Yes, The Riveria has windows

The first council meeting under Mayor Tod Krause on May 20, 2024, saw a wild twist in the saga of Lake Geneva politics. The air was thick with suspicion as Linda Frame, the newly minted Pier and Harbor chairwoman, launched into a feverish plea for Gage Marine Lake Geneva Cruise Line to score a sweetheart lease on storage space. The deal on the table was a one-year lease at $20.36 per square foot, and the city’s business administrator made it clear that all other leases at the Riviera were for three years. He shrugged, offering a reason that this one-year stint was meant to align all contracts for renegotiation next year. ‘It’s just business,’ he croaked, assuring the assembly that the commercial retail space had several interested parties, but none had the time to retrofit for this season. In 2025, it would be retail or bust.

Frame, however, praised Gage Marine to the heavens, waxing poetic about a mystical space allegedly ‘worth $12 per square foot’ because of its purported lack of windows. A minimum five-year lease was what she insisted they deserved ‘No windows!’ she barked, rattling off Gage’s letters that had gone unanswered. Lake Geneva Cruise Line had been a local fixture for 70 years, and Frame couldn’t stop herself from fawning over the millions they hauled in every season. But her spiel was shot down by Mayor Tod Krause, who tersely pointed out, ‘The space has windows.’

“The space has windows” Mayor Krause pointed out.

Undeterred, Frame kept hammering home her point, shamelessly sucking up to Millionaire Gage, aka Lake Geneva Cruise Line, by reiterating the tourist cash cow angle. But the rest of the council saw through the charade, and with a 7-1 vote, they approved the one-year lease at $20.36 per square foot, leaving Frame as the lone dissenter. Krause must’ve cursed Council President Mary Jo Fesenmaier’s name for putting Frame in charge of Piers and Harbor, but he was boxed in by Fesenmaier’s cronies controlling the council. This town is in for a wild ride, my friends.”