Sounding Off on Wal Mart

Anyone who reads soundoff comments in the Freeman knows that its a mixed bag. Some comments are well thought out and insightful, some funny, some angry, and many are just rants by people who often times don’t really know what they are talking about. This morning there was a comment that I thought was so off-base that I had to post it and comment. This person said the following:

“NEWS FLASH! The new Wal-Mart Superstore might not be built in Waukesha. The way Wal-Mart was jerked around by Sometimes Mayor Nelson and the rest of his ilk in City Hall, is it any wonder they may not build here? This is Wal-Mart, not Neiman-Marcus or Bloomingdale’s. Wal-Mart profits are not the same to allow them to build the Taj Mahal of buildings in our city. Anything Wal-Mart would build is better than what is on the property now. Thank you, city officials. You are doing a great job and we will remember you come election time. Another good tax producer about to evaporate from Waukesha.”

First off Wal Mart would not bail because the City asked them to improve the appearance of the building. If they want to be in a community they will pretty much build whatever the City wants. Why should Waukesha get a dumpy looking Wal Mart while places like Pewaukee get attractive looking ones? Its about time the City stands up and demands some higher architectural standards. If Wal Mart doesn’t want to make some alterations that the City wants, to get a more attractive product, I say good riddance. Would you rather they just emulated the piece of crap Wal Mart building on 164? The one with the crumbling parking lot with no landscaping and a stormwater management pond that is filled with garbage and enclosed with a Cyclone fence? The one that is quite possibly the worst looking retail property on 164? The articles about Wal Mart don’t really clarify why Wal Mart may back out but I seriously doubt that it has anything to do with Waukesha’s site and architectural enhancement requests.

Second, your comments about Wal Mart’s profits not being the same as Neiman-Marcus or Bloomingdale’s to allow them to build the Taj Mahal of buildings in our city is quit possibly the most ill-informed, idiotic comment ever published in the Soundoff. Wal Mart was ranked Number 1 in the Fortune 500 last year. Their profits were 11,284,000,000 (thats 11.3 BILLION dollars) in the fiscal year ending in January 2007 and you are telling me they cannot afford to make their buildings look nice? Give me a break!

Mayor vs Freeman: Round 3

The war of words between the Mayor and the Freeman is escalating. It started last Saturday when the Freeman gave the Mayor a “Dart” in their weekly Laurels and Darts column. The dart was because Larry Nelson said at the Obama rally last week that “I feel an obligation to the citizens of Waukesha to say who I think would be the best president for the city of Waukesha, and that person is Barack Obama.” 

Not content to just let the issue die, Larry Nelson responded with a Guest Commentary on Tuesday in which he defended his statements.

Then this morning the Freeman responded to Nelson’s response to their Dart. They also posted an editorial cartoon in a potshot at Nelson and new City Administrator Lori Curtis Luther.

My take is that I side with both the Freeman and Nelson. I think that Nelson has the right to endorse whoever he wants but where I draw the line is when he said “I feel an obligation to the citizens of Waukesha to say who I think would be the best president for the city of Waukesha, and that person is Barack Obama.” No you don’t have an obligation to tell us who to vote for. We are adults who can make informed decisions on who we think is the best candidate and while I agree with Larry Nelson that Obama is the best candidate left, I think he crossed the “non-partisan” line that should define the Mayor’s office. What puzzled me was that Freeman said in todays response that “this is getting out of hand,” but isn’t the Freeman just contributing to it “getting out of hand” as well? Actually it isn’t getting out of hand. There were two events; Nelson’s blog posting and Nelson and Luther attending the rally. That’s it. In the grand scheme of things, this is really a non-issue. Aren’t there more important things to worry about like the fact that more downtown businesses have closed and that a sex offender was able to set up shop downtown? Maybe they should work on repairing Broadway Avenue from Racine Avenue to East Avenue before my muffler falls off from all of the potholes.

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In a move that can only be described as puzzling, the ordinance and license committee decided that there should be limits on how long you can keep a dumpster on your property but not those obnoxious PODS storage units. What a joke. I think that the PODS should be subject to the same restrictions as dumpsters. I don’t think that any neighbors should have to put up with one of those being stored on a residential property indefinitely. According to the article, several aldermen had no issues with PODs overstaying their welcome and becoming an eyesore. If I lived next to an alderman I would go out and rent a pod and just let it sit on my driveway just to. prove that they are an eyesore. I plan on writing my Alderman, but I doubt I will get any response because I never do. Speaking of trash, we are going to license hookers escorts now too.

 

I don’t think this story is going away

In what will likely provide weeks of fodder for soundoff commenters, letters to the editor, and the Waukesha blogs, Mayor Larry Nelson and newly hired City Administrator Lori Curtis Luther are getting some flack for attending the Obama rally last week Wednesday at the Expo Center. 

I think that the criticism of Larry Nelson being there is unwarranted.  He took a vacation day and he has a right to endorse whatever candidate he prefers and attend whatever political rally he wants to attend.  Everyone who pays attention knows that Larry Nelson is a Democrat, so why are people getting all up in arms about him attending and participating in a rally for the Democratic race leader, Barack Obama?  What he shouldn’t have done was endorse Obama on his blog, which he removed on advice of our City Attorney.  The blog is linked to the City’s web page so there should be no political endorsements on it. What Larry Nelson should do is start a blog wholly independent of the City’s website.  Then he can say whatever he wants.

Now the case of City Administrator Lori Curtis Luther is a little different.  She explains her attendence at the rally by stating “My role as city administrator is 100 percent neutral and nonpartisan. As such, I am not formally or informally affiliated with any party. I am not nor will I ever be active in any local, state or national campaigns. Any time a candidate requiring secret service protection visits the city, I will cooperate with our police department and sheriff’s department to ensure the safety of the candidate while in our jurisdiction. It is my opinion, that regardless of party politics, the national recognition Waukesha receives by hosting presidential candidates is positive for the community.”

I have no reason not to believe her explanation.  However we all know that what your intention is and what it appears your intention is can often be two separate things.  People in right-leaning Waukesha are going to have a field day with this. For a City employee to be at a rally on City time just looks bad even if your intentions were only to coordinate with the Secret Service and Police Department and to welcome Obama to Waukesha.  I personally don’t have a problem with her being there for her stated reasons but I would recommend that she try to stay away from things like this on City time because it gives people the impression that you are endorsing Obama as a representative of the City.  Now if he becomes President and comes to the City its different because you are then welcoming the President of the United States to Waukesha.

 

Is everyone in this City a sex offender?

Obviously not, but over the past year Waukesha has garnered headlines for the concentration of sex offenders living in the City. The arrest of Scott Ziegler didn’t help matters. Now we find out that former Alderman Joe La Porte (who is 86) was arrested at the River Hills West Nursing home on an accusation of 4th Degree Sexual Assault of a woman at the nursing home (that woman was not his wife, who is also at the same home). This was likely the reason he resigned from the Council on January 28th (the same day of the alleged assault). Fourth degree sexual assault is a misdemeanor and is defined in Wisconsin as “sexual contact with a person without consent of that person. The penalty for fourth degree sexual assault is imprisonment not to exceed nine months or a fine not to exceed $10,000, or both.”

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Alan Huelsman wants to temporarily use the downtown Salvation Army building as a skatepark. I think it is a great idea for a temporary use. People are going to try and equate this with the Butler skatepark which has been in the news because a major pot selling operation was being run out of there, which I think would be unfair. In the interest of full disclosure I was a skateboarder for a good part of my youth, from 7th grade until after college, so I am biased. When I was in high school there were parties with filled with students doing drugs and drinking and because of skateboarding I wasn’t at them. While classmates were getting drunk or stoned I was in downtown Milwaukee, or at the Turf Skatepark in Milwaukee or another skatepark in Rockford, Il. While I didn’t stay completely out of trouble, skateboarding kept me away from drugs and alcohol. The City should issue a temporary conditional use permit that should be reviewed 90 days after the park opens to review it. Then review it again at 6 months and 1 year. If there are significant issues, revoke the permit. If not leave it open. However I do think there should also be a sunset date when the use needs to be discontinued and at that point the City should work with the owners (assuming they are successful and have a clean track record) of the operation to find another suitable site for the park.

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Back on January 24 I told you about the House of Guinness being named one of the Top 100 bars in America byNightclub & Bar Magazine. I found out about it on the House of Guinness website. The Freeman is just getting around to writing about it today, but in their defense they did talk to the owners.

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Obamamania sweeps into Waukesha today at 1:25 at the Expo Center. If you want to see our next president, today is your chance (assuming tickets are available). I would advise anyone not going to the event to stay away from the Expo Center because I am guessing traffic will be a bitch with all of the security detail and the large number of people attending the event.

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Rezoning for Brunswick Zone

On Wednesday night the Plan Commission will consider a request by Heartland Development to rezone the large parcel of land at the northeast corner of 164/Les Paul Parkway & E. Broadway to allow for a Brunswick Zone. Never heard of one?  Me either until this was brought up a couple of months ago.  The Brunswick Zone is a multi-faceted family entertainment center with bowling, laser tag, a video arcade, billiards, and a sports bar and restaurant.

City staff stated at the last meeting they were opposed to this because for some reason they think that there should be limited commercial on 164. I think its because they don’t want to add traffic – which would be an admirable goal if there was a problem here. There isn’t.  I understand the whole point of a bypass is to move traffic quickly around town, but the City should try and reap additional benefits of limited, yet prime real estate along this corridor – one of the most traveled roads in the City.  There are around 35,000 cars that drive on this segment every day, that provides a lot of visibility which is important for a business like this.  This is a corridor that is about to lose 1 major anchor (Sentry) and potentialy another (Wal Mart) once the Supercenter opens (though I am not sure on this one). This use is suited to a place like 164.   Sure, it would be nice to have it downtown but something like this needs a large parcel of land with ample on-site parking and easy aceess.

The Brunswick Zone is something very unique that hasn’t been tried in this market. Right now any family from Waukesha that wants to take their kids to an indoor place for fun and games is heading to Chuck E. Cheese or Fun World which are in Brookfield or Stone Fire Pizza in New Berlin.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have this money staying in Waukesha? Plus, this is a business that has things for adults too, like bowling and a bar/restaurant.  This will be a high-value building that generates significant tax revenue (after all we are the highest taxed City in the County). Is the City of Waukesha really in a position to be turning this request down in hopes that some high quality office user will surface? Wouldn’t an office contribute to congestion too, especially during peak travel times? If Waukesha denies this its just going to end up in a surrounding community, so why not approve it and have something that residents don’t need to leave the City to enjoy?

“Unaware”

A soundoff caller is pretty upset about Larry Nelson being “unaware” of every little thing that happens in the City. They cite the recent arrest of a sex offender that operated a business downtown. How, may I ask, is Larry supposed to know about this unless someone tells him? The police knew about this guy and were keeping an eye on him, how come they didn’t keep the Mayor in the loop? Also, why doesn’t some of the blame lie on the downtown property owners who will rent to anyone? If the landlord knew this guy was a sex offender (again, the police should have told them) why would they lease to him? (The obvious answer is because he could pay the lease money) I would urge anyone who knows about issues like those mentioned on the soundoff (people living in squalor, gang activity, loitering, etc) to not only call the Mayor’s office but call the police and the aldermen as well. The Mayor cannot have eyes and ears on every square inch of the City so its up to residents and business owners to let him know when there is a problem. With that being said, Maybe Larry needs to have more contact with his department heads so he is kept abreast of any serious issues.

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I have stated that I am against a statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants because I think that businesses and customers should make the choice themselves. With that being said, I love smoke-free bars and enjoy going to places like Chicago, Appleton, and Madison where I don’t have to deal with smoke. The Journal has an interesting article about how Cigar stores and bars are banding together to propect their interests. They even talk to Jeff Barta, who owns the Nice Ash Cigar Bar downtown (he also reads and comments on this blog). I think that there is no reason not to exempt cigar bars from any statewide ban. After all they are called CIGAR bars for a reason. Having a non smoking cigar bar is about as dumb as having an alcohol free martini bar.

The thing that got me was the comments of Maureen Busalacchi, executive director of SmokeFree Wisconsin. First she said that her group would never advocate exempting cigars from a statewide ban on workplace smoking because she claims “If we are serious about protecting people, I don’t think we should (exempt Cigar Bars).  Well if we really want to protect people why not ban anything remotely dangerous like riding a motorcycle, or drinking beer, or even eating a big fat greasy bucket of chicken?  When will the babysitting stop?  I think that people can make intelligent decisions about where they go and where they work without Maureen Busalacchi stepping in, but she feels that the general public is too stupid to make choices….Ok if I am a patron and I wander into a “Cigar Bar” I know exactly what “danger” I am putting myself into and if I am a potential employee filling out an application for a job at a Cigar Bar I would assume that I know that I will be exposed to smoke. Why not let the public decide if they want to patronize or work at a cigar bar?

She then goes on to make the asinine comment that “cigars blended with cherry, vanilla and other flavors seem aimed at children.” Of course. She knows her argument has no merit so she has to pull out the “its for the children” card. People always say its for the children when they have a weak argument.  She then says that “It runs chills up and down my spine, to act like this is safe is ridiculous.” Nobody is arguing that cigar smoke is safe, what they are arguing is that it is different than cigarette smoke and their business is different than a cigarette store or a regular bar.

There is no doubt in my mind that if (or should I say when) the state enacts a ban that cigar bars need to be exempt.

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The Town of Brookfield is still being a pain when it comes to widening Greenfield Avenue. They are the reason that the road, which was recently widened to four lanes, goes down to two near Barker Road. I think the state should construct the road and then withhold any and all state funding (shared revenue, cost sharing agreements, grants, etc) that would go to the Town of Brookfield until they cough up the money. The road should be four lanes all the way through and considering what Waukesha, New Berlin, and the City of Brookfield have contributed, its time for the Town to contribute as well.

Rooming House Fire

Ok this is going to come off as a tad insensitive but what the heck.

Darryl Enriquez reports on a fire that damaged the Wisconsin House rooming house at the end of Main Street. Everyone got out ok, even the three sex offenders (all 3 of whom were convicted of 2nd degree sexual assault of a child) that resided there. Darryl’s post indicated that the extent of the damage is unknown. So here is where my insensitivity comes in: Last spring the City decided not to enact Ald. Randy Radish’s proposal to remove rooming houses from the zoning ordinance. Apparently the City Attorney said the City couldn’t ban them, which I think is not true but seems to be par for the course for our City Attorney (can someone explain why this is still an elected position? It should be appointed). All you have to do is create a special zoning category that allows them but never map those districts and don’t approve any rezoning requests to that district. Outlaw them in all other districts. Or even better prohibit them from any district and let the rooming houses challenge your ordinance. An ordinance is only illegal if determined to be so by a court of law.

Now here is where it gets interesting. Had the City enacted the ban it would have made the existing rooming houses legal non-conforming which means they would have been able to continue to operate until they were demolished, not used for 12 months or destroyed in excess of 50 percent of the value. So had the City had the guts to eliminate them from the zoning code this may have become an opportunity to eliminate something that is a detriment to downtown if it was damaged in excess of 50 percent.

I think if this building is beyond repair that they City should do whatever they can to not allow them to rebuild here. Maybe the City could purchase the land from the owner and hold it until a suitable proposal comes forward or maybe they could help the owner identify an alternative site to rebuild. Maybe they could raise the bar so high for architectural requirements that they cannot afford to rebuild it as a rooming house and have to look at different uses. Yes it is tragic that this property is damaged and some people are likely left without a home but from this tragedy the City may have gained an opportunity to eliminate something that has been a sore spot with a lot of downtown businesses.

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UPDATE

If this building is damaged to the point where all of its occupants have to find alternative housing on a temporary basis I wonder if the City could prohibit the three sex offfenders  from moving back in.  Waukesha’s sex offender ordinance bans sex offenders from living within 750 feet of a school, park, playground, day care center or recreational trail but current occupants are exempt from this.  If thy are living somewhere else and then try to move back in I think they are violating this ordinance because Veterans Park is across the street and within 750 feet.

If the track record of our City Attorney is any indication, he will just say the City has to let them back in because they were living there before.

Joanie may love Chachi, but I don’t

 

I  like the Fonzie sculpture downtown Milwaukee but the idea of a statue of Chachi or Spike in Waukesha is just plain dumb, plus Scott Baio is such a tool. The only good thing he has ever done was his role as Bob Loblaw on Arrested Development. The Fonz is an icon, Chachi Arcola and Spike Fonzarelli are minor characters that nobody gives a crap about. They were like Scrappy Doo, Scooby Doo’s annoying nephew.

Two local “leaders” praised this dumb idea. Alderman Charles Lichtie said he liked the idea because it could help draw tourists into Waukesha so they can see the companion piece, but he did agree that “baby boomers would probably be the only ones to appreciate it because they lived the ‘Happy Days” lifestyle. Let me tell you this NOBODY will come to Waukesha to see the “companion piece.” Dan Vrakas also seemed to like the idea and said “because Fonzie’s cousins were significantly younger, a statue of his cousin could help the city amplify its recent award for being one of the best cities in the country for young people.” No it won’t. It will make us look like a bunch of idiots who cannot come up with an original art idea so we have to play off the Fonz statue. Reading between the lines of Mayor Nelson’s comments it seems like he would agree that this is a stupid idea. Hopefully this discussion fades away just like Baio’s career after Joanie Loves Chachi was canceled.

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I eat some pretty strange stuff and will pretty much try everything once, but I am not so sure about raccoon. Raccoons eat garbage which means they probably taste like rotting chicken, coffee grounds, and eggshells. Nonetheless, the 81st annual Coon Feed was this weekend in Delafield.

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I think that anyone who opposes medical research on animals should not be allowed to use medicine or medical procedures that were derived from animal testing (which is pretty much all of them) We’ll see how long they continue to protest then.

Soundoff explosion!

There is a huge soundoff section today (after having none yesterday).  Some idiot thinks that roundabouts are some sort of covert liberal plot to….um…I am not sure…maybe control traffic? The person said  “I’m calling regarding the city of Muskego to put three to four roundabouts on Janesville Road, three to four within a three-block area. That’s crazy! Another liberal idea from our wonderful city hall father.”  Last time I checked “installing roundabouts” was not on the democratic platform. As a matter of fact I don’t that support of roundabouts is a liberal vs conservative issue its more of a safety issue.  According to the Wisconsin DOT roundabouts provide safe and efficient traffic flow and make use of extensive safety and traffic research conducted over the past 25 years in other countries.

Roundabouts move traffic safely through an intersection because of:

• Slower speeds
• Fewer conflict points
• Easier decision-making

Studies by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that roundabouts provide a:

• 90% reduction in fatal crashes
• 76% reduction in injury crashes
• 30-40% reduction in pedestrian crashes
• 10% reduction in bicycle crashes

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Also in the soundoff people are still talking about the leaf pickup.  YOUR LEAVES ARE NOT GOING TO GET PICKED UP! When the spring thaw comes, mix your leaves with your brush pickup and they will take them.  Nothing is going to happen until then so just drop it.

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Some other guy who is still living in the 1940s-50’s  says “I was reading in the paper how some of the blacks think it’s disrespectful for some of the people down south to fly the Confederate flag.  Disrespect is when you buy cars and things from Germany, Italy, Japan and North Korea after losing hundreds of thousands of GI lives fighting against those countries to keep us – all of us – free.”  Wake up!”

Germany, Italy and Japan are strong US allies and I see nothing wrong with buying cars or other products from them, especially considering that the notion of an American car is a complete joke.  Parts come from all over the globe and a lot of “foreign” cars contain more  American-made than so-called “American” cars.  And while American car reliability is getting better, I still don’t think I would buy one.   I have a Honda with 140,000 miles on it and I have not had any problems with it.  My two previous American cars were unreliable and always had something or another wrong with them.  People who are still mad about a war that ended a half a decade ago need to get a grip on reality.  Oh, and the confederate flag is offensive to many people, myself included. 

Is it Sunday yet?

Packermania is borderline hysteria.  Last night I had DVR’d the news because we were watching something else.  We fast-forwarded through all of the Packer news and Packer tie-ins to the weather report.   I think it took us less than 5 minutes to watch the rest of the newscast.  Look, I love the Packers as much or maybe more than the average fan but I don’t care about all of this superficial crap.  I don’t care the Eli Manning likes Seinfield and now the Green Bay stations won’t air any Seinfeld while the Giants are in town.  During Michael Strahan’s press conference he reminded people that”they do have Seinfeld on DVD, you know.” I don’t care about the shoveling, the weather, that Charles Woodson didn’t originally want to come here, what Favre eats before games, or anything else.  I just want kickoff to come and watch some Packer football.

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Mayor Nelson finally has his blog up and running.  His first post is about JanBoree.  I will be out of town tomorrow and part of Sunday so I will miss most of it.  I would have liked the pub crawl.

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Its crappy attitudes like this that makes me glad we have a strong art community and a mayor who appreciates public art even though people may not like it.  Brookfield Mayor Jeff Speaker is opposed to displaying a sculpture where a lot of people may see it.  His exact quote from the Journal story was “Am I for public art? Yes, I am, It’s just that I didn’t support it being right front and center because there may be a few people who do not appreciate it.” Typical suburban thinking…lets make everything as vanilla as possible as to not offend anyone. You tell me what is more offensive; the sculpture shown in the article or an ugly gas station?  The sculpture or another boring fast food restaurant?  Speaker goes on to say “roadways might not be the place for art, saying they could become traffic distractions. Parks and greenway trails might be better sites, he said”  What is more distracting, public art or mile after mile of ugly cluttered signage along Bluemound Road or Capitol Drive?

I think that public art should be displayed so that more people can see it not fewer.   That is why I like the “guitar sculpture” that was erected in downtown Waukehsa.

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If karma truly exists, I’ll bet this man will eventually suffer a real heart attack at some restaurant where he has pulled this scam and nobody will blink an eye.

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Andrew Ruggeri has decided to keep his namesake “Ruggeri’s” open in Delafield afterall.  He originally was going to close it but worked out a good deal with the new owner of the building.  This is definitely a good thing because it will help draw more people to Rugerri’s Black Trumpet in Waukesha.  Now you may be asking how would a restaurant in Delafield help a restaurant in Downtown Waukesha?  The answer is brand loyalty.  People who go to Ruggeri’s and enjoy it are more likely to make a trip to Waukesha to check out his other restaurant.  I eat out somewhat often (though not as much as I used to) and brand loyalty means a lot to me.  I really enjoyed Fishbones in Delafield so when I heard the owner had a new restaurant called Zin, I couldn’t wait to try it.  Same goes for several other restaurant groups in the area like Bartolotta’s and NStars (Harry’s Bar and Grill, The Knick, and North Shore Bistro).  If you like one of their restaurants there is a greater chance you will check out their other places.  I foresee the same thing happening with Ruggeri’s and the Black Trumpet.