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June 12, 2005TC Film Festival plans a great fit for the areaThe issue: Our view: See Related Stories: TC Film Festival: Residents share noise, crowd concerns - June 8, 2005 This time it's not somewhere else. It's here. And it should be a blast. A group calling itself the Traverse City Film Festival committee has proposed holding a weekend-long film festival to bring to town fine films that wouldn't otherwise make it to a market this size. To widen its appeal, the group has also proposed showing four classic films on a 49-foot floating screen at the Open Space on West Bay, free to anyone who shows up with a blanket and some bug spray. The idea came late to the Traverse City Commission; the group wants to hold the festival July 28-31 but only recently approached the city. To the commission's credit, the idea got quick approval. Film Festival officials and the city still have to work out issues like crowd control and cleanup, but city officials said they're confident they'll work things out. The whole thing sounds like a perfect fit for Traverse City. The city has long prided itself for offering more cultural pursuits than most cities its size. The Traverse Symphony and Old Town Playhouse are as active as ever, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts is just a few miles out of town. A film festival will be a welcome addition. The only controversial issue so far, in fact - aside from a few citizens citing concerns about more traffic and more crowds - is that filmmaker Michael Moore, he of "Fahrenheit 911" fame (or infamy), is one of the organizers. Moore has said he has no intention of turning the festival into a political event, and in fact he is only one of the organizers. "I haven't heard anyone raise that about politics and I wouldn't even think of it," he said. The festival has already reserved the City Opera House and the Old Town Playhouse for ticketed showings of films and is also planning workshops. Films being considered for free viewings at the Open Space include "Jaws," "Young Frankenstein" and "High Noon." ("Jaws" just a few yards from Clinch Park beach?) This is good stuff for residents and visitors alike. Traverse City has the venues and the audience, and showing films on the bay is an inspired touch. Pass the popcorn. Habitat gets things doneSee Related Story: Since 1987, the group has put 60 Grand Traverse-area families into their own homes through the sweat and hard work of hundreds of volunteers and the homeowners themselves. From Wednesday through June 24 they're going to do it again - four times over. As part of a statewide project, more than 1,000 Habitat volunteers will "blitz build" four homes in Elmwood Township's Blue Ridge Subdivision. A fifth home in East Bay Township, which has already been started, will also be finished by the 24th. The effort is part of Habitat for Humanity's 2005 Jimmy Carter Work Project. During those 10 days the former president will be personally working on homes in Detroit and Benton Harbor. Volunteer leader Tad Minor said 132 six-person teams, each with an experienced crew leader, will work from 7:30 a.m. to mid-afternoon all four days. Midway through the week crews will hold simultaneous rallies across the state. The need for what they do is beyond question. One- and two-bedroom apartments near Traverse City run from $500 to $800 a month, $150 for utilities. Someone making $10 a hour can expect to net less than $1,100 a month. Pay $650 for rent and utilities and there's just over $100 a week for groceries, gas, car payments, clothing and everything else. Habitat volunteers know all that. And nail by nail, they do something about it.
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