The Mystery of the Pigweed Predicament

[XLFD]

I had originally prepped my camera for a brief photo essay on the City of Ludington being a bit neglectful of minding their lawn on the property of 428 E Dowland, a property they acquired in November of 2007 with the intention of making this four lot property the next Ludington Fire Station.  As I went there with my camera and my ruler, I started taking pictures with my 12 inch ruler showing that the pigweeds, that had somehow inundated themselves on Dowland following the streetwork done there this summer, were quite a bit taller than weeds are supposed to be until the City of Ludington considers a nuisance, whuch happens to be 10".  The city may serve written notice that the condition shall be abate...

As the City of Ludington's code enforcement team love to serve these on the people of Ludington (amazingly, I have been spared this indignity) I figured they could use a dose of their own medicine.  These lazy deadbeats let their pigweeds grow over two feet (that's over 24" for those who work at City Hall).  Here's some of the stuff in the right-of-way:

Tall Weed    Tall Weeds    One Really Big Weed

But then I noticed that the lot had a lot more bigger weeds in its interior, partially blocked by some sumac bushes, earth mounds, and vines.  Right near the "For Sale" sign the goldenrod is as big as the pigweed, and other weeds surpass the four feet mark (48"+  for those who work at 400 S. Harrison)

More Gigantic Internal Weeds     Even more Megaweeds

But it was when I took this picture of an oversized pigweed field further in this lot that something dawned on me.

Almost the whole lot in back of the sumacs and mounds was completely denuded of vegetation, as if someone had come and took out the topsoil of this lot and took it somewhere recently.  And it was rather recent, because the pictures of the lot in the realtors guide shows a regular lawn just earlier this year:

Which then turned into this:

And the sleuth in me said, 1) missing topsoil at 428 E Dowland  2) pigweed is prevalent on that lot  3)  a bit of topsoil was used in front of many E Dowland properties (like where I live) that lost sections of sidewalk or had some soil removed.  4)  pigweed is growing in front of all those properties.

I could be wrong without further proof either way, but I have to presume that the new topsoil in front of our houses/businesses on Dowland has been transplanted from this property, 428 E Dowland.  Usually, that shouldn't be a problem, but the history of this property was that it used to belong to Padnos and Brody and used as a place where scrap metal was salvaged (metal with various chemicals/paints on them), was considered as a Brownfield property in 2005, had an underground 500 gallon diesel tank until recent, and went directly from these private hands to public hands.   DEED 428 E Dowland.pdf    428 E Dowland (Future Fire Station) description

Were the environmental factors mitigated?  Is the possibly tainted soil from that lot replacing the topsoil of several Dowland properties going to present a hazard to the people who live at those properties?   If any of the people who worked at City Hall lived on Dowland Street, would they be happy with getting a bunch of soil definitely filled with pigweed seeds and possibly contaminated with metal residue, hydrocarbon residues, lead paints, and various other hazardous materials dumped in their front yard?

[Willy]

Eye

I know what it says. Your the one challenging how FIOA laws are applied on this forum by using a link that is not applicable. If you want to back up your opinions with facts then post relevant information. And that tells me something about you.

[Eye On Ludington]

Willy, If you really knew what it says then you would know that I am right. The $26 fee is legal and justifiable. But Tom would rather put 150 miles on his vehicle and spend 3 hours driving and another 3 hours sifting through paperwork just to get the same information he could have got locally for a legal $26 fee. What is the current tax deduction per mile for a legal write off on your vehicle Willy? I think it is currently about 60 cents per mile that the IRS allows, and I also think that is lower than the actual true cost. So XLFD basically paid well over $82 in expenses for something he could have got a lot cheaper here if he wasn't so dead-set stubborn to fight the local FOIA coordinator. And he probably still doesn't know where the dirt came from. LOL

[XLFD]

Thanks, Judge Cooper!  Or are you just related to him, LOL? 

Wait and see who wins big, EyE, in the Appeal's Court for my first FOIA case, before you claim my second is DOA.

[Eye On Ludington]

You are going to lose your lawsuit XLFD. That is, unless the city settles in order to save the Ludington taxpayers unnecessary litigation costs. Maybe you are Banking on that happening?

[XLFD]

The City settling in order to save the Ludington taxpayers unnecessary litigation costs??!!  LOL, take a look at how much they spent on attorney fees under special project rate of $185/hr. trying to block the release of the information that I only got because I filed the lawsuit in the first place.  But they will claim attorney-client privilege if they treat you like they do me. 

I never would have seen the records that show totally illegal behavior between the City and Nick Tykoski's company.  Maybe, we will see some people who think they have won, tally one up in the loser column soon.  Justice, I am finding, takes time and patience.  There is plenty to tackle in an appeal, but the judgment still hasn't reached me in four weeks, so I and justice continue to wait, wait, wait... 

[XLFD]

Went to Cadillac and had a nice time up there before and after a couple hours of research and scanning a bunch of documents at the MI DEQ (free of charge, as it should be).  The colors of fall are primo up there now. 

Very enlightening as to the problem, and very enlightening as to why John Shay was trying to keep what he had from my grubby fingers.  His willingness to change FOIA policy to try and do so should make his complicity more evident.  More to come, as my buddy EyE promises.

[Willy]

X, don't tell us that they copied 6,000 pages that you had to pay for then contacted the Attorney General to see if it was OK for you to view them and then they banned you from entering any State building. That would be the normal reaction in Ludington so it must be the case everywhere. Or did you find out how freedom of information really works outside of the black hole called Ludington Government.

[XLFD]

No, Willy, I looked at about 500 original documents in three folders and a CD already gathered together prior, and left me alone to my devices in a nice conference room, giving me 3 hours to do my reviews and scans.  We met with a very cordial FOIA Coordinator, Sarah Warner, who welcomed further usage.  All for no charge. 

How do they make money doing that, EyE?

[Eye On Ludington]

Willy, I can almost guarantee that Cadillac would not be pleased with XLFD if they received several dozen FOIA requests each year just so XLFD might find something he could use to incessantly badmouth them all the time.

btw (means By The Way):  Enjoy your gloating.

[Willy]

Eye

You are guaranteeing how someone else will respnd to FOIA requests? Either your a mind-reader or you think all Government agencies  act as vindictive and irresponsibly as Ludington's officials. Here's a Torch quiz question that I'm curious to see if you can answer correctly.  "why is X filing FIOA requests?" It's a simple question who's answer has been given many times on this forum so I'm curious to see if your skills as a mind reader can locate the answer, which I am looking forward to reading.

[Eye On Ludington]

Willy, I deliberately said I can "almost" guarantee. Did you miss that too?

[Willy]

Eye

I get it. It's like saying someone is almost pregnant. And for the third time I'm requesting that you post a link to the FOIA which back ups your claims and if you don't mind please answer the Torch question I put to you in my previous post. "why is X filing FIOA requests?"