Plowing Through the City of Ludington's Column Narrative

[XLFD]

Since Prevaricatin' Kaitlin Aldrich became the city manager of Ludington near the end of 2024, she followed in the footsteps of an interim city manager (Jeanne Oakes) who unlawfully entered into the office of the most powerful and most compensated position in city government immediately after resigning her Third Ward councilor position.  Section 6.6(a) of the city charter, our city's Constitution, explicitly prohibits such an act, no exceptions, and every single one of our elected officials played through while this violation of our laws took place.

With that and other lawlessness by city officials running rampant, the eventual showdown at Andy'S was probably inevitable.  What we saw happen in 2025 was a city that used its hubris and power to shut down the opening of a major business, one that had invested nearly $10 million in a demolition/construction project in the downtown.  This was due more to a building official (Shawn Reed) and a city manager throwing their weight around, than it was for public health and safety, and yet they justified their lust for power by saying it was purely a move made for public safety.

Over six months ago, the MCPress reported: “The city is excited about this project and looks forward to the energy and investment it will bring to our downtown,” City Manager Kaitlyn Aldrich said in an Aug. 6, 2025 press release. “However, the stop work order was necessary to address a serious health and safety issue, involving the columns that support the second-floor overhang. These columns have been constructed approximately one foot too close to Rath Avenue – in violation of the approved site plan – such that they pose a risk of collision with city snowplow blades, and are also likely to cause impacts with vehicle doors that open toward the columns, when a vehicle is parked out front. 

Similarly, the 9-2-2025 COLDNews wrote:  "The easement question arises from the AndyS restaurant project nearing completion, fo which a stop work order had been issued at that address on Aug. 6. The stop-work order on the development, cited that the columns supporting a second-floor overhang were built about one foot too close to Rath Avenue, raising concerns about snowplow clearance and potential conflicts with parked vehicles."

Dr. Riemer had no recourse other than to use his legal eagles to push back and they had a strong argument indeed, particularly after the dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks city manager laid out the city's extortion scheme at a city council meeting to get a protected bike lane down the length of Rath Avenue paid for by Riemer in order to prevent the stop work order.  And you may have heard that the stop work order was lifted in a March 16th order, giving a good indication that Judge Eric Fox found the city's position lacking in rigor.  

We always knew that the City's position was not only poorly crafted, but also poorly supported, and all that the trial court judge had to do was regularly travel down Rath Avenue this winter and check out the claims-- because the columns are still there and unmoved from when the stop work order was made.  Here's a view of it from Wednesday:

Traffic is using the adjacent turn lane without issue, and what we see is that the people who plowed the streets had plenty of clearance.  A picture taken just yesterday shown below shows that there is about five feet of clearance between the plowed part of the street and the curb.  

This was evident for those who monitored the issue over the course of this winter when the snow was thicker, but the plow lines were roughly similar.  The City's myth is shattered, the primary basis of their imposition of power is shown to be unfounded.  By the way, the secondary basis saying that car doors will be damaged by these columns is ridiculous at face value, but even more ridiculous when you see the winter pictures above and note that car doors don't have over a five-foot reach.

What has been irreparably damaged over the last year has been the City's credibility and the trust other aspiring entrepreneurs wanting to open shop in Ludington want to have in believing that city hall will not be their nemesis.