Thanks DPW, same CRAP, different YEAR!

[AQUAMAN]

Anyone whom hasn't been to Stearns Park since 9/7/11, just two days after Labor Day, can expect the same local view we will be looking at for the next 9 months. Yes, priorities at the DPW are NOT changed again, and the snow fence MUST go up NOW.                                                                        I  made several visits of recent and have talked to locals about this continuing scenario. They aren't happy either. Last year the fence was also hastily put up, and a big storm raged in late September that blew 3' drifts of sand all over the park, drive, and over on Lakeshore Drive. The DPW spent most of the entire week cleaning it all up again. Which from experience tells us what? It says that storms are going to come and go, early or not, and the mess will be there anyhow, irregardless of the petty broken down snow fence that is a visual eye sore now that the important people, the TOURISTS, are gone.     Why should locals complain? Well, we get to pay for all the maintenance, upkeep, signage, cleanup, lawn maintenance, and so forth. Now how many of us want to trod down there, looking for a seldom found parking space, and be alongside 2,000 tourists in prime time July and August? I know I don't, and go to other less crowded beaches up the coast and south too.                                                            Now that this important task is about done, look for the lovely petunias and flags adoring the Avenue to also come down till next Memorial weekend, also for the pleasure of the TOURISTS, NOT the LOCALS. And the rest of the sidewalks may just as well be rolled up too, cause ya know what? TOURISTS come first with the local governing body, NOT THE LOCALS!

[Sweater Cows!]

My kid is very happy that most of the tourists are gone. She hated the US10 traffic during the summer. She would backsteat drive saying' move over, honk the horn, get out of the way, don't they know how to drive etc...lol

[XLFD]

I agree, Aquaman.  Last year, they had two windstorms in September, a relatively mild one during Labor Day weekend which claimed the life of a visitor who got swept up by a wave near the lighthouse, and then one that occurred about a week later.  After they had put up the fence in between the two, the second windstorm blew so hard the fences were neutralized in short order.  They had to go through the process of removal of those fences to get the sand back to the beach and restore things. 

Putting the fences up early serves no purpose other than to spoil Ludington's main attraction to the tourists: the beach at Stearn's Park.  It still can draw quite a lot of people to it, and we still have a lot of visitors on the weekends through October.  But our City Manager knows best-- at least that's what he tells me.

[AQUAMAN]

I took nice pics, they don't want to transfer, someone else post pics of the nice beach we all love, and how it's going to look for 9 months to come? Thanks.

[XLFD]

September Saturdays still feature a lot of people cruising the beach that are visiting the area.  I was held up at the entrance for quite a while by cars before taking these pictures this evening:

[AQUAMAN]

Nice pics., thanks. Oh, I forgot, the concession stand people also pay for the maintenance on the LOCALS PARK. Now just look at this once beautiful site, broken down junk snow fence covered with some orange screens, to look at for 9 more months. When's the last time anyone saw a snow storm in September, of October for that matter? That DPW sure knows how to cancel good times in Ludville these days.

[Marty Redman]

It looks as if someone fenced the Badger in that last photo.  Just to let you know if you don't already, a couple of my friends staying up at LSP beyond Labor Day told me they were upset about the same thing happening out at the beachhouse there.  My calendar says summer doesn't end till this Friday the 23rd. 

[Willy]

Let's assume that Ludington is not a tourist town and that the only people using the beach would be locals. The fact of the matter is that the fences would be installed at the same time anyway so it has nothing to do with tourism and has everything to do with keeping the sand at bay. I'm going to go thru my photos and check to see when the fences went up last year and when we had the sand storms. I think we had 2 occasions of blowing sand accumilations during the late summer.

[AQUAMAN]

Let's then assume it's 1981 or 1971 or 1961, when the TOURISTS were NOT the apple of the City's EyE. They figured in the mix alright, but not like NOW. When you could go down to Stearns in September, October, and even early November and ENJOY OUR BEACH. Have our family reunions, weddings, picnics, parties, and so forth. When we had to look at the EyE Sore Fence about 5-1/2 months a year., not nearly 9 now.  The fence came down promptly about May 1st too, not a few days before Memorial Day Weekend, the beginning of TOURIST Season. Ahh, for the pleasure of those times, seems like hundreds of years ago now. You can't stop the sand from blowing just cause of broken down old fence, lesson still isn't learned by DPW, and too many locals are being suckered with that old tired excuse for propaganda purposes in their favor.

[Willy]

It would be interesting to see the history of sand fence installation / removal. I'm wondering when and why the city decided on the current dates for fence installation and removal. It should be information that would not need a FOIA but off course this is Ludington and a FOIA is needed to find out when the toilet paper in city hall is changed.

[AQUAMAN]

You're a hoot Willie, thanks. More like Pale Riders imho, riding on the coattails of the local public's misplaced trust and apathy. Just keep the "agenda fixed", and the "rabbits scared", and you can do anything you want, regardless of city codes, policy, and the public good.

[XLFD]

And you hear the Mayor and the DDA yapping around about extending tourism to more of the year with a variety of events (such as New Year's, Octoberfest and Winterfest), yet a simple act of leaving the fences off the beach another month or so on either side of the summer could bring in more than you could imagine.  But this can't be quantified, so expect the policy to remain with our current cast of pale characters.

[Willy]

When to install fences is a damn if you do, damed if you don't decision. To soon and folks get upset because the beach looks like crap. To late and a very coslty clean up could be instore for the City. The following are photos from last years. The dates on the photos range from 9-4 to 9-17. Note: the photo of the front loaders taken in 9-17-10 shows the fences installed on the beach side of the parking lot. These fences were installed after the storm had past.sand storm