Protest Vote On Akcess (AKA Gotta Have Faith)

I was the only member of the Common Council to vote No on the Akcess Acquisition Group's plan to put an office building and hotel/restaurant (Supple Group developers) on the Fox river. It was mostly a protest vote, as the real vote on the office building was when we voted on the "revised term sheet" agreement with Akcess in July. For the Council to turn down the project at this point, said the city attorney, could be a breach of contract. So even though the words "office building" and "hotel/restaurant" appear nowhere in the term sheet, it was the vote on that term sheet that constituted agreement to them.

The office and hotel/restaurant may end up being successful. Jay Supple said that the hotel may include a Montreal Bread Company, a European style deli which his restaurant group is opening in Milwaukee's old third ward. A Montreal Bread Company would represent at least something unique about the development.

I had several problems with the proposal that resulted in the protest no vote:

*We approved the proposal as part of our "Consent Agenda." Consent agenda items, unless they are laid over, get only one reading. Because the office building and hotel/restaurant were actually approved during a term sheet vote in which the project names do not appear, the public never had a meaningful chance to talk to the council about the projects when it mattered. In that sense, this process was as closed and sneaky as the ill-fated "Five Rivers Resort" fiasco.

*As of Tuesday's meeting, the Akcess group says that it has one "letter of intent" from a financial institution to move into the office building (even if that's true, do we really need a bank on the river?). Other pledges, we were told, were waiting for the Council approval of the project (even though it's now agreed to by everyone that the July vote WAS the approval). But even if Akcess succeeds in getting tenants, by their own admission the tenants will largely be drawn from already existing space in town. We are told that when that happens, the owners of the newly open space will be forced to upgrade in order to compete. Interesting theory, but not realistic given the state of the economy and the fact that it's hard to find examples of such a thing anywhere in the country.


*We already have one failed hotel downtown. I think the Supple Group can make a new hotel work, but I simply think we needed more evidence to support the claim that it can. Especially since we do not have a commercial airport in Oshkosh, I am struggling to understand why someone would fly into Outagamie, drive out of a city (Appleton) that has lots of great restaurants and a nightlife, to stay in an expensive hotel in Oshkosh located next to an office building. The hotel will probably have no problem getting guests during EAA, but what will happen during all other times of the year? Let's hope for the best.

*The Department of Community Development went out of its way to argue that this development does not come with the financial risks that plagued the 100 block of North Main St. project. I don't think a convincing case was ever made to that effect, but let's assume for the sake of argument that the Ackess proposal carries no financial risks at all. I argued at the meeting that financial is only one kind of risk a city council needs to be concerned with. The other is "quality of life" risk. If in several years we are left with underutilized buildings on prime riverfront property, that is a real quality of life issue.

One snag that may get in the way of all of this is environmental remediation of the site. Mr. Kinney tried to assure us that this will not be a problem. Like every other part of this project, we just have to have faith that he is right. This is, after all, a classic case of faith based river development.

$17.2 Million For Nothing

Legislative inaction on the state budget has cost the taxpayers $17.2 million in salaries, fringe benefits, and other costs, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

One of the great ironies of the impasse is that, since Wisconsin's governor has virtual dictatorial control over the budget and can use his "Frankenstein Veto" to crunch the numbers however he sees fit to do so, the legislative wrangling is largely hot air. Or worse, it is the most vile kind of "bumper sticker politics" designed to put up a front of loyalty to the monied interests needed during reelection time.

It's hard to imagine a more rotten system.

Lemberger on Outsourcing

UWO Education Professor/Oshkosh Northwestern community columnist John Lemberger had an excellent piece on outsourcing in yesterday's paper. Money quote:

It is important to understand with the implementation of GATT, NAFTA, and CAFTA, American workers have also outlived our usefulness to corporations. Off-shoring is the modern version of being “sold down the river.” For all the grit and determination of the American worker (we are the most productive in the world), we are simply too expensive. We expect safe workplaces, decent housing, healthcare and pensions. In China there are plenty of workers who have had these expectations beaten out of them.

Palmeri on Friday WPR "Week in Review"

I will be the "liberal" guy opposite UW Madison History Professor John Sharpless (the "conservative" guy) on Friday's WPR "Week In Review" with Joy Cardin from 8 - 9 a.m.

John Sharpless earned 49% of the vote against incumbent Tammy Baldwin in the year 2000 election to represent Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district.

You can call in to the show at 1-800-642-1234 (263-1890 if you are in Madison).

Rock 'n Roll Founders

I must say that YouTube is helping to make my "Rhetoric of Rock Music" course more enjoyable this semester. This week in class we've been talking about some of the rhythym and blues artists that really were the founding fathers and mothers of rock and roll. Most of them were performing and recording well before Elvis Presley or Bill Hailey and the Comets, and include

the great Louis Jordan


Big Joe Turner


Ruth Brown


Louis Prima