LIVING HERE
The City of Lake Geneva is working on becoming ADA compliant and providing accessibility to those with disabilities and special needs.
The city is required by law to update ADA ramps in the right of way on public property when working on roads. The issue is that just updating ADA ramps isn’t enough. The biggest complaint visitors have when visiting Lake Geneva is that the city is not accessible for those with disabilities.
The downtown area gets very busy, and people are crammed like sardines onto the sidewalk areas. Please, when you are out there on a weekend day, imagine someone with a wheelchair or electric cart trying to get through the crowds. Not a very inviting or welcoming scene for those wanting to enjoy downtown Lake Geneva.
There are also many families that look specifically for communities that are autism friendly and certified so that they can enjoy their vacation wherein everyone can be included and enjoy vacation time away. This includes a fully accessible playground so everyone can play together where no one is left out. The Never Say Never Playground committee went before the tourism committee asking for a grant to help get an all-inclusive playground built in Lake Geneva. The City of Lake Geneva’s current park playground equipment is in sad shape and not well maintained. It all needs to be replaced.
Now is the perfect time to replace the old equipment, with a new all-inclusive playground that would draw families to Lake Geneva. This could be a destination in and of itself and unique to Walworth County. Unfortunately, the tourism committee didn’t see it that way and was stumped as to how they could help get the playground funded. They voted to continue the discussion at next month’s meeting so they could have some time to brainstorm ideas to support the Never Say Never Playground purchase and construction. Lake Geneva would definitely stand out among all other Wisconsin tourism destinations by becoming autism, disability, and special-needs friendly.
The tourism committee unanimously approved a grant for over $90,000 worth of new kitchen equipment for the Riviera.
The city will use the money to purchase new equipment for the second-floor kitchen that has been in use since the 1980s. The equipment has been breaking down more often due to the increase in the number of events held at the Riviera. Most of the equipment is so old that replacement parts can’t be found anymore and, if they are found, are extremely expensive. Currently, one of the garbage disposals is out of commission, as parts cannot be found. Other issues that need to be addressed include refrigerant leaks, on/off switches that don’t work (staff will come in during the morning and find the warming ovens on even though the switch was turned off), and two ice machines that don’t always work or keep up with ice making. When potential renters and caterers tour the Riviera, they ask if the equipment works. If changes aren’t made the city is worried it could jeopardize the reputation of the Riviera and rentals could decrease. All funds requested are to replace existing equipment not add any additional equipment. If the kitchen is that badly in need of repairs, why wasn’t it done during renovations last year?
The city completed about $6.3 million worth of renovation projects to the Riviera including the exterior in 2020 and the interior in 2021. Shouldn’t that have been done while everything was already closed and being redone? The Riviera has been established as Lake Geneva’s convention center and is considered tangible municipal development which qualifies for a tourism grant. A portion of the city’s room tax revenue is used to fund the tourism grants which is not taxpayer money. It is money collected from visitors and the committee is supporting the grant for new equipment, so the city doesn’t have to spend their money and save the taxpayers from paying. Either way it would have been a lot easier to apply for the grant earlier and have all the updates done at the same time, but in some ways, Lake Geneva is, indeed, a very small town.
