Two Streets + Two Sides = Four Examples of Poor Government Policy

[XLFD]

Two streets, two blocks apart, running north-south on two sides of Ludington Avenue, running parallel not only physically but spiritually.  Here are their stories.

 

Staffon Street

 

North-  Construction on this important street was begun in May and scheduled to be finished by this last Friday  Staffon Streetwork- LDN  which was a great plan because it gave the construction company over 90 days to fix the street and be done by the beginning of school, because it would affect the routing of buses and mother's taxis, as well as kids walking and riding bikes to school from points east.  Unfortunately, they have not finished the project and school is about to start. 

And even though the City has committed to a Complete Streets Policy (a system of streets planned, designed, and constructed to provide appropriate access to all legal users in a manner that promotes safe and efficient movement of people, and goods whether by car, truck, transit, assistive device, foot or bicycle) on May 9, 2011-- before this project started-- the absence of sidewalk coverage on North Staffon (in many areas within school safety zones) and the absence of any CSP tenets in the projects genesis  Completely Bogus   show the absence of any integrity in the concept of pedestrian safety.  Here are some pics taken on Labor Day:

9-5 Enter the Work Zone- The road is still blocked for its whole length

9-5 Unfinished work- Still a lot of sidewalk work to be done.

9-5 More Unfinished Work- ''    ''          ''

9-5 Pits and Piles- Each barrel indicates a pit

9-5 Corner of Woodlawn- Note the new driveways but no sidewalks as of yet

9-5 Corner of Anderson- Franklin Elem. and the High School in the background

9-5 Corner of Mitchell- No evidence of new sidewalks here

9-5 More new driveways- Sidewalks, no.

9-5 Corner of Russell- Note the Sidewalk that circles the school grounds is blocked

 

 

South-  Surprise!  The taxpayers of Ludington will pay over $1.2 million for painting our two water towers in 2010 over the next ten years, and yet here late in 2011, they haven't even touched the Danaher tower which is on the corner of South Staffon.  Can you guess how much we have already paid for the Danaher painting without having it done?

9-5-2011 Staffon/Danaher Water Tower Pic 

And yet, when I interviewed for the City Council job in April and brought up the ungodly amount of money we spent on painting these towers prematurely without competitive bidding  (see Watertowergate records)   John Shay said it offered the City the opportunity to get these towers painted without a big blip on the budget, and that the Company said it would be painting these towers at the end of their ten year contract as well. 

9-5-2011 S/D Watertower Pic 2 

The contract says nothing of the sort, just gave a range of years when the water towers may need repainting, and each of those ranges had values that fell outside the contract.  The contracts started on January 1, 2010 and ended on December 31, 2019-- ten years.  If the Gaylord tower painted last summer, was painted again in ten years, which it really won't need if it was painted right, then that would fall outside the contract as ten years would be in 2020.  This would require another oversized contract if this company still exists then.

 

Washington

 

North- The house that I was issued a Letter of Trespass for, when I hadn't even stepped foot on the property still has some zoning violations that need addressing  Mystery House.  When Nick Tykoski, candidate for Fifth Ward Councilor, put up a privacy fence right along the sidewalk line, he was in clear violation of Ludington Zoning Law. 

201 N Washington Privacy Fence not in line with House

This spring I sent a letter to City Hall informing them of this violation, and never received a reply.  I also added that I was interested in how he got around 200 ft. of vinyl privacy fencing for $100 as stated in his form, and a few other factors overlooked by the permit and its issuee Carol Ann Foote.

 

The 6' high hedges in front dangerously obstruct the view up North Washington, and are in violation of the zoning law as well, and a big safety hazard on a walking route to school.   This is the view you would have behind the stop line looking up north on Washington.

 

 

 

South- The owner of 109 S. Washington St. recently had a problem with the City wanting to have him use unlicensed contractors to put in his sidewalk as part of the City's sidewalk replacement program.   That was detailed in  Go West.   He went ahead and got a licensed contractor to do the work to avoid the potential pitfalls that an unlicensed contractor would have and got his sidewalk replaced.

   

The additional problem of having the owner of that unlicensed contracting company, Kevin Spuller, being a City of Ludington official, (as a member of the Parks Advisory Board at the time this city contract was made) get the City's contract to do all sidewalk replacement in 2009 in Ludington without noting that in the public record is another ethical and legal blunder that has both the City and Mr. Spuller look bad.

 

Thus we have contractors missing important deadlines set by the City, Complete Street Policy being ignored by the City, contractors not following their $1.2 million multi-year contracts with the City, contract provisions being misrepresented by the City Manager, zoning law being ignored for City employees, safety issues resulting from city employees ignoring zoning laws, City hiring unlicensed contractors for sidewalk work, City not paying their share for work they have mandated, and City handing out contracts to City officials without noting this in the public record.

Is this really how we want our City Government doing things in our little paradise of Ludington?    

[Willy]

Good job X. The fence at 201 N. Washington is not even on the owners property. Most city lots lines are located several feet inside the sidewalk. That would make it a publicly owned fence.

[XLFD]

You are correct about that, Willie, that fencing near the sidewalk is publicly owned.  And some may say there's a fair chance of it being a fence paid for by the public as well... 

Not me though; if this was a fence brought with public funds it wouldn't have just cost $100, more like $40,000, LOL.

[Marty Redman]

XLFD, You must have done a misprint.  You don't spend $1,200,000 on painting two water towers. 

 

Maybe installing two new water towers, but $1,200,000 is an outrageous price.  They are painting the tower in Onaway this year, inside and out for around $135,000 using some Detroit Company I think.  Double that, and add a million in graft to your City Mismanager and his allies.  What a scam! 

 

Here is the Cheboygan paper on that Onaway tower painting job, I hope you can get it to link for you

http://www.cheboygannews.com/topstories/x386662617/Water-tower-to-g...

[XLFD]

Onaway actually went out and had competitive bids on their project and will get their tower painted for $132,500.

Scottville had their one tower painted last year for under $50,000 local funds(+ about $150,000 in grant money).

Ludington got their two water towers painted inside and out in the year 2000 for under $200,000 which also included some repairs on the Danaher (Staffon) Tower.

Ludington got one water tower painted inside and out last year, should have had the other painted (on the outside only) last year and will be paying over $1.2 Million over the next ten years to a company that is not honoring its contract that it got without any competitive bidding.  Worse, even though most water tower paint jobs in the midwest can last 20-30 years without no ill effect, we are likely slated to keep this company when John Shay plans to once again paint the water towers around 2020.  Provided Shay or the company is still around then.

If you are a Ludington resident or property owner, I can't see how you can see those facts without it frosting your goat.

[XLFD]

Here it is ten days after the scheduled completion date for North Staffon Street.  Much of this Street is within both School Safety Zones and a hospital zone.  Kids walking or cycling to and from school from the east either have to go around it on dangerous Ludington Avenue or a more travelled Tinkham Avenue (where they may have to walk in the road), or travel through a work zone in progress.   Unfortunately, the latter is a lot more likely.  But nobody in the City or local news outlets seem to really care.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Well I certainly hope the city had the foresight to have penalty's in the contract for failure to complete the project on time, on a per day basis (with exclusions of course for acts of nature).

[XLFD]

I think they have done so in the past a few years ago, when a company doing work on South Madison went past date.  There were some complications that had happened that were part of the public record, though, and the company had some bad things to say about City management afterwards,if I remember correctly.

I travel through that area regularly, and they would often have skeleton crews (if any) during the over three months they were working on this stretch of road (about 7 blocks).  I think the company's assets were working on other projects during the time, but that's just a belief. 

It seems like they have more working lately, and I wouldn't be surprised about such a penalty, but I'm still a bit upset about them still blocking sidewalks and roads that are adjacent to school property.  Kids are walking through active work zones.  Active work zones are on school property.  Where's the public outrage, other than here?