Diebold TSX in Winnebago County

Ann Frisch's community column in Wednesday's Northwestern referred to a study that Dr. Frisch conducted with Dr. Corrine Donley with the assistance of County Clerk Sue Ertmer.

The data from that study has been posted here at the request of Dr. Frisch for your perusal.

Frisch wrote:

On Oct. 19 last year, a colleague and I reviewed the touch-screen ballot summaries from the November 2006 election, the first election in which every polling place in Winnebago County had a touch screen voting machine. It was not our intent to conduct an audit to see if every vote was counted accurately. Our goal was to determine the number of voters who used the Diebold TSX touch screen machines by polling place.

She concluded with:

In spite of a reputation for clean, well-run elections in Winnebago County, it's clear that voters did not trust the touch screen machines – neither in the spring of 2006 when the issue of purchasing touch-screens came before the county board and not in November 2006 when they were first put to use. In my opinion, the distrust is coming from real vulnerabilities nationally. See http://www.votersunite.org.

A 100 percent audit of the touch screen ballots would allow evaluation of over counts and under counts. At a minimum, duplicates of the computer tapes could be made at each election and placed in our public libraries.

The voting clerk's statistical report could include the number of touch screen voters with less difficulty than reporting the absentee ballots.

Finally, a Citizens' Commission is needed to listen to voters about their experiences with touch screen machines, to monitor the reliability of the machines and to make recommendations for municipal and county ordinances to protect our election systems.

In my opinion, faith in the accuracy of our voting system is critical to our democracy. One look at Kenya in December, Ohio in 2004 or Florida in 2000 makes it painfully clear that we need to have in place a solidly secure election system, not a faith-based voting system. Our existing system of optical scan ballots by Diebold has served us wonderfully. Implementing a simple tool to allow the visually impaired and people with disabilities to vote using the same optical scan ballots as everyone else would have been (and still can be) the most cost effective and secure means of complying with HAVA (Help America Vote Act), which is why we got the TSX machines in the first place. Lets not forget that HAVA required a system in place to help the disabled vote, it did not require electronic voting machines.

Candidate Forums WILL be Televised

But the District 14 forum will not be live, rather it will be taped for later playback on OCAT. Here are the details from LWV to follow-up my last post:

Oshkosh Area League of Women Voters To Host Two Primary Election Forums

The Oshkosh Area League of Women Voters will hold two
separate candidates' forums before the February 19th primary election.

A forum for the six Oshkosh Area School Board candidates
is set for Thursday, February 7, 6:30 to 7:30 in the Oshkosh City
Council Chambers, 4th floor City Hall.

The six candidates are incumbents Tom McDermott and Ben Schneider II.
The challengers are John Daggett, Kevin Jahnke, John Lemberger and
Michele Monte. Panel members are Jim Fitzhenry, managing editor of
the Oshkosh Northwestern and Frankie Mengeling, vice-president Oshkosh
Area LWV.

This forum will be broadcast on Oshkosh Community Access Television
CitiCable 10 and simulcast by WOCT 101.9 FM, Oshkosh Community Radio.

The other forum centers on a primary race for County Board District
14. The reduction of the county board from 38 to 36 districts has put
two incumbents, Donna Lohry and Claude Thompson vying for this newly
created district. Their challenger, a former county board member, is
Harold Steinike. To see the outline of this district go to
http://www.co.winnebago.wi.us/, click on "election information" and
then "supervisory district maps."

This forum is set for Monday, February 4 at St. Andrew's Lutheran
Church, 1100 E. Murdock Avenue from 5:30 to 6:30. Panel members are
Alex Hummel, editorial editor for the Oshkosh Northwestern and Frankie
Mengeling, vice-president Oshkosh Area LWV. This forum will be
videotaped for later showings on OCAT CitiCable 10.

The public is invited to attend these forums. They may submit
questions for the candidates in person at the forum or electronically
to fgmem@sbcglobal.net.

The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan, political organization;
one of its main goals is to provide election forums to increase voter
awareness of issues.

UPDATE: District 14 Forum may be broadcast

I just received the following from the Oshkosh LWV:

After hearing from some of you last night and this morning, Frankie
Mengeling, the league member arranging the forum, is working to have
it broadcast.

Great news! It sounds like nothing is for sure yet, but I will relay any further information I receive.

Abnormal Pickett Farm Creation

According to the veterinarian who facilitated the delivery, it was the first time in his 38 year career that he saw something like this. For the farm owners, it was equally as odd and crazy. When helping guide the calf out of the mother, the thought of twins went through the minds of those present. After all, why else would there be two heads? Quite to their surprise...:

So when my co-worker said, "you'll never believe what happened on the farm this past weekend," she was right! Two Headed Cow! Crazy.

Of course I immediately had a list of suggestive questions for her, many likely stemming from my recent completion of "Our Stolen Future". This book by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers reviews scientific studies about endocrine disruption created by man-made chemical contaminants that interfere with hormones in humans and wildlife. The interrogation went like this:

" Do you use Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) on your animals?" Answer: No

" Do you feed your livestock purchased food that could contain same species meat and other growth-enhancing drugs?" Answer: No, we grow all of our own feed.

"Ah ha! You use heavy pesticides, don't you?" Answer: No, we don't really use pesticides or herbicides.

Now I was running out of ideas. "Chemical Fertilizers?" Answer: Yes, we use quite a bit of fertilizer on our crops.

So we had it.. or maybe not. After all, what really do I know about farming, or fertilizers. Or two-headed calf for that matter. I know I've read this report called Waste Lands: The Threat of Toxic Fertilizer, and I've read through much of the great farming information on the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service website, and I receive my regular email updates from the Organic Consumer Association.

Who knows, it could be genetically-modified seeds, or something in the water used. It could be a lack of genetic variation in the breeding techniques, or more likely than all of the other possibilities, it could just be one of those 1-in-38-years-of-deliveries type of freak thing that happens.

Regardless, a two-headed cow in Pickett is always a crazy thing.

District 14 Debate will not be televised?

The word on the street is that the Oshkosh area League of Women Voters will be hosting a candidate forum for the three seeking the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors District 14 seat this spring. Because there are three candidates running there will be a primary on February 19, the date of the Presidential Primary in Wisconsin.

The Forum is scheduled for Monday Feb 4 at 5:30 at St. Andrews Lutheran Church, 1100 E. Murdoch.

But at this point you won’t be able to watch it on OCAT, because the League has decided not to televise it. This has a number of people, including a number of LWV members, quite upset. One league member in an email said:

I would think televising an important forum would be giving strong support to “encouraging informed and active participation in government.”

The reasons why the League doesn’t want to televise the forum havn’t been revealed, but there has already been pressure on the LWV to change their mind, as well as discussions of arranging for an independent recording and rebroadcast of the forum, possibly even online. One possibility is to post the forum online here at mainstreetoshkosh.com, which is willing to work with others to make this happen. I feel strongly that the forum should be made available to as many potential voters as possible.

District 14 is a newly drawn County Board district that includes Oshkosh Ward 10 (where I live) and Oshkosh Ward 8 and Town of Oshkosh Ward 4. The redistricting was due to the County Board’s decision to reduce its own size from 38 to 36 members. Because of the redistricting, two incumbents (Claude Thompson in ward 8 and Donna Lohry in ward 10) have been pitted against each other. The primary is a result of a third candidate jumping in the race, Harold Steineke, who is a former County Board Supervisor that Donna Lohry defeated 2 years ago. The County Board is a non-partisan race.

District 14 is a strangely shaped district that stretches from Wisconsin St. on the far West all the way to Lake Winnebago on the East, following Murdoch and Nevada the entire way. The eastern portion, wards 4 & 8, include portions of Hazel, Hickory, Menominee, and the lump that sticks out into Lake Winnebago on the northern shore of Millers Bay. The western portion, ward 10, includes a large block of central northern Oshkosh bordered by Wisconsin, Melvin, Main St, and Murdoch. The two portions are connected by a three block wide strip of Oshkosh between Murdoch and Nevada.

(cross posted on Babblemur)

Mapping Main Street

I've been keeping up with a surprisingly lively discussion of what should become of Oshkosh's downtown Main Street area, over at the Northwestern's forums. A lot of ideas for a more vibrant downtown are being tossed around, along with a lot of opinions on what works and what doesn't. But one thing that seems to be nearly unanimous is that there is a problem with knowing what stores are where downtown, what they offer, and when they are open. Therefore, since downtown is full of uncertainty it may be avoided.

Now, the best way to discover what is downtown is certainly to go there and explore. I encourage anyone who can to spend a day downtown and get to know your city a little better. But not all of us have the time for exploring, and some of us would frankly like to know what we are exploring before we explore it.

When I read that nobody knew what was downtown, I thought there must be a downtown map that we could just do a better job of publicizing. So I Googled "downtown oshkosh map" and discovered this. Perfect, I thought. Produced by the BID itself, we'll just have to get it out there more. Except, wait, where are all the businesses and attractions?

It's just a blank street map. Huh?? Oshkosh Downtown: The Heart of what All? I clicked "View interactive map" which goes to the regular Google Maps site with the location set as Oshkosh, WI. So I decided to try the Google Maps "Search nearby" feature to find downtown restaurants. It found three in the downtown Main Street area, one of which was Burger King. Hardly an exciting picture of the dinner options downtown, no offense to the three that were actually found.

Then I remembered seeing a map for the Gallery Walk. It would be incomplete, but a good start. The gallery walk map is actually very close to what I was hoping for in the first place. It's simple and numbered, with a key for each number with more information. In a pinch, it would do as a guide for some simple downtown exploration. However, the information about hours, offerings, etc. is lacking for a more general application.

The point of all of this: Main Street Oshkosh (the website, us) was created to fill some voids in the community, to provide important information and discussions where they are not currently available, and to create the change in Oshkosh that we want to see. (Better neighborhoods, more vibrant downtown, etc.) As part of this, I think it would be great to provide an online map of downtown with all the details people have been looking for. I'm looking for comments and suggestions about the idea itself, possible alternatives that might already exist, and specifics about how to do it.

Right now, there are two options for the "how" of it that I am considering.

1) Create a custom Google Maps page like this. We would need help from the community to get all of the relevant attractions added. Once built, it would be reasonably easy to keep updated.

2) Contact the Gallery Walk map maker about creating a more general downtown map similar to the Gallery Walk map. (Or look for volunteers among MSO readers to get the job done.) This option would likely cost money, and be marginally more difficult to maintain, but would translate to print MUCH better and allow us to put printed maps on the counters of local shops if we had the money and desire for that.

Leave a blog comment or contact jmc AT mainstreetoshkosh.com with an appropriate subject line if you want to get involved or offer comments.

March with King in Oshkosh

A Martin Luther King, Jr. March and Open Discussion will take place downtown Oshkosh Monday, January 21. Gather at 4 p.m. at the New Moon Cafe for a "March with King", followed by an open discussion at the New Moon Cafe to follow.

This is a great community event, and is brought together by the Winnebago Peace and Justice Center in cooperation with many others.

Sawdust Days concerns

It’s -14 outside as I write this but my mind is way ahead thinking about the heart of summer - July 4th AND Sawdust Days. Sawdust Days (so named because Oshkosh was once known as Sawdust City) started out 35 years ago as a summer fundraiser for civic groups. It has, since its beginnings, been located in Menominee Park which is bordered by the lake on one side and an old city neighborhood on the other. (That neighborhood happens to be the one I’ve lived in since childhood. I raised my family here and now my daughter’s family lives just a street away.) Over the years carnivals, concerts, and other attractions have set up at Sawdust Days and the festival has become a summer tradition for many. The 5 day event was well coordinated by the Sawdust Days organization and run mainly by volunteers. Regular park users could still use the park and the fireworks were scheduled (as they had been even before Sawdust Days) in the park on the night of the 4th. For a long time, all was good.

But in recent years, Sawdust Days has attracted more and more attendees and though there is no way to know exactly how many, the number 100,000 has been estimated by the park department and quoted in the Northwestern. More attendees means more attractions and activities so that now Sawdust Days is arguably one of the largest festivals in the area. And over the last few years, there have been problems that one might expect when a week long summer party takes place in a finite area very near a residential neighborhood. The crowds and their “fun” have begun to spill over into neighboring yards and onto the through streets leading to the park. There have been more incidents of public profanity and drunkenness along with some vandalism and theft. There are some privacy and safety concerns. Young families find they can no longer use the park much during the holiday week. When the local residents head for the park for the fireworks display as they have always done, they are now greeted by a crowd already too large for the park. Squeezing into the park is unpleasant and the parking and traffic are a nightmare.

Last summer, I decided to contact Tom Stephany to see if there was a plan to deal with increasing size of Sawdust Days and the accompanying concerns. He graciously met me for lunch and as I did not know anything about the way the festival was run, he filled me in. I also expressed some concerns that Tom countered by reminding me how much he and many others love Sawdust Days. When I emailed him a couple of days later to reiterate my concerns again, he did not seem receptive to any talk of change in the status quo. I became frustrated with the lack of any real discussion and contacted a city council member who spoke with Mayor Tower who was then quoted as saying there would be a meeting set up with appropriate departments and concerned citizens “after the budget process was complete.” We all know how long that process was this year but when it was over, there was no meeting scheduled. Suddenly, on January 7th, Sawdust Days showed up on the council agenda and approval was granted after very little discussion at all! The parks director had told the mayor that approval was needed quickly so that plans for the event could be firmed up. There was no notice to Menominee Park neighbors. Those who had concerns were told that they would be welcome to come to the February parks board meeting to express concerns and questions - AFTER THE FACT! The powers that be operate as if they do not need to be accountable to the public which is an odd attitude particularly after the last year of upheaval at city hall caused mostly by lack of transparency.

Now, I am not out to remove Sawdust Days. I like corn dogs, rides and music (for a day or two). But it seems appropriate for the parks department and the Sawdust Days organization to be less defensive and more open to compromise. If locating the festival in Menominee Park is as important to the civic organizations as they say, I would think that maintaining a good relationship with the neighbors that have hosted the event for 35 years would be a priority.
If you agree that some changes would be appropriate and/or if you believe that citizen input should be handled in a more timely manner, please attend the next parks board meeting on Monday, February 11th at 6:00, room 404 city hall. Bring your questions, comments and concerns.

A Walk Down Jackson Street in March of 1839

I close my eyes and take a walk back in time. There is no Murdock Avenue, and there isn’t even a path were Jackson Street will tread. There is only one lone Bur Oak to the southwest. The landscape is dotted with Bur Oak and a few Shagbark Hickory, but the grass dominates. It’s early in the year for it, but seven male Sharp-tailed grouse have gathered and have begun to practice their dancing. The females won’t come until later, when the season is right for nesting.

I move due south toward the river and cut my own path through last year’s big bluestem, compass plants, asters and coneflowers. Two hundred yards into my trip I cross a trail running east to west. I stop and look both ways, but no natives are coming so I continue south. Not much further there are more trees; they do not crowd together, but politely keep their distance from one another. I’ve walked only a half a mile now but the tall grass has made the going slow. I take a rest at New York and Jackson up against a Black Walnut. A fox squirrel looks down at me.

I head south again, crossing another trail through Saratoga Ave, and then enter a marsh at Prospect Ave. I trudge through the hummocks and pause to watch a mink disappear into the sloughgrass. Then I move on to dry ground at Scott Ave. More scattered oaks the rest of the way to Irving. One mile walked in my imagination.

In the present I stand in the athletic field – East Hall Park on the corner of New York and Jackson a block from my home. I can see a few of those same Bur Oaks now in their prime. They saw the Native American, the prairie, the elk, the cougar, the farmer, the urban sprawl and hugged the hospital that became a dorm that fell to the earth to make baseball diamonds. As I wonder what the trees will see after I'm gone I look up into an oak and see a fox squirrel looking down at me.

Adapted from the field notes of surveyor D. Giddings March 1839

Celestial Blue on Waugoo

The following is not a paid advertisement. It reflects my actual experience with a rare and endangered species in Oshkosh - an actual downtown business.

You may not have heard of Celestial Blue in Oshkosh. It is a small store on Waugoo just a block off of Main Street, near Atomic Katz. You can call it a New Age store, they call it that on their web site. I finally stopped in this store for the first time on Christmas Eve, looking for last minute presents for my family. I found a four inch tall glass-like cat with sort of a Miyazaki style design that was a Geomancy charm. The cat is holding a stone, and you are supposed to face it in a certain direction in your home for good luck. I don't know about the Geomancy, but the figurine was cute and I thought the missus would think it was amusing (and under $10).

I went back there with the missus to look for birthday presents for our daughter's sixth birthday. We got her a purple wooden mobile that had a sun on one side, moon on the other, with stars hanging down from the center piece. It was all hand painted, and only $15. We thought it would look great in her room, it matched her decor. She liked it.




Celestial Blue looks pretty simple when you first enter, like it would be easy to just get what you came for and leave, but both times I've been there I've found myself just wandering around, looking at all of the interesting stuff. It has all sorts of things, from figurines to incense, CDs and original art, tapestries and mobiles. And it really isn't expensive at all.

I should add that the owner is a Reiki Master, and they offer Reiki Services among others. Reiki is a Japanese form of stress reduction and relaxation. I've never tried it but I thought I would mention it.

Did I like what I got there? Yes.
Would I go back? Yes.
Would I shop there every week? Not likely.
Would I recommend it to friends and family? Yes!
Did they pay for this promotion of their store? No!

There you go - Celestial Blue, a cute little shop downtown on 25 Waugoo.

Need for more child centered activities

A recent letter to the editor in the Northwestern noted that Fond du Lac will be getting a children’s museum (Appleton already has one) and the writer bemoaned the lack of children’s activities in Oshkosh. As a grandmother of a 3 and 6 year old, I have to agree. In the winter especially, options for young children (that don’t belong to the YMCA) are limited. I try to keep up on children’s activities that are offered in our city but besides the library and the occasional art class at the Paine, I’m stumped. Occasionally we leave town for somewhere like Wild Air in Darboy or Tundra Lodge in Green Bay which are strictly commercial endeavors that Oshkosh may not be able to support.

So what to do? For starters, it would be nice to have an online clearinghouse (maybe this blog) for Oshkosh parents to post upcoming or ongoing events that are child-centered activities - both free and with a charge. What do your kids like best from the rec. department offerings? What’s available at different Oshkosh parks? Is there already a place where this information is gathered?

Next - get creative with what we have. School phy. ed. facilities and indoor equipment are all locked up on evenings and weekends. Could staff be hired to organize and supervise facilities so that families could make use of resources we already have right in our neighborhoods? Maybe the same could be done by working with UWO facilities and students.

Lastly (and this is the big one), work to find a way to help Oshkosh fund and maintain an indoor playground, a hands-on activity center, or additional outdoor (and maybe indoor) splashpads - the one in South Park cost only $125,000 five years ago. This would take some effort and cooperation between agencies as in this time of revenue caps, we can barely maintain essential services. But we got the truly wonderful water park when a civic group worked together with the city to make it happen. We also got Little Oshkosh in Menominee Park using a successful collaboration.

If we really want to expand the quantity and quality of activity options for Oshkosh children, it will take some leadership. Do you belong to a civic group or know someone who does? Is there anyone in your neighborhood, church or family who has demonstrated the kind of leadership to take an idea and make it happen? Talk with them, gather a group, and formulate a vision - then be willing to devote some time and effort.

And even though there are several big fundraising projects currently vying for donations, Oshkosh has shown many times that it will get behind projects that will benefit children if they see the vision and understand the plan. This will take more doing than talking, but it is possible.

North takes Down West in 2OT

Saved by a half-court, end-of-regulation shot that put the game into OT, Oshkosh North men's basketball defeated Oshkosh West in double-overtime 73 - 68 last night at the Kolf Center. For more on the game, visit the ONW.

The battle for middle of the conference continues for Oshkosh basketball, with Oshkosh West in 3rd (6-3 conf; 7-4 overall) and North tied for 4th (5-4 conf; 7-4 overall).

West heads to Kaukauna (7-1 conf; 8-1 overall) on Friday, which will be a tough game for the Wildcats. Kaukauna's only season loss is to West in their season opener, but Kaukauna is coming off a strong 54-37 win over #2 in the state Appleton East (8-1 conf; 10-1 overall), and has two of the league's premier players in Welhouse (20.4 ppg) and Giordana (17.1 ppg). Look for Kaukauna to get their payback.

North welcomes Fondy (5-4 conf; 6-4 overall) on Friday. Fondy gave North their first loss of the season back in Nov. North should continue their offensive surge, though, and take down Fondy this week at home. North then heads to Kaukauna on the 22nd.

For more info on Wisconsin High School Bball, visit http://wissports.net/home.asp

OYSO + Taiko = Awesome

Wednesday night I stayed home sick from my normal commitment down in Fond du Lac. I've had an awful cold for several days (so has everyone else, I think). But since I was in town anyway, I decided to catch the Taiko drum concert on Wednesday night. I've had a fascination with taiko drumming ever since I saw Yamato: The Drummers of Japan at the Fox Cities PAC. They had a drum the size of a VW bug. We were in the front row, and when they started I thought my head might explode. It was unreal, in a very good way.

The Wednesday night concert at UWO's music hall was actually the Oshkosh Youth Symphony Orchestra's annual fundraising concert, which I was initially oblivious to, in my sick runny-nosed taiko frenzy. OYSO was a nice bonus, if you're into that sort of thing. (Which I am, but not enough to show up for that alone.) As an extra enticement for folks like me, OYSO brought in Zenshin Daiko which is a youth taiko drumming group from Maui, Hawaii.

I saw a few familiar faces in the crowd. George Curtis of Curtis Law and Mayor Frank Tower were in attendance, probably among many other notables. The turnout looked pretty good. The hall was almost full.

OYSO started with some "Slavonic Dances," "The Great Locomotive Chase," and "The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring," which seemed to be a medley of all the music from the soundtrack. I was impressed with OYSO's performance and poise. Make no mistake, they may be young, but they will rock you. Sometimes it is fun just watching the conductor, the bows, fingers, and drumsticks all moving together.

Then Zenshin Daiko took the stage. Taiko drumming is just some thing you have to see, and feel (literally), to understand. I never thought that drums alone could make such a complete, powerful piece of music until my first taiko concert with Yamato. Zenshin Daiko lived up to that standard, playing every bit as powerfully, despite their more reasonable-sized (i.e. not vehicle size) drums. Every analogy I can think of to explain what it's like is probably too risque to post here, so I hope you will take my word for it.

After Zenshin's three songs alone, they performed two songs along with OYSO. Both were enjoyable, but I wish there had been more taiko. I've got a fever... and the only cure is more taiko.

When the concert was over we clapped for a really long time, but there was no encore. I found this upsetting, but my wife reminded me it was not a rock concert.

Conclusion: It is the best $5 non-rock concert you will see this year. And you can still see it, because they're playing the same show again on Saturday night at the Alberta Kimball Auditorium at Oshkosh West (375 N Eagle Street). The show starts at 7:30PM, so you should be done just in time to be fashionably late for the Raindogs show at Peabody's.

Also: There are CDs and DVDs of the performance available. $5 of each purchase goes to support OYSO. CDs are $10, DVDs are $15. Send checks payable to "Oshkosh Youth Symphony Orchestra" to:

Mary Borsecnik and Mike Engel
Innovisions
2905 Universal Street, Suite #10
Oshkosh, WI 54904

Include Name, Address, Phone, and specify if you would like your items mailed for an additional $5, or if you would like to be called when the items are ready for pickup from the Curtis Law Office building, at no additional charge.

But don't let the CD option keep you from the concert. You have to feel the taiko.

Two Great things to do this weekend on Main Street

Two Great things to do this weekend on Main Street

Friday January 11, 7 p.m. - New Moon Cafe (401 N. Main St.) - Jason Moon - Check out musician and Iraq War Vet Jason Moon and his unique songs at the at 7 p.m.


Saturday January 12, 9 p.m. - Peabody's Ale House (544 N. Main St.) - The Raindogs - A Tom Waits Musical Review You have to see the Raindogs, featuring John Baumann, Andy Mertens, and others. I've never heard another band try to cover Tom Waits, and even if you are a Tom Waits fan, you won't be disappointed. The Raindogs put on a great show, and Peabody's is a great place to see them.

Main Street Reconstruction Plans

Last night the Oshkosh Common Council held a workshop with DOT staff to discuss the plans for the reconstruction of Main Street, specifically the downtown blocks. They are looking at some pedestrian "bump-outs" that ease crossing the street, loss of some parking, no bike lanes, some landscaping, among other things.

Basically it will look like it does now.




Is that what we want for our downtown, more of the same?

Downtown Oshkosh has been called "dead" by some, while many who live, work, or shop downtown have been working to build community downtown through events like the Gallery Walk, the Harry Potter Fair, and other fun things. While the city actively pursues big business development on the outskirts of town, the downtown district has been seeing a subtle but real rejuvenation not based on profit but based on a desire for success. From the New Moon Cafe to Apple Blossom Books, Water City Grill to Oblio's, the Comic Shop, Salon Mode, the art galleries, the Exclusive, Soiree, Sweet Usoapia, the bead shop, etc, etc,

Many of the businesses downtown cater to a niche market, but together they provide a rich variety of shopping, activities and events. The business owners are all largely small business owners that live and work right here in Oshkosh - they care about not only their business but the downtown as well. They want downtown not to just stay afloat but to thrive, as do those that shop downtown, eat downtown, and drink downtown.

Tony Palmeri and Paul Esslinger suggested last night that the idea of closing downtown Main Street to cars and creating a pedestrian mall akin to Madison's State Street was worth looking into. Jackson Kinney dismissed the idea:

Jackson Kinney, Oshkosh’s community development director, said that’s probably not a good idea.

“You hide the businesses,” he said. “You need the traffic flow.”

While this might be a good point, you have to ask though - is it working now? Is the traffic flow on Main Street promoting a thriving downtown? If not (and I would argue it is not), then why not consider something different? Why not a pedestrian mall? Most of Oshkosh went downtown to the Harry Potter Party - wasn't it kind of cool to be able to walk around the middle of Main Street? Imagine trees lining the center of the street, park benches every twenty feet, landscaped planters with a bike lane winding through it.

Kinney may think downtown needs car traffic, but I would argue that downtown needs people. Downtown is a place to wander around, people watch, window shop, grab a coffee, read a book or newspaper.

But here's another good idea - how about asking the business owners downtown what they would like to see? According to the Northwestern the next "community" meeting for the Main Street Project will likely be in the fall, when 60% of the planning is already done. I find it is much easier to walk downtown and enter the stores and talk to the owners to get an opinion.

But what do you think? What would help Downtown Main Street thrive into a precious place in Oshkosh?

Downtown Oshkosh website: www.downtownoshkosh.com
Oshkosh Northwestern story on the Main street project.
Tony Palmeri's comments.

UWO Goes Cage Free

Effective Jan 2008, UW Oshkosh will now be offering cage free eggs for their dining services. According to a Fox News story, UWO uses approximately 80,000 eggs in a given school year.

According to the Humane Society of the US:

"Confining hens inside tiny cages so small they can't even spread their wings is cruel and inhumane," said Paul Shapiro, senior director of The HSUS' factory farming campaign. "UW Oshkosh is joining a growing number of colleges in moving away from using eggs from caged hens. The Humane Society of the United States encourages other schools to follow its example."

This effort continues a positive trend on campus, in which Fair Trade, Organic, Shade Grown coffee was made available sometime in 2006. Congratulations to the effort made by students and staff to implement these socially responsible changes.

As apparent by the senior student interviewed in the Fox News story, half of the puzzle is still missing. While it is great that these changes are taking effect, it is equally important that the population utilizing these resources understand what they are consuming and why it is important to follow such socially responsible practices. This is necessary for continuation and success of these efforts on campus, as well as for the spread of such practices beyond the isolated gates of the school.

Oshkosh School Board election

Two seats are up for election on the seven member School Board, and four candidates are challenging the two incumbents. All quotes below are from this article by the ONW.

The incumbents are Ben Schneider II and Tom McDermott.

Ben Schneider has served on the School Board for six years, and is billed in the ONW article as a budget and finance guy:

"I'm always looking to the future and how a resolution will impact our future education or future budgets," said Schneider, who has three children in the Oshkosh school district. "I feel that frankly it is a perspective that is ignored on the board and I do feel that in order for us to kind of move and get some health back to this district we're going to have to start changing the way we do business and not always making decisions that seem like a good idea for a short period of time."

Tom McDermott is also seeking a third three year term. He says he wants to see the 10-year facilities plan completed:

McDermott said he is seeking a third term because he thinks it's important to complete the 10-year facilities planning process.

The long-range facilities planning process, which began more than a year ago, will close some schools, add onto and renovate other buildings and redraw boundary lines to create equity among schools throughout the district.

"We're at an important point in developing and moving that plan forward and I'd like to be a part of that process," McDermott said. "It's a really important process. The plan will provide for facilities that are going to last for a long time."

Challenging these two incumbents are John Daggett, Kevin Janke, John Lemberger, and Michelle Monte.

John Daggett, who is also challenging Bill Wingren's County Board seat, has run for School Board before along with a handful of other offices. Daggett has raised the bar on the label "perennial candidate" at this point.

Kevin Janke, a parent with children in the OASD who was involved with the community response team aspect of the facilities planning, appears to be running to get that facilities plan completed:

"I am to the point of frustration because this process is taking so long," he said. "I'm very disappointed in some of the board members for being so negative about the district and the facilities plan."

John Lemberger, a UWO education professor and ONW community columnist, may be the most qualified academically with a doctorate in curriculum and instruction. He is a former teacher and has a history with the OASD. Lemberger:

Among the issues Lemberger hopes to address are neighborhood schools, district spending and teacher hiring practices. He said he also hopes to strengthen the relationship between UWO and the school district.

"I think we ought to preserve our neighborhood schools," he said. "I don't agree with spending $46 million to basically close a bunch of neighborhood schools."

Michelle Monte is launching her third run in three years for a seat on the School Board. Based on the conversations on the blogs, Monte is the "Hillary Clinton" of this race - people either love her or hate her. Will this be the year that she breaks onto the school board?

"I'm running because I never give up on the future of my children or the community's children," said Monte, who has two children in the Oshkosh school district.

Monte has a degree in education from the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay and is currently pursing a master's degree in English at UWO.

With no Common Council race we can expect a lot more attention to be paid to this school board race and the various County Board seats this term.

There is chatter already taking place on online forums around the city including Michelle Monte's blog, Theresa Thiel's blog, The ONW forums, and more soon to come. And of course we encourage discussion here on this site as well.

Who do you like at this point?

No one wants to be on the Common Council

The filing deadline came and went, and no one decided to run for the Common Council except for the three incumbents - Paul Esslinger, Dennis McHugh, and Burk Tower.

What does this mean? Is the city satisfied with the direction the Council is taking us in? It is possible. Or is it possible that no one wants to be in their shoes right now, given what the Common Council has to deal with over the next year? This Common Council will be hiring a new City Manager, handling the Riverfront Development projects, overseeing Millers Bay and dealing with the annual increase in expenses and the cap on the tax levy.

Two questions:

One: If we can't find anyone to run for Common Council, will we be able to find someone interested in being the City Manager?

Two: Since we won't have a competitive election for Common Council, applying the logic of the Northwestern, the LWV, and the "CUT the County Board" group shouldn't we be considering cutting the size of the Common Council from Seven to Four?

And a last thought - without a competitive common council race, what are we going to talk about for the next three months? The weather?