The Forum

In case you would like to see what is going on with the athletic field renovations, or find out about how to donate to the fundraising campaign, the website is:

http://drivetodistinction.org/

In case you missed it, AT&T is advertising on ShorewoodNOW for U-Verse, their cable TV service. This service relies on huge, grey boxes to transmit to your home.

Reading between the lines, we should expect a rapid increase in the number of these boxes in Shorewood, dominating the right of way, and detracting from the aesthetics of the multi-million dollar streetscaping program we are undertaking. One of these boxes is already in place (see photo top right), next to the Shorewood Animal Hospital.

This post has no larger point, except to warn you that the boxes are coming. As I have previously mentioned, current plans call for 15-16 of these boxes in Shorewood.

I received this letter from Trustee Dawn Anderson concerning the streetlight outage on the NW side of Shorewood.

-----------------------
From: Trustee Dawn Anderson
Date: May 20, 2007

Hi Steve - I checked with Jim Bartnicki and in case you haven't already done that, the City of Milw and Wauwatosa were not able to provide us with a spare switch - He did find one in Pewaukee, but that failed too.

It appears everyone would be in the same boat with regards to waiting for replacements if their switches failed too. He has ordered 2 new ones, as you already know. Jim's a very resourceful guy and I know he'll continue to work on the problem.

He promised an update during streets and buildings tomorrow before the board meeting. If you aren't there, I'll let you know if there are any new developments.

-- Dawn
----------------------

I saw an interesting note in the Village Manager’s Memo last week.

------------------------
Village Manager's Memo
May 17, 2007

“Presentation by D2D (Drive to Distinction). The Shorewood School District 's Drive to Distinction Committee has done an amazing job planning and fund raising for the upgrade of the high school and community athletic fields. The Committee will present its plan and request taxpayer funds to support the endeavor. The Board will act on the request at a future meeting.”
--------------------------------------

I have no problem with spending tax dollars on the very necessary renovation of our sagging and outdated athletic facilities. There is no doubt about it: the football field/athletic complex desperately needs renovation. I have supported this renovation since its inception, and was even on the Drive to Distinction committee when it was formed.

But since the plans were expanded to add a dome to this otherwise perfectly sensible and necessary project, my thinking has changed. I have no interest in become the proud owner of a air supported seasonal dome.

We are spending literally millions of dollars to improve the visual appeal of Oakland and Capitol. As I write this, members of our Village staff are in the process of reviewing bids for streetscaping to improve the aesthetic appeal of our public spaces. How does adding a huge, white upside down bathtub to one of our largest open spaces fit into any streetscaping plan?

After a temporary re-lighting of the street lights last night, it is once again pitch black in this part of the Village. Forcing Shorewood residents to walk around on pitch black streets is just completely unacceptable.

If this isn't solved soon, we should think of ways to turn up the pressure on this issue.

Update: Hours after posting this, and after being told the lights may be out for 30 days, the lights are back on.

The streetlights in the Northwest Corner of Shorewood have been out for the last few days, making it almost pitch black. I contacted Village Manager Chris Swartz today to determine how much longer this might continue. His response is below.

------------------------------
Steve, waiting for a major piece of equipment that went out; could be up to 30 days. I had asked for special patrol up there. Hopefully we can rig something to get it going prior to 30 days until the long-term solution is found.
-------------------------

Given the rash of break-ins and burglaries we have been experiencing lately, this is totally unacceptable. Actually, even if we hadn’t experienced this sudden uptick in crime, it would still seem unreasonable to expect people to walk around in complete darkness on our Village streets.



Comments

1. There are 12 auto break-ins in 2 days, and the Northwest side of Shorewood has to walk to their cars at night in complete darkness? How much more dangerous could it get? How come I have the feeling that if this happend on the east side of the village it would not take 30 days?
- Anonymous Reader, 5/15/07

From Steve: Let the class warfare begin!

As we are planning what to do with Wilson; narrowing, slowing, calming, rebuilding, developing, etc, driveability, not walkability should the number one goal. Wilson is not near a school or a shopping district, and although people cross to get to the bike path and Estabrook Park, the foot traffic is nowhere near as heavy as other parts of the Village. As such, walkability could potentially be a second priority, with potentially some pedestrian enhancements such as crosswalks Cyclist safety (bikeability?) is maybe a distant third, given the ready access to the bikepath, about 20 feet from the road.

But cars should come first on Wilson. Wilson Dr. is the Lake Drive of the west side of Shorewood, in the sense that it is the primary entrance and exit route for a whole section of the Village. If you narrow the road too much; slow, calm, and stop traffic too much, drivers will start using our quiet, residential streets as alternate routes. This will detract from the walkability of the side streets, where people actually do want to walk.

Whatever reconstruction plan is chosen, keep in mind that many of us in my neighborood want to drive on Wilson, not just be able to cross it safely on foot. Perhaps more importantly, we also want other drivers to continue to drive on Wilson, rather than using Woodruff, Kensington, Sheffield, Congress, etc.

Although I have strongly advocated walkability for Oakland Ave and our school areas, driveability wins the day on Wilson Drive.



Comments

1. "Finally! A voice of reason. Let's hope our elected and unelected officials take notice and respond accordingly. Great work on exploring this issue, Steve."
- Anonymous, 5/8/07

We in Shorewood fancy ourselves a progressive village in terms of our concern for the environment. However, our parking policies discourage those who rent spaces in our public lots from riding their bicycles or carpooling to work.

A coworker of mine at Mark Travel rents in Shorewood and has a space in one of our parking lots. She recently purchased a bicycle, which she intended to ride to work. Unfortunately, during the day, she is not allowed to keep her car in the public lot she rents space in, or on any street near her home. The streets in the vicinity of her building all have 2 hour parking limits, and her overnight lot does not allow her to park in it during the day.

When she called Village Hall, she was told she could either move her car to another part of the Village to an unrestricted street every morning and back off the street in the evening, or move her car to the 3500 Oakland lot, where she would be required purchase yet another permit.

Instead of going through this hassle, she has decided to continue to drive to work. She lives 8.3 miles from the office, so doing some quick math, we get the following numbers. Driving 16.6 miles per day instead of biking for 36 weeks a year (she wouldn’t ride a bike in the WI winter!) in a car that gets 25 miles per gallon means that she will burn 120 gallons of gasoline this year.

This fuel will be unnecessarily wasted unless Shorewood can find a way for this willing biker to leave her car near her home during the day. How many more renters would take advantage of a program which allowed them to bike or carpool to work, if there were some easy solution for where to leave their car?

This is problem we can solve. While I recognize that the parking shortage prevents Shorewood from allowing unrestricted parking in certain lots, there must be a better way than the bizarre and burdensome solution outlined above. This matters for two reasons. First off, in this day and age of climate change and soaring gas prices, we should work to remove obstacles for people who want to carpool or ride their bikes. Secondly, this is one more example of the cost and inconvenience we are forcing renters to assume, which homeowners do not have to deal with.

Continuing our discussion of the reconstruction of Wilson Drive, let's focus on accident statistics. I did some digging into some of the ideas contained in the recent letter from Trustee Dawn Anderson.

Quote 1: “I'm routinely passed - on the right - by faster moving traffic. This to me seems a hazard to bikers in that lane - and to anyone planning a right turn!”

Quote 2: "People tend to drive faster on wider roads and in wider lanes, and more slowly on narrower roads. Wide roads are more difficult for pedestrians and bicyclists to cross because traffic is faster and the distance to cross is greater." (READ FULL LETTER)

I decided to check into the number of accidents on Wilson Drive, to see if the hazards described in Trustee Anderson’s lead to significant traffic related incidents. Are there accidents involving pedestrians on Wilson Drive? Does the wider street cause higher speeds or irregular traffic patterns leading to a higher incidence of accidents?

To help answer these questions, I contacted the Shorewood Police Department, who provided the map below showing accidents in the last two years in the northwest sector of Shorewood, including Wilson Drive.

2006 Accidents

2005 Accidents

A brief glance will show you two interesting things.

1. The number of accidents on Wilson Drive is miniscule, especially when compared to the sections of Oakland Ave and Capitol Dr that are visible on the map. There have been just as many accidents on Kensington Blvd in the last 2 years as there have been on Wilson Dr.
2. We have not experienced a single accident involving a pedestrian on Wilson Drive in the last 2 years. Not even one.

So now we have another piece of data to add to this discussion. Is narrowing Wilson Drive a good idea? Maybe, maybe not. But let’s not do it to increase pedestrian or driver safety. The statistics above show that, despite negative perceptions, Wilson Drive is very safe the way it is.