Friday gets all the attention, all the time. Thank God it’s Friday. That’s what they say. TGIF, that’s what they say when they want to shorten things up. I have never felt all that much affection for a Friday, a condition likely owed to the fact that when work demands a Friday and then also a Saturday and then usually a Sunday, it sort of makes Friday not seem all that special. Friday’s at the lake always feel a bit special, because there’s a sense of anticipation for what lies ahead, even if what lies ahead is work. The mood is different on Friday here. There’s more energy in the air. There are more boats on the lake. There are fishes being fried for the Friday ritual, and all is well. Friday.
But you already know all of that. You know what Friday feels like. You know exactly how Saturday morning feels, which is to say that it feels wonderful and inspiring if you wake up at the lake, and it feels depressing and sad if you wake up in the same bed that you woke up on Friday, even if you did TG that It was F. Saturday mornings are easy, sort of like Sunday mornings but different, and Saturday mornings, especially if washed in plenty of sunshine and an equal dose of clean, cool water, are awfully special. But they’re familiar, and that’s why a Saturday morning isn’t all that big of a deal and neither is Friday night, unless you’re stuffing your face with all you can eat Perch, in which case, they’re pretty special.
Today isn’t about those familiar days spent at the lake, today is about another day, and another pledge. I write a lot about Mondays. I think a proper ingredient in any summer dish is a Monday morning at the lake. If you can make Monday morning a lake morning, then you’ve succeeded in life before you even make your way to work. It’s a Monday that matters, and if you gain Monday morning then you have, by absolute default, gained the entirety of Sunday, which is a very good thing. Sunday is nothing like Saturday, because everyone has a Saturday to spend somewhere but most people leave the latter have of Sunday on the table. So Monday morning is good but the challenge from me today that should result in a pledge from you is to find yourself lakeside, on a Wednesday.
I know, I know, the uncertainties of such a request are immeasurable. You’re scared, and I understand. It’s not natural to spend a Wednesday at the lake, you’re right. What on earth will you do on a Wednesday?! How can you function on a Wednesday here? What about your Wednesday routine of visiting three different grocery stores to find just the right brand of quinoa? You know, not the stuff from Bolivia where the prices have thrown the entire economic system into chaos, but the quinoa raised by that guy in Minnesota who touches each grain three times a day until it’s just right, and then transports it to the Whole Foods aisle via horse drawn buggy, taking great care to avoid any interstates along the way? How are you to function with such an imposition on your rock solid schedule?
I understand it’s hard to change form in mid swing, but if you want to experience the lake in the way that a weekday guy like me does, then it’s imperative that you find yourself at the lake not just for a Saturday and a Sunday morning, and hopefully that Monday morning too, but also on a random Wednesday morning. Unlike the established routine of a Monday morning, the Wednesday morning and subsequent day needn’t be any lasting event. If we’re working towards one part Friday afternoon, one part Saturday, one part Sunday and two tablespoons of Monday, then we have to mix in a dash of Wednesday just to balance everything out. This isn’t the presiding note in any summer, but it’s important.
Wednesday at the lake is absolutely nothing like Saturday. It’s a day reserved for those who have either entirely devoted themselves to summer, or it’s a day for someone like me, someone who has to take their small doses of summer in whatever form they may come, or on whatever day they are available. Wednesday is quiet. It feels different and it looks different because it is different. If your exposure to Lake Geneva is a weekend intensive one, then Wednesday will be a most refreshing experience. If, while you’re up on that future Wednesday, you want to go for a boat ride I want you to work towards this: Take that boat ride in the morning. Not so early that you must set your alarm clock, but early enough that you will likely be alone on the water excepting a few fishermen and the skiers. Circumvent the lake on that Wednesday morning, say, around 9:30 am, and then report back to me and let me know how many similarities you find between that ride and a ride taken on any Saturday.
This is your challenge. Find a Wednesday on your schedule, and block it off right now. Don’t pick a holiday week to do this, because that Wednesday will be skewed by the ruckus surrounding the event. Pick a random Wednesday falling between mid June and mid September, and keep the date. After you’ve done that, and you’ve experienced a Lake Geneva Wednesday, there’s a chance you’ll be putting more X’s through more Wednesdays.
The Pampered treatment…
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Who you may know, can seem to save you Thousands in
Unnecessary property taxes…
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One example Mls number 1123561 with Tax no. IAV 00005 had been paying just over $2,000 in 2003 to $6,000 in taxes per year by 2010 for just over 2 acres of build able Lake Front property.
All public record.
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When the property had sold its assessment combined with another Houlihan owned parcel had went up to a proper assessment of over $2,800,0000.
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Putting the taxes assessment at just over $41,000 per year for 2011 and now it
Sits at $77,000 for 2012, seems that a building has been partially constructed on this Gorgeous lake front lot.
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Another gorgeous Black Point lot with over 2 acres for an old
Mls listing no. 992106 had been paying over $27,000 per year in taxes up til 2006.
But had their assessment lowered by over 66 percent to $590,000 and only
Had to pay around $6,000 in taxes per year.
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Irony is the property was listed by a hungry land owner from Chicago for
Almost $6,000,000.
Wow……………………….
A build able lot in Black point with over 300 feet of frontage. Hmmmmmmmmmmm
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How do they keep their assessment so low, AND there are many more on the lake.
When I asked county they pointed me towards linn township and how tax revenue is essential for various improvements.
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The POINT…
Did you know that this is just a few of many huge lake front properties that
Pays little into the tax system while others pay more then their fair share.
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That lake levels seem to get lower and more and more lakefront properties
Are Irrigating from the lake. NOT just irrigating but spending as much as $5,000 to $30,000 dollars for specially built water pumps to suck water directly from Geneva Lake. To feed their ponds, HUGE flowering beds. In the mean time
There is a small erosion process taking place. BECAUSE all the lakefront people don’t all use EARTH friendly fertilizer stuff to keep the GRASS GREEN. Like their money. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, did the people know that almost all their drinking water comes from the White RIVER just off the Lake Geneva Chamber of Commerce. From their the city filters our municipal water.
And just down the road at Haskins street is the waste management. We know what waste is RIGHT.
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When I asked some local county and DNR employees, it seems the DEAF ear syndrome
Had been acquired. I ask local people and all interested parties, don’t just bask in the sun but get involved, ask questions as to our drinking waters PPM (part per million) acceptable amounts of
Contamination rates. Where are the numbers at currently and why isn’t something getting done
To help safely control what goes into the lake. AND I can’t begin to tell you the contaminants that are coming from people who HAVE their PONDS cleaned and some unhealthy practices that have
Put potentially harmful ingredients into GENEVA Lake. Lake COMO and Delavan lake also have this problem, a lot of it was from UNSAFE sewer DRAINAGE from years ago, and some of those small pipes that leaked WASTE still exist today. The DNR is under funded and can’t even begin to manage all this area. Let alone the whole state.
Best regards to anyone who took the time to read this and find out more,
Bethany,
Bethany
There are many decaffeinated brands that are just as tasty as the real thing.
Hello Bethany,
I must admit to being a tad bit confused by your comment.
The tax issues that you point out cannot be understood by reviewing public records alone. There are other factors that will determine the assessed value of certain properties, factors that cannot be known by simply searching tax records. Conservation easements can be applied to limit tax liability, and in the case you point out, that might be the case. That, or, the property may have been otherwise voluntarily limited by the owners to create this favorable situation. Taxes, by and large, are significant on the lakefront, and I’d argue that these owners pay far more than their "fair share", as they contribute to the tax base but do not draw the primary service that property taxes are intended to provide: Education and schools. Sure vacation home owners get their trash collected, but that’s about the extent of their draw on local municipalities.
The question of fertilizer in the lake is an important one, but fertilizers containing Phosphates have already been banned around the lake. There has been great effort made to make sure this is enforced, and while some owners will not comply- mostly out of ignorance on the issue- most will, and the lake will be better for it.
I see only two ponds around the lake that connect to Geneva, and I don’t see anything abnormal going on with these.
The drinking water in Lake Geneva and around the area is tested, as is the water in the individual wells that serve the entirety of Linn Township, and by default, the majority of the estate homes on Geneva Lake. Septic fields do, by definition, leak waste, and I am not well enough versed in the science of waste breakdown to know if this is an issue to the lake or not. I tend to think it isn’t, since waste is a naturally occurring matter, I can’t imagine it isn’t able to be absorbed into the soil (i.e., fertilizer).
The large flowering beds around the lake are indeed mostly watered by water drawn from the lake. This has been the case for nearly 150 years, and I can’t see it posing any threat to the lake at all. In fact, if you look at the turn of the century farms that surrounded the lake, I’d argue that less water is being drawn from the lake today.
Thanks again for reading, David