SURPRISING STUFF
Murals in Motion.
This was a huge success, bringing in roughly 15,000 people to downtown Lake Geneva. Feedback was very positive and complimentary, especially regarding the organization and the alleyway dinner. With all the obstacles and hurdles that came with planning for the murals, it was worth the wait. Now check out our online silent auction to benefit from adding more murals to our community. Art was contributed by local artists, students, and talented people in the area. Many local students have amazing pieces in the auction. The goal is to raise a minimum of $10,000 to help fund next year’s murals. To view the art pieces available, visit Downtown Lake Geneva’s Facebook page. The auction is open through the end of the month!
Riparian rights.
Most people, unless living on property that adjoins or is reached by freshwater rivers, lakes, or ponds, in the U.S. don’t know what the word ‘riparian’ means. The actual definition means ‘on the banks of a river’ but the word has become synonymous with the rather exclusive nature of property being close to or touching a body of water, moving or otherwise. Lake Geneva has riparian problems, not just because of the exclusivity of riparian rights but also because of state law.
Contained bodies of water that are not encapsulated by or held on private property are not owned. By anybody, including the state. They are inside the boundaries of the state but can only be governed in a ‘steward’ fashion, such as is maintained by the Department of Natural Resources over the water portion of Geneva Lake. The communities surrounding the lake have no defined legal control over the water they are adjacent to. The police patrolling the lake in small boats, the lifeguards, and even the ‘kid’s patrol’ that cruises around the waters helping boaters here and there have no extraordinary powers over anyone using the lake. Citations handed out for speeding and other violations, unless rising to state, county, or local misdemeanor levels, or higher, are not enforceable. They are given out, however, without the public understanding that.
The fines are so small, normally, for such violations that nobody appeals them up to the State Supreme Court. This situation makes it extremely difficult for the entities surrounding the lake and trying to manage it. So far, organizations have been created to manage the lake waters, such as the Geneva Lake Association (GLA), the Geneva Lake Environmental Association (GLEA), the Lake Geneva Conservancy, the lake level people and so many more. Sharing the available money raised for projects like rebuilding the dam, located at the northern shore, has been extremely difficult, as well. Everyone has to agree, and that’s never going well among the communities all touching on the lake and touched by it.
