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. 

Museum Director Resigns

 

The Waukesha Museum & Historical Society executive director Sue Baker has resigned.  I don’t know much about her or the museum but I do know that people were starting to get frustrated with the slow pace of the Les Paul Exhibit that appears no closer to being opened than it did in when it was announced in 2003.  The exhibit was supposed to be open this year and now its slated for 2010, which I would bet will be extended even further. I am beginning to wonder whether Paul will even be alive to see this exhibit open.   Last year Paul expressed frustration with the snails pace at which this is progressing but I give him credit, he could have easily taken all of his stuff and given it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but he remains committed to the exhibit at the Waukesha County Museum.

I do think that the fundraising, with the exception of the concert a few months back, has been very low profile. In fact it is so low profile that most people probably have no clue that it is going on.   I think that more fundraising events would raise the profile and would attract more donations. 

I think they also need to diversify their efforts and really take the fundraising nationwide.  So many musicians have been influenced by Les Paul and I think there is a untapped potential for a lot of donations.   When you have people like Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Steve Miller, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Keith Richards, Sting, Peter Frampton, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, and countless others as Les Paul disciples you would think it would be a lot easier to raise money. 

I also read on the Historical Society’s website that they are also raising funds for the restoration of the old courtroom.  While that is nice, I think that they should focus most of their energy on the Les Paul exhibit.  How many people want to come and see an old restored courtroom? That’s about as exciting as a field trip to see the famous “Hall of Mayors” at City Hall. A Les Paul exhibit is something that will attract people. Granted I don’t think that it will attract people to town for the sole purpose of visiting this exhibit, but it will be something that music fans will visit if they are in the area for other reasons.   It is also something that will get locals to visit the museum, something I don’t think they do now. Get the Paul exhibit open and you will likely see an increase in revenue which could then be used for exhibits like the courtroom exhibition.