It has been very obvious that Shorewood has not been enforcing its ordinance regarding the clearing of walkways of snow and ice.  Despite all of our tax money spent on advertising Shorewood as a Walkable Community --- the Village Administration has truly fallen down on the job of actually making Shorewood Walkable.

Two of the Shorewood Trustees who have touted Shorewood as a "Walkable" Community, and who have voted to spend our tax dollars advertising Shorewood as Walkable, have not cleared their own sidewalks in front of their houses.

Taken yesterday (Sunday) at about 5:00 Pm are pictures of Trustees Hickey and Phinney's ice covered sidewalks.

These 3 pictures are of the sidewalk in front of Trustee Hickey's house.

The following pictures are of Trustee Phinney's sidewalks

WHAT DO YOU THINK ?

I have been astounded by the lack of concern for dealing with the Snow and Ice and making Shorewood a Truly WALKABLE Community.

I have to admit that I was becoming discouraged about the lack of response and discussion to my postings on the subject, until Suzanne Rosenblatt added a posting to her blog about the dangers in trying to navigate Shorewood this winter, and the indifference that the Village Administration has shown.

I then met Suzanne and her husband at Schwartz's yesterday --- and after reading her posting, and knowing they had to walk down the middle of the streets to get there as the sidelwalks are Not Walkable --- I knew that this issue has to be pursued further.

(To read Suzanne's posting click here on Thin Ice)

Reading about the Official Indifference by the Village Administration in Suzanne's blog, I wondered just how conscientious the Members of the Shorewood Board of Trustees  are in following the laws they set. 

There are 6 Trustees, and 2 of them have sidewalks covered with Treacherous Ice -- that makes them all but impassable.

To be more than fair, I waited until 5 PM today (Sunday), just in case they needed the weekend to get their salt, ice melt, or just get out there with an ice chopper.  I then took pictures of the offending walks to document their condition.

 To complete my Due Diligence, I am going to cross reference the addresses on the tax records, to ensure I have not taken a picture of a house that someone no longer lives at, or was listed in error on their address listing. 

 After the double check of ownership of the properties, I will post the photos and the names of the Trustees here tomorrow.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ?

 Why haven't Trustees Johnson (pres), Eckman, Hanewall, Hickey, and Phinney responded to Snow Problems in Village ?

Perhaps it is because of what they know that the most of us in the Village don't.

Quite simply Shorewood no longer has the equipment to deal with large snowfalls and the mountains of snow and ice they leave between the street and the sidewalks. 

When the snow accumulates to the point where there is nowhere left to push it --- we cannot remove it to clear the business districts and the crosswalks, as the DPW use to do. 

 Over the past decade or so, the Village Board has spent millions on Streetscaping, Ad Campaigns touting our Walkability, and High Profile but useless events, such as the bike race. 

But they have neglected such mundane issues, as ensuring that the Village has the equipment, budget and resources that a community in Wisconsin needs, when Mother Nature decides to remind us that we still keep records of yearly snow accumulation.

Unfortunately, the Board's lack of attention to the mundane maintenance issues goes beyond the Village's preparedness for Snow. 

Take a tour of the Police Station (of a voluntary nature !) for a discouraging view of an outdated facility, that is barely being held together with the equivalent of baling wire and stop-gap measures.

Shorewood's Board of Trustees needs to pay as much attention to the steak as the sizzle --- especially when we pay taxes more in line with a dinner at Mo's than a lunch at McDonalds !

 As always please feel free to leave your Comments below --- and if your one of the Trustees who have yet to Respond to my inquiries, please share your thoughts with us.

For some thoughts on issues other than Shorewood, visit my other blog at

http://nonconventionalwisdomperspectives.blogspot.com/

After all the problems Shorewood has had with piles of snow and ice througout the Business District, the delay in clearing Crosswalks, and the Free Show Removal for St Roberts, I sent the following questions to all the Trustees:

 Do you think that St Roberts should be charged for that service.  Do you think that service should be expanded to other private lots.

This past December was a good reminder that we really do live in an area that gets snow !  Yes, here in Wisconsin, Mother Nature has been known to make life miserable by dropping a whole lot of wet sloppy snow, and then freezing it all into frozen slush.

 On December 20th I wrote a posting to this blog noting that the merchants on Capitol Drive were still hampered by the mounds of snow and ice piled up at the curb.  Shorewood had cleared the mounds along North Oakland Avenue, but hadn't gotten to Capitol Drive.  In previous postings, I had noted that crosswalks in the business district remained treacherous and needed clearing.

 On December 22nd, Tim Fotjik noted in his blog that it appeared that the Village was clearing snow for St Roberts from their lot. 

http://blogs.shorewoodnow.com/neighboring/archive/2007/12/22/if-you-were-looking-for-a-village-dump-truck-on-friday.aspx

Following up with Tim, he never heard from anyone as to why, or who paid for it. 

 Doing an Open Records request, I found out that YES, Shorewood did clean the lot at St Roberts at No Charge !

In fairness to those who are sometimes put on the spot to make a controversial decision, there was a safety element involved in the decision to clear St Roberts lot.  I think though, that Village Officials should bill St Roberts for at least the labor costs and nominal equipment costs involved.  And that if this is to be a policy, it should be extended on an impartial basis to other private property owners.

The Village Board also needs to recognize that snow and ice removal in the Business District is a priority, not only for the business owners to be able to engage in commerce, but also for the safety and welfare of the pedestrians.  Shorewood cannot be a "Walkable" community only in Good Weather !

We have seen in the past year that this current Village Board (which will also be the next Village Board due to no new candidates) has had no qualms about spending large sums of money on questionable projects.

Millions of dollars are going to a Streetscaping that is only about 10 years old.  And the Village Board Members voted to spend about Half a Million Dollar$ for plastic grass on the High School Field !

It is time that this Board gives the proper resources to the DPW to make Shorewood safe for its pedestrians in winter --- and for businesses to be accessible to their customers.

 WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ?  --- YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME

For some thoughts on issues other than Shorewood, visit my other blog at

http://nonconventionalwisdomperspectives.blogspot.com/

Two nights ago, on the 18th, the Shorewood DPW committed a large crew during the night to do a snow removal operation in the Business District.

Hooray !!!!!

On my block (4400 N Oakland)  and south, they did a great job.  Shoppers can actually get from their cars to the shops now.  

However -- (you knew there was going to be a however) -- the Merchants on Capitol Drive have nothing to cheer about.  As of this afternoon, their stores and the street are still separated by mounds of ice and snow.  

I wonder if anyone on the Shorewood Board of Trustees has ever had any retail experience (other than shopping).  If they ever depended upon retail sales for their livelihood, they would know that this week -- the week before Christmas -- can be a make or break event for many of the merchants.

With the high rate of property taxes that are paid for commercial property in Shorewood --- in addition to the BID tax that commercial property owners pay --- it is outrageous that these merchants are not taken better care of by the Village.

Note to Village Trustees:  Forget about bicycle races, and forget about artist displays by outside vendors at the high school, and forget about spending Tens of Thousands of Dollars Advertising how Friendly Shorewood is to Pedestrians and how Upscale the stores are for Shoppers --- try spending the money on clearing the snow banks so the merchants can make a little money and keep their businesses open.

Incumbent Village Board Trustees Michael Maher and Dawn Anderson are reportedly going to run for re-election.  At this point, it is uncertain if they will have any opposition to their re-election bid.  If they don’t, they will obviously not need to campaign.  But if they do have opposition, I have some suggestions for campaign literature.

Of course they can take credit for spending millions of dollars on new projects such as the Streetscaping and the Marketing of Shorewood.  And let’s not forget their largesse of Village money for the new Professional Sport Quality sports field at SHS (D2D)  --- possibly including a Second Dome by which to landmark that august institution.

In regards to the Streetscaping, they may not want to highlight that north Oakland was streetscaped barely 10 years ago --- and already determined to be obsolete.  And they would definitely not want to mention that the new aluminum light poles replacing the 10 year old cast iron poles have begun to fall apart before they have even been plugged in !!!

If the new athletic field does get a dome --- perhaps they can find room in it for some space for the Senior population --- who have been waiting for years for an enhancement to their diminished space in the library basement.

Most proudly, they can point to the tens of thousands of dollars (from general taxes) and hundreds of thousands from the BID taxes, to market Shorewood --- with a main emphasis on the “Walkability” and “Shopping Friendly” features the Village has to offer.

I am pretty sure they will NOT want to mention that they have put no money in the budget to actually clear snow and ice from our sidewalks, crosswalks and commercial parkways --- to actually make them Walkable ! 

Most probably, they will not want to feature in their campaign brochures, pictures of the mountains of snow and ice that act as fortress walls between where the shoppers park on the street and the shops they are trying to get to --- and pictures of the crosswalks that at best are covered with slush, ice and snow, making them close to impossible to negotiate – or at worst, the crosswalks that end abruptly at a wall of snow that would require a chair lift to get over.

Here are some of the pictures I would advise Anderson and Maher not to use in their re-election bids.

Wall of Snow & Ice on Parkway Oakland Ave

Smart Pedestrian Carries his Own Skis

 Cross Walk to Show Wall Atwater School

Inaccessible Bus Stop Capitol Drive

Shopper Friendly Snow Banks

Lake Bluff & Oakland where school kids

cross -- how would someone with a walker

or wheel chair cross this ?

 WHAT DO YOU THINK ?  PLEASE LET US KNOW AND LEAVE A COMMENT.