by John H. Fischer on March 9th, 2010
There have been many critics who say leaders of the City of Wausau have put too much emphasis on downtown, and that resources are being diverted away from some of the more low-income, inner-city neighborhoods. I may be one of those critics.
For a long time, the perception was that once you got outside of an area bounded by 6th Street and the river (east-west), and Scott Street and Forest Street (north-south), you really didn’t matter. I am not saying that is how it was, but that was a very common perception. I was very pleased that for the last year or two, more emphasis is being put on areas outside of the downtown area, including the near west side. However, now there is a perception that once you get outside of an area bounded by 3rd Avenue on the west, 6th Street on the east, Bridge Street on the north and Thomas Street on the south, you just don’t matter.
A meeting I attended on Friday morning, March 5th, will hopefully help to eliminate this perception. The committee, which meets the first Friday of the month fairly early in the morning, is the Mayor’s Neighbor-to-Neighbor Committee. The N-2-N Committee (as it is called) was born as Former Mayor Linda Lawrence’s Core Area Renewal Effort (CARE). Much like the Wausau Century Project, this was a fairly high-government involvement project to do something with Wausau’s low-income neighborhoods. Although the CARE effort ended with Mayor Lawrence, some of the ideas continued on with the N-2-N Committee.
The N-2-N is more of a bottom-up type of organization trying to improve neighborhoods. One of their preferred tools is creating neighborhood associations. They define neighborhoods and help them create an identity and civic pride. They get help from the police department and the inspections department. Two of the most well established neighborhood groups under the N-2-N program are the much publicized Werle Group on the West Side, and the Longfellow Group on the East Side. The N-2-N committee has been working with a newly-formed inner-city neighborhood group on the West Side that has called themselves the “Westies,” and has already seen some improvement for their efforts.
The N-2-N committee is now looking at creating a neighborhood group in one of Wausau’s most problem areas. Their goal is to facilitate residents and property owners with creating an “East Town” neighborhood group. The area they are focusing on runs from 6th Street on the west to the railroad tracks (before Bellis) on the east, by Franklin Street on the north to Forest Street on the south.
The model they have used for other neighborhood groups is going to probably have to be put on the shelf and a completely new approach used because of the very unique and diverse make-up of this area.
Some of the challenges facing the N-2-N Committee include:
- 130 rental homes vs. 34 single-family owner occupied homes
- 42 commercial properties
- 7 large apartment complexes
- 7 owner-occupied rentals
- 5 group homes
- 4 probation & parole houses (TLP)
Based on information available to the N-2-N committee, there are 26 registered sex offenders living in this area. Also, the average age of the homes is around 115 years old (houses range from 1850 to 1960, so the newest properties are still a half-century old). Getting “buy-in” from the home owners is not going to be enough. Rental property owners and tenants are going to play a much larger role if this is going to work because as best the city can calculate, about 80-percent of the housing in this area is rental (and that number might be low).
The two biggest problems identified in this neighborhood are blight and crime. Per the summary statement distributed at the N-2-N meeting, some of the tools that Wausau can use for the blight issue include: inspections with follow-up and enforcement, landlord oversight, and community development grants. For crime, the same statement lists solutions such as increased police presence, enacting a dog ordinance, and enforcing a nuisance ordinance.
I applaud the N-2-N Committee’s desire to look at an area that seems to have been forgotten. However, I am not letting down my guard completely. The City of Wausau’s housing task force came up with a number of recommendations, despite having no real stakeholder input. Many of the recommendations are very heavy-handed. The task force consisted of council members and city staff who, in turn, interviewed other city staff in doing research for their recommendations. There was no input, however, from residents, home owners, renters, or landlords.
I applaud the apparent willingness of the N-2-N Committee to take a similar bottom-up approach in helping strengthen this troubled neighborhood. As an active landlord in this community, I pledge to do what I can to help. However, if city leadership falls back on trying to address these issues without stakeholder involvement, I fear there will be more problems than solutions. Let’s work together and do this right!
by Dino Corvino on February 16th, 2010
District 1
Romey Wagner 46 Votes
Greg Foye 44 Votes
Jay J. Carlson 33 Votes
District 3
Jonathon Havel 33 Votes
Craig Gardner 26 Votes
Chuck Szalewski 36 Votes
Matthew Sann 18 Votes
District 10
David E. Nutting 64 Votes
Chuck Gering 27 Votes
Dan McMullen 31 Votes
District 11
Tom Wohlfahrt 26 votes
Debra Weiss 7 votes
Sherry L. Abitz 64 votes
DC Everest School Board
Rita A.Kasten 19 votes
Valerie A.Palarski 10 votes
Helen Ackermann 19 votes
Andrew E. Sutton 11 votes
Thomas N.Rosenberg 12 votes
Jim Foss 16 votes
Joshua Dickerson 13 votes
by Dino Corvino on February 15th, 2010
Clearly we encourage everyone to vote. Voting is the life blood, and the engagement in the political process, and your voice. Something that we should exercise often.
We even have two members of the Citizen Wausau community running in these primaries.
We took this information, which should help out your finding polling places etc, from the Marathon County Website.
This is a list of polling places we found.
Title: ELECTIONS
When: Tuesday, February 16, 2010
(Go to election reports)
MARATHON COUNTY ELECTIONS:
SPRING PRIMARY ELECTION – TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2010:
PRIMARY ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD IN THE CITY OF WAUSAU ALDERMANIC DISTRICTS 2; 3;10;11 – MUNICIPALITIES WITHIN THE EDGAR SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR A REFERENDUM AND THE EVEREST SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR A SCHOOL BOARD RACE.
TO OBTAIN PRIMARY ELECTION NIGHT RESULTS YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT THE CITY CLERK’S OFFICE – THE EDGAR SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICE AND THE EVEREST SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICE.
SPRING ELECTION – TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2010:
CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE – BRANCH 2
COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISORS – DISTRICTS 1 – 38
FOR LOCAL MUNICIPAL RACES AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS RACES OR REFERENDUMS CONTACT THE MUNICIPAL CLERK AND THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICE.
Information on the April 6, 2010 – SPRING ELECTION will be available after the Tuesday, February 16, 2010, Spring Primary Election.
2010 Election Schedule:
* FEBRUARY 16, 2010 – SPRING PRIMARY
* APRIL 6, 2010 – SPRING ELECTION – Ballot Races: Marathon County Circuit Court Judge Branch 2; County Board Supervisors; Municipal Offices; School District Offices; Referenda.
* SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 – PARTISAN PRIMARY – Governor; Lt. Governor; Attorney General; Secretary of State; State Treasurer; U.S. Senator; Rep. in Congress; State Senator; Rep. to the Assembly; District Attorney; County Partisan-Sheriff & Clerk of Circuit Court; if required Referenda
* NOVEMBER 2, 2010 – GENERAL ELECTION – Governor; Lt. Governor; Secretary of State; State Treasurer; U.S. Senator; Rep in Congress; State Senator; Rep. to the Assembly; District Attorney; County Partisan-Sheriff & Clerk of Circuit Court; if required Referenda
by John H. Fischer on January 13th, 2010
A while back, an interesting thing happened at city council in Wausau. They took a vote, the person in the audience whose issue it was then asked to speak because they were very confused with what the vote meant, was the item approved or not approved. The item was the Peace Sculpture and the Mayor explained that the sculpture was approved, but the City had to put in place a system for reviewing sculptures, but once that system was made, this one was approved.
Instantly a number of people who voted for the sculpture hit their blue lights to speak. They had understood that this procedure for accepting sculptures had to be developed, and then this proposal would go through that procedure. A review of the minutes determined that to not be the case, and the Mayor’s interpretation of the motion, as amended, was correct.
While I was at the council meeting last night for a completely different issue, we had another one of those “What Did We Just Vote For” moments.
A while back, Trigs got a conditional use to put a sign on the back of the property that could be seen from the freeway. Signs are only allowed to be 30’ high, but with a conditional use, the sign could be over 30’ but not more than 50’ high. The height is actually measured from the curb on the FRONT of the property. In the case of Trigs, they wanted a 50’ sign to get it up high enough to get over the hill in the back of the property and still have freeway visibility. In reality though, the sign is actually only 38’ tall. But, the application was for a 50’ sign because the back of the property is 12’ higher than the front of the property, where the front curb is.
County Market was asking to put up a similar sign. All during the council meeting, they discussed that County Market wanted a 40’ tall sign to be at the same elevation as the Trig’s sign. City staff seemed to think that the geographical features that County Market was dealing with would actually allow for similar visibility with a 30’ tall sign, so that is what staff recommended, and that is what the Plan Commission recommended.
A representative of County Market was allowed to address the Council before the vote to explain why they wanted the sign 10’ higher.
The motion was made to approve the sign, second, and passed unanimously with no discussion. The person representing County Market wanted to know if they got their 30’ sign or their 40’ sign. The Mayor indicated they got the 30’ sign, because no one on the council offered an amendment, they went with the recommendation of Plan Commission.
Alderperson Rasmussen was then quick to point out that when looking at the council agenda, they did approve a sign that “exceeded 30’ in height”, so she inquired if, in fact, they can have the 40 sign.
Good question.
They then called a member of staff to explain the situation. Much like Trigs, County Market must actually measure the height of the sign from the front curb. Also, much like Trigs, the back of the lot is higher than the front of the lot, 10’ higher to be exact. So, on the drawing that they submitted, the 40’ tall sign was actually considered a 50’ sign when measured from the front curb. The Plan Commissions recommendation to the council was to allow for a 40’ tall total height sign (10’ in difference from front curb, 30’ in sign itself). What they approved was what the plan commission recommended, which was a specific sign per drawings and diagrams that is, in fact, in excess of 30’ – even though the sign itself was only 30’ tall.
I was debating if I wanted to go the Council meeting. I had a meeting in Sun Prairie that ran from 3:00 to 6:00 that I needed to leave at 4:30 to be back here in time for the meeting. My item was a conditional use for a business associate that passed the Plan Commission on a unanimous vote. Most things that pass like that see very little discussion and pass at council. I am happy I made it. A question was asked for a clarification on a parking issue, and I was asked to answer that simple question, which I did. However answering that questioned opened the door to other discussion I didn’t see coming – discussion that was brought up at the public hearing, but was not a concern of this particular neighbor at that time. After a minor amendment, we did get our conditional use but I think had I not been there, there might have been a different result.
by Dino Corvino on January 5th, 2010
It appears that we will be having a primary in some of these districts. We have to be proud of everyone running for office, that sort of desire for civic involvement is admirable.
District 1: Jim Rosenberg, Roland “Sonny” Neitzel
District 2: Greg Foye, Romey Wagner, Jay Carlson
District 3: Craig Gardner, Chuck Szalewski, Jonahtan Havel, Matthew Sann
District 4: Jim Brezinski
District 5: Gary Gisselman
District 6: Gary Lee Klingbeil, Edward Marek
District 7: Lisa Rasmussen
District 8: Karen Kellbach, Chris Barr
District 9: Matthew Kaiser, David Overbeck
District 10: David Nutting, Chuck Gering, Dan McMullen
District 11: Sherry Abitz, Debra Weiss, Tom Wohlfahrt
District 12: Ed Gale, Cody VanRyn
Further contact information can be found in this document.
by Dino Corvino on December 29th, 2009
This afternoon IC Willy’s accepted a voluntary suspension of its operating license. This suspension will run from January 4th through January 18th.
IC Willy’s owner Tom Nowell agreed to this compromise with the Public Health and Safety Committee. The voluntary nature of the suspension allows the owner and the City to reach a compromise on consequences of the complaints, and to allow for formal suspension and revocation later on if needed.
Nowell was also instructed to meet with the neighborhood residents. This meeting will be held and hosted by Chief Hardel at the Wausau Police Station in February.
Police Chief Hardel initially suggested a 30-day suspension, but after a reading of the ordinance by City Attorney Anne Jacobsen, the 15-day voluntary suspension was agreed upon.
At issue are the 15 noise violations since opening as a business, as well as numerous concerns rendered by the neighbors. One of the hot, sticking points was the allegation that owner Nowell lied to police officers in regards to the Girls Gone Wild event.
From what was said at the meeting, it appears that Nowell has purchased and installed “decibal meters” and “sound baffling” to make the club more appropriate for the neighborhood.
Again, a 15-day voluntary suspension will run in January for IC Willy’s.
by Dino Corvino on December 20th, 2009
I think I need to preface this immediately. My good friend Rob Mentzer made a top ten list on his blog, and I am concerned that his top ten list is simply so far out of the loop that it will create a rift in the fabric of all space-time, and as such the universe will fall into molecular chaos and entropy. His blatant use of things like this list of his are apocryphal, and could very well lead to some sort of apocalypse.
That being said, this is a list of my favorite musical things that happened in Wausau this year. We would love to get more lists from you.
- “Godspell”: This show at the PAF was so overwhelming to me. It was one of those right place, right time sorts of things. Tough work schedule, tough whatever, and ka-pow, I ended up sitting there crying with tears of joy. The energy and exuberance was so high, so powerful, and so uplifting, I was moved to just heights I had not expected. It moved me, and it was grand.
- The release of ‘Before the Devil Knows Your Dead’ by Meantooth Grin: This album was 18 months in the making, and it started to feel like Tom Jordan’s ‘Chinese Democracy’, but when it came out it raise the bar for what all blues cats were going or should do next. It is a well-written, well-arranged, well-played local masterpiece. It puts all the False Dog records to absolute shame with its real emotions and amazing production.
- Triclops at the PI: I am not a PI sort of fellow, but the Triclops show was so amazing, and so powerfully destructive that it shook the walls off that whole block. Triclops are one of those bands that are sonically unique, and performance aggressive. It was pretty amazing.
- Scott Holt at Malarkeys: I am sure that including one of my friends in the list is not all that kosher, but objectively Scott did things even better than when he got a stand ovation at Big Bull Falls. City Councilman Rosenberg called him a virtuoso, and Tyler Vogt said ‘Now that Scott Holt has shown us what is possible with a guitar’. And, in my observance, I think Scott sang better than ever.
- Sneak Peak/Why Not Wausau: The set up concert on the mountain was epic. It paves the way for people to see Why Not Wausau as a legitimate thing. The guys from Flapjack Creative did something, in their first year, that few others do in a lifetime in town.
- The Rob Piehl/Tom Jordan/Eric Messenberg jam: I did not get to hear this in person, but by all accounts these three cats did something amazing. It is great when two guitar KILLERS like Eric and Tom can get together. You’ve got to hope Eric comes back bigger stronger, and heavier.
- Receiving a copy of ‘icantfeel’ by iloveghosts: I have said for a long time, that my favorite band to EVER come out of central Wisconsin is iloveghosts, and their record is an overwhelming assault on the senses. Brave, emotional, techie, and cool. Iloveghosts are rock stars. PERIOD.
- Rob Mentzer/Tom Neal/and Sam Staples on WNRB: I love WNRB, but do not catch as much as I should. But when these guys are on, I listen from start to finish. WNRB is cool.
- The Demise of the Fillmor: It is not okay to root for the decline of something, but I think the final nail in the coffin showed a lot of people that music is a profession, and not a hobby. And when you do not know what you are doing, a lot of things go wrong. I do not think Dan and Bill were bad guys, I just think they were in over their heads and made some bad choices. We all do. Now, the Fillmor is free and can be snatched up by someone who knows what they are doing.
- The Blueheels/Pat McDonald/Vinny Bex Dae. These cats have all played all over, and when they played Malarkeys (or anywhere else in town), they blew up the place. We are lucky musicians still see Wausau as a good place to come and play.
So, what do you think? Send us your list, and we can try to post them.
by Mitchel DeSantis on December 9th, 2009
“Look at this photograph. Everytime I do it makes me laugh. How did our eyes get so red and what the hell is on Joey’s head?” Let’s follow this genius song (insert laughter here) with some Chris Daughtry, Creed, and dare I say it, “Careless Whisper,” by Seether? Well I love variety, but I, like the rest of the Wausau, gets bored of their usual Midwest Communications and WIFC’s Top 40, so I then change it to one of Wausau’s ten other similar classic rock stations — okay put a barrel in my mouth and pull the trigger.
I’m just going to come out and say this — I hate the radio music selection that is provided my Wausau’s very own Midwest Communications. Though I love radio stations for what they do for a community, for example charitable events, (I will admit Midwest Communication radio stations do very well at this) I can’t stand radio stations that will take a song and play the hell out of it. I would compare it to a farmer overusing their cows to the point of exhaustion. Yes, to me what Wausau radio does to music compares to animal abuse.
I have recently moved from Wausau to Milwaukee (where the radio stations are beautiful and don’t abuse music like terrible farmers would with their cows), and though I live in a new city, I still have a place in my heart for the beautiful city of Wausau. However I would be lying if I said that I enjoy hearing the same Nickelback (which is a terrible band in general) song that has been played obsessively since 2001. I am sick and tired of the crap that we are forced to listen to on the radio in my sweet town of Wausau. I believe it is time to stop complaining about this and finally take action. I am calling WIFC along with Midwest Communications out. I am tired of listening to mainstream crap. Let’s face it, very few people like Nickelback, Hinder, Chris Daughtry, and hell, no one likes Seether.
I believe that there needs to be more radio variety in Wausau. The area has a surprisingly huge alternative music scene full of unique individuals who love the discovery of independent music. In order to please everyone, we need an alternative radio station that doesn’t follow the mainstream guidelines that Midwest Communications follows. I believe it’s time to stop complaining secretly and take action over this.
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 Dino Corvino on November 18th, 2009
This comes to us directly from the Office of Mayor Tipple
“Wednesday, November 18, 2009 – Today temporary layoff notices were issued to ten (10) employees. This was necessary in order to immediately reduce our expenses before year end. This layoff is indefinite.
The City of Wausau is implementing two (2) non-voluntary temporary layoff days (furloughs) for 2009. The furloughs apply to all full time and permanent part time employees of AFSCME Local 1287 and 1287CH. The leave days are as follows:
1287 Full and Permanent Part Time Employees:
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
1287CH Full and Permanent Part Time Employees:
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The Crossing Guards will be excluded from the December 23, 2009 lay off day (furlough) as school will be in session that day. City Hall and Customer Service Counters of the Police Department, Community Development Authority and Public Works will be closed on the above days. These layoffs were selected in an attempt to minimize disruption of city operations and services to constituents.”
