George Clooney's presence on Grand Rapids movie set would be far from taxing

From M live

By Ruth Butler, Grand Rapids Press
Nothing takes the sting out of paying taxes like knowing the money is being used effectively.

Thus, it only took three words, and I was ready to open my wallet and offer more.

“George Clooney eyes …”

The headline was enough. Let me pay! But then it got better: Among the places he scoped out during a recent trip to GR was one of my favorite spots, San Chez Bistro. Did he sit where I’d once sat? Does that seem like a giggly question?

Many will remember a quaint, breakfasty joint called Granny’s Kitchen, which sat on 28th Street SE for years, offering family-friendly food and atmosphere. A model train skirted the indoor perimeter, just below the ceiling, traveling with its Steelcase and other locals’ freight cars through the multi-roomed restaurant.

The place was made for kids, but not in a rowdy You-Know-Who Cheese way.

And at one booth, a plaque hung on the wall above the table, marking the visit of favorite son Gerald R. Ford once upon a time. Sometimes, your number came up lucky, and the hostess would place you there.

It offered that special air: fame being one skillet breakfast away.

Now, it will be tapas cohabitation. Because “George Clooney eyes …”

He’s among the many film folks who want to take advantage of our state’s (overly generous, in some people’s eyes) film tax incentives. Making movies in Michigan is turning out to work well for them financially, though so far not so much for its taxpayers, namely us.

We mostly think taxes never work well for us. We hear screams and shouts of “No more!” and “Lower!” and “Use your turn signal!” (Everything’s not about taxes.)

We don’t want to pay, though we’re pretty sure we want better roads, a crack police force, immediate response time by firefighters when the fire’s at our house, and the city leaders to make sure no one builds a tent city for prostitutes right next door.

It’s just all that other stuff other people, not so much us, care about.

So citizens accept that part of living in a democracy means supporting what the majority — not just you — wants.

Which no longer applies to the film tax incentives. George Clooney’s eyes!

I am not rational on this; I am also not alone. He’s the current slam-dunk fantasy fulfiller for so many women, and even men, some of whom are straight.

When Val Kilmer came to town for a film destined to go straight to DVD, I was not in awe but mild surprise: Val Kilmer is still working?

And while I hear Kurt Russell was swell while filming a football film in Coopersville in August, it was just another ho-hum, movie-biz anecdote

I once stood on a train platform in Barcelona and stared across the tracks at a gigantic billboard of a man in a creamy tan suit, running as if to hail a taxi or run from spies or meet up with his true love.

George Clooney. Selling something or other. I never took Spanish, but I was, knees weak, ready to buy. I blush at my gush, but there it is.

So the concept of his eyes moving over sites familiar to us locals, well, it’s worth the tax bill, the same way it is during endless road construction.

The eyes have it.