Franklin Today

Contact your legislators about SB 548

Senate Bill (SB) 548 is the proposed bill that would put our sex offender ordinance in jeopardy. I ask everyone to contact their elected leaders in the State Assembly and State Senate to encourage them to fight this dangerous bill.

Forum for School Board candidates set

Mark Schaaf of FranklinNOW is reporting that March 16th will be when the Franklin Educational Foundation hosts the forum for those seeking (re)election to the Franklin School Board. It will be held in the Green Room of Franklin High School at 7pm. This comes days after Library Director Barbara Roark informed me that the Root River Junior Women's Club, which sponsored city and school district candidate forums in the past, decided not to pursue a forum this year.

With the School Board candidates having a forum, that leaves those running for aldermen without one at this time.

Sex offender ordinance in jeopardy

Senate Bill (SB) 548 was introduced in the legislature, which could jeopardize Franklin’s current sex offender ordinance.

The bill includes several changes ranging from Department of Correction release policies to where released sex offenders are allowed to go. A significant difference between Franklin’s ordinance and SB 548 is the reduction in distance that must be maintained from facilities and locations utilized by children. Franklin’s ordinance places a 2,000-foot radius around such facilities and locations. The proposed bill would trim that to 100 to 250 feet. Franklin's ordinance is also more broad on the restrictions, facilities, and locations relating to where sex offenders aren't allowed to be.

Ouch! Is Southridge's rent a problem in landing retailers?

Several decades ago, my grandmother worked for Dryer Meyer in Southridge Mall. It was located where Hallmark is today. She worked there for several years, and when it closed its location she was told it was due to extremely high rent for the space. Now, like many, I always believed that rent at malls was likely a little high due to the amount of consumers passing your storefront and the popularity of going to the mall just to browse (even though you end up buying something).

Little did any of us know just how high rent is at Southridge, even today. 

Rep. Jeff Stone brokers deal on Drexel Interchange

It came through the wire this afternoon that State Representative Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) has brokered a deal for the Drexel interchange with I-94 in Oak Creek. This wire also confirms what BizTimes Editor Steve Jagler predicted just a week ago, which was covered on this site.

$18,500 went towards nothing

On Tuesday, the council approved the payment of $5,459.02 to RA Smith & Associates to finalize their work on the Cascade Creek Trail. This was a proposed trail with intentions to connect residents living in subdivisions south of Drexel from 51st to a little past 60th Streets to both Franklin High School and, later down the road, Milwaukee County's Oak Leaf Trail. Unfortunately, the project ran into a huge hurdle courtesy of strong opposition by residents whose homes would have the trail potentially as their backyards.

Yesterday was the first meeting of the MAHDPRC

I was in attendance last night for the Mayoral Ad-Hoc Development Process Review Committee meeting, which lasted 2 hours on the dot (thank goodness for Plan Commission meetings at 7pm!). The first meeting covered several issues, but was dominated by the concerns of hometown developer Mark Carstensen. Carstensen's frustration about the development process in Franklin led up to a point where he mentioned that our community is referred to, at times, the "People's Republic of Franklin" due to our complications and strictness.

My remarks relating to tornado sirens

This past Tuesday I spoke at the Common Council meeting relating to Fire Chief James Martins' request for the installation of tornado sirens in the City of Franklin. Being that Franklin is the only community in Milwaukee County that does not have any tornado sirens to warn residents and workers of an impending threat, having these in place would enhance the safety of residents during severe weather.

After the jump are my remarks.

The future of the county: "Walker wouldn't run again for County Executive in 2012"

Democratic blogger and President of the Park People, Dan Cody, has posted on his Facebook and Twitter accounts that Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker told a luncheon crowd at the Milwaukee Athletic Club that he wouldn't run for re-election as County Executive if his bid for governor fails in November.

Everything Greendale launched

Our neighbors to the north seem to be going down a similar path many Franklin bloggers have taken over the years. A resident in Greendale, William Attewell, has created a site titled Everything Greendale, which he aims at being The Social Network for the Historic Village of Greendale, Wisconsin. After a quick read-through, I think Attewell is on the right track.

There are residents everywhere who would like to lend a hand and help make their community a better place. Franklin has been blessed with not one, but six individuals who take time out of their lives to write pieces on issues they feel strongly about. Three of those writers, including myself, have decided to take the plunge and run for local office. One of them, Janet Evans, won a seat on the Franklin School Board.

Websites like Everything Greendale and even Franklin Today show their community's leaders that their residents want to learn more about issues in their backyards. It also shows the leaders that very inexpensive methods in technology can be used to get a result similar to what professionals put out at potentially high costs to taxpayers.