Our Place

Corelone’s.
What happens when all the quiet decision-making is done and the front of Corleone’s Restaurant becomes a boat sales center? How many boats are going to be put on display in front of this affront of a restaurant? The fact that it is still named Corleone’s Restaurant even after the old purveyor is gone speaks to what? The fact that the property owner is Italian and has roots where Italian’s have roots? The guy who opened and ran the place was under heavy investigation for theft and fraud. One wonders why he called the place Corleone’s in the first place? Currently, it is now likely that Town of Linn, under the beneficent guidance of Jim Weiss, will only allow three new boats to be stuck in front of the restaurant, with seven more lining the north side. The three handicap parking slots will be stuck over there among the displayed boats. Does it occur to anyone of even marginal thought capacity to wonder how, if the restaurant has been a failure through the last three lease holders, is the new leaseholder of the place supposed to make it with his prime parking cut away to nothing, and the place looking like some auto boat lot, so common to the Lake Zurich area of Illinois? Maybe Boatyard Bagel, the defunct restaurant previously located on Main Street in downtown Lake Geneva, is moving instead of going out of business.

Overflow parking?
Hey, your city representatives sat up and considered this new ‘secret spot’ parking lot from a financial perspective. It was admitted last week that the new “strip” lot across from McDonald’s, to be acquired by secret negotiations with secret owners, will pay for itself over the course of twenty years ( 20 Years). Oh, and revenue sharing agreement could not be reached with the Cove, the development next to McDonald’s that owns a much larger parking lot, because the Cove is run by straight arrows who took a look at parking revenue sharing and shook their ethical heads at that kind of unethical arrangement. They said no, and most properly so. But the city moves on. Will that little parking strip truly relieve parking for special events, like the butterfly convention to be held on the surface of White River in the fall? Actually, it was speculated that city employees could use that lot, located a quarter of a mile away, and across Main Street and the river, instead of parking right across the street in the lot intended for their use at city hall. One sometimes wonders if meetings of the council and finance committees are not preceded by long liquid pre-council sessions held at the Pub on Broad Street.

Budget/Smudget.
What’s going on with the budget in Lake Geneva? Just a bunch of small things already discussed and then a few tiny things never discussed. Yes, the theater is being sent about nine hundred grand ($900,000) with so much hope that city leaders are basically prostrating themselves and praying that the theater project will not come back to bite them. The theater in Burlington was redone to the applause of nearly everyone, although if you drive to Burlington and sit outside in your car on the street you distinctly get the impression that the place is a theater still stuck in the 50’s in need of some beautification. Will that be the case in Lake Geneva when that project is done? The new city council members and the new mayor got new nameplates. The total cost was $75.00 and no secret session had to be held in order to pay this amount. It was agreed upon without dissent. The real question comes down to value.
Are the new leaders worth the money spent on their new name tags? Only time will tell.

Fred Gahl is special. This guy owns several business buildings around the Lake Geneva area. He’s being given a ‘maybe’ shot at owning the old school set in the very heart of Williams Bay, if the school board will only meet and approve the sale. One wonders, if that sale is not agreed upon after Mr. Gahl gave the school the money and was approved as a purchaser, whether the school district will end up in court for breach of contract if it fails to follow through. At the combined Williams Bay town board and School District Board meeting a few weeks ago, the idea of contract zoning was trotted out. It wasn’t described as contract zoning (which is illegal in Wisconsin) of course. It was described as a “you scratch our back and we’ll scratch yours,” kind of thing. Except the Williams Bay Board, prepared to do some back scratching indeed, wasn’t and isn’t in possession of the property they seemed willing to scratch over. Nope. The school district owns the property and the board proved that by indicating the many hundreds of thousands set aside for site demolition that would never be paid out. Now that is conduct that proves ownership. Fred Gahl gets the run down property but he’s not getting any money to take it down. The school board feels he would be doing a true community service if he paid to take the asbestos loaded place down. The Williams Bay town board was even more ecstatic over Fred performing this kind of selfless service.   Fred is a nice guy but Fred is not one of those “nice guys finish last,” kind of guys.   A lot of people feel Fred has bitten off more than he can chew on this one. From looking at Fred’s other businesses around the lake it appears a lot more like both boards have bitten off a big chunk of bad tasting asbestos this time around.

Fred Gahl

Fred Gahl in a relaxed state, as he contemplates whether he will make a profit from his Williams Bay school deal by keeping the building the way it is and leasing it out, tearing it down to sell single family home lots or by filing suit against the school board for failure to perform. Is there any wonder why he’s smiling?

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