Scam alert:

I received an email from a friend of mine in Menomonee Falls about a scam that is being run there, but with the notice that the same group was "arrested" in Whitefish Bay.

.. two teens were "collecting money" for a Children's Hospital fund raiser.  They were asking for money to buy books for children that were too sick to go home for Christmas.  The cost of each set of books was $55.  They "posed" as the children of a neighborhood woman who was a nurse at Children's.  They also said that their dad was a cop and they all lived in the neighborhood.  They name dropped many of the people on our street and concocted a story that most of my neighbors had donated. They even showed me a few of the checks.  In spite of their familiar "pitch" something just didn't feel right and I turned them away.  (My Neighbor) felt it was probably a scam and contacted the police.  She was right .. and the girls were arrested.
 
Now the bad news.  Apparently these girls were arrested the day before in Whitefish Bay.  They are dropped off with a dozen other teens out of a van and they "work" the neighborhoods.  Most likely they are not even Wisconsin residents. Since their crime is a misdemeanor, they are free to continue deceiving people AND they keep the money they have collected!  If you were one of the generous people that fell victim to this ploy, CANCEL YOUR CHECK IMMEDIATELY!   

So .. mental note .. there's a somewhat sophisticated scam going on, with kids prepped with names of your neighbors, etc, to bilk you out of money.

Two comments:

1. As always, ask every solicitor for their permit.  As I wrote before, besides RESIDENT children (example: Girl Scouts) everyone selling something, or asking for money NEEDS A PERMIT.  Don't be fooled by some kid from Milwaukee who says because he's under 18, he doesn't need a permit.  That's untrue.  RESIDENT children do not need permits.  All others do.
   
   
2. Hello, Whitefish Bay police?  I hope they are reading today.  Chief Jacobs called me over a month ago, asking my ideas on how to communicate with WFB residents.  I offered many suggestions, from updating the WFB village website with news, starting a crime email bulletin, to writing a guest blog here, to opening their own blog (as Greenfield has done) .. including .. just send me information, I'll post it right here.
   

This scam story is a PERFECT example of the need for timely crime news.  How did I find out about this?  Not through the WFB police.  Not through the media.  I found out because someone in MENOMONEE FALLS, who gets CRIME BULLETIN EMAILS from their police department sent it to a friend who forwarded it on.

That's just not the way it's supposed to happen, guys.  

Let's not let another month slip by without doing something.   Our village website HAS the capability to manage email lists, as you can sign up to have meeting agendas emailed to you the moment they are posted.  The infrastructure is there already.  You've just got to use the technology the residents of Whitefish Bay have already bought for you to use.

Halloween Update:

Traffic was down a bit yesterday.  Last year, I counted 600 pieces of candy .. this year, I bought 600, had about 100 remaining, so maybe 500 kids stopped by.

I had a number of people tell me they'd read the blog from last year, about my desire to bring Halloween back to its traditional day, October 31st, when the rest of the United States find the time to celebrate it safely.  A few asked me why I didn't launch another campaign this year.

My answer is this .. Last year, I did collect 80 email addresses of people who signed up with GHOST-PAC (Getting Halloween on Spooky Thirtyfirst Political Action Committee.)  My original plan was to rally the masses, have them contact the Trustees, get this thing changed.

But over the past year, as I've attended a few Trustee meetings and gathered a better understanding of how things work in the Bay .. I realized there's no way in freaking hell that would have worked.  The Trustees would have gotten a bunch of emails, asking for the change, and they would have hemmed and hawed about how afraid they'd be if anyone complained about removing it from the anti-traditional Sunday date.  

The Trustees would have worried about the noisy residents who would have told them tales of woe, how they're at work until late, how the boogy-man preys on young children only after sunset, the existence of WFB vampires, how their kid is allergic to darkness and how this would be unfair because it's not the same.

The Trustees would have created a Halloween Investigation Board (HIB), staffed with Trustees, police department representatives, Health department representatives, and a few citizens, carefully balanced between pro-tradition folk and anti-tradtionalists.  The end goal of HIB would be to craft an advisory voter referendum on Halloween to be on the ballot by 2012, that would need to be ratified by 2/3rds majority of the Trustees, plus the approval of the Wisconsin legislature and Governor.

But what the heck, my angry mob:  Let's try this next year.  Halloween will be on a Saturday in 2009, Sunday on 2010.   Contact the Trustees and tell them for the next two years, let's rejoin the rest of the United States, and Trick or Treat on the traditional date and time, October 31st, when it gets dark .. just like those unsafe hell-raisers in Waukesha, Brookfield, Big Bend, Cedarburg, Racine, Sheboygan, Waterford, Elm Grove, Dousman, and Menomonee Falls, not to mention .. Cleveland, St. Paul, Des Moines, Boston, Phoenix .. Chicago, Detroit, Bismark .. well, you get the idea .. everyone else.

(You may notice I don't have links to some of those cities' ToT time listings.  Why?  Because Trick or Treating isn't scheduled.  It's like Christmas.  It happens when it happens, on October 31st.)

Make sure you read:

1. One less bad guy on WFB's streets!
   
2. Solicitors DO NEED PERMITS
   
3. WFB Picks New Trustee 
4. Grim Silver Spring Prediction .. a Local Merchant's thoughts..
5. Bits & Pieces (New Engineer, Leaf Collection, Crime .. Fire)

 

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Another Trick-or-Treating in the Bay has come and gone. My family and I were out in full force with spooky music and fog machines haunting the neighborhood again. If you were anywhere South of Dominican, you probably heard us.

Last week, we received a flyer in our mailbox from an unknown neighbor that they had requested road barricades from Whitefish Bay, to eliminate traffic. Indeed, in years past, our block has had quite a bit of traffic. When houses are as tightly packed in as they are in the Bay, there's just no reason to be driving, following your kid around. Park your car, get out, and walk.

I was concerned about the message barricades might give to others, specifically those from outside the neighborhood, as it could be perceived as a message to "go away."

That concern was unfulfilled, supremely. My unofficial count was around 600+ kids during the two hour period. This year, the number of children who were probably from outside the neighborhood accounted for far over half. During the last hour, it ran about 10 to 1 in favor of non-Whitefish Bay kids.

I have no problem with that. I admit I used to, until my wife (a better person than I) led me to take a different approach. Trick or Treating is a charitable affair. We are blessed with many things, and this is a small chance to share.

The road barricades turned out to be a good thing, as it eliminated traffic and didn't prevent any 'treaters from hitting our block. It almost makes me wonder if something more village-wide should be enacted. Barricade the whole village, October 31st, from 6-7pm.

Speaking of a returning Halloween to its traditional October 31st, GHOST-PAC was born.

Get
Halloween
On
Spooky
Thirty-First.

I stuck a clipboard by the sidewalk, and ended up with 80 GHOST-PAC members, all eager to join the rest of the United States by hosting Trick-or-Treat on October 31st. Conservatively, 3 of 5 adults who walked by, signed up. This was without me hawking signatures, (I was too busy running the fog machines.) Just people who wanted Whitefish Bay to have a safe Halloween on its traditional night, fightin' the power.

If you'd like to sign up for GHOST-PAC, send me an email. KevinBuckleyWFB@gmail.com

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I went to the village board meeting tonight.

I admit, I've lived in the Bay for nearly a decade and have never felt the urge, whereby my desire to see our village government in action has ever outweighed my desire spend time with my family. Or watch TV. That too.

So I went with two motives, to see how the Great Trick-or-Treating debate turned out, but also to see what the Village Board does on a regular basis.

Ten minutes into the meeting, Katie Pritchard did a quick survey of the audience to determine who was here for the Great Trick or Treat Debate. I admit, I punted. I was not prepared to speak publicly.

Of course, I thought I'd done my part already. I'd written a blog entry, which subsequentially was published in the NorthshoreNOW newspaper and read by thousands. I'd also written an email to the Village Board Members, pleading my case. In honesty, I didn't think there was anything more for me to add. -- I'd stated my case.

Looks like I should have said something.. anything. Jim Roemer brought up the topic, mentioned the daylight savings time issue, and that perhaps the Trick-or-Treat time should be moved to 5-7. Two other trustees expressed a desire to have it remain 4-6, during full daylight. Roemer acquiesced, and that was it. No mention of returning the holiday to its rightful place: October 31st, on Halloween.

I admit that after the story ran in the newspaper, plus, and especially, my letter to the Board Members, I was disheartened that the topic of returning Halloween to October 31st didn't even get a mention. It didn't even get a "I got an email from this crank, some guy who wants to move it to Halloween." Nothing. Bupkis. Clearly, I believe it should have at least been given a moment of discussion. I can't count the number of times I was emailled or encouraged around my block on this subject. Looks like no one else followed suit.

Mental note, gotta be more organized next year.

CVS on Silver Spring?

Our Village Manager mentioned something interesting, that he'd received email from Villagers about the rumor that a CVS store was moving in on the corner of Silver Spring and Santa Monica. He said it was untrue. But then said CVS was looking at it. And that CVS had submitted a parking lot/driveway plan to the Village Engineer, who had rejected it.

So. Clearly, CVS is looking to move into the old Famous Footwear spot. First -- what happened to the other plan .. a developer was going to put in a 2 story building, a couple stores and a restaurant? What happened to that plan?

CVS is about the last company I'd like to see move in to that spot. First, because good lord, we are completely surrounded by pharmacies. CVS on Hampton, the new Walgreens on Port. Even Fitzgeralds is right on Silver Spring.

The situation at the moment is that CVS has looked at the property, but hasn't submitted a purchase plan to the Village. If that happens, it'd have a public hearing and go to the Planning Commission.

And if THAT happens, rise up, angry mob! Silver Spring needs a CVS like it needs another pothole.

JCC

I stuck around for another 90 minutes to see what else the Village Board would talk about. Apparently, the JCC wants to move some playground equipment, add some lights in dark spots, and change some landscaping.

I suddenly understood why there were 20-30 people at the meeting. I assume most of them were part of the JCC entourage of members, lawyers, engineers, landscapers and architects. Quite a show of force.

In the end, it was kind of sad. 3-4 years ago, Whitefish Bay tried to stop the JCC expansion, as the immediate neighbors were steadfast against it. My vague recollection was that once the Village turned the expansion down, the JCC hired lawyers and filed suit to overturn the will of the board, which, of course, worked.

So it was sad to hear (at least my assumption) that the neighbors around the JCC continue to be unhappy .. and that a business needs to petition the Village Board to add a few light bulbs. -- I'm not taking sides. I'm honestly sad with that whole situation. The neighbors shouldn't have to be irritated with increased traffic, noise, and light, and the JCC shouldn't have to be micro-managed to ask if they can put in some new swings on their playground.

Yes, yes, I fully understand how naïve I am.

The Village Board

One thing I do want to mention .. I was nearly completely impressed with the Village Board Members. Pritchard, Berg, Cheng, Fee, Schmidt, Roemer were serious, intelligent, professional, honest brokers for the Village.

So we've got that going for us.

 

 

Why write about Halloween in August? Because in just a few weeks, the Whitefish Bay Village Board will select the time for Trick-or-Treating 2007.

We need to stop the madness of having Trick-or-Treating on Sunday.

Remember when you were a kid? You knew when Trick-or-Treating started. It was October 31st. Halloween. When? When it got dark. That's when it was time. No time tables, no schedules. No city council vote, no trustees deciding. October 31st when it got dark.

Funny, as I researched this story, I tried internet searches for when other communities "scheduled" Trick-or-Treating. I only found a few.

Pittsburgh has it on October 31st. So does Cleveland. And the entire state of New Hampshire. And all of Chicago-land, for crying out loud.

But I didn't find many communities' scheduled times. You know why? BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE KNOWS THAT TRICK OR TREATING IS ON OCTOBER 31st. No need to schedule it.

Why can't Whitefish Bay be like Waukesha? Or Brookfield, Muskego, or Menomonee Falls? They all "schedule" Trick or Treating on its proper night: Halloween.

Is Whitefish Bay somehow not as "safe" as Waukesha or Brookfield or Cleveland or Chicago? Is safety really even an issue? How many parents aren't actually accompanying their kids as they 'Trick the Bay? Has there ever even been a Trick-or-Treating accident in WFB?

Let's fix this in 2007. Contact your Village Trustee now, before it gets scheduled.

One last thing. If this "Bring Back Halloween" doesn't work, we still need to move the time. Normally, WFB schedules it from 4-6pm. At 5pm, dusk begins, so at least it's a little dark. This is not the case in 2007, as Daylight Savings Time moved and it now ends on November 4th. This means, it won't get dark until 6pm. 5-7pm would be more appropriate.

UPDATE: This subject will be taken up at TOMORROW'S Village Board meeting, Tuesday September 4th at 7pm.


(P.S. How do you contact the Village Trustees? I asked the Village Manager this question. Apparently, besides hunting them down at their homes, the only way to get word to them is via the Village Manager himself, who will forward your commentary onward. His email address is: manager@wfbvillage.org)