Wag the Dog

Give Me a Piece of This Action.

2008-07-01T21:20:01Z

Consider this ….

In a time when people are struggling to keep their houses, pay for increasing gas prices, food prices, and virtually the cost of everything, while praying that their business or employer does not go belly up due to the increases in all of the above.

Milwaukee Area Technical College President Darnell Cole will get a 5.2% increase in his total compensation package and a two-year contract extension under a plan which the MATC board of directors passed on Monday.

Under this plan set forth by the "we can always spend more" MATC Board, Cole will take home $223,675 in base salary, plus a retirement supplement, travel allowance and stipend that bring his total pay to $259,131, starting June 30, 2008.

This little surprise package comes a mere week after MATC approved a 4.9% increase in its property tax levy, mostly to cover all the added salaries and benefits.

With three members absent for the vote, the only dissenting vote was Board member Rep. Pedro Colón (D-Milwaukee) who questioned the president’s long-term commitment due to Cole’s application and finalist position, for the top job at Lansing Community College in Michigan this year.

Some of Cole’s extra benefits he will be seeing is his retirement supplement bumps up 6.7%, to $16,000, reflecting two consecutive 3.25% increases because the due to lags in adjustments since 2006 which Cole can use the supplement to contribute to his personal retirement plan, this is above and beyond the state retirement system retirement plan he is eligible for.

Cole’s annual travel allowance gets bumped up 44%, to about $15,500 to cover Cole’s car mileage and maintenance within the district.

WOW – Show me where I can sign up to get that kind of job, especially in times like these where employers like Midwest Airlines are asking their pilots to take a 45 to 65% pay cut and we will be getting the "best care in the air" from flight attendants that will be making just above the Wisconsin minimum wage of $6.50 an hour.

It's Dangerous for Bloggers out there! - Updated

2008-06-20T00:00:00Z

Recently FranklinNOW blogger Greg Kowalski wrote about a turning point in making a decision whether to continue blogging on the FranklinNOW web site due to editorial decisions CommunityNOW editor Mark Maley made on one of his blog postings. It looks like the decision to blog or not to blog is a much more life and death decision in other countries. Here is a story from the BBC regarding bloggers in other countries that criticize their government:

More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticizing governments, says a report.

Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report. In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed. More than half of all the arrests since 2003 have been made in China, Egypt and Iran, said the report.

Jail sentence

Citizens have faced arrest and jail for blogging about many different topics, said the World Information Access (WIA) report.

Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. They criticized public policies and took political figures to task.

The report said the rising number of arrests was testament to the "growing" political importance of blogging. It noted that arrests tended to increase during times of "political uncertainty", such as around general elections or during large scale protests.

Jail time followed arrest for many bloggers, said the report, which found that the average prison sentence for blogging was 15 months. The longest sentence found by the WIA was eight years.

It acknowledged that the true number of bloggers arrested could be far higher than the total it found as, in some cases, it proved hard to verify if an arrest had taken place and on what grounds.

For instance, it said the Committee to Protect Bloggers has published information about 344 people arrested in Burma - many of whom are thought to be be bloggers - but the WIA could not verify all the reports.

It also noted that many nations, perhaps as many as 30, imposed technological restrictions on what people can do online. In nations such as China this made it difficult for people to use a blog as a means of protest.

The report pointed out that it is not just governments in the Middle East and East Asia that have taken steps against those publishing their opinions online. In the last four years, British, French, Canadian and American bloggers have also been arrested.

The report predicted that the number of blogger arrests in 2008 would exceed the 36 seen in 2007 thanks to greater popularity of blogging as a medium, greater enforcement of net restrictions, and elections in China, Pakistan, Iran and the US.

Read More here

I am truly happy that blogging on the FranklinNOW and disagreement with our local government officials does not carry the consequences that they do in other countries.

Of course you may have public information disclosed about you at a council meeting, which isn't as bad as a Chinese Prison!

So don't quit Greg! The more voices the Better.

Update: June 19, 2008 - In case you were wondering, Greg has decided to pull the plug on his FranklinNOW blog, a little bit premature. You can catch a farewell on his Metro Milwaukee Today site. While Greg and I have not always agreed on several issues and some got quite personal. I do wish him the best of luck in his continued blogging on his Metro Milwaukee Today. I am sure that Greg will continue to pursue the issues he feels are important that we face in the City of Franklin from his blog site.

I also have it from a trustworthy source that the Secret Police did not come and confiscate his PC. Did I say that right Comrade?

Updated June 25,2008 - An interesting comment from Alderman Steve Taylor about commentators on FranklinNOW - A Message from Franklin Common Council President Taylor Re: Blogs

Hard Decisions Ahead for FPS

2008-06-06T12:00:00Z

I have had time to digest the information that was presented to public in the first draft presentation of the 2009 Franklin Public School budget. Especially the excellent Blog Report and suggestions made by FranklinNOW blogger Janet Evans. I admire her tenacity and dedication as to reporting and participating in the Franklin Public School meetings.

From the reports that came from other bloggers who attended the meeting one thing stood out that disturbs me, was the opinion of Superintendent Patz on funding extracurricular activities by increasing fee’s. I hope this is not a reaction that all School Board members feel the same.

FranklinNOW blogger Greg Kowalski reported:

Superintendent Patz and at least one Board member (I forgot whom exactly) didn't like the idea of fee increases, stating that the increases would lead to discrimination of students based on how much they (or their families) can afford, and that it will end up negligible in the end. I'll profoundly disagree.As a member of a 5-member household, with 2 very active younger sisters, I know firsthand of some extra-circular activities. Volleyball, basketball, summer camp, dancing, gymnastics, etc, etc, etc. All those cost money, and I can assure anyone that my family isn't the wealthiest in Franklin. We afford it, and it's what my sisters want to do. I stood in agreement with Board President Dave Szychlinski when he talked about his own family and daughters, and how he'd be more than happy to pay the extra fees if some of things they took were offered at FPS. I believe many families would join my own and the Szychlinski's.

I do not understand the not-thinking-outside-the-box attitude Patz is taking on this issue. A simple change to funding extracurriculars would allow for a parent that can not afford to pay the fees for the extracurriculars could simply fill out a form (such as the one for subsidized lunch) to allow the school system to subsidize that student for the extracurricular activity. Considering the average family income in the City of Franklin, I would tend to doubt that this would be a large financial burden on the FPS budget but the increased fees would help defray costs to actually pay to educate our children.

I totally agree with Greg’s statement:

FPS needs to prioritize their budget for the taxpayers in this rough time for our economy. Do they support academics, or athletics? I'd like to use common sense and take academics as the top priority, so we should focus on other alternatives to fund athletics.

Superintendent Patz, please don’t start telling us what we can’t do, start thinking of more ways that we can keep the budget down, even if it means unpopular fees to people who use a FPS service that is non-academic. That's not WAGGING THE DOG, that is just Common Sense.

On a positive note, the Board is doing a great job at keeping the taxpayer informed and involving them in the budget process.

Kudos to them to realize this is crucial especially in rough economic times.

Will FPS face a 9% School Budget Increase or More?

2008-06-03T21:30:00Z

With all the hype and promises made in the April School Board election, the time has come when the tires hit the road for planning next year’s school budget.

Our school system has invited us to begin by participating in the budgeting process with an invitation to Wednesday nights June 4th meeting of the Committee of the Whole in which they plan to discuss the budget for next year and are asking for citizen input.

Given that our very own City Council has recently told us about the difficulties they are running into with the current budget and have eluded to the near impossibility of keeping to a 3% increase for the 2009 budget, I can not help but wonder what our school system will be looking to do to keep increases in the FPS budget to a minimum.

Will they be looking at asking the taxpayer what programs are they willing to give up? Much like the city has asked us, what city services are we willing to give up. While expecting the answer to be “why none of course”. My answer to this question will have have to be, cut back on the extracurriculars or increase the amount that parents pay for them, while the academics should not be touched.

I can hear the cry of “but if they get rid of (fill in the blank) my son/daughter will not want to go to school. But that is OK with me, as they can pay the extra dollars that are spent on those extracurriculars. Those educational tax dollars that are collected in the City of Franklin are just that, to educate and not to entertain. If you want your children to be entertained and that is the only way you can get them to attend school, then you can pay for that entertainment.

I look forward to see the budgeting expertise of Linda Witkowski (a budget director for Waukesha) and the business savvy of David Works in the first version of the 2009 budget.

Something else to note and keep in mind, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published these disturbing figures Tuesday June 3rd - " Foreclosures increased almost 45% in Milwaukee County during the first five months of the year compared with 2007 "

If you think that does not mean Franklin check out Foreclosures.Com that have 67 properties listed for Franklin. What would your priority be when trying to stay in your home, taxes or a mortgage? In addition our City Council has let us know that residential building in Franklin has come to a crawl, which has helped cause a shortfall in extra funds for the City and School System to use.

More info to read:

Franklin School Board - Don't Give Them The Easy Button - by Janet Evans
Early projection shows 9 percent levy hike - an article by John Neville about the Whitnall School Board
FPS Budget Draft To Be Shared - by Tanya Ruder of FPS

Memorial Day Memory

2008-05-26T20:24:47Z

On this and every Memorial day, I remember and miss one of the people who had a profound effect on my life - My Grandfather.

Nicholas Polasik was born on September 9, 1893 in the township of Eaton, Wisconsin. He was the tenth child of eleven children born to Nikolas and Anna (Tobalska) Polasik. He attended primary school until the third grade. He took to the woods as a lumber jack at the age of 12. After his father died January 21 , 1910 he ran the farm for his mother at the age of 16.

On November 19, 1917 he joined the United States Army to fight the Kaiser in World War One as an infantryman in Company B 47^th US Infantry, 7^th Division. He served in France, May 10, 1918 to November 23^rd, 1918 at Chateu Thierry. During his active service he was injured in action on July 30th 1918 when a shell fragment injured his foot. The injury became gangrenous and he was later told he would need to have his leg removed. Refusing to have that done, as a one legged farmer would be useless at that time he opted not to have the surgery. Miraculously the gangrene subsided and he was left with just the lost of a little toe on his left foot. He was Honorably discharged from the service on June 30, 1919.

He returned to Eaton, Wisconsin to help run his mothers farm, in the 1920 U.S. census he is listed as the 26 year old head of household with an occupation of farmer. Farming did not occupy all his attention though. Nicholas met Mary Genevieve Nowicki the daughter of Stanley and Elizabeth (Krupa) Nowicki also of the town of Eaton. They were married on September 6, 1920 at SS Cyril and Methodius Church by Reverend Peter Kurzejka. His best man was his brother Michael and the maid of honor was her sister Rose Nowicki. From that marriage came four children, one of which is my mother.

Had my Grandfather given up and died, I would not be here today. He taught me the importance of family and hard work. He was a respectful man and when I talked with him about politics and the presidency in my idealist youth, he would always say, "You may not like the man, but you must respect the office".

He may not be the last living vet of World War One but he will always be the man I remember on Memorial Day, each and every year.

Nicholas Polasik 1893 - 1976

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

2008-05-12T20:28:00Z

The great Aretha Franklin spells it out as she says: R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me!

For the past couple of weeks, I quietly sat back and witnessed a great deal of Lack of Respect in the City of Franklin. This Lack of Respect has been on many levels.

Lack of Respect for the citizens of the communities of Franklin and Oak Creek by the 27^th Street Steering Committee to dare to criticize the name of Boomgaard District and the costs involved in naming it.
Lack of Respect for members of the 27^th Street Steering Committee who have spent much time working on the 27^th Street project. Yes they may be bull headed but have spent a lot of time and sweat on the project which they get paid nothing for.
Lack of Respect from City officials (like Alderman Sohns) to bloggers (who are their constituents) and to the other vocal citizens of Franklin.
Lack of Respect from the media as we become a laughing stock due to this Boomgaard fiasco (Sykes, Belling and Stingl)
Lack of Respect from other communities as we weather the issues of mistrust of our community leaders and their leadership.
Lack of Respect from the Zizzo group to the citizens of Franklin for not involving us in renaming a major part of our city.
Lack of Respect to our city officials, who some say, do not deserve our respect on how they have handled this issue.
Lack of Respect from a fellow FranklinNOW Blogger for other community bloggers that choose to blog about this Boomgaard fiasco. Who asked in one of his blogs "How's that "New Day" working out for you guys?" I guess not too well with all this Lack of Respect!

Just Bad PR for the Boomgaard district!

2008-05-07T21:23:00Z

I was sitting next to Fred Keller at the City Council meeting on Tuesday night. My mouth dropped and I was stunned when Ted Grintjes the Chairman of the 27th Street Steering Committee let loose with both cannons in a public tirade against local blogger Fred Keller. You can read the blow by blow description in Greg Kowalski’s on site blog entitled Grintjes v Keller - Boomgaard got heated in Council chambers.

As I said, Grintjes is a citizen appointed member of both the 27th Street Steering Committee and the powerful Community Development Authority which is authorized to transact business and exercise any and all powers, duties, and functions set out in Sections 66.40 and 66.431 of the Wisconsin Statutes for housing and redevelopment authorities. Ted often spends 40 hour plus of his personal hours ,working on these two City committee / commission according to people tha t know him.

The berating of a Franklin Citizen who disagrees with Ted and his committee members leads me to believe that Ted does not realize that this was just outright bad PR for the 27th street project. One can only assume it was his many hours of time he spends on these committee / commissions that set Ted off.

Fred Keller had no intention of standing up to defend his opinion and information he presented asresearch he discovered about the Boomgaard District’s redlight reputation in Amsterdam. But how could he not respond to Ted’s intentional verbal attack on this private Franklin citizen?

Ted Grintjes has done something that is destructive to his committee; he has brought further bad public relations to a public relations fiasco brought about by the naming of the Boomgaard District via the Zizzo group who handeled the annoucement badly.

Ted – You needed to turn this around to become positive public opinion but now have instead blown up this public relations disaster even further.

Had this outburst not happened, I truley believe this issue would have died out sooner than later. However, I believe the personal attack of Fred has encouraged him to pursue his research even further.

Sacrificial Lambs to be Appointed

2008-05-05T19:39:00Z

In reviewing the agenda for the Common Council meeting on Tuesday May 6^th, I have to ask myself the question.

Is Mayor Tom Taylor setting up Alderman Steve Taylor and Kristen Wilhelm to take a fall for next years budget?

The agenda shows that both Steve Taylor and Kristen Wilhelm, two adermanic virgins, being appointed to the Finance Committee, which is undoubtedly the most influential committee when it comes to setting the next year’s budget. This is a committee that is normally reserved for experienced alderman who have actually experienced setting a budget for the City of Franklin at least once.

May 6^th Common Council agenda items

     E. Organizational Business
          1. Boards and Commissions Appointments.
               m. Alderman Solomon-Finance Committee.
               n. Alderman Taylor-Finance Committee.
               o. Alderman Wilhelm-Finance Committee.

You may also remember that Mayor Tom Taylor in his reelection bid for Mayor made the following signed pledge:

I pledge if elected to another term as Mayor of the City of Franklin that I will not recommend
an annual budget to the City's Finance Committee that exceeds a 3% tax levy.

This pledge is related to the years 2008 to 2011.

Thomas M. Taylor
Candidate for Mayor
3/30/08

You may further remember that FranklinNOW blogger Greg Kowalski said this in his blog entitled Why Franklin’s Common Council shouldn’t sign a tax pledge :

“Because someone will have to save the Mayor's butt. There's no way with all of the development the community is experiencing that we will be at 3%. The state allows tax levy growth to keep up with construction growth. With no doubt in my mind, construction growth will be greater than 3%. The Mayor may submit a 3% budget, but that bad, evil, nasty Council will just add to it and add to it until it equals the maximum allowed by state spending restraints.

Mayor Taylor will give his most sincere sad/serious face as he apologizes to taxpayers for the extra spending, but bummer, he did his best. It's that big, bad, evil, nasty Council that did all of the harm. You know, the same Council that's never up for election all at the same time, and where 4 members ran UNOPPOSED in the past 2 years for re-election...”

Looks like the Mayor has found his two scape goats for that "Butt saving" Greg is talking about, and it can all be blamed on their inexperience.

More Interesting Reading

Committee of the Whole meeting - Monday May 5, 2008 agenda item H. Discussion of Mayor Taylor's tax levy limit pledge (Ald. Sohns)

Common Council meeting - Tuesday May 6, 2008 6:30pm

Alderman Lyle Sohns Responds to Tax Pledge - Bullseye - Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Alderman Steve Olson Responds to Tax Pledge - Bullseye - Monday, April 7, 2008

Lets see how this Dog Wagging turns out!

WTMJ 4 - Tornado Awareness points at Franklin

2008-04-25T13:58:00Z

Today's TMJ 4 blasts Franklin in last nights news for being one few places in Milwaukee County without tornado (formerly know as civil defense) sirens. Kevin Fischer in his blog posting Does Franklin need an overhaul of its warning sirens? suggest we all need to purchase a Weather Alert radio that gives an alarm when impending bad weather is coming. Funny you should mention that Kevin because that is exactly what the Franklin Public School system does and they are serious when it comes to students reacting to the tornado drills as you see in TMJ's video, featuring our own Robinwood Principal Tom Reinke.

Mick Trevey then goes on to interview a Franklin Resident - Rita Bruders:

TODAY’S TMJ4’s Mick Trevey: “Today was the big statewide tornado drill. Did you know about it?”

“No,” Franklin resident Rita Bruders said.

Mick Trevey: “Did you hear a siren?”

“No, I wasn't aware of a siren,” Bruders said.

Trevey: That's because Franklin doesn't have tornado sirens, even though the mayor and the fire chief have both urged the city council to approve them.

The next question Treavey should have asked: If there was a siren what would you do? My guess the answer would be "I don't know".

Next the interview with the Assistant Fire Chief - Lloyd Bertram:

Mick Trevey: “Does it come down to cost?”

“I'm sure it does. Putting in sirens is a very costly endeavor, to try to find the funding to have that put in place,” Franklin Assistant Fire Chief Lloyd Bertram said.

Note: Kevin Fischer's source at city hall quotes a Franklin Taxpayer price tag of $200,000 since Wisconsin Emergency Management denied a hazard mitigation grant in 2004 that would have provided the city money for tornado sirens. The State does not think it is important enough to pony up the money for Franklin.

Trevey further points out:

The city is considering a reverse 911 system that could call people if there was a tornado warning, but for now, people have to count on weather radios for any information, if they happen to have them turned on. Franklin is one of the few places in Milwaukee County where you can't hear the sirens, but for the people that live in Franklin, that's small consolation.

OK Mick I grew up in the City of West Allis where we had a siren two blocks away. It went off at noon every Wednesday and guess what ... people ignore them.

They were angry when they went off by accident or when there was just a thunderstorm. These sirens were originally set up for Civil Defense and people have become oblivious to them. My guess if you interviewed a dozen people in the other Milwaukee County communities about the siren, many would say What siren? and What the heck is the Statewide Tornado Siren drill?

Alright, I have to ask, are you willing to pay more in taxes to get these sirens installed or are you going to go out to buy a weather radio with an alarm, just like FPS did?

Updated: The Real Boomgaard Boondoggle?

2008-04-25T12:00:00Z

The true boondoggle is that a local FranklinNOW blogger wasted two hours of the Mayors time discussing something as trivial as the naming of the 27^th Street Corridor to Boomgaard District.

To paraphrase that same blogger on Fred Keller's attempt to get our council to pledge holding down the tax rate:

I also feel it's going too far because, in all honesty, how many Franklin residents read the blogs? How many Franklin residents who know the blogs exist even read them? How many people even know Fred Keller exists?

I ask the same question – How many people even know that Greg Kowalski exists and why is he wasting the Mayors time?

Most of the Franklin Bloggers and commentators just chided the Council on the funny name the Zizzo group came up for the district, while Greg felt he needed to take it to the extreme.

Talk about WAGGING THE DOG.

Updated 4/24/2008 - 10:46PM

Greg Responded with:

Honestly, the Mayor was doing his job earlier today. He represents all citizens, and he wanted to answer my questions in person instead of responding via e-mail. The Mayor and I also needed to discuss other items, and the meeting was scheduled for some time.

Where his original Blog stated:

First, I want to personally say thank you, Mayor Taylor, for sitting down with me for 2+ hours this morning to discuss Franklin...in particular, this Boomgaard of a name.

The Mayor told me with a straight face,

I did NOT suggest Boomgaard as my first choice for the district.

He also took note in the numbers of people reading this information on my blog. I e-mailed him and Alderman Steve Olson and informed them that as of 12:35am last night, FranklinNOW's hit numbers were 1084 for the Boomgaard blog entries of mine. As of right now (12:46pm 4/24), according to FranklinNOW's system, 2347 visitors have seen these blog entries.

Taking notice of that, he went on to discuss the corridor's past - all orchards for the most part. He also answered questions I had sent him and Steve Olson last night.

My apologies to Greg as his posting looked like he was taking up 2+ hours of the Mayors time to discuss the naming of the Boomgaard District. You may remember that Greg currently is Vice Chairman of the Environmental Commission and an employee of Alderman Kristen Wilhelms Conservancy organization Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy (MALC) .

Actions Do Have Consequences

2008-04-19T18:14:00Z

A Tip of the hat to Franklin BULLSEYE blogger Fred Keller as he sums up so perfectly the latest news about New BerlinNOW bloger Linda Richter in his Saw You in the News posting.

It seems that her current legal woes are due to Linda 's involvement through her We Care New Berlin-PAC that allegedly lied three times in the groups sponsored campaign literature, about JJ Blonien. Blonien was the opposing aldermanic candidate for New Berlins 6th District while the group supported, Bill Moore, the incumbent.

It is good to see the bad karma return to this mean spirited Blog Roll friend of one of our own FranklinNOW bloggers. This FranklinNOW blogger encouraged us all to read Linda's inflammatory, Anti-Kevin Fisher blog just a few months ago even though she herself was featured as a personal attack blogger in a March 2008 Milwaukee Magazine article.

The NewBerlinNOW.com site features a similar war pitting blogger and ex-school board member Linda Richter against blogger Matt Thomas, current vice president of the board and a leader of its conservative majority. Talk about getting personal: Richter publicized the bankruptcy records of Thomas on her blog to undermine his claim as a champion of fiscal sobriety.

Her now infamous blogs promoted us to be calling State Senator Mary Lazych to reprimand and gag, Kevin Fischer, for accusations of name calling of other bloggers and commenter's to his FranklinNOW blog. I certainly hope we can encourage our friends that are New Berlin residents to contact the Waukesha DA and encourage him to prosecute Linda along with her group to the fullest extent of the law if he finds the allegations to be true.

Yes it looks like Actions Do Have Consequences for EVERYBODY!

Quick Hits - 4/15/08

2008-04-16T02:04:00Z

Tonight’s City Council meeting included the swearing in of Mayor Tom Taylor, new Aldermen Kristen Wilhelm (3^rd District) , Steve Taylor (4^th District) and incumbent 6^th District alderman Ken Skowronski.

During the citizen comment period after the swearing in, former 4^th Distinct alderman Pete Kosovich gave a very touching speech, summing up his past years on the council, the election and a promise in his best TERMINATOR voice “ I’ll be back”.
The interesting surprise of the night, was that new alderman Steve Taylor, was elected Council President. Steve was nominated for the position by new alderman Kristen Wilhelm. Former Council President Lyle Sohns was also nominated. Alderman Steve Olson was out of town on business but had requested the council wait until the next meeting for the Council President vote. Despite this request the nominations and the vote went ahead, three to two in favor of Steve Taylor for Council President.

I believe the two new council members that were voted in during the April 1^st election will make their mark on this council.

There was no WAGGING THE DOG at tonight's meeting or was there?

Franklin Honor Rolls Now Posted

2008-04-12T18:42:00Z

FranklinNOW editor Mark Maley has come through as promised with the Honor Rolls for the City of Franklin. This feature should be updated on a regular basis according to Mark. I am a firm believer that academic excellence should be featured in the community just as we praise our students for their athletic and extracurricular achievements. After all, isn't this the key reason we are willing to pay the taxes we do, for the kids.

Bryan:

I just wanted to give you a heads up that we have posted the first semester honor roll for Franklin HS on a prominent location on FranklinNOW.com.

Here is direct link:

http://www.franklinnow.com/honors

I understand from school officials that the third quarter honor roll will be released soon, and when it is, it will be PROMPTLY posted online.

We still have one or two minor glitches to work out on the online certificates for each student, but we thought it was important to get the names up there as soon as possible. There are more than 600 students on the honor roll, and we agree with you that it's important these outstanding students get recognition.

Your readers may wonder why there are other schools on this list, like DSHA and Marquette University HS. That's because those schools draw from all over the metro area, so we are including their honor rolls on all NOW sites.

I should also extend an open invitation to all Franklin schools -- private and public, middle school and elementary -- to send their honor rolls to me and I will include them on this list. The school district just sent us FHS; but other districts have been sending us middle school honor rolls, too.

Thanks for being so diligent about pursuing this issue.

Mark Maley
NOW Online Editor

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Community Newspapers

Election should cause changes on the Enviromental Commission

2008-04-10T22:00:00Z

With the confirmation of Kristen Wilhelm and Steve Taylor as aldermanic representatives of the 3^rd and 4^th district, this will now reduce the Environmental Commission by two members. As both Kristen (currently the EC Chair) and Steve (EC member) would make it 3 alderman on the commission (Ken Skowronski is the current alderman on the commission) and this would violate the membership rules of this commission.

The Environmental Commission consists of 7 members, 1 Alderman and 6 citizens, all appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Council. The term of the Alderman member is 1 year, only while in the office of Alderman, and expiring upon the April 30 following the appointment. The citizen members are appointed for 3-year terms, expiring upon the April 30 of the third year following the appointment; excepting that the initial appointments provide for 2 members to serve a 1-year term and 2 members to serve a 2-year term, expiring upon the April 30 of the first year and second year following such appointments, respectively.

Members		Term/Expiration
Kristen Wilhelm, Chair		3 Years/4-30-09
Gregory Kowalski, Vice Chair		3 Years/4-30-09
Nancy Kaczor		3 Years/4-30-10
Steve Taylor		3 Years/4-30-08
Wesley Cannon		3 Years/4-30-08
Vacancy		3 Years/4-30-10
Alderman Ken Skowronski

This would require two of the three alderpersons to step down from that commission. My guess is that you will see Ken Skowronski and Steve Taylor leave the commission. This would open the door for Kristen Wilhelm to have the Environmental voice to the council she has been seeking since Don Dorsan left the commission.

Or am I just WAGGING THE DOG here?

Thanks a Million Briscoes

2008-04-09T12:00:00Z

Thank you Terry and Mary Briscoe a million times over.

The Franklin insurance executive of National Insurance Co. and his wife have given $1 million to the YMCA proposed for Franklin, claiming the naming rights to the new complex located just north of the Northwestern Mutual Networks Franklin campus.

As you may remember, Northwestern donated the 4.3 million dollar, 18 acre, piece of land the complex will be built on.

With these donations plus 1.4 to 2 million in additional fund raising, the YMCA is looking to open its doors in Franklin in the spring of 2009.

The 45,000-square-foot Franklin center being marketed as a "Healthy Lifestyle Village," in collaboration with Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare is expected to include an indoor track, multi-lane swimming pool, group exercise studios and a child care center. A medical clinic and physician’s offices will be built by the Wheaton’s adjacent to the YMCA.

Quick Hits

2008-04-09T00:38:02Z

First off – Congratulations to Alderperson Elect Kristen Wilhelm. With the recount completed in the third aldermanic district and covered by John Michlig live on his Sprawled Out blog. I am sure we will all be watching closely to see the difference you make on the Franklin Common Council.

Second – A promise from FranklinNOW editor Mark Maley in response to my FranklinNOW editors we are still waiting posting about the lack of FPS and Franklin's private school Honor Roll postings. See Marks comments below.

Bryan, you're right...there is no excuse for this. Well, I have some excuses but won't get into them now. The bottom line is this should have been done a long time ago. We will get the honor rolls online THIS WEEK...and after that they will be promptly posted. - Mark Maley

Third - Congratulations to former FranklinNOW (now solo flying with BULLSEYE) blogger Fred Keller with his effort to get Franklin elected officials to sign a pledge to keep tax increases to under 3%. He has taken some criticism from other bloggers as to the impossibility of this pledge. Yet he is getting members of the Franklin Common Council to sit down and discuss how they might be able to back a tax cutting pledge.

Despite the half empty glass, views of some FranklinNOW bloggers, this positive action by Fred shows that there are Franklin Taxpayers who are willing to go one step further than just talking about how things should be. As Steve Taylor - unconfirmed (but soon to be confirmed) 4th District aldermanic candidate said at the candidates forum "Almost all the people I talked with have said we need to lower property taxes".

Well Fred is trying to make sure everyone got the message.

Steve Hanke's Hearing - Continued!

2008-04-07T22:09:00Z

Just got this message that I think is important to pass along about the Franklin Sex Offender Steve Hanke and his upcoming trial.

Just a reminder that Hanke is the convicted Sex Offender that who is in violation of the city's tough ordinance restricting where sex offenders can live. Several months after the ordinance took effect Hanke purchased a home in Franklin and is now living near Forest Park Middle School.

Last November Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge John Franke ruled against the city of Franklin's lawsuit brought against sex offender Steve Hanke who, has continued to live in his Franklin home 600 feet from Forest Park.

Please read the message below.

Steve Hanke

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

On Monday April 14^th at 10:00 a.m., the case of Steve Hanke vs. the City of Franklin will be heard again at the Milwaukee County Courthouse in the courtroom of Justice Franke.

It appears that one of three decisions will be made:

1. Dismiss the case (Hanke wins)

2. Summary Judgment (Franklin wins)

3. Case goes to trial (this is unlikely because there is no dispute of fact in the case)

(Thanks Alderman Olson for the above synopsis!)

Many of you have been supportive in the past by taking the time to attend the hearings in person. If you are able, your presence in the courtroom next Monday is needed. Not only is it important for the Judge to see that we are a unified community that wants to see our ordinance upheld, but it is also important for our neighbors in the area of 76^th and Forest Hill Avenue to see that the entire community stands with them.

This is not a single neighborhood issue! This is case is vitally important in protecting our entire community from sex offenders and it may set an importance precedent for other communities around the state.

If you still have your yard signs in support of Ordinance 167, please be sure they are out! I’m sure your yards are empty now with all the election signs gone. A bit of decoration in support of our neighbors and Ord. 167 would be great!!!

Please, if your schedule permits, join us in the courthouse on Monday, April 14^th!

As always, Thank you!

Shari Hanneman

FranklinNOW editors - We are still waiting.

2008-04-04T12:00:00Z

As I brought up in an earlier blog about the Franklin High School honor roll not being published. I have followed up on this with the editor of FranklinNOW and keep getting promises that it will be coming. It seems that they are waiting on some software to make it easier to publish our local school's honor rolls.

The original due date was mid-March which has come and gone, as we are finishing up with the 3rd quarter of this school year.

Several folks from the private schools in Franklin along with Tanya Ruder the Communications Specialist of the Franklin Public schools have told me they are ready to work with FranklinNOW editors to get this information published on the NOW website.

My question is. Will we be asking this same question next year?

If so, FranklinNOW, don't encourage the schools to send their honor roll lists, just remove it from your website

NO MANDATES FOR CHANGE AT CITY HALL

2008-04-02T14:58:13Z

Tuesday April 1^st elections DID NOT SHOW A MANDATE for change at Franklin City Hall.

For Mayor, Tom Taylor easily swept challenger Basil Ryan with Taylor taking 67% of the vote to Ryan’s 33%. I don’t think there were any surprises here.

Apparently Franklin Residents do have a memories of how things were with Ryan on the council and they weren't very good ones.

In the District 3 Aldermanic election Kristen Wilhelm squeaked out a win with 608 votes to Al Hammelman’s 602 votes. Do the math, that is an obvious 6 votes and not much of a mandate but …...

Will this be a contested vote? I would ask for a recount if I was Al but still believe Kristen will win.

Last but not least, Greg Kowalski said that Pete Kosovich had given up running for his Districts 4 Aldermanic seat. With a 50/50 % vote. Challenger Steve Taylor received 741 votes to Pete’s 730 votes. Not bad for someone who supposedly gave up!

This was the cleanest race (District 3) with both the candidates, greeting voters together at the Milwaukee County Sports complex as they came to vote.

UPDATED - Basil, Tom, DO NOT CALL

2008-03-31T03:09:00Z

It was bad enough when I had Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain calling me with their automated message before the Wisconsin Primary.

Now, I have received automated phone messages from both Basil Ryan and Tom Taylor, warning me not to listen to the other one's accusations.

Guys, I know it is legal for you to do this but......

DO NOT CALL

Update 3/30/08 - Another call From Basil

It must be getting down to the wire since the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has endorsed Mayor Tom Taylor for Franklin Mayor.

I just got another call from Basil Ryan's service reminding me not to listen to the smear concerning his aldermanic recall election and to give him a call or go to his website.

Between his professional brochures showing up every other day and these phone calls. This isn't going to be a cheep run at the Mayor's office for Basil.