Tag Archives: City of Franklin

Greg Kowalski is Bitter Over Loss … Mark Dandrea Shows He is a Gracious Winner!

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From the April 3rd – FranlinNOW:

Kowalski, who narrowly lost to Olson in the 2010 election, said he was upset with fliers that were distributed - by members of Dandrea’s campaign, he assumes – throughout the city last weekend that were full of misinformation.

“The bottom line is that there was a negative piece that was circulated last minute and obviously the people didn’t have much of a choice,” Kowalski said. “There were a bunch of lies and incorrect statements about me in that flier. And that’s basically what I think was reflected in today’s election.”

Dandrea called the fliers a “comparison piece” that put his qualifications side-by-side to Kowalski’s.

“It was a very truthful and candid piece about (Kowalski’s) involvement with different political groups compared to mine; my business and marketing expertise, compared to his lack of expertise,” Dandrea said.

“He was disappointed,” said Dandrea, referring to Kowalski. “If I was in that position, I would have been disappointed, too. I was the strongest candidate running for the 1st District, and the voters recognized that.”

Unfortunately Greg Kowalski misconstrued factual information for lies and misinformation. If what Greg says is true and these are lies and misinformation, will Greg Kowalski be taking this issue to the Government Accountability Board or are these just the rantings of a LOSER!

61% of the 1st District apparently disagree with Kowalski and his qualifications!

What Would Greg Do?

Sour Grapes?

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More Last Minute Rhetoric from Greg Kowalski. All Talk with NO ANSWERS!

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In his last hours campaign push for 1st District Alderman, Greg Kowalski is making some statements he has no idea of how to fulfil nor does he have the power to fulfil “IF” he was elected to the Common Council. I received a copy of his flier from one of the residents of the 1st district and they have these questions to ask the 26-year-old sage.

Lets go through his statements one by one.

  • First Kowalski is claiming his opponent is Mudslinging.  - Is it mud-slinging if it’s the truth? Factual information to compare candidates positions are not mud-slinging. Aren’t candidates responsible for past actions and statements? Kowalski doesn’t think so!
  • Kowalski says he will Launch EDC initiatives - What kind of initiatives does he propose? Who will do the work? To whom would you launch? A part-time group of people that have only come up with a glossy brochures and have no expertise in economic development? Is he saying that current AlderVisor Steve Taylor (a supposed political endorser and member of the EDC) has done a poor job in EDC initiatives and needs Kowalski’s guidance?
  • Kowalski says he plans to restart discussions with the community and owners on the civic center - What would he talk about? Cost of the land? Sidewalks? Remember Kowalski was part of this group that raised money for a Civic Center that never happened! Would anyone listen to someone with Kowalski’s credentials?
  • Work on solutions for pedestrian safety on Puetz – Kowalski never states how he plans to pay for it? Will he be doing the “work” himself? Does he plan to do it twice? Once now and once when the street gets rebuilt?
  • Work on reconstruction of Hwy 100 and 76th st.  – First off, these are Milwaukee County projects. Aren’t these already designed and scheduled?  What would Kowalski do to change the plans and design?
  • Kowalski says he plans to connect 76th and Rawson to the Rock Sports Center - Another grandiose plan by Greg Kowalski!  What is he going to do to connect it?  Fly helicopters? Build Bridges? Who will pay for it in the end?

Greg Kowalski is following in the footsteps of his favorite liberal AlderVisor Steve (don’t cut my salary so I will actually have to work) Taylor who will tell voters anything they want to hear and then doesn’t do a thing when elected. Kowalski and Taylor are your typical liberal Democratic candidates. The only difference is Taylor is known as a REPUBLICAN IN NAME ONLY.

 

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1st District Candidate Greg Kowalski Opposes 27th Street Development, Instead Pushes TIF for HWY 100 & Loomis!

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Last time Greg Kowalski ran for 1st district alderman in April 2010, he was unsuccessful and it was speculated that he was far too inexperienced in life to become an Alderman. Shortly after the election he wrote a posting on his blog Franklin Today stating his opposition to the proposed Drexel Interchange (now built) because it would do nothing for the City of Franklin. Kowalski publicly criticized two experienced driving forces behind the development of 27th street in Franklin. Those driving forces were none other than Ted Grintjes and Jim Rhiner who for many years served on the 27th Street Steering Committee.

It was through hours and hours of uncompensated work that Grintjes and Rhiner were able to promote the 27th street corridor, convincing Northwestern Mutual and Wheaton Franciscan Hospitals to locate to Franklin along this corridor. Kowalski discounts their opinions and recommendations in favor of Alderwoman Kristen Wilhelm’s, who’s expertise is in the area of environmentalism not development.

 In this article Kowalski states that the Drexel interchange is needed only by Oak Creek for their Delphi plant redevelopment at Drexel & Howell  and asks “what does Franklin need the interchange for?”  Could it be that more access to 27th street will continue to grow this area as a “Franklin destination area” such as Brookfield’s Bluemound road?

So lets examine Kowalski’s experience and education that allows him to make these statements?

 Simply said, Greg Kowalski is a 2005 graduate of Franklin High School, he has been attending MATC, (apparently part time since graduation), since the MATC associate degree’s are geared for completion in 2 years. His business expertise is in selling Beanie Babys and stuffed toys on E-bay.  Greg’s basis his life experiences from living with his parents since high school graduation while working on his “exceptional?” career track toward being the 1st district alderman.

Here is his opine on the Drexel interchange and 27th street development from Franklin Today:

Franklin Today – Opposition to 27th Street by

Jump forward to 2013 and his current run for Alderman.  Now Kowalski is boasting on his FaceBook campaign page that he is an expert on the HWY 100 & Loomis Area. It is the one thing that sets him apart from his fellow candidates.

Here is an exact quote from Candidate Kowalski from is Candidates FaceBook page:

I’m probably more informed on this parcel of land and its development history (or lack thereof) than any of my opponents. Since I haven’t heard any views from any of them, I will save some of my thoughts on this for when the primary gets a little closer. As for the city buying the parcel outright, Alderwoman Wilhelm was challenged to convince her colleagues on the Council to purchase only 500 ft to complete a school access road. It would be a significant uphill battle for the city to be convinced to purchase something in the magnitude of the Meijer parcel. An additional problem for the development of this site is the cost to purchase the parcel is too high given the multitude of water and drainage challenges and road access costs. The fact is, a TIF District may be the only reasonable cost-effective method to develop this property.

OK so what has Kowalski written about about the 27th Street TIFFs?

First and foremost, I’m not a fan at all over the city spending millions of dollars for the 27th Street Corridor. While some will just point out and say it’s TIF (tax-incremental financing) money, meaning that those businesses in the TIF will pay it off via property taxes, I still get a little bothered by it. The TIFs along 27th Street do nothing to impact the property tax base that truly needs the additional revenue, the Franklin Public School District. In the meantime, City Hall has been consistent on approving funds and more funds to facilitate a roughly 10-year-long vision to turn 27th Street into the next Mayfair Road. This just extends the TIF Districts that were created for Northwestern Mutual and Wheaton Franciscan drag on longer, and doesn’t provide tax relief for residents.

1st District residents will have to choose which Kowalski they choose to believe!

 

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AlderVisor Steve Taylor Gets Blasted by a Franklin Resident

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An anti-Meijers stores resident recently blasted AlderVisor Steve (is this common council meeting over yet?) Taylor at Tuesdays Common Council meeting for his snide remarks at the previous Common Council meeting two weeks before.  James Lajsic, 8756 W. Mallard Ct. has retained Milwaukee Attorney Joe Cincotta, and admonished Taylor for implying that his attorney (Cincotta) is an “AMBULANCE CHASER“. The AlderVisor’s statements were referring to the fact that Attorney Cincotta had also been retained by Jack and Michelle Corrao of Grafton (another proposed location) and therefore the attorney was shopping dissatisfied residents of those city’s. The Grafton Common Council did recently approve the Grafton store plans as another new location sought by Meijers.

Please listen to the tongue lashing that Taylor gets from James Lajsic who has been attending all the City Council meetings trying to derail the Meijers proposed store in Franklin.

My observation of Steve Taylor is that he is bored with Franklin politics and if a resident is not a “voting constituent” of Taylor, he does not give a rip about them or their opinions. Taylor is known to show anger with anyone who he disagrees with or who oppose him. His words often filled with sarcastic anger, especially if it is an issue that appears to “waste’ his precious time.

With a little investigation however Wag the Dog has found that James Lajsic, is a retired union member of the Miller Brewery who signed the papers to recall Scott Walker. He has brought up inane questions of the council about “what kind of jobs is Meijers going to provide?” I am sure it is not the cushy pay and benefits he is use to from working a union Miller Brewery job. But then again, with this economy, a job such as one that is offered at Meijers may keep someone off of needing welfare or that extra layer needed to pay the high taxes we experience here in Franklin. Not to mention, opportunities for our young people to get their first job.

Bottom line is again,here is a case of AlderVisor Steve Taylor being bored with the issues he faces here as an Alderman in Franklin versus his oh so important job as a Milwaukee County Supervisor. Maybe now is the time to quit Steve!

Lajsic, on the other hand is just laughable!

 

 

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Meijers Should be A Done Deal after Tuesday’s Common Council Meeting

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Despite the absurd accusations which a small group of Franklin residents are slinging about the proposed Meijer’s Store’s  project to be built in Franklin.  The project  should get final approval at Tuesday September 4th, 6:30pm Common Council meeting.

Expect to hear last ditch efforts in and attempt to throw up roadblocks by some of the extremists who totally believe the Meijers Project will be the end of Franklin as we know it.

They have recently sent out a flier making all sorts of claims including:

  • Increased traffic and crime in our neighborhoods. Just like the people in Wyndham Hills said about Target.
  • Need for more police officers, requiring higher taxes. Because the fact the Police Station is right down the street makes no difference at all!
  • Gridlocked Traffic on Puetz Road. I know there is total gridlock on Drexel around Target too.
  • A possible lawsuit by Walmart because they were not allowed to build there. Because they are so mad at Franklin, that not only built a Walmart but later they built a SUPER Walmart in Franklin  on 27th street anyway.
  • Increased takes for ROADS, SIDEWALKS and (oh no) SEWERS. Wait isn’t that why we are spending all sorts of money for the Ryan Creek Interceptor sewer system in the first place!
  • Plus the fact that Meijers is going to single handedly put Target and Pick n Save out of business in Franklin.

But when it comes down to the vote, comments made at the last Common Council meeting by the Mayor, and Aldermen in attendance are most revealing. The only thing that kept it from being passed last Council meeting was the fact that Alderman Steve Olson was not able to attend that meeting due to business obligations to his full time career. He did however express to the Mayor in a letter, (which the Mayor did not see fit to read to the constituents that were in attendance in the audience) his less than enthusiastic approval of the project due to the fact that the Mayor and the rest of the Aldermen were willing to take whatever mediocre project specifications they were given by Meijers. He also stated that Meijers had done little to appease his constituents in their concerns dealing with traffic and hours of operations. The Mayor for whatever reason neglected to read this letter into the record as had been requested by Alderman Olson.

Last council meeting Alderman Steve Taylor voiced his approval of wanting to GITERDONE and again with his current usual M.O. of  boredom and distaste for anything that takes too long having to do with his insignificant second part time job as the 4th district Alderman.  Alderman Doug Schmidt concurred with anyone who spoke before him (I heard the Mayor is planning on a Doug Schmidt bobble head to replace him). Alderman Kenny Skowronski, is for anything the Mayor is for, so since the Mayor is for Maijers, well by gumption so is he. Alderwoman Kristen Wilhelm is OK with it (she has shopped a Meijers before according to her and as long as it is environmentally OK so is she.

So basically folks this is pretty much a done deal.

But…………

I plan on watching the Vote and the Council meeting for it’s sheer entertainment value.

See you there.

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Franklin Continues to Prove We Are a Red City

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In what can only be described as a minimal turnout of an election in Franklin the August Th primary continues to show an outpouring of the Republican vote in Franklin.  Franklin residents were slightly off of the numbers that showed up around over all in the state with Eric Hovde (1,764 votes or 34.99%) edging Tommy Thompson (1,614 or 32.02%) out in the voting numbers in Franklin. Jeff Fitzgerald and Mark Neumann came in 3rd and 4th in that order. Tammy Baldwin (DEM) racked up a whole 513 votes in Franklin.

With this primary race over, Republicans can now unite to bring Wisconsin back to a Red state with both our US Senators in the same party. I think Tommy Thompson will be an excellent partner with Ron Johnson and will fight to get this economy back on the road to recovery.

I know Franklin will also do it’s best to make this a NoBama election in November.

 
Preliminary Election for the City of Franklin WI

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UPDATE: Franklin Residents Invited To Give Their Input On Meijer’s

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An email invitation has gone out to residents of Alderman Steve Olson’s 1st District urging their input in the development of the newly proposed Meijer’s Store in Franklin.

Please feel free to print or pass on this invitation to your neighbors.

 
Meijer

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An Invitation

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Meijer’s – High Standards Lower Prices – is their moto

In the Beginning… Where did it all start? Greenville, MI, 1934. It’s the Great Depression, food is scarce, and Hendrik Meijer meets the needs of a small town with a small grocery store and fair prices. Jump to 1962 and Meijer is pioneering the first supercenter, which now offers a complete one-stop shopping experience, from Grocery and Health and Beauty Care to over 40 other departments including Fashion, Automotive, Home Decor, Pharmacy, Electronics, Pets and more…
Where Are they Today… With over 190 stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, our company continues to handle our business based on the simple philosophy that lead Hendrik to start this business in the first place, “…take care of your customers, team members, and community… and all of those will take care of you, just like a family.” Here at Meijer, we aren’t just about business… we are family; having been family-owned for 75 years, our commitment to higher standards and lower prices comes from our family to yours.  – from the Corporate WebPages of Meijers Stores.

Now Meijers is proposing to build it’s first store in the Milwaukee area, right here in Franklin.

According to Alderman Steve Olson who is the First District Alderman, Meijers is proposing to build there first store at the corner of Hwy. 100 and Loomis road commonly refer to as the Crossroads, Meijer  will be holding a public information meeting next THURSDAY evening. This meeting will be  in the Community room at Franklin City Hallnt they plan to present their plans for a proposed grocery/department store.

The current plan is to hold an open house format from 5:00pm to 8:00pm allowing citizens and interested parties the opportunity to view the plans, meet representatives from Meijer and their architects, ask questions and voice their comments.

They also plan to hold a short presentation of the project at 6:30pm.

This is one of the first positive steps that is being taken to build taxable property that resides in the Franklin School District and improve what is considered a blighted area.

This will NOT be an official city meeting it is an opportunity for the community to meet representatives of what we hope will be one of our new community businesses.

 

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Who is Going to Replace Alderman Ken Skowronski on the Planning Commission?

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At Tuesday nights Common Council meeting (May 1st) it would normally have been a walk in the park appointment for Alderman Ken Skowronski to the Franklin Planning Commission for he umpteenth time.

But no … This is Franklin and Mayor Tom Taylor may be slowly losing his political power on the Franklin Common Council.

Instead on a 3-2-1 vote Ken Skowronski was NOT reappointed to the plan commission on the Mayors recommendation. The vote was Alderman Steve Olson and Alderwoman Kristen Wilhelm voting no, AlderVisor Steve Taylor abstained. Alderman Ken Skowronski, Doug Schmidt and Tim Solomon all voted YES.

Since appointments require 4 affirmative votes and with AlderVisor Steve Taylor’s abstention the Mayor was unable to break the tie.

As I well know, Council rules say that all non-reappointed members terms automatically expire 60 days after their scheduled expiration. This would give Mayor Taylor the time to appoint someone new.

In a later appointment to the Zoning Commission another Mayoral appointee went down the tubes for the lack of a second to the motion to appoint the Mayors appointee.

Who will the Mayor appoint now?

 

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Not So Fast Steve Taylor!

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Life continues to be a challenge for Franklin Alderman Steve Taylor and today he is awaiting his coronation as the new Milwaukee County Supervisor of the 9th District. Taylor is replacing a current “do nothing, inaccessible” County Supervisor so you would think he has free sailing, at least for a little while. Not so fast AlderVisor Steve (sorry, I borrowed this new title for our man from Franklin from a FranklinNow commenter Rachel Ann) as it looks like he is being assaulted on several fronts.

Over the past several days, FranklinNow blogger Kevin Fischer has pointed out the highlights found on  Milwaukee airwaves, with conservative talk show host Mark Belling’s criticism of the soon to be AlderVisor. Fischer wrote how Belling questions Steve Taylor’s presumed conservative stances on  three blogs. In these blogs Fischer is calling into question Taylor’s actual intentions on one of his first votes as a Supervisor for the new County Supervisor Chairmanship. Belling states, Taylor has committed himself to voting for liberal Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic.

Mark Belling on Franklin’s Steve Taylor: An “obnoxious sellout to conservatives” – (3/12/2012) FranklinNOW

UPDATE: Mark Belling on Franklin’s Steve Taylor: An “obnoxious sellout to conservatives” – (3/13/2012) FranklinNOW

What does Steve Taylor do now? – (3/14/2012) FranklinNOW

Top this all off with what is coming up at the next Common Council meeting on Tuesday April 17 at 6:30pm.

Here are two of the Council Agenda Items that will discussed at the meeting on Tuesday night:

Mayor Tom Taylor has requested that the City Attorney address the two following questions:

1) Can a Milwaukee County Supervisor at the same time hold the position of Alderman in the City of Franklin?

2) Can a Milwaukee County Supervisor at the same time hold the position of Acting Mayor in the City of Franklin?

Next item up for Council Action has been a request to act on the following Advisory Referendums that passed in the April 3, 2012 election in the City of Franklin.

With 7,453 total ballots cast, the Franklin Board of Canvassers certified the following results:

Question 1: Do you support compensating the position of Milwaukee County Supervisor at a level that reflects the position being considered part-time in nature?

Yes  - 5,542      No – 1,089

Question 2: Shall the size of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors be reduced from the current number of eighteen (18) supervisors to nine (9) supervisors?

Yes – 5,830     No – 856

 So folks given that none of the Alderman or the Mayor supported Steve Taylor in his run for County Supervisor, it sort of goes without saying that they may be looking to wiping Steve Taylors sh*t eating grin off his face. He is going into a den of “seasoned” politicians who love to wipe their posteriors with the likes of Taylor. I really look forward to his close knit relationship he has developed over time with County Supervisor John Weishan of the 16th District. I am sure there will be snickering by his fellow Supervisors when he brings up his memorable days as Alderperson in the La Crosse or as the President of the Goosetown Neighborhood Association.

But I am sure the AlderVisor (thanks Rachel Ann) will be telling the Common Council that he can juggle Alderman, CCP, and Insurance Salesman for CountryFried.

Will Steve be Restrained at Meetings?

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