EDITORIAL: The lighthouse needs paint more than love

Everyone loves the Port Washington lighthouse, especially the people who run the city’s government. Three mayors and Common Council members elected over the past eight years have expressed their affection for the lighthouse and pledged to restore it.

Yet the 88-year-old structure that has been adopted as the symbol of this historic port city has been allowed to deteriorate into a rust-streaked symbol of neglect. No end of that trend is in sight. There is zero lighthouse funding in the 2024 city budget. Work on the lighthouse has been put off indefinitely.

The lighthouse is a victim of inflation, not the economic variety that consumers complain about, but the kind that inflates relatively modest government projects into monumental undertakings. An already outdated estimate puts the cost of restoration at a breathtaking $1.7 million. Call it $2 million to cover the inevitable cost overruns.

The lighthouse cost $38,000 to build from scratch in 1935. According to the CPI Inflation Calculator, that is equal to $854,000 in 2023 dollars. Now, mere repairs are projected to cost well over twice that amount.

The Finance Committee says the city can’t afford that. There’s no room for a $2 million expenditure in a $4 million capital budget that has been committed to basic projects that should not be delayed.

It may be too glib to say that only government could make a $2 million project out of sprucing up a small pierhead lighthouse, but surely there is a way to meet the primary goal of improving the structure’s shabby appearance without spending anything near that amount.

The appearance of the lighthouse is what matters most to the city now. Inspections have found that the structure is sound. It is not going to fall off the breakwater. It poses no danger to the public.

Portholes are broken and need to be replaced and there is a list of other repairs that should be made if the structure is to be restored to some variation of perfection, but those maintenance items can continue to be deferred a bit longer. What the lighthouse needs immediately is cosmetic attention—in other words, a paint job.

A cost of $1 million for that paint job has been mentioned. That number could prove to be as ridiculous as it sounds if bids were sought on a painting project scaled down to the minimum needed to make the lighthouse look good. 

Despite its run-down appearance, the lighthouse remains a remarkable example of concerted and effective effort by Port Washington’s elected officials in service to a cause that will be a lasting benefit to the community.

When the National Park Service announced that the federal government was giving up ownership of the lighthouse, a private concern sought to acquire it, but city officials made a compelling case that Port Washington should be its rightful owner. Ownership was transferred to the city without cost in 2016.

It has been a focus of city attention ever since. Coveted listings on the National and Wisconsin Registers of Historic Places were pursued and achieved. A grant to help pay for a preservation plan was sought and received. Formation of a Friends of the Lighthouse group to aid in fundraising was successfully encouraged. The lighthouse was designated as the City of Port Washington’s official symbol.

Among the current City Hall stewards of the lighthouse, Mayor Ted Neitzke is a passionate advocate. Calling the appearance of the lighthouse “embarrassing” during a budget presentation on Oct. 24, Neitzke admonished the Council, “It’s not in the budget again, and we have a liability we took on. We said we would fund the needed improvements and we’ve never done that.”

The city did indeed agree to take responsibility for upkeep as a condition of taking ownership of the lighthouse, but keeping that promise should be done in stages. The first stage must address the mayor’s accurate portrayal of the appearance of the lighthouse.

The icon that represents both Port Washington’s maritime history and the vitality of its modern-day embrace of Lake Michigan cannot be allowed to be embarrassing.

Find a way to give the lighthouse a bright white coat of paint.