Although I did post Jessica McBride's comments last night, I need to make it clear that I am not in 100% agreement with her opinions. I agree with her that the notion of spending a huge amount of tax money to convince outsiders that we do not have high taxes is a lesson in irony.
On the other hand, I do support some form of marketing get the good word out about our Village. We need to send a positive message to bring people to Shorewood. We need to take positive action to reverse the population decline, bring children to our schools, fill our rental properties, and prevent the long list of homes for sale from growing even longer.
There are many positive things we could say about our Village without trying to deny the fact that we do, in fact, have high taxes. The following is a list of positive things we could communicate about Shorewood.
1. We have great schools.
2. The walkability of our shopping district is second to none.
3. We are a very family friendly community.
4. We are the most economically diverse community on the North Shore.
5. We have a nice blend of urban and suburban.
6. We have a very nice Library facility.
7. UWM students and professors keep our community interesting.
On the other hand, there are some negative things about Shorewood. Denying any of the facts below will not make the facts any less true, and will make us sound ridiculous and out of touch.
1. We
are a high tax community. According to
a 2003 study by the Institute for Wisconsin's Future, we pay the highest percentage of our income to property taxes of any community in Milwaukee County.
2. We
do have a parking problem. We have a shortage of parking on Oakland and Capitol, do not allow overnight on street parking, and have by far the
most expensive parking permits in the area.
3. We
are a very liberal community. This is a drawback for some potential residents of more conservative viewpoints who wish to live near people of similar political beliefs. Shorewood
voted for Jim Doyle over Mark Green by a margin of 73% to 26%.
4. We
do have small lot sizes. Anyone looking for significant land space should not look in Shorewood.
If this media blitz is supposed to improve perceptions of our Village, well, we are off to a bad start. The first media outlet to pick up the story made us look absurd.
Comments1. I agree with your excellent lists of pros and cons of living in Shorewood. My family moved to Shorewood as opposed to other communities because of the reasons you mentioned, plus the amazing neighborhood schools that offer an excellent education as well as diversity which we feel is an important part of public school education. Then again, we were moving to the Milwaukee area from New York City, so our perceptions about housing costs vs. the services you get for your money, the space, the walkability of the community, and the easy access to nature are quite different from those of someone who has lived in Wisconsin for years. Maybe one strategy is to try to attract telecommuters, who can work anywhere, and former Milwaukeeans who now have families to move here from the expensive big cities such as NYC, Boston, D.C., and San Francisco.
- Nancy Peske Darrow, 2/17/07
