This coming April we will have three new Council members. This past April we welcomed three new Council members as well. Councilman Esslinger had a long history on Council in the aughts and early teens, but he was a decade removed from decision-making. Let the newness of our Council, with exception of Mayor Mugerauer, truly sink in for a moment...
Serving on Common Council is hard work worth doing. To do it well though requires a great deal of preparation and attention to details. You see, if I earn the votes of my fellow Oshkoshians this Spring then I will be left with the responsibilities left to me from previous Councilors. Permit me to literally highlight this point to drive it home: in order for City government to function properly and not come to a sudden halt, elected officialls must honor the decisions that came before them. Not only must we support the work that has been done before us, but we must recognize that it was done in good faith and that informed votes were made with care. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, a new Councilor does not have the proverbial "get out of jail free pass" to sit idly by on an issue that happened before their time and say "oh, I wasn't on Council then, so don't look at me."
New Councilors inherit baggage, it's true, but it's our duty to do the research and understand the decisions that were made before we came to represent our friends and neighbors. To that end, I've been rewatching more past Council meetings than I'd care to admit. We're through with this season of the Great British Baking Show, and the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary specials have come and gone, so now I sit down to hours of old Council meetings on my computer at night with my notes app open and a nightcap at my side. No, I'm not rewatching everything that's online. Yes, I'm watching the big ones from the last five years - the COVID debates, the Clearwell public outcry, important decisions on the Jackson St. bridge, etc.
Let's go through an example together. At the time of writing this blog, THIS VIDEO was our last Council meeting from 12.12.23. Without going through every agenda item, I'll comment on three big ones. RES 23-645 was a hopeful way to start the meeting. I am excited about this project! Affordable housing is one my most passionate platform points. We need it. This area is in need of development. I have high hopes for it. Councilmen Stephenson & Buelow summed up my feelings. I would also have voted aye.
RES 23-649 is the scorcher. Wow. Since I'm not limited to five minutes of talk time or the need to stick to the resolution discussion, I'm going to go back to the start. The City one big mistake right away that seemed to blow this ordeal out of proportion: lackluster communication. This is touched on through public comment and Council statements, but the 1000 ft. radius notifications should have been extended to 3000 ft or more, and it should have been done so much earlier. Unless my information is wrong, because no I haven't watched every meeting or read all of the minutes about this subject yet, I don't believe there was any special treatement for notifications with this project. Please correct me if you have information that I'm not privy to, or that I haven't read yet. That's how I learn.
I feel the frustration of people living there that this project seems like it was literally dumped in their backyards with almost no community imput. I would be mad if I lived there, too. This gets back to another platform point that every person running for Council will have: communication. So far in my meetings with my fellow citizens who are running in this race, DJ Nichols has described best what he means by this. He told me a story about roadwork being done in his neighborhood and how almost nobody had gotten notice about it from the City prior to the start of the project. He and I agree, our communications policies and procedures need to be updated! Citizens deserve to know what's happening in their neighborhood well ahead of time, and if it's a huge project like what's happening on Butte des Mortes, then community listening sessions need to be put forth early and often.
Image from Pg. 2 of the 3.07.23 Plan Commission Staff Report
Now that I've made that point about communication, let's talk about why I also would have voted aye on the resolution. For starters, this resolution was only to make the development four stories instead of three. It was not to start the project over or make additional changes. The project is happening, and in order for it to have been financially possible for the developers, it needed to be four stories. My sentements for RES 23-645 are echoed here. We need the housing. Have you read my housing crisis blog? Moving on, as Bill Miller so elloquently put it, we can "tax the hell out of the developers" on this project. We need the revenue to fund city projects. This is a smart way to get it without hitting our tax bills. This area is ripe for development. You only have to look at how much the area around Festival Foods has grown up and Omro Rd. has changed over the last 30 years to get an idea of what might happen in this area next. Just look at the economic impact the City is reaping from Oshkosh Ave. develpment since the sale of the old Municipal golf course in the late teens. Growth has to happen somewhere. Oshkosh cannot afford to be seen, at large, as a city that is unfriendly to developers. We will get left behind. I don't want my home to be looked over the next time GOEDC or the Chamber tries to court a new big employer offering high-paying jobs. Don't you remember businesses like Oshkosh B'Gosh or Square-D that took the low road south of the border with NAFTA in the 90s? Not so long ago Oshkosh had a robust middle class. Much has been eroded, but I believe it can be built back up. Projects like this lay a firm foundation to support the workforce.
Lastly, there's further discussion on how to allocate our remaining ARPA funds in the latter half of the video. I fall in the middle here. I was a nonprofit Executive Director once upon a time. The abilities of board and staff members to write grants and apply for all sorts of funding varies widely. People will take as much time as they are given, and the wheels of government turn slowly. The 75/25 policy was brilliant. Time is ticking though, and 2024 will come and go in the blink of an eye. I would give community organizations (since the 25 isn't just for nonprofits) until Friday March 1st to apply. What funds can't be given to these groups should immediately be allocated back to City projects. This is a City communication issue again. If they are going to do it, then news to apply needs to go out loudly and clearly for all to hear right away.
I'm not a Councilman yet. Today I'm just Kristopher, and as a voter I want to elect candidates who demonstrate their wherewithal on important subject matters. That's why I interact with you and listen to public statements. It's why I watch videos, talk with past and present Councilors, read minutes, and write these blogs. I want you to know that I care. This is hard work worth doing.
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