Our Place
GSR retraction, subtraction, extraction.
The Geneva Shore Report could not have been more wrong.
Donna and Dan, working away at the Lake Geneva City Pier. The GSR wrote a very short piece a few weeks ago about the dedicated parking space allowed for the pier attendant down on Wrigley Drive. Since that negative comment was written a lot has come to light that was unknown at the time. Yes, the GSR was wrong again. The GSR has only apologized to its reading public one hundred and forty-two times, but has produced two hundred and seventy issues including this one, so that’s not too bad.
Dan and Donna are married, which is not that common across the city employment history of Lake Geneva. The Waswo couple work for the city quite effectively in other areas. What’s in that car that sits there all day long on just about every day of the summer down at the lake on Wrigley Drive? Things like extra ropes because, amazingly, that cheap bit of line is the single most ignored part of boating experience. How do you hold a boat to the pier that has no, or only one line? You can’t, especially if there’s a wind. And those jet skis! Almost none of them have lines which is why so many of them are all beaten up in appearance. How about extra life jackets for the kids, or you can’t go out? First aid stuff?
Not only do these special people provide all of these kinds of things for nothing, but they do it with a grand good humor and welcoming (and oh so tolerant) grace. Directing traffic on busy days has also become part of their duties, and maybe the most dangerous. People don’t like to obey any but the most uniformed of personnel, and uniforms are not part of the job for these two. They bring in thousands of dollars on good days for the city coffers and most of it is from those delectably difficult tourists up from Chicago. Yes. Go down and meet them some slow summer day. They both know quite a bit about the lake and the wild variety of people who ride around on it.
The least they deserve is a special parking place for their above and beyond the call duty efforts on everyone’s behalf.
Public parks for sale? If you think those privatization people are going away, well, they are not. Check out the Milwaukee Journal’s Tuesday’s edition on the opinion page. It would appear that Milwaukee County, a county noted for its great parks, is about to change its policies in dealing with those pesky little money-losing parks. They have circulated a survey to be added to a toothy document governing the parks in the near future. The survey asks the public which of their parks they think they’d like to do without in the future. They also ask questions about how they should raise more revenue for the parks that remain, to make them “independent” of county support.
What does this portend for Big Foot Park? It means that the idea, in very democratically populated, but republican controlled Wisconsin, of getting rid of parks is laying quietly right near the surface of the body politic. When parks go private they don’t stay parks anymore. Is Hillmoor a park? Will this ‘privatized’ area of prime land on the eastern side of Lake Geneva become a park under private ownership? Not damned likely. In fact, there’s no bloody chance at all. The vigilance necessary to make sure the public does not lose its parks (including Big Foot), or its utilities (yes, that is being discussed constantly at city hall), is ongoing and requires your attention. Pay attention. Take these threats to nearby areas, as in the threat tossed down by the results of this impending “have you stopped beating your wife?” survey, seriously. They could result in terrible changes if not nipped in the bud.
Grandest Person in Our Place
Charles Phinissee is a staple at the local Kwik Trip. He has a contagious smile and greets the customers by name. Charles has been there since their beginning back in September of 2014. He is a real class act, and makes a quick trip into the Kwik Trip a pleasure.
Go in and find him.
With his huge smile he’s hard to miss.
