Appleton District 6

Greetings, This dreary, starting to be stormy, afternoon kind of reflects our statewide mood after both Marquette and the Badgers made earlier-than-hoped-for exits from the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The Badgers made a heckuva comeback, but they just didn’t quite get there. We are headed into a pretty busy week in local government – I wrote about the Common Council meeting last week, which led to a couple of items that we will consider in committee meetings this week, so I’ll get straight into the agendas. Municipal Services Committee – Monday, March 24, 4:30 p.m. We’ll take up a couple of street occupancy permits – on College Avenue for the 222 building and at Washington and N. Oneida during construction of a new pizzeria. Both sites will have a temporary dumpster and there will be a debris catch on the sidewalk in front of the 222 Building during exterior façade repair. We will also discuss making parking changes on Durkee St. near Einstein Middle School permanent after a six-...

Greetings District 6 Neighbors, I wish you a happy first day of spring as I listen to my neighbors’ snow blowers 😊 It’s also the first day of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament – a day that makes me glad that I’m retired from full time work since the Badgers play at 12:30 today. For the first time that I can remember, I haven’t filled out a bracket so I can watch the games just for the fun of it. OK – to serious business. I don’t normally recap the Common Council meeting until we get the agendas for the next week’s committee meetings, but there has already been a lot of news in both traditional media and social media about two items from last night. First – the “Selfie Sculpture” that Appleton Downtown, Inc. wanted to install in Houdini Plaza –an area that they help maintain, along with other parts of downtown, by funding power washing of sidewalks, graffiti removal, maintaining flower boxes, etc. Executive Director Jennifer Stephany appeared during public participation to share...

  Greetings District 6 Neighbors, I told my colleague Alder Siebers the other night that I was making him personally responsible for our little reminder over the weekend that winter isn’t over. He had assured me a week or so ago that it was. We will begin the Common Council meeting with a couple of board reappointments and with a presentation from the Appleton Area School District regarding attendance. The numbers haven’t gotten better since I met with Superintendent Greg Hartjes last fall. 20.3% of high school students (921) missed five or more days of school without an excuse AND missed 18 or more days of school with or without an excuse. Of those 921 high school students, 811 are not on track to graduate. AASD is asking the council for: “(a)n ordinance that would support student success.” Per the presentation: The ordinance would be used when our three-tiered system of support has not helped a student consistently attend school The Common Council determines the dispositions that...

Greetings District 6 Neighbors, The website PolitiFact, maybe better known for their “Truth-o-meter” where they rate the statements of politicians from “True” all the way to “Pants-on-Fire”, also maintains a “Flip-O-Meter” where they rate changes in political positions on a scale of “No-Flip”, “Half-Flip” or “Full-Flop.” I am not sure whether to give myself a half-flip or a full-flop on the request from Appleton Downtown, Inc. to install what is referred to as a “Selfie Sculpture” in Houdini Plaza downtown. When I was writing the newsletter on Sunday and Monday, I was just thinking that I didn’t like the looks of what they were proposing. Many of you agreed. As I watched the videos of the Appleton Public Arts and Parks and Recreation Committee meetings, I paid more attention to the memo from the Community Development Department regarding the Art in Public Places Policy, which really indicates that, after approval by the Public Arts Committee, what other council committees and the Commo...