Invasive Parking Workshop

[XLFD]

Introduction

Back in the summer of 2020, Harbor View Marina (HVM) was experiencing its first year as a public marina (owned by the state, leased by the City of Ludington (COL)) after two decades of being a public-private partnership.  The formerly private swimming pool and Harbormaster's Clubhouse were now fully public facilities, so I, as a member of the taxpaying public in Ludington, saw no issue in using the facilities at the rate afforded to everyone else:  free.  

After alerting others to the new public pool and airing that I would be going there again the next week, I was confronted by Marina Manager Jim Christensen and his assistant, former LPD cop Tony Kuster when I did, and was urged to get out of the pool and off the property. 

I called 911 to tell them how my 14th Amendment rights were being infringed; the Equal Protection Clause of that amendment has been violated when a state grants a particular class of individuals the right to engage in an activity yet denies other individuals the same right.  The marina manager and the COL created three classes of individuals:  slip holders who could use the pool and clubhouse freely, Harbor Front Condo owners who also had free access at a fee of $1000/month, and the general public who could not use it at any price even though they pay state and local taxes that maintain the HVM.  

Christensen laid down the rules that day and it was recorded after the LPD showed up and-Captain Steve Wietrzykowski drafted a police report.  I was officially "trespassed" from the supposedly-public pool and clubhouse and it was made clear that the "pool and clubhouse are only available to registered and paid boat slip (holders and their) guests".  This also violated the COL's lease agreement with the state, clause 24, which stated they must have this marina open to the general public, no exceptions. 

Since then, the city council has held special meetings there on January 7, 2021 and June 12, 2024, meetings where I could be charged with a misdemeanor for trespassing just for showing up, and where other members of the public (including councilors) should have been ushered out, if the marina rules were consistently enforced.  Intentionally restricting someone from a public meeting is a willful violation of the Open Meetings Act. 

Additionally, we saw that even though signs are conspicuously posted at both parking lot entrances to the HVM declaring all vehicles without permits will be towed, officials and members of the public at the meetings were given a pass, even after some conscientious individual called the police in to make some easy parking fine money.

You don't generally see a lot of vehicles parked in the HVM this early in the season, but there were 27 motor vehicles in the lot shortly after 6 PM today.  The south entrance has a sentry sign, warning folks that parking in the lot without a permit will invite their vehicle to be towed, as seen above.  And yet only one of the vehicles had a HVM permit.  

Invasion of the Civil Rights Snatchers

I was in the area because I was interested in attending the Invasive Species Workshop noticed above in various venues, but crestfallen that I could not because the COL would charge me with criminal trespassing just for being in the clubhouse.  If you don't believe they would do that for a supposedly-public facility, you must not have heard about them charging and prosecuting me with trespassing for walking down a public pathway in Cartier Park in the middle of the day on March 15, 2024, just like dozens of other people that day who weren't charged with a crime.  City officials and the LPD erroneously thought that they could enforce such an unconstitutional act as that, or maybe they just lack any type of reasonable conscience and are willing to have that be their legacy after the lawsuits start flying.

Looking from the north entrance, we see the same conspicuous sign ignored by everyone this day.  Both sides of the adjacent Rath Street have no restrictions on vehicle parking, but none of the drivers of the 26 unpermitted vehicles took that option and instead parked within a restricted lot, where the threat of towing was right there in capital red letters on the two traffic control devices.  

It was my civic duty to let the police know about this opportunity to write up to 26 parking tickets and impound that many vehicles for the scofflaw infractions of the meeting's attendees.  Alas, after I contacted 911 on their non-emergency line and told them of the complete breakdown of parking protocols at the private-wannabe marina.  I made face-to-face contact with Sergeant Gilmurray and found that he was not likely to do enforcement actions, unless directed to do so by Manager Christensen.  

And that's fine with me.  It shows that the city's policy is to treat the HVM Clubhouse as a public facility when it suits them (and private the rest of the time), and it's a great option to keep people mindful of the manager's unconstitutional mandate against the public's use of the clubhouse out of such meetings.  Equal protection under the law is a foreign concept to city officials, who believe it is fair and just to prosecute certain individuals stepping foot on public property and welcome all others as long as they conform and kneel to the iniquity that has corrupted our city government.