by Tom Neal on November 17th, 2008
Back in June, I wrote a post here on CW regarding the future status of Woodchucks baseball in Wausau.
The gist of that article was:
The team’s contract with the city expires after next season (2009), and unless the city agrees to pay for significant updates at the ballpark, the team might face a need to relocate. Bill for proposed updates reported in the WDH: $240,000. Question: Is it worth the money?
In today’s (11/17/08) WDH, the issue reappears. This time, the $240,000 upgrade is not mentioned at all. Instead there’s a three-times-larger $798,000 improvement project for the existing park (that can easily grow to $1 million), along with five multi-million-dollar proposals for new stadiums or an expansion of Athletic Park:
West Side Industrial Park: $2.8 million. So much for a neighborhood park!
North East Wausau: $2.9 million. Site not identified.
Athletic Park Expansion: $5.6 million. Buying 23 residences, plus three commercial properties.
Wausau Concrete: $3.7 million. Wouldn’t mind replacing that eyesore on the river!
Frank / MCDEVCO: $5.7 million. Location not identified.
So, the big questions become: Is the city willing / able to do any of these? Do we watch the Woodchucks move away as did our previous team? Do we miss another boat as we did with the 4-year college going to Point (something we’ve never recovered from)? Is there an economic impact study / document available?
The Park Dept. (!) is talking with the Woodchucks about all this … but what is our city government (i.e. our leaders) doing about it? What is the priority? Is there a public opinion / input component? There’s one year left in the contract.
My article in June was responded to by three people … none of them “official.”
Wonder how long this will plod along without any sense of vision or commitment?
Who cares?
by Cheryl Mathis on November 14th, 2008
Our questions this week come from a serial CW commenter, oldwoodchair. If you would like to submit questions of your own, please contact Cheryl at Cheryl at this domain dot com. Thank you, Terry!
1. If a statue were built of you, where would you want it to be placed?
2. Is the “400 Block” a good name for the 400 block? Or should we come up with something more defining, like maybe “Indecision Square”? Other ideas?
3. If you could start over again, would you go into a different line of work? What is your dream career? Is it ever too late to start over?
4. I have a specialty license plate…do you? If you don’t, what would you put on it that describes or identifies what you want to portray to the world. (It can have 8 characters, including spaces, total.)
5. Do you believe we’re alone in the universe, or is there intelligent life out there somewhere?
by Tom Neal on November 13th, 2008
So many cars, so few convenient parking spaces. We need solutions for the many who can’t find a handy spot for ol’ Sparky when they’re doing that downtown thing. How about:
1. To handle overflow, build several parking bridges spanning across the river. After all, it’s underused space. Nobody would miss it.
2. Heck, maybe re-route the river to send it around by the industrial park and use that whole darn old riverbed for free parking.
3. The Great Hall at the Grand Theater is often idle … why not put in garage doors?
4. Speaking of the Grand Theater itself, three words: removable folding chairs.
5. Actually pay motorists to use the various parking garages.
6. Or tear down those garages and create more street-level parking.
7. Hoists.
8. There must still be Prohibition-era escape tunnels down there.
9. The 400 Block, obviously.
10. Claim, by eminent domain, any and all private garages and yards in the immediate area, and gobble up Back When’s dining patio.
11. Eliminate at least one Asian restaurant … go from spring rolls to steamroller.
12. Drive-through lanes for every business.
13. If any storefront goes vacant, it’s outta here!
by Tyler Vogt on November 12th, 2008
I am new to Citizen Wausau, but I have been working downtown for almost ten years. Currently I am one of the owners of Malarkey’s Pub. I am looking over the 400 block everyday.
Except during events, most of the time there is no one on the square; if it’s really nice outside, maybe a handful of people. I think this is due to the lack of definition on the square. People don’t like to sit in the middle of an open space. Having walls, flower boxes, trees, shade or whatever would help divide up the square into spaces people may feel more comfortable.
I think next year we should try putting the stage on the north side of the block. Eventually it would be nice to see some streets close down (and buses re-routed). I think having the stage on the north side may help a business to move into the old Little Italy building (I looked at that space for Malarkey’s, and one of the reasons we did not go with it was because I felt that space was “behind all the action”).
If the stage were moved to the North side I would like to eventually see an environment where 3rd, 4th, and Jefferson Streets could be used to let businesses supply tables and chairs to cater to customers, like they do in Milwaukee, Chicago, Madison, other cities, and all over the world. This of course would require the city to loosen its prohibition laws. They some how get this to work in other communities, couldn’t we at least try?
Imagine if you could come down to the square just like you do now, but you also had the choice to grab a stage view table outside at the Mint, Malarkey’s, Yao’s, Erberts, and other places? After the shows on the square you could enjoy the evening till 10 (or some other designated time all the tables have to be cleared) then go check out local nightlife at The Intermission, Malarkey’s, The Fillmor, the Red Eye, or The City Grill. Eventually, the downtown retail shops could get together and stay open later or restaurants could serve past 8 or 9. We could have events on Thursdays, too, since so many people take Fridays off. And how about a weekend music concert or two? (I’m in it to win it!)
When I travel to other cities the downtown areas are teaming with activity on hot summer nights. In Wausau, Wednesdays do all right, but other than that, it’s a ghost town at times.
I realize that is a pipe dream at the moment, but all this momentum for downtown retail and nightlife could stem from the events that are already held downtown. It’s important to keep them there. Please don’t move them.
I believe all this discussion could really be helped out by asking a simple question: What is the downtown for?
If it is for the people of Wausau, then one could argue it’s doing a decent (although the square is not too pretty) job the way it is.
But if its goal is to help continue to make Wausau more of a destination-style city, we are on a good path, but we have a way to go. The square is a step in the right direction, but I would like to see it expand in a way that could let local business cater to the growing crowds, generating an energy that would make people want to spends more time downtown and in Wausau.
by Dino Corvino on November 11th, 2008
Can someone please tell me when Wausau City Council President became the Village Administrator for Kronenwetter? How does this happen?
I am unsure if I understand this in any way. Right now we are missing a Director of Development, an HR Director, and a City Attorney, and whatever it was Kristen Fish did. Yet we are fine with our City Council President giving his professional resources to another city.
If City Councilperson Rosenberg is not allowed to vote on things that could be seen as conflict with his day job (which he does very well, mind you), what is NOT a conflict for Mr. Forrest now? What piece of city business undertaken by the City of Wausau does not impact in some way this Village of Kronenwetter?
I find it shocking that our leadership pool has accepted this. While I do not think that we are in some sort of resource-based competition with the Village of Kronenwetter, we continue to have huge holes in Wausau. Could Forrest’s skills not be put to better use in the city he LIVES IN?
by Cheryl Mathis on November 10th, 2008
Isn’t the library really heaven? My children think so. They don’t even mind that they don’t serve french fries there.
Tonight after The Husband gets home from class, we’ll be piling into the car to go to the library so I can borrow another load of audiobooks. We’ll pull into the lower parking lot and hike up the stairs to the library, the nice new stairs that connect the main entrance of the library to the newly opened parking lot by the river.
What do you think of the new parking lot and the resulting stairs? Do you mind?
I guess the stairs might seem daunting to the elderly or people with prohibitive health issues. I know it’s certainly daunting to me if I’m lugging a one-year-old on my hip and trying to wrangle a two-year-old boy who may or may not be having a tantrum for some ungodly reason. Before the lower parking lot opened, I parked across the street in the parking garage and waited my turn to cross the street. That option is still open to me, but I kind of prefer the stairs to dodging traffic.
Here’s Cheryl’s Big Idea for the week. Mark a handful of parking spots in the upper parking lot as reserved for senior citizens and pregnant women. Hopefully people would respect those signs more than they respect the 15-minute-drop-off-only spots, which is hardly at all.
by Dino Corvino on November 7th, 2008
So, it’s Friday, the week of Barack Obama’s election, Dave Obey holding his seat, Donna Seidel holding hers, and Nate Myska making a very, very impressive first run. The blisters on my feet are healing, I gave back all the flyers from the back of my car, and I feel pretty great about the effort. On Monday when I looked at the maps, I had such a hard time finding a way for my candidate to get to 270 electoral college votes. It was so tough.
I hope personally that you took part in process. Next, we must all give blood. Or something. I think we can all use a week off really, so I am going to Minocqua. Who’s coming with me?
Let me ask you something totally random, with no serious overtones.
1. Do you put cream and sugar in your coffee? Cream and not sugar? Sugar and not cream? In college I roasted coffee for Stoney Creek Coffee when it was a start up, and I became a coffee purist. I have always looked down my nose at the cream and sugar people. Why not make milk with caffeine?
2. What is your neighborhood haunt? It does not have to be a bar, but let’s be fair – this is central Wisconsin, so it might just be. Why do you like it? How often do you go?
3. I recently met Jeff Thelen, and I have to say he was surprisingly handsome in real life. So, if you had to pick a most attractive newscaster who would it be? Who is the most journalistically advanced, like Edward Murrow or Cronkite? Who will be the next one to leave for a bigger market?
4. Can you change your own oil?
5. Do you own steel toe shoes? Why?
6. Have you seen this dude in the kilt? He is like at every party? And he hides beers in his kilt? Have you seen this dude?
7. If someone was going to have an all-day music fest, how much should it cost?
8. If you were going to fix the Fillmor, what would you do?
by Dino Corvino on November 4th, 2008
The polls have now closed here in Central Wisconsin, and we hope that you voted. We do not care who you voted for, but we care that you took the time to vote, to make sure your voice was heard.
Thank you for voting, Wausau.
by Dino Corvino on November 4th, 2008
We are getting close to 5 pm here in Central Wisconsin, and not to put too fine a point on this, but you should really go to your polling place and vote. We hope you have already done so, and if you did, please ignore this message, but if you have not, we hope you pack the kids in the car and go exercise your right to vote.
Rights only exist when we claim them. So please, claim your vote.
