Kurt Schultz, Glen Arbor’s safety “ambassador”
By Sarah Bearup-Neal
Sun contributor
A river runs through it—“it” being Glen Arbor. So, too, do a number of roads and street: most notably M-22, Lake, Oak and State streets.
During much of the three, not-summer seasons, these roads are empty as a bird’s nest in December. But that ends soon. Summer is nigh, and it brings bicycles, cars, buses, trailers and many people with them who want a place to park.
“There are days when it has been a free-for-all in town,” said Terry Gretzema, Glen Arbor Township treasurer. Especially from July 4 to Labor Day. “Congested” is one adjective Gretzema uses to describe summertime parking in the village. Another adjective might be “inventive”
“People,” Gretzema said, “have parked on lawns.” Sidewalks, too, which forces pedestrians into the street and in the way of oncoming cars.
Enter Kurt Schultz, Glen Arbor Township new safety officer.
Schultz has long been interested in transportation matters. Until his retirement in 2012, he wrote technical manuals for M1 Abrams battle tanks and Stryker Vehicles, armored fighting vehicles built for the U.S. Army by General Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights where he was employed for 16 years.
Today, Schultz transports himself around the village on a 20-year-old black, Trek bicycle he inherited from his son, monitoring the summer parking situation.
“I don’t do moving violations,” he said.
What he does “do” is this: Writes tickets and issues citations for parking violations during Glen Arbor’s busiest time of year. He negotiates his way around the village on a two-wheeled, mobile office. His bicycle (“It’s not the fanciest thing in the world,” Schultz said) is tricked out with a black pouch, in which he stores his citation book, a copy of the state’s parking ordinances and a key to the fee box at the boat ramp. Schultz’s sphere of influence includes the boat ramp at the north end of Lake Street, used both by commercial and recreational fishers and boaters. A township-issued parking pass, either displayed on the car dash or pinned by a wiper blade, is required while boating.
“(Schultz) was principly hired (in 2013) when we were trying to monitor our boat ramp,” Gretzema said. “Payment is voluntary, and we were losing fees over time.
“About eight years ago we had a permanent guy sitting down there but it became cost prohibitive … so we went with the honor system and that, for obvious reasons, didn’t work out either.”
Ramp fees in 2013 came in near $4,000, Gretzema said. “It was a good year.” In a not-so-good year, the honor system brought in “about $2,500 against the cost of putting the ramp in (April) and out (in September) at a cost of $5,000.” Besides the presence of the bicycling safety officer, there’s also a closed circuit camera installed at the ramp. It offers additional incentive to pay the parking fees—$5 for a day pass, $50 for a season-long recreational pass, $250 for a commercial seasonal pass.
When another candidate for the job opted out, Schultz was asked to take on the safety enforcement position. It’s a task that suits him. “I have an appreciation for law enforcement,” he said.
And, the casual observer will quickly note that Schultz is the embodiment of the stay-calm-and-carry-on School of Living, which makes him a congenial enforcer of the ordinances governing parking. “We try to be as friendly as possible,” he said. “It’s not our goal to tick people off.” Talking to violators first, before a citation is issued, is his preferred method of enforcement.
The township has also worked with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to install more no-parking signs in problem areas. Take Oak Street, for instance. It’s a short, north-south bit of concrete—one of two main exit routes for the township fire and emergency vehicles. It’s also within spitting distance of the Glen Arbor Town Hall, where on Tuesdays one finds the local farmers’ market. In turn, Oak Street became a clogged artery. Cars parked on both sides of the road impeded the progress of exiting fire trucks and emergency vehicles, which need clearance of at least 10.5 feet. “Prior to that, we’d put cones on one side of the street so the fire department could get through, “ Schultz said. But it didn’t solve the problem. Part of Schultz’s legacy is in 2013 he helped bring about more signage on Oak Street with an unambiguous message: Don’t park here. Please.
Schultz could pass for just another vacationer on a bicycle, if it weren’t for the chartreuse safety vest jazzed up with reflective tape. “The township was gracious enough to get me a vest last year,” he said. “It has helped considerably.
“It gets a little crazy around here (in the summer). There’s cars parked all over the place. And sometimes people are oblivious. The place is new to them. They’re taking in everything, are in awe of everything. I saw one guy walking down the middle of M-22 one day.” Sometimes this is attributable to a vacation state of mind. And sometimes it’s a result of cars parked elsewhere, which brings us to the camera phone, Schultz’s other enforcement tool of choice. A picture snapped of a violation (“primarily sidewalk infractions,” he said) is emailed to the township office in the event of a dispute.
Like many permanent residents, Schultz and his wife Gail were once visitors to Glen Arbor. They began vacationing here with their two boys in the early 1990s and “fell in love with the area,” he said. They moved from Macomb County in 2012, and began the process of localizing themselves. In that spirit, Schultz sees his role as Glen Arbor’s safety enforcement officer as partly ambassadorial. “People will come up and ask me where this and that are located,” he said. And he tells them.
Schultz isn’t always on the move when he’s clocked in. Sometimes he’ll just park himself and observe the scene. It’s not all about racking up a record number of ticketed violations. Parking oneself has its benefits.
“One time, I was sitting at the corner of Lake Street and Western Avenue,” Schultz said, “when the Camp (Kohana) bus dropped off some campers. The girls sang to me.”
