by Dino Corvino on December 8th, 2009
We just got this in an email…our first snow emergency of this winter season. Are you ready?
“SNOW EMERGENCY
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 –In anticipation of the heavy snowfall which has been forecasted, a snow emergency will be in effect from 12:00 a.m., Wednesday, December 9, 2009 until 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 10, 2009. Vehicles which are parked on City streets are subject to being ticketed. It is very important for vehicles to be off the streets so snow plowing operations can take place.
Drivers are urged to use caution on snow-covered streets and stay clear of snow plows.”
by John H. Fischer on December 4th, 2009
Early next week, the City of Wausau’s CISM committee will again be looking at Third Street, specifically, the direction of traffic flow. They are also including the city’s Traffic and Parking committee in on the discussion.
Currently, traffic on Third Street starting at the Wausau Center mall runs one-way — north. Third Street is scheduled to be redone in 2010, and if the direction of this one way street were going to change, that would be a good time to do it. And, based on a presentation given to the CISM committee, there is overwhelming support of changing Third Street to a one-way street going south instead.
Many have spoken up or made online comments that investing millions of dollars to change the direction of Third Street is irresponsible considering other needs that the City of Wausau has. However, those comments are not really accurate.
The fact of the matter is that Third Street was slated to be redone in 2009, but late in 2008 many downtown businesses asked the city to hold off. It is no mystery that construction makes it difficult on businesses in the area of that construction. And, with much of the redevelopment in downtown, it seems that every single year something was being built that made it harder for downtown businesses to survive. Once one construction project was complete and businesses were ready to get back to normal, a different one was scheduled. It started to look like having downtown torn up and under construction was “normal.” The businesses asked, and received, a one-year break from construction.
During these discussions in 2008, there was talk of whether or not Third Street even needed to be re-done. Many said it was just fine. The street project included sidewalks and planters and there was discussion of why this would be done, as they were just fine as well. I openly admit that I really don’t spend much time downtown other than my frequent trips to the County Courthouse or Wausau City Hall, so as an “outsider” to downtown (but someone who pays a significant amount of taxes); I decided to check out the situation for myself. I spent a day walking up and down Third Street, taking pictures of the street, of the sidewalks, of the planters. I also walked into a few businesses to talk to them about things. I then shared my thoughts (and a few of the pictures) with Citizen Wausau.
My thoughts at that time: That Third Street was in bad shape. Period. Could it last another year? Probably… but seriously something needs to be done. The planters are mostly wood and years of snow and exposure to the elements have them looking kind of crappy. They could be repaired with similar materials for a low cost that would get another 5-10 years of life out of them, but as nice as some of the facades are in our downtown, having “cheap” wood planters is almost more of a distraction than anything else. The sidewalks though, looked to be in GREAT condition. There were a few spots near intersections where repairs were needed. But as a whole, I saw no reason to do anything with the sidewalks.
So, the one year break from construction is nearly over and the City again wants to proceed with the Third Street project. As a matter of fact, based on comments made by council members, waiting the year was actually a good thing because current economic conditions mean that many contractors are desperate for work. Between contractors looking for work and the price of petroleum-based products down, bids for street work have been coming in lower than expected.
But, the question facing the City now, is the direction of traffic flow. Main Street talked with business owners and other people downtown and summarized in their presentation to the City that most wanted the traffic flow to change to southbound. The theory is that many come to downtown from the north, from Bridge Street. And because of the direction of Third, people fall victim to the “can’t get there from here” situation that can often be caused by one-way streets. Main Street feels that it makes sense to come up 3rd which would end at one of the mall entrances. Based on the overwhelming support of the change in direction, CISM recommended going ahead with the change in direction as part of the reconstruction.
Then came the City Council meeting, where many downtown businesses were questioning the change in direction. They claimed to have done their own informal surveys to come up with the conclusion that the majority actually favored keeping things just the way they were.
Councilman Ed Gale (as well as others who are on the CISM committee) indicated that they were making the recommendation on the change in direction based on a very convincing presentation by Main Street, that this is what downtown business owners wanted. However, now that the business owners are making it known that may not be the case, it would be prudent to bring this back to the committee. It was acknowledged that the original public hearing was held at a time of the day that made it difficult for business owners to attend.
Gale said he would be willing to hold the meeting at a time that was late enough to gain maximum input from those affected. Because of notice requirements, this would not be a “public hearing” as defined by state law, but he did indicate that the committee would solicit the input from those attending the meeting, if they wanted to provide input. The meeting notices have just been posted, and the date of the meeting will be Thursday, 12/10.
So, should Third Street be a one-way going north? Should it run south instead? Or, is it time to open up Third Street to traffic going both directions? What are the thoughts of Citizen Wausau?
by John H. Fischer on November 10th, 2009
There is a big push to shop local, the thought being that money spent with locally-owned businesses keeps this money here locally. There are two sides to this philosophy.
Of course there is the shop local side of things. That if you spend money in a store owned by Mr. Smith who lives here locally, Mr. Smith will then use that money to pay other local bills. However, if the money is instead spent in huge big box store, a good chunk of that money leaves the Wausau area never to be seen again, at least not here locally.
However, the counter to that argument is that often (not always, but often) it is more expensive to shop locally. The big box stores are able to use volume to get their products at a lower cost and can use economies of scale to then offer the same product at a lower cost than a local, small retailer. In this economy, everyone is trying to make their dollar go farther, so if you can get the same product for 5-10% less at a big box, doesn’t that make more sense? And, not all of the big box revenues leave the local area, after all, they do employ local people, they do pay local property taxes, etc.
With the big boxes able to out-price the small, locally-owned retailer, how do the small, locally owned retailers continue to stay in business? Simple, they must learn to not compete on price, but instead compete on service.
Being an owner of a local business, I am faced with the same economic realities that our local retailers are faced with. According to the Wausau Daily Herald, in the last five years, there have been over a thousand rental units added to the local market place – most of these from out-of-town investors. They build in a scale that I cannot come close to. Because of economies of scale, they are able to offer their product for less cost than I am. Because of the size of their portfolio, they are able to undercut prices in certain markets (like mine) and make up for it by increasing prices in other more lucrative markets (like Madison or the Fox Valley). Therefore, I am faced with the same dilemma that local retailers face: do I lower prices and try to survive knowing that many customers only care about the price points – even if that means lowering services; OR, do I maintain current price points and services and sell myself using services.
Being a locally-owned company, I understand what locally-owned retailers go through. That is why even though I could save money and help my bottom line by using big box retailers for almost all of my supplies, I feel that us little guys really need to stick together, so whenever practical, I make an effort to use locally owned companies rather than big boxes. Here are just a few examples of how I make an attempt to keep money local:
Appliances
If you do some shopping on price, you will see that as far as a bottom line price, Best Buy will probably be the winner. However, locally-owned Grebes is really not that far out of line. And, based on volume, we can normally get appliances for a little bit less than retail. However, I don’t know that anyone can touch the service level of Grebes. It starts by being recognized and being addressed by name when you enter the store, continues to their willingness to work with us on the delivery and installation schedules, and is topped by a service department that is simply second to none. If I have a tenant with a refrigerator that won’t keep things cool, I know that one call to Grebe’s service department, and the problem is as good as taken care of.
In 2008, my records indicate that $10,867 was spent on new appliances. Although $923 was spent at big boxes like Menards and Home Depot, $4,964 was spent at Grebes and the rest was spent at other local businesses like Yesse Heating, Ace Hardware and Baumgardt Plumbing. So far in 2009, of the $7,118 spent on new appliances, $4,120 went to Grebes and the rest to the other local businesses already mentioned.
Staying local was also done with money spent when appliances simply needed to be repaired instead of replaced. In 2008, all but $792 (which also stayed local) of the $3,632 spent went to Grebes. So far this year, all but $93 of the $1,696 spent went to them.
Carpet
I could probably save money by going to a big box for carpet, but then the problem of coordinating installation comes up. Sometimes, we have a very tight window to work in of only a few days to get the old carpet out, and the new carpet in. Also, from time to time, we will change carpeting in an occupied rental for a long-time tenant, and this requires a great deal of coordination. In 2008 we spent $17,630 in carpet and installation, so far this year, $11,396 has been spent. All of this has gone to locally owned Showcase Carpets and one of their installers. Keeping the money local, and at the same time getting a level of service that no big box could ever match.
Building Supplies
Although we try to keep things local when it comes to general building and maintenance supplies, sometimes simple convenience does matter. Although over 25% of our maintenance supplies are purchased from Ace Hardware in Weston ($4,675 in 2008 and $5,290 so far in 2009), a good chunk is purchased from big box retailers. However, when choosing a big box, the vast majority comes from Menards. First, because they are a Wisconsin company, and second, because I personally HATE the self-check out lanes that they try to steer you to at Home Depot.
So, do those large, out-of-town apartment owners also shop locally for supplies? Or do they get volume discounts from the big boxes and are more concerned about bottom line than supporting the local economy? To be honest, I don’t know because I am not them.
Although I do believe when keeping dollars local when I can, I also know that I am not going to do business with you just because you are local. I chose to do a majority of my business with local companies like Grebes and Ace Hardware and Showcase Carpets because of the service I receive. If you think I should shop in your store because you are local but you don’t offer me a good value, and you don’t offer that “Northwoods Service” that I am willing to pay a little more for – than don’t expect my business. However, I will pay more to be more than just another customer coming through the door.
by Dino Corvino on November 1st, 2009
At Citizen Wausau we consider ourselves as a part of the community, we want to engage in the projects that we see as interesting or valuable. We want to engage the process of growing our city in new and exciting ways, ways that build community. That’s why we’re proud to introduce a new idea: TweetBus.
What is Tweetbus?
TweetBus starts with a simple goal: we want to increase both awareness and use of the Wausau Public Transit System, the bus. Public transit is a vital part of our city’s growth. Sadly, every year Public Transit seems to be attacked around the time of the city budget. So we want to do something fun and progressive that uses technology to create awareness of the Public Transit System.
Members of the CW family will be riding the bus all day on Saturday November 7th. We would love your company, but we’ll get to that in a second. We will be using Twitter to provide a live play-by-play of the day, and you can follow events as they happen on the new TweetBus website.
Want to Join Us?
You can take part in this adventure in any number of ways, from all day participation, to just a run here or there, to simply following along and spreading the world.
- We will be meeting at 8:45am Saturday November 7th at the Downtown Transit Center, and getting on the bus for our day long sojourn. We would love to meet you there, and start the day together. If you cannot make it there, or just want to do a part of the day, see below. We would welcome you to the fun of a day on the bus.
- Follow our progress on Twitter. Participants in the event should use the hashtag #tweetbus at the end of any relevant tweets. You can follow all the #tweetbus posts on the TweetBus website, or by searching for them on Twitter.
- If you plan to participate, share your Twitter username in the comments. We’ll try to put up a list of expected participants later this week!
Twitter on the Go
All you need to participate in TweetBus is a mobile phone. Twitter allows for any number of ways to tweet from your phone; click here for more info. At the very least you can use text messages to update Twitter – just make sure you end them with the #tweetbus hashtag! Smartphone users can do the same or use any of the many Twitter apps that are floating around out there.
Goals
The goals are simple. Increase awareness, use these new tools, and have a little fun. We love seeing the people who read and take part in CW at events, and we hope that this is another way for us to connect. We think that even if it is only a ride or two through out the day, it will be a good cause and some fun. We hope to upload some photos to a Flickr group, and maybe collect some stories of people who ride the bus, the drivers, and all the surrounding good times. Public transit is important, it is a part of the infrastructure of any city, and we want to highlight it here in Wausau.
So again, we are meeting prior to boarding…
Saturday November 7th
8:45 am
Downtown Bus Terminal
We hope to see you there.
by Dino Corvino on October 30th, 2009
Flu season. Right here, right now, sadly upon us. People appear to be leaking all around me, sniffling. Shaking, fevers. My favorite director Larry documented a vicious attack of the flu on his facebook page. It seemed like a tale out of ‘Trainspotting’.
So, the questions is really about prevention.
What are you doing to protect you and yours?
Do you get a flu shot?
What is your favorite home remedy for cough and cold season?
by Dino Corvino on October 26th, 2009
Today, I read in the Wausau Daily Herald that the nightclub, Break-A-Way, has gone to the police for help. They need the police to help them weed out the bad patrons, and they want to WORK WITH the police to get this done. I was shocked, appalled, and it made me realize I have a different world view of this troubling incident.
First off, a night club is by its nature not a family place. We do not go out at 11:30 at night to find wholesome fun. At 11:30 at night, in a bar, chances are the world is pursuing something a bit illicit, whether it’s love, drink, or something worse like trouble. But, it is not a library or a church social–it is a night club.
Secondly, I think this place is a dump. Years ago a friend was the bouncer there, and managed to get STABBED. I have to admit that he was a bad bouncer. But, knowing this is a place where someone would consider pulling a knife out and stabbing someone, what’s even more telling is that person HAD a knife to stab someone with. I was a bouncer for a long time, and someone only brought a knife to the bar once, and he had to get thrown out, then GO GET it, bring it back, and threaten me with it (and for the record we did not call the police).
Is it right to get rid of your manager? Sure. Is it right to blame him? Sure. Did you know he ended up down the road at IC Willy’s? Sure enough. Is this going to be the new place to go to for trouble? Does trouble follow this fellow? We shall see. Is it right to do all of this publicly in the media? Well, I am guessing that at some point a lawyer and a judge might decide, but we shall see how that goes as well.
But, is it right to go to the police for your troubles if your business in many ways facilitates drunk driving or other illicit behavior? I don’t think so. I think the bar owner, who by all accounts is a rather absent bar owner, could easily remedy this by bringing in a good doorman, some bartenders with some strength, paying them a bigger wage so they do not have to be so dependant on tips, and go from there.
Would you want to go to a place where you have to worry that the owner is in direct communication with the police? Sure, if you aren’t doing something wrong, then of course you have nothing to worry about. I think though that this gets to a larger issue. With the invasive nature of the police in small communities like this, does it lead to larger issues? Should we need to have them in our bars, in our Starbucks, in the Wal-Mart parking lot, or the library? Should we let them tap into the security camera feed and watch everything live?
Is the role of the police to come when called, or to set up shop as a tacit form of intimidation and information gathering? In the case of a night club, is it not self defeating to bring the police to your place? I mean, by the very act of having a beer, you are driving under the influence EVERY TIME. By bringing this heightened police presence and cooperation, is Break-A-Way not endangering their own customers?
Now granted, I come from a different time and place. I have always thought that a bar should be seedy, and a bit outlaw. Of course I want to feel safe, but, I understand that sometimes the wild things in the hearts of men need to roar. Sometimes we need to simply brazenly wallow. I think there is a place for that sort of thing in our city. Clearly we all have an expectation of safety, and all of the rest of it. But, sometimes you just have a bit of fever in your soul, and you just need a safe place to burn that off. And when I do, I would not do it at a place where the owner talked openly about bringing the police in to help out.
Is Break-A-Way like the Oakland Raiders? A long storied night club that has gone to seed with bad ideas, bad management, and bad execution? Is it time for Al Davis to sell the Raiders? Has the city changed too much for the old ideas of what a night spot is or is not to be relevant?
Also, I have to point out the hypocrisy of this action just a little bit. In open session this City Committee was resistant to Tyler Vogt of Malarkey’s wanting to open a second bar downtown. I believe the quote was, “That is just what downtown needs, another bar.” Well, Malarkey’s has a near-perfect reputation, and is met with resistance in making a commitment to downtown, yet a bar that is famous for being a haven for police activity is consistently given a second, third, and 47th chance.
I think it is fair to wonder what it would take to actually get police or council action in this town.
by Dino Corvino on October 14th, 2009
This case has been lingering about the City of Wausau for some time. It appears that a judgement was handed down. For the complete judgment see the link below.
Van De Yacht Decision.10.13.09
October 14, 2009, Wausau, WI – Judge Barbara Crabb of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin has granted a motion for summary judgment in the matter of Christine Van De Yacht vs. the City of Wausau and James Tipple, William Nagle, Michael Morrissey and Ann Werth in their individual capacities. This closes the case, unless it is appealed by Van De Yacht.
Van De Yacht Decision.10.13.09
by Andy Laub on October 3rd, 2009
Like Dino, I’ve been following this Klocko story with a sort of morbid curiosity; it’s really a slow-motion trainwreck of sorts. Before I go any further, let’s review the players:
- Dean Zuleger: Weston Administrator. Named Wausau Daily Herald’s “Person of the Year”.
- Paul Klocko: commenter “juanmoore” on the WDH forums. Posts inflammatory comments about Zuleger in response to the article.
- Wausau Daily Herald: releases Klocko’s email address at Zuleger’s request.
This is clearly a situation where a series of bad decisions led us to where we currently are, but somehow everyone seems to be pointing the finger at Zuleger when the worst offender here from a journalistic standpoint is the Daily Herald.
I Hate the Daily Herald
I find it amazing that I can frequent forums with hundreds of thousands of users that still remain coherent and fully functional, because if the user base was scaled up proportionally from the forums on WDH, the servers would be on fire and simply trying to log in would cause your computer to explode.
Unfortunately, these are the same people who comment on the articles, resulting in a discussion where commenters who have any rationality left are far outnumbered by people whose entire vernacular consists of insults, bigotry and misinformation.
I find this to be pretty amazing; while I have met many locals in my ten years here, I’ve yet to meet someone in real life who behaves in a way indicative of a typical WDH commenter.
The reason for this is glaringly obvious. One of the beautiful pitfalls of the internet is that it allows anyone to have a voice, and to do so without necessarily attaching that voice to a real person. This is generally pretty harmless, for in larger, global communities, people who prefer only to cause trouble (”trolls”) are pretty quickly called out by the people with a genuine interest in being there (a self-policing of sorts) or in more dire cases, are banned completely.
While this seems to happen occasionally on WDH, it doesn’t seem to occur with a frequency that would send a message to other trolling users, and trolling is exactly what Klocko was doing.
I Love the Daily Herald
There are a few steps the various involved could have taken that would’ve drastically altered this whole situation. A good moderator would have shut Klocko down almost immediately, for while he is well within his rights to be dissatisfied with Zuleger’s award and to express that dissatisfaction on a public forum, his contributions were of little to no value and only intended to hurt others. While he may have been doing his part to further prove Godwin’s Law, it’s pretty hard to argue that “Little Hitler” counts as any sort of useful commentary.
Klocko, if he were going to insist on logging on to a public site and being very vocal about the people he dislikes, could’ve have gone a step further to protect his anonymity, like registering an anonymous email address to use for that account. From what I understand, that’s the only bit of information WDH was able to provide to Zuleger, so it either used Klocko’s name or was easily associated to him after a quick visit to Google. Or (imagine this) not act like a complete lunatic in the first place.
And honestly, Zuleger could’ve let this whole thing roll off his back, but I can’t fault him too much. If put in a similar situation I would probably do the same thing. Klocko has made it very apparent that he has deep-seated issues with Zuleger but at the same time refuses to act like grownup and actually try to resolve them.
So while professionally I’m obligated to chastise the Daily Herald for violating the trust of one (or more) of their users, I find that on a personal level I’m absolutely loving that they threw Klocko to the wolves. It needed to happen, and I wouldn’t mind at all if it happened more frequently to those who blatantly abuse their anonymity.
by Dino Corvino on September 4th, 2009
You can see from this week’s posts, the economic recession or hard times, or whatever you want to call it, have come to Central Wisconsin. We all know people who have been touched, and from that we all feel it. A Yak walked into my kitchen last week, so times are tough, as I think the Yak was looking for a new, more affordable place to live. But, our own Managing Editor Cheryl Mathis has a piece about her home, and Dan Newman launched his Broke American blog, so I was wondering…
What have you done to curb spending in what appears to be a tough time that will last for a bit? What ways have you cut back? How have these hard times touched those around you?
by Brad Schjoth on August 26th, 2009
Combat USA, a mixed martial arts promotion put on by the National Combat Association, is slated to deliver an event to the Wausau area in just over two weeks.
The promotion, which features both amateur and professional fights in a hybrid round format, is coming to the Rothschild Pavilion on September 12th at 6:30pm. Established and originating out of Green Bay, Combat USA circulates the entire state of Wisconsin, providing competition to the booming sport on a local level. Tickets are relatively affordable ($20 for general admission), and it is a terrific opportunity for fans of the UFC, WEC and Strikeforce to enjoy some solid fights without spending the cash it would cost to buy a seat in a big arena. You can find out more information here, and it looks as if tickets are now on sale, with the event clearly announced to succeed their event this weekend in the Fox Valley.
It is the first time in quite a span that an MMA event has been held in the Wausau vicinity, and it only makes sense considering the substantial growth in popularity the sport has shown in the area. Up until now, Combat USA and other promotions similar to it (Konquer the Kage, King of the Cage, etc.) have traveled to larger metro areas hours from the Central Wisconsin landscape, or have taken advantage of the large amount of traffic to the Northwoods casinos. However, this scheduled stop is heavily warranted, as I can personally tell you, as a writer for Wisconsin Combat Sports and an avid mixed martial arts fan myself, Wausau, and the communities to all directions, are catching the fever of the sport, and recognizing it for what it truly strives to be.
Lah Thao, an accomplished mixed martial arts fighter, established Rising Son MMA in Wausau back in January. He was the top-ranked competitor in the state at 135-pounds until he took extended time off to start his adventure into teaching the skilled sport he loves. After an eighteen-month layoff, he returns to the cage September 19th in Tomahawk. But, back in July, Lah laid out to me the landscape of what has now become the Wausau area MMA scene, and how big the boom has become over the course of his career:
We usually have probably about 15-20 MMA guys that come regularly on the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights. And then we have about five or six grapplers that come regularly. Then we do a tae-kwon-do class and with that we have another 20 taekwondo students.
That statement, coupled with the craziness you’ll typically find at your favorite local establishment the Saturday night of a UFC event, it is instantly apparent the love and fandom for mixed martial arts that has come to rest in our community.
If you appreciate the heart and dedication put forth by any of the fighters that step into competition; if you enjoy the sheer physical power and prowess it takes to go one-on-one with an opponent; or if you are simply railed by the thrill of the action–support the sport and local fighters. I will see you September 12th.
