Main Street Oshkosh

Thank you for the opportunity:

I recently retired from the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office after a thirty plus career. I feel I can bring a fresh perspective to the council. During my career I was President of the Wisconsin Crime Prevention Association, President of TRIAD of Wisconsin, appointed to the Wisconsin Citizen Corp Council, I was a peer to peer consultant with the National Crime Prevention Council and have chaired numerous crime prevention programs and community events. This experience will help me on the City Council to look outside the box for fresh ideas, common sense and problem solving to move Oshkosh forward.

I think the city and the council needs to take even a more proactive approach in creating economic development in the city. Good paying jobs leads to growth in the city and the community. We need to use the tools that the city has available, TIF's, Development-Related Grants, Revenue Bonds, Financing & Incentives. We need to follow the lead the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation announced with the planting of the trees and signage for the city,

We have a vision plan that was put together by city government and the community, let's move forward and not stay stuck in the mud. In tough economic times we need to also look inside the city first. Are there duplications of services. can services be streamlined to cut spending? Are there collaborations that could be developed in a public private partnership that can reduce city spending? Work with local, state and federal representatives to bring dollars to the city.

When I am elected to the council, I will have a Face book page, designated Email and cell phone that I can be reached on. I will attempt to attend as many open events and activities that are planned in the community so that citizens can contact me about concerns or problems that we can address. It is time for change on the Oshkosh City Council. If you are ready than vote for Steve Herman 4 Council. It's time for common sense, fresh ideas and to limit wasteful spending! Vote Steve Herman for Oshkosh City Council on February 16th.

Steve Herman
4 Oshkosh City Council


Steve submitted this post via email.

Some upcoming programming at UWO that is open to the public:

DANCE AND MOVEMENT

Ballroom Dance
Instructor: Jennifer Lotzer
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Fee Per Session: $86 Couple/$46 Single General Public
$80 Couple/$43 Single UW Oshkosh Alumni & Students/Evergreen Members

Session #1
Dates: Thursdays, February 11-March 18, 2010 (6 sessions)
Location: Evergreen Retirement Community, Multipurpose Room, Lower Level

Session #2
Dates: Mondays, February 22–April 5, 2010
(6 sessions - no class Monday, March 22, 2010)
Location: UW Oshkosh, Albee Upper Gym, Room 201

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Swing Dance
Instructor: Leon Zastrow
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Location: UW Oshkosh, Albee Upper Gym, Room 201
Dates: February 18 – March 11, 2010 (4 Sessions)
Fee: $63 Couple (Couples mandatory)


PHOTOGRAPHY

Getting Started And Basic Digital Photography
Instructor: Charles “Chip” Manthey
Dates: Thursdays, February 18 – March 18, 2010 (5 sessions)
Times and Locations: First Class: 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.,
UW Oshkosh campus, Polk Library IDEA Lab (Room 7)
All Remaining Classes: 6:00 – 8:30 p.m., UW Oshkosh campus, Swart Hall Room 217
Fee: $99 General Public $94 UW Oshkosh Alumni & Students/Evergreen Members


Visit www.uwosh.edu/conted/enrich for a complete listing of available courses. Register online at www.peopleware.net/222115 or for more information call (920) 424-1129 or toll-free (800) 633-1442.

Bunny Hansen
Outreach Program Manager
UW Oshkosh Office of Continuing Education & Extension
Dempsey 345
800 Algoma Boulevard
Oshkosh, WI 54901-8623
Phone: 920/424-1139 Fax: 920/424-1803
http://www.uwosh.edu/cont_ed/

In 2008, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) stated that 44% of 10,552 housing discrimination complaints were filed by persons with disabilities. Many times a person with disabilities will experience discrimination while residing in a residence and while looking for residency.


Arc-Winnebago County Disability Association and the Fair Housing Center of Northeast Wisconsin are collaborating to educate the community about fair housing laws as they relate to persons with disabilities. . The seminar will offer role playing of cases of discrimination and will demonstrate tools that are available by the Fair Housing Center to investigate cases of housing discrimination._


*This event will take place on February 10, 2010 at 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Fox Valley Technical College-Riverside Campus, 160 N. Campbell Road in Conference Room 133. This event is FREE and open to the public. If you plan to attend, please register with Bob at 920-236-9230 or http://us.mc1107.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=bob%40arcwinnebago.com.*_


The Arc provides educational and social opportunities, and individual and public advocacy for people with developmental and related disabilities and their families. Arc programs receive funding from the Oshkosh Area United Way. Fair Housing Center of Northeast Wisconsin promotes fair housing throughout the Northeast Wisconsin by combating illegal housing discrimination and by creating and maintaining racially and economically integrated housing patterns.


For more information on housing rules, regulations, and resources, visit www.ohawcha.org/links.htm

Linked below is a survey for the Oshkosh Area Workforce Development center. The workforce board is seeking community input regarding the current and future services to be provided by the Oshkosh Workforce Development Center.


The survey should be completed by Friday, February 5th!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VVLWYMR


Several ideas include:

1. There is a real need for accessible and regular basic computer training. While programming may be available at the tech, many folks aren't going to formally enroll in a semester long class nor can they pay for such services. However, individuals with limited mobility really need to have basic to intermediate computer skills to succeed in many of the available positions in our area.

2. Extended hours. Budgets are very tight indeed. However, many folks have school, work, or other commitments between 8am and 4:30pm. Job search, employment preparedness, and many of the other features of the center are just as valuable at 7pm as they are at 9am.

3. Sense of Place. Appleton/Fox Vally has a beautiful center which people can be proud of. Oshkosh, due to the renting factor, is stuck with landlords who won't do anything. Let's have the county, city, and community make a real investment into workforce development and develop a state of the art facility that people of all walks are comfortable entering.

4. I still hold on to the idea of the one stop shop. One place where a family can go to get information and services concerning all things in the city: workforce assistance, social security help, legal consultation, disability assistance, food assistance, housing resources, medical care information, school programming information, workshops and trainings, financial counseling, and more. The WDC is the ideal place to do this, and many of the services are already happening. Anyone that has visited the Fox Cities WDC recognizes the great strides the Oshkosh WDC could still take.

5. Website relevance. The current website - www.oshkoshwdc.com/index - has loads of information that is of great use to the community. However, it is very hard to tell from the website what services are offered on site. In addition, the stale front page suggests that the site is rarely updated, which isn't true as they are now maintaining updates of workshops and testings. The main page on the site should include a news and updates focus so that people can quickly see what's happening there.

6. While we're at it - the WDC has a nice sign on the front corner now complete with a red scrolling words on a screen. Let's actually use that to say something beyond "workshops available".

7. Expand education and technical training connection - Let's get Fox Valley Tech far more involved at the center, making sure most users of the center are well aware of the various educational and training avenues available at the tech as well as the funding assistance options offered.

8. Under no circumstances should we eliminate this valuable community resource.

I grew up in Davie, FL, and went to school at the University of Florida. My wife and I moved to Oshkosh in February 2005 when I accepted a position with Crown Cork & Seal here in town. We lived in Hometown Apartments until we bought our house on East Irving Ave in the summer of 2006. I was a member of the Oshkosh Citizens Local Government Academy in the fall of 2005, have been on the Fox Valley APICS Chapter Board of Directors since July 2006(APICS is non-profit business organization for operations management professionals) and I am currently a member of the Oshkosh Parks Advisory Board to which I was appointed in December 2008.


Some friends of mine in town really wanted to see me run for council after hearing me be a strong advocate for allowing dogs in our city parks. I started to do a lot of homework on the issues facing Oshkosh and felt confident enough discussing them with anyone in town so I decided to throw my hat in the ring. In reality, it’s not all about the dogs. The people of Oshkosh deserve better from their city and I hope to keep the momentum going on the good things happening in Oshkosh and look for ways to improve it even more.


My priorities if elected to the council will include a commitment to improve the infrastructure of Oshkosh, a pledge to follow through on the completion of the riverfront walkway within the next 5 years, redeveloping and implementing the Pedestrian and Bicycle Circulation Plan and continuing the tree planting program throughout town. If elected I will promise to seek citizen input on issues that are important to you and I will thoroughly review items that will be on the council agenda as evidenced by my time on the parks board.

Allan submitted this post via email.

As the city moves forward with the development of their ped and bicycle plan, the worry still exists that little or no action will be taken to realize the recommendations of the plan. Those who wish to see our city move forward on this issue should plan on spending time promoting bicycling and bugging city staff and counselors to move on this issue. We intent to regularly update this subject here, to help disperse the information surrounding this important topic.

Related to this, researchers at UW Madison release a report "Valuing Bicycling’s Economic and Health Impacts in Wisconsin" which reviews the economics of bicycling in our state. Reports like these "make it easier" for our public officials to follow through on the things they say they will do.

Great game last night, as the Wisconsin Badgers Men's Basketball team took down 5th ranked Michigan State, continuing the tradition of outstanding play at home in the Kohl Center. Add that to wins over Maryland, Duke, Ohio State, Marquette, and Purdue, and this is really turning out to be an amazing year for a crew expected to finish at best in the middle of the Big Ten and no where near the top 15 in the nation.

Anyone that has been to a game there can attest that the court seems much larger in person (and the players much bigger!). The court size is actually a little larger than 50 feet wide by 94 feet long if you include the out-of-bounds areas.

And in keeping with the local Oshkosh theme (beyond Jarmusz on the Badgers), let's consider: the proposed pumping station being plopped in a beautiful residential park area here in Oshkosh is about 2/3rds the size of the huge basketball court! It is slated to be 60 foot by 60 foot. That's a big building.

And no one that I've talked with has any idea what this thing is going to look like, or sound like for that matter. There must be some noise involved in pumping large quantities of untreated and polluted water directly into the lake. I'll have to review meeting records, but I also haven't heard anything about height.

For more information on the pump station - take a look here.

re:TH!NK Winnebago’s Healthy Living Partnership is inviting the public to participate in a free training on prescription drugs. You will hear from experts in the field and receive a DVD/CD presentation toolkit entitled “Good Drugs Gone Bad. Their goal is to provide the knowledge and resources required to support the community as we work with youth about Prescription drug abuse.

Space is limited so please register now by emailing rethink@co.winnebago.wi.us or calling (920)232-3009

The program is scheduled for: Wednesday, February 24, 9am-12:30pm at the Sunnyview Expo Center (South Wing), 500 E County Rd. Y, Oshkosh, WI

An email received from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin - good timing as about a month ago, the Sustainability Advisory Board sent a proposed water conservation brochure to the city for review and feedback. The brochure discussed water figures, provided research-based recommendations on water conservation, described the benefits of water conservation, and provided avenues for additional information. The idea is to have a water conservation tips brochure sent out once per year with a water bill.

Here's the PSC email:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 1 trillion gallons of water are wasted from residential leaks in the United States every year, equivalent to the annual water usage of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami combined. That's why the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) is promoting “Fix a Leak Week,” March 15-21, 2010. Fix a Leak Week serves as an annual reminder for consumers to conserve water by fixing leaky plumbing fixtures and irrigation systems.

The PSC encourages all Wisconsin water utilities to schedule events in their communities to promote water efficiency during Fix a Leak Week. Popular activities include working with children to find leaks at their schools and talking about the importance of protecting the water supply. Utilities can also reach out to customers with an informational flyer or bill stuffer to increase their water conservation awareness. The PSC has prepared a tri-fold brochure and a 1/3 sheet bill stuffer that can be downloaded at: http://psc.wi.gov/hotTopics/fixAleakWeek.htm.

For more information, visit EPA’s Fix a Leak website at: http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/water_efficiency/fix_a_leak.html.

Questions? Contact the Public Service Commission at (608) 266-9600 or email Jeff Ripp, PSC Water Conservation Coordinator, at http://us.mc1107.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Jeffrey.Ripp@wisconsin.gov.

Thank you for your commitment to water conservation and efficiency!

I came across two interesting reports recently that both encourage water conservation as a high priority in achieving sustainability. The interesting thing about these reports is that they both conclude that saving water should primarily be done because it is an easy and extremely effective way to save energy and reduce GHG emissions.

The first report -"Wisconsin's Strategy for Reducing Global Warming" - was the product of a vast participation process involving folks from the Public Service Commission, the DNR, environmental groups, utility providers, transportation and building professionals, university folks, and more. According to this report, each 1% reduction in water use by municipal water utility customers in Wisconsin results in the prevention of 16,800 tons of CO2 into our air. This report provides numerous recommendations, including that municipalities and utility providers offer education and outreach materials on water efficient technologies and practices to consumers.

The second report - "The Carbon Footprint of Water" - states that "water management strategies can achieve energy savings comparable to traditional energy conservation measures at almost half the cost". The study concludes that the most cost effective measure that can be taken to reduce energy use and GHG emissions is water conservation.

This all is good news for the city of Oshkosh. The residents have loudly voiced their support for sustainable practices. The city signed an agreement promising to reduce their GHG emissions (Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement). Municipal language already says that the city will do this ( comprehensive plan - The city will "Educate and involve public regarding water conservation practices - Utility and Community Facilities Goals, Objectives, and Actions Goal E pg 161). And of course, everyone desires efforts that entail minimal initial cost with substantial gains and the potential to recover those costs over an extended period of time.

As we move forward and place a real and urgent priority on sustainability, I am eager to see the leadership that our city staff and council provides on this. Oshkosh on the water should include an element of stewardship of water, and through such efforts we can also reduce energy use and costs. In the cloudy land of municipal government, few things are so clear of a win-win.

Thanks for the ONW for posting the candidate Q&A today. If you can handle navigating around all of the ads while having to click on 4 pages per candidate, take a look:

- Common Council

- Judge

There seems to be an interest and uncertainty surrounding rain gardens and storm water management. So, to provide a list of resources on the subject (and to help me organize the vast amount of info on this subject), I've provided some valuable links below.

Rain Garden Ordinance - The city of Delafield requires rain gardens for their boat houses (of which they have a large number)
- www.cityofdelafield.com/notices/ORD602.pdf

EPA Model Ordinances to Protect Local Water
- www.epa.gov/owow/nps/ordinance/index.htm

Rain Gardens Case Study - How one city used Rain Gardens to manage stormwater
- Click Here

Slideshow on BMP for Municipal Storm Water Management
- www.raingardeninitiative.org/documents/pdfs/3pm_Maintenance_Christian.pdf

Loads of water management info, including a great poster
- www.albemarle.org/department.asp?department=planning&relpage=5720

Dane County Watershed Rain Gardens info
- http://danewaters.com/private/raingarden.aspx

WDNR Rain Gardens
- http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/runoff/rg/

UW Extension Storm Water Management
- http://clean-water.uwex.edu/plan/stormwater.htm

Array of Sustainable Storm Water Management ideas, including LID
- www.gtbay.org/stormwater.asp

Stormwater Manager's Resource Center
- http://www.stormwatercenter.net/

International Stormwater BMP Database
- www.bmpdatabase.org/

Deforest, WI planting and encouraging rain gardens
- Click Here

Stormwater Calculator - Effects of your Green BMP
- http://greenvalues.cnt.org/chicago/calculator.php

Good municipal natural resource management programming
- Click Here

Water-Efficient Landscaping Model Ordinances
- www.water.ca.gov/wateruseefficiency/landscapeordinance/

Habitat for Humanity is in need of families to receive homes. If you know of anyone in the area that could possibly be eligible for this, the contact information is below!


Here are the links where you can find the brochure:
http://www.habitatoshkosh.org/docs/brochure.pdf

and the poster:
http://www.habitatoshkosh.org/docs/Family_Orientation_Poster.pdf


Staff is willing to print and drop off any of this information at your agency or business. Questions can be directed to Erica at 235.3535. The application can be found on their website www.habitatoshkosh.org under home ownership – how it works.

VITA services to qualified individuals in Oshkosh has been scheduled for the upcoming months.

Need help filing your income tax return? Free tax assistance sites at the Senior Center and Community Pantry in Oshkosh can help! Free tax assistance with electronic filing will be available starting Thursday, February 4, 2010 and continuing Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through April 10, 2010. The sites will be closed on April 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in observance of the spring holidays. Electronic filing provides the highest degree of speed, accuracy and security in filing tax returns.

Persons interested in this free service should call the Oshkosh Area United Way at 920-651-3060 to make an appointment. Visitors to the site seeking tax assistance must have valid photo identification and Social Security Cards for themselves, spouses and dependents. They should also bring wage and earnings statements (Forms W-2), interest and dividend statements (Forms 1099), a copy of last year’s return, and any other information concerning their income and expenses for the 2009 tax year. For joint, e-filed returns both spouses must be present to sign the required forms.

If you have questions about this free service or wish to make an appointment, please call the Oshkosh Area United Way at 920-651-3060.

Last night the League of Women Voters hosted a forum for the Oshkosh Common Council candidates. One of the seven candidates will be eliminated following the primary on February 16. If you missed the forum, you can check it out at Oshkosh Community Media Services.


The forum had a bit of agreement among candidates, and tended to sway away from divisive hot-button issues. The result was significantly more discussion of philosophies and leadership style and much less yes/no attention grabbing topic of the minute gotcha questioning. This was likely the result of an absence by ONW and WOSH - I hope the LWV continues with this route in the future.

One of the more prominent themes of the evening was the strong vocal support for sustainability. I hope that in the course of the remainder of the election season, the candidates put some action or substance to their claims of support. In future interviews or questionnaires, the candidates should be asked "explain how you would support sustainable initiatives" or "what types of sustainable actions would you support". Many of these sustainable initiatives take money up front, with the economic payoff observed over 5-25 years. The environmental gains are usually immediate. Further, most communities taking strong action on this subject tie sustainability with development and building codes, adding efficiency requirements, water management design principles, and more. Where do the candidates really stand on these types of challenging issues?

For a reference, candidates with websites that we could locate with a brief search include the following (names omitted did not have a site to provide campaign info):

- Ron Hardy - http://www.ronaldkanehardy.com/oshkosh/

- John Hinz - http://nntbringosworld.blogspot.com/

- Burk Tower - http://oshkoshcommunitymedia.org/Tower.htm


If any of the candidates (including judge candidates) are interested in posting something on MainStreetOshkosh, feel free to send over some info and a campaign pic.

WPS's local office will be closing their doors for payments beginning March 15th, 2010. Customers can still drop off payments in the drop box at the Oshkosh office, but they should be aware those payments won’t post to their account for 3-4 days (they will be posted in our Green Bay office). This will not be a good payment option if their payment is due in 1-2 days.

Another option customers have is to make payments locally at:
-Choice Bank/2201 Jackson St
-Choice Bank/2450 Witzel Ave
-Consign Center/319 N Sawyer St.

WPS will answer any questions customers may have regarding other payment options (mail, automatic payment, ebill, etc…) by contacting our Customer Service Department at 800-450-7260, 24 hours/day, 7 days/week.

You can also visit the WPS website at http://www.wisconsinpublicservice.com/

And, for an information bit on WPS - About 65% of the electricity WPS customers use comes from coal-fired power plants with coal purchased from sources outside of the state. They buy another 15% of their electricity from the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant. Less than 4% comes from renewable, minimally-polluting generating sources.

The city's plan commission approved a $5 million Tax Incremental Financing assistance plan for Oshkosh Truck in their development of a large specialized painting facility. While it does seem bizarre that such a large and successful firm would have the success of a huge, $3.5 Billion contract depend upon the city's financing support, it is probably a good thing to support as this has the potential to bring in over 1000 well-paying jobs at time when living wage jobs are very difficult to find (I'd hope that the city and/or Oshkosh Truck issue a press release after this goes through providing clear documentation on how many new jobs were actually created as a result of this project).

Financing support from this city provides an opportunity for the city to promote and incorporate what residents of Oshkosh have clearly identified as a top priority for our city - that being sustainable practices. Folks opposed to the incorporation of sustainable principles into city practices often offer the unsupported claims that such efforts cost jobs. The documentation simply doesn't support this, while the support of sustainability in our community is clearly documented - including support for adding additional costs to reach sustainability goals. And what better opportunity to incorporate sustainability into our practices than when we are offering TIF support? In a simplified example, some of the financing needs to go into sustainable design principles on site.

So what could this mean?

- Storm water control through rain gardens, planting of trees, and natural filtration design

- Water efficiency hardware through a project partnership with the EPA's WaterSense program

- Natural lighting through strategic design and window placement - something almost always lacking in big box manufacturing and assembly facilities

- Energy efficient lighting and heating

- Environmentally-engineered parking area that incorporates trees and sustainable water management

- Consideration of utilizing the large roof top as a source of solar power generation.

- Partnering with Focus on Energy to assist in the efficient design and energy use of the facility

.

While it is likely that the incorporation of these practices would increase the initial cost of the project, the monetary savings as a result of energy efficiency are extensively documented, with many investments paying for themselves in a 20 year timeframe. Further, residents in Oshkosh have become experts on the high cost of bad storm water management planning and practices. Finally, this is the type of thing that the residents of Oshkosh want our city to do - this is their realistic vision of what Oshkosh can be. The city has received resident feedback. They have cleaned house of many of the folks who were responsible for the ways of the past. Now let's actually start incorporating these desirable and supported principles of sustainability into our practices.