Recently a pedestrian bridge was ordered, assembled and erected in Milwaukee near the Riverside High School. This bridge was assembled and erected in one week and it took aprox. ninety minutes to install. The assembly and erection was accomplished by three men at a  total cost of $185,000. The Village of Fox Point is “researching” a pedestrian bridge to replace an aging bridge known as the Bridge Lane Ravine Footbridge. The “research” has been ongoing now for over a year and after spending tens of thousands of dollars on consultants – they are awaiting the results of the third such study at a…

If a small vocal group of people get their way, Fox Point taxpayers will now have to pay $1,917,000 for a useless “footbridge to nowhere." This includes the new higher cost estimate of $1.75 million for construction, $142,000 in consulting fees and about $25,000 for legal fees and staff costs.   In a village of just 6,600 people, $1.9 million is an extraordinary and unprecedented expenditure of public money especially for something that is essentially a private footbridge used by only a handful of residents in a very exclusive neighborhood. Consider this:   Every Fox Point taxpayer will end …

Not long ago, the Village of Fox Point built a new police station. Perhaps even over-built it! The village has contributed its share of funds toward the Bayside combined dispatch center. The village regularly purchases new equipment and vehicles giving us a DPW fleet unmatched in the state. And the list goes on. I am sure that the village has a long wish list of capitol improvement projects it would like to undertake. Most of those projects are necessary to the operation and upkeep of village utilities, roads etc. As the village borrows funds for these projects our debt load increases …

Editor's Note: This letter was sent to Patch in response to another Letter to the Editor on the Bridge Lane Ravine Footbridge posted Tuesday. If you have a letter to the editor, please email it to the editor.   The village has initiated a foundation to raise funds for the project. They are to raise at least one-half of the necessary funds. If they raise one-half, residents will still have to put out the other-half. If they fall short of their goal, then the residents will put out one-half, plus whatever is short from such a foundation pursuit. In these times, this is not a worthwhile priority…

At the same time the Village of Fox Point is talking about cutting back on essential services and infrastructure, the Village Board has authorized spending up to $1.1 million of taxpayer money to rebuild an unused and unneeded FOOTBRIDGE.That $1.1 million price tag was 44 percent of the village’s ENTIRE 2012 capital budget. In other words, the board authorized spending nearly as much on a single footbridge as it has on all of the critical road, sanitary sewer and stormwater improvement projects in the village.That enormous price tag is not the only problem with this project: The existing …

Daniel M. Muchin and James H. Petersen announce our candidacy for re-election as trustees for the Village of Bayside. Mr. Muchin has served as a trustee since 1997 and Mr. Petersen has served as a trustee since 2003. We believe in Bayside. We have helped to implement important advancements in the governance of the Village, including modernizing the Department of Community and Utility Services vehicle fleet; instituting garbage and recyclable pick-up at the curb for dramatic savings; and providing street and aesthetic improvements for the benefit of all. We have enjoyed our work for the …

Editor's Note: This letter comes from Cissy and Jack Bryson and Mary and James Connelly of Fox Point.  Concerned Fox Point residents who care about the outcome of the Bridge LaneFootbridge should consider attending the Fox Point Village Board meeting onOct. 11 at 7 p.m. on the second floor of Village Hall, 7200 NorthSanta Monica Blvd. to hear the two latest reports.Our privately funded engineer, Conor Nelan from Cold Spring Design, willpresent his analysis of the footbridge and the REAL costs to restore the bridgewith an environmentally conscious approach. The Village’s consultants will …

Editor's Note: This letter comes from Bayside resident Kelly Herda in response to an article posted Friday regarding a proposed $3 million cut to paramedic services by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. I have to wonder if Mr. Abele has really done his homework on this one. He states that he “hopes municipalities will take this opportunity to seriously consider consolidation to remove duplication and save taxpayers money.” Well, we’ve been consolidated since 1994 and I am quite certain we have saved millions of taxpayer dollars over the years because of that consolidation. However, …

Dear Parents of Maple Dale Students:   Last Spring my kids wanted to ride their bikes to school, but I wouldn't let them because I didn't feel that the Regent Road and Brown Deer Road intersection was safe. I witnessed adults being nearly run down while in that crosswalk. Needless to say, my kids were pretty upset with me, so I called the Bayside Police Department and asked about the possibility of "volunteering" to act as a crossing guard for that intersection. Lt. Tom Henkel advised me that we would first have to get an ordinance passed by the Village Board that would allow for crossing …

The
 Nicolet
 Unified
 School
 District 
Foundations,
 comprised 
of
 the 
educational
 foundations
 from
 the
 School
 Districts
 of
 Fox
 Point‐Bayside,
 Glendale‐River
 Hills,
 Maple
 Dale‐Indian
 Hill
 and
 Nicolet,
 would
 like
 to
 take
 this
 opportunity
 to
 thank
 the
 community
 for
 its
 support
 of
 the
 inaugural
 Band
 Together event. Money
 raised
 at
 the
 event
 will
 benefit
 each
 of
 the
 four
 school
 districts
 and
 help
 to
 maintain
 the
 outstanding
 education,
 from
 kindergarten
 through
 high
 school,
which 
is 
the
 hallmark
 of 
our
 communities. In
 particular…

Before the teacher’s union and School Board get over confident with their referendum victory, there are five things they need to remember:   1. The School Board works for the students and the taxpayer --- NOT the teachers. The teachers have their union to fight for them. Unfortunately, the fact that teachers union officials and School Board members were celebrating together after the referendum shows who they really think they represent.   2. Nicolet teacher compensation needs to be brought in line with similar schools. Nicolet teachers are the highest compensated public school teachers in …

I went to the School Board forum fully expecting to support candidates Kasle and Grodsky. I left wondering “What was I thinking.” Their conduct was both disgraceful and disheartening. Despite his youth and admitted flaws, the third candidate, Andrew Cegielski was the only one who was thoughtful, respectful and showed any concern for the taxpayer. The other two acted like adolescent bullies, especially lawyer Grodsky who was making faces, snide comments under his breath, and joking with Kasle while Cegielski, who was sitting right next to him, was talking. It was one of the most disgusting …

As the Governor’s budget repair bill becomes law and the State budget for 2011-12 and 2012-13 continues to be unveiled, we all recognize changes are inevitable within our school budgets.   Cuts in state funding to schools and changes in collective bargaining laws will challenge school districts to re-evaluate past practices and determine what works and what they can afford in the future. Many people seem to look at these changes as having a negative impact on schools, which instills fear of the unknown and mistrust between school, community and employees. I believe change means progress and …

Why are high-priced teachers bad for the community?   I’ve read a local contributor, Larry Booth, state numerous times “Nicolet teachers are the highest paid in the state.” This is true ($103,315 salary/benefits), but misleading. Nicolet is the sole, high school-only district in the listing. Mequon, Whitefish Bay, and other area districts include the feeder schools. If the average included those salaries (Maple Dale-Indian Hill, Fox Point, Glendale-River Hills), the “district” average drops to $93,100. This is the second highest behind Mequon-Thiensville ($95,297). Again I ask, “Why is this a…

Editor's Note: This letter was written by Mike Weidner. Mr. Larry Booth makes some interesting observations from looking at a page from the Department of Public Instruction’s website.  I have made some observations from this page and elsewhere. Fact #1:  Despite having salary schedule increases between 0 percent and 3 percent for the last decade, Nicolet teachers’ average total compensation has grown by almost 29 percent in the last six years.  How is this possible?  Because of state-mandated revenue control limits, Nicolet has cut 25.8 teaching positions in the last six years.  (See here , …

Editor's Note: This article was written by Larry Booth. In the interest of full disclosure, here are some facts from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction that the teachers union and the Nicolet School Board are not telling residents:   FACT No. 1: Nicolet teachers are the highest paid public school teachers in Wisconsin. Their average salary and benefits for the 2009-2010 school year (latest available) were $103,300 per year. That was before the School Board recently awarded them a 2 percent annual pay increase, retroactive to 2009.   FACT No. 2: Nicolet has one of the most ideal …

Editor's Note: This letter was written by Robert Ricigliano. For the last six years I have served on the Maple Dale-Indian Hill School Board.  During that time we have achieved a lot, including a series of successful negotiations with our teachers’ union after years of no-agreement, passage of two referendums, and reversal of years of declining enrollment.  In January, I filed my papers of “non-candidacy,” feeling that I would retire from the School Board.  I am writing now to reverse that decision and to announce that I wish to run for another term on the Maple Dale-Indian Hill School Board …

I have been on the Nicolet School Board for the past six years and for each of those years, I have been forced to make dramatic cuts in our budget. These cuts are not the result of teacher contracts or overspending. They are because of a state funding formula that, rather than being designed to properly fund schools, was designed to underfund and force school districts to make annual cuts.  The revenue caps put in place in 1993 have severely reduced the resources that school districts have available to them, and that is what determines just how deeply a school district must cut. Prior to Gov…

Fox Point-Bayside Patch has been around for nearly three months now and we've seen a lot of great, heart-felt comments about many hot topics like Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill or the Nicolet referendum. And we want to keep them coming! In addition to the comments posted on our Facebook page, I just received my first letter to the editor, and I want it to be the first of many. It's the many different voices, from different backgrounds and political perspectives, that make such a unique community thrive. If you're interested in sharing your thoughts, concers and opinions, they can be …