Milwaukee abandoned boat: Who's paying to remove Deep Thought?
The Brief
The boat abandoned at Milwaukee's lakefront was pulled onto land Tuesday.
Tuesday's work alone was estimated to cost $50,000.
Taxpayers are on the hook, at least for now – but that's not the end of the story.
MILWAUKEE - Deep Thought, the boat that's been abandoned at Milwaukee's lakefront since October, was pulled onto land Tuesday afternoon.
Taxpayers on the hook
By the numbers
Freeing the sand-shackled boat was not cheap. Milwaukee County leaders originally estimated Tuesday's work alone could be about $50,000. Who's paying? The short answer: taxpayers.
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"I figured if I'm paying for it, through my taxpayer dollars, at least I get to sit and enjoy it," said Glenn Borden, a Milwaukee resident who watched Tuesday's removal effort at the lakefront. "Somebody got that stuck here. It's kind of on them to take care of that. At the same time, I get it, accidents happen."
For now, Milwaukee County is paying to remove Deep Thought.
"We don't want to get stuck with a $50,000 bill. I don't think the Milwaukee County taxpayers should be paying for this," said County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman, chair of the board's parks committee.
Wasserman told FOX6 News the county may go after the boat's earlier owner – not the couple who bought the boat before it ran out of gas and got stuck. The county supervisor said it's not clear whether the boat's sale was even legal.
"I chatted with (the owners)," Dan Steininger told FOX6 last week. "These are two people who had a dream, spent their life savings to do it. Flat broke, had nowhere to go, distraught. I said, 'We don't treat people mean in Wisconsin – you are our guests.'"
Could donations help?
What they're saying
Steininger, the grandson of former Milwaukee Mayor Daniel Hoan and current president of the Hoan Foundation, stepped in with a $10,000 donation to help pay for removal efforts. Back in April, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson announced a different, anonymous donor.
"You'll have to ask the anonymous donor how much money they're talking about. My job was just to connect the dots," he said.
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The mayor said all he did was link the anonymous donor with Jerry Guyer of Pirates Cove Diving – the man who tried, tried and tried but was unable to pull the boat from the water. Guyer said he sunk $27,000 into failed attempts to remove Deep Thought; he also told FOX6 he has not heard from the anonymous donor.
"I don't know what happened in that relationship. Again, my job was just to connect the dots, and that's what I did," said Johnson.
On Tuesday, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said he believes the anonymous donation was in the ballpark of $20,000 to $25,000. He also floated the possibility of selling pieces of the boat to help cover removal costs.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it was not their responsibility to remove the boat because it was not blocking waterways and was not a hazard to navigation. The USCG did investigate for possible pollution in October and found it was all clear.
The Source
Information in this report is from FOX6 News interviews and prior coverage of efforts to remove the boat.
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