4 AM Bars

23 04 2008

The State News has an editorial this week about the legislation that would allow municipalities to enact an ordiance to allow bars to stay open until 4 AM.

The point of the bill is to make money for the state and help reduce the deficit. However, the bill seems too potentially dangerous to justify the budget relief.

Currently, bars across the state are open until 2 a.m. In that time, bar crawlers are able to thoroughly indulge in their desired alcohol-driven activities. By the time the bar closes, many patrons stumble home, drunk and tired.

What happens if bar hours are extended for two extra hours?

More alcohol is consumed, and at 4 a.m. patrons who are even more drunk and tired will pour into the streets, off to their next destination.

The potential for alcohol-related incidents including drunken driving and public intoxication likely would increase.

*Sigh*  Another un-informed opinion.   I know State News is a college paper, but give me some proof to back that up.  For five years, I lived in Peoria, IL where they have a 4 AM district.  Guess what?  There aren’t a ridiculous number of DUI’s or accidents.  There aren’t people in the street fighting at 4:05 because they’re intoxicated.  Peoria is home to Bradley University so it’s not like there are no kids running around Main Street.   It just takes some planning on the city’s part.  I wouldn’t be in favor of a state-wide 4 AM license, but done responsibily, extending liquor license’s can be a benefit to the communities and the state as a whole. 

Let’s not try to pretend that alcohol is the root of all evil.  There’s a reason prohibition failed.  Alcohol sales provide a good portion of any cities revenue through license fees and sales tax.  Not everyone who drinks a beer does so irresponsibly.  I already said I’m not in favor of a state-wide 4 AM license, but I am in favor of 4 AM districts similar to the one in Peoria.  The State News article makes the same point in it’s article.

However, such legislation could be effective in stimulating areas such as downtown Detroit where casinos and other nightlife are prevalent.

But in the very next sentence, they go back to blaming all of the world’s problems on college students.

In more metropolitan areas such as Detroit and Grand Rapids, where the majority of residents are working adults and not active students, the bill could provide a positive social and economic stimulus.

An extended license in a downtown district in any city in Michigan can be a good thing.  East Lansing is no different.  Yes, it’s probably true that business downtown would spike after 2 AM, but that also gives East Lansing Police a chance to regroup and redeploy themselves downtown.  It IS the PD’s job to keep the peace.  Drinking and hanging out at the bars are part of life and a whether you think it’s a good thing or not, it is a big part of college life.  Every one of those police officers know when they take a job in East Lansing that most of their time is going to be spent trying to control rowdy college kids.  Every resident who moves into East Lansing should also know that is where a majority of their tax dollars will go too.

Back to Peoria.  The 4 AM zone is only in Downtown and it doesn’t even cover every bar.  There are boundries set up that have been under question for a few years, but the Council has been very tough when it comes to changing.  The zone is set.  The police chief is in favor of it and realizes the benefits to the 4 AM zone.  At 3:00 they reposition police officers to the Main Street area.  The taxi services know to be downtown starting around then too.  In all my years in Peoria and working in news, I only know of one or two instances of problems when the bars closed and both of those instances where at the same bar.

Michigan has a unique opportunity here with HB4573 to improve the quality of life in it’s urban areas as well as take advantage of a huge funding source.  Business wishing to stay open to 4 AM would be charged an extra $1000 on top of the license fee.  The bill stalled in the house on Oct. 3 of last year when Rep. SteveTobocman moved for temporary postponement on the third reading. 


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Categories : Food News, Lansing, Michigan, Politics

The Rising Cost of Food

22 04 2008

We’ve all heard the stories in the news about how gas prices are driving up the cost of food.

“Our distributors have to ship all the products to our food and distribution centers, so they tack on surcharges,” (Jeff) Rinke (of Hungry Howei’s Pizza)  said. “We, in turn, have to pass those costs along and down the line to our franchisees, and then ultimately to our customers.”

He said the Madison Heights-based chain has cut back on discounts it typically offers through coupons and promotions. Franchisees have raised the typical customer delivery charge from about $2 to about $3 so they can reimburse drivers for their fuel costs.

And it’s no better at the grocery store.

The latest data show cereal prices rising by more than 8% a year. Both flour and rice are up more than 13%. Milk, cheese, bananas and even peanut butter: They’re all up by more than 10%. Eggs have rocketed up 30% in a year. Ground beef prices are up 4.8% and chicken by 5.4%.

So I found it interesting last night when I saw a farmer on WLAJ defending himself.

One area that most families notice right away is the cost of millk. We went to a local mid-michigan dairy farm, where they want consumers to know, don’t blame the dairy famers because they are not reaping the benefit of the rising prices

“It upsets me because this is a 24 hour 7 day a week job, business, lifestyle,” says Nathan Brearly of Brearley Farms in Lake Odessa.  “I want to produce the best quality product for the consumer at the most reasonable price.” 

You can’t blame the farmers.  They’re doing everything they can to feed their families.  The myth of Ethanol is taking valuable corn away from farmers that should be used for feed and not a fuel that costs more to produce than gasoline and gets worse gas mileage.  Unfortunately, there’s nothing we as consumers can do.  We need to eat. 


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Categories : Agriculture, Food News, Lansing, Michigan

Can you survive on $1 a day?

22 04 2008

That’s what one woman in Grand Rapids is trying to do.

If a field of dandelions sprouts in your yard over the next few weeks, you might want to call Maria Gajewski. She has scaled back her food budget this month — to $30.

She will be foraging for edible plants, working on the family farm for payment in eggs and eating lots of brown rice and lentils, all to call attention to the hardship of eating nutritiously on a limited budget.

The remainder of the approximately $250 she usually spends on food and beverage for 30 days will go to her favorite nonprofit: Blandford Nature Center & Mixed Greens in Grand Rapids.

Is it possible to only spend $1 a day and forage for food?  For me, no freakin way, but for Maria, a vegetarian, that’s the challenge.  She started on April 9 and will go 30 days without spending more than $30.  According to her blog, Rice, Beans and Mixed Greens it hasn’t been easy.

was pretty ugly for a while.I REALLY wanted to quit this whole project, but I’m sticking in there. Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement. Without all of you, I don’t think I’d make it.

This whole experiment is for charity.  Maria is donating the other $220 she would normaly spend on food to Blandford Nature Center and Mixed Greens.  Along the way, she’s hoping to get others to eat for just $1 a day and donate the rest of the money they would normally spend on that day to the same cause.

You can follow Maria’s progress on her blog Rice, Beans, & Mixed Greens.  The challenge ends May 10.


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Categories : Food News, Grand Rapids, Lansing

Reusable Grocery Bags

21 04 2008

Today is just a good day for food related news in the MSM (main-stream media).  My girlfriend pointed out this article in City Pulse.

Last Friday, beginning at about 10 a.m., I elbowed aside a couple of retirees settled onto a bench at the West Saginaw Meijer and watched the shoppers go by. It took all of six minutes for the first 100 bags to fly off their metal T-frames and hitch a cart ride out the door.

Each checkout lane was a little Ellis Island for bags. Welcome to Lansing. Your host family will put you to work for 12 minutes (the average useful life of a plastic bag), then help you settle down in a nice landfill, tree or ditch.

It’s no secret that plastic bags litter the landscape, get into water and soil, stop up storm drains and use up petroleum. Plastic bags are more visible and numerous by far than paper bags, but paper shouldn’t get off the hook. Paper bags are a lot easier to recycle than plastic bags, but they use up trees, they’re heavier than plastic and they take more energy to make and transport.

Now ther’s an interesting take on paper or plastic.  I’ll admit, I’m bad.  I keep walking by the reusable bags at the mega-marts, but they always seem like such a hassle.  I have to remember to put them back in my truck after I use them so they are there for next time.

There are a lot of interesting facts in this article about how other countries deal with the platic bags.  All of them sound like good solutions.  I would be totally in favor of this one….

(Hugh) McDiarmid (of the Michigan Environmental Council) suggested, however, that a “takeback” program similar to the Michigan bottle deposit — and the Irish tax — might work.

“We have experience with that already,” McDiarmid said. “The bottle bill turned out to work fairly well.” Terry Link, head of MSU’s Office of Campus Sustainability, also saw an affinity between the two issues. “What really helped that bottle bill pass is, people were tired of the litter,” Link said. “And it’s the litter part that’s driving everybody nuts now. You see it on the beaches, the roadways — it blows everywhere.”

Before moving to Michigan a few weeks ago, I had no idea why all my Pepsi had deposit prices on them.  The first time I went to Meijer I couldn’t figure out why people were taking trash into the store.  Then I saw the machines to deposit bottles…then I noticed the other day on a reciept that there’s $.10 added to the purchase price of every pop I get.  I think maybe I’ll start saving those bottles now.

Not everyone thinks we should get rid of plastic grocery bags.  The companies that make them have formed the Progressive Bag Alliance to lobby for alternatives to outlawing the bags.  Of course, they have an agenda though, so does their opinion really count?

San Francisco, CA became the first city to outright ban plastic bags on March 27, 2007.  Just across the bay, the City of Oakland, CA followed suit shortly after.  In July of 2007, the California State Legislature enacted AB 2449 requiring all large supermarkets to offer recycling points for customers.  So far, no other states have followed suit.

This make you feel bad yet?  It’s ok, the City Pulse has a list of stores that offer reusable bags and the price.  Check out their article by clicking this link.  The info is at the bottom of the article.


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Categories : Food News, Grocery, Lansing, Michigan

Ice Cream Joe’s Cafe

20 04 2008
  • 4131 W. Saginaw Hwy.Ice Cream Joe's
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 321-2509
  • No Known Website
  • No Menu Online

My girlfriend mentioned Ice Cream Joe’s to me after seeing it on Eat! Lansing, so we stopped in on a Sunday afternoon before our weekly trip to Horrock’s Farm Market.  The shop is located in a stand alone building right next to what used to be a Fannie May Candy store about a mile from the Lansing Mall.

There was only us and one other guy in the store on his break from the Arby’s across the street.  I went pretty safe and got a Peanut Butter Cup Flurry, but my girlfriend was a little more adventerous.  The ice Ice Cream Joescream is KaleidoScoops! Ice Cream which offer a variety of interesting flavors.  Not one to just settle for plain ol’ vanilla, she went for two scoops of Tootsie Roll ice cream.  She was a little worried that the Tootsie Rolls were going to be hard but that wasn’t the case.  Instead they were crunchy on the outside, but the typical gooes Tootsie Roll in the middle.  The whole Tootsie Rolls were mixed into chocolate ice cream.  As I sit here on the couch writing this, she informs me, we will be going back.

Ice Cream Joe’s has a wide selection of flavors.  That’s not really a surprise at an ice cream shop.  Unlike other ice cream shops, Ice Cream Joe’s also offeres hot and cold coffee drinks.  The price was no worse than most ice cream shops.  For my small Flurry and her two scoops, it cost just under $8.  It was a nice enough day we were able to sit out in front of the store and enjoy our ice cream creations before heading to the market.


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Categories : Ice Cream, Lansing, Local Flavor, Michigan, Reviews

BWL lets Amatuers Compete

20 04 2008

Here’s an interesting story I found in today’s Lansing State Journal.

“Bring it on,” said (Jeff) Stoner of Eaton Rapids, who entered a pot of his chili in the amateur contest at the Lansing Center – a sort of prelude to the 13th annual Board of Water & Light Chili Cook-off June 13.

Stoner, along with 14 other “amateur” teams of one or more, will have the chance to prove their chops against professional cooks during the June cook-off.

Bringing the rookies and pros together is an effort to reduce waiting times for patrons by increasing the number of chefs, said Mark Nixon, spokesman for the BWL.

Why wouldn’t you let amateurs compete? I always thought that was the fun of cook-offs….especially in these small competitions.  The Board of Light and Water Cook-Off in the past has always been for area businesses.  This year, they had an amatuer competition where 15 people earned the right to enter the competition on June 13.  Here’s hoping that one of the amatuers kicks the pants off the “professionals”


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Categories : Cook offs, Food News, Lansing

Oldsmobile Park

19 04 2008
  • 505 E. Michigan Ave.Oldsmobile Park
  • Lansing, MI 48912
  • (517) 485-4500
  • Website

Nothing beats a Saturday afternoon at the ballpark, so that’s what my girlfriend and I decided to do.  The Lugnuts were home and the weather was beautiful.  I had been to many games at O’Brien Field in Peoria where the the Chiefs play.  Once at the ballpark, nothing beats ballpark food.

The reason I chose to write a review on Oldsmobile Park is because of the selection of food available.  Of course they’ve got the standard hot dogs and cotton candy, but the first thing I noticed when I walked in was a push cart where a vendor was cooking pulled pork on a flat top.  We go down a little bit farther and there’s another guy doing Philly Cheesesteaks the same way. 

Oldsmobile ParkWe stopped at the pulled pork guy’s stand but all we got were a Pepsi and a Diet Pepsi.  We had just eaten so it wasn’t time for lunch just yet.  Vendors were constantly going up and down the aisles….almost to the point of annoying.  I missed a few hits because I had three vendors following each other down the aisle.  When we finally did grab something to eat, my girlfriend just got an ice cream sandwich from one of those annoying vendors.

I’ve been to a couple different minor league ballparks and it’s usually the same ol’ same ol’ when it comes to food.  More and more places are trying new things and I was pretty impressed with the way the items were set up.  For the most part, all the vendors had their backs to the field, so you could actually watch the game while waiting in line.   Oldsmobile park didn’t have the atmosphere that I’ve grown used to at Midwest League games, but that probably won’t be enough to keep me from going back.  It’s still baseball.


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Categories : Downtown, Lansing, Michigan, Reviews

Community Supported Agriculture

18 04 2008

When I was living in Peoria, I saw an interesting story on Community Shared Agriculture or CSA’s on the local news.

With the price of gas pushing up the cost of food all over the country and the recent contamination scares with produce grown both in the U.S. and abroad- many are turning to locally grown organic produce to insure food safety and lower prices.

We visited a farm in Congerville.

It’s called Henry’s Farm and it works like a corporation that sells its stock to its customers.

It’s a way to get locally grown organic produce and truly have a stake in what you’re feeding your family.

“We do tell them that you’re going to share like you would in a company- with certain risks and rewards and you’re part of our operation,” said Terra Brockman, Henry’s sister.

Like the article suggests, CSA’s are a way to get farm fresh produce and support local farmers.  Every farm does it differently, but the idea is the same.  The farm sells a share then every week, the “shareholders” get fresh produce that was grown on the site.  The downfall is you don’t get to choose what you get.  Whatever the farmer feels is ripe and ready to be picked is what you get.  Everyone in the group gets the same thing.  The food that is harvested that week is divided evenly among the shareholders.  Usually, you can get 13-16 weeks of food during the harvest season for right around or under $500.  Most CSA’s have pick-up points in town or at the farm itself.  Some CSA’s will require that it’s members work on the farm, but most don’t.  Something to check into before signing up.

There are risks involved.  When you buy into a CSA’s, you’re buying into all the costs associated with the farm.  The farmer determines what his costs to farm are going to be and what his salary for farming will be.  The shareholders pay that cost no matter what.

Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing.

So, where can you find a CSA in Mid-Michigan? 

  • Our Farm and Dairy – 4633 Essex Center Rd., St. Johns MI 48879, (989)-224-7353
  • Wildflower Organic Farm – 14650 Center Rd., Bath, MI 48808, (517) 641-4761
  • Owosso Organics – 3378 Mason Rd., Owosso, MI 48867, (989) 725-3151
  • The Giving Tree Farm – 15433 Turner Road, Lansing, MI 48906 (517) 482-8885
  • Titus Farms – 3765 N. Meridian Rd., Leslie, MI 49251 (517) 589-5543
  • MSU Organic Farm – MSU Horticulture Teaching and Research Facility 3291 College Rd. Holt, MI 48825 (517) 230-7987
  • Our Asparagus Patch and Gardens – 12650 Sutfin Road, Horton, MI 49246 (517) 529-9054
  • Tantre Farm – 2510 Hayes Road, Chelsea, MI 48118 (734) 475-4323

If you want to look for a CSA in your area, check out Local Harvest


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Categories : Agriculture, East Lansing, Food News, Grocery, Lansing, Local Flavor

Smoke Free Restaurants in Lansing

17 04 2008

Looking for a place to enjoy a meal without having to deal with the smoke?  Smokefreemichigan.org has compiled a list of al the non-smoking restaurants in the state.  Unfortunately, most of the places listed are chains, but if you’re interested, check out their site….for a Lansing specific list, click on this link


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Categories : Food News, Lansing, Michigan

Barley’s American Grill

17 04 2008
  • 727 E. Miller Rd.Barley's
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 882-7297
  • Website
  • Menu

I picked my girlfriend up from work on a Thrusday night for a quick dinner break.  I had drove by Barley’s a few night’s earlier and wanted to check it out.  I figured this was as good as time as any.

Barley’s is a pretty unique bar/restaurant.  When you walk in, you actually walk into a huge pool room.  It’s more of a pool hall feel than a bar.  Take a right and you hit the bar.  Go a little bit farther and you hit the dining room.  Nice, spacious area surrounded by TV’s and cut off from the pool room and the bar to make a nice cozy setting.

We took a booth near the back and got menus.  I had eaten burgers for the last three meals so I wanted something else.  That something else was the Hot Cheesey Italian.  Italian meats piled high on buttered, toasted bread.  Between that was both cheddar and provolone cheese.  This sandwich was surprsingly good.  Little things like toasting the bread just made the sandwich so much better.  The fries that came with it were actually fresh cut and had a hint of a cajun seasoning on them.

My girlfriend got the crunch chicken wrap.  Instead of grilling chicken and putting it in a wrap, they deep fry some chicken tenders, cut them up, and put them in the traditional chicken wrap which also included mayo, lettuce and tomato.  Her complaint with the sandwich was the tomatos.  The chicken was hot and crunchy while the tomatos where cold.  She said the contrast of hot and cold made the sandwich a little difficult to eat, but she made it most of the way through.  Had the tomatos been at least room temperature, there wouldn’t have been any complaints.  Like me, she noticed the fresh cut fries and appreciated the cook taking an extra five seconds.

The damage was $20 before tip.  The food was really good for bar food.  The cook/chef took the extra time to develop a menu that goes beyond grease and wings and developed a diverse collection of favorites.  We accidently stumbled upon Barley’s, but it’s location combined with the great bar sets it up for a return trip


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Categories : Burgers, Lansing, Local Flavor, Michigan, Pub, Reviews

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