The Ludington Citizens for a Better Ludington Manifesto

[XLFD]

Just after the last city council meeting I authored an article dealing with what I had uncovered about the developers slated to rework the bowling alley block into senior and lower income housing, in Proposed Bowling Alley Block Developer Had AA Problems.  Independently from my research, somebody else claiming to be part of a group zipped an e-mail to multiple city officials and multiple City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) editors/reporters just before that meeting which prompted the COLDNews to include their summary of it in the next day's paper (seen here).

I explained that I would present that e-mail's contents once I got it through a FOIA request and this article will do just that.  It should be noted that in the ten day period since the e-mail, there hasn't been any other appearance I've noticed of this group, which better get motivated and mobilized before this next city council meeting if they want to make their point about this development. 

On the initial reading, it puts forth several points that seem to follow the numbers and particulars of the project.  It closely reflects my previous research on Payments In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) programs and other pro-development programs often offered from local governments to promote development for the now, while undermining the future.  Ironically, the more successful a project is with a long term PILOT program in place, the more it is detrimental to the health of the community.  They touch upon this in their 'manifesto', I provide a short primer video immediately after to help.

The body of the e-mail introduced their main argument found in an attached file.  The sender seems to have a sense of humor because the e-mail is from a person named Heather Ludington with an address of loveludington49431. 

From: Heather ludington [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2016 3:25 PM
To: [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; John Shay; Heather Tykoski; Dick Rathsack; Kaye Holman; Ryan Cox; Kathy Winczewski; Les Johnson; Mike Krauch.; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]
Subject: Stealing the best block in downtown Ludington from Mason County community Foundation to L.C. Company for low income apt's??

 

To all whom this concerns, 

 

A group of concerned Ludington Citizens see this as the best block in downtownLudington that was entrusted to the Mason County Community Foundation.  For the Mason County Community Foundation to give this to L.C. companies for low income housing for the next 50 years  is a disgrace for us, the local Mason County residents and our next generation.  Our current leaders can do way better then this.  We have just started seeing our economy come back with help wanted signs only in the last year.  We hope our area leaders will play a more active role in getting the community together to discuss what would be best for this block that was given to our local residents for a huge tax write off for the givers.  While our local bank leaders don't support lets concentrate on  raising the living standard and wages of our area and not create a project that only those making less then 18,000 dollars can use.  Lets not give up valuable downtown parking, lets create a project that will be a WOW for those coming to Ludington.

 

We have attached some basic info that we are worried will happen since it is the standard method of this out of area developer and our local bank leaders.

 

Please review and we will be setting up a social media site for the local residents in the coming days.  We are disappointed in our local news media and hope that they just have not yet been given all the information and not suppressing it.

 

Sincerely;

Ludington residents for a better Ludington

The attachment is a five page .pdf file (LC Company methods.pdf) and even though it had been drafted in haste by someone since the council packet was made available in the previous Friday afternoon, they have done a commendable job of presenting their facts using a bullet point format.   Perhaps the most interesting data in the document is their look at the PILOT program being considered for this parcel in Ludington using the numbers provided in the March 7 City Council packet (p. 69+):

Presuming the numbers are accurate, which it seems to be, Ludington will lose $16 million in property taxes over the 50 year period of the PILOT.  Good for them, you might say, but guess what?  Our city leaders will be looking for that $300,000+ (average) each year loss of tax revenue by seeking it from the rest of us through our increased taxes and fees, or reduce their level of services.  To keep up with the burden these units will have on our city's infrastructure and services, your burden will have to increase.  Basic physics that is quickly explained in this pleasant little video on PILOTs (applied to a box store) and their ugly cousin in the corrupt public-private projects known as Tax Increment Financing (TIF) .  

The basic concept is that our community may appear to be growing positively in the now, but we are sacrificing the future, and giving the developers an unfair competitive advantage against all of the area's other businesses and landlords that provide temporary or long-term lodging-- without the City giving them back more money in tax breaks (in this case, $16,000,000) than the purchase and construction of these properties by LC Companies that they will invest ($12,000,000).  If these developers succeed or fail in their project, the rest of us will be the ones who take the worst fall.  Or am I missing something?

[Willy]

When a long time resident such as X addresses the Council on important issues all he receives are yawns from the Council while they glance at their watches, but when an anonymous letter is received it's gets into the paper, which of course I'm glad about but this again shows the arrogance and petty minded people who run the City and it's local newspaper. How many important items has X approached the Council with and how many times has he been rebuked and demeaned. As far as I'm concerned the sooner these idiots on the Council are voted out the better.

By the way another excellent article X. I am very curious about who sent this email. I bet all of City Hall is buzzing about who sent the email and if they are somehow connected to X and the Torch. Another good question is why they are remaining anonymous. They seem to have a good understanding regarding TIF's and PILOT's. It's possible they don't want to receive the same negative treatment the Council regularly administered to X. An anonymous letter only shows just how gun shy concerned citizens are of personally coming forth to expose negative dealings the Council is engaged with. A bad reflection on Ludington's political stage.

[XLFD]

Let's not blame the COLDNews for ignoring or whitewashing what points I bring up at these meetings, for when they do mention me and what I say in their summation, they have no qualms about misreporting what I said and providing the city's hokey defense to boot.  It's just like this missive sent to two of their reporters and two of their editors, they don't even present the 'bullet points' or try to refute them, just suppress that which the city has no answer to.  They not only do it with me, but others who bring issues to the forefront, including the author(s) of this manifesto.

Several agencies trusted with oversight of the demolition of the old Lyon's Store fail, with thousands of asbestos tiles pulverized and released into the air in my immediate neighborhood, and those buttholes don't think it merits a mention in their rag, even when other citizens bring it up repeatedly at the city council meetings, and Councilor Krauch moves to throw any reference to the oversight out of the meeting minutes, just because the tiles makeup wasn't yet made official. 

I point out the manager lied about the city's water quality when he said there was no lead in the water, show the city' own reports that refute his words to the media, they say "who cares?"  I repeatedly tell them of the undisputed lead contamination confirmed by the DEQ in the waters that many of our citizens depend on, but all you hear are crickets from the council and no column space from the paper.

"When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny" said Thomas Jefferson.  Guess where Ludington is?  Willy is right that the people are in fear of this city hall and that's because our government has shown they have lost their way and followed the path of, for want of a better term, evil.  Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?  There is if the people regain their footing and unite against a common enemy to the people.