Lake Geneva’s short-rental saga continues

On April 22, 2024, in the heart of this wild, throbbing beast of a town, the newly minted Mayor Todd Krause, with a glint of madness in his eye, has shuffled the deck yet again, tossing fresh meat into the endless AD HOC committee pit. This committee, a shambling Frankenstein monster of bureaucratic inertia, has been gnawing on the gristly bone of the short-term rental plague in Lake Geneva for two goddamn years, achieving little more than giving the local yokels something to grumble about over their morning coffee.

Peg Esposito, with a steely gaze, made a motion, seconded by the ever-loyal Cindy Yager, to rubber-stamp the Mayor’s latest round of appointments. With a chorus of approving nods, the council locked in Council President Mary Jo Fesenmaier, Vice President Cindy Yager, and a motley crew of Alderpersons: Sherri Ames, Peg Esposito herself, Linda Frame, Joel Hoiland, Ken Howell, and Shari Straube.

Now, this circus has a new ringmaster, Chairman Joel Hoiland – District 3 Alderman, leading a cast of characters including:

• Emily Hummel, Resident (Poor soul, probably hoping for some semblance of sanity)
• Carroll Pearson, Resident (Ditto)
• Neal Kolb, Resident (Good luck, Neal)
• Tom Keefe, STR Owner/Manager (A fox in the henhouse, if ever there was one)
• Luke Pfeifer, STR Owner/Manager (Another fox)
• Jason Smolarek, STR Owner/Manager (Yet another fox)
• Advisory Member: Fred Walling – Staff, Building & Zoning Administrator; or his designee (The enforcer, or so they say)

The Mayor, in a rare moment of lucidity, decided to sprinkle in some residents to this dog and pony show, hoping to give a voice to those poor bastards living in the neighborhoods ravaged by the Airbnb apocalypse. Prior to this, the committee was a cozy club of short-term rental overlords, sipping martinis and chuckling at the chaos they wrought.

But let’s not kid ourselves, the city has two choices: enforce the damn ordinance on rental lengths or mimic Madison’s draconian measures. But no, the elected officials of Lake Geneva, in their infinite wisdom, believe that tourists, those sunburned, fanny-pack-toting invaders, are the lifeblood of this town, far more valuable than the tax-paying residents who endure this circus daily.

Market forces, those cruel, invisible hands, might already be tightening the noose around the short-term rental profiteers. Overbuilding is the name of the game, and the revenge travelers, those pandemic-fueled nomads, have vanished like smoke in the wind. Sales are plummeting, and the single-family homes, now shackled with higher mortgages, are a hot commodity in this fever dream of a real estate market. The smart ones will see the writing on the wall, cash out, and vanish before the rates tumble.

And so, the saga continues, a blend of high-stakes poker and slow-motion car crash, as Lake Geneva stumbles forward, one ordinance at a time.