10/15/2024
WHAT HAPPENED TO HONESTY, TRANSPARENCY AND RESPONSIBILIY IN CITY GOVERNMENT?
Pictured below is the Light House Youth Center, formerly known as the Bohemian Hall, being torn down at 3 am, October 15th, 2015.
Nine years ago today this picture was taken at about 3 am, by a neighbor who came out to see the fire. Around 12:30 am a fire was reported in the vacant duplex next to the Light House Youth Center, in Menominee MI. Eventually, five different fire departments took part in putting out the fire that ended up spreading from the duplex to the Light House Youth Center. They had initially put out the first fire successfully but stopped spraying water on it, allowing it to start up again. This happened multiple times where the fire departments involved put out the fires, and then acted like they were done, allowing both fires to reignite. Why did they do this? Were they using these buildings for firefighting practice? Was the city interested in getting rid of both of these buildings? Naturally, the normal protocol is to continue spraying water until all burning embers are out and no reignition can happen. In the end the fire at the former Bohemian Hall only burned the roof and then was successfully extinguished. I have video, photo, eyewitness testimony and physical evidence proving these facts. Then something even more unbelievable occurred around 3 am. The Menominee Fire Department called in an excavation company to begin tearing down the building, after the fire was out. Fire departments never do this for two reasons. One, its simply not necessary and number two, it destroys evidence in the cause of the fire. All fires are routinely investigated afterwords to determine what started the fire and a fire marshal or insurance company can’t investigate if the evidence has been destroyed. This was an extreme departure from normal firefighting protocol and an egregious infringement of citizens Constitutional Rights. Not just my rights but the rights of all the other people living in the neighborhood whose homes and lives were put in peril by the slackhanded way the fire was handled, allowing burning embers to fly across the neighborhood with a 20 to 25 mile an hour wind. As I mentioned before, the first fire was initially extinguished but it appeared the fire department purposely allowed it and watched it flare up again, to the point it eventually spread to the next building, creating a five-alarm fire! Are you outraged by this story yet? You should be because as a resident your tax dollars are supporting this type of government. I wrote a letter to the mayor at that time. Also, to the city attorney and every member of the city council detailing exactly what happened and how my building was torn down in the middle of the night without giving me even so much as a phone call. (The fire department did end up calling me at about 8:30 am in the morning long after everything was over.) The end result was no response. The city of Menominee, along with every single council member stonewalled me. Zero response and zero responsibility. The Bohemian Hall was a well-known historical landmark and was a very solidly built building. My insurance agent said that if that building were to be rebuilt, the same way in 2015, it would cost about 1.2 million. What I’m seeking is answers as to why this was done and why we lack transparency and responsibility in our city government. Lastly, what can citizens do to ensure this type of thing doesn’t happen again?
