Wally Sidesteps on Sidewalks

[XLFD]

Noticeably absent from this last Monday's Ludington City Council meeting was Second Ward Councilor  and current Mayor candidate Wally Taranko.  The other candidate Ryan Cox was noticeably present, but did not offer anything.  Wally may have made some sort of health issue or had some other commitment more important, but he did avoid having to vote on forcing the property owner of 501 N. Rath to fix and pay the lion's share their sidewalks. 

He also avoided the closed session where the McAdam's lawsuit was being discussed, perhaps a sore issue with him since the police force back in his time didn't regularly get into police brutality and civil rights violation problems that require federal oversight.  And of course that guy from Dowland Street would get up and bad-mouth the bad cops in his five minutes and other things his City Hall is failing in, makes for another good reason to stay home.

Ryan Cox seems to mirror Wally Taranko on just about everything, it's hard to find a real difference except for their backgrounds, age, and experience.  None of these facets seem to make them differ on just about every topic, with the exception of one.  Sidewalks.  Cox has said he is not impressed with the City's efforts in sidewalks, particularly near his bailiwick, the schools.  He stated this in the primaries and Cox said in an interview in the COLDNews 10-19-2013  : 

"Most of the talk about the sidewalks is about the city potentially paying more than 50 percent for sidewalk replacement projects or providing options for contractors under the city’s current 50/50 split.  Some people want to find their own contractors, they want options and to price them out.”

 

Taranko given equal time did not mention the sidewalks but basically mimicked his advertisement in the COLDNews earlier that week: 

 

 

"Controlling" property tax is politispeak for raising taxes, which is the only thing he has done in his four years of councilling.  Those truth in taxation hearings during the summer and the fee-raising votes in the winter are all part of the public record.  The rest is similar pablum with no substance, but the "preserving our small town safety" is rather ludicrous when you look at the various problems we have had with our 'public safety officers' of late.  I invite Wally Taranko to point to a vote or policy he has helped pass as Councilor where he preserved our small town safety, because I cannot readily find evidence thereof. 

 

But we need to go no farther than Wally Taranko's front yard to see how he preserves safety in his own neighborhood.   Wally's house was built in 1992 back when a former city councilor, and current Downtown Ludington Boarder and ice cream magnate Barry "Barrack" Neal developed the property in the ritzy Forest Hills District of Ludington (where the mayor and city manager also currently occupy).  This can be seen at the City Assessor pages, included is an older picture of the house in their files.  So please, Wally, don't copy John Shay and say I take intrusive pictures of your house; our own city officials do a fine job of doing just that:

 

But the picture has its limitations.  It looks like the front has no sidewalks but it and the overhead Google view cannot conclusively make the case.  So I walked in an area of the town where I have been harassed a couple of times by the current first lady of Ludington to take a picture of the right-of-way in front of our potential-future mayor.  Here is the result with the noticeable absence of any sidewalk in the red outlined area in front of Wally's house (his garage is at the far left). 

One could say that you can see other houses in the neighborhood without sidewalks too, and that's true, but Barry Neal, when he developed this lot, decided that landscaping was more important than a sidewalk, and did not extend the existing sidewalk to the north in front of his house for favor of some trees and decorative mounds:

 

 

Preserving natural scenery over preserving public safety seems to have been Mr. Neal's objective, and even though the City of Ludington's sidewalk  law (below) does not leave wiggle room, the former Building Inspectors and the next property purchaser, Wally Taranko, kept that natural beauty from being usurped by pedestrian safety.

 

So just like City Councilor Holman, who also took out petitions for mayor this year, Councilor Taranko has a sidewalk problem at his home in contradiction to the law.  Will Ryan Cox help Citizen Taranko get a sidewalk contractor to make him finally get in compliance with the law if he wins as mayor?  Probably not, but at least Cox has a sidewalk in front of his house, and is able to offer a solution to the widespread 'walkability' problem of our city.

[AQUAMAN]

TCV = true cash value at $174K? Hmmm, wonder what the purchase price was? And/or the original price after completion? Sure looks very tame and low in value to me. I see many neighbors across the street have sidewalks, and also Wally's neighbors to north and south. Wonder why he's inexplicably escaped the requirement? Unless of course he's grandfathered by the ordinance being law after his purchase? Wondering.......preserving small town safety really isn't in the pictures here at all imho. I think it's also of very notable importance that with the election so close on the calendar, that Wally doesn't seem to want to partake in the CC Mtgs. where important issues are on the agenda. Looks like he's "dodging" the duties of city councilor, so, what can we expect as Mayor? Strong leadership isn't his suit imho, just following from behind and taking orders like a sheeple again. That's NOT a good thing right now, and into the uncertain future these days.

[AQUAMAN]

I just visited Wally Taranko's webpage and don't see anything there that really stands out as qualifications for the Mayors office. All the professional achievements are centered around law enforcement, not business acumen, not planning, not vision, not lowering taxes, not preserving natural beauty like the sand dune/beach at the west end proposal he's in favor of, not reinstating life guards nor building a sidewalk for safety around his own home, and a WSCC degree, not even a bachelors/masters degree either. Add to that the fact that he states he wants to continue with the same policies and work as Mayor Henderson, tends to lead me to believe he feels everything now is just dandy, and there is no need for any real changes. If the public truly wants a change for progress, then they can't honestly vote for the man on this webpage without asking for more declines in prosperity and iron fist rulings on the council.

[XLFD]

s. todd, Ryan Cox is also firmly rooted in the LPD; his wife is on the force and he serves as a reserve officer.  If you're looking for objectivity when it comes to the LPD you'll have to look back to the primaries with Guitarzan Dave Kosla, whose brush with the LPD motivated him to run for mayor. 

Pistol Pete Engblade also was well-established on the force, but he rightly felt in the past that Barnett is the wrong person for the job as LPD's chief. 

As for degrees, even though I hold an advanced degree, I wouldn't hold Taranko's lack of a college degree against him for the mayor's position unless Ludington drops the city manager system for a mayor-council form of government.  There just isn't a lot of heavy lifting mentally when you have the limited powers our mayor has of appointments, tie-breaking votes, and ceremonies.

[XLFD]

As noted in the Holman expose, the law mandating sidewalks has been in the books since at least 1984, and so this lot had a house built on it in 1992 without any sidewalks being installed within a year or 21 years.  Wally's site is all meaningless tripe, he may as well put "I (heart) Ludington" all across every page because it'll have the same amount of substance. 

When John Henderson ran the first time, at least he stood for something (though most 'somethings' have never materialized), this guy, however, is about as immaterial as Casper.

[Willy]

Good find X. You have clearly demonstrated what is wrong with the current leadership in Ludington. There is an overwhelming number of City officials who do not think their decisions and the ordinances apply to them. These people have a "mini ruler" complex. Being in a position of power makes them feel important. I wish there was at least one of them who wants to represent the people instead of their own self interest.

[XLFD]

I have only seen an inkling of representing the people's interests since I've been attending the meetings.  The best I've seen is voting down the Historical District, and their stated motives for doing so were because a majority of those affected were against it.  The denial was classic Ludington dichotomized politics:  Both Councilor Rathsack and Holman complained about community apathy before voting against it, then Mayor Henderson "commended all for coming forward and commenting on this proposal. All of the comments and work are valued. This is a great reflection on how government should work. He commended all for an active community that engaged to come together to try to make a better community."  John Henderson can take both sides of an issue and mangle them both.

They could have saved tens of thousands of dollars, other public resources, and a lot of people's times by checking that out in the first place, but I won't be surprised if they try to repackage and remarket the concept again.