Silver Anniversary Gus Macker Slightly Tarnished by Public Logistics

The 2016 edition of the Gus Macker Three-on-Three Basketball tournament in Ludington was the 25th annual affair, and went off very smoothly thanks to the fine weekend weather and the cadre of seasoned volunteers.  Area media outlets were searching for new superlatives to add to all they used for the previous weekend's world record attempt, but mostly settled on recanting them.

In Rob Alway's reckoning, the House of Flavor's event last week was the big time; in his eyes what they did on June 11th, making and eating the world's longest (potentially) sundae, was real Michigan and something to be very proud of. 

I can't see that.  I see a business and city advocates investing in a marketing gimmick, and smartly doing so.  They can be proud if the attempt is found to be successful (even if it isn't), but over ninety percent of the participants were just engaged in eating a melting ice cream treat for their part in the record books.  A whimsical one-time event that brought people together for a chance of shared fame, but little more than that. 

One of the unpleasant realities of the event was that many public resources were used to put it on.  We may soon find out how much DDA funds were used for this attempt, until then you can imagine the DDA's public pocketbook could have supplied most or even all of the costs involved that people assume were paid by the House of Flavors.  But there is also all of that extra police presence, all of those city workers setting it up and tearing it down on the weekend were not non-union folks volunteering their time and efforts.  That dollar of ice cream you ate may have cost you plenty more if you are a Ludington taxpayer.

You may have noted that after the Saturday event, the tables used (supplied by the city) were put to the roadside along the downtown route and left there until Monday.  This wasn't too appealing to look at.  You may not have noticed that some of those tables and the truck that picked them up were left behind the fire station blocking the alley at the end of that Monday. 

It seemed an odd place to block an alley that firefighters will use to get to the fire station.  If there was a fire call that night and someone coming down Robert Street wanted to get to the station's parking area, they might have turned into that blind alley and had their own 'big time' emergency with a trailer full of tables.  As with this weekend's Macker Tournament, the logistic problems were not created by the private sponsor(s) but by the lack of diligence by public officers.

With that being said, the Gus Buster volunteers had much more experience this last weekend with the Macker and they put up and took down the event with no problems noted.  This year for the first time, the golf carts were Ludington street legal, so my only problems with logistical issues are two other ones I have harped on for years, but to no avail, to our so-called public safety officers.

First, the detour once again featured the dangerous intersection of Tinkham and Lakeshore Drive.  Why make a route that cuts across an area where loads of visiting pedestrians must travel on the side of the road and cross to get to where their cars are parked?  Every year I see so many close calls and impeded traffic around this area, where the lack of sidewalks and fences pushing people away from front lawns combine to make it a major hazard. 

The second problem is those fences put up by the DPW mentioned along Lakeshore and other side streets blocking off pedestrians from traveling on their right of way or the sidewalks.  Put them about ten feet off the curb (or on the other side of the sidewalk to provide the public the right to pass by. 

The main problem noticed, however, dealt with the parking at the Loomis Street Boat Launch area.   As in 2014 and last year, the entrance to that lot had a small print piece of copy paper propped at the gate with some obtuse instructions to pay $10 to park at a kiosk (that's located near the docks).  If they were able to find the kiosk, they could get a day pass and park in the lot.   But at the meeting of March 7th and later in the March 21st meeting and especially in the grant application for the West End Project, City Manager John Shay told us:

It's even more clearer in the recording of that meeting at the 24:00 mark:  

March 21, 2016 Ludington City Council from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

" For those people that go in [the Loomis Boat Launch Parking Lot] you can see there are parking passes; those only apply to vehicles that are pulling trailers.  If anyone is just driving a regular vehicle there's no fee at all to park there."

Plenty of Macker aficionados drove by the small sheet of copier paper at the entrance of the lot without seeing it or figuring out its cryptic meaning, and plenty of people without passes for parking their trailers were given $30 tickets.  I saw a long line of cars on the north end of this lot with them, I grabbed one left on the ground apparently by a disgruntled parker.  A handwritten "No Permit" is written as the offense. 

Yet our chief officer, the city manager, is on record at two meetings and in a grant application as saying that the parking is always free at the Loomis Street lot-- as long as you're not hauling a boat trailer.  No permit is required; yet even Section 66-101 of the city code seems to require one for any vehicle using that lot.   

I've seen other vehicles without trailers get the same treatment at this lot on other weekends and weekdays, so the city manager is once again deliberately lying to us and state officials over this issue.  Don't believe it?  Park there without a permit with your Yugo and you'll receive a ticket by our zealous beach police most assuredly. 

To summarize, both of these events had parts that were ran smoothly safely, and efficiently; these parts corresponded with the private and volunteer sectors of operations.  Yet they both had their problems, and each of those were contributed to the main by the public sector.  I was keeping score of the records.

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I've never been a fan of the Macker. To much traffic and to many people. We usually take trips away from the Ludington area during Macker and go visit family. I have a big problem with how pedestrians are forced to walk in the streets because of the lack of sidewalks on some streets. Some day there's going to be a fatality because of this. It's been just plain good luck that no tourists have been squashed yet.

After reading Section 66-101 I've come to the conclusion that no fees are required for vehicles not using the boat launch. The code reads "A daily vehicle parking and/or launching fee in the amount established by resolution shall be charged at the city-owned and -operated parking lot adjacent to and used in connection with the Loomis Street boat launching ramps." The reason I say this is according to the code a vehicle parked there must pay a fee if a parking space is "used in connection with the Loomis Street boat launching ramps". So unless there are sections in the code that allow a fee to be arbitrarily charged then the City was legally not allowed to charge those not using the ramp and the City certainly should not have ticketed any of those vehicles.

I agree with avoiding that entire area where the Macker is going on too. I don't agree with the Beach Patrol, substituting for the Lifeguards, as having any authority to write parking tickets. It's NOT their JOB! The LPD should be doing that, and I think a warning ticket should be issued for first offenders too. The way it plays out now, is that citizens are NOT safe at the beach swimming and going into the water at all times. And the LPD is distracted from local crimes and other traffic offenses by ushering the Mackers, that's also NOT their JOB! It's amazing how we kiss the Mackers Butts to have them basically destroy our Stearns Park experience every summer weekend for this long 25 years. I wish they would just move it over by LHS instead, and let locals and others enjoy Stearns for the few summer months we have around here. 

Agree with you AQUAMAN. It be so much nicer if Macker was at LHS, especially when the event runs during peak times of enjoying Stearns, as you stated, and the vacationing season. Who wants to spend time at our beautiful beach when there is such chaotic happening. From what i have heard in the past, Ludington establishments also have encountered some increase in crime from out of town participants in the event. Macker has been kicked out of many towns. Even the original Macker city, home town of the brothers who founded the event, booted them out due to massive expenses the city incurred, along with the mess left from participants and watchers during the event. I am unsure how Maker is operating these days, but it use to be they felt it was a town's privilege to have them there thus, putting much of the cost to operate event onto the towns. The brothers make so much money from Macker, that both had high paying jobs at Amway and in just a few short years from their first event, they quit their jobs, which shows how profitable it is when costs are consumed by the towns they're held in. It would be interesting to see expenses inccured by the COL to host the event. Also, i do wonder if Macker reimburses not only the LPD for the hours spent ushering the Macker's, but COL for all they provide for readying the area, during event itself and afterwards.

      

And a possibility they're just ignoring a code for permit parking in the marina lot....for now...  And when (preferably IF) the West End parking is gone and the city sees a way to make parking money be reinstalling the gate at the marina lot and require paid permits for all vehicles, don't be surprised.

The DNR Trust Fund Grants point system does not reward places where the public has to pay to park.  Shay and Venzke-Tykoski have swore to the MI DNR that public accessibility is free (and will be free) in that area except for people who launch boats. 

Willy has pointed out that the city code is open to two interpretations on those who don't haul boats into that lot.  I had a dilemma about how to interpret it before deciding its intent and wording allowed the ticketing of any vehicle-- plus the city's real policy of ticketing such vehicles in practice during Macker and at other times.  But then that would make John Shay a liar...

Every year and especially when the Macker renewal contract is up for review we hear the same tired justification that people will come to Ludington because of Macker, will like it here and want to move here, they will live here. 

Unfortunately the reality is a different thing.  Ludington has lost population over the last 25 years. It decreased from 8563 in 1990 to around 8050 in 2016. So the net effect of has been nothing as far as increasing the population , indeed we have lost ground.

It is not so much that the tarnish has worn off as it is the cheap silver plate has worn thin by the 25 years of Macker polishers exposing the coarse base  metal of reality.

Your last paragraph has won an award:

Anyone know why the main tent was at Stearns this year, and how come they still blocked off the West Lud. Ave. block? I also noticed recently, the end of the turnaround area has a BIG HOLE in the asphalt. Maybe Willy can take a pic and post? It's ugly, and should be fixed just for safety and responsible ownership, the City of Ludington DPW/Paving crew, let's get with it guys! 

Many side streets have just been recently marked for fixing (Loomis, Filer, etc).

Didn't notice any marks at West End.  ....huh..? (sarcasm)

Anyone have a friend at Rieth-Riley?  Maybe they'd like to donate?

While not as compelling as the Stank of 6th Street It might be a good topic for the Facebook site Concerned Citizens of Ludington.

That festering blemish in the pavement stands as a testament to the petty vindictiveness of John Shay's reign in Ludington. By God as long as Little John Shay want to stuff the WES down the throats and on the backs of the citizens because 30 years ago some committee thought it was a good idea, he will leave that ulcer at the end road.

Maybe the citizens can organize a work bee, appropriate some city sawhorses, scrounge up some hard hats, get a donation of the 10 bags or so of cold patch it would take to level up the rut, call in the out of town media and fill the thing.

Hmmm it is in the 3rd Ward too where there is a contested election for the city councilor's seat. Might make another issue in the quiver of the challenger as to how things are allowed to go to hell in that ward.

And dammit Willy where are the photos? Need something in it for scale too  like the pothole swallowing up some unsuspecting fudgie child.

Thanks for your flowery prose, shinblind, it has served as a muse for a project I hope to work on shortly.  Did you know that John Shay is out of office until July 5th?  The s--t is figuratively hitting the fan, and so he takes off for a couple of weeks in the middle of summer.  Maybe he crawled down that big hole... or maybe he is suffering from the ill effects of the WWTP or even the magnitude of ethic issues of he and his staff have finally made a way through a chink in his conscience's armor. 

Unwind and come back refreshed and ready to take on the Ludington citizens again, John. 

Another issue I noticed on the 'ice cream social' weekend was their beach bonfire, but it was a little off topic for this article.  In the early evening they had this bonfire set up at the beach, with a couple of dozen beat up wooden pallets set up in their new barrel and to its side.  Over the lifetime of those pallets, who knows what has travelled on top of them and seeped into the wood, to be released when burnt.  Poisonous chemicals, nerve agents, biological toxins, etc. into the lungs of the unwary beach goer, who, by the way, cannot have their own fire on the beach fueled by organic logs from our forests.

Rather inexplicable when the city staff  can just travel up to East Dowland and get generous bundles of eastern Mason County wood for only $2.00 each.  Shows you they don't care about safety or value, and (of course) for their own beach rules.  They figure to fire up some more broken-down wood pallets again tonight at dusk.  If you want to experience the intimate thrill of a firepit this evening, clean up the one in your backyard and come get some dry firewood.  We offer self-service!

There's no doubt the City is making an effort to transform the west end of Ludington ave and make it look as crappy as they can. Below is the deteriorated pavement Aquaman mentioned and below that is the storm drain. The storm drain has never looked this bad. I understand the need for stones to control the erosion of sand but to just dump it there haphazardly and create a tripping hazard is irresponsible. The City could have made it more visually appealing. An effort to create an illusion of blight is definitely at play here.

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