Ludington City Council 9-23-2013: Captain Courageous, City Outrageous

[XLFD]

This Monday's Ludington City Council meeting was symptomatic of what's wrong with the governing class in our fair city.  They are quick to deny responsibility, quick to propose and pass resolutions and ordinances, quick to solve perceived problems without regard to facts or listening to the people they are supposed to be representing.  I brought up five issues, could have easily brought up more, and another citizen argued around five more regarding his Ludington business and livelihood.  That person, a charter boat fisherman, named Richard Laaksonen, operating a family business out at Abrahamson's Marina within the rules since 1975, came to the meeting allegedly to take notes. 

But after hearing me take the council to task, he stood up and gave a great speech, which really highlighted a very real problem in Ludington, which is best personified by how the City is treating the charter boat issue, the dredging of the PM Bayou, and the Washington Bridge reconstruction problems.  These are all centered in one area of Ludington, an area of Ludington mostly held in contempt by a city who view these private marinas as competitors in the business of retaining watercraft in their borders and running charter boats. 

One could say, the City of Ludington's interests lie within the success of their marina, and the failure of these private marinas, that predate the City's effort.  The City marina was totally paid by taxpayer money, totally exempt from taxes, and totally capable of getting state funding for any improvement they may want (i.e. dredging, new docks, transient slips, bathrooms, fish cleaning stations, etc.).  The City Marina came in a while after these marinas showed that it was profitable to do so in Ludington.  Is this fair competition?   

Captain Laaksonen stood loyal to his  port of call while some of his fellow charter boat captains defected to the greener pastures of the taxpayer-funded amenities of the City Marina without proper authorization required by lawful agreements.  His courageous comments follow immediately after the video of that meeting, followed by his end-of-the-meeting comments, my opening salvo, and the end result of the night.  

 

 

(7:00 into video) "I didn't come here actually to speak, I didn't know we were allowed to.  I'm not very well informed, I am a fisherman.  I own some charter boats here in Ludington, operating out of Abrahamson's Marina.  As you know, there has been a bridge that has been in the process of being built there for quite some time.  At last years meeting that I didn't show up to.  (Interrupted by mayor for name and address)  My name is Richard Laaksonen, 279 North Jebavy.  I came here to take notes, I did not come here to speak, but since I have an opportunity to speak, I will. 

At the time of last years meeting, I believe this was the last meeting you had concerning the bridge, we were told that the bridge would be finished in the third week of July.  Now, I operate four charter boats; it is the only business that I operate.  I operate out of Abrahamson's Marina just across from Ray's Marina and the only access we have is exactly from Washington Street close to the bridge.  Our busy time goes from the fourth week of July-- the tourism season-- that ends on Labor Day.  So there' about six weeks where we make a living.

At the time, I was not concerned, because if it was the third week in July and the project is finished there is no problem-- at least to my business, I'm not sure about other people's business.  But since I own-- not own but occupy-- the first four slips closest to the bridge, we are definitely the most at-risk charter boat services there.  They have large cranes in there, moving large objects, a lot of noise, that you may know, or not know, is down there.  They drove forty-four pilings, forty-some feet into very hard ground.  There were days when it was absolutely unbearable to be there.  I did have a meeting with Mr. Shay and some other construction workers during the middle of August regarding this issue and they basically said it wasn't their fault, the State held everything up and we are where we're at. 

I went down there today to take a boat out of the water as our business is concluded for the most part, and my boats... I was always assured I would have access to my boats and to my business.  I can tell you as of today there was no access to my boats and my business, nor was I notified that there would be no entry or access to my business.  Or was I notified that my water was shut off.  So this time of year we pull boats, take them back to our marina, and we power wash them and that is how we store them and winterize them-- with water. 

 

 

So, a business owner, paying taxes, goes to operate his business to find out, number one, that he cannot get to his business, and if he did get to his business, he does not have water to use, to do the necessary things in ordinary life, to put a boat to 'sleep', winterizing it for the season.  No one called any marina operator, no one called me, and I expressed my concern to John (Shay) at our first meeting that this-- we only get a small shot at this, this is a tourism town. 

Without the fishing business on our end, I don't make a living.  I've been operating a business, a family business since 1975 from Ludington Michigan, okay.  I have never had a year when, since we started with one boat here, maybe ten trips in the first year of 1975, I run well over hundreds of trips each year, owning four boats in just a month and a half. 

And this is the first year ever, that I did not pick up one walk-on charter.  Now if you're not familiar with what a walk-on charter is, it's a person who comes and drives by your boat and ask you how the fishing is, what are your rates, and whether you have any availability.

The reason is because we have all these red and orange signs saying bridge closed, do not enter, go this way.  We did partially resolve this problem when I had a meeting with Mr. Shay and some other people he brought with him (Chime) (Mayor tells him to sum up, as five minutes has passed, he tries t conclude).  

The problem is that I did not have warning.  If this happened at the City Marina, everyone would have had a warning... OK I did not know we had a time issue, is there a time on each issue?   (Mayor explains further)  My public comment would then be this, there are forty-five listed charter boats in the Ludington Area Charter Boat Association.  You're saying that it is to be brought to eight.  If you went to the placard and I took a picture of it, I know of 15 (charter) boats that operate out of the City Marina, so your number, I don't know where you got it from, um, might be, not correct."

 

City Manager John Shay lie about the numbers of boats?  Well, Mayor-candidate Wally Taranko of the Municipal Marina Board could have chimed in and corrected the Captain or the City Manager, but remained silent, he could have set me straight about the legality of the charter boats at the city's marina, but his silence, and everyone else's, should speak volumes of their guilt. 

If I was on that City Council, the guilt of doing all these unethical, illogical, and illegal actions each meeting would weigh heavy on me like an anchor.  How can these people operate this way without any shred of conscience?  Their demeanor over their actions they offer, often without justification, should indicate how far from a responsible, accountable government Ludington actually has.  Here was my statement, which came in under five minutes, footnoted with links to the problem from this website, many will be expanded further:

 

"I'm Tom Rotta, 137 E Dowland Street

 

Again, I come before this panel with a variety of issues over what is being achieved and what is being contemplated in their actions in which I believe are inappropriate, unethical and/or just plain illegal. 

 

Issue 1, The City council voted to buy 808 East Danaher on July 22.  They stated publicly in their resolution that the only reason they did so was to demolish the property and to sell half of it to the neighbor, who would help in the costs of demolition.  The property was foreclosed, and by law the City had the right to buy it at minimal cost as long as they did so for a public purpose.  Making deals with the neighbors to get rid of half of it at a profit, and demolishing a residential house with no stated public purpose is against the law.  Without any credible public purpose, the City needs to forfeit their deed and allow this property to go to public auction, or face punitive measures for abusing their privilege and power.  This issue is currently being reviewed by the County Prosecutor, and if not remedied, will go to the Attorney General's office.  http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/public-purpose-and-ci...

 

Issue 2, the City Council is set to pass two resolutions for special liquor licenses at today's meeting, after passing one 'contingent' on approval of clerics within 500 feet of the event.  Last meeting's contingent permit, allowed the Oktoberfest beer tent to set up directly in front of the People's Church's front door without first asking their permission.  Fortunately, they have moved the event and now have permission from two of the three churches within 500 ft of the new venue.  But for New Year's Eve, the DLB must get permission from at least 5 clerics and I think it would be a good policy for this council to adopt a protocol to get their approval first before your approval.  http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/aaughtoberfest

 

Issue 3, in 1979 when state and federal funds were used exclusively in the creation of the Ludington City Marina, the agreement our City signed said:  "it is further agreed that commercial vessels of any type, including but not limited to charter fishing vessels, shall not be permitted to regularly use any of the said facilities without first securing the approval in writing of both the City and the DNR."  Over thirty years, the city marina has been in violation of that agreement, as none of the charter boats in the marina now or in the past have had such written permission approved by both entities.  It's beyond time to atone for such negligence.  http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/coldnews-is-cold-on-t...

 

Issue 4, the City proposes to close Planck and Slagle Avenues between October to April of each year to "prevent significant damage to pipes, signposts and grass".   These streets were paved in 2011 by the regular taxpayers of this city, to enhance the accessibility to this park, and now the City wants to close them to the citizens for over half of the year?  I don't recall these streets being paved so just campers could use them.  Remove the existing blockades, and keep the streets open fully, unlike they are now.   http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/ludington-council-to-...

 

Issue 5, the City proposes to assign a new FOIA Coordinator, a move which I believe is long overdue, and a move to blunt the impact of the decision that may come from the Michigan Court of Appeals on October 3, when they make a decision on our FOIA appeal wherein the current FOIA Coordinator committed perjury in court documents, and withheld information unlawfully.  The proper assignment of FOIA Coordinator should be the clerk's office, which is directly accountable to the people, assigning it to one of our seven city attorneys will only spell trouble for those who use the FOIA to find out exactly what our City is doing.  The City Clerk has done an excellent job in her capacity of getting out information in her tenure.   http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/john-shay-ludington-c...

 

Thanks for your time, I hope this body can set the record straight."

 

Of course, the body didn't set the record straight.  They said issue 1 was legal because the County said it was (at about 46:30 in).  For issue 2, they ignored the third church reference, and passed the New Year's Eve permit without any clerics signing officially on, effectively doing things backwards.  And they basically ignored all of the latter caveats in passing two resolutions and an appointment hastily after exposing the general public to them incompletely in Saturday's COLDNews paper.  Oh, they had fun lambasting the main consumer of FOIA requests (30:00 in).  Captain Laaksonen got some words in later, when the City Manager just rolled out too many uncontested fables: 

 

Laaksonen (47:00 in):  "I do not believe it is fair that a man can be up there and get the last word in on something he knows nothing about..."  And then cleared the air on Shay's characterization of fishermen at Abrahamson's swearing at the construction workers the previous week (at 45:00 in) among other hearsay allegations he is well-known for doing at the end of meetings.

 

Shay can say almost anything he wants at the end of the meeting with little regard for the truth, because he knows the public, the media, and even his complicit city council employers will not be able to offer any challenge to them.  Why would they?  He has been granted by this council the power to banish anybody in Ludington from any public facility, and has shown a willingness to use that power capriciously.  A camera is pointed at a urinal?  Shay tells us it isn't, and almost everyone believes it even when their senses indicate otherwise.  Hidden camera in the vents pointed towards the stalls?  It's there to protect against vandalism in the common areas of the bathroom. 

This is how business is done by City Hall; Captain Richard Laaksonen, don't even try to make sense of it, just try to fight it so we can rid the area of it. 

[XLFD]

You would be referring to this thread:  http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/foia-deposit-turned-d...

With what they have been trying to charge me for lately, I'm glad they turned it down.  You would think that if you had multiple private businesses (like a charter boat skipper) operating out of your public facility (the Ludington City Marina), you would have an easily accessible record or even just a list of your own permits for them to do so.  Particularly when they are required by laws and agreements with the State.  Sadly, they don't believe any exist, but are happy to charge me for several hours of searching for one. 

The City Council claims their operations are run like a business, but they don't tell you it's monkey business.