Michael E. Marotta

Features Michael E. Marotta “Nationally, only about one-third of all pilots own (or share ownership in) their own planes. A small ship for two or four passengers, new from the factory, costs about as much as a house: $100,000 to $200,000...”

You look down a mile-long runway that disappears into the distance. You take your toes from the brakes, and push the throttle full forward. The airplane you wear like a compact car accelerates to 40 mph… 50… and the nose comes up… and with three fingers of one hand, you pull back on the yoke with no more force than it takes to open a cupboard door. You are in the air. Before the seconds have stretched into a full minute, the outer marker of the runway passes about 1000 feet below you. You turn and look out over the lakes, bays and peninsulas of the Grand Traverse region. Nothing compares to this.

Features Michael E. Marotta The Grand Traverse region will soon have its own currency called “Bay Bucks” to be used by participating businesses. The Traverse Area Community Currency Initiative (TACCI) has been at work for over a year to create the consensus that will make this local money a viable economic medium of exchange. The final product may hit the streets before the end of the summer.

Features Michael E. Marotta If a convoy of robot vehicles could deliver supplies to combat troops in the field, then there would be no drivers to be kidnapped and killed. Robot scout cars could provide advance intelligence. The same technology could run farm machines to plant and harvest crops.

Features Michael E. Marotta Buying a home, or selling one, is usually the largest economic transaction of your life. Yet, buyers and sellers are generally in the dark about the most basic questions or even where to find answers. Helpful real estate professionals will try to guide you through as much of the tangle as possible. Others will take advantage of your ignorance and they can have a moral obligation to do so.

Features Michael E. Marotta The American dollar is an international currency – and that is a problem according
to Chris Grobbel and Natasha Lapinski of the Traverse Area Community Currency
Initiative (TACCI). A loose coterie of about 20 to 30 activists, the TACCI is working to create some form of money that will stay here. “Big box stores funnel money out of our community
with a predatory way of dealing with our community,” says Lapinski.