This west sider infiltrated tonight's east side visioning meeting for the city's long-range planning process.
My intentions were honorable: I only wanted to discuss the two major ideas I had after cogitating on the west side meeting. One of those, the need for a center for this side of Tosa, I've already mentioned.
The other was a riverwalk for the village, and, by extension, walking/bike trails all along the river and Underwood Creek. Making the west side walkable, too, is a noble idea.
Inspired by the east siders, a few more ideas popped up. One was an overpass to get folks, especially kids, across Highway 100. Nobody liked that. But it seems a lot cheaper and easier than my more brilliant idea: build a deep tunnel and run the whole highway underneath its present location so pedestrians and light traffic can coexist more peacefully above.
Some intriguing ideas from this meeting were using the Little Red House for a train/rapid transit stop and moving through traffic off of North Avenue and onto Burleigh.
It was no surprise: everyone wanted the Eschweiler buildings preserved and the green space behind them preserved. But then, nearly everyone but developers has been saying that for as long as I can remember.
Everyone wants to invest in small business development along North Avenue.
And everyone liked the suggestion to put sidewalks all the way east along State Street.
The area of no agreement was tax base development. But surprisingly, lots of people favored spending tax money on needed services. Some people, in other words, thought that taxes were okay if used for good things.
One person mentioned the importance of maintaining neighborhood integrity. Apparently, Wisconsin Lutheran College has already bought some properties in Ravenswood. Taking a bite out of that neighborhood would cut into its neighborhoodiness, something we Tosans value very much.
My group mentioned the need to grow and sustain the population of Tosa. There's a lot a city of 50,000 can do that a smaller one can't.
The coolest thing was learning about
Google Alerts. Someone said that's how he'd learned about this meeting. He'd created a daily alert for "Wauwatosa Plan Commission." Google Alerts updates you regularly on the search terms you tell it to look for.
But you don't have to do that. I'll tell you.
The last of four area visioning sessions as part of Tosa's long-range planning process is next Tuesday, September 25, 2007, at Hart Park Muellner Building, Tosa Room, 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. It's for the south quadrant, but people from any part of Tosa can attend.Don't say "I wish they'd asked me." Tell 'em! And if you tell me, I'll share your ideas here.
