[edgeywood]

Courtesy of the Michigan City Port Authority.

[JHeath]

Courtesy of the Michigan City Port Authority.

Okay, I'll bite. That's disgusting. I almost hate to ask, but what IS that?

[Dave]

Okay, I'll bite. That's disgusting. I almost hate to ask, but what IS that?

Further evidence that our fair city is in in the hands of a bunch of morons.


http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=15016.65

Sucking Muck Crux Of Yuck?
Dredging project called necessary and safe, although some disgusted by the smell of ‘beach repleishment.’

Georgette Senter
The News-Dispatch

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

MICHIGAN CITY - Like a large black snake, a hose extends from a spot near the Michigan City Port Authority Building near Washington Park Marina and winds north toward the Lake Michigan beach.

There the coil - sucking up material from the marina bottom - deposits dark muck onto the sand. It's a beach that draws thousands of visitors every year.

Tim Frame, harbormaster for the Michigan City Port Authority, said they hope to be done with the dredging by May 10.

Frame said the project has been planned for two years. He also said there are no environmentally damaging materials being deposited on the beach.

"All of the materials taken out of the marina have been tested and the project has been approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Indiana Department of Environmental Manage-ment," Frame said.

Frame said there was an original estimated the project, which includes dredging the southern and eastern rim of the marina, would include almost 9,600 cubic yards of material.

Barry Sneed, a spokesman for IDEM, said Tuesday a permit was issued for the marina dredging on Oct. 18, 2007, after testing had been done on the sediment.

"It was determined to be sand, not silt, and there are no contaminants in it," Sneed said. "The sand being dredged is from erosion from the beach and it's being returned there as beach replenishment."

Sneed said an IDEM inspector will visit the marina sometime next week to check on the project.

Some concerned residents have seen the dredging and have wondered if the black material might be harmful.

"I was out there and saw them pumping this stuff out into the sand. It was not a nice smell nor did it look like stuff I would want to have on a beach," Randy Hahn said.

Hahn added he was thinking of his granddaughter who lives in Minnesota and loves coming to the Washington Park beach in the summer.

"She loves to get buried in the warm sand. But after seeing this black, oily silt on the beach I am not sure it would be safe for her," Hahn said.

Frame admitted while the pumping is being done there is a slight, unpleasant smell, but he said the odor quickly dissipates.

"We wanted to do this before the boating and beach season begins and should be totally complete by May 10," Frame said.

The work is being done by Dan Hoe Excavating of Holland, Mich., at a cost of $162,000, said Frame.

"This comes from the boaters' fees collected by the Port Authority," Frame said. "We get no city or state tax to run the Port Authority."

Frame said the dredging along the southern and eastern areas of the marina was long overdue.

[lovethiscity]

Okay, I'll bite. That's disgusting. I almost hate to ask, but what IS that?

It is either:

A. An Iraqi Oil field

B. Sludge from the gas docks in the Michigan City Harbor.

C. Our civic leader's brain on drugs.

D. B and C

[Southsider2k12]

THAT is SAFE!?!?!

[Ecotourist]

THAT is SAFE!?!?!

I know that this is not safe for Michigan City's economic development.

[JHeath]

I was listening to WIMS this morning...Ric F. was on a rant about it. I agree with him on several points...the biggest being that we're not sure if this is safe or not. If it's sludge from the marnia, how much fuel, oil, or whatever else has been leaked and absorbed into this? And now we're pumping it into a the sand, then covering it with more sand? That just doesn't seem safe for those that visit the beach.

Take a look for yourself:
http://www.wimsradio.com/walkingthebeach.php

The beach volleyball court shot was particularly bothersome, IMHO.

This post has been edited by JHeath: Mar 27 2008, 11:37 AM

[Ang]

OMG!! That is totally disgusting! I can't believe they are putting that crap on the beach. If they need to put it someplace, they should put it on the other side of the boardwalk where no one goes.

INSANE! I won't be visiting the beach this summer. Even if they cover it up with new sand, it will still work its way to the surface.

[Ecotourist]

we're not sure if this is safe or not. If it's sludge from the marnia, how much fuel, oil, or whatever else has been leaked and absorbed into this? And now we're pumping it into a the sand, then covering it with more sand? That just doesn't seem safe for those that visit the beach.

It may be "safe" according to EPA remediation action levels. However, that does not mean that I would want a child eating it. The birds that fly over the beach will not drop dead out of the sky, but there may, or may not, be more beach closures this summer due to bacteria. The beach sand may, or may not, be dirtier. The sand may, or may not, have a strange odor. There may, or may not, be an oil sheen. There may , or may not, be less people willing to invest their money in Michigan City. There may, or may not, be other unanticipated consequences. The Port Authority is conducting an uncontrolled experiment on our public beach.

The central issue this. Michigan City has a confederacy of dunces who are rushing in to fill a leadership vacuum.

[JHeath]

May or may not...what kind of a line are they feeding us here?

I agree with ET on this one:

The central issue this. Michigan City has a confederacy of dunces who are rushing in to fill a leadership vacuum.

[Dave]

The central issue this. Michigan City has a confederacy of dunces who are rushing in to fill a leadership vacuum.

You say dunces, I say morons.

Potato, potahoe.

I honestly think the people who make up the "Powers That Be" in MC would fail a Dale Carnegie course.

Southsider, I hope the threads on this board get stored somewhere, because I'm going to want to pull them up during the next election cycle to use against the incumbants.

[Southsider2k12]

No threads are deleted. To view them to go the bottom of a section and change the time period that is viewable.

[edgeywood]

I was listening to WIMS this morning...Ric F. was on a rant about it. I agree with him on several points...the biggest being that we're not sure if this is safe or not. If it's sludge from the marnia, how much fuel, oil, or whatever else has been leaked and absorbed into this? And now we're pumping it into a the sand, then covering it with more sand? That just doesn't seem safe for those that visit the beach.

Take a look for yourself:
http://www.wimsradio.com/walkingthebeach.php

The beach volleyball court shot was particularly bothersome, IMHO.

Ric and the Koepke brothers (Hosts of Into the Outdoors) really pulled in their horns this morning. My guess is the Koepke brothers (one of them is a charter boat captain) got a talking to from the Port Authority.

Of course, no city official or board member will address this in public forum. The silence, as usual, is deafening.

[Ang]

My blood turns to ice every time I hear the name Koepke

[JHeath]

I suppose at this point, the proof will be in the proverbial pudding.
We'll see how often this beach, as well as the others that are "down current" will be closed, how many people still visit this specific area of the beach (if they're aware of this), and how much muck washes up onto the private beach areas of Long Beach et al.

I, for one, will most likely not be visiting the beach Washington Park with my family this summer.

This post has been edited by JHeath: Mar 28 2008, 09:10 AM

[Ang]

Porter has a really nice beach. I spent a lot of time there last summer. I recommend you get there early though as parking is limited

[edgeywood]

Porter has a really nice beach. I spent a lot of time there last summer. I recommend you get there early though as parking is limited

Ahhh...The beach of my childhood...aka Johnson's Beach!

[Dave]

I went over to the beach yesterday to take a look at this. The pump wasn't running at the time. To my untrained eye, it appears that the vacuum cleaner-like device they are using sucks up material and a lot of water from the yacht basin (or whatever they call the area where the boat docks are), and pumps it up and over the walkway and discharges on the beach just west of the parking area. It appears that, either by design or naturally, there is something there like a holding pond, allowing the water to drain away leaving a coating of black slime behind. Whether the black slime is oil, sewage, just dirt, or a combination of the above, is beyond my ability to ascertain. Where I looked at it, the slime was probably no more than a quarter of an inch thick, but I only looked in one spot, and that was not the low point where I would expect the stuff to accumulate the most. Birda had been walking in the slime, leaving footprints.

I suppose the Parks Department, or the contractor doing the dredging, may go out and skim the black gooey sliminess off the sand when the dredging is complete, but I have to say I'm certainly not going to be thrilled if all they do is bury it. The beach is used by kids, and kids dig in the sand. Heck, if I go to the beach I dig in the sand. If they're going to hit a layer of this goop a foot down when building a sand castle, well, damn. Who wants to wear a hazmat suit to the beach?

I don't know what the Indiana version of the EPA and the Army Corp of Engineers think of the muck, other than it seems to be acceptable, but anyone who has spent any time with boaters has to know that this stuff has to have gas, oil, bilgewater, and probably sewage in it. I know there are a lot of responsible boaters out there, but there are also a lot of idiots who probably empty their holding tanks right at the dock.

[CaddyRich]

I know that this is not safe for Michigan City's economic development.

When a major point of the marketing/economic development sales pitch for this town is the fact that we are on the shore of Lake Michigan - like that's going to attract industry or make our schools better or lower our crime rate - anyone who would see this would not be impressed. So I guess this means the new tag line will be "Michigan City...Sun, Sand, Smiles & Slime."

[Southsider2k12]

BTW, I went to pick up my park stickers yesterday, and they are still pumping this crap onto the beach. It is even more disgusting looking in person than in the picture.