Letter to the Editor: Politics At Play

I have attended several of the city council meetings lately, and I can’t help but ask what is really going on here? The politics regarding the granary make no sense at all, nor does this immediate raze order issued by the fire chief.

They have a group that has come forward and offered up private funds to have the granary assessed by impartial engineering firms. From what I’ve heard, first the issue was it was a health hazard due to bird and rodent droppings, but if the health department doesn’t understand the use of hazmat gear, they need to be fired. Now the fire chief states the building is suddenly structurally too unstable to allow anyone in it, but hasn’t allowed anyone near it to make that assessment. So, the fire chief issues a 30-day raze order on a building that was safe enough to allow engineers into just a few years ago without any provision for repairs? Why?

I was raised on the West Coast. I have experienced my share of earthquakes, including the World Series quake in 1989 that practically leveled everything from Santa Cruz to Oakland, California. After the search and rescue efforts, the municipalities call in every engineering firm in a 100-mile radius to assess the damage to buildings, roads and bridges. If the structural integrity is determined to be damaged to a point that it will never be as safe as it was originally, historical or not, that building is coming down. A few weeks ago, David Ward made the passing comment, “Sure, you can save anything if you throw enough money at it.” That is simply not true, and building engineers understand these structural integrities and have the knowledge (and insurance) in place to protect the city from any liability.

I currently live on Georgia between 14th and 15th. Every time we get even a moderately heavy rain, the street floods to the point of dangerous hydroplaning from vehicles traveling well within the 25-mile per hour speed limit. For the last three years, the property manager has complained to the city regarding these hazardous conditions. Each time she has been told that the city doesn’t have the funds to fix the road. Now they’re talking about spending tens of thousands of dollars to dismantle and/or destroy the granary, even though private funds have been made available. As a tax-paying citizen, this pisses me off and tells all voters there are politics at play that are not in the best interest of the community.

They can argue about what the granary building, and surrounding land should be used for if restored, but that is getting way ahead of the immediate request, which is simply to allow licensed professional engineers access to assess the integrity of the building.

Lauri Fish

Sturgeon Bay, Wis.