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WHAT WILL BE WILL BE
The entirety of civilization, as we turn to view it in today’s developmental iteration, is founded upon the shoulders of a very few. Very few. This undeniable fact, that most humans of modern social orders do not get involved and do not take action, was very apparent when attending the planning sessions intended to give Lake Geneva city leaders ideas and pointers about how interested citizens might want the community to look like, be like and build toward as the future comes rushing down upon us all. Traffic is up, way up, and it could not be more apparent to any local citizen attempting to spend time in the downtown area during daylight hours. Sales at restaurants and shops, up and down the downtown area, are setting all-time records for revenue and profits, not that such financial information will be shared or published outside of the confines of the editorial office of the Geneva Shore Report.
Attempting to deal with the inertia and size of local governmental authority can be vexing, at best. The city council’s treatment of the Hillmoor property comes immediately to mind. That property keeps being decided upon over and over again. The public has ‘spoken’ a number of times, at hugely attended meetings, indicating that it does not want Hillmoor opened up further to high-density development. It’s already available to the current owner for development in many other areas. But the current owner, Whitewater Holdings, LLC, wants to rezone and open it up for high-density development. And that operation (former CEO just lost his appeal, so stays in prison), run by Mr. Fitzpatrick of downtown Chicago, knows what it’s doing. If they can force the zoning to be opened up by changing the current comprehensive plan (currently under review) then they don’t have to worry about developing at all. He can just sell the plot for twice what they paid for it. Shazam!
The question becomes; why do city administration members go along with the sham of trying to force an issue that was already settled several times in
Dapper Dan Draper, City Attorney, City of Lake Geneva
the past? Why did four city council members; Skates, Hedland, Howell, and Flower vote to table the feasibility study that the Friends of Hillmoor tried to present on Monday night at the Council Meeting of the Whole? They did it by sleight of hand, and more than likely by illegally agreeing beforehand that they were going to do it because they moved the hearing of the study to the first order of business, even before the remarks by citizens section of the agenda. Why are these normally decent leaders seeming to act so demonstrably indecent? Why did the city attorney; Dan Draper, write a letter to the council a few days before, that was, essentially, a template for how Whitewater Holdings should sue the city if the feasibility study was presented? The letter was public, not something that was given to council members confidentially so they could consider the advice.
It was, instead, made public, so the threat of it could be fully absorbed by everyone. What kind of fear-driven culture is this man, and now this council, perpetrating upon the public? Dan Draper was a key player in the whole Mirbeau Hummel fiasco lawsuit years ago. He was seen as a facilitator, allowing that settlement to go down. What is he now? Well, he’s back and he needs to be recalled as quickly as possible if the city leadership is to recover its integrity and start acting like it represents the citizens of Lake Geneva instead of being a patsy or employee of Whitewater Holdings. Did Mayor Tom Hartz really call all the council members and then get them to move the study item up on the agenda so they could table it? Sure seems so. What is in it for these people; Hartz, Draper, Skates, Hedland, Howell, and Flower, to play at breaking laws in order to help a developer that has pretty much been determined to be totally without any integrity at all?
