I have said it many times before, if I had chosen where I lived in Franklin by the person who would represent me at Franklin’s City Hall, it would have been in Alderman Steve Olson’s district. Olson who has been Franklin’s 1st district alderman for the past several terms has made the decision to not to run again for another 3 year term.
There are four residents who have chosen to run for 1s District Alderman, but only one shows the true qualifications to take Franklin’s never-ending issues, head on, to getting us back on track, just as Alderman Olson has in the past. That person is Mark Dandrea.
Dandrea, a long time resident of Franklin and the 1st District, is being endorsed whole heartedly by Alderman Steve Olson. I think that speaks volumes to the 1st district residents who in past elections voted for Olson in complete confidence.
I feel I should pass along Marks recent endorsement for your consideration as 1st District residents go to vote at City Hall on Tuesday, February 19th. I like many others who support Mark, hope the District 1 residents vote for Mark, putting him one step closer to giving us an equally qualified Alderman who will help Franklin actually move Forward.
Alderman Steve Olson’s ENDORSEMENT:
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 Todaystating 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:
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!
Just to let you know how left leaning Greg Kowalski, the 26 year old live at home candidate for Franklin’s 1st Aldermanic district feels about Governor Scott Walker, I want to share with you a blog he wrote for the election back in 2010. Kowalski is the ebay, beanie baby entrepreneur who ran unsuccessfully last election against the incumbent Steve Olson. Kowalski states on his bio that he has been working on his 2 year, associate of business degree from MATC since graduation from Franklin High School in 2005. What you may not see is that he lives at home with his mother, step-father and sisters running his entrepreneurial G&C Collectibles.
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’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.
Please help the Franklin Police find this gentleman:
We are searching for a missing 81 year male, Eugene T. Comiskey of 7716 Maple Ridge Ct. Last seen around 5PM yesterday in the area of S. 76th & W. Terrace Dr. He is 6 ft, 195 lbs, gray hair, green eyes wearing /glasses, maroon long sleeve shirt & khaki pants.
If you see Mr. Comiskey please call the Franklin Police Department at 425-2522 or 911.
Thanks.
Ald. Olson
UPDATE 3/16: I didn’t get home from picking up my daughter from UW- Whitewater until late last night so this is the first chance I had to update this notice. Thanks to Aimee Schlueter (911 dispatcher and candidate for FPS Board of Education) for commenting that Mr. Comiskey had been found. I was also pleasantly surprised to get the message that Mr. Comiskey was found from the City of Franklin Emergency Notification System which sent my cell phone the message that he had been found. Earlier in the day, the Notification System sent the message Mr. Comiskey was missing to all Franklin Residents that had subscribed to Emergency text notifications from the City of Franklin Emergency Notification System. As I have noted before the notification system can do much more that the outdated Tornado Sirensystem we paid $150,000 for last year and for considerably less cost.
….. So to speak. I am of course referring to the Concealed Carry Ordinance, Mayor Taylor proposed at the October 18th meeting of the Common Council which he did not attend.
None of the Aldermen in attendance committed to both parts of the ordinance that would have in one part make the carrying of a concealed weapon a ticketable offense vs a forfeiture crime. A forfeiture crime would require a civil lawsuit instead of allowing law enforcement being able to ticket someone breaking the new law.
The second part would of made City Hall, the Library and other city buildings a posted area that would prohibit a permit holder to carry their weapon in the specified city buildings.
Please enjoy the five parts (it took over 40 minutes) of the Common Council discussing the proposed Mayor Tom Taylor ordinance. Please also note, that even Chief Oliva is not really on board with the Mayor’s Ordinance to push to prohibit, concealed carry permit holders from being able to carry in the city buildings.
The Franklin Common Council Committee of the Whole is scheduled to take this ordinance up again on October 31st and vote on it on November 1st Common Council meeting.
Even the Mayor had to step in to break up the fight that you will hear this at the end of the sound clip. You may have to turn up your volume as their are issues with the audio from the City of Franklin’s Website. Alderman Steve Taylor and his anger manangement issues are the highlight of Franklin politics again. The Common Council spent almost a half hour arguing about the how, what and who is excused from a Common Council meeting and then tabled it. This is the THIRD time they have spent time over this subject. They are almost as disfunctional as the President of Franklin Public School Board.
Contact Mayor Taylor and tell him that “Yes you as a tax payer do not tollerate this kind of behavior from our Council President”.
……. and he showed that he is at the August 16th Common Council meeting.
During the attendance being taken by City Clerk Sandy Wesolowski, Sandy stated the Alderman Steve Olson had contacted her and that Alderman Olson would not be able to attend the Tuesday meeting. Sandy had also forwarded the e-mail on to the Mayor.
Alderman Ken Skowronski in a kindergarten style tantrum demanded, for what reason and refused to let the issue lie. The Mayor said it was up to the council to excuse Olson so Alderwoman Wilhelm said as far as she is concerned, he is excused. Still not good enough for Skowronski he continued to pursue it. Of course Alderman Steve Taylor could not keep quiet and just had to say ” at least it is better than what he did the last time”.
Here are the emails that were sent afterwards, with Sandy Wesolowski explaining to council members that for security reasons, she does not publicly state if a Council member “is out of town”—for security reasons (That usually means your house is empty or someone else is home alone…). Sandy further states she does this to protect the Alderman’s residents and their spouse while they may be out of town for the meeting.
You may remember some years ago that former Mayor Fred Klimetz received threatening phone calls at his home from a Franklin city resident while he was away.
Here is the letter from City Clerk Sandy Wesolowski to the Mayor and Alderman after the August 16th council meeting:
From: Sandi Wesolowski [mailto:SWesolowski@franklinwi.gov] Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 4:42 PM To: Alderman Cc: Tom Taylor Subject: FW: Council Meeting, 8/16/11
In answer to Ald. Skowronski’s questions at the 8/16/11 meeting as to WHERE Ald. Olson was, he did inform me last week that he will be out of town (as you can see from the first email on this chain). As my own practice that I have always tried to follow in the past, at a public meeting, I usually do not like to state when someone “is out of town”—for security reasons. (That usually means your house is empty or someone else is home alone…)
Any questions or comments, please let me know (do not reply to all).
Sandi
Here is the response from Alderman Steve Olson after it came to his attention:
From: steve-olson@wi.rr.com [mailto:steve-olson@wi.rr.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:38 PM To: SWesolowski@franklinwi.gov; Alderman@franklinwi.gov Cc: tom2563@att.net Subject: RE: Council Meeting, 8/16/11
Ladies and Gentlemen:
After I received this e-mail I made it a point to listen to the recording of last evening’s meeting.
I can only assume that Ald. Skowronski’s inquiry of WHY I was not in attendance was in heartfelt concern for my well being and an abundance of worry. To believe in any other motivation would mean that the question came from arrogance, anger, a need to pick a fight or some other nefarious reason.
Let me be clear (again). I do NOT report to any of you. Not the mayor, not the council president or any other alderman. My reasons for not being at the meeting are mine and mine alone. No one has the privilege of asking WHY I was not at the meeting unless they are a resident of the 1st Aldermanic District. The fact that I chose to let the Director of Clerk Services know that I would not be in attendance was and is a courtesy, extended out of respect for the body.
Let me also be clear. There is no ordinance in place that gives permission or assigns the duty of “excusing” anyone on any board or commission or the council from anything. To think that a peer would have such authority shows just how self important our Council has gotten.
