I made a list of casinos within a 5 hour circle from me. I have no way of determining if any are utilizing CSM's or are still fully playable houses. I'm hoping the bulk of these are still tried and true places I can work on my counting practice. I recently took a road trip passed the UP and into Ontario but all of the Ontario casinos employ CSMs very reliably (that I've seen so far on my last business trip) so that whole area is out. Plus, there aren't nearly as many casinos so densely compacted like there are in Michigan.
I thought I'd simply dump'em here and see if anyone has experience at these places.
- 1) Kewaden, SSM
- 2) Bay Mills, Brimley
- 3) King's Club, Brimley
- 4) Kewaden St. Ignace
- 5) Kewaden Manistique
- 6) Kewaden Christmas
- 7)
Kewaden Hessel (no blackjack at this location apparently.) - 8) Odawa Casino, Petoskey
- 9) Turtle Creek, Traverse City
- 10) Leelanau Sands, Suttons Bay
- 11) Little River, Manistee
- 12) Saganing Eagles, Standish
- 13) Soaring Eagle, Mount Pleasent
- 14) Gun Lake Casino, Grand Rapids
- 15) Firekeepers Casino, Battle Creek
- 16) Greektown Casino - Detroit
- 17) Motorcity Casino - Detroit
- 18) MGM Grand - Detroit
Northern and Central MI has a shitload of casinos. I'm new to the state so I haven't been to a single one of these yet but I'm going to start checking them out hopefully in a couple months once I'm settled in and figure out my bankroll situation.
The only house I've heard any feedback from is Turtle Creek in Traverse City and that it's an excellent place to play.
Thanks;
All my information comes from
VisitIndiana so the list is not 100% comprehensive. If you know of anything that's missing, please post and share with everyone! If you've ever been to any of these events, or if you go this week, please share your experiences
Also be sure to visit the city-specific subreddits, as local happenings lists are starting to catch on, and they probably use different sources
This Week Only Northwest Indiana Third Saturday Stargazing at the National Lakeshore: August 19th at Kemil Beach. Join members of the Chicago Astronomical Society to get a closer look at the evening sky over Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Weather permitting, see star clusters, galaxies, nebulae, planets, meteors, and learn about constellation lore from the darkest site in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Held on the third Saturday of every month from Jan. to Dec. Times vary depending on the sunset, so check website for times.
Goodstock Music Festival Outdoor Music Event: 100-1130PM PM August 19th at Foster Park. The Mission Of The Music Festival Is To Raise Money For Mary T. Klinker Veterans Resource Center Who Help Homeless, Almost Homeless & Veterans In Need And They Service A 7 County Area. The 4th Annual festival will be taking place on August 19th, 2017 at Foster Park in Goodland, Indiana. The Festival will start at approximately 1:30 p.m. CST. with opening ceremonies. The Legendary Jack Russell’s Great White will be headlining the event.
Hamlet Rendezvous: August 19th-20th at Starke County Fairgrounds. This weekend celebration takes you back 150 years. Events include hawk/knife demonstrations, muzzle shooting, a tea, a fashion review, an iron skillet/rollin' pin toss, a carry-in supper, period music and a friendship fire or round robin
Yellowstone Trail Fest: August 19th-20th at Starke County Fairgrounds. Held in Hamlet, the Yellowstone Trail Fest celebrates the history of the Yellowstone Trail. The Yellowstone Trail was the first transcontinental automobile highway through the upper tier of states in the United States. It ran from Massachusetts to Seattle, and right through our town of Hamlet. The Yellowstone Trail Fest features multiple contests with cash prizes - Geocaching, Battle of the Bands, Zucchini and Metal Work Sculpture. In addition to these, join them for the 5k Rainbow Splash Run, local vendors, food and much more. The Hamlet Rendezvous, a historical re-enactment of local traders and life, is held in conjunction with the Yellowstone Trail Festival.
Lubeznik Art & Artisan Festival: 10AM-5PM August 19th-20th at Lubeznik Center for the Arts. Now in its 36th year, the mission of LAAF is to celebrate and foster the appreciation of a dynamic array of contemporary artists and artisans through the exhibition and sale of contemporary art in a festival setting. Enjoy artist activation, food, beer and wine. Free parking and shuttle service from Blue Chip Casino.
Pooch Apalooza Dog Fair: 9AM-4PM August 20th at Centennial Park. Free Admission - Drop in for a social event you and your friendly pooch are sure to enjoy. This event, dedicated to the dogs, will feature a variety of contests, demonstrations, dog-care tips and more. Concessions available.
Music Heritage Series at the National Lakeshore: 730-900PM August 18th at Indiana Dunes Visitor Center. Join in with the Save the Tunes Council as they perform traditional music associated with the sounds of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Tune up your vocal cords and gather for a sing-a-long.
North East Indiana Shindigz National Soccer Festival: August 17th-19th at the Saint Francis University Field. The ShindigZ National Soccer Festival has evolved into a true festival including youth clinics put on by major universities, golf outings, a wide range of live entertainment, opportunities for youth involvement, food vendors, tailgating parties, giveaway prizes, and, for the 21 and older crowd, beer tents. ShindigZ National Soccer Festival is honored every year to bring in teams that are top ranked in the country. Due to the great history of the event, ShindigZ National Soccer Festival has been recognized nationally as the premier collegiate soccer event! For additional information, please visit the National Soccer Festival website at www.nationalsoccerfestival.com.
Zoo Brew & Wine Too: August 18th at Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. Zoo Brew & Wine Too offers guests 21 and older the chance to sample delicious food, beer, and wine from over 40 local and regional establishments as they stroll through the zoo listening to music from local bands and enjoying the animals. Proceeds from this event support zoo operations, conservation, education, and animal care programs. VIP tickets are $150, and offer fewer lines with an early admission of 5 PM. Regular admission tickets are $75 for admission at 6 PM. For more information, please contact [email protected] or 260-427-6831. Tickets go on sale July 10 at Noon!
Central Indiana Summer Concert Series in Bargersville: 7-10PM August 18th at the Town Hall. Come enjoy live music, food trucks, a fresh produce stand, and a beer and wine garden from 7 to 10 p.m., including Hazelwood String Band on Aug. 18.
Cumberland Arts Goes to Market: 9AM-4PM August 19th at Saturn Street at Cumberland Town Hall. A Celebration of Art & Community! 9th annual arts and crafts festival with Farmers Market. Unique items, amazing silent auction, superb entertainment including The Irish Airs and Silly Safaris, festival food and food trucks. Family friendly event. Free admission with free, close parking. Handicapped accessible. Located on Saturn Street, next to Cumberland Town Hall. It’s an easy walk to shop at booths and enjoy the festivities!
Wamm Fest: 10AM-8PM August 19th at Craig Park. This annual summer festival celebrates wine, art, music and microbrew. The musical lineup performs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the gate.
Indiana State Fair: August 4th-20th at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The Indiana State Fair continues to be the one event which brings families together to experience the best of Indiana! Entertainment, exhibits & food!
Neil Tobin, Necromancer: Near Death Experience: August 18th-27th at Phoenix Theatre Underground. Mortality and mystery — imagine them fused together into an intimate, interactive theatre experience that will make you laugh, ponder, and wonder. Just don't bring the kids. This is grown-up, dead-serious fun. Presented by Chicago-based playwright-performer, Neil Tobin, Necromancer as part of the IndyFringe theatre festival. Details at neardeathx.com.
PlayFit: 10AM-5PM August 19th at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Join us for an indoor fitness extravaganza! Celebrate healthy choices and active play with special activities. Free with general admission.
Aaron Kelly Performs Live At 6th Street Dive: 900-1130 August 18th at Sixth Street Dive Bar & Grill. From Illinois, Folk Singer songwriter Aaron Kelly performs his Lafayette, Indiana debut concert on Friday August 18th at 6th Street Dive, the hottest new restaurant and music venue in Tippecanoe County. About Aaron Kelly: The shadow cast by the city of big shoulders is a shade where a certain imagination gets ignited. Perhaps it’s all the train tracks that harken back to when Chicago was truly freight handler to the nation, sending catalog dreams speeding over steel to far off corners of the country. Aaron Kelly grew up thinking big and making plans, and wondering where those trains were going to. Falling under the influence of Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, and Jack Kerouac, his songs aren’t too dissimilar from those crates and packages of the last century. They carry the promise that something good is coming. These are songs meant to ease a burden and bring a smile, carefully crafted and made to last. Aaron has been featured by American Songwriter Magazine, and released Barefoot and Bottomed Out, his first solo album, in 2016, after zig-zagging across the country for the last 7 years with his band, Overman
Sizzlin' Summer Fest: 7AM-7PM August 19th at Tippecanoe County Amphitheater. Join us for the 2nd Annual Sizzlin Summer Fest! WHEN: Saturday, August 19th, 2017 WHERE: Tippecanoe Amphitheater (4449 State Road 43 N, West Lafayette) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: 7:30AM-9:00AM REGISTRATION FOR 5K! 9:00AM BEGINS Paws For A Cause 5K brought to you by: Tito's Handmade Vodka and their Vodka for Dog People Program! All 5K Info & To Register: 5K Run/Walk Registration 1:00PM-5:00PM CABIKE SHOW 1:00PM-7:00PM FESTIVAL HOURS EVENTS INCLUDE: Live Entertainment (See line up below) Adult Beverages Car & Bike Show Local Vendors & Businesses Doggie Agility Playground Kids Area TICKETS ARE ONSALE NOW WITH ADVANCE PRICING: $10.00 Adults ($12 at the door) $8.00 Military, Police, Firefighters, EMT's $5.00 Children 12 and under. FREE 3 yrs and younger NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN DUE TO RAIN CANCELLATION Entertainment By: Blue River Band Acoustic 1:00pm- 2:00pm Cornfield Mafia Acoustic 2:30pm-3:30pm Christine Nicole Acoustic 4:00pm-5:00pm Troy Cartwright 5:30pm- 7:00pm
Guided Tours at the Haan Museum: August 19th and 20th at the Haan Mansion Museum of Indiana Art. Take a Guided Tour and explore an extraordinary collection of Indiana art including paintings, ceramics, bronze and stone sculptures, and an array of American furniture and antiques all housed within a mansion that served as the Connecticut Building from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
35th Annual Traditional Pow-wow: August 19th-20th at Boone County 4-H Fairgrounds. Native American singing, dancing, Red Road specials, and food. Open at 10 am., Grand Entry 1pm & 6:30pm on Sat., Open at 10:30 am, Grand Entry 1pm Sun
Link Observatory Public Program: 700-1130PM August 19th at Mooresville Public Library and Link Observatory. Bring the family to explore the universe with the Indiana Astronomical Society and the Goethe Link Observatory, owned by Indiana University. Each program includes an exciting multimedia presentation on NASA missions and space exploration. Presentations take place in the Community Room at the Mooresville Public Library. After the presentation, free shuttles are provided to the Observatory for telescope viewing (weather permitting). Choose from either the 7:00 pm or the 9:00 pm presentation, then ride the shuttle bus to the historic Link Observatory just south of Mooresville. No registration is required for this free program and presentations are suitable for all ages. Presentations are handicapped accessible, but accessing the Observatory's main telescope does require climbing stairs. There are often smaller telescopes available for viewing on the lawn.
Redkey Gas Boom Days: August 19th-20th at Downtown Redkey. Chili Cook off, Historic Demonstrations, Arts & Crafts, Antiques, food & more. Information: Rhonda, [email protected]
Rushville's Riverside Park Amphitheater Concert Series: 7PM August 19th at Riverside Park Amphitheater. Come watch great live music under the stars at Rushville's Riverside Park. An affordable and relaxing time awaits you and your family. Bring your own chairs and enjoy our beautiful park, food from local vendors, and a beer garden. Check the schedule of events and mark your calendar today! Summer 2017 Shows: Aug 19th- Blizzard of Ozzy- Ozzy Osborne Tribute.
Winding Creek Bluegrass Festival: August 17th-20th at Wildcat Valley. Bluegrass in the woods! Enjoy America's best bluegrass bands, music workshops, vendor booths, free camping & more. Bring lawn chairs. Visit website for list of bands & full schedule!
Wine & Pottery Painting with Kiln Creations: 6-8PM August 17th at Hopwood Cellars Winery. Paint your very own wine cooler while drinking some wine! ;) $30 per person Price includes all supplies, instruction, glazing & firing and delivery to the winery within 7-10 days. Sign up here: http://www.kilncreations.net/
Southern Indiana Joe Schmoe Saves the World: 730-1000 August 16th-19th at the Wells-Metz Theatre. IU Summer Theatre presents a premiere musical: Joe Schmoe Saves the World! A dance-rock musical that takes place during the Arab Spring in Iran and tells the parallel stories of an indie rock duo in America and two Iranian students in Tehran. Reacting against conformity, fear and the status quo, the two young women at the center of the story risk everything in an attempt to change the world through their art. Tickets are available at the Indiana University Auditorium box office or at theatre.indiana.edu
Greensburg Power of the Past: August 17th-20th at the Decatur County Fairgrounds. Annual machinery show. Featured tractor is the John Deere. Festivities include Flea markets, food booths, kids games, toy show, fiddle contest, steam engines, entertainment and more!
Madison Ribberfest BBQ & Blues: August 18th-19th at Bicentennial Park. Nine great blues performers rock the stage non-stop at this 2 day event. Sixty professional barbeque teams from around the country compete in the Indiana State Championship Barbeque Cook-Off for cash/prizes and a chance to represent Indiana at the Kansas City Barbeque Society’s world championship. On Friday night, there’s a Backyard Blast cooking competition for amateurs and a Kid’s Q for the youngsters on Saturday. Riverboat cruises on the Queen City paddle wheeler, a 5K RibberRun/Ride, the Pig Toss Corn Hole Tournament and the “Piglet Pen” children’s play area, round out the offerings for a great family weekend.
Rising Sun's Music on Main & Cruise-in: 6-8PM August 18th at Main and Front Streets. Join us in Rising Sun along the Ohio River waterfront for a free cruise-in and concert presented by Rising Sun Main Street. The event is FREE and open to the public! Music and a Cruise-in begins at 6 p.m. and lasts until 8 p.m. Any classic car, truck, motorcycle, or vehicle is invited to participate free of charge. Information on bands with be posted to the Rising Sun Main Street and Rising Sun/Ohio County Tourism Facebook and website pages when announced. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets. In case of inclement weather, the event moves to Heritage Hall on Main Street in downtown Rising Sun. For more information on Music on Main, contact Karrah at Rising Sun Main Street at (812) 438-2750. The event moves to Heritage Hall on Main Street in case of inclement weather. Information on lodging, eateries, events, and tourism attractions is available by calling (888) 776-4786
Inaugural Ohio County 4-H Rodeo: 7-10PM August 18th at Ohio County 4H Fairgrounds. It's the inaugural Ohio County 4-H Rodeo in Rising Sun, IN. Jackpot bulls, barrel racing, bull rides, sheep and steer riding. Novice and amateurs welcome. Sign-ups for sheep riding, steer riding and novice bulls is available by calling (513) 317-8725. Buckle and cash prizes to winners. Protective gear provided. Rodeo admission is $10 per person with ages 5 and under for free. Additional fee for riding. Produced by Fox Hollow Rodeo.
Rock the World Christian Music Fest: August 19th at Holiday World & Splashin Safari. For years, you’ve asked us to serve up Skillet at Rock the World – 2017 is the year! Additional main-stage performers are Hawk Nelson, Ryan Stevenson and Hollyn!
ONGOING EVENTS
Northwest Indiana
Chesterton's European Market: Every Saturday from 10AM - 2PM until October 28th on Third Street and Broadway in Downtown Chesterton. An outdoor family/artisanal market
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged: Fridays-Sundays in August at the Center Stage Theater. An hysterical romp through 38 Shakespeare shows by 3 actors in just 97 minutes!
Pav's Summer Car Nites - Every Tuesday evening through the summer. Variety of rides, good food and music at Pav's Restaurant
Suzy's Diner Cruise Night - Every Wednesday, April to October, 4-8 p.m at Suzy's Diner. Enjoy cool cars, music and a special discount at the diner
Sunday Market in the Park: 8AM-2PM every Sunday through October at Centennial Park Clubhouse. Produce, plants, home-made jams and jellies, baked goods, cheese, food vendors, drinks, local crafts and artwork, jewelry, clothing, bath and beauty products, direct sales businesses and more! Live Music every other week beginning May 14
Mayor's Month of Music: 7-10PM Fridays in August at River Park Square. Mayor's Month of Music is held in historic downtown Plymouth at River Park Square. This beautiful venue provides a wonderful area to enjoy an evening of music. Pack a cooler of your favorite beverages, grab some dinner from one of Plymouth's downtown restaurants, a lawn chair and you will be all set for an awesome evening. Concessions are available on site. This is a family-friendly event. There is no admission charge for the concerts.
Portage Cruise-in: Every Tuesday evening throughout the summer. Variety of rides, good food and music at Woodland Park
Portage Community Market: 11AM-3PM every Sunday until September 11th at Founders Square Park. More than 30 vendors will participate in the Portage Community Market. There will be locally grown produce, flowers, popcorn, honey, bread, barbecue, handmade crafts and much more.
Portage Summer Music in the Park: Every Tuesday evening throughout the summer. All concerts will be held indoors at either Sycamore Hall or Oakwood Grand Hall in Woodland Park. Featuring Music ranges from 40s to 50s, rock & roll, swing, blues, contemporary and all featuring local talent.
Summer Rhapsody Music Festival: Thursday nights until August 31 at The Porter Health Amphitheatre in Central Park Plaza. For all of the music lovers out there, come out and enjoy the sounds of the season with the Summer Rhapsody Music Festival. This concert showcase features many artists – each with their own unique style and sound. Select Thursday nights in the summer, concertgoers of all ages will enjoy a feast of different sounds underneath the beautiful night sky at The Porter Health Amphitheater in Central Park Plaza. Whether it’s a rock n’ roll band of yesteryear, an easy-going Motown group, or the elegant sounds that only a symphony orchestra can create, there’s something for everybody at this music festival. Bring your picnic, your blanket or chairs, and of course, your music-loving family and friends, and come relax in the park with the sounds of the Summer Rhapsody Music Festival.
Valparaiso Market: Every Tuesday and Saturday throughout the summer from 11AM-1PM. Fresh produce, handmade crafts, flowers, and live entertainment.
Taltree Railway Garden: Open from April 1st through October 31st. Featuring dwarf plants and model steam engine trains, the exhibit showcases the impact steam engine trains had on early 19th century U.S. railroads
South Point Cruise-In: 6-9PM Fridays June-August at the Harley-Davidson of Valparaiso. Live music featuring classic rock, country, oldies and more, beer garden, food, cars and bikes
North East Indiana
You Had Me at Merlot Walking Wine Barrel Art Tour: All summer in Downtown Auburn. Walk the beautiful tree lined streets of Historic Downtown Auburn and enjoy 20 Wooden Wine Barrels transformed into unique works of art by local and regional artists. This outdoor walking tour exhibit is juried with awards and art auction held each year at the end of summer. This annual exhibit has included many different art objects over the past eight years, from giant paintings on easels to garden benches. This year's exhibit celebrates the many wineries of this area with its wooden wine barrels. Walking Tour maps are available at no cost in most downtown businesses
First Fridays Downtown Auburn: 5-8PM the first Friday of every month at Downtown Auburn. Enjoy Auburn downtown on Friday Nights! Fun for families and grown ups... And those in-between! Late Night Shopping, Live Entertainment, Local Culinary Delights, Locally Crafted Beverages & Much Much More! Sponsored by ADAC Inc., there will be fun & entertainment every 1st Friday of the month in AUBURN!
Rock the Plaza: Free concert series put on by the Allen County Public Library each Saturday evening throughout the summer
Essenhaus Classic Car Cruise-In: Every Thursday throughout summer at Grounds of Das Dutchman Essenhaus. A weekly classic car cruise-in with no participation or entry fee. Participants will also enjoy door prize giveaways, coupons for shopping and dining as well as 50’s-style music. Most evenings, hand dipped ice cream and live entertainment will be provided.
Plain & Fancy: May 24th - October 14th at the Amish Acres Round Barn Theatre. A New Yorker and his sophisticated girlfriend drive down around Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to sell a piece of property. Here they meet Amish folk, whose convoluted English speech, clothes and habits haven't changed for centuries. The clash of cultures educates and entertains at the same time in this quaint musical comedy. It was the first Broadway show for both composer Albert Hague and author Joseph Stein who each went on, respectively, to win Tony awards for Redhead and Fiddler On The Roof. The Round Barn Theatre has become the national home of this 1955 Broadway hit. This 2017 production marks the 31st anniversary year that The Round Barn Theatre has produced Plain and Fancy making it one of the longest running shows of all time
Midwest's Largest Flea Market: 8AM-5PM every Tuesday and Wednesday until October. Same venue as the Shipshewana Auction
Shipshewana Trading Place Auction: 9AM every Wednesday all year. This auction features up to 10 auctioneers selling a variety of antiques and misc. items beginning with the auction bell at 9 am. Visitors tell us there is no other experience quite like it. With a variety of food choices on site, including our Auction Restaurant, featuring Amish home-style cooking and the best pie in town, you can easily spend the entire day shopping, relaxing and enjoying the sights & sounds without having to leave our grounds.
The Home Game: A Musical: July 13th - October 19th at the Blue Gate Theatre. A son's journey, a father's hope. For as long as he can remember, handsome LEVI TROYER has loved playing baseball. He daydreams about playing in the major leagues, but with his father's expectations that he remain on the farm, he manages to keep most of his dreaming in check. All of that changes when a sports talent scout happens into town one day and catches sight of Levi's amazing fast ball. Impressed with both his pitching and batting skills, the talent scout offers Levi a deal he can't refuse. With the decision fully Levi's, how will he choose between his father's wishes of an Amish life and his own deepest dreams? What will it cost him? Levi's journey is one you won't soon forget in Blue Gate's newest musical, THE HOME GAME - A Son's Journey, A Father's Hope.
Mennonite Girls Can Cook The Musical: July 25th - October 20th at the Blue Gate Theatre. Now from Blue Gate Musicals: something completely different. Mennonite Girls Can Cook!Watch the excitement, confusion, and just plain frantic fun when a small town cable cooking show, hosted by two Mennonite women, attracts the attention of a Hollywood producer. This idea recipe for hilarity will make you laugh your spatulas off as these lovely ladies gear up for the "Big Time" - and do their best to deal with their starstruck neighbors, who compete for their own fifteen minutes of fame
Lake City Skiers Water Ski Show: 6:30-7:30PM every Sunday and Tuesday at Hidden Lake. The shows are a themed production including music and costumes with an announcer to guide you through the action. You will see Extreme jump acts, An all girl Ballet line, Barefoot water skiing, Swivel skiing, doubles routines and human pyramids just to name a few. The show last about 1 hour followed by a meet and greet with the skiers. The Lake City Skiers have been providing fun family entertainment since 1989 and are Indiana's only competitive show ski team holding 4 National Championships in 2006, 2007, 2014, and 2016.
Central Indiana
Fayette County Farmers' Market: Saturdays 9AM-12PM until October 7th. Local vendors from Fayette and surrounding counties offer farm fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese, baked goods, herbs, plant stock and seeds, high quality crafts including paintings, pottery, sculptures, alpaca fiber items, goat milk soaps, jewelry, photography and so much more. Local artists, performers, and musicians highlighted as regularly scheduled entertainment. Now accepting SNAP/EBT, SenioWIC Farmers' Market Vouchers, several vendors accept debit/credit cards.
Kroger Symphony on the Prairie: Every weekend at Conner Prairie. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's summer series provides music from classical, pop, and rock genres from mid-June through Labor Day weekend.
Saxony Market: 8AM-12PM Saturdays at Saxony Market. SAXONY MARKET is proud to provide a home for some of Central Indiana’s finest local vendors selling these fine products: fresh produce, Indiana sweet corn, homemade baked goods, floral and gardening supplies, savory herbs, crafted jewelry, authentic home cooked cuisine, sweet treats, handmade bath products and much more!
Groovin' In The Garden: 2-5PM every Saturday until September 30th at the Easley Winery. We offer daily wine specials, cool tunes from the best musical acts of the greater Indianapolis area, and an experience you won't soon forget. Feel free to bring along your favorite foods or order from local restaurants to have delivered here to the winery, and don't forget to bring a chair!
Banksy Art on Display in Kokomo: August 4th - September 15th at the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library. See a unique piece of Banksy art on display in Kokomo. Library reps speculate Kokomo just might be the first library in the world to host an actual piece of art by Banksy. Other libraries, they say, have hosted displays with posters or prints of his work, but Kokomo will have the real deal on display. The piece is called “Haight Street Rat.” It was created in San Francisco on the side of a bed and breakfast. Art collector Brian Greif paid the building owner for the rights to tear down the wall and claim the piece. The Kokomo-Howard County Public Library has planned several events related to the piece of art, starting with the unveiling from 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 4 at the main branch downtown. The art will be on display through September 15, 2017 during the library's regular hours
First Friday Kokomo: 530-900PM the first Friday of every month at Downtown Kokomo. Free, family-friendly arts-based event held the First Friday of every month in Downtown Kokomo from 5:30-9:00 p.m., January-December. Activities include art, music, food, local vendors, shops, entertainment, kid's activities & much more! Check website for monthly themes and schedule of activities.
EXHIBIT: The Many Faces of Indiana Art: 1-4PM August 4th - October 28th at the Haan Mansion Museum of Indiana Art. This is a juried exhibition designed to examine, challenge, educate, and enrich the viewer's definition of art. The exhibition features a wide range of works in many forms by over 20 Indiana artists. Paintings, glass, photography, woodcarving, metal working, jewelry, and textiles are just a few of the many art forms being showcased in the exhibition.
Southern Indiana
Bloomington Community Farmers' Market: 8AM-12PM Saturdays at Showers Common.
The Music Man: July 12th - August 20th at the Derby Dinner Playhouse. Family entertainment at its best! This romantic and touching Broadway musical features a nostalgic score, rousing dance numbers, and is a grand tribute to the simplicity and optimism of Smalltown, USA. A classic story to be shared with every generation. Ticket price includes dinner, show, tax, & parking. Located just minutes from downtown Louisville, KY.
Elephant Retreat and Giraffe Encounter at Wilstem Ranch: All summer long. An African elephant herd of three girls will be retreating at Wilstem Ranch, only 7 miles from French Lick. The three elephants that retreat at Wilstem Ranch each year are retired from making appearances in parades, circus acts and more. But as they age, even elephants need retreats, and they're coming to town for a vacation! This one of a kind up-close encounter is a rare and wonderful opportunity to learn more about these amazing creatures and connect with them in a tranquil environment
Newburgh Farmers Market: Saturdays 8AM-12PM through September 30th. At the Newburgh Farmer’s Market you will find the very best seasonal produce complemented by products like honey, grass fed meats, dairy products, flowers, cheese, breads, and pastries. There are also crafts, art, plants, flowers, & honey along with live music to complete the festival atmosphere. Free. Special event weekends include: Kids Day and Dog Days of Summer.
Orange County HomeGrown Orleans Farmer's Market: 8AM-12PM Saturdays through October 28th at Orleans Congress Square. Locally grown produce, baked goods, local handcrafted items, Buck-a-Book trailer, jammer tent, Master Gardener, and fun family activities. Sponsored by Orange County HomeGrown
America’s 11 Most Interesting Mayors
by POLITICO MAGAZINE via POLITICO - TOP Stories
URL:
http://ift.tt/2sa0c1J At a time when one yellow-haired, Twitter-happy personality dominates American discourse, it’s easy to forget how much political energy—and important new thinking—emanates not from the nation’s capital but from city hall. We surveyed dozens of national and local political junkies, and came up with 11 leaders who are compelling for the fights they are waging, their personal backstories and how they are transforming their cities, often without Washington. Plus: Seven more to watch.
Eric Garcetti | Los Angeles, California
The mayor who would be president
By Edward-Isaac Dovere
Back in 1984, when he was mayor of San Antonio and a rising star in the Democratic Party, Henry Cisneros got a final-round interview to be Walter Mondale’s presidential running mate. Mondale decided against it: It was a little too much for a local official to make the leap right onto the national stage.
It’s early still, but many top Democrats have started assuming Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will skip that step entirely and run for president himself in 2020. Garcetti has helped fan that speculation, already talking to strategists and big donors about the prospect. And it helps that, as cities step up their resistance to President Donald Trump, Garcetti has been able to jump into the national debate on issues like immigration, health care and infrastructure.
“My main job, and my overwhelming job, starts with my family, my street, my neighborhood and my city,” Garcetti told Politico’s
Off Message podcast in May. “But I’m playing too much defense in my backyard to not get involved in the national discussion.”
If Garcetti runs for president, he wouldn’t just make history as a rare sitting mayor to do so. He also has the potential to be the first Hispanic and the first Jewish president. Garcetti is the 46-year-old grandson of an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, and the son of a former L.A. district attorney—Gil Garcetti, of O.J. Simpson trial fame—and a mother whose parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. The mayor can order his bagel and lox, which he loves, in fluent Spanish. He was also a Rhodes Scholar and a Navy Reserve intelligence officer, and likes to tell stories about the time in high school when he traveled to Ethiopia to deliver medical supplies.
As mayor, Garcetti has successfully pushed for tax increases to fund a mass transit plan and more housing for the homeless, and he won a second term this year with 81 percent of the vote. His big project over the next few months is landing the Olympic Games in 2024 or 2028. The choice is expected in September, and Garcetti is putting off any decision about his political future until after that. There’s an open governor’s race in California next year, but people close to Garcetti don’t think that’s where his heart is, especially if he can go straight to a White House run. There’s also the chance of an open Senate seat if Dianne Feinstein retires, but that job doesn’t seem to fit Garcetti’s personality or his experience being the man in charge.
In the meantime, the mayor is firing back hard at Trump, at appearances all over the country, telling people to channel their rage into action—even if he’s also taking a cue from Trump’s “outsider” playbook. Gone are “the old rules of who can run and who should be president or vice president—and that reflects the American people’s desires,” Garcetti says. “They’re not looking for résumé-builders. They’re not looking for a set pathway or a set demographic or a set caricature. They want to go with their gut about somebody who they think has the guts to shake it up.”
Edward-Isaac Dovere is chief Washington correspondent atPolitico.
Hillary Schieve | Reno, Nevada
The re-inventor
By Megan Messerly
Tucked in the desert just east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Reno is best known for its casinos, lax divorce laws and “Reno 911!” But these days it’s also becoming a hub for tech entrepreneurs and companies, pulling coders and data analysts from far more expensive Silicon Valley four hours to the west.
The woman now at the center of this transformation is Hillary Schieve, a 46-year-old political outsider who has her own remarkable transformation story. As a teenager, she was a figure skater elite enough to train with an Olympic-level coach. But she struggled for years before discovering that the fatigue she experienced was brought on by a serious kidney disease. Two years after a transplant—her sister was the donor—Schieve, then 27, was working in the Bay Area when her mother suffered a massive brain aneurysm and fell into a coma. Schieve put her life on hold again, moving home to Reno to care for her mother and become the family’s breadwinner. She had briefly attended Arizona State University, but never returned to college.
After working a few different jobs, the former figure skater without a college degree reinvented herself in 2007 as a small-business owner, opening a secondhand clothing store serving teenagers in a rundown part of the city. That’s where Schieve’s transformation story meets Reno’s. She shot a low-budget commercial to promote the area and lobbied the city to recognize it as a distinct district, now known as Midtown. Today, Midtown is a bustling center with wine bars, breweries, gastropubs and shops.
Schieve never pictured herself in politics. But her personal setbacks gave her a powerful sense of gratitude—“It makes you connect better with others, and I think it’s important really to honestly have a lot of compassion in your life,” she says now—and her work in Midtown convinced her that small-business interests needed a voice on the City Council. In 2014, after two years as a council member, she entered, and won, Reno’s first competitive mayoral race in more than a decade.
As mayor, Schieve hasn’t been immune to challenges. Even as Reno’s economy has boomed and the city’s population has grown by some 20,000 since 2010, it has struggled to promote affordable housing and mental health services, or to fight homelessness—issues Schieve says she is trying to address. In an age of intense partisanship, however, she stands out not just for her up-by-the-bootstraps MO, but because she’s a registered nonpartisan in a purple state, fiscally conservative and socially liberal. A wall in her office is covered in chalkboard material with a to-do list that ranges from cleaning up the blighted downtown to bringing back a gay rodeo that started in Reno in the 1970s. “Everyone likes the taste of beer, right?” Schieve says. “So don’t tell me we can’t find something in common.”
Megan Messerly is a political reporter at the Nevada Independent.
Kevin Faulconer | San Diego, California
The modern GOP executive
By Ethan Epstein
Of America’s 10 largest cities, only one has a Republican chief executive: San Diego, where Mayor Kevin Faulconer is straddling ideological and partisan lines to surprisingly popular effect.
Faulconer became mayor in this border city of 1.4 million during troubled times, after a sexual harassment scandal ousted Democrat Bob Filner. A pension scheme for city employees was also bleeding the budget dry, leading to cutbacks in basic services like library hours and funding for beaches and parks. A city council member at the time, Faulconer campaigned in English and Spanish, pledging to right the city’s financial ship, and easily won a special election.
He has made good on that pledge as mayor, pushing a high-profile legal case that let the city switch new municipal hires from its costly pension system to a 401(k)-style retirement plan. Library hours have been restored, too.
Faulconer has struggled at times with the Democratic city council, which overrode his veto of a bill to raise the minimum wage and provide private-sector workers with guaranteed paid sick days. But given San Diego’s Democratic majority, it’s not surprising that Faulconer, 50, has bucked his own party on several major issues. He speaks often of the city’s integration with its neighbor to the south, saying he views San Diego-Tijuana as “one megaregion,” and pledging that local police officers will not be used to enforce federal immigration laws. He also backed a 2015 plan to curtail San Diego’s emissions, and he has flown a gay pride flag at City Hall. “He approaches things from a pragmatic point of view and doesn’t publicly project his ideology,” says James R. Riffel, a longtime San Diego journalist.
For the most part, Faulconer’s policies have proved popular—he was reelected easily last year—perhaps because, unlike many national Republicans, he tries to eschew ideological labels. He’s quick to say he’s not a liberal. “Fiscal responsibility is a core Republican value,” he points out. But he has no qualms admitting that his conservatism differs from that of the national GOP—not to mention a certain denizen of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
“San Diego is not Washington, D.C., and I’ve done what I can to keep it that way,” Faulconer says. “My approach has always been to keep partisan politics out of governing and focus on what matters most: protecting taxpayers and getting things done for our residents.”
Ethan Epstein is associate editor at the Weekly Standard.
Greg Fischer | Louisville, Kentucky
The data geek
By Katelyn Fossett
At a 2013 conference in San Francisco, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced a new policy in which all his city’s records would be publicly available by default, and delivered a line that married the folksy simplicity of a political slogan with the message of a numbers geek: “It’s data, man.”
Fast-forward nearly four years, and Fischer has carved out just that reputation, defining his tenure in Louisville with high-tech and open-data initiatives that have cut costs and improved public health, as the city has added tens of thousands of jobs. In 2011, shortly after taking office, he named a city “innovation czar.” One result: a partnership with a company that vacuums up data from individual asthma inhalers so health agencies know what really triggers attacks. Fischer also launched LouieStat, a metrics system that in 2012 helped identify problems across municipal agencies—like the cause of 300 monthly inaccuracies in the fingerprinting process at city jails. It was improper staff training, not anything as tricky as software, and after the training was revamped, the number of inaccuracies came down to just 10 in following years.
Fischer, 59, is a Democrat, but in a deep-red state his track record fulfills the most fashionable of Republican beliefs: that a businessman, even with virtually no political experience, can deliver common-sense reforms. A Louisville native, he invented a beverage and ice dispenser and ran the company that made it; later, he started a private investment firm and Louisville’s first business accelerator. His previous life in politics was a single Senate primary, which he lost.
Fischer, who peppers his speech with corporate-sounding phrases like “de-optimizing potential,” entered politics with the same goal he had in business—to “serve as a platform for human potential to flourish.” Although he recognizes that business skills don’t always translate to politics, at a time of sky-high institutional distrust of government, he believes that cities are the best ticket toward earning back public trust, particularly with the help of data and crowd-sourcing. “It emphasizes to people we’re all interconnected,” Fischer says.
Katelyn Fossett is associate editor atPolitico Magazine.
Marty Walsh | Boston, Massachusetts
The union hall progressive
By Lauren Dezenski
Even his fans would concede that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh isn’t usually the most dynamic speaker. But his anger was on full display at a news conference in January. Flanked by dozens of city officials and aides, Walsh railed against Donald Trump’s new travel ban and anti-immigrant rhetoric as “a direct attack on Boston’s people.” Then, he went a step further, offering to house inside City Hall any undocumented immigrants who felt vulnerable.
The picture was striking: A white, blue-collar former union leader from Dorchester, the image of the Irish old guard in a city with troubled race relations, taking one of the most progressive stances on immigration—and making one of the fiercest critiques of the president—of any mayor in the country.
“It was personal,” Walsh, the child of Irish immigrants, said in a recent interview. “I have the opportunity to speak up, to speak against someone. I’m not afraid, and I don’t like bullies.”
A recovering alcoholic and survivor of childhood cancer, Walsh, 50, has always bridged two worlds: the hard-bitten and socially conservative landscape of Boston’s longtime white residents, and contemporary progressive Massachusetts politics. He got his start as the head of a local labor union—one his uncle had run, and for which Walsh had hauled building materials for two years. As a state representative, he was an early advocate for marriage equality. As mayor, an office he has held since 2014, Walsh recently hoisted the transgender flag over Boston’s City Hall Plaza as an anti-transgender “free speech bus” rolled into town.
Walsh admits that “to see a mayor from a blue-collar neighborhood [supporting] transgender rights, progressive policies—it’s a bit of a disconnect.” When he has spoken to union members about social issues, he says, “Sometimes people would look at me [like] I’m crazy.” And for those who object, he says: “What frustrates me about working-class people is: Why focus on social issues, why not just focus on work-rights issues? Be more concerned about your benefits and your health care and pension.”
Conventional wisdom says Walsh will coast to a second term in November—no incumbent mayor in Boston has lost reelection since 1949. But while he remains tight-lipped about higher aspirations, he rejects the “mayor-for-life” approach of his five-term predecessor, raising questions about his future. Last year, Walsh traveled the country supporting Hillary Clinton, and rumors swirled that he could be tapped for a labor role in Washington. But Walsh now says that he wouldn’t have accepted the job before finishing out his first term as mayor.
As for the current president, Walsh says that day to day, “I really don’t make big decisions based on Trump.” But he takes seriously the chance to stand up for Boston: “I’ll continue to do that as long as I’m mayor of the city, or whatever position I have. I did it as a state rep, I did it as a labor leader, I did it as a Little League coach, before I was into any of this stuff.”
Lauren Dezenski is aPoliticoreporter in Boston and author of Massachusetts Playbook.
Michael Hancock | Denver, Colorado
The cool-headed change agent
By Caleb Hannan
The day after Donald Trump was elected president, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock did something he almost never does: He left work early. He had stumped for Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama before her, and was so shocked by Trump’s win that he left shortly after lunch, only the second time he had done so in more than five years in office.
“I had to breathe a little bit and collect my thoughts,” he recalled recently.
Hancock hasn’t skipped a day since. Coming to grips with the shock of a Trump presidency didn’t take him long, a calm response befitting a low-key leader who has moved beyond his turbulent past and faces daily the growing pains associated with a boom city.
Being mayor has been Hancock’s dream ever since he decided, at age 15, that he wanted to be the first African American to lead Denver, whose population is only about 10 percent black. (Wellington Webb would beat him to that goal in the 1990s.) And Hancock’s path was far from clear. He had the kind of childhood that can be an asset only after it has been overcome: an alcoholic father; a brother who died of AIDS; a sister who was murdered by a domestic abuser. Before getting to the mayor’s office, Hancock spent a season as the Broncos’ then-mascot, “Huddles,” two terms as a City Council member, and then defeated the son of a former governor in his first mayor’s race in 2011. When he ran again four years later, he was virtually unopposed.
Perhaps because Hancock, 47, already has his dream job—he’s begun raising money for a second reelection campaign—he wields his powerful personal story with some subtlety. This spring, he created a new office designed to improve affordable housing options for low-income residents without dwelling on the fact that he and his nine siblings were often homeless.
That deft touch has come in handy as Denver has navigated hot-button issues like marijuana legalization. Hancock opposed the amendment that made weed legal in Colorado but worked hard to smooth the transition once voters overruled him.
Because of its progressive stances on a number of issues, Denver also holds, perhaps even more so than other cities, the potential for conflict with the Trump administration. But Hancock has navigated the new national politics with his signature understatement. A week after the election, he posted a two-minute video on his YouTube page meant to reassure Denver residents, but never mentioned Trump’s name.
Then, when the president issued an executive order threatening to withhold federal funds for so-called sanctuary cities, Hancock once again reacted without being reactionary. His response was to spend months lobbying to change local laws, rather than making confrontational speeches. And this spring, in a move that earned applause from the Denver Post, Hancock signed a series of sentencing reforms that reduce penalties for low-level violations in the city—minor crimes that in the past would have set off alarms at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and possibly resulted in deportation.
“It’s easy to be emotional ... and to do things because it looks good politically,” Hancock says. “But if you’re not doing things that are going to protect and help your residents, then what’s the point?”
Caleb Hannan is a writer in Denver.
Jennifer Roberts | Charlotte, North Carolina
The embattled activist
By Greg Lacour
If there’s an embodiment of a mayor whose political challenges have taken on national import, it’s Jennifer Roberts.
The Charlotte mayor, a Democrat, flashed onto the national radar by facing down the Republican state legislature over House Bill 2, the 2016 state law that overturned a city ordinance protecting gay and transgender people. On September 19, having rejected a proposed deal to repeal the ordinance in exchange for possible repeal of HB2, Roberts walked into a City Council meeting to a powerful round of applause from members of the local LGBTQ community.
One week later, she returned to the chamber for another council meeting and faced a crowd with a very different message.
“Shut your goddamn mouth.”
“You should not be in office at all.”
“Fuck all y’all.”
The speakers were members of Charlotte’s black community, infuriated and terrified after the fatal police shooting of Keith Scott, a black man, on September 20. Roberts seemed at a loss. The night after the Scott shooting, she waited until a riot at the center of the city had left a man dead before signing a state of emergency proclamation that allowed the governor to send in the National Guard. She urged patience with the investigation, then wrote an op-ed criticizing the police department for not immediately releasing footage of the incident.
A former diplomat, Roberts, 57, was elected in 2015 with broad backing among disparate constituencies. But her ironclad support for the nondiscrimination ordinance and missteps after the Scott shooting have turned her, improbably, into a polarizing figure as she seeks reelection this year. She is struggling to manage HB2’s economic damage and a hostile legislature that blames her for it, and a perception among some in the black community that she will work for their votes but not their well-being. Roberts has two challengers in this year’s Democratic mayoral primary, both of whom are African-American, and in May, the local Black Political Caucus endorsed placed her in a distant third in an internal caucus vote—although a poll in late June showed her leading both of her primary challengers.
“Mayor Roberts does not have a consistent application of attentiveness with the African-American community and the Black Political Caucus like she does with the LGBTQ community,” says caucus Chair Colette Forrest. “We as African Americans have not seen that consistency on our issues, such as housing, crime and safety, economic development and transportation.”
Roberts says, with justification, that she has urged city action on all of those issues. But many Charlotteans, she says, fail to grasp how little formal power she has as mayor, since the city council sets policy in Charlotte and the city manager handles day-to-day operations. “I can’t really legislate or govern,” Roberts says—which puts all the more pressure on what she says and how she acts in the face of both local and state-level opposition.
“I don’t really think of myself as a politician. I’m an advocate,” Roberts says. “The civil rights movement needed white people. The LGBT community needs straight people. I want to be there when people are fighting for equality.”
Greg Lacour is a writer in Charlotte and contributing editor at Charlotte Magazine.
Tomás Regalado | Miami, Florida
The Republican resister
By Marc Caputo
The Argentinian real estate investor had a question that Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado hated hearing. “I’m investing in Miami. But I want to ask you if I should be concerned that I would never be able to go. … All these Trump laws could impede me and my family.”
This was one of the mayor’s fears during the 2016 election—that Donald Trump’s rhetoric could spook the foreign investors who are essential to Miami’s booming economy. Miami is both a big U.S. city and Latin America’s northernmost metropolis, and keeping its status as the latter requires Regalado to calm the nerves of jittery investors up and down the hemisphere.
Few major U.S. cities have as many reasons to fret about a Trump presidency. It’s not just that Miami has one of the country’s highest proportions of foreign-born residents and relies heavily on foreign investment. It is also among the cities most threatened by rising sea levels, at a time when Trump has labeled climate change a hoax and is withdrawing from the Paris climate accord.
That means that, at age 70, Regalado has fashioned himself as one of the most caustic voices of the so-called anti-Trump “resistance,” and from within the president’s own party—both men are Republicans.
For Regalado, opposition to Trump is almost personal. He was born overseas, in Cuba, one of the last of the old-school anti-Castro exiles who helped turn Miami into a Spanish-language mecca more culturally attuned to Havana than Fort Lauderdale. And he empathizes with the flood of immigrants and refugees, particularly from Latin America and the Caribbean, who populate Miami’s metropolitan area. At 14, Regalado was one of 14,000 Cuban children spirited off the island and settled in the United States without their parents. His father, a lawyer and journalist, was jailed by Fidel Castro for two decades.
Regalado went into journalism too, starting out in radio and local TV, before covering the White House. He traveled the world and says he was among the last foreign reporters to interview Egyptian strongman Anwar Sadat. In 1996, he parlayed his name ID into his first political bid, on the city commission, and won the first of his two mayoral terms in 2009. (His daughter is now a congressional candidate in Florida; one of his sons is running for city commission.)
Despite his calm demeanor, Regalado grows animated when discussing Trump. The administration, for instance, recently extended temporary protective status to more than 58,000 Haitians who fled the country’s 2010 earthquake—but only for six more months. “These are good people, hard-working people,” Regalado says. “Now we have this guy saying, ‘Get your things in order. You might go back.’ What the hell? What ‘things’?”
In the end, he says, it’s hard not to see racial overtones in Trump’s immigration rhetoric and policies. “It reminded me of when I was a kid, and the others would tell me, ‘Spic, go home,’” he said during the campaign. “I never responded to that. But I was like, ‘Fuck this. This is my country.’”
Marc Caputo is aPoliticosenior reporter in Miami and author of Florida Playbook.
Jackie Biskupski | Salt Lake City, Utah
The pioneer in Mormon country
By Erick Trickey
Her parents in Minnesota named her after Jacqueline Kennedy. But Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski didn’t turn to politics until she witnessed Utah’s 1990s anti-gay backlash.
“When I first moved here, I was a ski bum and a bartender,” Biskupski recalled in an interview earlier this year. Then the Utah legislature tried to stamp out a local high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. That convinced Biskupski to run for office as an out lesbian. “By hiding, you were legitimizing the discrimination,” she says. In 1998, Biskupski was elected as Utah’s first openly gay state legislator.
If it shocks people outside Utah that Salt Lake City would have a lesbian mayor, given the state’s streak of Mormon-influenced social conservatism, it’s a source of pride to residents of the capital city, who favored Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump 4-to-1 and haven’t elected a Republican mayor since the 1970s. Today, Biskupski, 51, governs from Salt Lake City’s towering Romanesque City Hall, built in the 1890s as a secular counterpoint to the Mormon Church’s Salt Lake Temple.
During her statehouse years, Biskupski waged a near-constant battle against anti-gay legislation. She was sworn in as mayor in 2016 with her fiancée, now wife, by her side. But while her identity helped her get elected as a progressive, it hasn’t been much help with governing: Biskupski is struggling to deliver on difficult goals such as better homeless services and affordable housing.
Salt Lake City’s growing homeless problem, fueled by the opioid epidemic and a housing shortage, has roiled local politics. A thriving drug trade has grown around The Road Home, the city’s main downtown homeless shelter, near a revitalizing neighborhood and the Rio Grande train station. In her first year as mayor, Biskupski joined with the county sheriff to launch a crackdown on drug crime near the shelter that offered the addicted a choice: jail or treatment. About half of the defendants who chose treatment have stayed with it, early results show.
But a controversy over where to move the city’s homeless services has hurt Biskupski. She came to office as the community agreed to replace The Road Home with smaller homeless centers. Under Utah law, the job of finding the sites fell to the mayor. After a year of study, Biskupski chose four sites, and not-in-my-backyard opposition broke out, especially in the middle-class Sugar House neighborhood. Forced to back down in February, Biskupski, the City Council and the county government cut the number of centers from four to three, moved one of the remaining ones outside the city and set 2019 as the deadline to close The Road Home. Critics say the mayor’s decisions weren’t transparent and were sprung on the public. Biskupski says she tried to avoid a divisive debate and find a fair way to distribute the homeless centers around the city. “We did not want to pit neighborhoods against neighborhoods,” is how she often puts it.
In February, Biskupski delivered her long-awaited affordable housing plan, “Growing SLC.” She proposed requiring developments to include affordable units, changing city zoning to allow denser development in neighborhoods full of single-family homes, and buying hotels and apartment buildings to remake them as affordable housing complexes. Her ideas got a positive reception from the City Council and local advocates, though some are pushing for quicker progress. Biskupski calls her plan “bold but equitable.” That’s a good summary of how she would like to be seen herself.
Erick Trickey is a writer in Boston.
Bill Peduto | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Rust Belt rebrander
By Blake Hounshell
When a Nashville Predators fan was arrested for throwing a dead catfish on the ice during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals in May, a home game for the Penguins, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto responded with a barrage of fish puns. “This has turned into a whale of a story,” he wrote in a news release. “We shouldn’t be baited into interfering with this fish tale, but if the charges eventually make their way to a judge I hope the predatory catfish hurler who got the hook last night is simply sentenced to community service, perhaps cleaning fish at Wholey’s.”
It was vintage Peduto, and not just because of the goofy humor: The affable Democratic mayor has a knack for inserting himself into every story about Pittsburgh, a prideful city that has aggressively rebranded itself as a metropolis of the future during his three-year tenure. A self-described “student of cities” who rose to local prominence by championing a bohemian mix of indie art galleries and urban tech centers, Peduto, 52, represents the global aspirations of a city shaking off its smoky past.
There’s no better example of his media savvy than when Peduto seized on President Donald Trump’s speech announcing his decision to withdraw from a 2015 global climate agreement. No sooner had the president said the words, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” than the mayor was pointing out on his lively Twitter feed that in fact, 80 percent of Pittsburghers had voted for Hillary Clinton. He followed it up with a media blitz positioning Pittsburgh as a leader in green technology, and co-bylined a New York Timesop-ed with the mayor of Paris calling on cities to fight climate change.
The flurry of positive press was good for Pittsburgh—and also good for Peduto, who has told friends he has wider ambitions. But he has kept them mostly to himself, just as he did in high school, when for months he hid from his strict, academic-minded parents that he had been elected student council president. “They loved the fact,” he later explained, “but didn’t understand why I wanted to do things like that.”
Blake Hounshell is editor-in-chief ofPolitico Magazine.
Dan Gilbert* | Detroit, Michigan
The shadow mayor
By Nancy Kaffer
Walk the streets of downtown Detroit, and Dan Gilbert is everywhere. The headquarters of his online mortgage firm, Quicken Loans, looms over the park at downtown Detroit’s center—thronged with Gilbert’s employees, eating at restaurants in Gilbert-owned buildings, traveling to Midtown on the QLine, a light rail line championed and partially funded by Gilbert, all under the watchful eye of a network of security guards and cameras installed and paid for by Gilbert.
Gilbert, 55, is not actually the mayor of Detroit, and in most of the city’s sprawling 140-odd square miles, his influence is negligible. But in the city’s now-thriving downtown—Gilbertville, some call it—this billionaire businessman wields the kind of power and boasts a résumé of civic accomplishment that most politicians could only dream of.
At a time of dire need for Detroit, what he has done is remarkable. But for some Detroiters, that doesn’t sit well: Because Gilbert isn’t an elected official, he has no public accountability.
In many ways, Detroit was ripe for Gilbert’s intervention. It had lost nearly two-thirds of its population since 1950; during the recession, it watched the implosion of the administration of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, now serving time on federal corruption charges. The city declared bankruptcy in 2013.
Gilbert grew up just outside Detroit and originally built his mortgage empire in the suburbs. He announced the move downtown in 2007, hoping it would be “transformational,” and city and state officials applauded him. Quicken moved downtown in 2010. Today Gilbert owns more than 95 buildings there, and 4,000 of his workers have flooded the area. Many have also bought homes in Detroit with down-payment assistance offered by Quicken and other businesses. (Separately, the Justice Department is suing Quicken for improper underwriting of hundreds of Federal Housing Authority-insured mortgages during and after the recession. Gilbert vigorously denies those claims; he was not available for an interview for this article.) Dozens of businesses have opened to serve the influx of workers.
But not everyone is convinced what’s best for Gilbert is what’s best for the city. His security force, for example, isn’t required to release the same data as public police departments. And while Gilbert has brought thousands of workers downtown, they’re mostly suburban white transplants. The majority-black neighborhoods where most Detroiters live still languish. “It’s the feeling of, ‘Is it still our city? Are we still included?’” says Keith Owens of the Michigan Chronicle, a newspaper that serves Detroit’s African-American community.
Detroit has a real mayor, of course—Mike Duggan, elected in 2013 as the city’s first white executive since 1974—who has partnered with Gilbert on some projects. Duggan is perhaps more attuned to the contours of the city. The mayor—who has demolished thousands of blighted houses, among other initiatives—has ensured that razed land gets community input as it is redeveloped. (His press secretary did not respond to a request for comment about Gilbert’s work downtown.) Unlike Duggan’s, Gilbert’s job isn’t intrinsically tied to the city of Detroit, since Quicken is an online business. And that has prompted questions about what would happen if the billionaire—who owns the Cleveland Cavaliers and has other investments in the Ohio city—ever left Detroit.
“That’s been my biggest worry about Detroit’s momentum,” says Tom Walsh, a retired Detroit Free Press business columnist who covered Gilbert for more than a decade, “that it has relied on a small group of people.”
Nancy Kaffer is a political columnist and member of the editorial board at the Detroit Free Press.
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