By Reginald Robonaut
Port Huron’s beach parking policy sends the wrong message to people who live outside the city. From the Thursday before Memorial Day through Labor Day, parking attendants are present at Lakeside and Lighthouse Beach, where visitors must show identification or pay for single-use parking. City of Port Huron residents can park for free, but non-residents are charged each time they enter. There is no reentry with a single-use entry, and all-day passes are not available. This might make non-residents feel less like welcome visitors and more like a source of extra money.
This becomes even harder to accept when under the leadership of our current City Manager James Freed, surrounding townships are solicited to pay for Mr. Freed’s Canal Gate blunders. If Port Huron wants townships support for a regional project, then James Freed should not turn around and charge township residents higher fees to visit local beaches. It feels unfair to ask neighboring communities to help cover costs while their residents do not receive the same beach access, financially, as Port Huron residents. The city cannot have it both ways: asking for regional cooperation when it needs money, but treating non-residents differently when all they want to do is use our two public beaches. That kind of policy creates hypocrisy and unfairness. The same could be9 said about James Freed insistence that non-Port Huron residences be treated like second class citizens. These types of people can only speak at the end of the City Council meeting and not at the same time as the residents of Port Huron. The hypocrisy and arrogance of this kind of thinking sends out the wrong message to everyone. It shows a spirit of meanness and greed.
At Lakeside Beach, Port Huron residents park for free, while St. Clair County residents pay $20 and out-of-county visitors pay $30 per vehicle. At Lighthouse Beach, Port Huron residents also park for free, while St. Clair County residents pay $10 and out-of-county visitors pay $20 per vehicle. Those costs add up quickly for families, especially because visitors must pay again if they leave and return. James Freed and current City Council leaders should rethink whether this is the right way to treat nearby residents. This is practically important because of the population decline and other dark things under Port Huron’s City Council, like the loss of jobs and major employers leaving the city. It is obvious that the City Council and city manager have very little vision or ethics on these matters. If Port Huron expects the townships to help pay for shared community needs, then the city should show the same spirit of fairness at its beaches. Mr. Freed seems to drive away obvious economic opportunities for prosperity and common sense no matter what the subject. He simply can’t help himself or the hard working residents of Port Huron, Michigan. The failure in judgment of the City Council is obvious and should be remembered at election time. Mr. Freed needs to be fired by the Port Huron City Council. He has overseen a 12 year decline in so many areas of his controversial tenure and needs his employment terminated immediately. Better days would certainly be welcomed after his removal as city manager.
