My Proposed Resolution to Purchase the Historic Fire Engine from Paul Esslinger

Here, in it's entirety, without comment, is my proposed resolution. I will be sending this to the Mayor, City Councilors and Staff (a few small edits from the original):

PURPOSE: ACCEPT 1915 FIRE ENGINE / AUTHORIZE REIMBURSEMENT

INITIATED BY: (a council member)

WHEREAS, A 1915 Fire Engine formerly used by the Oshkosh Fire Department became available for purchase and Paul Esslinger stepped forward to secure the purchase of the vehicle and its transportation to the City to preserve it for the City of Oshkosh, and

WHEREAS, Mr. Esslinger has expended $9724.50 for the purchase, transportation and insurance of the vehicle from the time of purchase to the present, and

WHEREAS, the Council previously approved, by Resolution 09-438, the establishment of a fund to accept donations for the purchase and maintenance of the Engine, and

WHEREAS, the fund currently contains $2905.02, and

WHEREAS, Mr. Esslinger would like to transfer ownership of the vehicle to the City at this time.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Common Council of the City of Oshkosh that the appropriate City staff are hereby directed and authorized to accept title to the vehicle in the name of the City of Oshkosh and take possession of the vehicle

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Finance Director is hereby authorized and directed upon presentation of documented costs to the Oshkosh Common Council and proper transfer of the title from Mr. Esslinger to pay out the amount of these documented costs to Mr. Esslinger from the City of Oshkosh's General Fund.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Finance Director is hereby authorized to disperse funds from the purchase and maintenance fund collected previously to the passage of this resolution by the Common Council, as needed for the maintenance and storage of the Engine once it is in the possession and ownership of the City.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Finance Director is also hereby authorized to collect donations for the historic firetruck to repay the general fund of the City for disbursements made in relation to the purchase and maintenance of the historic firetruck.

The Oshkosh Northwestern Agrees - Editorial: City should buy antique fire truck

The editorial is here.

I agree with most of what they have to say here:

And finally, this week was a resolution to turn the truck over to the city and disburse $2,900 in donations to the mayor. When a citizen, Jef Hall, questioned the appropriateness of the Mayor participating in the discussion from the dais and the overall appearance of the transaction, the Mayor and council member Dennis McHugh took umbrage.
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The best, cleanest solution to the problem, as suggested by Hall, is for the council to make a determination that the fire truck has historic value to the city and buy the truck from Esslinger. They can designate the $2,900 in donations to a maintenance fund for the truck and write a $9,724 check to the Mayor.

I disagree with the suggestion that funds should come from the Fire Dept's budget. This is a vital budget that can easily go over. If, at the end of the year, the Fire Dept has $10,000 left, they can pay back the general fund with their surplus.

But, this is an item for the entire city, so the funds should come from the general fund. Otherwise you could argue that the money should come from parks, if it ends up displayed there, or business improvement, if it is in parades, or any number of other places....

I also feel a separate fund should be opened to pay back the city, AFTER Mr. Esslinger is paid. This will allow fund-raising for the truck to be separate from any payments to Mr. Esslinger.

I also agree that:

The council can leave it to the voters to decide if Mayor's dalliance with the fire truck was appropriate.

I think purchase without approval followed by a demand for payment, yet terming it a donation was an act of hubris on Mayor Esslinger's part. However, if I was on the council and it was brought forward to purchase an historic artifact such as this for $10,000 I would most likely support it. My problem with this is not the act of securing the item, but the process followed.

Let's settle this, get the truck into the community and move on.

I will be forwarding a copy of my resolution to the Council and staff for consideration.

I hope the Oshkosh Northwestern will also agree that Mr. Esslinger should step down from the Council Dias for the debate on this resolution.

The Billboard... and how the stimulus and Democratic Policy helps my community and small business.

I just finished an interview with Channel 5 Green Bay about the 'Impeach Obama' billboard. They received a statement from Mr. Wroblewski, who purchased it.

The statement read to the effect that he did not purchase it, but made the purchase with funds from an anonymous LLC of 'small businesses.' He said that this LLC knows that President Obama has done nothing impeachable, but that they wanted to make a statement.

My response was that if this anonymous LLC does not want to come forward and say who they are, then the entire statement has the credibility of an anonymous blog rant. It should be discounted as such.

I then took the reporter, Olga Halaburda, on a virtual tour of how the stimulus and Democratic Policy helps our community and small business:

- The house next door to mine was weatherized through a program funded by stimulus dollars. It is managed locally by Advocap, who had to double their weatherization staff because of the stimulus funding. Advocap also has hired local heating contractors to ensure the goals of the program are met, creating more jobs and keeping people working

On top of this, my neighbor will save on heating bills immediately, freeing up that money to be spent on other needs, as well as reducing dependence on fossil fuels and improving our local environment.

The stimulus funding was overwhelmingly opposed by Republicans in Congress; without which, these jobs and savings would not exist.

- I purchased my house in January of 2009, qualifying for the homebuyers tax rebate. With this refund, we had all the floors on the first floor stripped, sanded and resurfaced. To do this we hired a local, small business from the Fond du Lac area.

The next purchase was new carpeting. This was purchased from and installed by Sundquist's Flooring. The owner of this business lives 4-5 block away from me.

We also re-did the stairs, built a new closet, purchased a new hot water heater and front door. All purchased from and installed (the water heater) by local businesses. All items that would not have been done without the tax credit.

The Homebuyer's Tax Credit "passed... with nary a Republican vote;" without which, these purchases and installations would not have been made,

- I asked Ms. Halaburda to take note of Racette Ford on her way back to Green Bay. I drive past it everyday for work. A short time after 'Cash for Clunkers' passed, they had a mostly empty lot after a long build up of cars. In a OshNW story no longer online, they (Racette) 'hailed' the program.

'Cash for Clunkers' passed with only "7 Republicans voting for it." Without which, those car sales would not have happened.

- I also pointed to the Winnebago County Jail, which she would also pass on the way home. We recently approved the purchase of an absorption chiller to cool the jail with excess heat from burning landfill gas.

This will also save fossil fuel and pollution immediately, as well as pay off the investment in utility bill savings to the county in a few years.

Without the green energy provisions of the stimulus bill, this purchase, which will be built and installed by workers and businesses, would not have happened. These savings to the county on utilities would not happen.

The stimulus funding was overwhelmingly opposed by Republicans in Congress; without which, these jobs and savings would not exist.

Overall, the policies of the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress are helping your neighbors, your local businesses, your local governments and your environment.

An anonymous billboard can not negate this fact.


Update - WFRV Story:

UPDATE: OshNW Addresses Palmeri's 'Soviet Comments'

James Fitzhenry of the Northwestern addresses Deputy Mayor Tony Palmeri's 'Soviet Comments' in today's column:

QUESTION 3: A Common Council member compares the authorization of an urban deer hunt to something in line with the unbridled power dictated in the old Soviet Union. Those remarks show the council member to be:

A. The lone voice of reason in a sea of corrupt cowards.

B. Dangerously on the edge of irrelevancy.

C. Needing a better way to spend his time.

D. Losing his grip on reality.

We will see if Palmeri addresses (apologizes for) these comments at Tuesdays meeting. (Feel free to chat about it online here)

(P.S. I answer B with a sprinkle of D)

"At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

This is taking a local disagreement way to far.

Deputy Mayor Tony Palmeri, on his blog, compares Oshkosh City Manager Mark Rohloff to Stalin:

I hope we can all agree that a city manager ought not have the power to direct an organization or individual to discharge firearms in violation of city codes. Giving a local executive that kind of power is more in line with the old Soviet Union than the US Constitution.

Here is a little lesson in history for Mr. Palmeri (via Wikipedia):

Researchers before the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union attempting to count the number of people killed under Stalin's regime produced estimates ranging from 3 to 60 million.[72] After the Soviet Union dissolved, evidence from the Soviet archives also became available, containing official records of the execution of approximately 800,000 prisoners under Stalin for either political or criminal offenses, around 1.7 million deaths in the Gulags and some 390,000 deaths during kulak forced resettlement – for a total of about 3 million officially recorded victims in these categories.[73]

While I understand that Mr. Palmeri feels very passionate about the lives of the deer in the city, he admits in his post that he is in the minority on the council for this:

Unlike last year, when only I spoke in opposition, this time the deliberation would have included the voice of Bob Poeschl. Mr. Poeschl openly opposed the deer cull during his campaign

That is still just 2 votes. We still, by Mr. Palmeri's math, have a council that is 5-2 in favor of the cull, even after the election we had during the initial cull.

We should have a debate about the deer cull, a vigorous one, if Mr. Palmeri demands it. And we did. It was passed overwhelmingly by the council.

Calling the City Manager Stalin does not advance the debate. It seems to me that Mr. Palmeri is breaking a sub-set of Godwin's Law of the internet here (also via Wikipedia):

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies)[1][2] is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 which has become an Internet adage. It states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."[3][2]

I would expect better discourse out of someone with a Doctorate in Rhetoric:

Education:
* 1984 - 1987: PhD, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. Rhetorical Theory and Criticism, American Public Address
* 1983-1984: M.A., Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI. Rhetorical Theory and Criticism
* 1979-1983: B.A. St. John's University, Queens, NY. Rhetoric and Public Address

But, maybe not if you look at the main definition of rhetoric in m-w.com:

rhet·o·ric

1 : the art of speaking or writing effectively: as a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion
2 a : skill in the effective use of speech b : a type or mode of language or speech; also : insincere or grandiloquent language
3 : verbal communication : discourse

Lets look further into (2)(b)(also):

gran·dil·o·quence

: a lofty, extravagantly colorful, pompous, or bombastic style, manner, or quality especially in language

Sounds about right.

By the way, in case you want background on the title of this post.

More on Palmeri and the Grand

Some quotes from his blog:

1. In reference to budget deliberations:

Deputy Mayor Bain submitted a CIP amendment: Grand Opera House Sprinkler Project. Motion to have the City fully fund the Grand Opera House sprinkler project. Rationale: The city owns the project, and I feel it is our obligation for maintenance and upkeep, and the sprinkler project certainly falls into that category. The Foundation Board should be focused on their projects to enhance the facility. Benefit - The experience that the citizens and patrons have when visiting the building.

2. Discussing a performance he was in to help raise private money for childrens programs at the Grand:

So thanks again to Joe Ferlo and the Grand Opera House, two Oshkosh treasures.

Tony, what changed? I'm sure most of the people who voted for you did not do so thinking you would say the Grand is "dead on arrival" (his exact quote below):



Contact Mr. Palmeri and remind him why the Grand was important to him, and why it is to you!

tpalmeri@ci.oshkosh.wi.us
(920) 235-1116

Mr. Palmeri is off base - Preserve the Grand

Mr. Palmeri is quoted in the OshNW today:

Palmeri said this was the time for community groups to “walk the walk.” “If we don’t get meaningful private participation on this, we can only talk the talk on public-private partnerships,” he said. “Everybody wants to see the building saved, but I do think now would be the time for people to step up to the plate and show what they can contribute.”

Since he is a private citizen and wants to see the building saved, I look forward to him walking the walk as well.

What Mr.'s Palmeri and Esslinger (read the article, he is also calling for private donations) fail to realize is that the preservation of these historic buildings is the responsibility of govt. Even more in lean times when private fundraising is more difficult.

As Mr. Palmeri wrote on his blog during the water tower debate:

My interest in this issue is not rooted in some nostalgia for history or historic structures. Rather, I believe that it's time to start actively developing the "Historic Oshkosh" brand. Other cities have done this with great success.

How can we brand ourselves as "Historic Oshkosh" if we allow Wisconsin's oldest operating theater building to close and rot?

If the private sector, which already funds the Grand to the tune of $500,000+ per year, cannot raise the funds, it is the city's job to foster the city's image and encourage tourism and business development.

Let's see some consistency... Preserve the Grand.

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Oshkosh Really is the Center of the World...

As I pointed out here...

...and MSNBC confirms today.

Obama leads the money chase in key counties

Scouring the latest campaign finance data for a Palin bounce, other trends

Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Ohio's Ashtabula County. Winnebago County, Wisconsin.

These are the counties where the 2008 presidential election may be decided. They're battleground counties in the battleground states.

Is Oshkosh the Center of the World?

From the Dallas Morning News:

"Welcome to the center of the world," joked Jef Hall, a Winnebago County supervisor and chairman of the county Democratic Party. "Oshkosh is a great barometer for national politics – we're a 50-50 city in a 50-50 county in a 50-50 state. As goes Oshkosh, so goes the world."

Stew's Right, Again

Credit where credit is due, this is a great column:

Stew Rieckman column: Reply to all: Get past superficial to find real Oshkosh
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The subject line of the e-mail is: "You know you're from Oshkosh when
…."
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You can visit three world-class museums for pocket change.

You can wile away a Saturday morning browsing the collections at a great municipal library

You can enjoy the Thursday night summer music festival at a river front amphitheater, walk two blocks to your car and be home in five minutes.

You can choose from one of two excellent YMCA and watch your children enjoy indoor soccer, ice-skating, rock climbing, swimming and other activities in a wholesome environment.

You can go downtown to find a "thing-a-ma-gig" for your weekend project and get knowledgeable, friendly assistance from a clerk at Kitz and Pfeil.

You can stroll the Gallery Walk in downtown, explore the unique variety of shops and develop an appreciation for the eclectic art community in Oshkosh.

He has a bunch more here.

It is nice to see an appreciation of what Oshkosh has to offer. He also challenges people to add their own. Go here to do that.