Leelanau Whippersnapper

The saga of Sugarloaf continues here in Leelanau. God it just never ends. The web keeps getting thicker. The individual who signed an option to purchase has backed out at least for the time being. There was a 90 day rule which he rightfully stated was not enough time to complete due diligence. How anyone could possibly untangle the mess that is Sugarloaf in 90 days is beyond me. Anyhow, that potential buyer is still interested in the resort but so much more research has to be done to see if it’s even worth his time. He was pretty smart to back out. Sugarloaf needs someone with a HUGE amount of capitol to invest OR they just need to rip the shit down and turn it into a park.

I’ve just given up on Sugarloaf and I think many other people in this county have too. It’s not that we don’t want to see it come back to life, it’s that so many people have tried and failed miserably. It’s clear that the county could give a shit and the township just doesn’t have the capitol or the resources to help. So, like so many other things in Leelanau, the resort will continue to rot away becuase nobody really wants to make a 110% effort to do something about it. I guess I wouldn’t care as much if I didn’t live right across the street.

There is too much complacency in Leelanau. One of my political rants for Leelanau is the overly apparent lack of vision this county has for it’s future. It is primarily a county of retired, seasonal residents, many of whom have quite a bit of money. Those of us that live here year around and are younger, don’t have the capitol to have an influence where you have to pay in order matter. Elitism is OVERLY EVIDENT in Leelanau. When township boards have bare quorum meetings during the winter becuase the majority of the people sitting on those boards are at their other homes out of state, it means there is a huge problem with the way things are being run. Why bother even having a body such as that if you are only having productive meetings 3 or 4 times a year????

Tangents. This county suffers from a serious lack of young people who actually give a shit about what things will be like in 20 years. Many of the counties resident’s won’t be alive in 20 years so why would they bother caring about what things will be like in 20 years? This is NOT a slam by the way, it is simply a statement of fact. I’m not concerned that you older folks don’t care, I’m concerned that you older folks won’t give up your seats on the county boards to younger people who actually DO give a shit and want to push changes. I’m concerned that EVERY time someone suggests a positive step in the right direction, someone gets in the way and fucks it all up becuase change is too difficult or too expensive. This county has a HUGE fucking tax base, rather than embezzling it why not put that tax base to good use and do something productive?

This county needs to start considering what it is and what it isn’t. Figure it out already and quit DOING NOTHING!