The views and content of this post are not necessarily those of the moderators or page owner of the Mackinac Island Town Liar Facebook page. After finding the facts as to why the gates have been raised on the Arnold Dock I have changed my viewpoint on the matter and encourage you to think about what really is happening. Ira Green is a businessman who wants no more than his land investment in front of the Arnold Transit Main dock to return a profit for a lease agreement signed between James Wynn’s company and his own. Since Arnold Transit defaulted on a large payment that should have satisfied the 2014 annual lease, we now have a situation where a boat company that has served Mackinac for 135 year is headed for the rocks and a businessman exercising his legal right to erect barriers and stop all persons from crossing his land since lease obligations have not been met. Mr. Green is proving a point that he can interrupt commerce on Mackinac Island, the impact may not necessarily be seen right this second, but as soon as the ice is gone and tourism season starts things could start to get nasty. The simple fix of taking over the defaulted lease of the land and to thwart any interruption has been in the hands of the Mackinac Island Council, yet some on council have refused to act or engage in further research of title on the land or the possibility of acting on taking over the lease, a decision that could impact the future of transportation and commerce on Mackinac Island. You have two of the largest docks on Mackinac Island in limbo that can affect freight, horse transit, hay, daily food deliveries and public transit, yet when City Council is given the opportunity to take over the easement lease on the land and dock some on council force to table the idea. A poor decision that could force Ira Green to open up bid’s to anyone who wants to legally take control of one of the Islands largest docks if he chooses. Maybe a New York investor or Chinese shipping company that has unlimited funds and no interest in anything other than money will come in and swipe it up. Many say that is all that Ira Green is hungry for and doesn’t care about the Mackinac Island community, but his company is smart for seeing the land opportunity and writing on the wall for a company in trouble (Arnold Transit) and acted before anyone else on Mackinac to swipe up land and with an easement to a dock that serves such a critical role in daily transportation needs. While I hated to see the McNally cottage be torn down and a hotel proposal to be built at the head of the Arnold Dock, the reality is Ira is compromising with the City after being turned down for lot plans of a hotel and is offering the City an opportunity of a lifetime that will not cost tax payers one red cent, yet some on council continue to treat the offer as doing business with the Devil. Council could easily recoup the cost of the lease with dockage fees from all passenger ferries who dock there, cruise lines, freight deliveries, US Government mooring and even rent from storage or future and current retail shops. Potentially it could offer an additional source of revenue for the City if it is run correctly by a Port Authority and competent manager. Options that have been discussed but some refuse to see. If I were Chris Sheppler I would be calling Ira Green and negotiating a takeover of the lease, and guess what just happened? The start of a monopoly was just born. It puts Arnold Transit out of business since they have no place to dock as the Coal dock isn’t set-up for passengers. It allows Shepplers to take over 100% of the freight business allowing them to charge whatever rates they want, they now have two docks to service hotels on both ends of town and essentially they start to control the Mackinac Island passenger and freight business. Star Line can’t compete with freight or winter ferry service at their current dock and Sheppler’s great marketing team will triumph over Star Line when it comes to getting customers business as they advertise the only Ferry passenger company servicing hotels on both ends of Main Street and only steps from Mackinac’s most popular attractions. What happens if Shepplers doesn’t see winter service as a profitable option? The City will be forced to upgrade the Coal dock for passenger service and put out for a bid the winter service to possibly a company nobody is familiar with. Do residents and businesses need that risk? The creation of 90 (or however many) new bike licenses to Ira Green and $250K a year is cheap security for Mackinac Island’s transit future. It gets Ira Green a fair return on his money since the hotel is opposed and it could even give Arnold Transit a possible new lease on life not having to come up with $250K to get the dock back but now it can pay either a per ferry boat dockage fee every month or a flat monthly fee payable a month in advance. This could be the sigh of relief Arnold Transit employees, its vendors and investors need if it’s not already too late. The cost of seizing the land through Eminent Domain and looming court battles will cost tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars as well as a dock that will sit empty during the court battle. Not researching and acting on this lease could cost millions or more in financial burden to tax payers with court battles, lost tourist dollars and increase freight costs. A swipe of a pen could go from spending money in court battles to breaking even or adding money to the General Fund through the lease and Port Authority. Council also needs to finalize the deal as soon as possible with the Coal dock before the dock gets wrapped up in a possible bankruptcy court case and the sale ends up being lost in red tape and sold off to the highest bidder, a scenario residents and business do not need to worry about if Council acts now and requires hired vendors to get the title information straight to finalize the purchase. Islanders, residents and those with concern need to encourage members of Council and the Mayor to get the Arnold Main Dock/ Land easement lease with Ira Green’s Company back on the agenda and push for a vote to approve moving forward with research on clear ownership title and intent to the secure a signed lease for Mackinac Island’s port future. Edson Pfeiffelman
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 21:26:31 +0000
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