Saturday, April 21, 2007

Welcome to our new leaders

I would like to take a minute to welcome our newest (and returning) council members.

We got to see Tony Palmeri and Jessica King take a seat on the council this week. Along with them, we welcomed back Bryan Bain and after a year of "vacation" we welcome back Frank Tower as our newest Mayor. Congratulations to all.

Now it is time to get down to business. I am making a public plea to the City Council that I will also include in an email to each council member. This is something that I feel needs their attention and should be addressed.

To Mayor Tower and Oshkosh Common Council Members,

I would like to address an issue that is evolving within our school district that will have a great influence on city assessments for many years to come. As most of you already know, the school board has approved an open ended scenario 7 to be addressed by the administration. If this scenario is allowed to be brought to completion, it will mean a drastic reduction in property values in many areas throughout the city while stagnating growth on the south/west section of the city. This scenario is NOT a viable option for Oshkosh and should NOT be considered acceptable by this council. I plea with you step in and protect the cities interest in this matter. It will have a lasting negative effect on this city and should not be allowed to be completed. Further scenario discussions should include City Administration to represent the council and homeowners/taxpayers.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Kent Monte

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Scenario 7 Effect on Oshkosh

After weeks of watching from the sidelines and wondering what the School Board was going to do with the district and the scenario plans, I feel that the City is effected by this decision and some of these effects should be pointed out.

Now that Scenario 7 has been approved (although open-ended) it brings with it some serious concerns in regards to property and assessments within the city. I have looked at the map for all of the different grade levels to find that housing that used to be appealing because of the proximity to a school will no longer have that appeal. Prime examples would be Casey Meadows on the west side. The developer of that subdivision got to watch his property values drop off with the approval because even though this subdivision will be directly adjacent to Carl Traeger, NONE of the people buying houses there will be able to send their children to that school. ALL of the new students in that area will be bused to Read and Merrill. Does that sound right? No, and it doesn’t stop there. The entire Westhaven area will be effected because they will no longer be able to walk to Traeger either. That includes the families buying on Woodstock (the street directly to the east of Traeger).

Oshkosh just went through a complete revaluation of properties less than 2 years ago and those values were partially based on proximity to schools. Now those K-3 students in Westhaven will be bused to Shapiro rather than walk out their back door. Even my property will be effected (not my children though as they will all be 4th grade or higher by the time these schools are reconfigured) because K-3 in my neighborhood will be bused to Oakwood rather than be able to walk to Traeger.

With this change and the subsequent drop in property values, will mean less taxes collected throughout the city (Westsiders are not the only ones involved).

Does anyone think that the school district and city administration have discussed this? Not to my knowledge. If they have, it has NOT been discussed by the Council. But it sure should be. This is a large problem brewing and should be addressed before long term changes are made. There are many lives that are affected by a reconfiguration that has not been studied or proven in communities of our size. Sure, it has been done in smaller cities that are about 1/3 the population of Oshkosh, but not in comparable cities. Do we really need to be the “crash test dummies” on this? (I am using that term loosely) Is there a better way? I know that this has been discussed at length on other sites, but I am really concerned that the decision makers are not willing to listen to common sense. They sure were not swayed by anything said at meeting because they labeled the “complainers” as “NIMBY” and just did what they wanted anyway. Perhaps the city should step in and get involved before it is too late.

What do you think? Comments can be left here, or Michelle has started a discussion on her site too. Here is a chance to sound off. Politics are not involved so save your personal attacks for other sites. I will approve any comment on topic whether I agree or not.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

2% Room Tax Proposal

Happy Easter everyone. I have gotten a request for a new thread regarding the new room tax proposal that will be going before the council on Tuesday night for approval (I cannot access the city site to see the agenda when writing this, I will try again later). We have been pretty busy this weekend, I will put something together quickly to allow discussion. This is the last act of 2 council members (Scheuermann will not be present) before the reorganization meeting on the 17th.

As far as the increase in the room tax, I really don't care one way or another. I don't think travelers will either. That 2% will not mean that they will go to Appleton rather than get a room here. 2% is still less than the fuel it would take to drive back and forth for events like Country USA or EAA.

BUT, there are considerations to this for me;
1. The money that is generated from this additional tax should be funneled to our Convention Center.
2. This tax should be reversed as soon as the debt is expired rather than use it for other "improvements" throughout the city.
3. Any local residents that are staying in a room (for various reasons) should not have to pay this additional tax. This could be done by presenting an ID that shows residency. Of course this last one would not be a deal breaker for me, just something that I would like to see.

As I said earlier in the post, this has been a busy weekend for us. I will be checking for posted comments as much as possible over the next couple of days. Please be patient. Thank you.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Election Day Results

Good morning Oshkosh. The final results are in and we have our new (and some old) representatives for the next 2 or 3 years.

In the race for Mayor, it was Frank Tower by less than 300.

In the council race, there was no surprise that Bain, Palmeri, and King would be the top three. Many in the community were not impressed with Scheuermann and it showed by the large margin between her and newly elected King. Scheuermann trailed all night, sometimes in 5th place, before moving ahead of Bob Cornell by a small margin. I was kind of glad to be a spectator during this event as I don't think I could have kept up with the top 3. I still have a problem with the amount of money that some candidates poured into their campaigns. I feel that it is ludicrous to spend more to gain the seat than the salary for BOTH years in the seat. That is what Jessica King did. I guess it worked, she won.

The School Board race was somewhat of a surprise. I have a hard time figuring out the community that will elect (by a larger margin) two candidates from the opposite end of the spectrum. Becker and Bowen aren't even close to being similar. Yet only about a hundred votes separate them. With Michelle taking third, it was nice to see that the voters did like some of what they saw her and didn't let the recount be an issue with Dan.

I don't think things will stop here. Michelle and I will continue to be involved in one form or another. We are not sure what the future holds so I will not speculate to whether either of us will run again in the future. My thoughts turn to next year but with my commitment to the Fox Cities Bowling Association, I will be quite busy next spring handling the State Bowling Tournament in Valley. That would leave very little time to campaign.

Anyway, Congratulations to all the candidates that were successful in their bids for office and a HUGE thank you to everyone else that ran. It is one thing to sit on the sidelines and complain but quite another to put yourself out there for public ridicule. Believe me, I know.

Have a great day, try to stay warm, and if anyone has a sign please call me and I will come and pick it up today.

Thanks again Oshkosh, it has been quite a ride.