The assumed problem with the new Columbus TIF - information ONLY! And Mink River

Hi all - I'm TRYING to put out a blog once a week now on Mondays or Tuesdays but a trip to Door County to the cabin nixed that idea this last week.  Door County called. 

One thing I learned from the the owners of Mink River an amazing bar in Ellison Bay was I might have helped bring people to the bar. You see I mentioned their AMAZING burger (literally the best I have ever had) on Madison Foodie and the bar has been getting lots of new tourists/customers since. And Cory blamed ME!!  Then I guess there was a secret contest and Mink River in Ellison Bay won the BEST BURGER in Door County. 

SO Monday we tried their Smash Burgers - WOW 

Literally one of the most amazing flavored? burgers I’ve ever had. #MinkRiver was voted the best burger in Door County. This the Drew Smash burger with Cajun seasoning, pepper Jack cheese, caramelized onions, jalapeños and garlic aloai is INSANELY good. OMG

If you get to Northern Door - you MUST go to Mink River a "dive bar" (are there any actual dive bars around?) with a real chef - a hidden gem with a game room and outdoor patio for dogs we talked to Tony Shaloub and family last year as they were eating on the patio. DJ had a good conversation with his sister about their dogs.

DJ had the Mink Mac Smash Burger - like a Big Mac but for ADULTS - she thought it was fantastic!!!

A few years ago I was asked to take a glamor photo of Club Le Mark, a square gray wooden building and also the inside of the CC Rider Clubhouse - no photos of the outside and NO photos of The Wall.  Now I need one of The Mink - it's coming.  This one is from Terry Hickman so you can all find the place.

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This is a “get it off my chest (2)” post. Informational only not complaining (do I ever complain)?

OH One thing - I LOVE this little town. The people are friendly, it's quiet, there is not REAL violence - OH we're the center of white collar crime it seems (Midwest Horse Fair, a church lady, the Travel Center and now a baseball organization).  But every alderperson loves this town - it's a lot of work being an alderperson.  I KNOW.  BUT - always remember - these are not politicians - they are normal people like you and I trying to do the best they can trying to compromise what is good for the city and good for the residents. 

ANYWAY! 
                                      The new TIF

We all know this has been planned for 20 or more years so it’s not a surprise, in fact many home owners are welcoming new housing on section 17.  The reason we want houses is that those houses will help absorb the large seismic shaking from the large explosions that Westphal Quarry lights off without a REAL warning every month. 

We have small cracked foundations, albums on turntables skip and small cracks in drywall from the 8-10 explosion that are 550 yards away from my house. The new houses will be in the 350 yards area so they will slow down the land shaking by 200 yards.

Plus, since the quarry starts grinding at 5:30-6:00 in the morning maybe the new housing will absorb some of the VERY LOUD grinding that forces our windows to be closed on summer mornings. 

This is from my house

And from the proposed new housing 

How close can you build a house to a working quarry.  And since realtors never tell ANYBODY on Vista that there is working quarry 500 yards away . . . I’m sure new home owners will be surprised also.  I won't speak of the dust we collect inside the house.   

NEXT issue The Enerpac hill.

Before Enerpac there was a deep/ old quarry crevice about 20 feet deep full of old TVs, refrigerators and garbage that people dumped into it.  If you walk around, you can still see pieces of appliances and TVs. This was all covered up by dirt that was dumped from the Enerpac hole and is now a 30 foot high 250 yard hill.  Enerpac Hill.  I had mentioned this a few times before I was on council but since it was not in city limits nobody cared it was an uncontrolled dump for appliances. 

The ISSUE is rain

The hill has created some pretty heavy flooding onto hole #11 at Kestrel Ridge that was not there before the hill.  What used to be a 3 inch stream next to the course on heavy storms is now literally a 2 feet high torrent rushing water that floods the entire fairway of hole #11.

As you can see rain flows down the normal slant of land from the west hits the torrent of water falling from Enerpac Hill and shoves it onto the golf course, LITERALLY making a waterfall over that sand trap (now new grass as if  . . . . now).

NOW! – if you add cement from a presumed road next to the hill and more housing it’s going to be VERY wet at times.  I HOPE there are plans for a major re-direction of all that water or those houses will be on a flood plain.   Unintended consequence.

Those are my concerns and could you forward this to City Engineer Jason?
Thanks – I got that off my chest – the city has been informed  LOL

Rod Melotte – my weather station

https://www.wunderground.com/weather/us/wi/columbus/KWICOLUM2

See ya next week - when I  give the thumbs up (in a good way) to the Columbus Police Department

Warm weather IS coming - Gus the Weather Dog says so 

 

WELL WELL WELL - here we go again Columbus Utilities

I didn't want to start with a whine but needed a catalyst it seems. 

WHERE IT STARTED

When the movie Public Enemies and Universal decided to film a good bit of their movie in Columbus I started this blog as the local newspaper only came out once a week. It was all Public Enemies and locations and information and photos.  I was even invited to Oshkosh as an extra because of the blog.  After the movie came out I was contacted by Universal and the asst Director thanking me for the entertainment and they said BECAUSE of me they had to put out false locations for shooting.   
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FUN FACT - In Oshkosh I went into a restaurant and a whole table of woman screamed when I walked in  IT'S THE BLOGGER!! and I got a free meal, BUT I digress with memories.  
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1,219,749 pages read later (although the only working counter only says  759,008)  so here I go again. 

FOUND IT - OH up to 1,719,819 pages read  

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Once the movie (and international attention) was over  I switched to my thoughts about the city government and calling them out for their incompetence which accidently got me voted into being an alderman much to my dismay. It seems citizens of Columbus agree with my random words.   

All was well as the government FOR THE MOST PART got much better. OH - there are a few unforced errors lately but it was fine UNTIL Columbus Utilities and their manager Dalton Hiley decided  to gaslight me (not my words but from a nearby business that agrees with me)  and 8 other houses on our circle. 

You see Columbus Utilities erected a spot light at the southern sub station that shines into our house and creates shadows on our walls at night.  Every night when I get up to pee THERE IT IS SHINING ON MY ASS creating a shadow on the walls inside my own house
  

From our living room EVERY night 





OH - I but was told there is no such light. 

BACK STORY - I contacted the very nice business manager at the Columbus office that I knew very well as I was good friends of the previous head person of Columbus Water and Light and she completely agreed with my problem and she said they would look into it.

They did move the light down which LOOKS like it would have worked  (see photo) BUT - it did not. The LED spotlight has SO SO much flair we did not even notice one bit that it was lowered.   As you see you would THINK this would alleviate the issue but the light is SO inefficient it did basically nothing 
 

 Here is what it looks like at night - it peaks JUST over Enerpac hill right into our house. 

 The reason for the light I was told was they NEEDED the light was "security" but then that was changed to the workers need lights to work on the stuff at night. It's about 250 yards away and shines on 8 houses at 3 LUX (2 LUX over the limit on the city ordinance) 

I contacted Columbus Utilities and the very nice manager said I would have to contact Dalton Hiley who literally said in an email " I understand your concern and annoyance with the new security lights but I ensure you it is for the greater good."  "THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME".

WTF?

Who else says that constantly on X.  Does that sound at all familiar with Iran speak? Gas prices are high but do you want to be nuked? Live with it?  THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME is cold, dismissive, and final.  It shuts down a conversation.  Is this a play book that is being used?   I expected a LITTEL more from the Columbus Utility Manager. 

" As for now the light will remain in service, I will look into potential areas the light can be relocated. Feel free to reach out with any on going concerns." 

BUT WAIT - it gets WAY worse. 

I made references to city ordinances Sec. 114-127. - Lighting  All outdoor lighting including that used to illuminate off-street parking areas shall be shielded or otherwise optically controlled so as to provide glareless illumination in such a manner as not to create a nuisance on adjacent property.  It's right there in writing. 

Totally 100% IGNORED!  The spotlight was not there when we moved here - if it was we certainly would not have built our house on that spot. 

THEN 

"Visual inspection of the property between 300 Vista Circle and the substation visible found no light on the fairway or on Curt Hanson’s land." 

 Yea - tell that to the houses on VISTA - I seem to see the spot light everywhere!




The fairway is much lower then my house and is near Enerpac Hill so OF COURSE they saw no light - maybe try closer to the actual house? 

So I contacted the Mayor and 6 alder people of which only ONE actually responded (thank you Ryan).  I sent photos to all concerned - this one is just before the devil light goes off 

 
And one from our deck where I USED to take astrophotography of stars which I no longer can enjoy. 

We loved sitting on our screen in porch at night but NOW - we have a spotlight killing our nice calming view (look's MUCH worse but the camera is not my friend on this one).

But what REALLY riles me is they REALLY do not care at all about the citizens of Columbus. We pay some pretty large property tax but they don't care.  OH they "understand your concern"  DO THEY?  

I have the UTMOST respect for the underpaid workers of CU - I was on the Water and Light Commission for 5 years and they do a FANTASTIC job for Columbus but management just does not care it seems.  It's really a sad development. 

I'm not sure the DOT love that light either

 

SO - my BIG complaint about people who complains is . . .  IF you have a complaint - how about a way to fix it.  WELL - It would be FREAKING EASY!!! 



1. Shine the Devil light straight down - there is so much light leakage from this inefficient LED  ( who's idea was this light?)  that it would still light up the main area. AND it would still offer security.   How hard is that - are they not electricians?   

2. Move the entire light down 2 feet so it does not shine OVER Enerpac hill AND it would still offer security-  How hard is that - are they not electricians?    

3. Put some sort of shade on the one part of the light AND it would still offer security-  How hard is that - are they not electricians?   

If they had a valid reason for not fixing the light I would have zero issues but so far its been vague excuses. 

Please DON'T make me get elected again LOL 

SO - that is my spiel - I will end up being irritated every night for the rest of my life I fear.  Maybe I'll sneak up the hill and plant a pine tree. Or maybe erect a 2 foot fence. 

Thanks for listening.    

UP NEXT - the big problem with the new Columbus TIF 
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WHEW - I see I need to fix some things on this blog if I keep it active.  Sorry about any formatting errors.  And REALLY - I'm a nice happy funny kind guy. I just  hate being irritated EVERY freaking night. 

PEACE out  

Soccer for clueless Americans , The Oaks makes good,

 I'm always a little surprised when I look to see who in their right mind reads this meaningless blog about a little town in Wisconsin.  This is from the last 3 days 

 

Not many Russians anymore  LOL 
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Had an issue while golfing at The Oaks Wednesday night in league. The ranger REALLY pissed off our foursome and sort of ruined our rounds. I have been beat up a few times because I will not back down to bullies - dealt with that all the way through school and I WON'T TAKE IT ANYMORE.  

Well - I gave the owner of The Oaks/Kestrel Ridge an earfull with a few obscenities and they agreed with our complaint.  It's all good now but have you ever tried golfing when you are LIVID and want to beat up somebody?  LOL  ( drives went far). 

It's all been ironed out.  It had to do with 1 person in carts. There are 4 or 5 of us with bad knees or just old. We don't know who will be in our foursome from week to week so we can't really plan on WHO to share carts with.  WELL we were SCREAMED at for only have 1 player in a cart and what REALLY ticked me off was when I asked how to fix the GPS and the ranger said I DON'T CARE!   

AGAIN - it's all good now - maybe HE was having a bad day and wanted to share!  The owners of the Oaks and Kestrel Ridge are doing a MAGNIFICANT job on both course  truly.

The old owner of Kestrel was a slum lord who did nothing.  Now Kestrel is getting a VERY good reputation.   

BTW - Kestrel Ridge has a GREAT Patty Melt and really good cod with outside seating and music on Friday nights!!  

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We watched Ted Lasso and then watched Season 1 of Return to Wrexham.  I was NEVER a soccer fan - ZIP ZERO - but after watching these two shows I see it's NOT just 20 people chasing a ball - there is actually strategy for every position and every zone on the pitch (field).  It's more like chess actually. 

Check out Season 2 trailer 

     

You might say - I still have no clue about this truly beautiful sport - watch this vid before making a decision

It's opening day in the Premier League today - first game at 2:00  DJ and I will be in front of the TV!! 

BTW - "SOCCER" is NOT an American word - it's an English word for Association Football!! 

In the 1880s there was  Rugby Football (rugby) and Association Football (called Assoccer, which was shortened to soccer ) But when Rugby dropped "football" Assoccer became just "Football".  But when America combined rugby and assoccer they called it "football" and now Assoccer became soccer.   

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OK - mow the lawn day!!  Cheers