NIMBYs (oh and McCain Wins again)

So let me get this straight, you buy (or more likely build) a house in the Town of Lisbon near Halqusit Stone which has been there forever (ok only since 1929) and now you want to block them from expanding? If you didn’t want to live near a quarry why did you buy a house there? You had to know that they couldn’t dig in the same hole forever. Its the same as the people who move out to the country and then complain about the smells coming from the farm next door (then they complain when that farm is sold and developed too). Lets hope the County Board doesn’t undermine the wishes of the town board, which supports the expansion.

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I am not sure how he did it by John McCain is on a roll. I have heard a lot of conservatives say that they will never support McCain but I don’t believe them. If given a choice between Hillary or McCain they are going to vote for McCain.

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Ok so it was windy and cold last night, but it was hardly the storm we were led to believe it would be. Another weather story sensationalized by the media.

Overbearing parents

The Journal has an interesting article on “helicopter parents.” I don’t care what argument you want to use, anyone who has their mommy and/or daddy sit in a job interview after college is a loser.  I were the person doing the hiring and some parents wanted to sit in on the interview I would never even consider hiring that person.  I would tell the parents that there is no way I am hiring a college graduate who still has to have their parents help with everything.

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.

Mike Brenner is a phony

I believe Mike Brenner’s Hotcakes Gallery must not be doing very well and he is using the Bronze Fonz as the scapegoat. For those who don’t remember Mike Brenner promised to close his gallery if the money was raised to erect the Bronze Fonz statue. Well the money was raised, Henry Winkler is in town this morning, and Brenner is closing his gallery.  According to OnMilwaukee.com he said “I cannot see running a contemporary art gallery in a city whose ‘leadership’ is so eager to invest it’s limited resources in garbage instead of fostering it’s burgeoning arts community.” The problem with that statement is that he is blaming leadership. This was a venture done by a tourism organization with private funds. It has nothing to do with leadership in the City.

My problem is that this guy thinks that fine art and fun art are mutually exclusive, as if the Bronze Fonz wipes out all other public art in the City. People can disagree on what they think of the Fonz. I think its cheesy, but I still like it. Its fun. Not all public art has to be serious and I think we can have different kids of public art. Minneapolis has Mary Richards statue and Chicago has a Bob Newhart statue but both Cities have extensive public art by local and world renowned artists. Nobody thinks less of these Cities because they tried to have some fun. What Brenner is ignoring is that there appears to be no plan or any desire by the City to embrace public art. But don’t blame VisitMilwaukee or Arthur Fonzarelli, blame the politicians, the leaders, and to some extent the art community for not coming together to really debate and plan for public art.

Its one statue, on the riverwalk and the supposed impact, according to elitists like Brenner, is that the entire community is tarnished? Which leads me to believe his gallery wasn’t doing very well because if it was successful and important he wouldn’t have some attention grabbing knee-jerk reaction like this. People don’t close successful businesses unless there is a very good reason and this is not one. Why not leave your business open and do more to promote public art? Teach the public that there are better things than the bronze Fonz. I just don’t understand what he hopes to accomplish with this. Brenner comes off as a big crybaby who couldn’t bully VisitMilwaukee into doing what he wants so he is taking his ball and going home. So who is he really hurting with this decision? Its not the general public, its the artists and art fans that he supposedly cares so much about. He is closing a valuable resource for them and that makes me think he doesn’t give a crap about artists at all, he just wants to stomp his feet around and that is why I think he is a phony.

List Fest 2008: Congratulations to House of Guinness (and Waukesha too)

Waukesha made another “best of” list. For the second year in a row we have found ourselves on the America’s Promise Alliance as one of the 100 best communities for young people. Mayor Nelson talks about it on his new blog too. It does seem like Waukesha has a lot of stuff for young people to do and be involved in.

Speaking of Best of Lists, why isn’t Mayor Nelson touting the fact that the House of Guinness made the Nighclub and Bar Magazine list of the top100 clubs in America. To be included on a list that has such notable bars as The Pegu Club in New York, Ghostbar and Pure in Vegas, and the Viper Room in LA is quite impressive. I looked at the list and I have been to 6 bars on the list. Of those I have been to they are all great places (with the exception of Brothers, which I went to when I was underage…its a typical college bar and a place I probably woudn’t go into nowadays.)

House of Guinness, Waukesha WI (Great local Irish Pub)

Brothers, LaCrosse WI (Where college kids go to get hammered)

Fado Irish Pub, Atlanta, GA (A cool Irish Pub even though its a chain)

House of Blues, New Orleans, LA ( Cool voodoo theme, great outdoor patio)

Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, New Orleans, LA (Awesome historic bar on a section of Bourbon Street that many tourists don’t go to. I saw a guy in a Santa outfit passed out in front of here last month…I’ll have to post the pic on here this weekend)

The Flying Saucer, Memphis, TN (One of the biggest beer selections I have ever seen)

When people say stupid crap I must respond.

We haven’t heard much about the Community Based Residential Facility (CBRF) that a neighborhood in the Town of Waukesha was complaining about last fall. Well the Freeman has an update and one of the quotes was so asinine that I needed to comment. Sue Christensen, a concerned neighbor says “It’s a business that has employees and other people coming and going, it’s no different than having a Kwik Trip in the middle of neighborhood.” Um…a residential facility with 8 residents and a couple of employees is not the same as a Kwik Trip. If you don’t have the mental capacity to differentiate the two maybe you shouldn’t be speaking about this issue at all. A convenience store typically generates 100-150 vehicle trips per day per pump. Assuming 10 pumps (Kwik Trips usually have a lot of pumps) that would be 1,000 to 1,5000 trips per day. This CBRF probably won’t generate that many trips in 6 months. In fact I would argue that it will probably generate fewer trips than a typical household with 2 kids. People in that neighborhood have every right to argue against it but when you make blatantly false and idiotic comments you weaken any rational argument you have. How about we put a Kwik Trip in your neighborhood for a week. You will be begging for a CBRF within an hour.

As I stated when this was first publicized there is nothing that the residents can do to stop this. State law allows for CBRFs with 8 or fewer people to locate in single family zoning districts without any special local approvals. Plus I still find it appalling that neighbors don’t want a place where senior citizens can live in their neighborhood.

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Muskego wants to create a downtown. Makes me glad I live here where we have a real, authentic downtown.

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.

 

Pete Kennedy takes on Arrowhead High School’s new drug policy

Last week I started to write a post about how stupid I think public school drug testing is after I read about Arrowhead’s plan to randomly test kids in extracurricular activities for drugs.  I never finished it and just abandoned the post.  Good thing because Pete Kennedy wrote a column on Saturday that summed up my feelings  exactly.  You see, I also think its very stupid.  Its stupid to test kids who are in a PUBLIC high school (I say let the parents monitor what their kids are up to) and I think its stupid to spend money on this.  I agree with Pete when he says there has to be a better way to spend this money, like on maybe improving educational programs.   Although $12,000 is a drop in the bucket to Arrowhead.  This is a school where parents don’t just donate cookies to a bake sale, they donate Indoor Ice Centers.  I should know as I am a graduate of Arrowhead.  A person in my class got a brand new Lexus for their 16th birthday.

One thing the board is missing is the fact that this is Arrowhead, one of the wealthiest school districts in the state.  When you have wealthy parents involved there is bound to be issues.  There are a lot of parents out there that would rather be their kids best friend than a parent. To many parents if anyone does anything to their kids, no matter how at fault the kids are, these parents will defend the kids and get lawyers to help.   Lets assume a football player tests positive for marijuana and is suspended from the team.  You don’t think that these parents aren’t going to hire an attorney and get an injunction blocking the suspension?  If you don’t think that will become commonplace you haven’t spent a lot of time in Lake Country.

 

Friday!

Tomorrow the Freeman reveals its citizen of the year.  My money is on Marty Frank since he died last year.  Maybe it will be Andrew Ruggeri and Drew Vallozzi. developers/owners of the Clarke Hotel and Black Trumpet for changing the face of downtown, though I would probably wait until the places at least open before doing that.  Any other guesses?

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Speaking of the Clarke Hotel and Black Trumpet restaurant The Freeman has a progress report.   The restaurant should debut this spring and the hotel will follow in summer.

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Ok, I still don’t see the appeal of Huckabee but his comment last night just made me like him even less.  When asked about Iran harassing us vessels he said “Be prepared, first, to put your sights on the American vessel. And then be prepared that the next thing you see will be the gates of Hell, because that is exactly what you will see after that.”   I am troubled by this comment because it assumes that people in the Iranian army are inherently evil and are all going to hell.  Iran has mandatory military service so these people have no choice but to serve and do as their told or they would likely be killed.  You can use your religious rhetoric on Iran’s leaders but to use it against people who in all likelihood have no choice is troubling to me.  But then again most of Huckabee’s positions are troubling to me.