Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for the Week of November 20, 2023

Christmas Parade photo from the Post-Crescent

Greetings District 6 Neighbors, 

Thanksgiving has gone (I heard that the last of the leftovers were hub’s lunch today) and winter has apparently settled in without asking for early check-in. 

Because November has five Wednesdays this year and the council meets on the first and third Wednesday of the month, with committees meeting “the week following Council”, we do not have any regular committee meetings this week. 

We will be back to the regular schedule with the Common Council meeting on December 6. 

There was one special meeting this morning – the Appleton Redevelopment Authority met to vote on changing the guarantor of the letter of credit backing the Performing Arts Center bonds from Associated Bank to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. There are several documents attached and a lengthy memo, but the bottom line seems to be that Associated Bank has been downgraded by Moody’s Investor Services, causing the variable interest rate on the bonds to increase. By having Thrivent issue the irrevocable letter of credit, the interest rate on the bonds (and therefore the payments by the PAC) will decrease. The Appleton Redevelopment Authority and the City of Appleton have no financial responsibility for any of these bonds – the ARA just acts as the conduit for the financing. Thrivent would be the sole guarantor if the PAC did not make the payments.  

The Municipal Services Committee took up the designs for Perkins Street and, in District 6, N. Morrison St. from E. Glendale to E. Pershing. There were four residents from the area who spoke. No one objected to the reconstruction, but all wanted the street to be the same width as it is now, to retain street parking on the west side of the street and to remove the traffic calming circle at Lindbergh from the design. There was quite a bit of discussion, including, in answer to my question, the fact that, even removing the parking from the west side of the affected area, there would still be 1.7 street parking spaces for every driveway in the construction area. As I wrote last time, my vote next week will be based on the fact that the water and sewer lines under this section of street date from the early 1940s and 1950s and I would like to see these replaced as soon as possible. The narrowing of the street and traffic calming features seem like a good idea (confirmed that there is little to no additional expense involved for these, while narrowing of the street saves $85,000) with two schools and Erb Park in the immediate area. While N. Morrison is not a mecca for speeders, even those who spoke at the meeting agreed that E. Lindbergh often is, so the traffic calming circle should help slow those folks down. While I understand that change is difficult, I didn’t hear enough reasons to vote against the project. I WILL discuss the format of the letters being sent to residents with DPW as a couple of people told me that they didn’t return them because the letters were confusing, and it wasn’t clear what was being asked. 

The other major items on the committee agendas were the resolutions introduced by Alder Doran at the last council meeting, calling for the closure of the Whitman Ave. yard waste site, changing of the timing of the city budget activities and taking $25,000 of ARPA funds for more license plate cameras. All of these were held until the next committee meetings – the Finance Committee items because Director Ohman had to miss the November 20^th meeting. 

That basically brings us up to date on city business. I saw that the trucks were out again collecting leaves for the “bonus round” this morning, and now I want to know how much snow the vacuum trucks got with the leaves they picked up today. There are nice green spots all along the terrace as I look out my window. I have seen a couple of large items set out on the terrace and just wanted to remind everyone that bulky item collection is over until spring. Hang on to your items until then or find a place to donate them if they are still usable, as the folks who do that job in the spring and summer are now on leaf and yard waste pickup and snow removal. 

Finally, I’m letting you know of my intention to run for another term as your alderperson. The even districts are up for election next year (April 2 unless there are more than two candidates for a position, in which case there will be a primary on February 20). We can start getting nomination papers signed on December 1, so I might be knocking on your door this weekend to ask your help in getting on the ballot. I’ll have a separate campaign Facebook page and a campaign e-mail account, so this email and my “official” Facebook page will remain for city business only.  

Have a great week!