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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Fivepoints-archives 
February 13, 2008 at 11:04 pm |
If they allow bicycles, I’d be totally up for the skatepark!
February 14, 2008 at 1:52 pm |
If the skate park works out and it is well run that would be great.
If it does not work out it could negatively impact all of the merchants, the enjoyment of the river walk and all of the progress made downtown.
A few negative incidents that make the paper and pretty soon everyone believes it is unsafe to come downtown. How can that be good for Waukesha?
Is it worth the whole of the downtown to take that risk?
February 14, 2008 at 6:16 pm |
Here are the reasons I support it:
1. It would require a conditional use permit and the City could set a schedule for review. I think a 90 day trial would be enough time for them to build a customer base and have the City monitor it.
2. The owner has said it would be temporary. The City should put a sunset date when the Conditional Use expires, say 2 years or less)
3. Its kind of far from the heart of downtown. Its next to a dumpy Hardees