Dilbertian Goals Completed

Readers of this blog know that last year's Oshkosh Common Council put forth nine goals for the City Manager to accomplish for 2007. Two of the goals were to be accomplished by May 1:

Goal #4: By May 1, establish a highly visible public comment and suggestion station that will encourage citizen feedback. Also work with the IT staff to develop a Web-base public comment and suggestion system within that time frame.

Goal #6: By May 1, have developed and implemented a more citizen-friendly way for citizens to sign up and serve on City boards and commissions.

Although it's still not clear why relatively simple tasks like these would be part of a CEO's goals for the year, I'm pleased to say they have been accomplished. There's now a suggestion station in City Hall, and a comment box on the city's website.

It's now also somewhat easier to sign up for City boards and commissions (though I'm not sure it's easier to serve), with application forms more easily available online.

Yesterday the Oshkosh Northwestern had a story and editorial commemorating the completion of these Dilbertian goals.

A majority of the current Council refuses to discuss the goals in public, which is too bad because I was going to move to amend them to require that by June 1st the City Manager attach a big smiley face to the suggestion table. Oh well, there's always next year.

Media Rant: Shame On NBC

My May Media Rant is a criticism of [what I see as] the shameful manner in which NBC handled the Virginia Tech killer's "Manifesto."

Shame on NBC

by Tony Palmeri

A colleague at UW Oshkosh used to conduct an activity in one of her courses designed to demonstrate the unreliability of eyewitness recollections. She would recruit a student to enter her classroom unannounced and fire a loud toy cap gun into the air. After allowing everyone a split second glance at him, the “shooter” would flea. When the students’ shock subsided, they were asked to describe the shooter. Sure enough, in a classroom of 25 students there would be close to 25 different descriptions.

After Columbine my colleague ceased conducting the cap gun activity. The omnipresent threat of real violence takes the fun out of such exercises, and the learning outcomes produced pale in comparison to the high anxiety left behind.

After Virginia Tech school populations across the land might be that much more jittery, wondering whether to worry about the overly silent student in the back of the room, daydreaming while contemplating how to block a door or jump out of a classroom window when the shooting starts, and overreacting to any behavior or statement suggestive of a troubled individual in the midst. Were it not for the ease with which any individual in America can obtain a firearm, we might say that such post-traumatic stress disorder style reactions sound unreasonable. But since it’s easier to buy a gun than it is to adopt a puppy (the humane society usually consults character references before turning an animal over to just anyone), such reactions are reasonable indeed.

What’s not reasonable is the behavior of corporate media in response to such tragedies. Fiction writer Lionel Shriver, whose best selling We need to talk about Kevin deals with a high school assassin, in a Washington Post op-ed eloquently captured the problem with media “coverage” of school tragedies:

Even more than these gruesomely gratuitous incidents themselves, I have come to dread the campus shooting's ritual media aftermath -- a secondary wave of atrocity, all conducted under the guise of grief, soul-searching concern and an ostensible determination to ensure that no demented loner ever opens fire on his classmates again. Yet the bloated photographs on front pages, the repeating loops of interviews on cable news, the postings of warped creative writing assignments on the Web, and perhaps above all the airing of Cho's self-pitying, quasi-messianic video clips on every network all help ensure that similar incidents will indeed recur -- and soon.

Shriver’s “secondary wave of atrocity” covers all media outlets, but in the case of the Virginia Tech tragedy the behavior of NBC news was especially shameful. The news executives, who just a week previously in the wake of the Don Imus firing promised to be more thoughtful stewards of public discourse, displayed an amazing lack of judgment in the manner in which they released portions of a multimedia package sent to them by the Virginia Tech killer. The best statement I saw on this matter appeared on an Internet discussion list for Communication Studies professionals, and was written by University of Colorado emeritus professor John Bowers:

Let's discuss NBC News and its treatment of the multimedia package it received from the Virginia Tech killer.

Brian Williams introduced the material with a statement of NBC News' awareness that the messages were from a murderer. He went no further in analyzing the implications of NBC's coverage.

If I were planning an analogous massacre, these are some of the lessons I'd infer from tonight's NBC News broadcast:

(1) After I carry out the massacre and suicide, NBC News will broadcast pretty much anything I say, emphasizing pictorial material, if I give the package to them exclusively. (2) My story will lead that evening's coverage and will occupy at least half of a thirty-minute program even if other stories, including Iraq war stories, involve greater loss of human life. (3) NBC's coverage will include my own statements of ideology. (4) NBC's coverage will include my statements of solidarity with like-minded persons. (5) NBC's coverage will broadcast my message in multiple venues, including at least the Evening News and the Today Show. (6) NBC will extend the coverage of my message over multiple days.

Two other inferences that are slightly more subtle: (7) NBC's use of my material in general will reinforce my tacit view that a capitalistic media organization will broadcast almost anything if the material promises a substantial competitive advantage, even a temporary competitive advantage, over rivals. (8) Given the exploitative nature of the coverage, NBC News will try to dissociate itself from my views in order to conceal the exploitation, but NBC's empty disclaimers will ring falsely for many viewers.

Professor Bowers’ comments about the nature of a capitalistic media organization rings especially true when considering the strict rules NBC made competitors follow in order to broadcast the killer’s “manifesto” on their own networks. According to the New York Times, competitors were sent rules that said “No Internet use. No archival use. Do not resell,” and “Mandatory credit; NBC News.” We know that media corporations are bottom-line outfits of the worst kind, but it’s still shocking that even they could choose to exploit one of the worst tragedies in the history of the nation as a “media exclusive.”

Shame on NBC.

Mission Accomplished - 4 Years Later

Nicholas Riehl of Shiocton on Monday became the latest Wisconsin soldier to die in George W. Bush's war in Iraq. As we mourn the dead, let's not forget that it was 4 years ago to the day that the President announced that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."

Threats Quiet Female Bloggers

Anyone who has blogged for any period of time knows what it is like to receive nasty, hostile, harassing, and threatening email comments. According to this piece in today's Washington Post, the problem appears to be worse for female bloggers:

A 2006 University of Maryland study on chat rooms found that female participants received 25 times as many sexually explicit and malicious messages as males. A 2005 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that the proportion of Internet users who took part in chats and discussion groups plunged from 28 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2005, entirely because of the exodus of women. The study attributed the trend to "sensitivity to worrisome behavior in chat rooms."

Joan Walsh, editor in chief of the online magazine Salon, said that since the letters section of her site was automated a year and a half ago, "it's been hard to ignore that the criticisms of women writers are much more brutal and vicious than those about men."

I don't think anyone ever expected blogs to be saviors of democracy, but on the other hand it's depressing to have to come to grips with the possibility that blogs may actually succeed in decreasing public participation as a result of trollism and harassment.

Two Editorials Worth Reading

Two good editorial have appeared in the Oshkosh Northwestern over the last two days. The first, "Amphitheater needs more civic exposure," makes a plea for the city to take some long overdue action to ensure greater community use of the Leach facility. I urge citizens interested in this issue to contact me and/or other Councilors. The more people come forward to express dissatisfaction with what is happening (or not happening) with the Leach, the more likely a majority of the Council and city administration will act.

The second editorial, "Caution needed before teeing up TIFs on fairways for development," may represent the first time in the history of the paper that an editorial raises some healthy skepticism about a Tax Incremental Financing proposal. I don't know what kind of case the developers will make, and of course we need to keep our minds open to all possibilities, but on the surface it would seem almost absurd to even suggest that TIF could be used to redevelop golf course land. I'm looking forward to hearing the arguments in open session.

Maybe she'll get the key to Oshkosh?

The Associated Press is reporting today that Marilee Jones, "a prominent crusader against the pressure on students to build their resumes for elite colleges, resigned Thursday as Dean of Admissions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology after acknowledging that she had misrepresented her own academic credentials."

I'm not sure if Jones flies planes, but if she does there's a strong chance she could end up as a key to the city of Oshkosh recipient.

Racism and the National Anthem

Earlier this month I read a piece by musician Thomas Dolby about racism and the national anthem and am just now getting around to blogging about it. In the piece, Dolby recounts a rehearsal session with Stevie Wonder in preparation for the 1985 Grammy Awards. If what Stevie Wonder told Dolby is correct, Marvin Gaye was banned from television after his performance of the national anthem at the 1983 NBA All Star game. Here's the way Dolby tells it:

I eventually tracked Stevie down. He was all alone, in an attic-like room on the top floor of the building filled with old files and papers. He was on his knees, playing a beaten-up upright piano.

I announced my presence, and reminded him we had an anthem to record. He asked if I had any ideas for it. I said, what about a really slow sexy groove on a drum machine, and really spread it out? Stevie thought for a moment, then said 'uh-uh. Marvin tried that one time man. He sang it that way at an NBA all-star game, and you know what? he never got on TV again until the day he died. Because all the network executives couldn't handle a black man singing a sexy soul version of the National Anthem.'

Looking at the video of Marvin Gaye's performance (see below), it's hard to imagine a better version of the national anthem.

Akcess Group VP Speaks

Yesterday Jeff Bollier of the Oshkosh Northwestern facilitated this online chat with Akcess Acquisition Group VP Tim Rikkers. The paper summarized the chat here.

Last night Doug Pearson of CHAMCO told the Common Council that it must have not only the courage to say yes to developments that will help Oshkosh, but also the courage to say no to projects that will not--even if we run the risk of being labeled "anti-development."

It's much too early to tell whether the Akcess proposal will warrant a yes or no.

CHAMCO and OAEDC at Tuesday Council Meeting

After this coming Tuesday's Oshkosh Common Council meeting, the Council will meet in open workshop with representatives of CHAMCO and the Oshkosh Area Economic Development Corporation (OAEDC). Are there questions that you think the Council should pose to either or both organizations? You can post them here, email me at tpalmeri@ci.oshkosh.wi.us, or call me at 235-1116. (I welcome email, but remember that under state law all email correspondence with an elected official is potentially open to public inspection.).

The Lost Art of Great Speechmaking

Writing in today's London Guardian, Simon Schama laments the loss of great political speechmaking in the digital age. His focus is mostly on British oratory, but applies the critique also to the US:

Tony Blair's epideictic performance at the Labour Party conference last year won admiration even from his foes, but by and large the digital age is cool to rhetoric and, as the enthronement of the blogger suggests, prizes incoherent impulse over the Ciceronian arts of the exordium and the peroration.

State of the Nation addresses to the US Congress - that theatre of sob-sisters and ra-ra patriotism - most usually confuse passion with sentimentality, and since they are worked up by industrial teams of speechwriters, lack one of the elements thought indispensable to great oratory: integrity of personal conviction, the sound of what Cicero, following the Greeks, called ethos.

The robotically choreographed antics in which Democrats and Republicans alternate standing o's every five minutes is the opposite of the free-spirited audiences Cicero had in mind submitting themselves to the persuader's art.

True public eloquence presupposes a citizen-audience gathered into a republic of listening. But our oral age is i-Podded for our customised egos, an audience of one. Headphone listening seals us off, cuts connections.

The good news is that the great art of speechmaking is still taught. Case in point: this semester I am teaching a course called "Foundations of Speech Communication." In the course, students learn about the theories of rhetoric espoused by Aristotle, Cicero, and others. The course assignments include composing manuscript speeches that make use of the traditional "arts of rhetoric" including the development of appeals based on personal character (ethos), emotion (pathos), reasoning (logos), urgency (kairos), and more. Much time in the course is spent on using creative language (schemes and tropes).

Foundations of Speech Communication is a junior level course required for all Communication majors. Who knows, the next Churchill might be enrolled right now.

Marathon Organizational Meeting + Manager Goals

Today was the organizational meeting of the new Oshkosh Common Council. After Mayor Frank Tower, Bryan Bain, Jess King and I were sworn in, the new council elected Burk Tower to serve another term as deputy mayor, fixed our seating arrangements, discussed meeting rules, discussed the agenda format, discussed current procedures affecting citizen participation on boards and commissions, and discussed ideas for creating new task forces, boards and/or commissions. The entire meeting lasted almost 4 hours, and was cut off only because the access cable television technology was needed for the 4 p.m. Plan Commission meeting and Mayor Tower did not want any part of our discussion to go untelevised. On the agenda was a review of the city manager's goals for 2007-2008, but due to time constraints we did not have a lengthy discussion of them.

[Note on seating arrangements: Esslinger, Bain, McHugh, and B. Tower will all be sitting in the same seats as last council session. Frank Tower sits in the Mayor's chair vacated by Bill Castle. I sit in the chair filled last year by Meredith Scheuermann, and Jess King sits in the seat formerly held by Shirley Mattox.].

Some of my specific contributions to the meeting:

*I nominated Paul Esslinger to serve as deputy mayor. Bryan Bain nominated Burk Tower. Mr. Tower received 4 votes (in alphabetical order Bain, King, Frank Tower, Burk Tower). Esslinger received three votes (Esslinger, McHugh, Palmeri).
*I requested that the city administration place the cost of each item on the Consent Agenda next to its line on the actual agenda. Mr. Esslinger suggested that cost figures be placed next to each item on the agenda--not just the consent part--and the Council agreed. This will give citizens a much better idea of where tax dollars go, and (I hope) will develop more public trust in our budgeting. The cost figures should start appearing on the next agenda.
*Frank Tower and I advocated moving the Citizen Statements to the beginning of the meeting for the next 4 council meetings, but this was not supported by the council. Citizen statements will stay where they are.

As for the city manager's goals, there seemed to be great resistance offered from the returning members of the council (Bain, Esslinger, McHugh, B. Tower) to any discussion of the goals that might even imply a public performance evaluation of the manager.

I think there has to be a way to discuss the manager's goals without having to engage in a performance evaluation. Citizens who look at the goals immediately come to the conclusion that they are not acceptable, so if I have anything to say about it this topic is not going to go away. For those who have not seen them, here are the goals:

1. By July 1, 2007, and again by the end of February of 2008, prepare and give a "State of the City" address in which you outline the major accomplishments of the City during the past year, the major things you would like to see accomplished during the next year and your view of where you see the City headed (key concerns in need of attention and major things to get done) over the next 5 years.

2. Have each major department develop an "efficiency" team to meet periodically to identify and discuss ways for the department to become more efficient and effective in its delivery of services. Approaches to helping the City achieve a higher level of ecological sustainability should also be discussed. Please have a written summary of these efforts to date submitted to the Council each July.

3. Soon after submitting to the Council the 2008 preliminary budget, hold at least one community meeting to discuss the budget with the public prior to the Council budget workshops.

4. By May 1, establish a highly visible public comment and suggestion station that will encourage citizen feedback. Also work with the IT staff to develop a Web-base public comment and suggestion system within that time frame.

5. Have an annual report summarizing that year's progress in each of the City's TIF districts. The report should be submitted to the Council along with the preliminary budget for the following year.

6. By May 1, have developed and implemented a more citizen-friendly way for citizens to sign up and serve on City boards and commissions.

7. Continue to create standards to gauge each department's annual performance. Implement these standards in each City department such that all departments are completed by the end of the current City Manager contact (through 2008). Provide a memorandum detailing the implementation to the Council at the end of the current year. At least three additional departments should be completed by the end of 2007.

8. Prepare and distribute a mid-year memorandum to the Council reporting on the progress made on the thirteen high priority action items listed in the 2005 City of Oshkosh Comprehensive Plan. This could be an update of last year's July 19th memo on the same topic. Additionally, the memorandum is to identify two items from the list and a timeline for their completion. Completion of action items is a continuous goal through the completion of the Comprehensive Plan.

9. Have a copy of this list of goals put up on the City web site as soon as possible. Provide periodic updating of progress toward the accomplishment of each goal.
   

So Much For National Acts At Leach

Back in 2005, when the city of Oshkosh signed on PMI of Green Bay to manage the Leach Amphitheater, a main argument in support of the move was PMI's alleged power to bring national touring acts to Oshkosh. I remember members of the Common Council at the time articulating grand scenarios in which performers like Cher would come to Oshkosh, our hotels and motels would be filled, restaurants and other small businesses would prosper, and all would live happily ever after.

Last week PMI sent the city a statement of its plans for 2007. In it they claim that the following acts are "too expensive" to bring to the Leach:

*Crosby, Stills and Nash
*Steve Winwood
*Lindsey Buckingham
*Kenny Loggins

PMI says that "For clarification purposes acts we consider too expensive would need to sell a $40 + ticket and would need to generate over 4000 in paid admissions. These numbers are for a break even scenario not necessarily a profit for PMI."

Back in 2005 a management selection steering committee and then the Common Council rejected an offer by the local Supple Group to manage the facility. Supple may not have been the best choice to manage the facility, but it's looking like they understood the Leach facility much better than PMI. Back in 2005 Jay Supple wrote an op-ed for the Oshkosh Northwestern in which he said that in selecting PMI because of its reputation for attracting top touring acts, the steering committee betrayed a "fundamental misconception of the purpose behind this facility: a venue created by the community, serviced by the community, and with access for the community."

Palmeri On Friday Week In Review

On Friday the 13th, I will be the "liberal" guest on Joy Cardin's "Week in Review" on Wisconsin Public Radio. The program will air from 8 - 9 a.m.

The "conservative" guest will be UW Madison law professor Ann Althouse.

University Conflict of Interest?

At Tuesday's Common Council meeting, Burk Tower and Bryan Bain voted "present" on two issues because they claimed that their employment at UW Oshkosh presented a potential conflict. One issue dealt with approving university run parking meters, the other was the hotel-motel room tax increase. Apparently the hotel-motel tax presented a potential conflict because monies raised from the tax might be used someday for assisting in the remodeling of Titan Stadium.

I can appreciate Tower's and Bain's desire to avoid even a suspicion of conflict, but I think their non-votes on these two matters represents a serious misreading of state law. As of April 17 there will be three university employees on the council, so it is vital that we get some clarity on what the law actually states. I'll take a preliminary stab at the matter here, but I suspect that ultimately we will need to request formal legal advice.

The key state statutes relating to conflicts of interest for elected officials can be found in chapter 19. As summarized by the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, chapter 19 prohibits the following conduct:

1. Use of Office for Private Gain. Public officials are prohibited from using their offices to obtain financial gain or anything of substantial value for the private benefit of themselves, their immediate families, or organizations with which they are associated.

2. Offering or Receiving Anything of Value. No person may give and no public official may receive "anything of value" if it could reasonably be expected to influence the local public official's vote, official action or judgment, or could reasonably be considered as a reward for any official action or inaction.

3. Taking Action Affecting a Matter in Which Official Has Financial Interest. Local officials may not take official action substantially affecting a matter in which the official, an immediate family member, or an organization with which the official is associated has a substantial financial interest. Nor may an official use his or her office in a way that produces or assists in the production of a substantial benefit for the official, immediate family member or organization with which the official is associated.

Where the confusion comes in is in the line "organization with which the official is associated." Clearly Tower and Bain have been urged or decided on their own to interpret that as meaning that merely being employed by an organization affected by a resolution or ordinance is enough to warrant abstention from voting. But statute 19.42(2) says that "'Associated', when used with reference to an organization, includes any organization in which an individual or a member of his or her immediate family is a director, officer or trustee, or owns or controls, directly or indirectly, and severally or in the aggregate, at least 10% of the outstanding equity or of which an individual or a member of his or her immediate family is an authorized representative or agent." Curt Wytinski, legal counsel for The League of Wisconsin Municipalities, says that "An individual is not associated with an organization merely because the individual is a member or employe of an organization or business."

No Councilor should vote on anything that makes them uncomfortable. On the other hand, I am concerned that a misreading of state law can have the effect of disenfranchising an elected official for no good reason while at the same time denying citizens the representation to which they are entitled.

With the university now potentially involved in the redevelopment of the riverfront, it is critical that the conflict issues be resolved. I did mention this matter to city attorney Warren Kraft last week, and he said that he will be looking into it.

From Eyes on the Prize to Eyes on the Text

I've had a few people ask me to comment on the recent controversy over the UW Oshkosh Advance-Titan's April Fool's satire issue. The facts of the matter along with editorial comment and discussion can be found on Lake Winneblogo here and here, along with Miles Maguire here. The Oshkosh Northwestern has a thread on the matter at their community forum.

My academic research area is known as "rhetorical criticism," so I can certaintly understand and appreciate the desire to interpret and evaluate media texts. Provoking people to think about the social, political, etc. implications of something like the AT April Fool's issue is a good thing.

The problem I have is that, when it comes to the movement for social justice in America, textual criticism seems to have replaced old fashioned organizing as a method for making change. People who 40 years ago might have been knocking on their neighbor's door to coax them to come to a rally, or distributing leaflets in a public space, or pursuing any number of grassroots organizing activities, might today be found spending unlimited time and energy deconstructing a text. A waste of time? No. Helpful in building a broad based human rights movement in America? Marginally.

For what it's worth, current AT editor Stephanie Barnard is the most liberal/progressive individual I have seen in that position in my 18 years on the campus. Perhaps because we are living in the era of keeping our eyes on the text instead of the prize, it's difficult for individuals sincerely interested in making ours a more just campus to recognize who our allies are.

What To Do With Citizen Statements?

The new Oshkosh Common Council will be sworn in on April 17th at noon. After the swearing in, we will have our organizational meeting. One item that I know will be discussed is citizen statements. The current policy is this:

Individuals speaking to the Council under the heading "Citizen Statements" are limited to five (5) minutes; must address items that are not listed on the Council meeting agenda, are limited to issues that have an impact on the city of Oshkosh and that the Common Council may address at a future meeting, and must not include endorsements of any candidates or other electioneering. (NOTE: Exception to the five (5) minutes may be made at the discretion of the Council.).

Do you like the current policy? If not, what changes do you suggest?

Currently, the Citizen statements are heard at the end of the meeting. Sometimes citizens have to wait as long as 2-3 hours (or longer) make their statement. Should the citizen statements be moved to the beginning of the meeting, as was the case many years ago?

Living, Learning Community Back In Play?

Back around 2002, when UW Oshkosh Chancellor Rick Wells first floated the idea of a "Living, Learning and Serving Community" (LLSC) as a possibility for riverfront development, the conventional wisdom was that the idea was dead on arrival. City leaders did not appear to take the idea seriously, choosing instead to take us on a prolonged and painful excursion into the depths of the Five Rivers Resort proposal.

Now the learning community idea has resurfaced, according to a university press release reprinted on the Oshblog. The campus also released a memorandum of understanding between UWO and private developers along with this announcement.

During the recent campaign, I expressed support for the idea of a living, learning community in Eye on Oshkosh and Oshkosh Northwestern interviews and other places. My support is based on my understanding of the LLSC as a mixed-use development that could integrate residential units, retail and other businesses, entertainment and educational options in a unique manner that could have positive consequences for the local economy.

Of course, it is much too early to say if I will support the LLSC envisioned in the press releases linked above. The developers will have to make a strong case as to why their LLSC project can succeed in Oshkosh, while requests for public support must be scrutinized closely.

And needless to say, any attempts to shroud negotiations with the developer(s) under a veil of unnecessary secrecy will doom the project.

Finally, take a look at Dr. Michael Burayidi's op-ed, "Waterfront proposal on right track but city must not give away too much."

Thank You!

I want to thank all of the citizens of Oshkosh for their support. I look forward to working with the new Common Council and city administration. If we work together and stay focused, I'm confident we can provide the people with a government that is open, forward looking, and responsive.

A special thanks to all of my campaign volunteers for their hard work and encouragement. When more than a dozen people went out in sub-zero temperatures and placed yard signs in the ground with cordless drills, I knew I had a chance to win.

Thanks again, Oshkosh. Please never hesitate to email (tony@tonypalmeri.com) or call me at 235-1116.

Surprising Endorsements?

Close to a dozen people today have called, emailed or stopped me on the street to express surprise at the Oshkosh Northwestern's editorial endorsing my candidacy for Oshkosh Common Council. Miles Maguire wonders if the endorsement is "either a big April Fool's joke or (more likely) a sign of how ready this community is for a change in elected leadership." I guess we'll know on Tuesday night if it's the latter.

Who knows, maybe the Northwestern editorial board simply thought I was a strong candidate based on my answers to their 10 questions, editorial board interview, and participation in their community forum. The newspaper has been clear in the last few months that the City Hall establishment needs to be sent a message on election day; Stew Rieckman's column today indicates that the establishmentarians have now taken to an eleventh hour cheap-shot-red -herring effort to derail my chances.

I've also been formally endorsed by:
*The Lake Winnebago Green Party
*The Winnebago County Democratic Party
*Oshkosh Firefighters Local 316
*The Winnebago County Labor Council

None of these endorsements should be surprising given what I have stood for in the past and during this campaign.

I have received no financial support from any organization that has endorsed me. My main request of all of them was simply to get the word out to their membership and provide volunteers to help with grassroots campaign activities like literature drops.

Two other organizations I interviewed with but did not receive endorsements from were the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Winnebago County Realtors Association.

It sounds like a cliche', but ultimately the only endorsement that matters is the endorsement of the voters on election day.

Please vote on April 3!

Public Radio and the Wisconsin Idea

My latest Media Rant, a review of Randall Davidson's excellent book on the history of educational radio in Wisconsin, can be found here.

City Manager Goals

Early verdicts on the Common Council's evaluation of the City Manager and 2007 goals are in. Miles Maguire says that the delay in getting the goals to the city's website is "one of those small things that is emblematic of something larger." Amen, brother.

In the euphemism of the year category, the Oshkosh Northwestern calls the targets set for Mr. Wollangk "less-than-inspiring." Sure makes you wonder what was going on in that series of closed, executive session meetings the council had on the topic.

We can and must do better. Please vote on April 3.

An Excellent Choice For COLS Dean

UW Oshkosh Provost Lane Earns announced yesterday that Dr. John Koker has accepted an offer to become Dean of the College of Letters and Science. Dr. Koker has been serving as interim Dean this year.

A professor of mathematics, John Koker joined the UW Oshkosh faculty in 1991. He earned his B.A. from St. Nortbert College, M.S. from Purdue, and Ph.D from UW-Milwaukee. He has served as Chair of the Math Department and Director of the Math Tutor Lab.

What I like most about John Koker is his dedication to teaching excellence. In 2002 he received the UW Oshkosh Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest recognition for teaching on our campus. Then in 2006 he received the Board of Regents Teaching Excellence Award, the highest recognition for teaching in the UW System.

Dr. Koker's scholarly and professional credentials are equally impressive. At UW Oshkosh (as with all comprehensive universities), there exists disagreement about how to define professional and scholarly development. Dr. Koker strikes me as a problem solver who can help work through disagreements in this area.

Finally, it is worth noting that John Koker has acted in several productions at the UW Oshkosh Fredric March Theater. That suggests that he is a mathematician who not only can count, but can be counted on to support all forms of campus creativity.

Many thanks to the COLS Dean Search and Screen Committee for the time and effort they put into the process.

My answers to the Progress Oshkosh questions

Here's a summary of what I said at the Progress Oshkosh forum last night. I spoke extemporaneously, so my summaries are not completely verbatim.

Opening Statement:

I'm Tony Palmeri and I'm asking for your support on April 3.

In my opening statement I want to focus on the word "progressive." Progressive cities have three things going for them: strong schools, strong neighborhoods, and a government that is open, forward looking, and responsive.

In Oshkosh we are lucky to have strong schools, including the great UW Oshkosh at which we are having the forum.

We have some strong neighborhoods, but this is an area that needs work. Deferred maintenance and neglect have created a situation in which we have too much inequality between neighborhoods.

And unfortunately, we do not have a government that is open, forward looking, and responsive. In fact, I am running for office this year because our government is closed, backward looking, and unresponsive.

As an 18 year resident of this city, and as someone with a reputation for asking tough questions designed to hold local leaders accountable, I'm running to open up our government, promote a forward looking agenda, and make City Hall responsive to citizens at the grassroots level--including organizations like Progress Oshkosh.

Please vote for Tony Palmeri on April 3.

Question 1: How do you feel the accoutability of the city manager should be evaluated? Has the council done an adequate job of assessing the performance of the city manager and providing substantive feedback to the community?

Palmeri statement: The Council/Manager form of government is based on a corporate model in which the City Manager is the Chief Executive Officer, the Common Council are the Board of Directors, and the people are the Shareholders.

As I've campaigned around town, the shareholders are telling me they have little confidence in the Board of Directors or the CEO. The shareholders want accountability.

At a minimum, we need to have an annual shareholder's meeting at which the people get to provide the Board of Directors with feedback on how things are going in City Hall. We also need to sponsor a survey, perhaps created by the Center For Community Partnerships right here at UW Oshkosh, that could be used to provide continuous feedback.

Those of you who support the Council/Manager form of government need to understand that if the Common Council does not address the problem of lack of leadership in the city, we are on the brink of a shareholder revolt. I'm hearing more talk of support for an executive style mayor with veto power. People are upset--I'm tired of hearing things are okay when they are obviously not.

(Note: In my one-minute rebuttal, I pointed out that the City Council will tonight vote to give the City Manager a two-percent raise in spite of a series of mishaps in the last year including Five Rivers, lack of information in the CRL/Ganther connection, and others. I said that in my classes at UW Oshkosh, my students have to meet a minimum standard to get a "C." I'm anxious to hear how the Council justifies the raise.).

Question 2: The city has already used tax incremental financing to facilitate much of the improvement in the Marion Road redevelopment area. How much of an additional role should TIF funds play in any future development proposal for the Fox riverfront in that location?

Palmeri statement: I will support any Tax Incremental Financing project as long as two criteria are met. First, the project must have community support. Second, the project must meet the "but, for" standard established in state law, which says that TIF should only be employed if development would not take place without it. I think these are two very reasonable criteria.

Here's the problem: Appleton has about 6 open TIF districts, Neenah has about 4. Oshkosh has about 17! That means that Oshkosh is perceived by developers as a TIF candy store in which the sweets are given out very freely.

I want to close the candy store. What we need to do is use TIF as a kind of leverage in negotiating with developers. We need to ask developers what they are willing to do for the TIF. Create living wage jobs? Use green building principles? Engage the community in some meaningful way? Contribute money toward lighting our bridges?

TIF was never meant to be a development sweetener. Let's close the candy store and use TIF as leverage to make sure we get developers on the riverfront or anywhere else in the city to give us something worthwhile in return.

Question 3: Do you support public funding for a bridge lighting beautification project in Oshkosh? If so, how would you propose paying for the city's share?

Palmeri statement: We've had several forums during the campaign season. I think every candidate up here has said that they would like to do something about poverty, about implementing the city's downtown action plan, and fixing the torn up streets. All of these will cost money.

Every candidate has also acknowledged that the state has placed us under strict levy limits and that we will be facing another difficult, tight budget this year.

Under those conditions, how could anyone possibly sit up here and tell you they will support public funding for a bridge beautification project? It's just not going to happen under our current budget constraints.

I do think it is time to start asking some of our local big box retailers to step up to the plate. These businesses make extraordinary profits in the city, and then take most of those profits out of the city.

Why not recruit Wal-Mart to pay for bridge beautification? They could even turn it into an advertising campaign: "Wal-Mart builds dreams and lights bridges."

In all seriousness, I encourage Progress Oshkosh and other organizations to urge major businesses in town--especially those who make huge profits while providing jobs that pay less than family supporting wages and benefits--to demonstrate their commitment to this city by supporting bridge beautification and other projects.

Closing Statement:

I want to thank Progress Oshkosh for sponsoring this forum tonight. I want you to know that I strongly support your organization's four main principles.

You believe in accountable government. I believe in that too, which is why I have called for greater openness in local government along with with rigorous evaluation of the city administration.

You believe in public, private, nonprofit partnerships. I do too, which is why I think we need to clean up City Hall. It's very difficult to get quality private sector entities to partner with the public sector when the latter is in disarray. Let's clean up our public mess and we will have a much easier time partnering with the private and nonprofit sectors.

You believe in quality of life. I believe that we need to ensure the highest quality of life for all of our citizens, which is why I've called for the creation of a Blue Ribbon Commission, co-chaired by our former mayors, to study the issue of poverty in our community and make recommendations for dealing with it.

You believe in Economic Development. So do I, which is why I have called for the creation of an Economic Development Commission that would bring together the various economic development entities in the city and arrive at a sense of what kinds of developments the citizens want and will support. Our current "faith based" model of economic development is broken, mostly because it leaves citizens out of the process and creates long term cynicism about projects that are perceived as benefiting city hall insiders instead of the people at-large.

You will not always agree with me--that's clear. But with me you will have a straight shooter on the council, and you will always know where I stand.

I ask for your support on April 3.

Progress Oshkosh Forum Tonight

Progress Oshkosh’s candidate forum is scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Reeve Memorial Union Theater. The forum is open to the public.

Common council and mayoral candidates will begin at 6 p.m., and will be followed by school board candidates at about 7:15 to 7:30 p.m. The university staff and public safety office will be clearing parking lots #15, 32 and 34 for use without a permit for the evening of the forum only.

Each candidate will be allowed two minutes for an introduction and opening statement. Then three separate questions will be asked, with each candidate allowed two minutes to respond. Following each round of candidate responses, everyone will receive an additional minute for rebuttal. The forum will end with each candidate afforded two minutes for a closing statement.

A random drawing will determine the order of response for the first question. The sequence will be reversed for the second question, and then scrambled for the third question.

Three questions for the Oshkosh Common Council and Mayoral candidates

1. How do you feel the accountability of the city manager should be evaluated? Has the council done an adequate job of assessing the performance of the city manager and providing substantive feedback to the community?

2. The city has already used tax incremental financing to facilitate much of the improvement in the Marion Road Redevelopment area. How much of an additional role should TIF funds play in any future development proposal for the Fox River front in that location?

3. Do you support public funding for a bridge lighting beautification project in Oshkosh? If so, how would you propose paying for the city’s share?

Three questions for the Oshkosh Area Board of Education candidates

1. How do you feel the accountability of the superintendent and administrative staff should be evaluated? Has the board done an adequate job of assessing the performance of district leadership and providing substantive feedback to the community?

2. What is the most critical issue the district's long-range facilities plan should accomplish, and how will you keep the long-range facilities planning process moving forward?

3. What do you feel the school board’s role should be in fostering public-private partnerships to address the capital improvement demands the district will face in coming years?

An Adam Sandler Film Worth Seeing

Had a chance to see Reign Over Me recently, and was quite impressed with it. For years I had feared that "Love, Reign O'er Me"--my favorite Who song and arguably one of the top 10 rock songs of all time--would find its way into an awful movie (I've never seen "Quadrophenia," the 1979 film based on the Who's 1973 rock opera that includes the song.). Thankfully, "Reign Over Me" is an excellent film that matches the song's emotional intensity. (Pearl Jam does a decent cover of the song, but I was disappointed that the Pearl Jam version plays during the closing credits instead of the original Who version.).

"Reign Over Me" establishes Adam Sandler as a serious actor. Playing a 9/11 widower afflicted with a severe case of post traumatic stress disorder, Sandler as Charlie Fineman finds a way to transform his trademark goofiness into a mature portrayal of a troubled man. The on screen interaction of Fineman with his former dental school roommate Alan Johnson, played brilliantly by African-American actor Don Cheadle, has the humor of Gibson/Glover in the "Lethal Weapon" films but the poignancy of Steiger/Poitier in "In the Heat of the Night."

The film is far from perfect; the cluelessness of Fineman's in-laws doesn't make their forlorn stance very believable, and a Hollywoodish ending _almost_ runs the risk of robbing the film of its emotional depth. Perhaps I was too overcome by surprise at Sandler's performance to care very much about the film's shortcomings.

Kudos To and Advice For Cory Mason

As noted in the 53 to 56 blog, freshman Democratic State Rep. Cory Mason is proposing that the closed partisan caucuses--which in my judgement are the key reason why we are getting miserable government in Madison--be abolished.

Now for the advice. Mason must know that a bill proposing to open the closed caucuses will not get a serious hearing from the entrenched politicians in Madison. If he's sincere about wanting to end the closed caucuses, he should do two things:

1. Refuse to participate in a closed partisan caucus.

2. When his peers go into closed caucus, hold a "Peoples' Caucus" on the steps of the State Capitol. As time goes on, more and more people will attend the Peoples' Caucus, and the politicians will have no choice but to open the closed legislature.

Let me be clear: NO ONE is suggesting that the legislature should not be able to go into closed sessions for those narrow exemptions to the Open Meetings Law identified in state law. But to go into closed session to "review bills" and "devise strategy" is an insult to the citizens and makes a mockery of Wisconsin's once proud tradition of clean government.

So kudos to Rep. Mason for making a stride in the right direction. Let's hope he takes the next logical step and refuses to participate in a system he has now correctly identified as a sham.

Chamber of Commerce Questions and Responses

The Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce has placed Common Council candidate responses to questions on its website. The questions and responses can be found here.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Killed Kennedy!

Okay, so maybe that's an exaggeration. A cartoon by Mr. Fish exposes the tabloid nature of the press coverage of Mohammed's "confessions."

More Accountability Woes

Today's Oshkosh Northwestern report on the failure of the city planning officials to fully inform members of the Common Council about the relationship of partners in a crucial development is just one more example of the complete breakdown in local government accountability. The situation fits the typical Faith Based Development pattern:

*The Council votes "Yes" on a development even though anyone watching and listening to the proceedings can feel the confusion in the Council chambers.
*New information is revealed showing that city planners did not provide the Council with all the data necessary to make a fully informed vote.
*The City Manager claims ignorance: "City Manager Richard Wollangk said Kinney did not tell him about Ganther and Anbar's past partnership. Wollangk said it did not come up in project discussions, but he would have made sure councilors received the information had he been aware of it."
*Community cynicism sets in.

Today's Northwestern editorial is right on target: "Something has got to be done to end City Hall's addiction to secrecy when it comes to development."

They are correct. We can and must do better.

JFK On Secrecy

For Sunshine Week, a clip from President John F. Kennedy's speech before the American Newspaper Publishers Association:

Good Day Sunshine Laws

As part of Sunshine Week, today's Wisconsin State Journal includes a short but useful piece on "A Guide To Requesting Records." The piece points out that Wisconsin's sunshine law is found in state statutes 19.31-19.39. Statute 19.31 says:

19.31 Declaration of policy. In recognition of the fact that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be the public policy of this state that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them. Further, providing persons with such information is declared to be an essential function of a representative government and an integral part of the routine duties of officers and employees whose responsibility it is to provide such information. To that end, ss. 19.32 to 19.37 shall be construed in every instance with a presumption of complete public access, consistent with the conduct of governmental business. The denial of public access generally is contrary to the public interest, and only in an exceptional case may access be denied.

On the campaign trail, I have said that if elected I plan to conduct workshops on how citizens can use the open records and open meetings laws. Citizen awareness of and ability to use these laws is a key component of ensuring government accountability.

Five Rivers Five Earn Openness in Government Award!

March 11-17 is National Sunshine Week. For the first time, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is "giving awards in recognition of people and events that shaped the fortunes of open government in Wisconsin in 2006 . . . "

I'm honored to report that the Five Rivers Five have earned a COPEE (Citizen Openness Advocate of the Year) Award! According to WFOIC President Bill Lueders:

Citizen Openness Advocates of the Year (the "Copee"): The Five Rivers Five. This ad hoc group tried to crash a February 2006 closed meeting between Oshkosh city officials and a developer, saying it violated the state's Open Meetings Law. The five - Tony Palmeri, Pat Gentile, Gary Jepson, Dan Rylance and Rachel Aiken - were turned away. But the Attorney General's Office later deemed that a portion of the meeting was improperly closed. Credit goes also to city Councilor Paul Esslinger, who objected to the meeting, and Cheryl Hentz, who helped draft a complaint to the AG's office.

Oshkosh Northwestern coverage of the awards can be found here.

Northwestern & American Idol Judges Cover LWV Forum

Here's some coverage of last night's Common Council forum [sponsored by the League of Women Voters] from the Oshkosh Northwestern and Randy, Paula and Simon. I was happy to see Jeff Bollier of the Northwestern pick up on the "Faith Based Development" theme, as this is something that the city needs to come to terms with if we are going to progress in a meaningful way.

Wisconsin Flunks The Colonoscopy Coverage Test

According to Business Week:

There is only one cancer screening test that has been definitively proven to save lives—a colonoscopy for colon cancer. But a new survey finds that only 20 states, plus the District of Columbia, have laws mandating that insurance providers cover the cost of colonoscopies. That could mean many lives lost, because the same study found that screening rates in those states that mandate coverage have risen 40% faster than in states without such mandates . . .

The Colorectal Cancer Legislation Report Card, first issued in 2004, gave 15 states, plus the District of Columbia, an "A" grade for laws mandating coverage of colonoscopies as well as future advances in screening technologies: Arkansas, Alaska, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. State laws requiring insurance coverage of colon cancer screening have significantly increased the number of potentially lifesaving screenings in those states, according to an analysis by the American Cancer Society . . .

States that received an "F," for having no legislation requiring coverage, included Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The remaining states require or recommend only some level of coverage.

Isn't it sad how Wisconsin, which once had a reputation as a "progressive" state, increasingly gets bad marks on just about everything from quality of campaign finance laws to poverty and health indicators?

Les Paul Gives $50,000 to Wis. Hometown

Most people don't know that Les Paul, probably the single most important individual in the history of rock music (hard to rock out without the electric guitar), is a Wisconsin native. Recently the 91 year old icon announced he was donating $50,000 to his hometown of Waukesha.
" ...we must all own
up that without Les
Paul, generations
of flash little punks
like us would be in
jail or cleaning toilets."
- Keith Richards

Submit Questions For LWV Forum + N/W Forum

The League of Women Voters Candidates Forum for those seeking Mayor, Common Council, and School Board seats will be held Wednesday, March 7th as reported by Oshkosh News.

The League encourages citizens to submit questions electronically by March 5th. Submit your queston(s) to Frankie Mengeling at fgmem@sbcglobal.net

Also, traffic at the Oshkosh Northwestern's Community Forum has been relatively light. Check it out if you have not already done so--I had what I thought was an informative exchange on there with an anonymous poster known as Jacksonst. I expect the Northwestern forum to heat up as we get closer to the election and more people start thinking about local politics.

Media Rants: Thirteen and Counting

My March Media Rant for the Valley Scene is a tongue-in-cheek look at the 13 officially announced establishment party candidates for President. Since I wrote the piece, former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack decided to drop out of the race. Not enough of a rock star, I guess. Also, John McCain had not yet announced, as he did the other night on Letterman. The rant can be found here.

April Ballot Placement

Here is the order in which the candidate names for Mayor and Common Council will appear on the April Oshkosh ballot:

Oshkosh Mayor: (Vote for not more than One)

Frank Tower

Paul J. Esslinger


Oshkosh Common Council (Vote for not more than Three)

Jessica J. King

Bob Cornell

Bryan L. Bain

Mark C. Nielsen

Tony Palmeri

Meredith Scheuermann

Election Day Registration INCREASES Voter Turnout

From the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign:

For anyone interested in increasing voter turnout, two recent studies agree there is a proven strategy – election day registration.

Both reports – one done by electionline.org and the other by the national group Demos – document 10% to 12% higher turnout in states that have EDR (Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming) compared to states that don't allow eligible voters to register on the day of the election.

On the other hand, academic research done by scholars at Rutgers and Ohio State universities shows that making voters jump through additional hoops such as requiring them to show photo ID in order to cast a ballot is a sure way to suppress turnout, as reported by the New York Times.

States that imposed such identification requirements on voters reduced turnout at the polls in the 2004 presidential election by about 3%, and by two to three times as much for racial or ethnic minorities, the study concluded.
___

Are you an Oshkosh resident not yet registered to vote? Information on how to register can be found here (scroll down). More information can be found on the State Elections Board site.

Fishing Pier and the Accountability Deficit

On the Eye on Oshkosh blog, Cheryl Hentz provides a summary and update on the Miller's Bay fishing pier. Most readers of this blog are aware of why that matter is controversial: the Common Council approved the pier on a Tuesday after the Parks Advisory Board, which has a member of the Otter Street Fishing Club on it, approved it only 24-hours before. Neighbors in the area were never given a meaningful opportunity to comment on the pier location.

The entire matter is just one more symptom of the accountability deficit we've been experiencing in local government. As with the garbage tax, the angel in the park, the Five Rivers resort closed meeting, and many other matters, the pattern is this: Vote First, Talk to Citizens and Ask Questions Later.

I don't think wanting a Council that talks to citizens and asks questions before voting is asking for too much. And talking to citizens means more than waiting for their phone calls; sometimes the elected official needs to get out there to alert people to what is going on in their own community.

Tourism Dollars: Oshkosh v. Sheboygan

In Oshkosh, the Oshkosh Convention and Visitors Bureau is proposing that the city establish the highest room tax in the state in order to create a capital development fund for tourism related projects.

In Sheboygan, where the city last year took over tourism promotion from the Sheboygan Chamber of Commerce, room tax collections saw a 9.3% increase from 2005 to 2006.

Oshkosh Convention and Visitors Bureau reps will be making the case for the tax increase at a workshop after the next Council meeting. I want to hear their case before making a judgement on the proposal.

Happy Birthday FightingBob.Com

Ed Garvey's FightingBob.Com site is today 4 years old. Congratulations are due to Ed Garvey, who has been a passionate voice for the progressive cause for a long time. I voted for Ed for Governor in 1998, and not because he was a lesser evil than Tommy Thompson; he was just a good guy who would have served the state well.

The FightingBob.com site has enabled progressive leaning thinkers across the state to connect in a meaningful way. I know that every time I have had something published on the site, traffic on my site increases. Anyone interested in what I have written for FightingBob should check out this piece, along with this, and this.

Ed Garvey's a solid Democrat, but I did catch him at a Nader for President rally in 2000.

The Road Ahead

First of all, many thanks to Kent Monte for running for City Council. I don't always agree with Kent on the issues, but admire the way he is able to balance the responsibilities of work and family with civic involvement. See Stephanie Barnard's profile of Kent and Michelle here.

As all readers of this blog already know, I finished second last night in the Common Council primary. A big THANK YOU to the voters and to my campaign volunteers. Here's Babblemur's coverage.

I'm under no illusions about the difficult road ahead to April 3rd. The field of candidates is strong, and I'm sure there will be lots of interest groups on all sides of the political spectrum trying to influence the outcome.

And as reported in yesterday's Northwestern, some candidates apparently intend to spend relatively huge sums of money for a local government seat.

I believe that word of mouth is still the best advertising, and it doesn't cost a dime. So over the next few weeks I will getting the word out about the campaign in as many face-to-face encounters as possible. If you support my campaign, please tell your friends and neighbors about it. Tell them that I stand for open and accountable government, quality public services delivered efficiently, and strong neighborhoods. Tell them to call me at 235-1116 for more information, or email me at tony@tonypalmeri.com.

Thank you!

Please Vote On Feb. 20

I've been a resident of Oshkosh since 1989, and throughout most of that time I've had some serious disagreements with the Common Council on some core issues. Yet I've never run for a seat on the Council until now. Why?

The answer is simple: Even when in disagreement, in the past I always trusted that the Common Council and City Manager were sincerely working to uphold what they saw as the best interests of the citizens. With very few exceptions, candidates in campaigns spent little money to get elected and instead relied on hard work, reputation, and word of mouth to get their message out.

Today the trust is gone. A garbage tax, dubious closed meetings, two years wasted on a riverfront proposal that never had public support, faith based development, an obvious disconnect between the Manager and the Council; these and many other depressing events demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Council no longer supports the everyday people who pay the bills.

I'm running because I want to see higher standards of performance and accountability from all city officials. What specific policies do I want to see put in place?:

• I want to ensure that the peoples' business is done in open view, upholding both the letter and spirit of the open meetings law and state statutes. To do this I will sponsor regular forums and workshops which will instruct citizens on how to use the open records and open meetings laws.
  
• I want to see the creation of a Budget Committee that would, year round, look for ways to guarantee the delivery of high quality public services at a reasonable cost.
• I want to see the creation on an Economic Development Commission that would work on strategies to bring family supporting jobs to Oshkosh.
  
• I want to see planning in Oshkosh take on the values of the "New Urbanist" movement that is based on developing neighborhoods that are pedestrian friendly and sustainable.
  

The election this year is about restoring trust to Oshkosh government. Even if we disagree with our elected officials, we ought to be able to trust that they are operating in the public interest as they see it and that they will stand by their votes. I want to restore that kind of trust to local government.

Please get out and vote tomorrow!

100 Block: Here We Go Again

Gee, here's a surprise (Not!) from today's Oshkosh Northwestern:

The 100 Block is on the block.

Ben Ganther, one of the owners of the company that built and operates the building at 100 N. Main St, announced Thursday that the building is for sale. In a statement, Ganther said the building "did not operate according to projections" and options to refinance or sell the building are being considered. According to the statement, a sale offer is being reviewed.

For the second year in a row, the 62-unit downtown apartment building ranked among the top properties in Oshkosh with delinquent property taxes, a Northwestern review showed.

Almost $147,000 in 2006 city property tax is owed on the 100 N. Main building

The building when it was built in 2002 was anticipated to be a cornerstone of downtown revitalization. Although more than $2 million was invested in it and 95 percent of its apartment units are now rented, the owners have had difficulty attracting commercial tenants for the ground floor.

The 100 Block development process was a forerunner of the Five Rivers Resort fiasco. In each case, we had the public systematically shut out of the development review process, we had the Common Council going into dubious closed sessions to make the project happen, and we had a city administration and council (not to mention local press) that refused to listen to logic and common sense about the prospects for such a development.

Last time the tax deadbeat issue came up, I posted this tax deadbeat timeline.

Love REALLY IS The Drug

From yesterday's Washington Post (registration required):

"Love is a drug," says Helen Fisher, an anthropologist at Rutgers University and author of "Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love." "The ventral tegmental area is a clump of cells that make dopamine, a natural stimulant, and sends it out to many brain regions" when one is in love. "It's the same region affected when you feel the rush of cocaine."

In her most recent research, Fisher and colleagues gave 32 love-struck subjects an MRI scan while they viewed a picture of their beloved.

Boy, did their brains light up!
There are two shrimp-size things on either side of your brain called the caudate nuclei. This is the gear that operates bodily movements and the body's reward system: "the mind's network for general arousal, sensations of pleasure, and the motivation to acquire rewards," Fisher writes. And when the test subjects looked at their sweeties, these things started singing "Loosen Up My Buttons" with the Pussycat Dolls!
A separate study by Italian researchers several years ago showed something else.
Serotonin, another neurotransmitter in the brain associated with obsession, depression and racing thoughts, was greatly affected -- right down to the molecular level -- by romance and surging dopamine. People newly in love and people with obsessive-compulsive disorder showed the same lowered levels of the "platelet 5-HT transporter." In other words, dopamine appears to suppress serotonin, which in turn triggers obsessive-compulsive thought patterns.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Yard Sign Tale

Politics brings out the worst in some people, most notably Internet trolls and scumbags who like to steal candidate yard signs or literature from doors.

Last night some of the aforementioned decided to rip up the Palmeri For Council yard signs in my front lawn and my next door neighbors'. I made nothing of it, except when I got back home from UW Oshkosh just now I noticed that my neighbors' sign was back up. Turns out that they picked up the pieces, taped them together, and replanted the sign. They are a super couple in their 80s, fully aware that mine is a low budget campaign, and didn't want me to just give them a new sign so that I would have more to spread elsewhere. I think that's really cool.

Maybe if the trolls and scumbags had friends like my neighbors, they might start to act like human beings.

Waiting on the World to Change

I was glad to see John Mayer win a grammy last night (for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance) for "Waiting on the World to Change." The song is a kind of anthem for the Wal-Mart generation, a plea to "think outside the big box" if you will. It features Mayer's most passionate vocals ever, and is one of the few modern pop songs that can inspire anything more than dancing feet or a yawn.

Doyle Budget Promises Increased Aid For Cities

In answer to a question posed by the Oshkosh Northwestern on levy limits, I said this: "The Democrats now control the governor’s office and the state Senate. Every Democrat elected in November including the governor said that they are either against local levy limits or for allowing levies to grow by more than 2%. City Councils across the state, including ours in Oshkosh, need to hold them to their word."

If a report in the Sunday Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is accurate, it looks like the governor is ready to keep his word and will call for allowing levies to grow by 4%. He'll also be proposing rewards for frugal local governments:

• Providing $88 million in potential bonus payments, starting in 2009, to be shared by local governments that increase their levies at 85% or less of the maximum allowed.
• Rewarding local governments that didn't levy all they could have in property taxes last year by letting them add those unused amounts to what they can levy this fall.

Neither of those rewards will be of much help to the city of Oshkosh in 2007. However, the governor is also proposing an increase in shared revenue, which WILL help; but the increase is only a paltry 1.5%. The state government's systematic underfunding of the shared revenue program has been devestating to Oshkosh, and is the single biggest reason for our budget woes. Pressue must be put on the governor's office and the majority Democrats in the state senate to restore that program to a level that would make it clear that the state is committed to funding a basic set of services for all municipalities regardless of their income levels.

Doyle's proposals will help cities, but let's be clear that they are at best baby steps.

"Ethics Reform" Bill Intentionally Misses The Mark

Anyone following the "Ethics Reform Bill" shenanigans in the last few weeks could smell a rat. Former state legislator Louis Fortis has an excellent piece in the latest Milwaukee Shepherd-Express. Fortis, who as a former state rep understands the self-preservation tendencies of politicians better than most, says this:

While the legislators and Gov. Jim Doyle are congratulating each other on the quick passage of the “ethics bill,” virtually everyone around the Capitol who understands the process will tell you in private that the new legislation is a joke, since it avoids the real reform issues. The bill merely gives the legislators and the governor political cover to boast that they voted for ethics reform . . .

The real reason for the quick bipartisan passage of this bill is that the governor and legislators from both parties knew that the public wanted reform and this bill could be packaged as sweeping reform while not really changing the cancerous parts of the system. Since most voters in the state do not know what either the Ethics Board or Elections Board currently does, passing the bill provided a painless way to look like a reformer while avoiding genuine reforms.

Fortis argues that the real problem in Madison is the influence of special interest money. The "Ethics Reform" Bill does nothing to address that issue.

Probably the best that could be said about the new "Government Accountability Board" is that it won't be as easily subject to Republicrat influence as the State Elections Board and State Ethics Board that it will replace. On the other hand, the key prosecutors of the caucus scandal crooks claim that the GAB is actually a step backward.

Nice Work If You Can Get It

YouTube founders split a $650 million payout.

Letters, Letters

Babblemur today reposts an email I sent the Common Council back in June, asking them to revise their meeting agenda so that citizens could speak out on a "Five Rivers Update." At the time, if I recall correctly, councilors Bryan Bain and Paul Esslinger worked hardest to get the agenda changed, and it was.

A letter from Justin Mitchell appears in today's Northwestern. Scroll down to "Palmeri brings unique qualities to office."

Molly Never Made It To The Northwestern

I was searching through some old Microsoft word files this morning, looking for a letter of recommendation I wrote for a student who has now asked for another. While searching, I came across a letter I sent to Jim Fitzhenry, then Oshkosh Northwestern editorial page editor, in August of 1999. At the time, he and Executive Editor Stew Rieckman had appeared on "Commentary," a show I produced an cohosted with former Oshkosh Mayor James Mather. I was pleasantly surprised to see that in my letter to Fitzhenry thanking him for being on the show, I made a request that Molly Ivins' column run on the editorial page. At the time the paper was running Cynthia Tucker and Ellen Goodman as its "liberal" syndicated columnists--good writers but not nearly as hard hitting and fun as Molly. Wingnut Mona Charen is mentioned in the letter too because her column also ran on the page.

Molly never made it to the Northwestern, and now that she's gone to the great gadfly farm in the sky she never will. However, my letter also mentioned Norman Solomon, who is still alive and raising hell. The request to get him on the page still stands.

Of all the tributes for Molly I have read, I think Robert Scheer's best captures her spirit: "As a columnist, she was the best of our time, piercingly insightful without being mean-spirited or petty. Her pen was scalpel-sharp, excising malignancy, but guided always by a generous spirit inviting even those with whom she took fierce issue to come to their senses and help us to heal."

Here's my letter to Fitzhenry:

August 12, 1999

Jim Fitzhenry
Editorial Page Editor
Oshkosh Northwestern

Dear Jim:

Just a note to thank you again for appearing on “Commentary” this past Wednesday. Jim Mather and I appreciated your candid and thoughtful responses to all of our questions. We hope you will appear on the program again at some future date.

On another note, the next time you think about adding new syndicated columnists to the editorial page, I hope you will consider publishing some of the work of Molly Ivins and/or Norman Solomon. Whereas people like Cynthia Tucker and Ellen Goodman I might call “mainstream liberal,” Ivins and Solomon are (in my opinion at least) more authentically “progressive.” We know that Mona Charen will be beating up on Al Gore; Ivins does a pretty good number on George W. Bush. Biographies of Ivins and Solomon are available on the Creators Syndicate website (www.creators.com).

Thanks again for appearing on the show, and all the best to you.

Sincerely,


Tony Palmeri

Thank You Volunteers!

Anyone who has ever run for public office knows that without the efforts of campaign volunteers, an already stressful experience would be overwhelming. The volunteers not only provide the hands to do chores, they also provide the encouragement necessary to reassure the candidate that the entire effort is worthwhile.

Yesterday a group of Palmeri For Council volunteers braved sub-zero temperatures to put out yard signs. Cordless drills to make holes in the ground, brooms to clear away snow, and multi layers of clothing were the order of the day. It was one of the most extraordinary grassroots efforts I've ever seen.

A public Thank You to the volunteers!

Removing the Stench in the Garbage Fee Debate, Part II

Cheryl Hentz has offered a clarification to her post about the garbage fee. See the Eye on Oshkosh blog as well as her comment in my first post on this topic. She points out that Bryan Bain did not say that he voted against the garbage fee.

What I have not been able to understand is why this issue has been "confusing" for some folks. Five Councilors voted for the garbage fee, and as a result citizens had to engage in a time consuming effort to get the fee set to zero for 2007. The vote for Resolution 06-177 ("Establish Fee For Collection/Solid Waste and Recyclables") took place on May 9, 2006. The five councilors voting for it were: Scheuermann, Bain, Tower, Castle, and Mattox.

Resolution 06-177 was not a budget resolution. I point out that obvious fact because part of the "confusion" being spread about this issue is that some of the Councilors were against the garbage fee, but voted for the budget that included the fee. This kind of framing of the issue makes it sound like they didn't support the fee, but would have had to vote against the entire budget in orer to oppose it. This is not accurate.

Anyone who voted for 06-177 was voting to support the fee. That doesn't mean they liked the fee and it doesn't mean they are bad people. It just means they voted for the fee. Period. The budget vote was something entirely different.

Removing The Stench In The Garbage Fee Debate

The garbage fee in Oshkosh was and is extremely unpopular. It's understandable that politicians voting for it would try to rationalize the vote, change the subject, pledge to do better next time, or grovel for forgiveness. It's fair for them to do these things.

What's not fair, and what creates an election year stench as bad as month old garbage, is for politicians to suggest or (worse) flat out state that they DIDN'T vote for a garbage fee that they DID vote for. In her Eye On Oshkosh blog, Cheryl Hentz posts that "Questions remain about garbage fee vote." She writes:

"When Oshkosh Common Council members and incumbent candidates Bryan Bain and Meredith Scheuermann were on Eye on Oshkosh two weeks ago both stated they did not vote for the garbage fee." Feeling that those claims were odd but not having the facts in front of her, Cheryl did not challenge them. Neither did her cohost Miles Maguire. After doing some research, Cheryl found that Bain and Scheuermann did in fact vote for the fee.

Cheryl concludes that no matter what the reason why Bryan and Meredith voted for the fee, "in the end a vote for something is just that, and to state otherwise, even if one has what they believe to be the best of reasons, is disingenuous and disappointing."

Because of that garbage fee vote, lots of citizen in Oshkosh ended up having to do the hard work necessary to write up a referendum question, get thousands of signatures to place the question on the November ballot, and campaign for it. Anyone who's ever been involved in that kind of effort knows how time consuming and frustrating it is, especially when it's being done to correct the actions of people you voted for to represent you. For elected officials who placed citizens in that position to then turn around and not be completely candid about their votes is just one more symptom of our broken government here in Oshkosh.

We can and must do better.

Censored in 2006, Part II

Last month the "Media Rants" column was Part I of the top ten censored stories of 2006. Here's Part II.