LIVING HERE
Wrigley Drive is a challenge when it comes to any repair projects.
This is a small stretch of roadway with big status in Lake Geneva. The businesses on the north side of the street have been there for many years and have become staples in the city and the Riviera Beach and Complex line on the south side both are huge to the tourism aspect of the city. Wrigley Drive has had the potential of being added to the street improvement list for several years and yet still is not added to the street improvement projects for 2022. The roadway is in need of major repairs it is filled with potholes and bumps and cracks, and some sidewalk repairs are also needed. The extent of what is needed and what will be done when it is approved for improvements has not been decided.
Tom Earle believes community outreach is needed before final plans and approval can be made. When first looked at it was considered a pavement improvement project. Standard parking layout has changed some since Wrigley was last laid out, and, if changed to the updated current standard, would result in the loss of a couple of parking stalls. The existing situation is working, so the current process seems to be ‘don’t fix what’s not broken.’ Sidewalks need improvements on Wrigley also. The sidewalk on the north frontage is not being looked at as a full replacement, as that would result in a full reconstruction of the road. That too can be done but would require a raising of the road, and then to have everything match that. There are a lot of different steps and levels along the curbs to accommodate businesses on that side of the road, and it’s been that way for many years.
No matter what is decided upon it’s a big project and will take time. When does Wrigley have time to be closed to traffic? The months between Also Memorial Day and Labor Day are out of the running for such work, and time is running out for 2022. Tom Earle expects a lot of public input about the location and extent of the job that may be warranted. Alderperson and committee chairperson Cindy Flower agreed and would have liked to have had the discussion sooner so public input could have been gathered in time for Wrigley Drive to be included in the 2022 street improvement project. Flower will not be on the public works committee then, as she’s not running for Alderperson in the Spring Election. She, however, is still invested in Lake Geneva and cares about the residents she represents. Alderperson Flower is encouraging the committee to have community outreach and get the public’s input early on every year before it’s time to make final decisions on yearly projects.
Elizabeth’s, that wonderful old home restaurant, begins a slow slide into oblivion.
Gone is the senior menu, the liver and onions, and stuff like that. Gone are the late hours, as the place now closes at three. No dinners no more. An even newer menu is coming out in two weeks. Hooray. Not. What does that leave for the old-style Wisconsin diners that used to be a part of every lake community but now are rare indeed?
The Elk in Elkhorn is still what it has always been. A sort of Elizabeth’s but on the square in Elkhorn instead of centrally located in Delavan. Then there’s Sammy’s Restaurant in Walworth. Another of those fast, cheap, and really good food joints Wisconsinites have gotten used to over the years. There are many restaurants around the lake but, unfortunately, most of them have really upped their prices, with the influx of now never-ending Chicago visitors, and lowered service and quality.
You see, in the restaurant business, if you can have enough traffic coming in and out of the front door, the business no longer needs repeat customers. It can depend on an influx of new people all the time. It will be interesting to receive comments with respect to what is covered in this article. Quite possibly there are places the Geneva Shore Report simply has not discovered yet or had time to spend time in.
The BP station, with the Dunkin Donuts shop inside, and the really neat upstairs dining area is fully open and operating.
It’s going gangbusters, as its Wi-Fi is fast and free, its donuts are fresh and inexpensive, and the people are pretty terrific. What’s going to happen in the summer when Highway 50 begins to clog up with more and more traffic? That remains to be seen. It’ll still be pretty easy to get into the new, and now giant, BP gas station and fill up, but parking there is already a bit of a problem, and getting out of the driveway and back onto Highway Fifty will be difficult.
The building and opening of the new Kwik Trip on Wells Street, which will feed directly onto Highway 50, as well, is going to have an effect. All one has to do is sit for a bit at the downtown Lake Geneva Kwik Trip to understand that. The downtown store is busy as the devil at all hours and negotiating that parking lot is like riding the bumper car ride at a carnival without (hopefully) running into any other cars. Lake Geneva has growing pains, but most of them will only likely begin to be really felt as the summer of 2022 comes upon us all.
