Organizer refuses to reveal harness track petition signers
Township Supervisor Kurt Heise insists that he and the members of the board of trustees should be able to see petitions being circulated opposing the Northville Downs at Plymouth harness raceway proposed for a site at Five Mile and Ridge Road. The track, reportedly a move from the current location at Seven Mile and Sheldon in Northville, would include a half-mile oval harness racetrack, a two-story grandstand, racing building, horse barn and maintenance building on the 128-acre site.
Several officials have questioned the use of a large unidentified area in the plans presented to the township. Rumors have circulated that the goal is to establish first slot machines and then gambling in this area of the building.
Heise said he wants to know who opposes the plan, which he has favored since negotiating the preliminary move of the track to the township. Online petitions opposing the racetrack have been circulating since last spring posted by Stop the Racetrack, a grassroots organization intent on preventing the construction of the harness racing facility. Dale Bernhardt, who has been circulating the petitions, has refused to allow Heise to view the 1,500 signatures he says he has already collected opposing the track. Bernhardt, who lives near the proposed site for the track, appears at nearly every township board meeting opposing the project. He claims the signatures were not intended to be presented to township officials and refuses to provide them to Heise. He says the petitions were an effort only to gauge the degree of opposition. In addition to the petitions, Bernhardt and others have been wearing yellow Stop the Racetrack stickers and supplying lawn signs and literature in the community.
Bernhardt claims the opposition to the track is “huge” and that the petition was “never a political thing.” Heise disagrees and claims that Bernhardt is attempting to create a database for political activism. Heise is currently campaigning for reelection.
Heise said he has never experienced the necessity for a governmental entity to request signatures on a petition. He said he believed those who signed the petition expected it to be presented to the board of trustees. He said the signatures “could make a difference” in opinions of members of the board and would be helpful in the decision-making process.
Trustees Chuck Curmi and John Stewart disagree. Curmi said he doesn't need to see the petitions as he remains opposed to the track.
He cast the lone no vote in February when the development was first proposed. He added that rumors claiming he is collecting the signatures for a political mailing list are completely false. He has called the proposed track “Plymouth-destroying.”
Stewart, who is also strongly opposed to the track, said he does not need to see the petition signatures. He said he accepts the credibility of the people who come to each meeting and express their opposition “to a gambling facility.”
