Get off the track; Summerfestrailroad job coming down the line

You won't hear the whistle, because this is a stealth operation, but a Summerfest Special railroad job is coming down the track.

With scant last-minute notice that barely meets legal requirements, State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, and State Rep. Mark Gottlieb, R-Port Washington, have scheduled a hearing this afternoon of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules.

Their plan, Grothman says, is to force the Dept. of Natural Resources to allow Summerfest to close a new state park to the public for almost a month every summer. Why? So Summerfest can use the park as a free place to launch fireworks.

Why the rush? What's the emergency? It's the danger that the public or other interested parties, like the Milwaukee Harbor Commission, the city of Milwaukee, lakeshore fishermen, the Third Ward Association and others -- who have negotiated long and hard, in good faith -- to work out a reasonable agreement with Summerfest --might find out and have time to object.

That's why notices went out very late, at the end of the day on Monday. Grothman and Gottlieb couldn't schedule the "hearing" at 3 a.m., when they like to act on controversial items in the state budget. So they did the next best thing, and tried to hold a "public hearing" that they hoped the public wouldn't hear about.

But enough about process. Let's get to the issue.

Public access to the lakefront has long been an issue with Summerfest, which blocks off the public lakewalk along Lake Michigan for much of the summer. A new Lakeshore State Park, being developed in Lake Michigan, just off the Summerfest grounds, was intended, in part, to solve that problem.

The public has a right to lakefront access. The DNR, the attorney general, and even Summerfest's lease, will tell you that.

The debate over access has been long and bitter. Summerfest has always believed it is a kingdom unto itself, not subject to the rules and regulations that apply to mere mortals. For five years, I was the mayor's representative on the Summerfest board, and barely got out alive when I advocated for public access to the lakewalk, even during festivals.

Bo Black reigned over the kingdom in those days. Bo is gone, but the attitude seems to have lingered on.

When the DNR said it would not allow fireworks in a state park, Summerfest expressed shock -- even though it has known for two years that was the rule.

"I just don't get it," said Donald Smiley, president and chief executive officer of Summerfest. "I don't understand. Tell us why we can't do it."

Well, here's why: Because it is a state park, intended to be open to the public 365 days a year. Summerfest (and other ethnic festivals) fireworks displays would close the park to the public about 25 days every summer, mostly on summer weekends, the peak time for people to enjoy it. No other state park allows fireworks or would allow a private entity to close the park to the public.

Here's another reason: Opening the park was intended to offset the closure of the lakefront walkway past Summerfest during festivals.

The Third Ward Association, the Lakeshore Fishermen, and most of the Harbor Commission believe the Island should be accessible to the public year round and support the DNR position that fireworks (and the closing off of areas to blow them off) should not continue on the island. That was made that clear when the land was given to the State from the City.

The Harbor Commission believed an open and free island was the answer to the problem of Summerfest providing limited public access to the shoreline during festivals. In negotiating its 20 year lease with Summerfest, the Commission worked with the DNR who gave up a lot, and got agreement that once the island was open for access, the Summerfest lakewalk could be closed for most of the summer. Based on the 2005 calendar,they could limit access along the Summerfest lakewalk from June 6 through September 20.

Grothman's comments in today's Journal Sentinel story are disingenuous: "The Milwaukee lakefront has a tremendous amount of park space, and the idea that we couldn't block off seven or eight acres a few days a year is absurd," said Grothman.

It's not a few acres, it would mean closing the park. And it is not a few days, but 25 days every summer.

No one is trying to prevent Summerfest and the ethnic festivals from having their fireworks. There are other options, like launching them from a barge -- which is how the city's biggest fireworks display on July 3 is done.

Except for Summerfest itself, the festivals do not use the entire grounds. There is more than enough room on the Summerfest grounds itself to use as a launch site for the ethnic festival displays. But it leaves a mess, and Summerfest would rather the mess be in the state park.

Finally, wouldn't it be nice if people who can't afford to take their families to Summerfest had access to the state park that we all paid for, to watch the fireworks?

I suspect none of these arguments will make a bit of difference. There is a last-minute effort underway to get some people to the so-called hearing this afternoon.

But it looks like the outcome is totally wired. Once again, the Summerfest Express is about to run right over the public interest.

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Committee members:

sen.grothman@legis.state.wi.us
rep.gottlieb@legis.state.wi.us
rep.friske@legis.state.wi.us
rep.lemahieu@legis.state.wi.us
rep.schneider@legis.state.wi.us
rep.black@legis.state.wi.us
sen.reynolds@legis.state.wi.us
sen.stepp@legis.state.wi.us
sen.miller@legis.state.wi.us
sen.jauch@legis.state.wi.us