Franklin Today

4 of 6 candidates no-show for TEA Party forum

Yesterday, it was discussed on here that the Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty was hosting a candidate forum for the 6 candidates running for 2 posts on the Franklin School Board that evening. It was also mentioned that the GrandSons of Liberty is, more or less, an organization that follows similar principles to that of the national TEA Party movement. This was important to mention due to what ended up transpiring last night. Out of the 6 candidates, only 2 attended the event and answered questions.

6 candidates for School Board featured in tonight's forum

For those wishing to learn more about the candidates running for two seats on the Franklin School Board, tonight from 7-8:30pm, at the Root River Center on 74th & Rawson, the Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty is hosting a forum for such a purpose. The GrandSons of Liberty is a Franklin-based organization which is also leading up efforts with the Verify the Recall initiative, with the intent of shedding light on how the recall process in Wisconsin has apparent flaws.

Alderwoman Wilhelm sends out August e-Newsletter

Please see below for items of interest in the city. Note that several items have already passed due to delays in getting this e-Newsletter posted to the blog. My apologies for this.

Family Movie Night coming up at the library

Franklin Teens Fighting Tobacco, in conjunction with the Franklin Public Library Foundation, are hosting a movie night next Thursday for kids and their families. See the flyer below.

Parks Commission backs CCD concept, makes recommendation to Council

At last night's Parks Commission meeting, Citizens for Community Development (CCD) was asked to present its concept for lands surrounding Froemming Park and the Milwaukee County Sports Complex. As most of you are aware, CCD has been working on this concept for a little over a year, tweaking it per the input given by the community. In recent months, CCD's concept has gained significant momentum in light of the petition supporting its concept being submitted to the City and with more attention being given to it by other entities. Doing the presentation was myself, as CCD's President, and Mike Soto, who's on the CCD Board of Directors and whose employer, Continuum Architects, donated its time and talents to assist CCD in continuing to mold this concept for our community.

Franklin Today becomes talking point for some as CCD proposal is considered

Let's just say I didn't really want to bring this up, but rather avoid discussing it altogether. However, due to several e-mails and phone calls from readers asking to learn more, and to get my perspective on this, I'm inclined to opine about it and get the air cleared. 

At last night's Committee of the Whole meeting, as you've read in the previous post, Citizens for Community Development (CCD) submitted a proposal to the city to, in essence, merge and create a public-private partnership to encourage and drive new economic development proposals and growth for the City of Franklin. Being the President of CCD, more intrigue and interest was being placed on my views and background more than anyone else, and rightfully so. As the President of any organization or business, you in essence almost become the face of that organization or business. If aldermen were interested in CCD's proposal, they have the right to ask CCD questions that can be to the point.

During the discussion, which was recorded on video by Bryan Maersch of the Franklin blog Wag the Dog, CCP Taylor made mention that I, through Franklin Today, have made or could be making remarks that could, in essence, be of concern if the city is teaming up with CCD underneath me as President. CCP Taylor made the suggestion of perhaps having editorial oversight prior to some pieces being posted.

I responded in-kind and, as you can hear for yourself on Maersch's video, stated that if the city worked/merged with CCD on this proposal and this website was causing too much concern or unnecessary grief in terms of bringing in developers, retailers, etc. to Franklin, that I would go as far as shutting down this website. I hope my readers know me well enough by now to understand that my personal passion for helping our community move forward easily could trump writing this blog. If the blog became something that didn't serve a justice to the city and its residents, it should be shut down. I told CCP Taylor that what he had to say was fair and I fully understood and appreciated his remarks.

To my surprise, that response prompted Alderman Olson to criticize CCP Taylor as basically telling me to suppress my 1st Amendment rights, to which CCP Taylor denied this, and rightfully so. I did, in a nutshell, read "in-between the lines" with CCP Taylor's remarks to me, which wasn't appropriate on my part, and I have already personally apologized to CCP Taylor for doing so. I know for a fact that CCP Taylor enjoys reading this website, has frequently kept tabs on stories and opinions posted on this website, and even has pulled me aside after a meeting or two to remark (positively) on the content.

For the record, I do not fear my 1st Amendment rights will be trampled in any way, shape or form. I believe it was simply CCP Taylor giving a friendly reminder that people are reading and watching, and some might take things a bit too seriously and offensively than others. CCP Taylor did not at all recommend Franklin Today being shut down, noting how the site is basically the new cord that connects the community together, and how that would be a shame if it were to be eliminated.

I personally would just like it put to rest and would appreciate Franklin Today not being the "headline grab" for some with other agendas to derail or criticize members of the Common Council. CCD, as an organization with a Board of Directors and Advisory Board, wants to work in a cooperative manner with the City of Franklin. I happen to be President of the organization and the blogger for this website, and I certainly do my best to keep my organizational duties and this website as separate as possible. I have already began to take note, on my own accord, to refrain from being what some could label as too "personal" or "editorializing" on this site. If that bothers some, I do apologize. All I want to do is do my personal best to help move Franklin Forward.

Options for the EDC expand as CCD makes a proposal

As the City of Franklin is continuing to look at its options for the future of the Economic Development Commission, the newly-formed and Franklin-based Citizens for Community Development (CCD) saw a potential opportunity that the city could take advantage of. Due to its mission and the concepts and goals the organization is persuing, its Board of Directors reached out to the Common Council with a proposal to essentially create a public-private entity for the City of Franklin with the primary goal of encouraging economic development and growth.

Distinguished Young Women looking for host families

Another message from the Inbox, this time from Sue Herman, Chairman of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Distinguished Young Women. Read below:

We are looking for families that would be willing to host two girls for the week of July 31 through August 6. These are high school senior girls. The Distinguished Young Women program ‘s purpose is to provide scholarships for these outstanding young women to go to college.

The girls are kept busy most days and nights. They would need a bed to sleep in and breakfast provided in the morning. Most night meals are provided but we do allow one free evening to spend with the host family to do something together.

As a host family, you are provided with free tickets to the performance on August 6 at 2:00 at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center as well as to the awards dinner following the program at Meyer’s Restaurant in Greenfield.

For more information you can contact Sue Herman, Program Chairman at 414-525-9283 or wijrmiss@wi.rr.com. Also if anyone is interested in serving as a driver during the week to be sure the girls get to all of their activities, you can use the same contact info.

Restaurants desired for Southridge, as decided by you

Last week's news of the future of Southridge generated quite a buzz. So much so, that this website and Facebook page collaborated with Citizens for Community Development in creating a poll asking you, the readers and fans of this site, what you wanted to see in terms of restaurants. Further promoting this and truly making this a success, Greendale Village President John Hermes informed me that if we decided to send over the data, he would forward it onward personally to Simon Property Group. Simon is the owner of Southridge and the largest mall operator in North America.

So the polling began, and everyone had a restaurant of choice. In one week, over 2,500 votes were cast, and over 50 restaurants were named as choices. But only one restaurant could take top honors as the "most desired". See who it was below:

Hey Franklin! Want to Support our Troops?

Read on for how you can help support our troops this Spring! From Karen Grochowski:

Through June 15th we are collecting new or good-condition, adult-size baseball gloves to fulfill a request by a group of Marines in Afghanistan. It really helps them pass the time. So much of a military deployment is "hurry up and wait" and the waiting is the toughest part for many Marines. The request simply states “Baseball gloves (one or two left handed ones as well as many right handed ones.)” We hope to fill a box with gloves for these Marines at our big packing event on May 23rd, but will continue the collection through June 15th.

Donations can be put in the Support Our Troops barrel in the lobby of the Franklin Public Library, 9151 W Loomis Rd, Franklin, WI

Games for Xbox 360, PS2 & PS3 are highly prized by the troops also, so if anyone has games they are willing to donate the troops would love them! This is another popular way to pass time as they "hurry up and wait".

The Support Our Troops volunteers who meet at the Franklin Public Library work in cooperation with the Books for Soldiers organization to boost the morale of deployed US Service members by supplying items they have requested at www.booksforsoldiers.com.