Last night I was talking angle parking with someone for it, we were no Harvard debate team but we were civil and we talked out a lot of issues over a beer, which a lot of downtown hot topic should be. We went though the safety concerns and possible solutions were talked out, but in the end nothing can be done with the U turn and Y turn issue into all the driveway/parking lots, unless we put roundabouts on Maple/Main and/or on West/Main, which will not have enough room. The unique nature of far West Main with lots of driveways is what set that part of Main apart from the rest. We did agree on two basics, we both suspect it is not about Kendal Lofts, it is about finding more parking for/or because of People's Park; also we both know that this is gonna get jammed down far West Main biz owners/property owners' throat.
The debate is still going strong over Street Closing, Wiggy has his say. ( One possible correction, Scott is from American, likely wrong tattoo shop in the article.)
More stores going in on Sunset while downtown fights.
The next hot topic? Freeman should have more in depth detail coming, I think. We see the PR statement, now let's talk money.
Greyhound people know pet first aid too well because of the thin coat.
History Lesson 8 of 10
Good news.
Nude ping pong girls coming to Waukesha? I am telling you, there are people cheering for it... Isn't it close to a bike trail?! ha ha (inside joke)
I did confirm the Bodway incident, even though most of the downtown were at City Hall earlier that night.
There is still no hint on who had threaten Meghan, we do know they were in person and not emails, that took out some usual suspects.
Downtown Waukesha is like a chemistry set, and it is really dangerous in the hand of someone not knowing what to do... but let's form another committee to study that... (sigh)
As a both a downtown business owner and WDBA member and an individual looking in, I have been dismayed by the in-fighting between the differing sides for a long while. I have worked to be fair in my own personal actions, assessments and reactions regardless of which side of the fence I am assumed to be on by my various affiliations in the downtown. I don’t necessarily agree with everything that is said or done, or the manner in which it’s said or done, but since both sides have substantial investments in the downtown district, I do believe each side has it’s valid points which deserve to be voiced and heard with an open mind, equally and fairly. The threat to Meghan, who has been very fair (as is her job as Executive Director) in her dealings with both sides in this heated controversy crosses the boundaries and simply cannot be justified. It is, without any question (in my mind anyway), unwarranted, inappropriate and unconscionable. Period. I don’t know who addresses this issue or what actions can or will be taken by the BID board or any other entity to protect Meghan in this situation – but I do hope (if nothing else) those who made the threats are held accountable for their individual actions.
ReplyDeleteThere is a hint now but is it true or just more mud?
ReplyDeletehttp://takinittothestreets.us/cgi-bin/word/topic.cgi?forum=1&topic=28
Dani, we need more good chi!
ReplyDeleteFYI on key holders and BID board members
ReplyDeletehttp://www.downtownwaukesha.com/board-directors.php
http://waukesha.patch.com/articles/12-key-to-the-city-awards-being-given-out-tuesday
Really, say it ain't so.
Wiggy brings up some good points, but I disagree on one. While Main is a throughfare for the city, other than maybe early Sunday morning is it the most efficient. In the mornings there are food trucks double parked along with rush hour traffic and by midday its busy with people on lunch and shoppers moving around the city. On a Friday night it can take 10+ minutes to drive through the 5 blocks of the business district(done it on accident).
ReplyDeleteAnyone familiar with downtown knows St. Paul, Barstow or Wisconsin are are better options around the city, plus they take you past plenty of public parking.
Anyone trying to drive through a busy Friday Night Live would only be frustrated. I can't really see anyone coming from out of town to downtown being so frustrated by the traffic, street closures or not, that they just turn around and leave. If I see hundreds of people enjoying themselves near someplace I wanna get to, I'm gonna say "Hey, let's check this out!"
Lastly, on liability, I'm not sure why this is a concern when streets are closed and you don't have vehicular traffic trying to navigate through hundreds people. As Wiggy also pointed out, how is it different any other time?
The liability thing is kind of a dumb thing for non-lawyers to be debating. Maybe a legal opinion is necessary before we create some ordinance requiring 2 million in liability insurance.
ReplyDeleteEvery business should have liability insurance for stuff that happens on their premises. A property owner or business isn't going to get sued if someone on a closed street near their business gets injured (unless something like a sponsored stage collapses and injures people - in which case everyone is probably getting sued). If someone were to get injured in a building or an outdoor dining area, they are probably liable whether FNL is going on or not.
I heard this being framed as an owner vs merchant issue. What I would ask the owners is would you like a bunch of people visiting the tenants in your buildings and keeping them afloat or would you rather that businesses close and you have no tenants?
I kind of feel that if your business cannot survive without FNL, you have bigger issues to deal with. You shouldn't need FNL to stay afloat. It should be a means to get more people to your store but it shouldn't be a means to help you stay afloat.
I am kind of in the camp with Wiggy and Ronsta on liability. Unless a valid reason for requiring it can be established, it does seem like a shady way to try to end FNL. Do we require liability insurance of the BID for the Farmers Market, Christmas Parade, etc?
DeleteFrom my email bag:
Delete"Regarding the liability insurance. There is a special insurance that most cities require called “special events insurance”. Harley-fest had it, the Old Car Club and anybody that uses the park has to have it. . I think the city has a very large deductible and if they get cited for too many instances their/our premiums go up. That’s why they have large events purchase the insurance for large for profit events. It pays the deductible and up to a million or two before they go after the city.
It makes sense to me. If they didn’t require it for street events..guess what..we would have more street events all over the city."
(End quote)
Let's go one point at a time, now the liability is off the table, then how about port-a-potty? I think 10 is a nice round number for FFNL (2 at each area) but one stage owner think that is too much of a cost and defeat the purpose of draw people into your place. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteA street rumor update is that there is no special BID meeting on Friday now but was it scheduled and cancelled?
It was the wrong tattoo parlor. I noted the correction on my blog and sent the correction to the editors. Not that it makes a huge difference to anyone but those two business owners.
ReplyDeleteI understand the one merchant's thoughts about the bathrooms as another excuse to pull people in. However, how many of these places want casual passersby suddenly popping in to use the bathrooms? Steaming Cup even has a sign that the bathrooms are for patrons only. The Sloppy Joe place doesn't even have a bathroom. I'm not taking my kids into the bars if I can help it.
My issue is more about Christmas Parade, there were no other bathroom open in the far West End but ours, well, at least it seemed.
ReplyDelete