The Forum

The candidate pool in the last four Village Board elections is showing a distinct and disturbing pattern.

2004: 5 Candidates
2005: 4 Candidates
2006: 3 Candidates
2007: 2 Candidates

We still have until Jan 2, 2007 to find more candidates, but I have yet to hear of anyone who is even willing to consider participating in the process.

This is a copy of the letter I sent to the Village Board notifying them of the additional signatures we have collected in support of the Senior Lounge. If you are interested in adding your name to the petition, you may do so here: SIGN THE PETITION.

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To: Shorewood Village Board of Trustees
From: Steve Koczela
CC: E. Price, B. O'Brien
Date: 12/28/06
Re: Additional Signatures for Senior Lounge Petition

I have collected additional signatures for the petition in support of construction of a lounge in the Village Center for our Senior Citizens.

As of 12/28/06. a total of 27 people have signed the online version of this petition. These signatures can be found at the following URL.

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?hvcd798&1

These are in addition to the signatures collected on the paper version. When considering this issue at future meetings, please consider the support of these 27 individuals as well as any future signers during your discussion.

This issue is ripe for action. Construction of a Senior Lounge would clearly indicate that Shorewood welcomes residents of any age.

Best Wishes for the New Year,
Steve Koczela
4526 N Woodruff Ave
Shorewood, WI
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Comments

Thanks Steve for your work on this. Happy 2007 to you too.
- Trustee Margaret Hickey, 1/1/07

Shorewood has once again hit renters with a double digit increase in parking fees for on and off street parking.  The monthly fee will now be $45, up 12% from last year's fee of $40. 

How does this compare to our neighbors to the north and south?

Milwaukee: $4/month
Whitefish Bay: $25/month

As I have shown in the past, it actually only costs about $33/month per space to run the parking programin Shorewood.  So why are we raising fees?



Comments

"It would be nice to see some of this money go towards filling the potholes along Oakland and Capital Drive."
- Leonard

We now have 24 signature on the petition to create a senior lounge in the basement of the Village Center/Library. Elizabeth Smith has been collecting signatures as well, and has well over 100 names on the list. Add your name to the petition!

SIGN THE PETITION

I started blogging on the issue of AT&T's encroachment on the world of Cable television in July of this year. While we in Shorewood have kept our heads stuck resolutely in the sand, this issue has not gone away. As of two days ago, the issue has officially gone nuclear. What will we do now?

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City sues AT&T in video dispute
Telecom giant is asked to negotiate a cable franchise deal
JSOnline, Posted: Dec. 20, 2006

The City of Milwaukee filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against AT&T that aims to require the company to negotiate a cable franchise agreement for its soon-to-be-offered Internet protocol video service.

Such an agreement would force the phone company to make an annual payment to the city, something that Time Warner Cable already does under its longstanding franchise agreement with the city.

AT&T argues that its new system, which is already under construction, does not meet the definition of cable television.

The lawsuit would put the decision in the hands of a judge. But many believe such a determination will ultimately come from the state, which could decide - as others have - how the new systems should be treated.

Meanwhile, AT&T faces the prospect of similar lawsuits from other communities, especially where Time Warner or another cable provider already has an agreement in place.
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SIGN THE PETITION

For the last several years, a dedicated group of people has been working on getting our Senior Citizens an informal gathering space in the Village Center. The space that has been identified for possible use is currently being used as storage space for the Library. By their own admission, the Library does not currently have a need for the amount of storage space they have. While Library Board members are very reluctant to give up this space, and question whether such a gathering space is actually needed, I believe the quality of life of our senior citizens should take precedence over storing Library materials.

The Village Board has been very slow to act on this request, first forming an ad hoc committee to study the issue, and then delaying action again following the release of the committee's report. Most recently, Shorewood senior citizens collected 137 signatures on a petition requesting action on this issue. If you would like to add your name to this petition, click on the link below and enter your name.

The senior citizens of our community have paid their taxes in Shorewood for decades, and made this community into what it is today. The least we could do for them now is to provide them an informal gathering space to meet together and relax. Let's make Shorewood friendly to Senior Citizens. Sign the petition and show your support!

UPDATES:

12/20/06, 6:00 PM: A total of 18 people have signed so far. Click here to add your name to the growing list!

SIGN THE PETITION

A tavern operator has applied for a Class B Liquor License for 4022 Oakland, the location fomerly occupied by the Red Rock Cafe. The new Tavern will be called the Oak Crest Tavern, operated by Mr. Richard T. Schmidt of Whitefish Bay.

According to this morning's JSOnline, the wave of smoking bans continues. I bring this to your attention only so we can all stay current on who is doing what with regard to smoking bans. I am still opposed to leading the charge on this issue for the North Shore of Milwaukee.

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Total ban on smoking being considered

JSOnline.com, 12/17/06

Officials at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point are considering making the campus - indoors and outdoors - smoke free. The Environmental Health and Safety committee of the Faculty Senate is looking at the proposal. The discussion is in the early stages, said Chris Sadler, chairman of the Faculty Senate.

Smoking is already banned in campus buildings and smokers are required to light up 30 feet from building entrances. The proposal would have to pass the committee, which is made up of students and faculty. The entire Faculty Senate must then pass it and Chancellor Linda Bunnell would have to sign the ban for it to take effect.

Earlier this year, the Student Government Association passed a resolution encouraging the Environmental Health and Safety committee to make the smoking ban a referendum issue for the spring 2007 semester.

Business administration major Shawn Davis said he takes an occasional smoke break to take his mind off studying. "Banning smoking in buildings is one thing, but banning it campuswide is creating a harassment clause," Davis said. "It will cause ill will on campus."
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The FCC is about to grant AT&T what they have wanted: the ability to compete in the TV/Cable market. Will Shorewood be ready?

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FCC hopes to speed phone companies' entry into TV

USA Today, 12/1/2006

NEW YORK — Trying to spur competition and beat back cable TV prices, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed rules to make it easier for phone companies and others to jump into the video business.

The proposed order aims to streamline the video franchise approval process, FCC officials said.

…

AT&T and Verizon are building advanced broadband networks so they can sell bundles of TV, voice, wireless and high-speed Internet services. But deployment of their video has been slow, in part because of the franchising process. There are thousands of local authorities, each with its own rules.

The proposed order would require the bodies to rule within 90 days on applications by phone companies and others with existing access to public rights-of-way. For others, it would be six months.

The order would also make it harder for localities to impose "unreasonable" requirements. In one case, the FCC says, a video provider was asked to build a recreation center and swimming pool. In another, a video applicant was asked to fork over $1 million and fund a $50,000 scholarship with annual contributions.
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Tom from The Village Voice on WauwatosaNOW says:

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Steve,

I know you are a non smoker. I am a smoker but I think we both agree on the right's of business owners. I'd have no problem with a state wide ban from Madison. Equal across the State.

Tom
The Village Voice
WauwatosaNOW.com
December 13, 2006

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NOTE FROM STEVE: Check out Tom's amusing idea for banning second hand wood smoke.

Village Trustees Ellen Eckman and Michael Phinney have both taken out nomination papers for Trustee, signaling their intention to run for re-election.

The question is, will anybody else sign up to run against them?

During the appointment process for Guy Johnson's former position, when there was no election required, nine people signed up for the position. Why is it so hard to get people interested now?
 
 

Commments:

1. Sadly, Steve, my guess would be that, as you probably know from personal experience, the process of running for election here often generates thoughts akin to banging your head against a wall or beating a dead horse."
Jim Genthe, 12/14/06

I wrote this in 2004 for some family and friends. But since it is Christmas again, and we still have 140,000 troops in Iraq, I offer it to you as a reminder of the sacrifices they are making.

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Christmas in Baghdad
Written: November, 2004

Last year for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was in Baghdad. So I thought I would try to convey a little bit of what the holidays were like over there.

First of all, there was no real break as far as the schedule went. Some non-essential tasks were put off on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but for many people, it was a work day just like any other. Checkpoints still need guarding, and soldiers still need to eat, sleep, and shoot.

They did make us very nice lunch/dinner those days, and did their level best to dress up the dining hall to at least bring some flavor of home to the troops. They even went so far as to have one of the Filipino dining hall workers dress up like Santa. He got into the role, but was lacking key characteristics such as "cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry," and there was definitely no "bowl full of jelly." He also was not accepting requests from well-armed soldiers interested in sitting in his lap and asking for things. They had tons of food of many and varied types, including a vast array of desserts. Ask any soldier what the best thing about an Army dining hall is, and it will usually be the desserts.

We had a party that night, which lost something due to the noticeable lack of family, and the fact that we were all carrying M-16s. But we smiled for a few hours, laughed, and shared in our common and unexpressed desire to be anywhere but there.

Late that night, my roommate and I went to Midnight mass with many other member nations of the coalition. It was held in one of Saddam's old palaces, which was ironic and dramatic at the same time. We gathered there, soldiers and civilians from 12 or 13 nations, representing 8 or 9 different languages. They said mass in English, with a few prayers in other languages. After communion, they sang Silent Night, with one verse done in each of the languages of the people who were there, with English at the end.

I admit, I cried at that moment. I cried because I wanted to be home, and because of the startling and unexpected beauty of the moment. I cried for the soldiers I knew who hadn't made it to that moment, and for the people back home who missed them. I cried because I knew my family would be missing me at that same moment, and silently prayed that I would be able to sing with them again someday.

What made it bearable were the letters. I got somewhere close to 500 Christmas cards, letters, and packages. My parents, and pretty much everyone I knew sent me something, whether it was an email, a card, or a package. A local nursing teacher gave her class some extra credit for writing to me, resulting in 200 letters from nursing students (this made me very popular for a brief time...)

The day after Christmas, we went back to work.

So this year, if you know any soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, send them something around Christmas. Say a prayer for them, because they are missing home right now more than you can imagine.
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Update

Joe Mangiamelli has written a response to this post in his blog, "From The Village Square." The entire post is worth the read, but here is an excerpt.

"Steve, thanks for your letter from Baghdad. Let it be a reminder that we are not there to exterminate a people, nor to do injury to them because of there faith, but to give freedom to practice it, as long as it is not used to justify the killing of people of other faiths.

I don't believe that we should have gone to Iraq nor did I believe that we should have been in Vietnam, but I believe in our service men and women now that they're there and I believe in their rights and what we owe them when the return.

I pray for them daily. I was fortunate that my country felt that it owed me so much and I'm grateful, but also that I was not maimed and returned to be grateful. I feel that we owe all returning soldiers as much. We love them whether or not we believe in the reason for the war and whatever the religion. Anyone who goes to war in the service of our country is a patriot."

Response

Joe-

Thank you very much for your words. A message of religious tolerance is especially pertinent in these times.

I would also like to say publicly, as I have in the past, that the treatment I received as a soldier was supportive and generous, even from those who opposed the war. I believe this treatment is indicative of an important way our nation has matured since the disgraceful treatment visited upon our veter

In March of this year, Shorewood and Milwaukee residents successfully prevented the placement of a group home for sex offenders directly across the river from Shorewood.  In an impressive show of solidarity, residents of the area surrounding the the area came together to oppose the placement of this home so near to such a high concentration of children.

However, as this week's Journal Sentinel has made clear, the danger is not yet passed.  Does this pose a danger to kids in Shorewood?  You decide.

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Sex offender Morford could go free

Doctors don't believe ailing molester will reoffend

By DERRICK NUNNALLY
dnunnally@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Dec. 9, 2006

Milwaukee's most infamous living child molester is poised to become a free man.

With a Thursday court hearing looming, prosecutors conceded in a court filing last week that none of the seven doctors the state has hired to diagnose Billy Lee Morford, 61, believes he is still "more likely than not" to reoffend, which state law requires to continue supervision for a sexually violent person.

Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors can't bring a case to keep an offender under supervision if they can't present evidence. So barring an eleventh-hour development, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Wagner could have little choice at a scheduled pretrial hearing Thursday but to toss the case and order Morford's discharge.

If that happened, Morford would be allowed to go free from the state-rented N. 51st St. home where he has lived under supervision since 2003, a possibility prosecutors have spent years trying to block and elected officials have raised a great hue and cry over.

Morford is scheduled to go to trial over his habitual-offender status in January, and prosecutors had a deadline Tuesday to find their expert. Court records indicate prosecutors hired seven doctors to evaluate Morford's potential to reoffend, and of them only two found the longtime molester enough of a threat to oppose his discharge.
 
full story
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Trustees Ellen Eckman and Michael Phinney will have to decide whether to run for re-election by Friday, 12/22. If they will not seek re-election, they must file a statement of non-candidacy. This is partially to notify the electorate of the open seat, and allow other potential candidates to circulate nomination papers.

I have no specialized knowledge about either of the candidates, other than the opaque and non-committal statement offered by Trustee Eckman when I asked her. Trustee Phinney did not respond to my request, and has given me no indication in either direction.

What are the odds-makers saying about whether either/both of them will seek re-election? Any thoughts?



Comments

1. "I think both of them will be running."
- Joe Mangiamelli, "From The Village Square", 12/9/06

At this Monday's meeting, the Shorewood Village Board declined to vote on what would have been a comprehensive smoking ban in the Village of Shorewood. Instead, they referred it back to the Community and Business Relations Committee, giving them 60 days to come up with a new version of the ordinance. Exactly what changes the new version of the ordinance is intended to encompass was not at all clear, nor was how exactly the committee was to make the next version more palatable.

Arguments for and against the ban were roughly the same as they have been since I started paying attention to the issue, almost a year ago now. Do not put our business owners on an island vs. protect public health, and so forth.

As I have stated before, I would be happy with it if the Board decided not to vote on the issue. What I do not like is sending the ordinance back to committee for a unspecified reasons and an unspecified set of revisions. The ordinance currently in front of the board is the result of more than a year and half of committee work, listening sessions, surveys, data analysis, research, discussion, etc. If the current version of the ordinance is not satisfactory to the board, what is to say the new version the committee will create in the next 60 days will be any better? The new version certainly will not contain the same level of public input as the current version, which has been informed by months and months of painstaking research and discussion.

In my opinion, given the lack of unity in Shorewood on this issue, and the apparent total lack of interest in the ban on the part of other North Shore communities, to create a ban now would be ineffectual to the point of being silly. If the goal is to protect public health, it is hard to see how creating a tiny smoke free area in the middle of a vast metropolis will have that effect. The tidal wave of interest in this subject has not materialized, as the supporters of the ban were predicting. Instead, Shorewood is left in the position of voting ourselves onto a tiny, no-smoking island.

In my heart of hearts, I wish smoking were illegal in all public places always and everywhere. But given how things have progressed on this issue in this time and this place, it's time to drop it.

Quotable Quotes

1. Trustee Hanewall: "The whole purpose of this was to protect public health. To some extent, to protect people from themselves."
2. Trustee Hickey: "After all the work we have done, [not voting] seems a little anti-climactic."

Earlier today, I received via email yet another story of how parking programs treat renters like second class citizens.

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As a renter, I park my car in the Village Hall parking lot. Normally, this isn’t a problem because I work a typical first shift and therefore have little problem abiding by the posted parking regulations.

Yesterday, I had come down with a terrible flu which confined me to my bed for the entire day. I called the Shorewood police department to find out if there was a way to ‘call my car in’ so that I did not have to use what little energy I had and venture into the 9 degree weather to move my car every few hours. I spoke with a nice man on the phone and explained the situation I was facing. I figured that since you are able to call your car in to avoid ticketing for night time parking, they must have a similar policy for day time. As it turned out, he did in fact tell me they could not authorize my car to stay in the lot, and that despite my weakened condition, I had to brave the bone-chilling cold and move my vehicle throughout the day.
- Renter from E. Capitol Dr., 12/8/06
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Comments

"At the risk of sounding crass and completely un-PC, which part of the fact that constantly telling renters to 'BOHICA' is totally counter-productive do some folks NOT understand? That this renter-resident could not receive one single day of 'special dispensation' is outrageous and, I would hope, embarrassing to other residents!"
- An Embarrassed Resident, 12/15/06

If you think the breadth and depth of news coverage about Shorewood has been decreasing, you are right.

I recently spoke with Brendan O'Brien, the North Shore Herald reporter assigned to the Village of Shorewood and the Shorewood School District. For a while now, I have suspected the scope of his responsibilities had expanded, thereby causing a drop in the quantity of news available about Shorewood.

He confirmed that his coverage area has indeed expanded, listing off a number of additional municipalities and school districts he is now responsible for covering. He also told me he will now be focusing more on the smaller, "Community Watch" items as well as the bigger, long term stories. This will mean less focus on the medium sized stories such as board meeting and community events. These are the stories which used to keep Shorewood residents informed.

Update
12/6/06 Joe Mangiamelli has an excellent piece of changing format of our community newspaper. Read it here.

This is in response to Joe Mangiamelli's 12/2/06 post entitled "Often smaller is better."

While smaller may allow the streets in Shorewood to be plowed faster, dividing political units into ever smaller geographic areas is not a perfect solution for placating groups of people with differing political aspirations. During my campaigns here in Shorewood, many people I talked to, bothered by the geographic concentration of our elected trustees, suggested (usually tongue in cheek) that we divide Shorewood down the middle of Oakland Avenue, and make two villages.

The reasons this division would not work in Shorewood are a microcosm of why it would not work in Iraq. Two tiny villages, each 0.6 square miles, would not have the resources to effectively carry out the functions of government and education on their own.

Let's relate this back to Iraq. In Iraq, the three regions would not have the economic or military resources to be effective independent entities. Leaving aside the likely outcome of genocidal forced population shifts, consider the political impact of such a division. The Sunni area would have almost no oil resources (this was a major sticking point in drafting the Constitution) and would thus have no ability to compete economically. The Shiite area would likely survive, but would come under even heavier influence from Tehran. The Kurdish region could well become the spark that ignites WWIII. The Kurds are the largest ethnic group on the planet without their own country. If Iraqi Kurdistan became independent, Southern Turkey, Western Iran, and Northwestern Syria would go up in flames, as the Kurdish populations there demanded to be part of their newly formed ethnic homeland. The map below shows the distribution of Kurds in the region.

Source: Wikipedia. Subject: Kurdish People.

So although there may be regional differences in our 1.4 square miles, and Iraq's 168,743 square miles, it is better for all of us if we just learn to get along.

All of this metaphor and microcosm ignores the more basic reality. Iraq already is "divided...into separate states with one overriding federal government," just as you suggest.


Source: Wikipedia. Subject: Iraq.



Comments

1. "Steve: You're right. Small is not always better, especially as I applied it to Iraq. I yield to your obvious superior knowledge in this situation and admit that I didn't even know about these existing divisions as shown on your map. Your information adds a new dimension to this subject. I wonder if some of Senators are aware of these divisions. I was hoping to simulate some thinking about how the government of Iraq is going to handle the situation once most or all of our military leaves, whether it is going to be in 10 months, 10 years or 20 years from now. I probably should stick to snow removal problems in Shorewood."
- Joe Mangiamelli, "From The Village Square", 12/3/06

2. Steve, RE: your comment; "So, although there may be regional differences in our 1.4 square miles, and Iraq's 168,743 square miles, it is better for all of us if we just learn to get along." Whoda thunk that, with all the pooled intelligence involved here, in countries like Iraq and in the rest of the world, a simple solution to issues like these could have come from someone like Rodney King? 'Why can we all just get along?'"
- Jim Genthe, Shorewood Resident, 12/7/06

There have been a few developments in Project Lightspeed in the last few weeks. They are summarized here by the Shorewood Village Manager.

1. 11/22/06 Village Manager's Memo
"AT&T Update. In reading the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel today, I noticed that AT&T appointed a new Wisconsin president with the mission of deployment of their cable television system. The article states that most of his time will be spent working with regulators in Madison on the cable television issues. This is consistent with AT&T's continued defiance of local regulations of rights-of-way use for cable television use. Legislation sponsored by AT&T is expected in early winter to pave the way for large equipment boxes in neighborhoods."

2. 11/30/06 Village Manager's Memo
"Update on AT&T. Village Attorney Ray Pollen will update the board on the issues surrounding AT&T's initiatives in breaking into the cable TV business."