Front Page
STANDING TALL
Too nice, too kind, too hard-working, too well-mannered, are all descriptors of this woman named Charlene Klein, who is currently the mayor of Lake Geneva. Her two-year run has been one of almost complete success through one of the city’s most trying times in all of its history.
Will she be re-elected this next Tuesday? Probably not. She’s a woman, a person who does not lie about her opponent or any facet of her personal or public life, and she finds it hard to engage with the public in any kind of demagogue-like way (which seems to be all the rage these days, especially in rural areas across the nation). Where she shines is in performance, and part of that is by always being there at the municipal building, her door is ever open to the public, like no other offices in that structure. This woman has had a steep learning curve to climb, and what she’s learned needs to be enjoyed by the community she serves for as long as she can function in this leadership role.
Yes, she’s had the wool pulled over her eyes a couple of times, like having the roof on the Riviera retiled with ugly tile, and then not opening the structural interior more to the outside, like she wanted to do. Think about what she’s done, one thing of which is the near silence heard when it comes to out-of-control developers throwing a bunch of rotten ideas up against the proverbial wall to see what might stick. Forget closing down Wrigley Drive under her leadership. Forget closing down the wonder of a road that runs along the water at Big Foot Beach. Forget any contract zoning garbage with respect to the Hillmoor property (unlike what was pulled, before her term, at the Mirabel Hummel property). Don’t even think about trying to convert the library property into a resort complex or hotel (yes, that was once bandied about in a serious way, before Charlene).
Charlene guided the city through the complexities of the pandemic. The city was in a particularly strange place, what with the State of Illinois being masked and mandated in almost every way, but Wisconsin not. How does a tourist destination the size of Lake Geneva handle so many people coming up to get free of mandates, keep in compliance with Wisconsin laws, and still steer through the mess to keep and hold onto both financial and environmental success while still staying as safe as possible? Charlene performed magnificently.
There’s little question, from the reading of this front-page article, where the entire editorial staff of the Geneva Shore Report stands when it comes to supporting and honoring this extraordinary woman and leader. Todd Krause, her opponent is a bright man and a very nice guy, but could he commit the kind of time and attention necessary to fully operate the city’s business as Charlene has? That’s an unknown.
The GSR is going with what is definitely known. If you are the kind of voter who’s concerned about not being able to make an individual difference by only being counted as one vote out of many, well, consider that in the last election Charlene won by only 7 votes! There are thousands of voters registered in Lake Geneva, all of whom should be qualified to vote. How many will vote? Likely turnout is probably going to be about 1500 votes total. The primary was held earlier, which sent both Charlene and Todd on into the final election for mayor. The number of votes cast was under a thousand!
Vote, no matter who you vote for. Have an impact, maybe the greatest impact ever in any of your voting. Voting will take place on the 5th of April, from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the city hall municipal building. There will be no other voting places in the city.
