Village Spillage

Kevin, I'm not defending anyone here - I'm just stating my opinion and initiating a discussion.

Trustees are elected to run for their positions. I would like to point out that they are only paid $600's annually and that Katie Pritchard is paid only $1,2,000's annually.  With the amount of hours that they work for these positions, (early morning meetings, committees and the board meetings) their job is basically volunteer.

If I remember correctly, and you have pointed this out as well Kevin, we have a hard time finding people to run for these positions.

As frustrating as our Village situation is, we do have to remember that pointing fingers does not solve anything. (I'm not saying you personally are doing that Kevin.  I think you are very objective)

Katie Pritchard is the first Village President that has made herself available one Saturday a month to meet with residents and discuss issues.  Anyone can call the Village Hall at 962-6690 and get the dates and times.  They then can go and attend.  I have done this once a year, for the past two years.

At every Village Board Meeting there is an opportunity for the public to speak.  There are two board meetings a month.  Any Village Resident may speak and if you do not know exactly when, you can ask in advance.  I have a couple of times either called or emailed Katie and let her know.  When the proper time came at the meetings, she gave me a nod so I knew to raise my hand.

With that being said, I am extremely frustrated with our Villages situation as well.  My dad and I had coffee this week, sitting outside Brueggers, he just said that Silver Spring looked like a ghost town.

Now, if we want to point fingers, we need to look at all the trustees and keep track of their voting records.  When Trustee Buscalacci resigned, Katie Pritchard (to the best of my knowledge) wanted to replace him.  We had six trustees and three voted to replace him with a local resident and three voted no - to leave the seat vacant.  A tie vote is a no.  The position was not filled.  (After you posted the website link to the ordinances Kevin, I did see that is what we are suppose to do - according to our by-laws)

The next year and a half, every time Katie Pritchard presented a change - especially on Silver Spring, the same three that voted NO to a new trustee, also voted no to many of these changes.  Many ideas and changes did not pass.

I am an regular reader of the Village Board minutes (when they are updated regularly) and have gone as far as to contact the N.S. NOW people asking them to report the voting records.  The response that I received was that they had been incorporated into the articles and the editors had taken them out.

Maybe now that the JCC expansion is completed, those remaining two that ran for the purpose of blocking the JCC will elect not to run again for trustee OR the residents of Whitefish Bay will take ownership and vote different people in.

We can only vote people in if they run for the position.

On another note, I do know that I did expect flowers and enhancements THIS summer on Silver Spring.  Am I shocked that it didn't happen?  NO.

Do I think, when many people are out of town, that summer might be a better time for construction on Silver Spring - yes.

There may be communication now on this construction with the business owners - what every Wednesday at 9? maybe that should have happened before the Village decided to do the construction.  Who is responsible for that?  Village Employees.

Village Employees do the work, report to the board.  The board makes decisions.  This isn't the City of Milwaukee or Glendale, where the positions are full time and paid.  All of our Trustees have day jobs.

Then as you mentioned Kevin, the booing at meetings.  Shameful.

The silly rules and regulations - definitely needs to be changed.

I agree, it is a frustrating cycle.

Maybe employees should get out of the office, walk the street and meet business owners face to face - kind of like a sales call.  Small business owners do not have time to run to every meeting held during the business day.  Most are running their business and the time they spend out of work, they want to spend with their families.

Yes, there is a start - a door to door visit with your customers.

Kevin,

As the Owner of Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers I have been very frustrated by the lack of progress on the street. We have had a perfect storm in many ways. In-effective government/ apathetic residents and short sighted building owners. There have been many missed opportunities along the way.

The Village government has turned the corner with the BID, Retail recruiter and planed street construction. The Village residents have taken notice and are now involved. We must make the Building owners understand they need to invest and improve their buildings to complete the turn-a-round. Only with all three groups working together will the street revitalization take hold and be successful. Property values and rents are high. We have wonderful anchor stores, outstanding demographics and terrific housing stock. We do have many positives to talk about.

I am very optimistic about the future of East Silver Spring Drive.

My company has survived two world wars, the great depression, and  past Silver Spring road construction. The good business will do the same.

Staying Positive

Tom Dixon

President

Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers