Tomorrow evening both the Franklin and Oak Creek Common Councils will be discussing the Drexel Avenue interchange with I-94. The Drexel interchange has been a hotbed of discussion and now controversy with an lawsuit filed by the ACLU, which is supported by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and several aldermen from Greenfield and Milwaukee.
This will be very interesting because Franklin's Common Council previously rejected any funding of the interchange until they saw potential economic benefits of the project. Since WISDOT wants a 50% local match, Oak Creek has been asking Franklin for up to $4 million dollars at one point for its share of funding. Due to this and the fact that I'm a resident of Franklin, this blog has been staunchly OPPOSED to the Drexel interchange because I have the following opinions:
- Franklin has NO MONEY in the coffers for such an expenditure
- If Brookfield has only 2, 27th Street should be a-OK with 3 (including the future Elm Rd interchange)
- Why would Franklin spend money in Oak Creek when there are plenty of projects needed within...well...Franklin!
The Journal Sentinel put up an article about Oak Creek's decision to bring back the proposal, which states that Mayor Dick Bolender and Mayoral candidate Alderman Mark Verhalen both wanted to bring this issue back for discussion. According to the article, Bolender and Verhalen both are looking at the Common Council to approve of a 25% local share for the project, which amounts to $3.8 million. What immeadiately got my attention was the fact that Common Council President (and Mayoral candidate) Dimity Grabowski was NOT part of this newfound "buddy-buddy" tactic by Bolender and Verhalen. I spoke to Dimity earlier tonight about the payday loan ordinance, and after that was done I went to the Drexel interchange for a quote. Dimity provided the following:
After several discussions with State Rep Mark Honadel, it was Mark Honadel who
suggested that the City of Oak Creek should consider the possibility of a 25%
cost share, versus letting this issue die. I was aware of this for some time,
and were other's. It was not Mayor Bolender nor Ald Verhalen who suggested
this. I am simply letting you know that the credit due on this one, is State
Rep Mark Honadel. Should you need to verify this, feel free to contact him. The Oak Creek Common Council unanimously has agreed that to
ask the tax payers to swallow the cost of $7.5 million, is unreasonable, hence,
the decision to try and shoot for 25% local cost share, versus 50%.
Later tonight, she contacted me with the following information:
I just got off the phone with Rep Mark Honadel, who is the one that brought this
issue back to the table, to consider Oak Creek paying 25% of the local cost
share. I completely understand Franklin's position, not a problem.
Here is my
problem..... I don't want for Oak Creek to even consider paying anymore than
they have to, to get this done..... the taxpayers would never stand for
7 million, let alone 5 million!! Ridiculous!
I just wanted to ensure that
Rep Mark Honadel got the credit for this one, not the Mayor for simply picking
up the telephone and contacting the Journal.... I have never stood by and
allowed people to take credit for something that they don't deserve, that
dosen't seem right to me. Just my opinion.
For my part, I contacted Franklin Alderwoman Kristen Wilhelm to see why Mayor Tom Taylor would want to bring this issue back up. According to Wilhelm, the Mayor wants the Common Council to send the Drexel interchange issue to three individuals for input: The Director of Finance, the Director of Administration, and the City Attorney. In the end, I'll predict that all three will come back to the Common Council after their "research" and recommend to the Council approval of sending tax dollars to Oak Creek.
Readers, this interchange has become an irritant to Franklin taxpayers; it just never seems to go away. Whenever residents feel the issue is dead or has vanished, it magically reappears to haunt them some more. The threat of Franklin taxpayer money being sent to Oak Creek seems to never disappear, and that's a high concern of mine. Mayor Taylor has always been in my sights ever since the days of the Boomgaard boondoogle, and he never seems to disappoint us in doing more and more nonsense every month.
I just hope it doesn't have to take a jam-packed Council Chambers in Franklin to finally kill this wretched interchange...because right now I don't think Mayor Taylor or members of the former Franklin Citizens for Responsible Leadership (Aldermen Olson, Skowronski, Sohns, and Solomon) get the hints.
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