Racine Fresh Water Reserch Park.

So our Mayor John Dickert had a plan to focus the City on Lake Michigan vs away from the Lake, and by doing so would bring business that focus on fresh water uses to Racine, or so he claimed  he would do.

So far The Mayor has yet to bring any to Racine (Has he brought any new business to the City?) If anything Our Leader has driven business away either driving them to other near by  cities or going out of business.

I see this trend continuing, the high taxes, high fees, poor schools and high crime is not good for attracting  new companies.

What he could have done for very little money that could have had a huge impact was this:

1) Rehab one of the many building that the City owns into a suite of office space, this space would be like an business incubator for businesses looking to work in some way in Fresh Water.

2) Offer cheep basic office services for companies using the incubator and fast Broadband. I would also would equip a Science Lab  and work with Gateway to find Work Study interns for running this Lab.

3) Again I use Gateway to oversee the day to day operations of the research park. Like cleaning snow removal, keeping the books what have you.

4) An agreement would be signed by the companies using the research park that say 25% of anything discovered/ invented/sold   would belong to the City of Racine.

5) The max lease would be 10 years. This could be extended.

6) Any Employees hired would have to be City of Racine residents  within 6 months.

7) A board made up by 1 from Gateway one from The State of Wisconsin and one from the Aldermen of Racine would keep track and each year state the results of the Park.

8) Other ideas could be bring in and provide a stipend for the conduct of  pure research on clean water issues from an group of applying for this.

9) Each year host a meeting of researchers on Fresh Water, with the chair being (I hate to say this) The sitting Mayor of Racine.

 

Too bad so sad Mayor John Dickert did not do this nor do I think he will. Why?

Your guess is as good as mine, sure fit into RootWorks idea and could easily be put on “Machinery Row” Water St.

Guess making the Boaters/ Downtown crowd happy is job one vs doing something that would I think help the City and the Lake.

The few $$ this would cost could be found from local Business groups and State Grants, hell I can get grants for this!

Great this is I do not have to wait on Mayor Dickert to do  much of this, and why should I?

Anyone can get a building (Going cheep in Racine) even me!  I even own a few domain names that fit right in!

Hell, my It Came From The Root River film could be part of this too.

 

Harbor Meeting 3/23/13 Part II

 

Just a few more random thoughts.

I have to sit closer to the talking being older they do not talk very loud and I missed the names of groups and other information, I will be sure to do so.

They did not have public comment however when I raised my hand they did allow me to speak.

Of course just so you know it’s Ryan’s fault that The City of Racine does not have Millions for dredging, that is what two of the members said. After all Racine needs the money. Troubling because in the day of 16 trillion in debit something must be cut. More troubling is that two members just see this as a Right vs left issue.

When I spoke I recalled to the Group that Our Mayor as is said is one phone call away from Obama perhaps   the group should have The Mayor contact the White House vs blame/contact Rep Ryan? That did not go over well.

I have a lot of research to do a few open records to ask for and calls to make To Rep Voss  about changes I like to see happen in Groups that may get State Money.

Oh one last thing. The chairman of the group and another talked of the effort needed to move along 5th St project, and let’s say a fear of the effort stalling out.

Harbor Meeting 3/22/13 Part 1

Went to the City Harbor Commission meting yesterday. I went because along with Rootworks there is a lot of opportunity to spend $$ on what who knows or  for the benefit of what group of folks? The rich well off Boaters who are looking to have their enjoyment of the Lake subsidized or everyone who may want to use Lake Michigan?

Let me start off in saying that this group of folks I think are doing the best job they know how within a city Goverment that has no clue about the effort needed to keep the Harbor open.

I will say that IMHO this group is thinking The City will be so much better off with a City/County operated Marina to attract the Mythical boaters to Racine. This will be a huge issue and fast for the days of the Boaters coming and spending tons of money are dead and gone. We will see how fast I can convince this group that the idea they have is well dead. Must be truly sad to see days of glory boating in Lake Michigan is gone, when in living memory they were part of it and perhaps still own large boats now.

That being said the City does have a Harbor that local fishermen use as well as Charter Boat Capts and others.  The City has a duty to maintain this harbor and improve said Harbor if/when able.

Over the years I have found out from this meeting and other  research due to high  cost much maintenance has been neglected, other factors beyond anyone’s control  has led to issues that need to be addressed like Dredging. In the meeting I was at, the survey done for the 5th street pier is finding (If I understand correctly) that 13,000 cubic Yards of bottom would have to be removed for a 7′ path that is needed, cost 450K to 1,000,ooo  that is a lot of money the City have to come up with 30% or so. How can we spend that money at a time that we are turning off street lights and fighting to keep open fire stations?

I strongly believe that this city needs to talk about what we are going to focus on with the small amount of resources we have for the best return on investment.

Let me be blunt My .02

 

I am of two schools of thought:

1) A lot of good can come with a focus on the River and Harbor within the City of Racine

2) I do not trust The Mayor of Racine John Dickert  to do anything more then enrich his pals and by use of Public Funds to continue to build shit just to build shit any say he did something (and give Cronies money)

He can also use the Harbor to raise taxes and create more opportunities to give cronys money.

To me this is shown by such things as:

City Hall Bathrooms

CAR 25

Roundabout on 7th St

This is so bad that I can not trust the Mayor nor those who work on the City’s Commissions or Boards in Racine City Goverment. for I feel that the members of such are in on the games or to dumb to understand what is going on.

There are exceptions to this, few and far between but they do exist.  So what do I do?

I guess the only thing I can do is go to the Meetings and talk about the issues on this blog.

Change The Harbor!

My great Idea for the City of Racine using the Harbor, Freight Rail and Wind Power to create real UNION jobs, transistion from Peak oil and create tax base growth for the City of Racine

In a few words build a terminal at the County owned Harbor to handle freight. Use Rail to move off loaded freight to a trucking hub.

I expand the idea

Due to the price of Oil Sailing ships are making a come back http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/12/tech/sailing-green-merchant-ship

As the price of oil keeps going up, this will only continue.  Companies wanting to keep shiping costs down will be looking for ways to do so.

The use of sail for non-time critical Cargo will begin to be used more and more. From transport of  Soybeans/Corn to Coal cold be transported by Sail.  Racine could moving to create a small Freight Harbor for the Sailing Cargo ships to use with Truck/Rail Terminal to off load the Cargo and repair center be that for the Engines still in use or rigging on the Ships.

My plan would also call for some type of Temp Housing for the Sailors as they may wait for their ship to be reload for the next trip out.  I see a great opportunity to build a Maritime Museum/Retail Center for locals/ tourists  wanting to see the Ships sail into and be off loaded.

Unlike the Downtown Racine trying to serve only the rich and white (The More rich and white the better) this area would be a great place for all t come and visit. We would soon find the Downtown changed to be a far more happier place  full of just plain folk seeing something be created like no other place in America, we find return visitors more and more. Unlike no visitors like we see now. Of course the DRC would not like this but no worries as with the Downtown dieing fast the DRC would come to mean little (Kinda like now)

We would not try and compete with the Milwaukee Harbor but create our own market. The better the Harbor serves the Small Cargo ships the more that would come. Bringing more money/jobs to the City .

Racine too would quickly see other businesses  come to Racine to serve this new industry.

Of course City Taxes would have to come down and a honest City Government  be in office.

Interesting idea to think about.

Grass on the Banks

 

Getting away fro the idea of The Root as a rich man’s toy for a bit. We should look at the use of Farming as a way to not only help with food issues but as a way to control issues with the river it’s self

Simply growing Grasses on the Banks of the River would help slow erosion, as well the Water   going into the Root could be cleaned by the grasses.

Introducing breeds of Fresh Water Fish that like off the Grasses and the Insects that live in the Grasslands could in fact create a whole Ecosystem in an area of the Root River that is suffering from the lack of one.

Would not that be an idea?

Perhaps the Fish are the type that Fishermen in Racine may like to try to Fish for? I understand that the Fees for Fishing licenses go to help pay for DNR projects that something like this might be able to use?

I know that I have seen many locals in Racine do enjoy fishing bring locals to the River is a Goal of RootWorks and myself.

A great idea to find ways to get locals in the Urban areas to care about the River that so many live close to. Locals are far more critical for the long term then the nonexistent Boaters.

 

Crises!

 

 

Crises! and the low water levels  of the Great Lakes is a crises. From the story

New water lows for Great Lakes could drain local economies

By Mike Pearson, CNN

“… — The coal trade on the Great Lakes declined 8.2% in 2012 from the previous year, and down a quarter off the 5-year-averge — in large part due to falling water levels and a $200 million backlog in necessary dredging throughout the lakes, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association.
– Commercial fishing boats are finding it increasingly difficult to navigate some harbors, risking a downturn in a vital part of the Great Lakes economy, said Mark Breederland, an educator with Michigan SeaGrant..”

However this is not the first time this has happened From the Story “…It’s also a cycle that’s been seen before.Lake levels were nearly this low in December 1964, and it’s the March 1964 record that’s likely to fall in the next few months….”

of course Dredging is brought up

“… Groups with interests in the economy of the Great Lakes say Congress has failed to appropriate enough money to keep up with a growing backlog of dredging jobs needed to keep harbors clear for larger boats….”  Of couse low Water be an issue if if the Racine Marina’s get so low that oh say a Hull get ripped  open or Boaters thought that might happen.

Too bad its not The City of Racine’s issue to fix is it? I know the downtown White Business owners think “we” (read me and you not them hell many can’t pay the property taxes they owe) to come up with the millions it would cost to do the Dredging needed to begin to even start to open the  Harbor/Root River. I’ll ask what happened to The City’s $$ and Counties money from the Simuluis? That would have been a shovel ready job for the $$ given to both I think. Why was that $$ used for the work?

Too bad Racine does not have a muti-use Harbor for both Freight and Fun. I sure could get behind that effort, not so much (Read No fucking way) $1 spend on a Rich man’s toy.

Mind you this is a big issue we could see the Harbor slit up in my life time.

What odds do you give the Downtown club in starting a fund drive to pay for Dredging or do you think that that the DRC will cry to the Mayor for the millions needed?