I've just recently added the capability for you to subscribe to an RSS feed of the content here at NeenahPolitics.com. This post contains simple instructions on how to subscribe based on the browser you use.

First of all, there's a link to click (isn't there always?). The RSS feed link is represented by one of these two icons:

You'll see the small icon in the "Archives" box or the "Blogs" box. You'll see the large icon on the Home page above the top-most entry. So click that first. Read More »

The excitement caused by the chicken ordinance way overshadowed the other items on the agenda of both the special Common Council meeting and the Public Services & Safety Committee meeting.

I have to acknowledge a correction to an assumption or two I made.  The special Council meeting dealt, in part, with the revised parking lease with Alta Resources.  It was true, as the City Attorney admitted, that he and his staff had overlooked the clause in the contract that required approval by Alta before any other business was given a shot at renting a block of parking spaces.  But I was mistaken in saying that Alta asked for and received additional concessions.  City Attorney Godlewski very specifically stated that Alta Resources has been a fabulous corporate citizen and very cooperative in the parking lot negotiations with Plexus.  He even pointed out that though Alta has about 700+ employees, they're getting by with only 500 s ... Read More »

I attended the meeting tonight and recorded the entire proceedings.  The most interesting part -- the part that Duke Behnke of the Appleton Post-Crescent came for -- was the public forum during which anyone can speak relating to topics that come before the committee.

Please note: the transcriptions below contain foul language.  Mrs. Crane claimed that she quoted Mr. Rocke.  You have been warned.

The quiet and dignified Mr. Crane was the first to speak during the public forum section of the meeting:

My name is Bill Crane and I live at 501 E. Wisconsin Avenue. I'd like to make a few comments about the rooster ordinance or chicken ordinance and some of the things that have led up to this.

I'm very sorry that this whole thing has come to this...required this much attention. I think it's rather ridiculous.

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As a candidate for alderman, I receive all the information that the current Council members receive every Friday.  An officer of the Neenah Police Department comes to my door and hand-delivers the weekly packet.

Today I received two supplementary packets relating to a special Council meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 27th, at 6:30pm, just before the regularly scheduled Public Services & Safety Committee meeting.

There are two items on the agenda:

1. Consideration of CDA recommendation regarding amendment to Alta Realty, LLC Parking Lease for the Church Street Parking Ramp

Cancellations first: the Neenah Plan Commission meeting that was to have been held at it's regularly scheduled time on Tuesday, Jan. 27th, has been cancelled.

Also the Finance and Personnel Committee meeting scheduled for Monday, Jan. 26th, has been cancelled.

The Neenah Community Development Authority meets Monday, Jan. 26th, at 4:00 at City Hall.

One item on the agenda re-opens an issue that has rubbed some people the wrong way.  That is: parking.  Specifically, parking in the Church St. parking ramp behind the new Alta Resources building. 

When that ramp was built along with the Alta building, a reserved parking stall rental agreement was reached. In that agreement, Alta pays the city $5 a month for each of 510 parking stalls.  That rate holds good for 20 years.

Now the ... Read More »

The Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation (WisDOT) has posted a PDF of the proposed interchange at Breezewood and Hwy 41 in Neenah.  One odd thing about it is that it's formatted for an 8½" x 11" sheet.  If you were to print out the PDF as I did you'd find that the text is too tiny to read.

Fortunately a PDF is a vector drawing; that is, it can be enlarged from within the Adobe Acrobat reader to display the zoomed-in details.  I did that and then took some screen shots and "stitched" them together to form a decent blow-up of the engineering drawings.

I've made a JPEG available <here>.  It's about  1.5 megabytes in size and makes an image that is 1236 x 2350 pixels.

The reason I was curious about it was that I knew that the WisDOT had decided to re ... Read More »

The big attraction was the meeting of the Committee of the Whole from 6:10pm to 7:38pm.  The single agenda item:

Consideration of the Green Bay Road/Winneconne Avenue traffic improvement projects.

The meeting featured soft-spoken Deputy Director of Public Works, Gerry Kaiser at the podium explaining the multiple options the city has with respect to the construction of new intersections in the Shopko Plaza/Fox Point Plaza area.  There are multiple options because the rebuilding of the Breezewood interchange by the state of Wisconsin factors prominently in the city's plans.

Here are the four options as presented by Kaiser:

Option 1: City and WisDOT keep current schedule*
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6 meetings in one day! By Steve Erbach on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 11:00 PM This was the meeting gauntlet I traversed in a single day today, Wednesday, January 21st: 7:00am - Business Improvement District (BID) Board 4:00pm - Community Development Authority (CDA) 5:45pm - Finance & Personnel Committee 6:00pm - Committee of the Whole (Neenah City Council members) 6:50pm - Board of Public Works 7:00pm - Neenah Common Council I feared that the total meeting time would approach 6 hours, but, mercifully, it was closer to 3 hours and 45 minutes. This report will focus on the first three meetings; tomorrow I'll report on the final three. Read More » Comments (0)

Looking ahead to April By Steve Erbach on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 6:07 AM From the News Record of January 14, the only printed announcement I've seen of the candidates for the Neenah 3rd Aldermanic District: Neenah Aldermanic District 3 Steve Erbach, 1017 Babcock St. Tim Hamblin, 1025 Westwind Drive Incumbent Bruce Rhoades did not seek re-election. You may have heard of Mr. Hamblin.  If you drive west over the new double S-curve viaduct on Cecil Street you'll see a small sign off to the right that says "Timothy Hamblin Bridge".  Mr. Hamblin is the former Neenah Public Works director, and that's his first "yard sign"! Read More » Comments (0)

When I spoke to the Sustainability Committee By Steve Erbach on Monday, January 19, 2009 5:59 AM I've posted the audio of last Wednesday's Sustainability Committee meeting <here>. In case you haven't had a chance to listen to it, here is the presentation I made during the public forum segment of the meeting: I've been interested in coming to the meetings for some time but I kind of put it off because of other things; but I saw an article on-line today having to do with Madison that kind of pushed me over and I decided to come to the meeting.  I called up Marge [Bates] to be sure it was being held because I hadn't seen an agenda on-line. The article I saw dealt with the Madison, WI, zoning ordinanace possibilities.  There was a meeting agenda; the title is "Public Meeting: Sustainability in Zoning Code". It was a Wednesday meeting in December; so I saw a news article, it's over a month old, but it's kind of ... Read More » Comments (0)

What's coming up in Neenah the week of Jan. 18-24 By Steve Erbach on Saturday, January 17, 2009 6:58 AM The theme is a familiar one: The economic condition and the potential for state budget cuts that may impact municipalities requires us to look once more at every project and piece of equipment to determine if it can be deferred. That's Mayor George Sherck in a memo to the Council members.  It's a familiar theme but a prudent one. Neenah is in good financial shape compared to other cities around the state and compared to the state of Wisconsin itself. Things you may be interested in Lots happening on Wednesday, January 21st.  There are solid meetings at City Hall from 4:00pm onwards. The Community Development Authority meets at 4:00 in the Hauser Room. It will feature a "Public Hearing to consider expansion of the boundaries of Redevelopment Area No. 2-Downtown Gateway, and the assoc ... Read More » Comments (0)

What I had to say about the chicken ordinance By Steve Erbach on Friday, January 16, 2009 6:00 AM I wrote the following on December 4th on Jonathan Krause's blog.  Krause is the news director for WOSH/WVBO radio in Oshkosh, my preferred morning local news stations.  I wrote it in response to a paragraph from that day's blog: In a totally unrelated matter, the Neenah City Council is unable to come to an agreement on whether to ban roosters within the city limits. What century are we in? Roosters and chickens in the city? I love fresh milk and beef, should I be allowed to have cows and cattle in my backyard? We have an area set aside for ownership of livestock--it's called "the country". I'm guessing the chicken owners wouldn't be so adamant about their "right" to raise poultry inside the city limits if the Council voted to allow a pig farming operation on the property next to them. < ... Read More » Comments (0)

January 14th Sustainable Neenah meeting By Steve Erbach on Thursday, January 15, 2009 6:02 AM Here's the Windows Media audio of the meeting. Comments (0)

January 13th Public Services & Saftety Committee Meeting By Steve Erbach on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 6:31 AM Here is the Windows Media audio for the meeting. In the Public Forum section I spoke out about the chicken coop "thing": I just want to make a comment about this chicken coop thing, since that has been put back into committee.  It occurred to me that...might it not be a good time to terminate the allowance of chicken coops in the city altogether.  Yes, you have to grandfather in the existing ones; but just end it, rather than try to amend it with all the sensibilities in mind simultaneously and come to ... well, somebody's going to be unhappy, particularly with the current situation.  Might it not be time to just terminate it? More on the chicken coop "thing" here. Read More » Comments (0)

The Nuts & Bolts of Local Politics Meeting By Steve Erbach on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 3:55 AM Last week Thursday I was part of a small panel of current and former city, county, and state-level officials.  We were the featured speakers at the transmogrified Ron Paul Meetup group's January 8th meeting at the Appleton Public Library. (The APL has excellent meeting facilities, by the way.  Top notch.) Here is a link to the Windows Media audio of the event. This was a very fun event; I hope as much for the people attending as it was for the presenters. Comments (0)

Upon encountering Mises' Socialism By Steve Erbach on Monday, January 12, 2009 7:52 PM I've been slowly reading Socialism by Ludwig von Mises.  It's a marvelous book, albeit dense with philosophy and logical inferences and induction.  I'm into its third chapter, "The Social Order and the Political Constitution". In this chapter Mises examines the great advantages that democracy and (classical) liberalism bring to social order; namely, that they collaborate and cooperate to bring peace: [Classical] Liberalism, recognizing that the attainment of the economic aims of man presupposes peace, and seeking therefore to eliminate all causes of strife at home or in foreign politics, desires democracy. The violence of war and revolutions is always an evil to (classical) liberal eyes, an evil which cannot always be avoided as long as man lacks democracy. (I've a ... Read More » Comments (0)

What happened with the NVM ordinance? By Steve Erbach on Friday, October 03, 2008 6:03 AM The proposed ordinance to regulate newspaper vending machines (NVM) in Neenah was passed last night on a 6-3 vote.  The separate ordinance establishing a permit fee for NVM's also passed on a 6-3 vote.  On the way to those votes, however, there were five motions to amend or delay adoption of one or the other of the ordinances.  There was also some assistance in our glorious cause from an unexpected quarter on the Council.  The whole debate lasted for over half an hour. Combined with the 18 minutes for presentations during the  Public Forum, the NVM ordinances took up 50 of the 90 minutes of the Council meeting. There were three Public Forum presentations.  The first was made by the owner of The Scene magazine, Jim Moran of Neenah (http://scenenewspaper.com/home.html).  I'd never met the man, but he sat a few seats away from my wife and me.  He was accompanied by a ... Read More » Comments (0)

The Ultimate Speech By Steve Erbach on Friday, October 03, 2008 5:59 AM In a separate posting I'll give a report of what happened with the newspaper vending machine ordinance.  Here's the text of my speech: I'd like to clear the air about things that were said at last week's Public Services and Safety Committee meeting.  Both Mayor Scherck and Council President Stevenson were absolutely right: That the people responsible for the newspaper vending machines in downtown Neenah have in large part fallen down on the job. They're not properly maintaining their boxes, especially in the winter. That the city has a responsibility to maintain the public right-of-way. That store owners are entitled to expect a clear path to their doors from that public right-of-way. And that the city has the right and the responsibility to step in -- even with a new ordinance -- when people don't pay attention to THEIR responsibilities. ... Read More » Comments (0)

The whole megilah so far on the NVM mess By Steve Erbach on Monday, September 29, 2008 6:45 PM The story that started it all: Appleton Post-Crescent - August 5, 2008 Neenah seeks to regulate newspaper vending machines Rule would add $25 permit, limit location and size By Duke Behnke Post-Crescent staff writer NEENAH — City planners have introduced an ordinance to restrict the placement, style, size and color of newspaper vending machines along Neenah ... Read More » Comments (0)

The Penultimate Speech By Steve Erbach on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 8:39 AM I've been "invested" -- to use Council President Todd Stevenson's term -- in the fight against the proposed newspaper vending machine ordinance since August 5th when I first found out about it. (The text of my speech to the Common Council on August 6th can be found here and the audio here.) I'm only going to post the speech I made last night, September 23rd, at the Public Services and Safety Committee meeting, as well as the rebuttals by Mayor George Scherck and Stevenson. Commentary will come later after I've slept off the cold I have right now. First, my speech. This was given before the PS&SC. In the audience were three members of the Neenah Business Improvement District who all were "i ... Read More » Comments (0)

Audio of my August 20th speech before the Neenah Council By Steve Erbach on Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:20 PM http://www.swerbach.com/Speech/Neenah_Council_Speech_Ord1374_0820.wma Comments (0)

My 2nd speech before the Neenah City Council By Steve Erbach on Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:17 PM This speech was delivered at the August 20th Neenah City Council meeting.  I had intended to speak at the Public Services and Safety Committee meeting on August 9th, but that meeting was canceled: In the rush to throw myself in front of the bus of the August 6th Council vote on Ordinance 1374, I didn't fact check adequately...meaning: I was wrong.  Two facts would have been apparent if, given time, I'd questioned the proper people: 1) The permit mentioned in Ordinance 1374 would NOT be subject to approval by the Council.  To acquire a permit for a newspaper vending machine the vendor would go through a process similar to acquiring a building permit.  That's according to Community Development Director Buckingham. 2) The manufacturer of newspaper vending machines mentioned in the ordinance is not intended to be the sole provider.  ... Read More » Comments (0)

Audio of my speech By Steve Erbach on Sunday, August 17, 2008 7:26 PM I went to the Neenah City Council web site to view the video of the August 6th Council meeting.  I'm there all right, all 13-1/2 minutes...but it's a puppet show, a pantomime.  The video engineer didn't have the public microphone patched into his board, and all the mikes on the Council members were noise-canceling. Be that as it may, here's the audio of my presentation that evening caputred on an Olympus DS-30 right at the podium: http://www.swerbach.com/speech/NeenahCouncil_6_Aug_2008.wma Windows Media format.   Comments (0)

My speech before the Neenah Council By Steve Erbach on Wednesday, August 06, 2008 9:56 PM My name is Steve Erbach and I live at 1017 Babcock St. I'd like to begin by expressing thanks to the crews that repaved Cecil Street. There was very little disruption or re-routing - just a couple of days of driving over the ground-down pavement before it was re-surfaced. But when those guys were ready to pour the asphalt they did it in one day…and it's beautiful. Thank you. The thing I'd really like to talk about though, is proposed city ordinance number 1374. I'm here to speak in opposition to it. First, in the interests of FULL DISCLOSURE: My only association with newspapers is as a regular correspondent for the Appleton Post-Crescent. I am not paid for my submissions. I do not own any of the publications that place vending machines. I am not employed by any of them either. I don't even have subscriptions to any of them, though I think The Scene is a dandy alternative paper... ... Read More » Comments (0)

Post-election musings By Steve Erbach on Saturday, April 14, 2007 3:40 PM There's nothing like experience.  I'm not sure if a political science degree would prepare someone for running for local office.  I suspect that it wouldn't. Mistakes I made that I won't make again: Doing it all by myself.  That isn't strictly true: my wife, Janet, designed spiffy yard signs for me, helped me assemble the newspaper ad, and helped me with the two mailings I did.  And, of course, there were my 8 campaign contributors, and the people that took a bunch of my yard signs to put up.  Those people include: Patricia Wirth, Geriann and Joe Heath, Vicky Head, and Dan Dringoli.  (Yes, that Dan Dringoli.)  But as far as creating and printing the hundreds of handouts, printing and addressing the personalized mailings, and doing the actual door-to-door work, I did that alone.  It was very satisfying but not nearly as satisfying as it could ha ... Read More » Comments (0)

Correspondence with a constituent, II By Steve Erbach on Saturday, April 14, 2007 2:44 PM This next email came directly after the Council meeting during which Capt. Long used the phrase, "Bring it on!" in reference to the potential additional investigation of the police department's management policies with respect to l'affaire Dringoli. Capt. Long is right in his "bring it on" comment. What professional would say that to his/her governing body? His attitude was very professional before the council. Do you like my humor? Sounds like another politician who said the same thing. I could not disagree with him more. The police department needs an overhaul front the top down. Citizens are fearful of speaking in public just because of what you saw at the council meeting. I have seen and heard enough. RW Neenah, Wis. I reacted fairly strongly to this email: Dear Mr. _____, No, I don't like your humor, mainly because you're ... Read More » Comments (0)

Correspondence with a constituent, I By Steve Erbach on Saturday, April 14, 2007 2:28 PM Just before the April 3rd election I finally managed to put a few web pages together containing my thoughts about a few issues facing the city.  I dovetailed that web site with a reminder mailing that went out four days before the election.  In the mailing I invited people to email me with any questions. Well, here's the first one and my response. Dear Steve, I received your request to vote for you.  I read your views on the police dept.  Why  should I vote for you? The council [which you are a part of] and mayor have limited influence on the police dept..  Come on.  If the council and mayor had wanted to use their influence on the police and fire commission they [police and fire commission] would have acted as soon as the police study was completed.  I heard Todd Stevenson at a council meeting say that if changes were needed in the police dept., t ... Read More » Comments (0)