Looking on the Bright Side
Article by Terry O’Neill, former city alderperson and Lake Geneva activist.
When looking into the future, many people feel one can see a slow but steady improvement of American society. If we turn and look at history as a guide, it shows a broken record where mankind and nature have gone through one major disaster after another, only to have everyone and everything that survives slowly rebuild a better world. But for mankind that repetitive cycle appears to be coming to a halt, in the opinion of many people today. Either everyone will learn to live together to prevent an apocalypse or life itself as we know it will fracture, triggering one. The destructive power of nuclear weapons and the fragile nature of society’s dependence on power, technology, and individual specialization makes rebuilding a better world after an apocalypse a very lengthy and harsh process. What is the solution? Back in the 60’s we were in the Cold War with the Soviet Union. There was turmoil and fear of a nuclear war. There were demonstrations and marches over segregation, the Vietnam War and the ERA (equal rights for women). The popular song “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire summarized the fear, frustration and anger of the time.
During that era, I was given two $100 a plate dinner tickets at which Ronald Reagan would be speaking. The only part of his speech that I remember is when he related an incident when he was governor of California. He was asked to write a message that was to be put into a time capsule. He thought: “What do I want to say to someone in the distant future? Will there even be anyone to read it? Will our nation be gone? What can I say to them to help them?” Then after thinking about it for some time, he concluded that to write a message to someone in the distant future you needed to be optimistic about the future and believe that people will be there to read it and that the problems we face today will have been solved, so there is no need to write about those problems. Whatever he wrote remains a secret, but the optimistic view of the future that he gained from writing that message never left him. That kind of optimistic view of the future is what was needed then, and what is needed again today. “A trust in God and a belief in the goodness of mankind” is the solution.
Today is only 50 years into that optimistic future that he hoped for. WWIII has been avoided, the Cold War ended, segregation all but ended, and although the ERA failed, the discrimination and violence against women, race, minorities, etc. has been significantly reduced as the nation progresses toward living together in a world where “all people are equal”. Despite the progress that has been made, the dream is still generations away and some discrimination, dominance, intimidation and violence against women, racial groups, minorities and individuals continues, though it is no longer supported by our laws.
What about this new little parking lot supposedly to be located on the east side of South Lake Shore Drive near McDonald’s?
TIF4 money is to be used to purchase the land from unknown owners (secret meeting to negotiate, you know that routine). It’ll be just south of half a million ($500,000) for that postage stamp lot (Featured photo above). How about another twenty thousand for demolition? Demolition of what? There’s a tiny house on the west end of that elongated property. That’s it! Twenty grand ($20,000) to take the house down and grade the bare ground? Finally, there’s a hundred and forty thousand ($140,000), or so, being set aside for paving.
What in hell is going on in the city of Lake Geneva where a small stretch of land is going to be paved for that kind of money? Is this another of those no-bid contracts because nobody will bid on Lake Geneva projects anymore? Might it finally have gotten around that the bidding process in Lake Geneva has been a bit suspect? This whole quiet project begins to resemble the “pavilion to nowhere” built in Flat Iron Park, and the “bushes to oblivion” plan to replant the tiny area around the Riviera fountain with God knows what kind of cast off trees and shrubs (nothing’s been started on that one yet). These projects cost hundreds of thousands of dollars each and that money is about as accountable as the money held in the “proprietary” funds of the utility department or the strangely named Lake Area Chamber of Commerce.
