THE BRIGHT SIDE
After consulting with the GSR, the folks running a ‘Mexican pot stand’ at South Lake Shore Drive and Willow picked up and departed for good.
The first complaint that came in caused the investigative staff to look into the roadside tented sales operation installed right at the corner of an intersection that has been the historically most dangerous intersection in the Town of Linn for many years (only minimized when the town purchased and installed blinking stop signs at all four corners).
Jim Weiss stepped up to look into things and so did the Town of Linn police department, as well as the town clerk. The owner of the ‘estate sales’ business right behind the sales stand also finally agreed that the place had to go, as it had been allowed with his permission. The Town of Linn apparently has no defining and well-written ordinance against such awful cheap-looking roadside operations, but it certainly needs one. Lake Geneva’s history is loaded with places like that that sprung up years ago until well-written and enforced ordinances were drafted and put in place. Lake Geneva’s problem, since the popularity of Lake Geneva as a Chicago destination for playing and fun exploded with the arrival and then departure of the Covid, is enforcement. The alcohol-fueled night hours must be better handled by the city, but that’s another story. Hats off to the Town of Linn officials and the business owner who decided to support them.
Little Anthony.
Just whom or what is inspecting the places he owns in town? Little Anthony, as he’s affectionately known, owns and operates Magpie’s Bar on Main Street and then Fat Cats on Broad. The loud music and boorish behavior after hours emanating from both places have caused the GSR to receive many more citizen complaints than the operations before Little Anthony came in and spent a lot of money renovating, that preceded them.
What the hell’s going on? The window at Fat Cats was replaced with a garage door sort of operation and that’s open on summer nights for his customers to encounter the public and for loud live music to pervade the area. It is the city inspectors and code enforcers that should be monitoring these places and situations, not the Geneva Shore Report. The GSR has long campaigned against the city becoming a honkytonk town with Thumbs Up, Hogs and Kisses, Fat Cats, Magpies, and Champs. These operations create most of Lake Geneva’s police problems at night and are heading the city straight toward a reputation that most of the residents and citizens don’t want.
These places also contribute very little to the city’s coffers in the way of profit or revenue sharing. An ordinance to shut these places down at midnight every night would be a welcome relief to a city filled with residents and citizens reaching the end of their tether about putting up with them. That opinion comes from the calls and complaints the GSR fields but does not publish because many citizens are also afraid of the people who own these establishments.