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THE UGLY PARKING PLAN

The parking situation in Lake Geneva continues to go from strange to bizarre. What is the mayor of Lake Geneva doing, and why? She refused to put the parking issue back on the city council agenda for the last meeting that will be held prior to the new parking rates and fines go into effect on the 1st of February (four bucks an hour and fifty-dollar fines for being over the time limit). She blatantly said ‘no’ to any discussion about revisiting the parking issue at a later date before allowing the new fees to become effective. The mayor gave out an opinion to other city leaders in her office trying to reason with her, that the four dollars an hour rate should have been five dollars an hour. The intent is to stop so many visitors from coming to Lake Geneva, as Lake Geneva, according to the mayor, cannot handle the number of visitors it gets during the summer now.

If the city’s leadership thinks that these new parking regulations, taking the price per hour to four dollars and the price of being a few minutes late to getting back to one’s vehicle fifty dollars, then it should reflect on what happened at Amy’s Shipping Emporium on Broad Street the other day. With many people in line on Monday afternoon , from all apparent walks of life, someone brought up the coming parking rates and regulations. The woman who brought it up was irate about what was to be coming. All of a sudden, everyone in the line joined in with her and a heated discussion followed about how rotten the City of Lake Geneva was becoming and how the leadership was treating the people who live in and around the city as if they were nothing more or less than sheep to be herded and clipped.

The Monday night city council meeting was called to order and then immediately adjourned. Neither John Halverson nor Mary Jo Fesenmaier was present and therefore, under Wisconsin law, there was no quorum in order to conduct business. The mayor, when specifically asked at the last meeting of the council, had declined to put the parking decision issue on the agenda for this meeting. Did that have anything to do with the two council members, both normally dependable and present, missing the meeting? The answer to that question remains unknown. However, Mary Jo Fesenmaier and alderperson Yager have indicated that they will be putting the parking decision on the council’s agenda next week, which is only to be held two days before this very controversial issue goes into full effect. Nothing can be discussed by the council unless it’s on the agenda and the only the mayor and the city administrator can put items on that agenda alone, otherwise it takes two council members acting together, as is likely to occur in this contentious situation.

The four- or five-dollar fees would also allow visitors to come who would be more likely to have more money and therefore be visitors of higher quality.  The city leaders listening to the mayor could not believe what they were hearing, and don’t want to be quoted about what was said, as they don’t want to lose their own credibility.  Those city leaders are going to lobby two of the eight city council members to put the parking issue back on the agenda on the first Monday meeting following the institution of the new parking fees (that would be a meeting to be potentially held on the6th of February if they find at least two council members who will perform the necessary operation (only the city’s mayor can put an item on the council agenda without consult or company, and the mayor would not do that).

If the city’s leadership thinks that these new parking regulations, taking the price per hour to four dollars and the price of being a few minutes late to getting back to one’s vehicle fifty dollars, then it should reflect on what happened at Amy’s Shipping Emporium on Broad Street the other day.  With many people in line on Monday afternoon , from all apparent walks of life, someone brought up the coming parking rates and regulations.  The woman who brought it up was irate about what was to be coming.  All of a sudden, everyone in the line joined in with her and a heated discussion followed about how rotten the City of Lake Geneva was becoming and how the leadership was treating the people who live in and around the city as if they were nothing more or less than sheep to be herded and clipped.

The Monday night city council meeting was called to order and then immediately adjourned.  Neither John Halverson nor Mary Jo Fesenmaier was present and therefore, under Wisconsin law, there was no quorum in order to conduct business.  The mayor, when specifically asked at the last meeting of the council, had declined to put the parking decision issue on the agenda for this meeting.  Did that have anything to do with the two council members, both normally dependable and present, missing the meeting?  The answer to that question remains unknown.  However, Mary Jo Fesenmaier and alderperson Yager have indicated that they will be putting the parking decision on the council’s agenda next week, which is only to be held two days before this very controversial issue goes into full effect.  Nothing can be discussed by the council unless it’s on the agenda and the only the mayor and the city administrator can put items on that agenda alone, otherwise it takes two council members acting together, as is likely to occur in this contentious situation.