After 2 years of complaining and court battles, the people fighting the Millers Bay pier may have another swing with the ax. According to the ONW, Jessica King is bringing it back for consideration. Just 6 weeks before they planned to put in the pier, it could be reversed in an unprecedented way. King argues that the "community members didn't have enough time to bring their concerns about the pier forward two years ago when it was approved". Never mind that they have been trying to convince them ever since that they shouldn't have to look out at that pier from their homes. Someone should tell them that they didn't buy waterfront property. The city did and that is what they have chosen to do with it.
I haven't always agreed with the installation of a pier that was promoted for the young and disabled of the community yet no provisions have been taken in the way of handicap accessibility. All it would take is for someone to make an ADA complaint and the city would be forced to comply and install bathrooms, handicap parking, and other provisions required by ADA laws. Having the pier would be great. It would allow for better fishing in the bay for children in that community.
It is not surprising to see this again. I just would have thought it would have come earlier than this. Ms. King has been on the council for 6 months and she waited until now to put it on the agenda. I would hope that this isn't a last ditch effort by that neighborhood to stop this. If it is, Ms. King has been duped. And if so, I would hope that the rest of the council would see through it and prevent the reversal of the previous council.
What do you think should happen? Did the neighborhood get hosed? Should the pier be stopped? Should the city change the methods used to accept donations?
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16 comments:
Shame on Jessica King!
The proposal was voted on by the council within 24 hours of the parks board approving it, as I remember.
At the time, was that legal or was that not legal?
If it was legal, it was legal. The citizens who are opposed lost. Citizens also then had their chances with the DNR and the legal system, and they lost there also. Get on with building the pier already!
If it was legal, and we re-visit it more than 2 years later, what kind of precedent are we setting? What if the pier were built already? What if something else controversial were built, would it also be OK to bring it up again 2 years later?
If it was illegal, it should have been brought back up a long time ago. If it was illegal, bring it up, vote on it, and either build the stupid pier in November or don't build it, but let's get on with it already!
Moving on to the ADA requirements:
Kent, have you ever actually read the ADA requirements, or are you just repeating what you've heard? Because, you're wrong.
Nowhere in the ADA code does it say "if you build a fishing pier you must make it ADA accessible". Nowhere.
What it says is, interpretted, if fishing is allowed in the park, handicapped individuals must have access to fishing. Period. They don't have to have 100% access everywhere. Use your head, would that be practical everywhere? Of course not. There are places in Menominee Park where people can fish, which are ADA compliant, they can fish there. Case dismissed.
If I hear one more opponent of the pier talk about the "pristine condition of the bay", I might go postal. The point or breakwater on the north side of the bay is not natural, it is manmade. The water treatment basin in the center of the bay is not natural, it is manmade. The riprapped shoreline of Millers Bay is not natural, it is manmade. There is also non-natural dredging that has occured in the bay. None of it is natural or pristine. It's essentially a man-made bay, which man now wants to put a pier in.
If the pier is built, within 2 years the residents who are opposed to it now won't even know it is there.
8:10. I have to agree. I voted for her because I felt she was level headed. Bringing this up again after this has been put to rest 2 1/2 years ago is just stupid!
I'll never vote for her again.
From the WOSH news guy-
The Oshkosh Common Council will take another vote on whether to approve the installation of a fishing pier in Miller's Bay. If you've been paying attention, this vote comes two years after the council gave initial approval to the donation from the Otter Street
Fishing Club. Councillor Jessica King is asking that the issue come back--feeling the council made a mistake in how it handled the vote.
If we are going backwards to overturn Council decisions from the past--can I suggest a few others to correct? How about we go back to 2002 and change the deal with the developers of the 100-block project to make them "pay as they go" with TIF district money for the project? And I don't think everyone had their fair say on the yard waste permit requirement.
And since we are scrutinizing donations to the city, let's re-examine the municipal cost for the Pollack Water Park--which hasn't broken even yet--and the Leach Amphitheater--which is a losing proposition for promoter PMI and hasn't been used for nearly the number of items supporters said it would.
The fishing club has won a court battle and DNR approval for their project--and at each of those steps opponents of the project had more than their fair say. How many times can the same issues come back to the Council or the courts before victory (or concession) is declared?
If the fishing pier becomes the nuisance opponents believe it will, it can easily be removed and the park goes back to what it was before. If it becomes a big success, then it's another community asset and everybody wins. But the club has won the right to put it in and someone has to step in and put an end to the fight.
Posted by Jonathan Krause at 3:36 AM
Jessica King to challenge Roessler for State Senate seat
Monday, October 22, 2007
by Babblemur
Jessica King (D-Oshkosh) has announced that she is running against incumbent State Senator Carol Roessler (R-”Oshkosh”) to represent State Senate district 18 (Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Omro, Waupun). Carol Roessler was unopposed in 2004, and has come under increasing criticism particularly from supporters of the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill. Rumors that Roessler won’t run for re-election have remained just that - rumors.
Jessica King, who was elected to the Oshkosh Common Council this last April after finishing third in a six way contest, was being introduced as a candidate by former attorney general Peg Lautenschlager this weekend at the JFK Dinner in Fond du Lac. The Fox Valley had been a Republican stronghold for many years until Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) took the State Assembly district 54 in 2006. The other two assembly districts in Roessler’s senate district are held by “the Queen of Mean” Carol Owens (R-rural Oshkosh) AD53 and John Townsend (R-Fond du Lac) AD52.
Roessler has to be considered the favorite in this race given the demographics, but expect Democrats to line up behind Jessica King and make this race close. If the Hintz-Pung Leschke race last year is any indication this could be an expensive race for the area. Area Democrats have the potential to make this a key race in 2008.
Doesn't the council have better things to discuss???
Bring back the cottonwood tree issue. Look at the mess they are making on city streets and yards.
Bringing this up again after all the time passed is JUST PLAIN STUPID!
Will she bring back the River Mill
sidewalk issue next summer??
Can they reconsider firing Wollangk and fix that mistake??
Where is the common sense here??
Like MR. Bender says this city is being run by too many "educated idots".... no common sense.
I'll never vote for her again.
I voted for King for council.
I will not vote for her for council or for anything else in the future.
Her liberal, tree-hugging, socialist ways were masked well during the campaign for council. Now that I've seen her true colors, enough is enough. I'll bet I'm not the only one who feels that way.
If the pier is built, within 2 years the residents who are opposed to it now won't even know it is there...
unlike the neighbors around the sports complex...who have daily reminders from echoing concert-like noise morning,noon,or late night.
Jessica could you please revise the plan for donations to build or expand a stadium in the middle of a neighborhood?
If that's to much to ask could you at least get UWO to honor the city nuisance and noise codes?
EQUAL REPRESENTATION Thank You
"Her liberal, tree-hugging, socialist ways were masked well during the campaign for council. Now that I've seen her true colors, enough is enough. I'll bet I'm not the only one who feels that way."
As a liberal tree-hugging socialist myself I beg to differ on your opinion of King. She is an establishment chamber of commerce political moderate who won't be getting the socialist vote anytime soon. Don't forget her staunch defense of the man that outsourced the manufacturing jobs from Oshkosh to Guatamala - a slap in the face of labor.
3 Words: Plan Commision Approval.
I'm surprised that the NIMBY River Mill gang wasn't at the council meeting last night holding hands with the Menominee Park residents.
The River Mill gang could have consoled the Menominee Park gang by saying "we understand, we have those nasty piers by us too. We want Fratello's to take them out."
The Menominee Park gang could have returned the favor by saying, "we understand you not wanting sidewalks; heck, we even have an extra sidewalk called a trail in front of our homes."
They could have all scolded the council, told the audience that they were more important than the other parts of town, and stormed out of the meeting.
It just would be interesting to see where they would have gone after the meeting; down to River Mill for a couple drinky poos to drown their sorrows, or over to Menominee Park to take a long walk off a short pier.
The community has far more pressing issues to discuss and solve(hiring of city manager and attorney, and of course the budget etc.)
These decisions should benefit the entire community; not the special interests of a few. Councilors need to find a way to unite not decide this community. I see this council more interesed in individual debates rather than uniting as a team.
6:00. You are right, councilors should decide this community.
Expecting the city of Oshkosh to have a gifts and donation policy is not unreasonable and having one in place may have prevented the fiasco that occurred when the pier was first accepted and approved. Schools, libraries and other public entities have policies about how to proceed with gifts and donations and Oshkosh needs to put one in place soon so that groups who wish to make a generous donation have clear guidelines on how to do it.
There is a board that reviews gifts to the city. It's called the City Council.
There should be a board that has to review the whiners from the Menominee Park/River Mill neighborhoods.
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