I was late getting to the City Hall, but even after 45 minutes of public comments, the place was still packed. Adam and Ronsta were out by the door with me, Wiggy was also there.
About all the downtown notables were seated inside, Mayor Scrima was sitting next to one camp, likely indicate where the wind is blowing in his handling of downtown politics. No wonder one of his former supporters wanted her money back... The best line I read was He is more Larry than Larry... Once again, I am sitting on my pointy fence and watching this significant power shift with concern. As flawed as the opposing voice might be in some people's eyes, there is still a need of check and balance or this chaos in downtown is just another political tool, with no regard of the further fracturing of downtown and deepening the divide between merchants and property owners. I understand FFNL stage sponsors concern, it is about money, but I can also honestly say there are real needs for public bathrooms for street closing events (but not to the extreme of 34 port-a-johns), not just for FFNL but for Christmas Parade as well.
Angle Parking round 3... Enough already... Would Mr. Crandell come and talk to biz owners/property owners at least before the memo?
Is this a task force or a cage match? You might need a lawyer or two in it.
Jersey Mike's is pretty good...
History Lesson 6 of 10.
Sarah has a good positive blog entry...
Brien is also above the muddy politics...
SOUND OFF
POLICE BLOTTER
The chaos in the city hall is spilling out to the streets, even though it is great blogging material, it is not good for the city in the long run. It might just come down for the Jedi Council to deal with the Emperor...
P.S. I was twisting Wiggy's arm...
As long as people keep an open mind, and stop all the fear mongering, FFNL and Waukesha as a whole can benefit from this discussion.
ReplyDeleteCases can be made from each side and to each side that moves to the throat were attempted... One day you are the abused and next day you are the abuser...
DeleteIt is a downward spiral that I am concerned about.
Were there valid points from both sides, absolutely, but that means nothing when it is a grudge match with over the top tactic. There is a middle ground somewhere however, at least I like to believe that.
If you are going to complain about the potential lack of parking on W. Main street because of the Kendall Lofts, don’t complain when the City comes up with a viable solution. If you have 100 linear feet of street frontage you can get 4 ½ parallel parking stalls (they are each about 22 feet long). In that same space with angle parking you can get 10 or 11 stalls. There are no conflict points (driveways) from Clinton all the way down to Bodways on the north side of the street. What problems will angle parking cause there? If it is done correctly it can be a huge asset to that part of Main Street. Sure it will take some getting used to but most people are repeat visitors to downtown so they’ll figure it out.
ReplyDeleteAngle parking is safer for pedestrians and drivers. People can get to both doors from the sidewalk, no need to stand in the street except for loading and unloading the trunk. Angle parking also slows traffic. Just watch traffic west of Clinton vs East and you can see the difference.
Increasing street parking should be the number one priority because street parking is the preferred parking method for visitors to any downtown. They will always look for street parking first, surface lots second and garages third. Street parking gets the most use by far so why not make more where we can?
Eat, the issue is going round and round, two meetings and no answer for safety concern for driveways. Yes, narrowing street stop on street U turns but does not stop U turns or Y turns in driveway/parking lots, likely increase it. People still gonna make U turns, because they want to park as close to where they want to go, however, far West Main is a downhill slope as Ronsta pointed out, the proposed angle parking will force the driver to back up uphill with coming cars/cyclist gaining speed, not counting the people coming fast from the West ave turn.
DeleteIf this is a reasonable discussion, the city should tell us how they plan on dealing with these safety issues, not just a No U turn sign or fence in your own parking lot suggestion.
From Maple to Bodway's have two driveways on the South side. Right next to Bodway's is the exit from the parking lot, Alderman Patton wanted to make it enter only I think because come out there will be extremely dangerous with angle parking on both sides.
DeleteSince East is brought up, why isn't there talks to make angle parking from East to Barstow, there are far less driveways? (That too is downhill I think, I remember stuck on a patch of ice right on Main and East.)
DeleteLast night went exactly as I expected.
ReplyDeleteLet me start by saying that discussing what to do with a super successful event is a good problem to have. However I am still not 100 percent sure what the goal of Ald Cummings and the other people behind this is. Do they want regulations or do they just want the street closings to stop? Come forward and say what you want. It’s great that they did research on what other communities have done but the goal of any ordinance change is to have an end result. What is that end result? They need to be clearer. I think these questions need to be asked:
1.What are the real problems associated with Friday Night Live?
2.What do we want done about these problems (ordinance change, no street closings, etc) ?
3.What is the appropriate means to achieve this goal?
If we are just throwing out a bunch of other ordinances it seems like we could be creating regulation for things that really don't need it. Identify the key issues and work on them. Rules in other cities might not be appropriate here.
If stopping the street closings is your end goal, give up because it simply isn't going to happen, not when this event is as popular as it is now. I used to oppose the closing of Main Street for this event but last summer changed my mind. If crowds remain as large as last summer (i'd actually expect them to grow) then you need to keep Main Street closed.
Lets also remember that downtown doesn’t just belong to the property owners and businesses, it belongs to everyone in the City and as someone who doesn’t live downtown but close by, I just don’t want to see all of this petty infighting among people downtown erase all of the progress that has been made over the last 5 or so years.
One last comment, its very troubling when the spouse of an alderman is showing such disrespect for differing viewpoints by making loud and obnoxious comments. I expect that behavior from a handful of rude citizens, I expect better from the spouse of an alderman.
The large binder of sample regulation sure does not help the cause, and the noise drown out anyone has a real point to regulate the street closing better. Just today, someone told me they went to save FFNL because some people do not want to allow dogs...
ReplyDeleteNot being civil is also getting to be a problem in this fight...
I noticed the Mayor going around asking several people about joining another new committee to address this issue. The last thing we need is yet another committee, what we need is elected officials who can show some from of competency for their jobs.
ReplyDeleteRon asked me last night, "Who is liable when the streets are opened?" Which no one seems to want to claim, city or business.
To address to handicap getting from point A to B, how about the bid offering a lift via the golf cart they have stored at the parking ramp, I would say by pedicab but that venture sadly seems to have faded away.
Should Main go the way State St. in Madison? Closed to traffic except buses, and taxis at all times. That seems to work very well. Apparently putting up temporary barricades should constitute unnecessary fees, applications and requirements. If it is like State St then problem solved. I believe those businesses still do quite well, daily.
You cannot do a State Street pedestrian mall in a auto-centric town like Waukesha. Every business would be closed within 6 months...all of them. The only reason State Street works is because you have 40,000 students, most of whom live nearby and don't have cars. You have a state capital and a bunch of state buildings and all of those employees. You have UW Athletics that draws 80,000 for UW football games and 15,000 plus for hockey and basketball. You have a huge convention center and a half dozen hotels within walking distance. There are so many unique factors that make State Street possible, none of which apply in Waukesha.
ReplyDeleteI know the idea here is too extreme, I know Waukesha would never do it and I wouldn't expect it. I don't think there is anything wrong with the closings last year, personally I would like to see it last a little longer like an hour.
DeleteA couple of other things I thought of--
If the city starts running the Friday night street closings like a block party, does that open the door to allow alcohol in the street during FFNL?
Why did Ald. Cummings keep referencing Park use?(I think Cutler and Frame were used as examples) It seemed to me she was trying to make up some sort of precedence.
My advice, never try to follow the logic of Ald Cummings.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the additional hour. It always seems an hour too soon when the bands end. Its not Tuesday night live, it's Friday Night live, keep it open until 9:30 or 10.
I think that some of the opponents of the street closing feel that open intoxicants is the next logical step and they are concerned about it.
I still think it is silly when you can have a beer but not few feet away in a fenced in area with security. While someone from a different bar standing outside of fenced area with a beer they just took it out of the bar that did not have a stage nor being watched.
ReplyDelete