LITTLE GEMS
It was presumed by the staff of the Geneva Shore Report that a sidewalk was being put in on South Lake Shore Drive leading up and down the hill to Big Foot Beach.
What the city’s been building alongside the eastern edge of that very well-traveled and popular road isn’t a sidewalk at all. When the foundation for it was being dug the ‘sidewalk’ seemed like it would be way too low and close, right next to the northbound lane. Now that progress has been made, almost to completion, it’s become obvious that the project is nothing more or less than a rather deep and extensive culvert.
The size and depth of that concrete culvert would seem to be beyond the local weather elements to challenge, but then the editorial staff does not employ an engineer to consult with. Since there is no sidewalk down to the Big Foot Beach from up on the hill, and the space on the west side of the road is extremely narrow (bordered by heavy hedge and bush growth that has little give to it) are people walking to the beach, coming down from that northern direction, going to cross South Lake Shore Drive and use the culvert as a sidewalk? The culvert has a flat bottom about two feet wide but steep slanting concrete walls, particularly at the top. Foreseeably, the solution to solve runoff problems by installing the culvert may create an altogether different safety problem.
Forget getting your Christmas Tree from Pesche’s, or any of that.
Pesche’s, the nursery 7 miles from Lake Geneva, located on the north side of Highway 50, used to have great trees. Not anymore and the expense for the ones they have is sky high. The place to go?
Evergreen Acres. Yes, it’s 21.3 miles north on Highway 12 but the extra 14 miles is so worth it. You can cut your own tree, good sized, for about fifty bucks, but they will also cut it for you for twenty more. They’ll loan you a saw if you forgot one, like we did. The tree is shaken and then wrapped, and all for the same price, they tie it to the top of your vehicle very securely. Wonderful people, many in holiday costumes. Go to Pesche’s for plants and small stuff or fertilizer. They do great with those, and they also quite successfully sell yard signs with funny sayings on them.
The automatic traffic intersection lights are a whole lot less than automatic.
These lights were installed at three of Lake Geneva’s major intersections and they’ve helped considerably in allowing for controlled left turns and metering those left turners. They’ve helped in allowing emergency equipment faster responding times. But the firm that sold these devices, and was supposed to service them regularly, has never been back. The signal at Wrigley and Main is totally out of whack with what is needed, probably adjusted by the street department. The signals at Main and Broad and Main and Center do not turn green for long periods of time, even when there are no cars moving back and forth in the other lanes. These signals need attention, just as automatic signals should be installed at Main and Wells and Main and Edwards Boulevard. Installing Automatic signals that really work and are properly programmed and serviced, however.
