Shorelines

Daniel Zens wrote:
Hi Dave and Jim:

I respect your right to say what you say on your bolgs but you guys need to get out of the house more often and maybe do some excising., or better yet just better researching of information before you make certain statements regarding D2D.

RESPONSE: Well Dan, I am addressing each of your items in turn. It seems that your facts are not so factual, and the economics are of the famed Vodoo variety.

Facts:
1 )Did you know Shorewood HS has not hosted a track meet at our facilities in over 10 years.

RESPONSE: Ok, so why ? This is a meaningless statistic without background.

2) Did you know the athletics field has restricted use by Phy-Ed and sport and rec. because of the very poor conditions, this can be substantiate by PHY-Ed teachers, coaches High School AD.

RESPONSE: Obviously SHS is not maintaining what they have. Why do you think they will maintain something many times more expensive --- if they can't handle dirt and grass seed, sand and clay --- imagine what will happen to very expensive artificial turf.

3) Did you know Shorewood Athletic Fields are rated the #1 worse facility in Southeastern Wisconsin (I don't think this is keeping up with the Jones).
Have you bother to talk with Coaches, Rec.'s Department, Phy-Ed teachers to find out how pitiful the condition of this facility is. Have you bothered to even walk over to the HS for viewing. The Athletic Fields has not been address for serious maintenance in 30 years. What would your house look like if you didn't bother to do maintenance on it for 30 years.

RESPONSE: Rated #1 worse by who ? On what criteria ? Comparing what size schools to ours ? What are those schools spending in relation to academics ? What is their student / teacher ratio ?

3) Girls and Boy SHS Soccer play ALL their HOME games at 76th and GOOD HOPE because of the condition of the field and the field is not regulation size.

RESPONSE: Again, sounds like a maintenance issue !!

4) Shorewood Varsity reserve played only 2 games at home last year because of the condition of the athletic field.

RESPONSE: Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance.

5) The Dome will only happen if private Donors ar willing to pay for it, By the way Minneapolis metro proper has over 25 seasonal domes in use that are profitable to operate. Minneapolis even has a light rail system in their Downtown. But they must be quite backward thinkers.

RESPONSE: Hey -- I am all for Light Rail --- let's do it Now ! As for domes in Minneapolis, have you ever been there --- sure gets cold fast ........ and as for "profitable to operate" what does that mean ?

6) FACT I am aware of 5 families @ $10/thousand per subsidize state aid for each student that
= $500/thousand the School board will lose in revenue for the School Those families are deciding other schools because of the condition of our facilities at the HS are in.

RESPONSE: Where did you get your numbers Dan ? Shorewood PAYS a little over $10,000 per student --- we DON'T get $10,000 from the state --- if we did, we would not need any property taxes for our schools.

7) FACT The village donation to the library Vs private dollars was 5 to 1. The Village contribution to Vs. private dollars for D2D is 1 to 5.

RESPONSE: Dan the Library is actually a part of the Village for funding purposes, per state law. The Library itself has no taxing authority. The School District is a taxing body ---- they can and do levy taxes.

8) The school board would probably need to address the deteriorating facility at the HS if this 80% privately funded initiative had not come forward .

RESPONSE: Hmmm, yes I guess that the school district is responsible for their facilities.

9)Try talking with any real-estate broker who works for SHOREWEST, FIRST WEBER , PRUDENTIAL, or COLDWELLL and they will tell you they believe the impact the D2D initiative is going to be significant for getting new families to consider moving to Shorewood. Several have donated to D2D they so believe in it.

RESPONSE: I am a Realtor. I think I have a pretty good handle on what folks who relocate are looking for.

I could go on and on with factual information on " WHY to SUPPORT D2D " and why the village should to match the $600/thousand Donor challenge, but it wouldn't change you mind because you DO NOT want Shorewood to move forward. That's a Fact.

RESPONSE: Actually Dan, I have done a fair share of working for and contributing to Shorewood. I am a past president of the Shorewood Mens Club and voted many times to support projects in Shorewood. Until some recent knee problems, I regularly worked the BBQ, sold pre- BBQ tickets to businesses on Oakland, and delivered the lunches they bought. I have sponsored the entertainment at the BBQ for many years. I am a charter member of the Shorewood Fitness Center, and ser

Sean.Cummings@brunswickbilliards.com wrote:

Dave,

Again we agree with each other on more elements than we disagree. I believe that we must invest some money to create the facilities where our kids and adult residents can get better physical education and recreational opportunities. Did you know that the students are not allowed to use the fields during their free time (lunch) because the fields cannot take the wear and tear, not a problem with turf.

Where we disagree is that I believe that keeping pace, to some extent, with the Jones's is a necessity whether selling a house, sandwiches or communities. Few people want to buy a home with an outdated kitchen, dirty carpets and substandard wiring. We invest in acedemics because it is the right thing to do and because it sells the community, we invest in the downtown business district because it creates draw. Why are school facilities any different? A community must remain competitive or it will fall behind.

In the end, I take this position. something must be done with these facilities as they are crumbling and unsafe. It is my belief that the Schools will have to come out and ask for more money to bring these up to current safety and regulation standards and spend something around $500K in new money either way. Why not spend that same amount of taxpayer money now, leverage the private donations and get a facility that has more ammeniteis, features and use for residents of all ages?

Since noboby can prove that facilties sell or don't sell, why not error on the safe side and agree that it is highly unlikely that nice facilities hurt your cause if they do not result in an additional tax burden. Since we will have to spend similar money in the very near future anyway on a band aid approach why not leverage the private contribution that is available now and get something that is more than a stop-gap solution.

MY RESPONSE TO SEAN

Hi Sean,

You hit the nail on the head when you wrote " Few people want to buy a home with an outdated kitchen, dirty carpets and substandard wiring "

I wouldn't go so far as to say that is the typical condition of Shorewood's housing stock, but residential housing IS THE KEY to increasing Shorewood's base of families --- and school kids.

As you know, Shorewood has an inordinate percentage of duplexes --- and for the most part, they have reached a stage of obsolescence. Inefficient furnaces, hot water heaters, insufficient insulation, old electrical, galvanized plumbing, etc ...... Also for the most part, they are usually two bedroom only.

If you look at some of my past blog postings, I have gone into the residential issue several times, and have offered suggestions.

You bring up the money spent on the commercial aspects in Shorewood --- and I would challenge anyone to show that it has been spent wisely, and has attracted new business to Shorewood. The BID district paying for a bike race, or an artwalk, does not attract new businesses. Actually new businesses are attracted to a place where people will buy the wares or services -- and if our residential is strong, so will the local businesses be strong.

If SHS does not allow the kids on the fields now --- when maintenance is dirt and grass seed --- (and yes, grooming for track, etc) -- because they say they cannot keep it up ----- imagine what will happen when we have artificial turf !! Who is going to pay the upkeep on that ??

And if you think the maintenance issue is of little concern --- we are presently getting ready to tear down all the 10 year old light poles on North Oakland --- as they are now Junk !!

If you happened to hear about one of the Supreme Court rulings yesterday, you may be aware that the athletic fields may become no more important than the arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic, as she went down.

The Supreme Court ruling has thrown a wrench in the use of "race" in schooling equations --- putting the Chapter 220 Program at great peril.

A look at the Shorewood school district budget will tell you that without the 220 kids --- and other government money --- we will probably have to shutter one of the schools.

There is of course only so much energy and money to go around in the Village --- I think we need to slow down and make sure both are spent wisely.

Thanks

Dave

It has taken me quite a while to decide whether D2D is something I would support or oppose.

Neutrality on the D2D was quite comfortable as long as it was something that I thought was being totally paid for with private contributions .... then lo and behold .... there are all kinds of tax dollars involved ---- did I miss something ---- was I imagining that D2D was a private undertaking being donated to the school via Private Contributions ?

The overwhelming deciding factor for me, however, was reading one of Steve Koczela's blogs and the attached correspondence from the D2D Committee. The excerpt that caught my attention follows:

"Why Support D2D?"

" You should support D2D if you believe our schools are a significant, contributing factor to the health of our community. You should support this initiative if you are tired of the academic program cuts in our schools. You should support D2D if you believe in physical education or combating the rising problem of childhood obesity. "

I do not believe that our schools do much of anything regarding physical education for the average student !

I base this belief on my own observation at the Community Fitness Center, which is used by the students as part of their physical education. Seeing the effort --- actually Lack Of Effort --- that the average student puts out in these phy ed classes is pathetic !!

The students pretend to exercise --- mostly they socialize. Their collective sweat doesn't appear to be enough to warrant the washing of even one T shirt --- not to mention that their clothing doesn't seem to have to do much with exercise or exertion.

When I had first made these observations a few years ago, I learned a few secrets of Shorewood HS Phy Ed, that may or may not be true today.

1) Students don't bother to wear athletic work out clothes during Phy Ed, because they do not intend to sweat.

2) Students do not intend to sweat because then they would have to take a shower after Phy Ed --- and they don't want to do so.

3) The HS charges a special separate fee to each parent of each student, which originally was intended to cover the cost of towels for the students, for using when they took their showers after Phy Ed.

4) The HS no longer distributes said towels that they charge for, because the students do not take showers, because they don't sweat.

Now I understand that D2D is not designed for the average student. It is designed for teams that would use that type of facility. I also understand that is a very small percentage of the students who attend Shorewood HS ---- and therefore I am against using any tax money for an elitist facility.

I would much rather see our tax dollars go for real Physical Education that at least produces a sweat on the kids.

If we really want to reduce childhood obesity ...

May I suggest starting each day with a one mile run, followed by some calesthenics. And maybe a couple of times a week, some throwing and catching to work on hand / eye coordination !!

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COMMENTS RECEIVED FROM READERS ON D2D

1) "You should support this initiative if you are tired of the academic program cuts in our schools. You should support D2D if you believe in physical education or combating the rising problem of childhood obesity." ...from the D2D Committee.

My response to that is, are we not talking about a facility...which is separate from any actual programs involving phy. ed. or addressing obesity? I'm not sure any programs are being cut because money is being diverted to upkeep or updating of the present athletic facilities!

That said, I agree that the field, concessions and seating have needed to be addressed
for quite a long time and a privately funded initiative like this is a good idea. However, please...scrap the dome!

And Dave, re: throwing and catching for hand/eye coordination;
isn't that what video games are for?

-Jim Genthe
-Shorewood Resident

Response to Jim:


Hi Jim

Please note that now THERE IS TAX MONEY INVOLVED -- at the very least, a proposed $600,000 from the village ......... also, the D2D committee is saying that this will help childhood obesity --------

I think you are on to something though --- just think how many video games we can buy kids in Shorewood for $600,000 --- Shorewood kids will have the best wrist actions in the world !!

Dave

2) Sean.Cummings@brunswickbilliards.com wrote:

Dear Dave,

I appreciate your comments as posted on NOW and agreed with the need to place a greater emphasis on physical education in Shorewood. However, I would also like to suggest a few reasons why the D2D project is a cost effective use of public funds and would benefit the entire community and not just the jocks. It is my belief, as a former urban planner, that many social trends can be understood by looking a

Dear Mr Mangiamele

In your current blog you ask for A MICHAELANGELO IN SHOREWOOD to add a little art or foresight in new designs in Shorewood.

Sorry to say -- NO JOE .. no chance for a Michaelangelo.

The Village Board, Village Administrator and the CDA don’t even tolerate introspection about proposed design from their One of Their Own !

In my Blog Postings on March 23, 2007, entitled “Rush to Obsolescence in Streetscape Plan” I had noted the following, when Jeff Hanewell a professional architect, dared to question the appropriateness of the proposed street light designs:

“The only Board Member who dared to rock the boat during the discussion to approve the bid process was Jeff Hanewall. He brought up concerns about the designs that were being proposed for the new streetscaping, and asked questions as to whether they were appropriate for Shorewood. It is noteworthy that Trustee Hanewall is an architect and is well versed in such matters, albeit that design is always of a subjective nature. In the following discussion, it appeared that all the other trustees and village management considered the plan, as presented, to be a “done deal”, with no room for discussion or dissent.”

I am sure that at least a few of the folks who voted for Mr Hanewell to be on the Board of Trustees felt that his background as an architect would bring some thoughtful discussion to the Evolution of Shorewood’s Physical Persona.

Not to say that Mr Hanewell is a Michaelangelo --- but the hubris with which the village board and administration dismissed his questions, tell me that Old Michael wouldn’t have much of a chance in Shorewood either.

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Per no less an authority than the Wall Street Journal --- Streetcars are better for an areas economy than a Ballpark ---

Right now Scott Walker --- who was very eager for taxpayers to pay for a private business ballpark --- is fighting Light Rail in any form --- even if it means the loss of Federal Transporation Dollars.

How about the North Shore Communities along the lake work with Milwaukee for Streetcars down the Northshore into the East Side and into Downtown ??

I bet a Streetcar line would be better for Residents and Businesses in Shorewood than even a Bike Race that the BID uses taxpayer money to fund ..........


Daily Real Estate News | June 21, 2007
Streetcar Lines Used to Spur Redevelopment
A growing number of cities around the country are building streetcar lines as a means of spurring redevelopment, as research reveals streetcars are more effective than ballparks and other large projects at generating economic development.

Rather than provide quick transportation around the city, streetcar lines are designed to slowly transport residents and tourists just a couple of miles in the downtown area. Given that they attract development, experts say streetcar lines help minimize traffic and the need for highway expansions.

Though the 2.4-mile streetcar line running from downtown Tampa to Ybor City in Florida witnessed a dramatic decline in ridership last year, the Teco Line Streetcar System spawned $450 million in development in the city's Channel District; more than $1 billion in residential and retail development is still in the works, with $1.1 billion more still in the planning phases.

Streetcar lines also sparked the development of 400 housing units and a waterfront park in Kenosha, Wis., and gave the Pearl District in Portland, Ore., a vibrant nightlife. However, building streetcar lines poses a challenge, considering they must compete with suburban transportation projects for state and federal funding.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Thaddeus Herrick (06/20/07)

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The Journal Sentinel had an interesting article in today’s paper about the kind of people “preying” on folks in foreclosure …….

As a Realtor myself, I have been growing increasingly alarmed at who is out there, trying to benefit over someone else’s misfortune. I posted the following ten days ago, on June 6th on the MLS Bulleting Board, that only Realtors have access to --- relating an actual story of someone trying to rip off a friend of mine, and wondering when the Realtor Associations are going to go after the “unlicensed” predators out there.


WHEN ARE THE REALTOR ASSOCIATIONS GOING TO GO AFTER THE CON ARTISTS AND CROOKS OPERATING WITHOUT A LICENSE

According to Wisconsin law a real estate license is necessary when "Five sales or exchanges in one year or
10 sales or exchanges in 5 years is presumptive evidence of a pattern of sales or exchanges." !!!!

Knowing this, now go and look in Craigslist and see how many people are 1) Offering to buy your property and lease it back to you 2) Offering to sell 5 or more properties 3) Offering to buy your property if in foreclosure 4) Offering to let you "rent to own" .

And please note that most of these ads do not have any Disclosure --- because they are NOT LICENSEES but they are acting in the market to the extent were a License is Mandated by Law !!

Of course not all of these folks are crooks or con artists -- some of them are just following the "info-mercial" advice of buying and selling Distressed Properties -- or the allure of Property Flipping.

But there are some Really Bad Actors out there -- and nobody is monitoring them or protecting the public from them.

Just today I talked with one of these guys who approached a friend of mine who has a property that is in the start of foreclosure, due to a divorce situation. The property is easily worth $130,000 or more, and there is only $70,000 owed on the mortgage note. My friend will probably be able to get new financing to salvage his equity, from a reputable financier.

The guy who approached him proposed the following --- He buys property for the $70,000 --- my friend pays him rent for up to one year at about $900 per month --- and then he buys back property for $100,000 !!!!!!

That folks is anywhere from 50% to 100% interest, depending upon when in a 6 to 12 month period he is able to secure a new mortgage to buy his property back.

And per my conversation with this guy, he does about half a dozen of deals per year !!! and he is NOT licensed !!!

My friend was astute enough to call me and I put him in touch with a legitimate lender who is going to be able to help him.

But how many people in this situation are taken advantage of by these kind of sharks --- who get to them before they can talk to a licensed Real Estate Professional ------ and find some options in many or most cases that are not Predatory ------ many of these people don't even know that if they just call their lender, they can probably work out a repayment plan --- the Lender doesn't want to foreclose --- but people panic and are vulnerable to the Con Men (and Women) and Crooks ......

I have written the WRA and GMAR before about all these unlicensed folks on Craigslist and other venues --- but I don't see anything being done.

It is time for them to monitor the ads, and monitor the real estate transactions, and get these bozos out of the Predator Business ------- and at the same time, of course, make sure that those of us who are licensed, act in an ethical manner with integrity.

Dave Tatarowicz
Better Living Realty & Relocation, LLC

Back

Enough applications were received by the Village Board to re-constitute the Conservation Committee. The first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 19 at 6:00 pm, in the Village Hall Committee Room (2nd floor of village hall). I am one of the volunteers on the committee.

The list of committee members is: "Amy Vuyk" , "Chapman, Thomas" , "David Tatarowicz" , "Jennifer Essak" , "Jenny Achuthan" , "Kimberly Forbeck" , "Leah Dobkin" , "Lisa Noble" , "Suzanne Rosenblatt" , "Tammy Bockhorst"

We are awaiting the Village Manager's office to send us an agenda for the first meeting, and also a copy of guidelines for the how village committees operate --- procedures, rules, qourum, etc........

When we receive those, I will post them to this blog for those who are interested.

"Jeffrey R. Schmidt" wrote:
Dave,

The Shorewood PD website has been down for some time now. Our old website, although outdated, has some very useful information on it. Unfortunately, the program that we used to run the site became obsolete and full of technical problems so it was discontinued. I have been asked by several people when our new site will be up and running.

Like everyone else, the police department has been waiting for the new village website to become operational. Once that happens, we will be back online.

I have not been told when the new site will be up and running. Like everyone else, we're just waiting.

Lieutenant Jeffrey R. Schmidt
Shorewood Police Department

REPLY TO LIEUTENANT SCHMIDT

Lieutenant Schmidt

Thank you for the information. As I had an opportunity to tour the police station not too long ago (sans cuffs to any who may wonder :-) ) I know that the SPD seems to get the short end of the stick here in the Village (which was the reason I did not make comments about the lack of your site, as I know you folks --- although a little ticket happy on parking !!! do a very good job overall with the limited resources your are given).

I still can't believe that Shorewood does not have a decent space in its Police Station to interview victims ! I hope the Village Board not only works to get things working on Shorewood's internet face to the public, but also gets to work on a decent police facility.

Dave

Hopefully per Steve Koczela’s latest intel on the Village Website, we may sometime soon see improvement in that area --- and perhaps even current information.

It was interesting to see all the official Shorewood related websites in one of Steve’s recent posts --- and rather disappointing to see what was in some of them.

1. The Village of Shorewood: http://www.villageofshorewood.org
2. The Shorewood School District: http://www.shorewoodschools.org
3. The Business Improvement District: http://www.shorewoodwi.com
4. The Shorewood Police Department: http://shwdpd.fp.execpc.com
5. Marketing Shorewood Website: http://www.walkshorewood.com


THE VILLAGE WEBSITE

As noted previously, seriously out of date, very little current information.


THE BID DISTRICT WEBSITE

Uptown -Upscale – Uncommon

Uptown – I think more accurately, we are Out of Town ..

Upscale -- the graphic on the home page certainly is --- slinky dress women and tuxedoed men sipping martinis as they stroll throughout the town ..

Uncommon -- slinky dress women and tuxedoed men sipping martinis as they stroll throughout the town .. (I think gals and guys in jeans and Harley T shirts are a lot more common) ..

Clicking on Business Opportunities and then the link for Available Space --- there in nothing listed but a phone number --- folks go to a website to get information on the topic, not a phone number --- and looking around town, there is a lot of Space Available.

Valuable E Coupons are very useful if you want a massage, a haircut, some insurance or flowers --- but were are all the restaurants and taverns --- it seems that those are the kinds of businesses that can really help to generate traffic into Shorewood .

MARKETING SHOREWOOD WEBSITE

I think this website is suppose to target potential homebuyers or renters to Shorewood (and realtors too ??).

The recurring drumbeat of the site is the “ Walking Kit” ….. virtually every page refers to the Walking Kit and exploring Shorewood --- only problem is that you cannot download a Walking Kit, you have to call Village Hall to get one ….. another example of going to a website to get a phone number ---- kind of defeats the advantage of having an internet !

In regards to enticing Realtors to sell Shorewood --- there is a heading for Realtors, but there are no Realtors listed or linked on that page. Once again -- refers Realtors to the Village Hall phone number.

Ironically, on the About Shorewood tab, when you get to that page, there is a link to Realtors and their websites. That link to Realtors poses two problems however:

1) All the links are to Realty Company sites that say Nothing About Shorewood !! They are simply generic sites on which you can search for houses in Mequon, as easily as Shorewood --- or in some cases, Dallas, Texas for that matter.

2) The links are only to 8 Realty Companies, not all of which even have an office or presence in Shorewood. While on the BID website, there are 16 Realtors or Realty Companies listed --- that are actually Here in Shorewood – and in full disclosure, I am one of them, my company is Better Living Realty and Relocation, LLC. Too bad the local Realtors who might help, are not linked or listed !!!

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i agree - it stinks! and the link to the shorewood police department
has said "watch for our new website" for about 6 months
now..........and i LOVE the shorewood police department, so it's hard
for me to criticize them - bur seriously!

Kelly Knoke

(originally posted in May)

In the May 24th issue of NOW North Shore, an article about Whitefish Bay updating its website caught my attention. It said the new state of the art website, would give Bay residents frequent updates on the happenings of their village government --- including e mails of agendas, minutes, village meetings, and projects, etc. The article noted that the site will be designed and hosted by the same firm that handles the Shorewood Village website.

The services offered to Whitefish Bay certainly sound wonderful --- I only wonder why --- if Shorewood is already using the same vendor --- that we don’t have access to that kind of information.

In checking Shorewood’s website just now, I found that the Agenda for Tonight’s Village Board Meeting is not posted.

And the last Village Board Meeting Minutes that are posted are from April 16th --- well over a month ago !

As far as the other numerous committees and boards, the only minutes posted for this year are for the CDA, the Library Board, and the Pedestrian Safety Committee.

Only 5 other boards or committees have any minutes for the year 2006, and 12 boards or committees have no minutes from any year !

On the site are Agendas for 7 boards or committee meetings that have already met this year, yet their minutes are not posted.

Fair warning to Whitefish Bay --- if the article in NOW was accurate, and you are going to buy a wonderful website service with all the bells and whistles --- I hope it is an upgrade from the one that Shorewood is using --- or you are going to be very disappointed.