Village Spillage

Berkeley's Cafe has been open for a few weeks now, so I stopped in to see how life on war-torn Silver Spring was going.

Answer:  Pretty well.

Anecdotally, I've heard from a number of people who have eaten there, finding Berkeley's a tough table to get on Fridays and Saturdays during the hour.

Sadly, my wife and I have not gotten to Berkeley's, as our twice weekly dinner outings have been sharply curtailed by the birth of our second child.  However .. after helping my neighbor, they thanked me with a Gift Certificate from Berkeley's, so we should be dining soon.

And to show how well Berkeley's is doing .. the manager told me their first printing of Gift Certificates was sold out.  Pretty good first month.

Other bits:

First, you can read Berkeley's entire menu on their website: http://www.berkeleyscafe.com

They are open for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, all of which are available for take-out (Phone: 897-8624), and of course, have a nice bar for drinks.

They also have a quick to-go menu (see picture) with coffee, espresso, soups and salads, ready for a quick purchase.

 

Here's a sampling of their menu items:

Breakfast:

• Egg Croissant or Wrap 
• Belgium Orange Waffle
• Huevos Rancheros Omelet
• And all the basics .. Eggs, pancakes, bacon.
• Prices: $5-$9

Lunch:

• Appies: Cheese Plate, Fondue, Wings, Nachos, Samosas $6-12
• Soups: Tomato Rosemary, Whitefish Corn Chowder $4-5
• Grilled Burger / Chicken
  
• Tuna Salad
  
• Mustard Egg Salad
  
• 1/2 Soup, Sandwich
  
• Prices: $8-10
  

Dinner:

• Most of the Lunch menu plus..
• Roasted Pork Loin
• Apple Duck Confit
  
• Chicken & Mushrooms
  
• Fish & Chips
• Cafe Meatloaf
• Prices: $14-19

They have a great, cheap kid's menu, if I do say so myself:

• Chicken Strips
• Grilled Cheese
  
• Pasta & Marinara
• Mini Burgers
• Fruit Cup 
• Prices: $3-5
• They have high-chairs, crayons, the usual kid-friendly stuff
  

Deserts:

• Warm Sugar Donuts
• Chocolate Bouchons 

Now listen up, Whitefish Bay Villagers:  Many of us, myself included, have been waiting for a decent restaurant on Silver Spring.   It has arrived.

It's about a 3 minute drive from wherever you live.

And YOU and I have to support it.   Silver Spring is going through tough times right now.  With the economy in the tank, times will get tougher.  It is now more important than ever to support these local merchants, or .. guess what?  They'll close. 

Imagine if Berkeley's succeeds, turns a profit, and has some spill-over customers for the rest of the Silver Spring merchants, from 7am to 11pm.  That would be fantastic.  Imagine a 2nd restaurant (Hooters!) .. and an ice cream shop.  Bingo.  Silver Spring is back on track.

So how do you support it?  Take the pledge:  Eat at Berkeley's every 3 months.  Something, anything, a breakfast here, a dinner there.  4 times a year, once a season.  If you have kids and can't make it out, fine.  Do take-out.  Here's the phone again:  897-8624.

Marija Whitman, co-owner passed along this bit:  

Kevin, it has been the most wonderful feeling to see the outpouring of support and sincerity from customers.  What a warm welcome. We thank them sincerely for coming, and they thank us sincerely for being here. 

It makes us want to try harder to never let our amazing community down!

 

Make sure you read other items:

1. Election Prediction wrapup
2. Why is the NY Times picking on WFB?
   
3. Local Election Predictions
   
4. WFB Scam Alert
   
5. One less bad guy on WFB's streets!
6. Silver Spring Blame Game
   
7. Solicitors DO NEED PERMITS

 
 

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Last week, I got an email from a WFB resident temporarily living in Germany who discovered that the DMV was charging residents of the 53217 Zip Code an additional $20 "Wheel Tax" which was recently enacted in the CITY of Milwaukee.  WFB shares 53217 with Milwaukee, Glendale, Fox Point, and Bayside.

UPDATE: The 53211 zip is also effected, as it has part of Milwaukee, WFB, and Shorewood.

So, thank you to the Yunker family for discovering this, and passing it on to Village officials.   They have sent out an email alert, although I imagine not many people have subscribed to this system.  I am reprinting the Village's warning for your pleasure:

 

Recently the City of Milwaukee enacted a Wheel Tax on all vehicles owned by their residents.  The State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is enforcing this "wheel tax" by including it to the cost to register a vehicle.  Unfortunately, the DMV has been including the tax on all residents who live within a shared zip code where both the suburb and portion of the City are located.

This charge is only for City of Milwaukee residents, and all Whitefish Bay residents who received this charge in error are encouraged to call the DMV to have it removed.  Please choose the following options to have this corrected:

If you feel you've been incorrectly assessed the City of Milwaukee wheel tax, you can call the DMV's Vehicle Records Section at (608) 266-3666.

If you believe that you erroneously paid the tax without realizing it, you can call the DMV's Research and Information Section at (608) 266-1466 or send a written request for a refund to: Department of Transportation, PO Box 8070, Madison, WI 53708-8070.

Residents are reminded to list Whitefish Bay and not Milwaukee as their place of residency when registering their vehicles.  This information is important because it is used to help calculate State funding sources like shared revenues which are important to the general operation of the Village.

Generally, the renewal fee is $75 for autos, but more if you have personalized plates or other special items on your bill.  You can determine the correct DMV renewal fee by hitting this site:  http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/drivers/vehicles/veh-fees.htm

But, hey, Whitefish Bay Village Hall .. thanks for sending out that email bulletin.   That's a great use for that system, sending out news alerts villagers need to know.  It'd be great if we could get other pressing information, like the status of Silver Spring closures, police reports of frequently occurring crime we should be aware of .. plenty of other examples.

Email is free, use it!

Make sure you read other items:

1. Election Prediction wrapup
2. Why is the NY Times picking on WFB?
   
3. Local Election Predictions
   
4. WFB Scam Alert
   
5. One less bad guy on WFB's streets!
6. Silver Spring Blame Game
   
7. Solicitors DO NEED PERMITS

 
 

---

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The paper version of the NorthShoreNOW has a little table with the voter turnout for the North Shore suburbs, Bayside, Brown Deer, Fox Point, Glendale, Mequon, River Hills, Shorewood, Thiensville and Whitefish Bay.

Who had the best voter turnout?  Whitefish Bay with a whopping 89.4%.   Thiensville was 88.5%, followed by Fox Point at 87% .. the remainder of the suburbs were around 70-83%.

That's really a fantastic turnout.

Voter turnout for the rest of the US was around 61% .. Wisconsin's was 2nd in the nation at 71%.

Personally .. I'd like to hear from the 10.6% who didn't vote.  I'll bet half of those "non-voters" are really errors in the voter registration database.

About 5 years ago, I started thinking about getting LASIK.  I've worn glasses for 25 years, and thought it was about time for an upgrade.

When I first looked into it 5 years ago .. there's clearly a two-tiered system of LASIK doctors. 

The first tier "shop" is the kind of place you see advertised in the Sunday paper .. $399 per eye!  The second tier is the professional ophthalmologists who also do LASIK surgeries.

So, I went to both, admittedly 5 years apart.  The low-cost LASIK came out to $1,500.  That $399/eye figure is for their lowest, most basic, old technology type surgery.  I'll bet a total of zero people opt for that.

When I went to the regular ophthalmologist, the charge was around $4,000.  

What's the difference?  Neither doctor actually owns the multi-million dollar equipment .. they both RENT the exact same machine in the same building, performing surgeries.  Most of the work is done by computer anyhow.

There is a difference in sales technique, though.  The low-cost guys tend to "upsell."  When I went in, they tell you the cheap price is for the old dusty machine, you want the new technology for double the price.. they explain for an extra couple hundred, they'll throw in "free lifetime tweaks" .. so that, 10 years from now, you want your vision tweaked, they'll do it free.

I asked the ophthalmologist about that .. he said, in general, he does "tweak" operations for only 1 in 20 patients, and almost never after a year or so.  

Another up-sell: Tear Plugs.  The low cost shop explained the various plugs that could be inserted into my tear ducts, so that healing would be quicker, eyes less dry, etc.  For a fee, of course.   The regular ophthalmologist said he never puts tear plugs in, as generally speaking, if you have a condition that required tear ducts installed, he would refuse to do the operation. -- Sure seems like tear plugs are a revenue generator for the low-cost shops.

When asking a tech about what they thought the difference between the high and low cost LASIK shops was .. she suggested that it isn't the LASIK technique that is any better from one doc to the next.  -- She said they could teach ME to use the LASIK machine in a week.  -- The true difference is the care before and after the surgery, where a highly trained ophthalmologist would be able to recognize ocular health issues where a low-cost doc might not.

I also think the trained ophthalmologist is quicker to turn you down as a candidate for LASIK, if you're not nearly perfect .. the low-cost guy is looking for volume and has a higher tolerance for risk.

So .. I think it comes down to .. 98% of the time, you'll come out with the exact same outcome.  If you're a good candidate, with a "simple" LASIK procedure, no complicating factors (like you wore hard contacts for 20 years, or have some scarring, or whatever) .. I think you will be happy going the low-cost route.  I mean, $1500 up to $4000 is a HUGE difference.  

So, I had my surgery in February of this year.  I did go with the high-cost ophthalmologist, not having learned the above, but also, being financially comfortable enough to pay the premium.

I won't get into the details .. suffice it to say, LASIK took about 25 minutes, beginning to end, which is a fact I state because knowing the short amount of time got me "through it."   Truth is, I was pretty scared.  Apparently, the prep-nurse wasn't the "usual" one, and didn't explain the steps.  They tell you to focus on this red light .. I was unaware that at some point, you can't see anything, no red light, nothing, and you are effectively blind with your eye open.  That's scary without being prepared in advance that something like that happens.

Anyhow, all went well.  I had very little discomfort, my eyes felt pretty good right away.  They give you pain and sleeping pills, but I did not need them.

The next day, I went in for another exam.  The 20/20 line was razor sharp.  All was well.

A week later, another exam.  Suddenly, that 20/20 line was fuzzy.  My vision had slipped to 20/25.

A month later, another exam.  Now I'm 20/30, and having troubles reading, watching TV, the whole deal.  At the end of the day, my eyes hurt.   The doctor gave me a prescription for glasses.

Six months later, I'm still 20/30.  At that time, the doc examines me for a possible 2nd LASIK procedure to "tweak" my vision.  Apparently, I'm now more astigmatic than nearsighted (or something), meaning a 2nd surgery could do more harm than good.

So .. I went from wearing my glasses 100% of my day before LASIK .. down to about 75% of the time, after LASIK. 

20/30 vision is "pretty good".  I'm sure lots of people walk around with 20/30 all the time.  I CAN read and drive with 20/30.   But after having 20/20 vision, with glasses, for 25 years .. 20/30 is an intolerable downgrade, so I wear my glasses most of the day, so I'm pretty much back to where I started.

In the end, I paid $4,000 to not wear glasses for a few hours each day.   I can't say I'd do that over again. 

1. Election Prediction wrapup
2. Why is the NY Times picking on WFB?
   
3. Local Election Predictions
   
4. WFB Scam Alert
   
5. One less bad guy on WFB's streets!
6. Silver Spring Blame Game
   
7. Solicitors DO NEED PERMITS
   

 

---

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So .. on Monday, I wrote about the local elections .. let's see how my predictions panned out:  

1. I was wrong that Sandy Pasch would beat Wadhwa by 20 points.  The beat-down was THIRTY points.  I think back to when Wadhwa called me about the blog, how incredulous he was when I told him he'd lose by a landslide, as if no one had told him that before.
   
   
   
2. I predicted Wasserman would win by 2% .. looks like I got that flipped.  Alberta Darling won by 2%, who, as a Republican will remain in the minority in the State Senate, which means she'll be powerless once again.  Interesting that even in a Democratic tsunami election, a solid guy like Wasserman couldn't win .. that's what you get with gerrymandered districts.
   
   
   
3. I predicted the Milwaukee County Sales Tax increase would fail by 10%.  I am flabbergasted I got this wrong, as the referendum passed by 2%. 
   
   Honestly, I'm stunned.  I really had the Milwaukee area as a populace with a tremendous anti-tax bias. 
   
   Clearly, there are two groups who voted for this.. First, those voters who think their tax burden is not too high, don't mind increasing it by $63M/year, and want to increase support for Parks, Transit, Emergency Medical Services and Cultural services .. I FULLY understand there are people out there like that, but I'd put them in the 1 out of 5 range.  And I'll salute the folks who voted for this on the basis of its merits: They want more money for parks, et. al., and they are OK paying more for it.  As I said, that IS a legit vote. 
   
   The second group of people are the voters who didn't understand what they were voting for, exactly.  The warnings that the referendum's wording was confusing was spot on .. They read "property tax relief" and said, hey, something for nothing, let's vote for that.   The referendum wording didn't mention the sales tax would COST $130m.  Just that it would save/lower the property tax by $67m.  It's extremely doubtful this group really knew they would be paying $63m in the end.
   
   Well, guess what, County Supervisors who pushed this:  You succeeded, through tomfoolery and confusing language.  You didn't go for a legitimate referendum, where people knew the costs.  You wanted "property tax relief" in the wording so you could fool people into giving up $63M more of their dollars in a shell game.  Congrats on gaining your victory through the ignorance of voters.  You spun the language and won the game.
   
   
   
4. Speaking of something for nothing .. I predicted a 10+ point win for the City of Milwaukee's Sick Pay referendum.  Got that wrong, it won by a whopping 36%.  No surprise there.  Why should 9to5 stop there?  How about some other direct-legislation winners to benefit Milwaukee workers:  "Everyone gets a 50% raise!"  .. "All workers get a company car to drive!" ..  "Massage Mondays!" .. "Free Donut Fridays!" -- All of those would pass with HUGE margins too.
   
   Whoop .. We didn't have to wait long for that first lawsuit, challenging this referendum.

Make sure you read:

1. Local Election Predictions
   
2. WFB Scam Alert
   
3. One less bad guy on WFB's streets!
4. Silver Spring Blame Game
   
5. Solicitors DO NEED PERMITS
   

 

---

 Don't want to keep checking for news on this blog?  Have it delivered to your inbox, so you won't miss anything.  Free.  Click here.

 

A number of loyal readers have passed along links to the growing story about five Wisconsin School Districts that invested in a complex investment to bolster their pension/retirement funds which have now gone "south".

You may have read any of these articles that explain that Whitefish Bay and the other Districts have joined together in a lawsuit against the financial firms who sold them the instruments.

Yesterday, the NY Times, yes .. THAT New York Times .. had a front page article on this story which centers around Whitefish Bay.   No body reads that, right?  

So last night, as I'm watching Lehrer on The News Hour, I had to back up the Tivo and listen twice.  Sure enough, they were talking about Whitefish Bay's school district and how devastated they will be due to this financial scheme.  (You can listen to the broadcast here. .. NPR also did a radio broadcast.)

Why focus on WFB?  The entire amount that these five School Districts invested was $200 million.  Whitefish Bay's share of that? A $1.2 million slice of that total.   Yes, 75% of that may be gone, so we're talking about a $900k loss.  And we may get a part of that back through a lawsuit filed by all five districts.  That's not peanuts, but it IS a fraction of the $175m that's been lost in total.

Kenosha, West Allis, Kimberly .. those districts invested far more and are exponentially more sensitive to economic disasters.  Waukesha is the 5th.

I'm not saying losing a million bucks is not a story .. but national news?   (That's what got Whitefish Bay into the spotlight? Not our poor choice of Trick or Treat times?)

Well, on the bright side, Shawn Yde got his 1.5 minutes of national fame!

Make sure you read:

1. Local Election Predictions
   
2. WFB Scam Alert
   
3. One less bad guy on WFB's streets!
4. Silver Spring Blame Game
   
5. Solicitors DO NEED PERMITS
   

 

---

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 While I doubt many of you care what I think about Tuesday's election .. tough noogies.  I'm going to tell you anyhow.

State Rep:  Sandra Pasch will beat Yash Wadhwa easily, and win by 20 points.  Pasch won a long, tough primary battle against 3 tough, solid candidates.  I attended a forum with Pasch and Wadhwa, and two things were obvious:  Pasch was a solid candidate with a great grip on the issues, and second, Wadhwa was not ready for prime time.  In a Democratic year, Pasch wins this race easily.

State Senate:  This is a tough race to call.  Our district knows all about Wasserman and Darling, as both of them have represented us.  Wasserman is a new face in 2/3rds of Darling's district, so he had a lot of work to do to get known.   There's no doubt there are fewer Republicans in Wisconsin than 2-8 years ago, as people flip parties.   That reduction occurs all across the state, which includes those districts which are "solid Republican" areas.  

I've voted for both Darling and Wasserman, so this is a tough vote to cast.  Indeed, Wasserman has a thin resume of legislative accomplishments while Darling has some, albeit not recently.  Why?  Wasserman has spent his entire career in the Republican dominated Assembly.  Darling was a leader in the Republican Senate until the Dems took that over.   Now that Darling is also in the minority, she's also stuck in nowhere land just like Wasserman.

That's why I'm voting for Wasserman.  Having a rep in the minority party does NOTHING for you, as they are powerless, and none of the leadership listens to anyone in the minority party.   Wasserman is a decent guy.  I remember the first time I wrote him, he called me up one night around 8pm, and the two of us chatted about issues for 30 minutes like two guys drinking beer, eating pizza.  He's very likable, and will do well.  -- My prediction:  Wasserman wins by 2 points.

Milwaukee County Sales Tax Referendum:  This won't pass.  It'll lose by at least 10 points.  There are two types of voters who will vote yes.  The first group is those who want to pay more taxes, believing this sales tax increase will improve the parks.  The second, much larger group will vote yes because they don't understand the issue, and are taken in by the poor wording, suggesting a yes vote will somehow magically lower their tax burden.  It will only shift their tax burden from property tax to sales tax, plus add some.  Don't be fooled.

Finally, While I don't live in the City of Milwaukee .. I'm sure their referendum on mandating sick-leave will pass by 10 or more points.  There are far too many people who will look at that as a vote to give them something for nothing, and while I like this type of "Direct Legislation" referendum by the people, this is a terrible example.  Next, we'll see a referendum to give all employees a weekly massage.  Everyone will vote for that, too.  This is a travesty, and I'll bet a lawsuit will be filed by Wednesday morning on its validity.

Sensenbrenner will win by a million points, as well as the dozen other uncontested races that clutter up our ballot. 

Of course, I don't know what our ballot looks like this year, as it wasn't published in the NOW paper, like it is every other election cycle.    Odd.

Make sure you read:

1. WFB Scam Alert
   
2. One less bad guy on WFB's streets!
3. Silver Spring Blame Game
   
4. Solicitors DO NEED PERMITS
   

 

---

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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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Sorry I haven't written in a while.   Sometimes the blogging well goes dry.  Here's a few bits:

SUNDAY - LAST CHANCE TO BUY BREAD AT GREAT HARVEST

As previously reported .. Rodd Hall, the owner of Great Harvest, closed up his retail shop in early October.  However, he is keeping his annual commitment to let the kids of Richards hold a fund raiser for the Hunger Task Force.

The bakery will open from 9am - 2pm, with kids helping out, staffing the cash register, the works.  A musical tribute for Hall will be going on from 11am to noon.  

This is a great event.   Get down there, support your local merchants, buy some bread, raise some dough for Hunger Task Force.  Seriously.  I mean it.

iPIC iTroubled

The iPic movie theater at Bayshore is going down the tubes.   It never paid rent to Bayshore, and the lease was terminated last month.  Looks like Bayshore is allowing them to continue operations under some other agreement.  

But .. iPic has bigger problems, as they owe $3m to the company that constructed the movie/bowling complex.

This does not surprise me.  Previously, I'd written about the preposterous $15/ticket price, which gets you unnecessary valet parking, assigned seating, and some popcorn.  Anyone surprised that formula didn't work?  Shocking.   

This is a reminder:  GO TO THE FOX-BAY.  It's GREAT. Support WFB businesses.  They will need every ticket sold in this economy.

School Referendum Postponed

News came out of the school board that because the economy is down, they will not go ahead with a $14-41M referendum on the April 2009 ballot, and perhaps move it to November 2009.

One could guess that if the economy isn't much better in 6 months (probable) that the referendum would be moved back again.

I find this to send mixed signals .. if you need capital improvements, you need capital improvements.  Looks like we can put them off for 6 months.  Probably 12 months.   I'm not saying I support or don't support the idea of the referendum .. it's just that moving it back undercuts the argument that they are actually needed.

Berkeley’s Café

Berkeley's has a grand opening ribbon cutting this Thursday.  That's great news for Silver Spring.

Sorry I haven't posted in a week.  The situation on Silver Spring, and the economy in general .. is depressing.  Onward.

Over the past few months, I've received a number of emails from readers decrying the situation on Silver Spring, often blasting Whitefish Bay officials (Trustees and other leaders).

Here's a few snips of one I got this week:

Where is the local leadership???  What about our 2 new Trustees??  Have you heard from them? ..  This has a bearing on all of us. (Property values, hello people!)  .. I think its time the people take over this issue and start telling the village to get out of the way...they are the friggin problem.  Maybe someone can find wherever Katie Pritchard is hiding and get her leadership on this issue.  Keep on this Kevin!

To answer that .. you need a "Silver Spring Status Update"

1. Silver Spring is being torn up to replace sewers, roads, curbs and sidewalks.  By the start of next summer, Silver Spring's physical status will be vastly improved.
2. A Business Improvement District has recently been created and staffed.
3. A "recruiter" has been contracted to find new businesses to move into the many vacancies.
   

Now, while you could argue those three items are long overdue, the current crop of Trustees have made them happen.

So .. if you're asking who to blame?  I think it breaks down to two groups:

1. WFB Officials who were in power from, say, 2001 to 2006.  In 2001, the Bayshore expansion was announced.  That was the moment we all should have been looking to the future, planning for tougher times for area merchants.  After 2006, with a steady drumbeat of business closures, the current crop of Trustees started taking Streetscaping, BIDs, and recruiting seriously.  Could they have acted more quickly?  Certainly.  But they ARE acting now.
   
   
2. Ourselves.  While mostly drowned-out in the past two years, Whitefish Bay has a segment of vocal long-timers who want to party like it's 1959.  They are resistant to change, whether that be new development, or tearing down what's old and familiar.  A great example of this was in 2006, when "The Bay" was proposed, and met with extreme derision.  Honest to god, people actually voiced their opinion by BOOING.  It's one thing to not like a development and want it changed in some respects .. but to yell out "boo"?  Childish and embarrassing for Whitefish Bay.  -- Imagine if a shorter version of The Bay, with the proposed ground level retail complex, had been built.  New Land Enterprises would have spent lots of time recruiting new restaurants and businesses to their new digs, which would have had a very positive effect on all of Silver Spring.
   

So .. what else is there to do?   I'd say that breaks into two items:

1. Find a way to help the current businesses stay afloat, especially while SS is under construction and the economy is stressed.  I don't know how else to say it, but the Trustees must meet with business owners, and examine every ordinance and eliminate all business un-friendly codes.  The obvious example is to strike the $164 violation for sandwich board signs.
   
   
2. Start with the subject: How can we be 100 times more aggressive in finding new businesses to move to Whitefish Bay?  Years ago, Shorewood hosted a "conference" of sorts, inviting local leaders, business owners, developers, and landlords, asking them the question:  How can we get you to move here?  Let's follow Shorewood's, very successful, path.
   

That being said, we all need to mentally prepare for the worst.  With a brutal economy and banking situation, plus SS's road construction .. one can guess we might see a dozen more business closures in the next 6-8 months.   

Even with a Silver-Spring Manhattan Project, we are headed for tough times for the foreseeable future.  

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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Ouch.  Got this email today from Rodd Hall, the owner of Great Harvest:

October 1, 2008

 To My Great Friends and Customers,

I have made the very difficult decision to close the Great Harvest bread store in Whitefish Bay, effective today.

We'll be open for business just one more time, for the Richards School 3^rd Grade "Baker For A Day" event, Sunday October 26, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., to benefit the Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee. I hope to see you then!

Finding conscientious and loyal employees has always been a challenging part of running this store. Over the past year it has become so difficult that it has just plain worn me out.

You know the people who work here have always been the best! I couldn't possibly be more proud of them. The problem is that I can no longer find enough of "the best" people to be able to offer you the kind of service you and I expect from Great Harvest.

As an eternal optimist, I've been fighting this decision for a long time, believing things would improve. The last straw was the recent last-minute decision by the Village of Whitefish Bay to close Silver Spring Drive during its reconstruction, a reversal of their long-standing promise to keep Silver Spring open in both directions throughout the project. I know from experience that this would be bad for an already suffering business district at any time; it will be devastating since it's happening during the holiday shopping season.

I'm going back to my first "bakery love", the reason I opened this store 18 years ago ... baking great bread. I'll still be baking, just not running a retail bread store.

So all is not lost. You will still be able to buy Great Harvest bread at the Pick ‘N Save stores at 4145 N Oakland in Shorewood and at 11300 N Port Washington Rd in Mequon.

I hope to add other stores to this list. If you can't buy Great Harvest bread at your favorite grocery store, please talk to the store manager and give them my phone number.

I'd love to talk with you in more detail about the store closing if you want. Please phone the bakery at (414) 963-9690 and leave me a voicemail with your name and number. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. And if you know anyone who might be interested in running a great retail bread store, please have them give me a call.

Thanks for 18 wonderful years! I'll miss you.

Warmest regards,

 

 

Ouch.  Didn't see this one coming, even after reading this from Rodd last week. Great Harvest was one of the jewels of Whitefish Bay.  Very sad day.  Silver Spring is turning into a slow-motion car accident.

Hall mentions he will continue baking .. not sure if that means he'll continue in his prime spot, or find a new kitchen.  I'll update that later.

 

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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And the umpteenth store to close on Silver Spring is ... Creme Boutique.

In an email to customers, Creme owners reported:

We are very sorry to tell you that Creme Boutique will close on October 29.  We had hoped that adding Kid's Consignment to the store would help business, but the economy and other factors have made continuing impossible.
 
We will be having a store wide sale (excluding consignment clothes) starting on October 1st.

Sad.  Another small business bites the dust on Silver Spring.

Prepare for more.  We've been skirting around an "official" recession in 2008, but it's hard to believe the economy will improve any time in the next 6-12 months.   On top of that .. with the credit market crisis, it's going to be nearly impossible for any new businesses to open.

And, of course, Silver Spring is now undergoing street construction, which will eliminate parking, and frustrate the very customers that merchants are depending on.

The latest gut-punch to arrive, is that WFB officials had been telling merchants that SS would remain open in both directions, so Silver Spring sort of looked open.  In an email sent to merchants this week, that's no longer the case.  Silver Spring will be down to 1-lane Eastbound. 

Yes, construction will be suspended from Thanksgiving to Jan 1.  Raise your hand if you think that will make a difference.  What does "suspended" mean, anyhow?  I'm guessing it'll still be 1-way traffic with no parking.  How is that going to help?  UPDATE:  Trustee Fehring has commented below .. the contractor is required to close up all trenches, put down temporary asphalt.  Sounds like 2 way traffic plus parking.  Great to hear.

November and December are the two most important months for the local merchants, many who are just skating by.  The timing of this construction will push a few over the edge.

SHOP LOCAL!

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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Remember last week, I'd mentioned that in Tosa, Police tell residents to call 911 when they see anything odd, out of place, suspicious?

Well, that came as timely advice.

Last week, while my wife rolled the trashcan to the curb (yes, my wife does that job .. does that make me less of a man?) .. she saw a guy, ambling down our block, perhaps talking on a cell phone.   Whatever he was doing, he spooked my wife; she came inside a bit scared, and told me she was calling the police.

I went outside to catch a glimpse from a few hundred feet away .. can't say he was that suspicious, although he did cross the street, then double back.   Honestly, I'm not sure I would have called the police.  Good thing my wife did.

45 seconds later, two WFB squads came rolling down, looking for our guy.  (Great response time from WFB!)

The next morning, on an unrelated matter, I was talking to WFB's Chief of Police, Robert Jacobs.  I asked him if he knew about this incident, and what the resolution was.

Turns out, they caught the guy, who eventually confessed that HE WAS BREAKING IN TO CARS!  A day later, the Chief emailed me thanking my wife for calling in the tip, explaining they had also recovered a stolen car.

Amazing!

The moral of this story is: CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU SEE ANYONE OUT OF PLACE AT NIGHT.  -- REALLY.  NO, I'M NOT KIDDING.

Don't sit around, thinking, gee, I sure hope that guy is OK.  Just call 911, and have the police figure it out.  That's what they are there for.

I asked Chief Roberts if 911 is the right number to dial for something like that.  He said if you see someone outside, looking a bit odd, they need you to call 911 so they can get a squad out there immediately.  While it doesn't sound like an emergency, it's something the police want to act upon RIGHT AWAY.  That strategy paid off last week.   911 goes directly to the WFB dispatch center.  (However, Chief Roberts said if you are calling from a cell phone, 911 will go to the Milwaukee County dispatch.  Ask them to transfer the call to WFB.)

I think the biggest issue is that people just don't know to call 911 for something small, and basically hope someone else is keeping an eye on things.

Look .. this dude walked down our block of 40 homes.  Let's say he walked down three blocks just like that, walking by 120+ homes, looking for cars to break in to.  It was just after the 10pm news was ending.  Plenty of people are awake.  I'll bet AT LEAST 5 people saw him in front of their homes.   That means four people just shrugged off an out of place guy, walking down the street.

Bottom line .. WFB has had a spate of car and home break-ins in the past few months.   Make an effort.  Take a look outside your house, up and down the block.  If it's dark out .. and you see some young guy who doesn't look like a neighbor:  Call 911 and have the police look into it.  

They're not going to charge you for calling 911 on a tip that doesn't pan out.  They're going to thank you for being vigilant, making WFB a safer place.

I'll bet you've seen something out of place within the last month, and you didn't call it in, thinking it wasn't really an emergency.  NEXT TIME, DON'T JUST SIT THERE.

Don't think you're "bothering" the police with something small.  That call could turn out, like in our case last week, to lead to catching a car thief!

Make sure you read:

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

 

---

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Public Service Announcement .. Did you know Whitefish Bay has an ordinance that requires nearly all door-to-door solicitors to have a permit?

Ordinance 15.07 (read here) generally requires all "Merchants" selling goods, or "Solicitors" asking for donations of money or items, to apply for a permit at Village Hall. 

This permit must be displayed on a "conspicuous place" on the person, and must be presented upon the demand of any potential "customer."  (That's you.)

Furthermore .. each solicitor needs one.  So if, for example, the Victory Church, deposits a carload of guys to go around knocking on doors asking for donations, EACH of them need a permit.  The permits are not transferable.

There are two notable EXCEPTIONS:

1. No permit is needed if the solicitor is engaged solely in political or religious speech.   (But if they are asking for donations, they WILL need a permit.  Often you'll hear them initially say "we're not asking for money .. but if you'd like to subscribe, blah blah blah."  .. yeah, get a permit.)
   
   
2. No permit is necessary for RESIDENT children under 21 going door-to-door for a charitable or non-profit entity.  e.g. Whitefish Bay children can sell Girl Scout Cookies or raise money for their band trip without a permit.  But a Shorewood kid, cannot without a permit.  Nor can a Milwaukee resident ask for church donations without a permit.
   

So .. anyone like to bet that most of the dudes who ring your door need a permit, yet don't have one?

Additionally .. ringing the doorbell to see if someone is home is also a method bad guys use to discover unoccupied homes.

Next time an irritating solicitor is outside your door asking for money, ask to see their permit.   If they don't have one, call the Whitefish Bay Police (962-4619), who would be happy to inform them of the law.  

Make sure you read:

1. WFB Picks New Trustee 
2. Grim Silver Spring Prediction .. a Local Merchant's thoughts..
3. Bits & Pieces (New Engineer, Leaf Collection, Crime .. Fire)

 

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At tonight's special session of the WFB Trustees, 6 candidates were interviewed for retiring Trustee Brennan's position.  One applicant withdrew her name prior to the meeting.

The process was to allow each candidate 15 minutes to answer 4 questions:

1. Describe your WFB experience, and any skills or talents that you have that would apply to being a Trustee
2. What specific areas would you be interested in while serving as a Trustee
3. What do you think are three greatest challenges for WFB
4. Do you have any questions for the board?

To kibbitz a little .. Question 2 and 3 frequently elicited the same answer.   Generally, people talk about what interests them because they see it as a challenge.  For example, many answered that they were interested in seeing Silver Spring improved, which, no surprise, is also the answer to the "biggest challenge" question.

Question 4 is a throw-away question that doesn't tell you much about the candidate, because in the end, the Trustees went around the table, answering that question.  Honestly, Question 4 told me more about the Trustees, than it did the candidates.

I would have loved to have heard more about how each candidate values, for example, homeowner rights.  Or what specific ideas they could bring to the table concerning their "biggest challenge."   -- That being said, I think the process allowed the cream to float to the top, so to speak.  It "worked."  -- And I suppose my perspective, as a villager who has interests, versus the perspective of a Trustee, is vastly different.  I want to elect someone who shares my values.  Their criteria for appointment should reflect the whole village.  I get that.

These 4 questions were designed to figure out "what kind of guy/gal" the person was, were they thoughtful and articulate, could they talk the talk.   It was very different from how someone would run an election, which should be based on issues, and answers to challenges .. i.e. a "platform."

After all 6 were interviewed, the Trustees each voted for their top 3 candidates.   The top two were Richard Foster, a 40 year journalist veteran, and Shawn Finnigan, a very bright young attorney. 

As an aside, I penciled in my votes, and Foster and Finnigan were my 1 and 2 as well.  

The Trustees then voted on Foster and Finnigan, but couldn't reach the required 4 votes to declare a winner.  (Trustee Cheng was not in attendance.  So the winner needed at least 4 of 5 votes.)   Originally, it was 3-2 for Finnigan, but after two rounds, it flipped to 3-2 Foster.     No discussion was heard between votes, which I thought was a bit odd, since it left the Trustees up to blindly changing their votes back and forth, hoping to hit 4 votes eventually.

Surprisingly on the 5th ballot, Richard Foster won, and will be sworn in next week as our newest Village Trustee.  If he wishes to retain his seat, he will need to run again next April (2009).

I had Foster as my #1 choice after listening to all six.  He was well spoken, had solid answers to all the questions, and knew the issues surrounding Whitefish Bay, which should come as no surprise, as he'd run for Brennan's seat in April 2006.  Welcome, Trustee-elect Foster.

One other note .. I was very irritated that no one from the "real" media came out to observe these official proceedings.  This is an important deal here, people.  -- It was also sad that no other members of the public showed up to hear, what really amounts to, a "mini-campaign" for an elected office.

Good night!

 

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I traded emails with Rodd Hall, owner of the Great Harvest Bread Company .. he was so kind as to allow me to publish his thoughts:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:     A Silver Spring Construction Prediction
Date:     Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:35:20 -0500
From:     Rodd Hall
To:     <KevinBuckleyWFB@gmail.com>


Kevin,

In your 9/20 Village Spillage blog you refer to the effect of Silver Spring construction between October and January on the merchants in the area. You couldn’t be more correct. Most retail businesses barely make a go of it, sometimes even expect to lose money from January through September, knowing the holiday shopping season will provide the bulk of their profits for the year.

I know from experience the devastating effect road construction can have on shopping habits and on the fortunes of a small business. During the 1994 reconstruction of Lake Drive, I lost 25% of my customers and income. It didn’t matter that at least two lanes were open at all times; it didn’t matter if construction was actually happening anywhere near my store on any given day; it didn’t matter that my customers still had easy access to some of the best parking around. They still stayed away in droves.

Combine these two phenomena and I have a prediction. The planned construction on Silver Spring, if it is truly started any time before January, will ultimately cause some Silver Spring merchant to finally decide it’s just not worth it and to close their doors … probably more than one.

And I say started because it won't matter if construction is stopped between Thanksgiving and January 1. If they so much as put up a single orange sign or traffic barrel, it will look like a road construction zone, and too many customers will stay away.

Rodd Hall
Great Harvest Bread Co.
Whitefish Bay

He had a few other nuggets that should also be shared:

 I know this is very much a minority opinion, but as a business-person I can't understand why everyone gets so excited about 'streetscaping'. Sure, a nicer looking Silver Spring wouldn't hurt.  

(snip)

Why not instead spend the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of dollars on attracting new, exciting merchants to the street. Better yet, why don’t we spend zero dollars on finding every possible way for the Village to make it easier, rather than increasingly more difficult, to run a business on Silver Spring? (emphasis mine -kb)

I'd say we need to do both.  With some luck, perhaps contracting with Kilduff will help recruit businesses to Silver Spring.  Unfortunately with the economy, the timing, which is certainly years late, may not work out for us.

Finally, this:

What most people don't understand – and rightly so; I certainly didn't until I tried it myself – is that most small businesses, no matter how strong they may appear from the outside, spend most of their time just one bad decision or one bad break away from failure. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for sympathy; I chose this life and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

There are a lot of advantages, but the constant disadvantage is that you are always living life very close to the edge of disaster.

I think if the Village government had a better understanding of this basic fact of small business life, priorities might change.  (emphasis mine -kb)

This comment got my attention.   Great Harvest sure looks like one of the top 10 businesses on Silver Spring.  Great product, great location.   It honestly did not dawn on me, that a seemingly thriving business like GH would ever struggle, as he suggests.

What did we learn this morning, children?

1. The timing of Silver Spring's construction is not optimal for business survival.   The holiday season is make-or-break time for merchants.
   
2. Hall is probably correct.  Even though construction will be "stopped" from Thanksgiving to Jan 1, Silver Spring will most likely be thought of as a construction zone.  There WILL be less parking.   It WILL be tougher to get around SS, for cars and pedestrians alike.
   
3. While I believe Street-scaping is important, Hall has a point, that we should (have been) spending dough on recruiting businesses.
   
4. As I've called for before, the Village Trustees must look through all codes and eliminate merchant-unfriendly items NOW.  Not November, not December, not 2009.  NOW.
   
5. Finally .. SHOP LOCAL.   Make an extra effort to SHOP LOCAL when Silver Spring is under construction!

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I've let drop a number of WFB stories over the past few weeks.  Let's get to it.

Farrenkopf Hiring

Whitefish Bay hired retired Menomonee Falls Village Manager Richard Farrenkopf as Mary Jo Lange's semi-temporary replacement as director of public works and village engineer. 

I checked with the Village Spillage - Menomonee Falls office, and they couldn't say enough good things about Farrenkopf.   

Sounds like a home run hire for Whitefish Bay.  

Leaf Collection

The Village Trustees voted to end the seasonal curbside leaf pick-up on November 17th of this year.  If I recall correctly, this had something to do with the timing of the DPW getting leaves versus cleaning the storm sewer inlets.

Uh, guys?  You can't fool with Mother Nature.   I have three enormous Maple trees in my back yard, and they only start falling in November.  I rake every weekend, and the weekly pile I create is about the size of a Honda.  November 17th is about the 5th inning of a 9 inning game.   I realize you can still bag the leaves, but stopping that service so early is very unhelpful.

Oh, and guess what?  Most people will just rake the leaves into the gutter anyhow, regardless of the new date, as they will assume pick-up goes until Mother Nature says it should stop.   Eventually, the snow plows will scatter the piles unless they are picked up.  Just saying.

New Condos?

I haven't commented yet about the condo plan behind the Fox Bay.   I can't say I have a strong opinion either way. 

I've heard some suggest "Retail follows Residents" .. I just don't see that applying here.  Silver Spring has 5,000 people within a 3 minute walk.  An extra 50 people living in condos will do zero to attract businesses to Silver Spring.

Oh .. and don't we already have a half-empty Condotastrophe on Silver Spring and Lake?  Do we need more?

On the other hand .. as far as I can tell, this is an "off-Broadway" production.  This is more of a Santa Monica / Beaumont project.  It's behind Silver Spring.   If condos go up there .. the only possible negative effect on Silver Spring is perhaps the loss of parking for the future droves of customers that SS may generate in the future in a galaxy far away.

Let's see what the people on Santa Monica and Beaumont think.  They're the ones who will be staring at this sucker.  

Silver Spring Construction

Silver Spring will start to get ripped up in the next few weeks, first for sewer work, then early 2009, for Street-scaping .. seriously.  I'm not kidding. 

No, no, really. 

No, my pants are not on fire right now. 

Ok, fine, don't believe me.  I'm not sure I'll believe it until I see some orange barrels out there.

Amazing that we've been thinking and thinking about this for years, and here we are, starting in October.   Call me crazy, but wouldn't it have been better to do road construction well before winter?  

Apparently, they'll be blocking off one block of SS at a time, stopping from Thanksgiving to January 1st, to allow the SS Merchants some semblance of a holiday shopping season.  

New Trustee Interviews

Next Tuesday, Sep 23, the Trustees will meet to interview the seven applicants for Trustee Brennan's vacated spot.   So far, none of the seven have taken me up on my offer to give them an opportunity to discuss their candidacy with the public.  Offer still stands.

Crime

About 3 weeks ago, two cars from the same house were stolen one night, near my house.   How?

One car was unlocked, and had the keys inside.  FOR BOTH CARS.  Easiest grand theft auto those guys ever saw.

Safety tip #1: Come on, people.  Lock your cars.  Don't leave your keys in there.