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Wag the Dog
Why does a dog wag its tail?
Because a dog is smarter than its tail.
If the tail was smarter, the tail would wag the dog!
An old joke that applys to today.
By Bryan Maersch
Wednesday, Aug 27 2008, 12:00 PM
If you are bored tonight you can attend the dog and pony show that the Franklin School Board has for the electorate every year. Yes it is time for the always entertaining Annual Meeting of the Electors at 6:00 PM tonight in the Education and Community Center.
Here they will have staged people in the audience with motions to approve all the proposed budgets for the 2008 – 2009 school year.
The entertainment will include:
A) You the Electors, being given a chance to speak out about the budget, while most of the School Board Directors feign interest in what you have to say. Which is great for your ego, but from past experience, most of them won’t listen. (Well at least the two new members will listen to you.) Most likely Directors will use the state mandates as the reason for the increases. By the way, have any of them gone to talk to State Senator Mary Lazich, to get her to help reduce those mandates. I recently went to the Senators web site and don't see any legislation to that end and you know she is always willing to listen to you as she told us last year.
B) Having Jim Milzer the Franklin School District Business Manager try to explain the District budget and the Rec department budget in plain English. Janet Evans has blogged about Linda Witkowski getting shot down on that! (See School Board Meeting 07/23/08 link below)
C) Some lucky person will be selected to read off a card to make the motion to approve the tax levy for the Franklin Public School General Fund, Franklin Public Schools Debt Service, and Community Education and Recreation. (What was that increase again, oh yah 3.77% and what was the increase the electorate approved at last years meeting, if you guessed 5.6% you were right. And what did we end up with, ahhhhh 11.7% increase)
D) And I wonder who will be picked to make the motion to approve the School Boards salary and expenses. Maybe it will be you…..
Lastly I want to apologize to School Board member Linda Witkowski that I ever doubted her tenacity to keep the budget in line. I understand she and David Works were important motivators for keeping the increase to a proposed 3.77%. Please ... Please -- Please ... Don't forget to listen for Mary Karolewicz to say at least once the phrase "Education for the 21st Century"
I know that my fellow blogger Janet Evans will be there, as she has been great at covering the School Board meetings of the past. I on the other hand will be listening to the proposal for the $640 toilet seat by City of Franklin’s Technology Commission that “rent a tech” J. Gravelle (the Daily Scoff) talks about as a guest blogger on “This Just In, when I am on WISN”. By the way “J” the Technology Commission meeting is on Wednesday August 27th not Friday August 22nd but I guess that is why you are just a fill in for Kevin Fischer out of boredom!
OTHER READING:
* Agenda for the Annual Meeting of the Electors
* Janet Evans - Franklin School Board Meeting 07/23/08
* Janet Evans - Franklin...Future Shock: $9,700,000
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By Bryan Maersch
Thursday, Aug 14 2008, 06:00 AM
I was on vacation in relaxing Door County on Wednesday, when the news hit FranklinNOW readers; Development leader resigns key city posts. Apparently Ted Grintjes is seeking to avoid future conflict-of-interest entanglements, so he resigned from the 27th Street steering committee, as well as positions he held on the Franklin Economic Development Commission and Community Development Authority .
FranklinNOW blogger Kevin Fischer said of Grintjes in his posting Ted Grintjes is leaving.....now what? Who can admirably replace him? I honestly don’t know.
Well Franklin has many eager, competent people and as the city of Franklin has done before Grintjes got involved with these high profile, high powered, Franklin Commissions. The city will find some other qualified person and move on.
I also believe Kevin Fischer once said of Greg Kowalski, former Environmental commissioner: I would venture to guess most people in Franklin have no idea there is an EC. Most of those that are aware of the EC probably don’t know who the members are. Giving un-elected, unaccountable volunteers greater authority would be a mistake.
Ted Grintjes is-non elected citizen who was making multi-million dollar decisions for the City of Franklin on three powerful commissions and is now just realizing a threat that he may have a “conflict of interest” due to his wifes real estate business.
Kevin I agree with you!
Especially in the case of the commissions that Ted was appointed. To giving this kind of power to spend the money that is passing through the commissions that Ted was on should not be in the hands of non-elected, unaccountable volunteers like Ted Grintjes and Jim Rhiner. Especially multiple high profile and powerful commission that the two of these men are/were members of.
This is why I would like to see the Mayor move to install himself or one of the aldermen to replace, (Yes Ted is replaceable) with a new member which would better represent the city in decisions made on an important commission such as the 27th Street Corridor.
As Sprawled Out blogger John Michlig states in his blog about the subject "It's time for new blood".
Ted, thanks for all the time you dedicated to the city of Franklin, but I think your decision was correct given those possible conflicts of interest.
DATELINE: AUGUST 14, 2008
Steve Olson voted to replace Ted Gringes on 27th Street Committee. Read all the details in Janet Evans posting - Franklin Economic Development Commission Meeting 8/13/08
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By Bryan Maersch
Friday, Jul 11 2008, 06:43 AM
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I laughed out loud when I watched the movie Stripes when it came to the part of Winger (played by Bill Murray) trying to convince Russell (played by Harold Ramis) to go over the Czech boarder to help save their compatriots:
Winger: It's Czechoslovakia man. It's like invading Wisconsin
Russell: Well, I got the sh*t kicked out of me in Wisconsin.
It seems we have a real life situation here in good old Franklin, Wisconsin where 41-year-old Donald L. Sieben was beaten by several people at The Irish Cottage a Franklin Bar, 11433 W. Ryan Road, around 7:45 p.m. on Friday, July 4 and died early Monday in his mother’s home.
After the beating, a companion took Sieben home, where Sieben’s mother then took him to St. Francis Hospital, where he was treated and released with multiple fractures to his face and skull and had a collapsed lung. Sieben was advised to see a specialist on Monday.
Sieben died early Monday.
Donald Sieben was a former Marine working as a supervisor at a steel manufacturer. His brother Lance Sieben , described him as a “happy-go-lucky guy.”
“Nobody deserves to be jumped by five people and get the living hell kicked out of him!,” “He went to the wrong bar at the wrong time and met up with the wrong people,” his brother said.
In the mean time, Sieben’s death is not being classified a homicide until a toxicology report comes back from the medical examiner. The case is being investigated as a battery, but Franklin Police Capt. Clark Groen said Franklin police are taking steps in case it is reclassified as a homicide.
Pretty sad to think that that wrong bar and wrong people were in Franklin!
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By Bryan Maersch
Sunday, Jul 6 2008, 12:45 PM
The City of Franklin had something other than the 4th of July to celebrate as a Civic occasion this weekend.
As posted by the two Fischer FranklinNOW bloggers, Kevin and Alisha noted that Steve Hanke, the convicted sex offender who purchased a house 600 feet away from Franklin's Forest Park Middle School, lost his lawsuits that challenging the constitutionality of the city's ordinance restricting where sex offenders are allowed to reside.
Hanke now faces expulsion from his house and fines for each day he lives in his Franklin residence.
Word on the street is that Alderman Steve Olson, one of the lead crafters of Franklin’s tough restrictive ordinance, the Mayor, the City Attorney's office, the police department, and members of CFSW are ready to help Hanke pack up his belongings and get the heck out of Franklin.
Now I don't really like helping people move but in this case. I would be willing to give up some time.
How about you?
Buh Bye Steve Hanke - Don't let the door hit you in the A**.
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By Bryan Maersch
Saturday, Jul 5 2008, 12:44 PM
In case you missed the Franklin 4th of July celebration here are a few photo’s I took that caught my eye. The fireworks were excellent again as usual. I was invited to see the Hales Corners fireworks with my sister’s family (which she claims are the best) but chose instead to see Franklin’s. A tip of the hat and a nod of appreciation to the Franklin Civic Celebration Committee for another job well done.
The Best Fireworks in Milwaukee County are found in Franklin!
Here Municipal Judge Fred Klimetz does not issue a DWI ruling with every 4th pitcher of beer!
Even new FranklinNOW bloggers need to celebrate the 4th!
A Happy 4th of July to Franklin.
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By Bryan Maersch
Tuesday, Jul 1 2008, 04:20 PM
Consider this …. In a time when people are struggling to keep their houses, pay for increasing gas prices, food prices, and virtually the cost of everything, while praying that their business or employer does not go belly up due to the increases in all of the above.
Milwaukee Area Technical College President Darnell Cole will get a 5.2% increase in his total compensation package and a two-year contract extension under a plan which the MATC board of directors passed on Monday.
Under this plan set forth by the "we can always spend more" MATC Board, Cole will take home $223,675 in base salary, plus a retirement supplement, travel allowance and stipend that bring his total pay to $259,131, starting June 30, 2008.
This little surprise package comes a mere week after MATC approved a 4.9% increase in its property tax levy, mostly to cover all the added salaries and benefits.
With three members absent for the vote, the only dissenting vote was Board member Rep. Pedro Colón (D-Milwaukee) who questioned the president’s long-term commitment due to Cole’s application and finalist position, for the top job at Lansing Community College in Michigan this year.
Some of Cole’s extra benefits he will be seeing is his retirement supplement bumps up 6.7%, to $16,000, reflecting two consecutive 3.25% increases because the due to lags in adjustments since 2006 which Cole can use the supplement to contribute to his personal retirement plan, this is above and beyond the state retirement system retirement plan he is eligible for.
Cole’s annual travel allowance gets bumped up 44%, to about $15,500 to cover Cole’s car mileage and maintenance within the district.
WOW – Show me where I can sign up to get that kind of job, especially in times like these where employers like Midwest Airlines are asking their pilots to take a 45 to 65% pay cut and we will be getting the "best care in the air" from flight attendants that will be making just above the Wisconsin minimum wage of $6.50 an hour.
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By Bryan Maersch
Thursday, Jun 19 2008, 07:00 PM
Recently FranklinNOW blogger Greg Kowalski wrote about a turning point in making a decision whether to continue blogging on the FranklinNOW web site due to editorial decisions CommunityNOW editor Mark Maley made on one of his blog postings. It looks like the decision to blog or not to blog is a much more life and death decision in other countries. Here is a story from the BBC regarding bloggers in other countries that criticize their government:
More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticizing governments, says a report.
Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report. In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed. More than half of all the arrests since 2003 have been made in China, Egypt and Iran, said the report.
Jail sentence
Citizens have faced arrest and jail for blogging about many different topics, said the World Information Access (WIA) report.
Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. They criticized public policies and took political figures to task.
The report said the rising number of arrests was testament to the "growing" political importance of blogging. It noted that arrests tended to increase during times of "political uncertainty", such as around general elections or during large scale protests.
Jail time followed arrest for many bloggers, said the report, which found that the average prison sentence for blogging was 15 months. The longest sentence found by the WIA was eight years.
It acknowledged that the true number of bloggers arrested could be far higher than the total it found as, in some cases, it proved hard to verify if an arrest had taken place and on what grounds.
For instance, it said the Committee to Protect Bloggers has published information about 344 people arrested in Burma - many of whom are thought to be be bloggers - but the WIA could not verify all the reports.
It also noted that many nations, perhaps as many as 30, imposed technological restrictions on what people can do online. In nations such as China this made it difficult for people to use a blog as a means of protest.
The report pointed out that it is not just governments in the Middle East and East Asia that have taken steps against those publishing their opinions online. In the last four years, British, French, Canadian and American bloggers have also been arrested.
The report predicted that the number of blogger arrests in 2008 would exceed the 36 seen in 2007 thanks to greater popularity of blogging as a medium, greater enforcement of net restrictions, and elections in China, Pakistan, Iran and the US.
Read More here I am truly happy that blogging on the FranklinNOW and disagreement with our local government officials does not carry the consequences that they do in other countries.
Of course you may have public information disclosed about you at a council meeting, which isn't as bad as a Chinese Prison!
So don't quit Greg! The more voices the Better.
Update: June 19, 2008 - In case you were wondering, Greg has decided to pull the plug on his FranklinNOW blog, a little bit premature. You can catch a farewell on his Metro Milwaukee Today site. While Greg and I have not always agreed on several issues and some got quite personal. I do wish him the best of luck in his continued blogging on his Metro Milwaukee Today. I am sure that Greg will continue to pursue the issues he feels are important that we face in the City of Franklin from his blog site.
I also have it from a trustworthy source that the Secret Police did not come and confiscate his PC. Did I say that right Comrade?
Updated June 25,2008 - An interesting comment from Alderman Steve Taylor about commentators on FranklinNOW - A Message from Franklin Common Council President Taylor Re: Blogs
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By Bryan Maersch
Friday, Jun 6 2008, 07:00 AM
I have had time to digest the information that was presented to public in the first draft presentation of the 2009 Franklin Public School budget. Especially the excellent Blog Report and suggestions made by FranklinNOW blogger Janet Evans. I admire her tenacity and dedication as to reporting and participating in the Franklin Public School meetings.
From the reports that came from other bloggers who attended the meeting one thing stood out that disturbs me, was the opinion of Superintendent Patz on funding extracurricular activities by increasing fee’s. I hope this is not a reaction that all School Board members feel the same.
FranklinNOW blogger Greg Kowalski reported:
Superintendent Patz and at least one Board member (I forgot whom exactly) didn't like the idea of fee increases, stating that the increases would lead to discrimination of students based on how much they (or their families) can afford, and that it will end up negligible in the end. I'll profoundly disagree.As a member of a 5-member household, with 2 very active younger sisters, I know firsthand of some extra-circular activities. Volleyball, basketball, summer camp, dancing, gymnastics, etc, etc, etc. All those cost money, and I can assure anyone that my family isn't the wealthiest in Franklin. We afford it, and it's what my sisters want to do. I stood in agreement with Board President Dave Szychlinski when he talked about his own family and daughters, and how he'd be more than happy to pay the extra fees if some of things they took were offered at FPS. I believe many families would join my own and the Szychlinski's.
I do not understand the not-thinking-outside-the-box attitude Patz is taking on this issue. A simple change to funding extracurriculars would allow for a parent that can not afford to pay the fees for the extracurriculars could simply fill out a form (such as the one for subsidized lunch) to allow the school system to subsidize that student for the extracurricular activity. Considering the average family income in the City of Franklin, I would tend to doubt that this would be a large financial burden on the FPS budget but the increased fees would help defray costs to actually pay to educate our children.
I totally agree with Greg’s statement:
FPS needs to prioritize their budget for the taxpayers in this rough time for our economy. Do they support academics, or athletics? I'd like to use common sense and take academics as the top priority, so we should focus on other alternatives to fund athletics.
Superintendent Patz, please don’t start telling us what we can’t do, start thinking of more ways that we can keep the budget down, even if it means unpopular fees to people who use a FPS service that is non-academic. That's not WAGGING THE DOG, that is just Common Sense.
On a positive note, the Board is doing a great job at keeping the taxpayer informed and involving them in the budget process.
Kudos to them to realize this is crucial especially in rough economic times.
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By Bryan Maersch
Tuesday, Jun 3 2008, 04:30 PM
With all the hype and promises made in the April School Board election, the time has come when the tires hit the road for planning next year’s school budget.
Our school system has invited us to begin by participating in the budgeting process with an invitation to Wednesday nights June 4th meeting of the Committee of the Whole in which they plan to discuss the budget for next year and are asking for citizen input.
Given that our very own City Council has recently told us about the difficulties they are running into with the current budget and have eluded to the near impossibility of keeping to a 3% increase for the 2009 budget, I can not help but wonder what our school system will be looking to do to keep increases in the FPS budget to a minimum.
Will they be looking at asking the taxpayer what programs are they willing to give up? Much like the city has asked us, what city services are we willing to give up. While expecting the answer to be “why none of course”. My answer to this question will have have to be, cut back on the extracurriculars or increase the amount that parents pay for them, while the academics should not be touched.
I can hear the cry of “but if they get rid of (fill in the blank) my son/daughter will not want to go to school. But that is OK with me, as they can pay the extra dollars that are spent on those extracurriculars. Those educational tax dollars that are collected in the City of Franklin are just that, to educate and not to entertain. If you want your children to be entertained and that is the only way you can get them to attend school, then you can pay for that entertainment.
I look forward to see the budgeting expertise of Linda Witkowski (a budget director for Waukesha) and the business savvy of David Works in the first version of the 2009 budget.
Something else to note and keep in mind, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published these disturbing figures Tuesday June 3rd - " Foreclosures increased almost 45% in Milwaukee County during the first five months of the year compared with 2007 "
If you think that does not mean Franklin check out Foreclosures.Com that have 67 properties listed for Franklin. What would your priority be when trying to stay in your home, taxes or a mortgage? In addition our City Council has let us know that residential building in Franklin has come to a crawl, which has helped cause a shortfall in extra funds for the City and School System to use.
More info to read:
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By Bryan Maersch
Monday, May 26 2008, 03:24 PM
On this and every Memorial day, I remember and miss one of the people who had a profound effect on my life - My Grandfather. Nicholas Polasik was born on September 9, 1893 in the township of Eaton, Wisconsin. He was the tenth child of eleven children born to Nikolas and Anna (Tobalska) Polasik. He attended primary school until the third grade. He took to the woods as a lumber jack at the age of 12. After his father died January 21 , 1910 he ran the farm for his mother at the age of 16.
On November 19, 1917 he joined the United States Army to fight the Kaiser in World War One as an infantryman in Company B 47th US Infantry, 7th Division. He served in France, May 10, 1918 to November 23rd, 1918 at Chateu Thierry. During his active service he was injured in action on July 30th 1918 when a shell fragment injured his foot. The injury became gangrenous and he was later told he would need to have his leg removed. Refusing to have that done, as a one legged farmer would be useless at that time he opted not to have the surgery. Miraculously the gangrene subsided and he was left with just the lost of a little toe on his left foot. He was Honorably discharged from the service on June 30, 1919.
He returned to Eaton, Wisconsin to help run his mothers farm, in the 1920 U.S. census he is listed as the 26 year old head of household with an occupation of farmer. Farming did not occupy all his attention though. Nicholas met Mary Genevieve Nowicki the daughter of Stanley and Elizabeth (Krupa) Nowicki also of the town of Eaton. They were married on September 6, 1920 at SS Cyril and Methodius Church by Reverend Peter Kurzejka. His best man was his brother Michael and the maid of honor was her sister Rose Nowicki. From that marriage came four children, one of which is my mother.
Had my Grandfather given up and died, I would not be here today. He taught me the importance of family and hard work. He was a respectful man and when I talked with him about politics and the presidency in my idealist youth, he would always say, "You may not like the man, but you must respect the office".
He may not be the last living vet of World War One but he will always be the man I remember on Memorial Day, each and every year.
Nicholas Polasik 1893 - 1976
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By Bryan Maersch
Monday, May 12 2008, 03:28 PM
The great Aretha Franklin spells it out as she says: R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me!
For the past couple of weeks, I quietly sat back and witnessed a great deal of Lack of Respect in the City of Franklin. This Lack of Respect has been on many levels.
- Lack of Respect for the citizens of the communities of Franklin and Oak Creek by the 27th Street Steering Committee to dare to criticize the name of Boomgaard District and the costs involved in naming it.
- Lack of Respect for members of the 27th Street Steering Committee who have spent much time working on the 27th Street project. Yes they may be bull headed but have spent a lot of time and sweat on the project which they get paid nothing for.
- Lack of Respect from City officials (like Alderman Sohns) to bloggers (who are their constituents) and to the other vocal citizens of Franklin.
- Lack of Respect from the media as we become a laughing stock due to this Boomgaard fiasco (Sykes, Belling and Stingl)
- Lack of Respect from other communities as we weather the issues of mistrust of our community leaders and their leadership.
- Lack of Respect from the Zizzo group to the citizens of Franklin for not involving us in renaming a major part of our city.
- Lack of Respect to our city officials, who some say, do not deserve our respect on how they have handled this issue.
- Lack of Respect from a fellow FranklinNOW Blogger for other community bloggers that choose to blog about this Boomgaard fiasco. Who asked in one of his blogs "How's that "New Day" working out for you guys?" I guess not too well with all this Lack of Respect!
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By Bryan Maersch
Wednesday, May 7 2008, 04:23 PM
I was sitting next to Fred Keller at the City Council meeting on Tuesday night. My mouth dropped and I was stunned when Ted Grintjes the Chairman of the 27th Street Steering Committee let loose with both cannons in a public tirade against local blogger Fred Keller. You can read the blow by blow description in Greg Kowalski’s on site blog entitled Grintjes v Keller - Boomgaard got heated in Council chambers.
As I said, Grintjes is a citizen appointed member of both the 27th Street Steering Committee and the powerful Community Development Authority which is authorized to transact business and exercise any and all powers, duties, and functions set out in Sections 66.40 and 66.431 of the Wisconsin Statutes for housing and redevelopment authorities. Ted often spends 40 hour plus of his personal hours ,working on these two City committee / commission according to people tha t know him.
The berating of a Franklin Citizen who disagrees with Ted and his committee members leads me to believe that Ted does not realize that this was just outright bad PR for the 27th street project. One can only assume it was his many hours of time he spends on these committee / commissions that set Ted off.
Fred Keller had no intention of standing up to defend his opinion and information he presented asresearch he discovered about the Boomgaard District’s redlight reputation in Amsterdam. But how could he not respond to Ted’s intentional verbal attack on this private Franklin citizen?
Ted Grintjes has done something that is destructive to his committee; he has brought further bad public relations to a public relations fiasco brought about by the naming of the Boomgaard District via the Zizzo group who handeled the annoucement badly.
Ted – You needed to turn this around to become positive public opinion but now have instead blown up this public relations disaster even further.
Had this outburst not happened, I truley believe this issue would have died out sooner than later. However, I believe the personal attack of Fred has encouraged him to pursue his research even further.
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By Bryan Maersch
Monday, May 5 2008, 02:39 PM
In reviewing the agenda for the Common Council meeting on Tuesday May 6th, I have to ask myself the question. Is Mayor Tom Taylor setting up Alderman Steve Taylor and Kristen Wilhelm to take a fall for next years budget?
The agenda shows that both Steve Taylor and Kristen Wilhelm, two adermanic virgins, being appointed to the Finance Committee, which is undoubtedly the most influential committee when it comes to setting the next year’s budget. This is a committee that is normally reserved for experienced alderman who have actually experienced setting a budget for the City of Franklin at least once.
May 6th Common Council agenda items
E. Organizational Business
1. Boards and Commissions Appointments.
m. Alderman Solomon-Finance Committee.
n. Alderman Taylor-Finance Committee.
o. Alderman Wilhelm-Finance Committee.
You may also remember that Mayor Tom Taylor in his reelection bid for Mayor made the following signed pledge:
I pledge if elected to another term as Mayor of the City of Franklin that I will not recommend
an annual budget to the City's Finance Committee that exceeds a 3% tax levy.
This pledge is related to the years 2008 to 2011.
Thomas M. Taylor
Candidate for Mayor
3/30/08
You may further remember that FranklinNOW blogger Greg Kowalski said this in his blog entitled Why Franklin’s Common Council shouldn’t sign a tax pledge :
“Because someone will have to save the Mayor's butt. There's no way with all of the development the community is experiencing that we will be at 3%. The state allows tax levy growth to keep up with construction growth. With no doubt in my mind, construction growth will be greater than 3%. The Mayor may submit a 3% budget, but that bad, evil, nasty Council will just add to it and add to it until it equals the maximum allowed by state spending restraints.
Mayor Taylor will give his most sincere sad/serious face as he apologizes to taxpayers for the extra spending, but bummer, he did his best. It's that big, bad, evil, nasty Council that did all of the harm. You know, the same Council that's never up for election all at the same time, and where 4 members ran UNOPPOSED in the past 2 years for re-election...”
Looks like the Mayor has found his two scape goats for that "Butt saving" Greg is talking about, and it can all be blamed on their inexperience.
More Interesting Reading
Committee of the Whole meeting - Monday May 5, 2008 agenda item H. Discussion of Mayor Taylor's tax levy limit pledge (Ald. Sohns)
Common Council meeting - Tuesday May 6, 2008 6:30pm
Alderman Lyle Sohns Responds to Tax Pledge - Bullseye - Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Alderman Steve Olson Responds to Tax Pledge - Bullseye - Monday, April 7, 2008
Lets see how this Dog Wagging turns out!
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By Bryan Maersch
Friday, Apr 25 2008, 08:58 AM
Today's TMJ 4 blasts Franklin in last nights news for being one few places in Milwaukee County without tornado (formerly know as civil defense) sirens. Kevin Fischer in his blog posting Does Franklin need an overhaul of its warning sirens? suggest we all need to purchase a Weather Alert radio that gives an alarm when impending bad weather is coming. Funny you should mention that Kevin because that is exactly what the Franklin Public School system does and they are serious when it comes to students reacting to the tornado drills as you see in TMJ's video, featuring our own Robinwood Principal Tom Reinke.
Mick Trevey then goes on to interview a Franklin Resident - Rita Bruders:
TODAY’S TMJ4’s Mick Trevey: “Today was the big statewide tornado drill. Did you know about it?”
“No,” Franklin resident Rita Bruders said.
Mick Trevey: “Did you hear a siren?”
“No, I wasn't aware of a siren,” Bruders said.
Trevey: That's because Franklin doesn't have tornado sirens, even though the mayor and the fire chief have both urged the city council to approve them.
The next question Treavey should have asked: If there was a siren what would you do? My guess the answer would be "I don't know".
Next the interview with the Assistant Fire Chief - Lloyd Bertram:
Mick Trevey: “Does it come down to cost?”
“I'm sure it does. Putting in sirens is a very costly endeavor, to try to find the funding to have that put in place,” Franklin Assistant Fire Chief Lloyd Bertram said.
Note: Kevin Fischer's source at city hall quotes a Franklin Taxpayer price tag of $200,000 since Wisconsin Emergency Management denied a hazard mitigation grant in 2004 that would have provided the city money for tornado sirens. The State does not think it is important enough to pony up the money for Franklin.
Trevey further points out:
The city is considering a reverse 911 system that could call people if there was a tornado warning, but for now, people have to count on weather radios for any information, if they happen to have them turned on. Franklin is one of the few places in Milwaukee County where you can't hear the sirens, but for the people that live in Franklin, that's small consolation.
OK Mick I grew up in the City of West Allis where we had a siren two blocks away. It went off at noon every Wednesday and guess what ... people ignore them.
They were angry when they went off by accident or when there was just a thunderstorm. These sirens were originally set up for Civil Defense and people have become oblivious to them. My guess if you interviewed a dozen people in the other Milwaukee County communities about the siren, many would say What siren? and What the heck is the Statewide Tornado Siren drill?
Alright, I have to ask, are you willing to pay more in taxes to get these sirens installed or are you going to go out to buy a weather radio with an alarm, just like FPS did?
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By Bryan Maersch
Friday, Apr 25 2008, 07:00 AM
The true boondoggle is that a local FranklinNOW blogger wasted two hours of the Mayors time discussing something as trivial as the naming of the 27th Street Corridor to Boomgaard District.
To paraphrase that same blogger on Fred Keller's attempt to get our council to pledge holding down the tax rate:
I also feel it's going too far because, in all honesty, how many Franklin residents read the blogs? How many Franklin residents who know the blogs exist even read them? How many people even know Fred Keller exists?
I ask the same question – How many people even know that Greg Kowalski exists and why is he wasting the Mayors time?
Most of the Franklin Bloggers and commentators just chided the Council on the funny name the Zizzo group came up for the district, while Greg felt he needed to take it to the extreme.
Talk about WAGGING THE DOG.
Updated 4/24/2008 - 10:46PM
Greg Responded with:
Honestly, the Mayor was doing his job earlier today. He represents all citizens, and he wanted to answer my questions in person instead of responding via e-mail. The Mayor and I also needed to discuss other items, and the meeting was scheduled for some time.
Where his original Blog stated:
First, I want to personally say thank you, Mayor Taylor, for sitting down with me for 2+ hours this morning to discuss Franklin...in particular, this Boomgaard of a name.
The Mayor told me with a straight face,
I did NOT suggest Boomgaard as my first choice for the district.
He also took note in the numbers of people reading this information on my blog. I e-mailed him and Alderman Steve Olson and informed them that as of 12:35am last night, FranklinNOW's hit numbers were 1084 for the Boomgaard blog entries of mine. As of right now (12:46pm 4/24), according to FranklinNOW's system, 2347 visitors have seen these blog entries.
Taking notice of that, he went on to discuss the corridor's past - all orchards for the most part. He also answered questions I had sent him and Steve Olson last night.
My apologies to Greg as his posting looked like he was taking up 2+ hours of the Mayors time to discuss the naming of the Boomgaard District. You may remember that Greg currently is Vice Chairman of the Environmental Commission and an employee of Alderman Kristen Wilhelms Conservancy organization Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy (MALC) .
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By Bryan Maersch
Saturday, Apr 19 2008, 01:14 PM
A Tip of the hat to Franklin BULLSEYE blogger Fred Keller as he sums up so perfectly the latest news about New BerlinNOW bloger Linda Richter in his Saw You in the News posting.
It seems that her current legal woes are due to Linda 's involvement through her We Care New Berlin-PAC that allegedly lied three times in the groups sponsored campaign literature, about JJ Blonien. Blonien was the opposing aldermanic candidate for New Berlins 6th District while the group supported, Bill Moore, the incumbent.
It is good to see the bad karma return to this mean spirited Blog Roll friend of one of our own FranklinNOW bloggers. This FranklinNOW blogger encouraged us all to read Linda's inflammatory, Anti-Kevin Fisher blog just a few months ago even though she herself was featured as a personal attack blogger in a March 2008 Milwaukee Magazine article.
The NewBerlinNOW.com site features a similar war pitting blogger and ex-school board member Linda Richter against blogger Matt Thomas, current vice president of the board and a leader of its conservative majority. Talk about getting personal: Richter publicized the bankruptcy records of Thomas on her blog to undermine his claim as a champion of fiscal sobriety.
Her now infamous blogs promoted us to be calling State Senator Mary Lazych to reprimand and gag, Kevin Fischer, for accusations of name calling of other bloggers and commenter's to his FranklinNOW blog. I certainly hope we can encourage our friends that are New Berlin residents to contact the Waukesha DA and encourage him to prosecute Linda along with her group to the fullest extent of the law if he finds the allegations to be true.
Yes it looks like Actions Do Have Consequences for EVERYBODY!
Other reading on the subject:
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By Bryan Maersch
Tuesday, Apr 15 2008, 09:04 PM
- Tonight’s City Council meeting included the swearing in of Mayor Tom Taylor, new Aldermen Kristen Wilhelm (3rd District) , Steve Taylor (4th District) and incumbent 6th District alderman Ken Skowronski.
During the citizen comment period after the swearing in, former 4th Distinct alderman Pete Kosovich gave a very touching speech, summing up his past years on the council, the election and a promise in his best TERMINATOR voice “ I’ll be back”.
- The interesting surprise of the night, was that new alderman Steve Taylor, was elected Council President. Steve was nominated for the position by new alderman Kristen Wilhelm. Former Council President Lyle Sohns was also nominated. Alderman Steve Olson was out of town on business but had requested the council wait until the next meeting for the Council President vote. Despite this request the nominations and the vote went ahead, three to two in favor of Steve Taylor for Council President.
I believe the two new council members that were voted in during the April 1st election will make their mark on this council.
There was no WAGGING THE DOG at tonight's meeting or was there?
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By Bryan Maersch
Saturday, Apr 12 2008, 01:42 PM
FranklinNOW editor Mark Maley has come through as promised with the Honor Rolls for the City of Franklin. This feature should be updated on a regular basis according to Mark. I am a firm believer that academic excellence should be featured in the community just as we praise our students for their athletic and extracurricular achievements. After all, isn't this the key reason we are willing to pay the taxes we do, for the kids.
Bryan:
I just wanted to give you a heads up that we have posted the first semester honor roll for Franklin HS on a prominent location on FranklinNOW.com.
Here is direct link:
I understand from school officials that the third quarter honor roll will be released soon, and when it is, it will be PROMPTLY posted online.
We still have one or two minor glitches to work out on the online certificates for each student, but we thought it was important to get the names up there as soon as possible. There are more than 600 students on the honor roll, and we agree with you that it's important these outstanding students get recognition.
Your readers may wonder why there are other schools on this list, like DSHA and Marquette University HS. That's because those schools draw from all over the metro area, so we are including their honor rolls on all NOW sites.
I should also extend an open invitation to all Franklin schools -- private and public, middle school and elementary -- to send their honor rolls to me and I will include them on this list. The school district just sent us FHS; but other districts have been sending us middle school honor rolls, too.
Thanks for being so diligent about pursuing this issue.
Mark Maley
NOW Online Editor
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Community Newspapers
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