Franklin Today

The #1 Issue: The Great Recession hits Franklin

It doesn’t come to any surprise that the Great Recession would be the #1 Issue that was faced in 2009. There were many setbacks that residents faced during the past year, and everyone felt the pinch. The City of Franklin was impacted in the following areas:

Good news for Franklin taxpayers

Earlier today I had the opportunity to speak with Common Council President Steve Taylor, who informed me that Franklin was notified about receiving a Phase III stimulus grant from the US Government! The grant will be used for the reconstruction of S. 51st Street in the tune of a little over $1 million. The portion of 51st that would be covered with these funds is the section in front of Franklin High School - Drexel to Puetz Roads.

Not covered in the stimulus grant would be the engineering costs to get things rolling for the planning construction of the road.

It was also mentioned that there would be plenty of citizen comment and input in terms of the road and how its associated with the high school. Questions put out there in the past related to sidewalks and pedestrian access for students to FHS, as well as handling traffic better at the 51st & Drexel intersection. Options for that intersection included a possible roundabout.

New stimulus money coming forward; Franklin out of the picture

Remember that lengthy debate over South 51st Street back in March? The arguments over whether the project would be sent onward for federal stimulus dollars stirred much controversy in the community, primarily over whether the potential project would have to become a 4-lane road through many subdivisions that border Franklin's 3rd & 5th Aldermanic Districts.

Well, the Journal Sentinel reports a compromise deal was struck yesterday, and funding for $38.7 million of federal dollars was allocated. Unfortunately, no Franklin projects were part of the deal; the closest that federal dollars come to our city's borders are a municipal project in Greenfield and road work on College Avenue at the Cudahy/South Milwaukee border.

While this was expected way back in March by several aldermen, and even City Engineer Jack Bennett, the issue refused to go away. This, I believe, was primarily due to the fact that residents wanted to ensure that their voices were heard on what they'd like to see 51st Street become in the future. All residents know that roads need to be repaired, and once in that "blue moon" of sorts, they need to be replaced and/or revamped. Residents living near 51st wanted to inform their elected officials, as well as the rest of the Common Council, that while they'd welcome bike lanes, sidewalks, and/or trails alongside 51st Street, they would fight tooth-and-nail if the road was widened by 2 lanes.

With the new allocations made yesterday, the chances of Franklin receiving federal dollars just continues to increasingly become unlikely. 

1-year anniversary of the "new day" in Franklin

It was April Fools Day, 2008 when Franklin residents elected Kristen Wilhelm and Steve Taylor to be their representatives in the 3rd and 4th Aldermanic Districts, respectively. Taylor would, 14 days from now, become Franklin's new Common Council President at the urging of Wilhelm and Alderman Ken Skowronski.

With the anniversary of their election today, what has transpired over the past year? Have you been so far impressed with their work? We might not be in Franklin High School, but grading our elected officials on the work they do is commonplace. And last night, for the first time on a crucial issue in the city, the "newbies" on the council split. CCP Taylor voted opposite of Alderwoman Wilhelm on the issue of 51st Street's application for stimulus funds.

On this note, I believe this will be the first of many crucial issue votes where Wilhelm and Taylor will be splitting votes on. Remember, there are still 2 years in their terms...and hundreds of items yet to come forward to the council.

As for my thoughts on last night's approval, be sure to read up on my views over at Metro Milwaukee Today. I'm honored with having that particular post being linked on today's WisOpinion entries, which covers the top editorials in the State of Wisconsin.

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.

Some updates regarding stimulus packages

Good morning Franklin!

After my criticism of Mayor Tom Taylor in not consulting the Common Council before submitting Franklin's nearly $104 million stimulus package, I decided to look at our neighbors for some advice.

I first looked at our direct neighbor to the north, Greendale. After contacting Greendale Village President John Hermes about the matter, I received word that Hermes did in fact receive input from members of the Board of Trustees prior to his submittal to Governor Doyle. Greendale requested a little over $9 million in their package.

Around the same time, I looked eastward to Oak Creek. While we know Oak Creek submitted roughly $83 million for their package, I couldn't get a definite answer on whether or not the Common Council had any input with Mayor Dick Bolender's office.

Then last night while I was looking into the Greenfield Mayor's race, I came across Mayor Michael Neitzke's stimulus package for his community. Greenfield requested a little over $34 million, with the majority being in road projects and building rehabilitation.

Download Greenfield Stimulus Package

I have yet to hear as to whether or not Greenfield's Common Council had a say prior to Neitzke submitting his package.

In closing this particular entry, I'll leave you with some personal thoughts on this. I feel that an open government is necessary in order to weed out some of the nonsense we see on plenty of legislation. Mayor Taylor's stimulus package oozed of several major "pork" items, including the full $20 million it would cost to build the Franklin Cultural Arts Center and several million for new parks that included ice skating rinks. I like what Village President Hermes did in Greendale by including the Village Board of Trustees in his decision-making for this important package. Also, while I never met him in person, I do have some respect now for Greenfield Mayor Michael Neitzke. While the jury's still open on whether or not Neitzke had any aldermanic recommendations, his proposed package didn't have much of pork at all, and I thought presented a reasonable proposal to the Governor. Greenfield also took the iniative by putting up the entire proposed stimulus package on their website for anyone to view. Greenfield in this case leads the southern suburbs in this matter; upon researching the other suburbs I have found that not one other burb has their stimulus package proposal on their website. With regards to this blog being a Franklin-centered one, I express my utter disappointment with the fact that my blog had to be the first to show Franklin residents the complete stimulus package from Mayor Taylor's office. So much for that open government that Alderman Olson and the Technology Commission proclaim we have...

The stimulus package submitted by Mayor Taylor

A very big and special thank you goes to City Clerk Sandi Wesolowski for being very prompt with my request on this issue. She has been the biggest asset in City Hall for many, many years.

The full document can be downloaded by clicking the link below:

Download Franklin Stimulus Package

Here's the list from most to least expensive:

• $33 million: Ryan Creek Interceptor (extend municipal sewer to SW Franklin and areas of Muskego & New Berlin)
• $20 million: Franklin Cultural Arts Center
• $12 million: Community Center
• $4.8 million: Land for completion of a Dedication of a Greenbelt Ecosystem to the Public
• $4 million: City Hall expansion that would include community room facilities
• $3.96 million: Dept. of Public Works Building Addition (New Garage)
• $3.75 million: Drexel interchange funding
• $3.3 million: Puetz Road reconstruction from 76th Street to Hwy 100
• $2.9 million: Addition on current Sewer and Water Utility Building
• $2.3 million: S. 51st Street (Phase 1) (Drexel to Puetz - - FHS area) (Reconstruction/widening)
• $1.7 million: S. 51st Street (Phase 2) (1300 ft N of Rawson to College) (Reconstruction/widening)
• $1.65 million: Pleasant View Park improvements (playground, basketball court, playfield, tennis court, pavilion, and connecting trail)
• $1.6 million: Utility improvements: Rawson Homes Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation
• $1.16 million: Hillcrest Neighborhood Park (New neighborhood park south of Elm Court) (includes basketball courts, baseball diamond, softball diamonds, playfield, playground, tennis courts, ice skating area, park pavilion, parking lot, and walking/education trail)
• $1.12 million: St. Martin's Neighborhood Park (New neighborhood park on west side of 116th & Meyers Drive) (same amnetities as the proposed Hillcrest Neighborhood Park)
• $1.03 million: Forest Hills Neighborhood Park (New neighborhood park west of Forest Park Middle School) (same amnetities as proposed Hillcrest and St. Martin's parks)
• $1.1 million: S. 51st Street (Phase 3) (Rawson to 1400 ft south) (Reconstruction/widening)
• $1.1 million: Street improvements to S. 76th Street from Imperial to Drexel (medians and pedestrian walks)
• $1.1 million: Utility improvements: Oakwood Road to Franklin Business Park water main extension
• $994,458: Oak Leaf Trail extension to County Line Road
• $330,000: Street Improvements to Oakwood Road from 60th Street to 6,100 ft east)
• $250,000: Utility improvements: Hale Park Connection Repair to Sanitary Sewer
• $140,000: Lions Legend Park improvements (accessibility & Historic Village)