Franklin Today

Special meeting to be held on 51st Street veto

The Franklin Common Council will once again be holding a meeting at the Law Enforcement Center on Thursday night. This time, it's to discuss Mayor Taylor's veto of the approval to submit 51st Street from College to Rawson to the state for consideration of federal stimulus dollars.

Over on Wag the Dog, Bryan Maersch indicates that the hoopla with the residents is overwith and the only ones that will be attendance are the bloggers and Franklin Senior Citizens, Inc. President Casper Green. He almost seems to mock the efforts of residents along that section of 51st Street, almost indicating with his comments that residents can only handle going to one meeting regarding this topic. To me, that sounds like Bryan is questioning the level of commitment and desire that residents have, which is rather incredible.

From this angle, I can fully understand why residents may not feel inclined to go to the upcoming meeting. The treatment they got from the Common Council was to the point of almost being impeachable. As I mentioned on Metro Milwaukee Today, the council...and that includes Mayor Taylor (who later vetoes the resolution causing the mess)...treated residents very poorly and with tons of negative attitude and feelings.

I hope Mike Buelow can persuade his neighbors on both sides of 51st Street to attend another meeting on this. There is a reason behind the Mayor putting the special meeting in the Law Enforcement Center, after all. It's to hold more residents that could be in attendance.

As a last note, I also hope that several members of the council apologize to the residents for their actions and words displayed and said last Tuesday. Their treatment of residents is no different than the constant controversy our State Senator's aide, Kevin Fischer, receives for his bullying and horrible treatment of Mary Lazich's constituents on his FranklinNOW blog. The aldermen I'd be expecting apologies from would be Common Council President Steve Taylor and Lyle Sohns, at the very minimum. Aldermen Steve Olson and Tim Solomon were also rude and rather condescending towards residents, but I believe CCP Taylor and Sohns, along with the Mayor, went a little above and beyond that.

Open government at City Hall rears ugly heads of several Council members

Last night I sat in the very last row of seats in the Law Enforcement Center's courtroom, as dozens of Franklin residents approached the microphone to voice their objection to a highly possible 4-lane 51st Street. Throughout the citizen comment period, residents saw the ugly and quite distasteful attitudes of several members of the Common Council, with the two worst being Mayor Tom Taylor and Common Council President Steve Taylor.

The meeting opened up with an immediate motion by Alderwoman Kristen Wilhelm to remove the portion of 51st Street from College to Rawson off of the stimulus application from Franklin. It was seconded by CCP Taylor, who after several aldermen spoke against the motion decided to drive a dagger into her motion by forcing Wilhelm to morph her motion from elimination to separation. Among the aldermen to speak against Wilhelm's original motion was Alderman Lyle Sohns, who represents the majority of residents who have the most impact along 51st Street. Sohns showcased a flyer that was distributed by Franklin resident Mike Buelow and then crumpled it up into a tiny ball and dropped it on the floor. This action was supposed to tell residents present at the meeting that the flyer was full of misinformation.

51st Street from Drexel to Puetz was approved to be sent onward, as well as Puetz Road from 76th Street to Hwy 100 (St. Martins Road) in a relatively quick order. Right before the Council seemed to get prepped for approving the College to Rawson portion of 51st Street, Wilhelm had to interject and point out the common sense observation that no citizen comment period was even held yet. The Mayor quipped to her something along the lines of, "I was just getting to that."

When citizen comment period opened up, residents began speaking out. You had residents young and old, middle to upper class, all joining together and saying the same lines, over and over again: Please do not widen 51st Street to 4 lanes. The FranklinNOW article that appears in the Community Watch section notes that roughly 50 people spoke, and I believe all but one or two carried the thought of keeping 51st Street 2 lanes.

Sadly, it seemed like the only two aldermen who actually respected the people who spoke were aldermen Kristen Wilhelm and Ken Skowronski. The others seemed to become rather agitated after several residents took the mic; you could hear the Mayor's huffing and puffing of disgust and annoyance all the way in the back row where I was sitting! Or CCP Taylor's rolling of eyes and exclaiming, "Jesus!" after a resident called out several aldermen on she proclaimed as pure bologna. When Mike Buelow spoke, the Mayor and his cohort in CCP Taylor decided to politicize his comments; going to limits of which I thought was going to end up with the Mayor slapping a lawsuit on Buelow for slander. CCP Taylor took it upon himself to be cocky by asking several rhetorical questions to Buelow, trying to intimidate him and putting his viewpoints in the muddy muck.

Fellow neighbors, what I witnessed last night disgusted me. As I spoke to several residents during the break, after the Council rubber-stamped the widening of 51st Street through, I couldn't help but get passionate with my frustrations. How dare some of those aldermen and the Mayor proclaim how they welcome citizen comments and appreciate discussion when in fact they resent it. Some of these aldermen almost demand that citizens be present at meetings if they want their vote(s) to chang on issues affecting our community, but then when residents present themselves they get bullied and belittled.

Shame on Aldermen Olson, Solomon, Taylor, and Sohns for their attitudes at last night's meeting. It's very apparent to me that none of them want residents to speak their thoughts and opinions about the future of their community. Even though its the people who put these cocky and stuck-up aldermen in power, they decide to snub them and tear them down through a series of political bs. I don't even want to hear CCP Taylor or any of the aldermen mentioned above state that they welcome citizen thoughts on any matter, because that's not even true. After what I saw last night, the only thoughts they want to hear are those that support only their viewpoints and their perspectives on matters. All the others be damned.

As Fred Keller stated at the meeting, perhaps it was a good thing that the aldermen were a bunch of a*holes last night. Maybe that'll encourage more residents to show up and continue to be thorns in their butts. Sadly, I think it could do the exact opposite. Why bother showing up to a meeting when your opinions and thoughts don't even count? Why speak out when you're going to be beaten down with a political club? One can only hope that the people can get clubs of their own..

51st Street discussions should be nothing new

Today I was doing my regular Franklin blog check-up, and I came across this when reading John Michlig's Twitter feed:

Franklin city officials hot to widen section of 51st street to FOUR LANES with stimulus funds!?!?

Discussions about 51st Street being 4 lanes should be nothing new, especially if you read and checked up on the Mayor's proposed stimulus package. Upon hearing about the package, I asked for a copy of it and when I received it, I uploaded it on Franklin Today for all of you to download and view yourself. The stimulus package, submitted in January, clearly notes the three sections of 51st Street with detailed notations discussing the reconstruction and widening of the street.

For me, yesterday the big story was the fact that a widening of 51st Street, which is questionable in its own right, will end up resulting in the destruction of a historic Church in Franklin, St. Paul's Lutheran. The elimination of St. Paul's is nowhere to be read in the stimulus package, but came out of the woodwork when discussions truly began to surface after the submission.

Perhaps some were in denial that the city would begin to push heavily for this massive road project. I can't say what it was that triggered all but two Franklin bloggers to have discussion on this topic yesterday. What I think the scenario is regarding this widening is the concept that a 4-lane 51st Street will provide another avenue to drive into the Franklin Business Park. The current 2-lane 51st Street currently ends at Ryan Road (Hwy 100), at the main entrance to the Franklin Business Park, where the street becomes Franklin Drive.

Back when Sendik's Food Market and other retail venues were being proposed and developed on 51st & Rawson, there were thoughts out there of providing more of a direct link between the Franklin Business Park and the Fountains of Franklin development area. To some of the people I spoke to, it made sense to widen 51st Street to four lanes to promote to workers at the business park that right up the road is a major commercial/retail/dining/food & drink area for them to utilize for purposes like lunch breaks or some quick shopping after work. Currently, the vibe you get when you go on 51st Street is one of the street being geared for local residents to get to/from their homes in the many subdivisions connected to the street. By widening it, it probably will eliminate that "homey" feeling, and thus spur more traffic along it.

This is where I ask if our leaders truly know what they'll be doing if and when they make the final call on this project. Several modifications can be made to 51st Street that can solve several of the street's biggest issues, including the largest one along Franklin High School. You don't have to widen the street by two lanes the entire length of the road to make it safer for pedestrians and traffic in that particular section. For starters, the widening of the road by two lanes doesn't answer the question regarding a much-needed sidewalk along it. There are plenty of roads in the metropolitan area that are four lanes with no sidewalk on either side. Secondly, adding two extra lanes sounds great in conversation, but actually seeing it on paper and from your own eyes during construction is totally different. Several of those subdivisions along 51st Street will have reduced main entrances, which could lead to several households whose sides have a grassy buffer between it and the road might not have that luxury due to the highly possible boulevard median.

The philosophy to follow today probably should be along the lines of "it's better late than never" regarding citizens and bloggers being informed about this road project. It's a shame residents couldn't voice out a little sooner about the impacts, which could perhaps have led to some alternatives to the current plan as we know it. For those residents interested, the Board of Public Works is taking up the subject tonight at 7pm @ City Hall. As far as I know, it's regarding the section of 51st that goes into Greendale. Franklin, it seems, would like to begin widening the road at College Avenue; it would kick off the project with a joint cooperation between Franklin & Greendale.

RELATED READING:

Yesterday's post on Franklin Today: 51st Street steamrolls ahead

Sprawled Out: Mediations on "Infrastructure" & While some local Councils turn to new media, Franklin still flipping cassettes

Bullseye: This Week at City Hall...

This Just In: Franklin Alderman Kristen Wilhelm isn't that good

Wag the Dog: 51st Street Widening Can't Come Too Soon!

51st Street steamrolls ahead

Who knows when the discussions actually started to begin, but the topic of 51st Street being widened to four lanes throughout Franklin has been an active one since I started blogging back in 2007. Naturally, the thought of the street being widened has drawn much opposition from residents who live along the street or have their backyards facing the street. Due to this, I have seen city officials go back-and-forth on the proposed road project up until a few months ago.

Mayor Tom Taylor decided that the widening and reconstruction project was worthy enough to be submitted for federal stimulus dollars. The Mayor's office broke the project down into three parts; one from Drexel to Puetz, one from Rawson to Drexel, and one from College to Rawson. Combining those three projects together, the 51st Street project is the biggest road project in the city's stimulus submittal, which had no consultation from the Common Council prior to it going to the Governor's office.

Thanks to the Mayor shining his brights on the street, the project suddenly seems to be moving ahead a lot faster. St. Paul's Lutheran Church as notified that the widening would result in their historic church to be demolished. The Board of Public Works tomorrow will be discussing a joint letter to the Village of Greendale regarding a joint application for the project (51st Street north of Berkshire is within Greendale limits). (H/T: Bullseye)

What irks me about the 51st Street issue is several items.

1. Does the traffic counts on the street call for its widening, or are Franklin officials simply attempting to create a busy, 4-lane arterial road just for the heck of it?
2. St. Paul's Lutheran most likely needs to be eliminated because from what we all currently see in the current widened area between Sendik's & Andy's, the road has a boulevard down the middle of it. Once again folks, this boulevard is nothing but green grass that will probably have a boatload of dandelions on it come May. So we need to tear down a historical feature of our city because we need the extra room for a grassy boulevard?
3. While I recognize that 51st Street is pretty cruddy for driving on several patches of the street, how many other local roads in Franklin are in that shape if not worse? I can easily point all of Franklin's portion of College Avenue, St. Martins Road, and even Rawson Avenue from just west of Loomis to Forest Home Avenue. Therefore, wouldn't a simple reconstruction of 51st Street be more sound with regards to spending instead of aiming at additional dollars to add another 2 lanes and possible boulevard down the middle of it?
4. The politics of this really does stink. You have dozens of residents that live along 51st Street and probably didn't have a clue as to what was going on as of recent. To top it off, neither did their aldermanic representatives until after the widening proposal was submitted. The Mayor is no dummy; as the process for the widening truly begins, those residents will aim volleys of negative attitude towards their aldermen...even though it was the Mayor who kicked things into gear!

Kudos should go to Alderwoman Kristen Wilhelm, who apparently has notified her constituents in the 3rd District of the upcoming discussions. Residents along the eastern side of 51st from Berkshire to Drexel are in her district. Hopefully Alderman Lyle Sohns, who represents the rest of the residents on 51st all the way down to Puetz, will do the same.

Brookfield's review of elected official appointments should be considered in Franklin

Yesterday the Brookfield NOW newspaper reported that two Brookfield aldermen are submitting legislative referrals regarding appointment on commissions. One of the proposals specifically aims at how long aldermen should have the luxury to be on a certain commission. The alderman proposing this piece, Scott Berg, is quoted in the NOW:

Berg's referral - made Feb. 3 - looks at limiting the terms of aldermanic appointments to city committees, boards and commissions. Berg proposed that no aldermen serve more than four consecutive years on any committee.

Berg said limiting the terms would give aldermen an opportunity to "be a little more rounded and be able to better understand the issues."

"I think the real problem is that people get entrenched on committees," he said.

If limits are enacted, Berg said he would like to see them in place by November, so that those interested in running for the council in 2010 are aware of the changes.

I think Berg is 100% accurate on the fact that some elected officials end up being "entrenched" in specific commissions. Franklin has several aldermen that have dug their trenches deep, including:

• Alderman Steve Olson: Economic Development Commission & Technology Commission
• Alderman Tim Solomon: Park Commission, Licensing Committee, and Finance Committee
• Alderman Ken Skowronski: Plan Commission & Economic Development Commission

The above-named commissions had the above aldermen on them for many, many years. From what I've picked up in City Hall, the thought of potentially putting in a fresher face to move these aldermen elsewhere isn't received very well. What bugs me is the notion that if an elected official keeps getting re-elected and has already planted his/her butt in a specific commission for X number of years, the seat almost becomes something comparable to the US Supreme Court.

I believe certain commissions and committees in Franklin should have some movement with regard to who the aldermanic rep(s) are. Keeping things the same for several years doesn't really promote much of a change or "new blood" for city issues relating to those commissions and committees.

Franklin residents depart the city in search of dining opportunities

Last night, my mom headed out to meet-up with some friends. While there are no problems with that, it was the fact that she had to travel all the way to Wauwatosa, to Mo's Irish Pub on Hwy 100 & Bluemound Road, to have that great time.

I've been on the record for many months expressing my thoughts on what I feel is a primary issue for residents, outside of the usual issues of taxes, building maintenance, and road repair. For a community flirting with 35,000 residents, There are less than 10 fast food restaurants, and I can only note five actual "sit down" restaurants that are NOT bars. Don't believe me? Here they are:

1. Casa di Giogio
2. Chili's
3. Gus' Mexican Cantina
4. Hugo's Steakhouse
5. Pantheon

I don't include bars with my count because bars and restaurants, in my opinion, are totally different in nature. Bars are more for casual drinking purposes, whereas restaurants aim at providing food to their customers.

I'll be frank with this: For a community with a flirting 35,000 population to only have 5 restaurants, to me, is embarrassing. When you throw in several other surrounding communities that have residents who need their 3+ daily meals a day, you have a very big number. In fact, when I obtained a copy of the Fountains of Franklin demographics sheets, a 5 mile radius around their site has over 150,000 residents residing in it!

That's a big number, don't you think?

So, what's going on? Who's dropping the ball in lobbying for restaurants to come to Franklin? Perhaps for a discussion at a later time, who's potentially dropping the ball for other businesses to enter our fine community?

We need an individual who is dedicated to working for us who can bust his butt 24/7 in contacting retailers, restaurants, and office tenants promoting Franklin. Doug Wheaton as Economic Development Director was certainly a start in that process, but I personally think he could have been more persistent and more "out there" in promoting the city. This is the time to begin looking at what was done wrong in the past to make the proper amendments for the future. I think some members of the Common Council forget the massive list of restaurants their constituents would like to see in our community.

On another note with this topic in mind, I wasn't really enthused when I read Economic Development Commission members telling potential businesses for Franklin that they can locate elsewhere; that Franklin apparently doesn't need their kind of business operation. If I sat on that commission, I'd do everything in my power to make sure that businesses are welcomed with open arms and possible incentives, whether it's Mo's Irish Pub or Sonic Drive-In or Cheesecake Factory or Moondance Coffee.

(I'd also ask the Chairman for more meetings of the EDC other than the once-in-a-blue-moon meeting situation, but I digress)

In the meantime, I absolutely agree and have been on the record numerous times with keeping some prime areas of the city like the Fountains of Franklin open for upscale and high end development. I also feel at the same time, however, that we can open up other areas such as sites near 76th & Rawson for all sorts of commercial development - - such as mid-boxes and fast food operations.

Being picky can be healthy for a community, but inserting that strict attitude over every piece of land within city limits can definitely go too far.

This is why every time I hear a relative or friend of mine leave Franklin to meet-up with friends and go have fun, it just motivates me that much more to bring something here.