Leaving Out Germain Data About Ludington Historic District

[XLFD]

The adjective "germane" means "relevant to a subject under consideration".   Sometimes we are not given all the facts germane to a political discussion, such as the controversy surrounding the proposed historic district in Ludington.  In the Thursday June 13, 2013 City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews), both the letter writer and the editorial board left out a germane "Germain" fact in the "Reader's Forum" submission on this district.

 

What was left off of this glowing testimonial of the historic district?  A little disclosure of why Dave Germain is so thrilled with this and actually believes there is no control and freedoms given up in the 117 page (and growing) rules and regulations the Historic District Study Committee (HDSC) have drawn up.  Dave Germain has been a pivotal member on the HDSC since its inception on 10-12-2009.

And his contributions to this study committee were far more than just as a signatory participant, or a token member of the district (the law says at least two members must be residents).  As can be seen in the HDSC 'final report' in 2011, Dave Germain was responsible for a lot of the research behind the addresses in the historic district.  A search done of this HDSC report.pdf file has his name appearing no less than 13 times as the site surveyor for distinct properties.  And yet he says, without disclosing his participation in this four year process when heaping accolades: 

 

This 'community leader' says, referring to him and his wife:  "We doubt they would ever misrepresent or mislead our city in any way."

 

Dude-- you just did by not disclosing your own leading part and participation in the study committee in your letter! 

  The Sunburst Inn, owned by Linda and David Germain.  That gaudy coloration above the window has got to go, as does the 'OPEN' pennant 

 

Self-serving, self-congratulatory, self-delusional rhetoric aside, the letter goes from saying there is absolutely no control or freedom given up (which is provably false), then offering some unproven/unlikely benefits like promoting diversity, and then vilifying the opposition as saboteurs and flame-throwing prevaricators. 

 

If you were still sitting on your historically insignificant fence about this topic, it's about time to get off it, even if you don't own property in the district.  This will be nothing but a new bureaucracy and a burden financially and spiritually on all City of Ludington residents except for those who stand to benefit from everyone else's taxes.  We will look at that in more detail shortly here at the Ludington Torch. 

[Willy]

Good find X. It isn't hard to figure out Mr. Germain's motives. If he is surrounded by a special zoning district that forces property owners to go above and beyond normal code requirements and allows him to benefit  by receiving hard working taxpayers dollars then he can be assured that he and his property will benefit from Historic District action.  He sure lost credibility when he wrote that article giving the impression that he had no involvement with Historic District  while cheer leading for it's implementation.

[XLFD]

Isn't it kind of like writing a book and giving it a glowing review?  Or putting a post up on Facebook, or a forum thread here and "like"-ing it yourself?  Or writing your kid's entry to a "Best Father" contest for Father's Day? 

I could see that Mr. Germain (or Mr. Stumpf, the other HDSC member in the district) could be under the delusion that this may help preserve the character of this corridor, but he is not even listening or trying to refute what other people are saying, or telling of the reality of the situation.