Franklin Today

A Taylor-made victory in the primary

With the School Board race down to four, now we turn to the final two candidates in the running for 9th District County Supervisor. Tuesday's vote showed one clear message - that people are really liking the message and personality of Franklin's Common Council President, Steve Taylor. Taylor won handily in Franklin and Oak Creek, and took second place to Don Schwartz in Hales Corners. Overall, Taylor received 46% of the vote compared to 29% and 25% for his rivals, Oak Creek Alderman Ken Gehl and Hales Corners Village Trustee Don Schwartz. Such a strong showing for Taylor, especially in Oak Creek, could have Gehl as his remaining challenger a bit nervous.

Bialk, Works knocked off after primary results

The Franklin School Board primary is over, and two candidates are out. Incumbent Board Member Judith Bialk and former School Board Member David Works, who lost his seat on the Board in 2011, will not be moving forward to the general election in April. The top vote-getters were Incumbent Board Member Janet Evans, Donald Petre, Aimee Schlueter and John Thompson. Those will be the folks looking for your vote over the next month and a half.

Bloggers depart from Schwartz days before primary

I have to say, while watching the primary for the 9th County Supervisory District unfold, the story with Hales Corners Village Trustee Don Schwartz's candidacy was an interesting one. In the beginning, the race was just three candidates - Schwartz, Franklin's CCP Steve Taylor, and Oak Creek Alderman Ken Gehl. It looked to be quite a dull primary, with all of them discussing the same issues, and sharing the same opinions. It was Franklin's conservative bloggers that broke the wall down last month and started talking up Schwartz when my interest in the race grew.

School Board primary offers a wide variety of candidates

Tomorrow many Franklin residents will vote in the primary that will narrow down six candidates in the Franklin School Board election to four.  The candidates include two incumbents - Judith Bialk and Janet Evans, and four challengers - Donald Petre, Aimee Schleuter, John Paul Thompson and David Works. In a year that's been overly political, even this primary race hasn't escaped controversy and hot discussion. Obviously, whenever there is such controversy, I enjoy covering the topic.

February updates from Alderman Olson

2/12 Update from Ald. Olson

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.

Bloggers unite behind Schwartz

Over the past few weeks, I've noticed a growing amount of support towards Don Schwartz for Milwaukee County Supervisor from Franklin bloggers. On FranklinNOW, Kevin Fischer discusses Schwartz (and only him) as an alternative solution when there's an opportunity to criticize one of Schwartz's opponents, Franklin Common Council President Steve Taylor. On his blog, Bryan Maersch displays a big banner that is similar to campaign ads on area news websites as well as a campaign website that supports Schwartz. I am curious to know if Schwartz's campaign paid for the spot or has any knowledge of its existence on Maersch's blog.

Environmental protections at issue for Forward Franklin EDC

At tonight's meeting, the Forward Franklin Economic Development Committee will be taking up the discussion on revisions to the city's Unified Development Ordinance "as it relates to environmental regulations which may hamper development." The primary environmental ordinance the city raises up on various occasions with developers is the Natural Resource Protection Plan (NRPP). The NRPP has drawn praise from residents wishing to keep Franklin more consicous of conservation and utilizing land better, but upsets developers time-to-time who want to develop more land at the potential expense of losing of the natural resources on their developing properties.

This discussion occurs at a time when the city is constructing the Ryan Creek Interceptor Sewer, which is geared to bring sewer to the southwestern portion of Franklin and easternmost Muskego. This sewer is being built despite strong objections from landowners and farmers in SW Franklin, which haven't faded into the sunset just yet. But again, developers are on the flip-side of this coin, and favor the newfound access of sewer. Developers and the majority of leadership on the Common Council view the sewer as essential to grow and develop the City of Franklin to its maximum ability.

It comes at no surprise then to see environmental regulations such as the NRPP being brought forward for the city's newly-formed economic development entity to review and potentially recommend changes that likely will ease restrictions for developers on environmentally-sensitive areas of the city. What this also has a side-effect on, though, is Common Council President Steve Taylor.

County redistricting plan is approved; City representation increases

Yesterday the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors approved of its redistricting plan with a vote of 13-6. With this vote, the county moves forward to the 2012 election cycle with 18 districts, down one from the current 19. The district chopped off comes via Supervisor Joesph Rice's district, which was a district representing the North Shore suburbs. Rice was usually part of the minority on the County Board, generally siding with a more conservative suburban bloc versus the majority, more Democratic bloc flanked by supervisors from the City of Milwaukee.