Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Open Mouth... Insert Foot

Well, I know that this is no longer news and I am not one bit surprised that I am the first one writting about it. It is all about Brian Bain stepping on his tongue and getting himself removed from the City Manager discussions and not about Paul Esslinger doing something wrong.

Funny, there are a couple of people out there that are all over Paul whenever he does something that they don't like but when their favorite screws up (BIG) they don't say a peep.

I do like Dick Wollangk. He has been open and helpful in both of my bids for office. His door was always open for me to pop in and ask a question. I don't know if he deserves to be fired for what is happening or whether he should be given the chance to get his department heads under control. Either way, the city will benefit from the effort. Mr. Bain has jeopordized this action. He has weakened the council by using his blog and/or the newspaper to voice an opinion of a matter that should be taking place behind closed doors. He has shown extreme bias in regards to the city manager. By doing so, he tainted the discussion to the point that prevents him from doing his duty as our representative. Without his vote, our council could remain deadlocked on any decision that could be reached. Without his vote, he isn't much of a representative is he?

But of course, it isn't Esslinger, McHugh, Palmeri or Monte so who cares right?

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Update to Jackson and Murdock Intersection

As I said in my previous post, more to follow... Here is the follow up.

Everyone is up in arms saying that putting a roundabout at the intersection of Jackson and Murdock is a matter of public safety. I have numbers that disprove that theory, at least takes the priority off of THAT intersection.

Would it surprise you to know that Jackson and Murdock is not even in the top 10 of the "dangerous" intersections in Oshkosh? Actually, it isn't even ranked in the top 20! It is ranked 21st and it's neighbor, Wisconsin and Murdock is ranked 17th!

There were only 6 accidents that occurred at this intersection in all of 2006 while the traffic numbers over 29,000 vehicles PER DAY that travel through it. Given that ratio, perhaps it is not such a high priority to do this one first.

The highest accident intersection is 9th and Knapp Streets. It had 16 accidents in 2006 followed by High Avenue and Wisconsin with 14. Then Washburn/Witzel-13, Bowen/Murdock-10 and Koeller/9th-10 round out the top 5. Koeller/9th has posted double digit accidents in ALL of the last 3 years. Wait... low and behold there are 3 within a mile of each other in the top 5. Seems to me, that our focus is a little off with safety of intersections.

This is NOT the first intersection that has been proposed to get a roundabout. The DOT would like to put the same type of intersection at 41/Witzel (one on each side of the highway for each frontage road). My opinion is that to build a roundabout at an expense of more than $600,000 to the city is ludicrous if they do not do anything to address the neighboring intersection of Wisconsin/Murdock that has posted more accidents in each of the last 2 years. This would NOT be productive and MAY actually cause more problems than they set out to fix.

If I understand the new design correctly, KFC would be purchased and the intersection widened to allow for additional turn lanes regardless of whether the roundabout is built or not. I am not sure about that aspect but either way, improvements can be made WITHOUT building an intersection at a significantly higher expense to the city with no real proof that it will improve anything. Accidents will happen at ANY intersection regardless of design. Will the 6 improve enough to justify the expense?

Guess we will find out if the council approves this design tonight...

Monday, July 23, 2007

Jackson and Murdock- A matter of safety?

After reading the article on Cheryl Hentz's site, I had to do some digging for myself and actually taking the time to put together some numbers to support my thoughts.

Cheryl states that Esslinger is "silly and hypocritical", but has nothing to support her statement. Of course, Paul is one with a bulls eye painted on his back because I noted that she didn't mention any other opposition to the intersection. There were others that do NOT support this expense as it was proposed. More information was needed and I have some of it.

I posted earlier about information that I found on google about roundabouts and what the safety is. It also proved that my theory about negotiating an intersection was not a problem. But what MAY be a problem is the significant difference in the cost. Instead of costing the city $152k, it will cost $718k for the roundabout.

I found out tonight that the accidents were in the single digits while traffic numbers were one of the highest in the city. Is it really worth the added expense just to have an intersection that few cities have? Is it REALLY a safety concern? OR is Cheryl trying to be opportunistic? I think it is personal and she is digging for yet another reason to drag Paul through the MUD!

Go figure, if you can't support your theories... Just make it up.

More to follow...

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

So, Sheboygan has all the answers?!?

Surfing the web this evening, I couldn't help but notice one of the new posts on the commons. It had a misspelling that caught my attention and the article really peaked my interest.

The biggest argument during the last contract negotiations was the fact that Sheboygan pays 100% of the health insurance for their Police officers. Funny that now they are looking at exactly the same way to REDUCE their budget that Oshkosh did last year with garbage. Only now they are taking it further by offering a early retirement to several employees in order to hire more for less AND looking at changing the health care to save up to $400,000 per year.

So, here we are. I stated plainly that we SHOULDN'T make comparisons to other communities because we don't know what their budget looks like. Now we are beginning to see.

I used to live in Sheboygan. Grew up there in fact. I have no desire to move back there. Perhaps a nice place to visit, just not to live.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

100 Block Belly Up?

Well, there goes the neighborhood... The cornerstone of the "new downtown Oshkosh" is now in foreclosure to the same bank that owns the adjacent property (Park Plaza). Hell, if we keep going, BB will own the entire downtown. What do you think that they will do with it? Do you think that they will keep those projects as is? Or will they raze them and start over with projects that are viable for a city of this size.

I vote for the the second choice. There isn't much doubt that these properties weren't going to do well in the first place. There is too much competition and when the market is flooded, something has to give.

Heaven help those that speak against a project when it is proposed. That is considered anti-progress. All I can say now is, we told you so.

With the downtown, we need to think smart. Time to do what is REALISTIC with the downtown and quit throwing good money over bad at it just to watch the loans default. Who is going to pay the TIF now?

Time to rethink that downtown plan. And quit following the "progressives" lead. Time to take a realistic, manageable approach to improving the downtown.

Any ideas?

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Going 'round with Roundabouts

Well, after reading the commotion over the proposed roundabout for the Murdock/Jackson Street intersection, I decided to do some research myself. I have not been a big supporter for these designs. I don't like negotiating them and would have thought that the accidents would increase if they are built.

My goal was to prove it. However, when I went to Google and typed in the search, the first article that came up did the opposite. It actually convinced me that this type of intersection SHOULD be done if logistically and financially possible. It seems that they will improve traffic flow and prevent some types of accidents. Sure, there will be the occasional "fender bender" but high speed running the red light will not happen anymore. The accidents that happen at roundabouts rarely have injuries and almost never have serious injuries.

I would like to suggest that everyone read up on these intersections. Perhaps you can start in the same place that I did. Take a look at what Kansas State University reports. One example included Madison.

Is it the answer for us in Oshkosh? Tell us what you think.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Council Member Esslinger Media Rants

Well, so much for a hiatus. But I think that there is a subject that needs to be discussed further.

First, on Jef Halls blog you will see a post that tells us about Paul Esslinger contradicting himself by writing a letter to the editor regarding the loss of manufacturing jobs in Oshkosh and then the next day being seen in a "Toyota"... Well, I don't know where Jef gets his information from, but he is really off base with this one.

During the Forth of July parade, Paul was driving a PONTIAC G6 Convertible provided by Bergstrom Automotive. Any implication that Paul is supporting an overseas manufacturer is incorrect and untrue. Besides, most Toyotas that are sold here in the U.S. are built here in the U.S.

Next, on a similar issue, this mornings opinion poll on the ONW website is a question that asks if Paul "acts in the best interest of the city". What kind of question is that? And why are they singling out just one council member? Talk about poor taste, they have really sunk to a new level this time.

I know that the ONW doesn't like Paul and they have made that perfectly clear in the past. They are the biggest reason for the conspiracy theory over the River Mill sidewalks started. There isn't a big political conspiracy folks. Paul was simply acting on a statement made at an earlier meeting by a resident of a different neighborhood that brought up River Mill trying to avoid getting walks in front of his house. He was quoted as saying that "we are trying to avoid the PERCEPTION that the 'richer' neighborhoods can avoid sidewalks". The key word is PERCEPTION. There are too many "us vs. them" arguements in this city. The sooner that we realize that this city is equal the better we will all be.

In the meantime, we should probably THANK him for his public service. A service that he doesn't take a dime to do. All of his salary from the City goes right back to the city through donations to the Senior Center. This isn't an ego trip for him and his intentions are pure. Perhaps people should look beyond their opinion and see what is plain as black and white.

Enough venting for now, Stay cool everyone.

K. Monte