New Media comes to Racine. Bad News for Mayor Jon Dickert

 

 

New Media comes to Racine.

Got to love it! A new blog has started in Racine  called   Racine Transparency and here is the link http://racinetransparency.tumblr.com/     

Interesting that it’ s here.  Must be some type of anger on the streets to back another Blog. Yes no one is getting paid to do the blogging that’s going on in Racine but as I see it you got to have a fan base, folks who have to like what your doing or why bother?

To see yet another blog calling out Mayor John Dickert about what he is doing from the view point of the blogs, should be telling the Good Old Boys that we are mad as hell and not going to take it any more.

What is so nice about this Blog is its using Video of the Mayor to call him out (Is that why The Mayor wants to gain control of CAR 25?) How can he say the Video is wrong? That  he is not making excuses and looking like he has no clue?

Cant wait to see how the “Just think possessively) crowd will handle this.

 

 

Crystal Ball Time!

 

 

Crystal Ball Time!

 

Mark the tape my upcoming predictions

 

1) City of Racine will outsource Garbage and Recycling. The City will also try to force property owners to buy City of Racine Garbage Carts (like the Recycling carts) the excuse will be this actions will save the City a lot of money ( A great way to gin up a few $$ too)

2) The City of Racine will be sued by at least one  Ex city worker for wrongful discharge. Last City Consul Meeting should be our first clue about who it might be
3) Racine will keep the record of having the highest Unemployment in the State of Wisconsin.

4) within 60 daysd of the Roundabout at Racine City Hall being opened for use. Some driver will jump the curb and hit City Hall. Alderman Fair will be blamed.

5)  Tax records of properties owned downtown Racine  will show many properties in Tax arrears.

6) At least one Alderman will resign or chose not to run for reelection, the excuse used will be that the evil Bloggers simply do not want to think   positively about Racine.

7) Crime will start to go higher as continuing unemployment starts to force folks into very difficult times.

8) The City at the same time they are firing City Union workers will want to build a Pool

9) The City of Racine budget will call for both Fire and Police to be fired.

10) One of the last major employers in the  downtown will start shifting work to other locations, as this Company starts to build a  new location in the County.

Those are my predictions for the rest of 2012.

 

Deep Throat (No not that kind)

 

 

 

So Tuesday of this week I got a message to meet with my own Deep Throat, I have no idea who this person is I only know when he wants to see me is when I find a playing  card on my truck’s windshield. we meet at only one place in the middle of a City Parking lot.

He  wears a hat and sun glasses so I can’t tell hair eye color of the guy I do know he is a white guy.

O.K. here we are talking about Racine and some info he has that to  share. Interesting stuff but not the point what my guy wants me to think about is to leave the city of Racine NOW.

As he sees it the more he is here doing his work the more he thinks that in just a few years  if your not living in a fortress you and your property will not be safe.

That in fact the City of Racine issues with population fleeing housing going to hell, more folks running away from homes and leaving empty house behind, that the whole way that Racine was will come to well ruin.

He ends or talk by saying that he can’t see how anyone not needed AFDC or other services would ever come to this city.

I have no idea who this guy is but so far his info has paned out we will see how the rest goes

Who’s Not Paying Their Property Tax in Racine? Part II

 

Wolf Man continues

 

Who’s Not Paying Their Property Tax in Racine?

In this series we will use open public records to explore who in Racine is not paying their property taxes. As we all know, the City is currently in a financial crisis, and wants to raise property taxes beyond what the law allows. The Mayor claims his hands are tied, but is that reality? What if some people, maybe LOTS of people and Businesses aren’t paying their fair share?

Why isn’t the Mayor asking the people and businesses of Racine who do not pay their property tax to pay?

Why is the burden left by those who don’t pay their property tax being passed, via mil-rate increases, to those who do pay?

Today we will reveal a Trifecta of properties that feature businesses which have the privilege of selling alcoholic beverages. One would think that a reasonable pre-requisite for being granted a license to sell alcohol would be that all taxes on the property were paid first. This is obviously NOT true for the City of Racine, as County Tax Records reveal that many establishments in Racine are on properties that are in arrears.

Racine’s current Public Licensing and Safety Committee is comprised of the following Aldermen:

Gregory T.  Helding                          262-880-4500

Molly Hall                                           262-635-0520

Robert Mozol                                    262-498-1541

Melissa Kaprelian-Becker            262-939-8679

These Aldermen, and the entire Common Council, have seen it fit to issue to licenses to sell alcoholic beverages to the following establishments, which are located on properties in arrears, per County of Racine public tax records: (Liquor license holder is not necessarily property owner)

Waves Pub and Grill       104 Fourth St.                    Property  Tax in arrears: $22,773.83

Blue Rock Lounge            306 Sixth St.                       Property Tax in arrears:  $5,964.35

Michigan’s Pub                                 1300 Michigan Blvd         Property Tax in arrears:  $5,790.92

Let’s take a look at the County of Racine Tax Records and let them speak for themselves:

 

 

 

 

Blue Rock

 

 

 

Michigan Pup

 

 

———————————————————————————————–

I thank Wolf man for his story .

I am working on how this effects the County since I recall Right the County pays the City the taxes owed then its up to the County to collect.

IMHO the County needs to seize properties behind on taxes.  One Downtown business owner, thinks that if the county did many buildings downtown would be boarded up and make downtown Racine look real bad. Interesting   Can you get by not paying your taxes?

 

The Fall of Mr Racine

 

How the mighty have fallen!

 

Yes Mark Eickhorst Mr Racine on WRJN has had a few bad days

You might recall Mark’s last newsworthy effort   in the press before his fall as being made the City of Racine’s public information officer. Many in Racine were upset when this post paying 25K a year was a no bis contract more upsetting  to some  when it was discovered that Mark Eickhorst owed for  back taxes. Those believing that Mark Eickhorst is/was a good pal of the Mayor were very upset at what happened. Time moves on.

As Racine PIO I believe he did little IMHO I saw No Twitter Account or Facebook Account for the City, I also saw no programing on CAR 25 I I have no idea what he did.

He held this job for about a year and then the job went away.

Time goes on and now we see this

From The Racine Journal  Times 9/20/12

‘Mr. Racine’ admits mistake after inmate escape

 

“Eickhorst is the supervisor who drove inmate Erick T. Blakney to his ex-girlfriend’s house when he was on work release, Eickhorst and county corporation counsel Jonathan Lehman confirmed. While at the woman’s house, Blakney allegedly beat up the woman.”

There’s  more “While working with the inmates, Eickhorst said he would sometimes let them use his cellphone during breaks and let relatives bring inmates food or a change of clothes.”

 

Wow! Did he not receive training on how to do his job? Did he not receive training on how to handle issues with prisoners?

Did he not himself have a Superior to go to if issues he was not trained for cam up?

Best of all is why he did this “I honestly asked myself before I let him do that what would Jesus do? … I thought I was doing the Christian thing,” Eickhorst said. “Unfortunately (the inmate) was lying to me.”

More then one person has speculated to me that no one could be that silly without a far better reason, some think $$ some think more a better bribe

I have no idea. I do think that this needs to be investigated more. I also think the County is on the line for the women being hurt. My guess is that Racine county will be sued.

I also have no clue how Mr. Racine comes back from this.

I did talk to one County elected official who ha questions on how Mark got the job in the first place and an interesting deal that might be going on in County hireling now that will be a story.

 

Is Racine is going mad?

 

 

 

So for review we have:

A lawsuit we paid for this be because Mayor John Dickert went on WRJN and “mispoke” (100K)

We also I think paid for the settlement the amount unknown (see below)

The Mayor maybe suing the City about details on the settlement. Is this the 2nd time he sued the City he runs?  Or are we only paying for the City has filed on “Bill”  (the Mayors guy he spoke of on WRJN) cost well lets say 100K

There are I thing 3 cases before the courts about Dickert’s NSP  program costing ?? so far

The City under Mayor John Dickert by ending the contracts with the City Unions IMHO has said “Do not trust us to follow our given word”  The Unions are also suing to force the City to keep its word.

Of course this is the best time for the Journal Times to call for … A Swimming Pool!   At an unknown cost to build/maintain the Newspaper thinks a Pool is what the City needs.

The Root River Council now after being as I see it Mayor Dickert’s pawns, will be calling for City money to build parts of Root Works. Are they looking for 20K 200K  or 2 Mill?  I do not know but they are looking for city $$.  A sourse at City Hall said “There will have to be some city tax money spent”

 

What is really nice we are so out of $$ that we told the City Unions to fuck off we have no money.

We have no money so the City has gutted the Bus System Who needs the Bus? Who needs Poor African Americans? They might come downtown!

At tonight’s Parking meeting I believe it was said that there might be more cuts coming.

So we have needs that are not being met yet the City wants to spend money we do not have on toys we do not need.

Are the nuts running Bedlam?

 

 

 

 

Wolfman updates us!

City of Racine Property Sales August 25 – September 1, 2012

Prices for homes in Racine continue to fall, and houses selling for less than $50,000 are becoming the norm. Foreclosure activity by Banks and Lenders picked up dramatically which will only add to the glut of empty homes in The City of Racine. In 2013, Racine is set to begin razing some of the worst unsalable properties, and this is a trend that is expected to continue and increase.

Potential home buyers are advised to do their research carefully, and resist the high pressure sale tactics of local realtors who wish to  prop up Racine’s housing market by creating the artificial illusion of scarcity or a line of buyers. Homes are a great value in Racine and can be purchased at heavily discounted prices. Buyer BEWARE! Many homes have not been properly upgraded or suffer from shoddy work by unlicensed contractors who performed the work without permits! Know what to look for! Has the electrical service been updated from fuses to breakers? Are there enough circuits for the size of the house and the electrical outlets/devices? Are the Bathroom and Kitchen outlets GCFI’s? Have the windows been updated to double-pane insulated glass? Is the attic properly insulated? Be sure the siding and roofing is not asbestos!  Racine is full of asbestos sided and shingled homes who will present a toxic, and expensive nightmare  for any future work needed on the home.  The glut of properties being held by Banks and Lenders makes bargain house shopping a breeze in Racine! Don’t get taken by a Realtor!

*WARNING* Many transactions listed by the Racine Journal Times are not “sales”, but property transfers using a quit claim deed – usually between family members. These give a false impression of a healthy real estate market in Racine – DO NOT BE MISLED!

There were 11 Foreclosures and twenty actual sales. Those actual sales had an average overassessment of $ 33,000.

Address                                               Sale Price            Assessed Price                  Difference

3410 Twentieth St.                          FORECLOSURE                                                            -0-

514 English St.                                   FORECLOSURE                                                            -0-

809 Berkeley Dr.                               FORECLOSURE                                                            -0-

1234 Kentucky St.                            FORECLOSURE                                                            -0-

3725 St. Andrews                             FORECLOSURE                                                            -0-

3408 La Salle St.                                FORECLOSURE                                                            -0-

1415 Melvin Ave.                             FORECLOSURE                                                           -0-

1615 Phillips St.                                                FORECLOSURE                                                           -0-

1240 Martin Luther King                FORECLOSURE                                                           -0-

2423 West Lawn                               FORECLOSURE                                                           -0-

614 Goold St.                                     FORECLOSURE                                                           -0-

1001 Russett St.                                $172,000              $165,000                              Pos. $7,000

1113 Sheraton Dr.                            $136,113              $120,000                              Pos. $16,113

4935 Emstan Hills                             $130,000              $146,000                              Neg. $16,000

3313 Pierce Blvd.                             $122,000              $129,000                              Neg. $7,000

3423 Stratford Ave.                         $116,000              $138,000                              Neg. $22,000

 

Address                                               Sale Price            Assessed Price                  Difference

3026 N.Wisconsin St                       $145,000              $135,000                              Pos. $10,000

1235 Grove Ave.                               $89,000 $94,000                 Neg. $5,000

2118 La Salle St.                                $77,400 $105,000                              Neg. $27,600

2705 Hayes Ave.                               $75,000 $88,000                 Neg. $13,000

1103 William St.                               $74,200 $93,000                 Neg. $18,800

1422 Arthur Ave.                              $69,000 $90,000                 Neg. $21,000

1526 Chatham St.                             $64,700 $78,000                 Neg. $13,300

1217 Goold St.                                   $48,000 $100,000                              Neg. $52,000

720 Eighth St.                                     $45,000 $45,000                         -0-

621 Grove Ave.                                 $29,000 $86,000                 Neg. $57,000

1542 Holmes Ave.                            $22,280 $87,000                 Neg. $64,720

1704 Villa St.                                      $20,000 $50,000                 Neg. $30,000

2915 Sixteenth  St.                          $19,000 $86,000                 Neg. $67,000

4325 Fifteenth St.                            $19,000 $62,000                 Neg. $43,000

46 McKinley St.                                 $12,500 $74,000                 Neg. $61,500

3819 N. Main St.                               $10,500 $179,000                Neg $168,500

 

My thanks once again to Wolfman and his reports on the real (as he sees it) value of properties in Racine WI.

How long will we go on thinking that there is nothing wrong in the City of Racine?

Who/how will pay the property taxes needed to run this failing city? Do you have your plans ready to get the hell out?

CAR 25 a Love Story

 

 

25 A story

As you all may know, I got my start with and still do work in/with  CATV station CAR 25 in Racine WI

Looks to me that the Mayor of Racine wants to shut down our CATV station to all but his cronies

case  in point

 

From the Journal Times

 

RACINE – Less than a week after a dispute between the mayor and an alderman about the city’s hiring process, aldermen will again consider the mayor’s choice for a consultant whose position was not publicly advertised.

Mayor John Dickert, with staff, has selected Sandy Petrykowski to provide part-time consulting services for the city’s cable access channel CAR 25. She is a Racine resident and former CNN correspondent.

This Monday the city’s Finance and Personnel Committee is set to discuss a $40,000 contract to hire Petrykowski for consulting services through the end of February 2011. The money comes from franchise fees paid by cable subscribers.

As a consultant for CAR 25 she would create a programming grid, shoot and edit programs, submit recommendations for new equipment, make progress reports to city committees, and develop a new Internet format for the channel, the contract says.

The meeting to discuss hiring Petrykowski is scheduled less than a week after Alderman Mike Shields, the president of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wrote a letter on behalf of the NAACP opposing the city’s policy of not advertising new professional service contracts. He specifically opposed the mayor’s hiring process for the city’s new PR consultant former Alderman Mark Eickhorst.

Similarly to how Eickhorst was selected, Dickert recommended Petrykowski for the consulting position and did not open up the application process for others – a process which is not required by law, according to City Administrator Tom Friedel.

Dickert said it is “normal procedure” not to bid out professional service contracts.

Petrykowski and her husband Hossam Aboul-Magd filmed mayoral candidates during the 2009 election for an independent film. The film, which has not yet been produced, featured Dickert. But Petrykowski said Dickert did not pay for the filming and Dickert said Petrykowksi was not involved in his campaign.

Petrykowski, a Racine native, has extensive experience in broadcast news. She has worked at ABC World News and CNN and was nominated for two Emmys. She most recently worked as the bureau chief at National Geographic in Cairo, Egypt, but she moved back to Racine in 2008 to raise her family.

Now that she is living back in Racine, she said she believes there is a lot of opportunity to make CAR 25 a better channel.

“Have you watched it?” Petrykowski said. “It’s fine, but there is great potential to make it better.”

Chase Hendrix, chairman of the city’s Cable Television Commission, which oversees CAR 25, said he is not concerned about the hiring process. “I trust that the mayor has found a person who is very capable,” Hendrix said. But he expressed concern about using $40,000 for a single consultant. But he said the channel has very limited resources and explained that his primary concern is getting more equipment for CAR 25 and having part-time staff help with day-to-day functions. In an e-mail to aldermen in January he recommended that the city spend $15,000 to $20,000 on a consultant, rather than $40,000 and use the remaining money to hire a part-time assistant to help with day-to-day duties and buy “much-needed” equipment.

He also said that a few years ago the city hired a consultant for about $25,000 to produce videos, but that the videos quickly became outdated and were barely used. He recommended that each project should have its own budget and timeline. Petrykowski’s contract says that she would be paid $3,333.33 per month for 12 months and that she would work a maximum of 1,040 hours in total.

The meeting on Petrykowski’s contract is scheduled for 5 p.m. at City Hall, 730 Washington Ave., Room 301.

What you need to  know as the story said Petrykowski  knows the Mayor well I and others have been told that she made a documentary about Mayor John Dickert’s first race for Mayor.  No one I know has seen this

This women would withdraw her name from the job. IMHO the Mayor fight back by firing the members of the Cable over site group and appointing cronies to fill the seats.

Time passes and I think the next step is ending CAR 25 by not spending the $$ needed to maintain equipment needed for the Public to be able to tape programing.  To the best of my understanding as of this date 5/9/12 the only way CAR 25 staff can tape programing is by using their own equipment.  There maybe nothing for the public to use.

Why is this going on?

Easy IMHO Mayor Dickert wants NOTHING created that may shine a bad light on the City or himself.  Something one might see in North Korea not the USA.

I would hope that the more programing we have the more we all could talk about what is going on and how to help the good stuff and fix the bad.

However to me looks like all good comes from The Mayor or its what he wants you to think.

This is a  on going story I want to bring this to a head so I sent this email to the City Administer this morning with a copy to my Alderman  lets see what happens.

I hope you can help.  As you may not know CAR 25 has no working cameras and staff must use personnel equipment to tape productions.

The DVD duplicator is no longer working so members of the public can not buy copies of productions they may need.

Was not that long ago that City Council gave CAR 25 monies to buy/maintained equipment. I am shocked that this equipment was not bought and equipment not working is not fixed or replicated.

Why can’t MIS who oversees CAR 25 do that simple task?

Please sir look into this and perhaps light a fire under MIS

Thank You

Wayne Clingman

236 Jones St

Racine WI

53404

And more

Got this email back, from the City Administrator City in Bold

 

hope you can help.  As you may not know CAR 25 has no working cameras and staff must use personnel equipment to tape productions.

 

A new camera was ordered some time ago.  We are waiting for delivery.

 

The DVD duplicator is no longer working so members of the public can not buy copies of productions they may need.

 

That request was put in yesterday, so a new one has been ordered.

 

Was not that long ago that City Council gave CAR 25 monies to buy/maintained equipment. I am shocked that this equipment was not bought and equipment not working is not fixed or replicated.

 

Equipment was purchased during the 2010 budget, I am disappointed to hear that we need to replace it already.  I will look into that.

 

Why can’t MIS who oversees CAR 25 do that simple task?

 

I find that MIS responds quite well when they have good information.

 

Please sir look into this and perhaps light a fire under MIS

 

No fire was needed.

 ——————————————————————————————–

 

An update

 

The New Newspaper The Racine Communicator ran a Story on CAR 25 and from I understand the Downtown crowd does not like it.

From what I was told this morning 9/15/12 a person giving out copies and an advertiser has been harassed in the Downtown.

Is it now a “crime” to show light on what is happening  with CAR 25?

What I do not understand (Still) is that CAR 25 is the smallest department of the City of Racine at about 75K a year.  What is the issue? What is going on that we do not know?

If this is as I think nothing more then Mayor John Dickert’s plan to create the John “the God of Racine” Dickert’s idea on creating a propaganda outlet for him to use (and reward a few cronies) a You Tube/Twitter account could be done and if his cronies have the background they claim that effort bring about a far better ROI

Might be interesting to put out info on the make up of the Car 25 Commission’s membership and what if any background they have other then perhaps being lap dogs for the Mayor

This Winter we woke up….

 

This Winter We woke up here and found that we had  no water. This was due to a car hitting a fire hydrant at Memorial and 6th St.

This wreck not only took out the fire plug but caused  much damage to the pipes under the streets. The water was back by Noon and it was only a little upseting not a big thing.

What is the big thing and the more I read books like the Long Emergency I am seeing the Book played out.

When I talked to the City Workers doing the repairs I was informed that our Water Pipes in this neighborhood have not been updated well since they where put in.

He went on to tell me this was the state of most of the Water Mains in the City.

I am hoping he is lying, that some Mayor had the wisdom  to maintain the basic infrastructure  that keeps the City running.

Maybe not. After all A Civic Center looks nice and a Mayor can say I built that. A new Water line does not look sexy nor can you give sweetheart contracts to your pals.

So take a look around see the empty buildings that need to come down the Potholes   that need repairing and see instead the Glory of Maribel  Bathrooms at City Hall, the great looking roof at the Civic Center.

When as I see it the basic infrastructure is falling apart.

Note was not the point of the Stumuis from The Obama what did Racine do what what we got? Anyone know?

Crack at the Jounal Times

So tonight I read this from the Journal Times: http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/racine-ought-to-have-a-public-swimming-pool/article_8dcb52a0-fd2d-11e1-a045-0019bb2963f4.html

Racine ought to have a public swimming pool

Yes you read that right. The J-T thinks we need a pool why?

…”While the obvious response is that there’s a rather large body of water to swim in on the east side of town — you can’t miss it, it’s big and blue — that’s not the same thing. The July heat wave notwithstanding, there are only a few days out of the year when anyone would actually want to swim in Lake Michigan.” and more …

“in terms of a place where city residents can go take a swim — especially the city’s kids — there just isn’t one. The shiny new Sealed Air Family YMCA — on Campus Drive in Mount Pleasant, four miles from Interstate 94 — is a long bus ride away for those kids….”

They even invoke Mayor Gary Becker. …” Find me another community our size without municipal swimming pools,” Becker said. “It’s a great place for kids to go in summer. They become great community meeting places.”…

Of course they even answer how to pay for it “The city tax levy for 2012 was $47,186,932. There ought to be room in a budget that big for the building and maintenance of a public pool.”

Like I said in my post on the J-T

1) The City is so broke we had to end Contracts with City Union Workers

2) The City paid for Mayor Dickert’s Law Suit and we do not know how much that costs nor the Settlement How much might that be?

3) The NSP cases I understand are still in the Courts How much will they run us?

4) In order to get a Grant for the City the City Grant Writer had to take a pay cut.  What? Is that how the City plans to fund projects is by having City Workers kick in?

5)  We have a declining population due to High taxes and no jobs. Is the City trying to drive more out by building something we can not maintain?

6) We have a critical issues with Housing that needs to be torn down and we have no money to do that but we can build a pool?

7) There is no more $$ coming from the State or Feds. Is the J-T thinking we can print money?

8) Why did the City close the first one?

IMHO the J-T Needs to put down the Crack pipe