in casual encounters in the supermarket, in church gatherings and the like.

Plans to convert the Barnes & Noble site from a bookstore to "one more" bar and restaurant upset so many people that Mayor Jim Ellison, reading from a letter, announced at a CITCOM meeting that the proposal has been withdrawn. Not postponed, not delayed: withdrawn. Public Comment and communication exchanges among several parties confused the issue: Is there a clause in the the bookstore's lease agreement which enables the owner to evict the tenant without cause? Whether there is or not, the building owner publicly announced that he had lowered the lease-rate, and a B&N official was reported as affirming the bookstore will remain at least till January 2015.

Conflicting statements emerged about whether the bookstore is operating profitably, but it seems Barnes & Noble will be around for another year or so. The always latent anti-business mindset through all this was displayed in posts which accused the building owner of "whining" when he pointed out that he is essentially subsidizing the bookstore.

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The important point here is that residents, mostly from the city's neighborhoods, vigorously fought to maintain this big business entity.

At the far northern end of downtown, at Catalpa and Main, the much praised and loved Frentz & Sons Hardware became the focus of those who felt that the business was being unfairly treated during discussions of adjacent and nearby parking lots. Confusing the discussion were different recollections re whether and when the City owned nearby parking lots. Proposed redevelopment, or not, of nearby buildings were part of the dialogue during Public Comment at CITCOM and in two or three online sites.

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In the midst of all this is the pleasant surprise that a small boutique hotel seems possible in the soon-to-be improved "Madrid Building."

Frank Versagi is the editor of Versagi Voice.

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