12 years ago
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Court House
While the rest of country is bailing out I can't believe we are going ahead with the courthouse building. This county has lost its mind considering the current economy. If we are going ahead I think it is time we invited the Hochunck Tribe back and make the current court house into a casino. Revenue would not be a problem for the city any more and all the businesses would benefit year round.
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About Me
- Chief Highknocker
- You aren't local until you have at least three generations in the cemetery.
20 comments:
Green Lake County has wasted well over 10 years bickering about this issue. And what has happened? We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on four different architects because certain people haven’t heard what they want to hear. Every time a professional architect says “The present courthouse does not provide an economical, long-term solution,” the County Board would get cold feet and hire someone else. This process repeated itself three more times. It’s ridiculous foot-dragging. All the while, the county has been in dire need of more space, and the cost of constructing anything (whether it’s renovation or something brand new) has gone up and up. So it’s the county’s own fault that the project is as expensive as it is today. Construction costs have risen alongside inflation. We’ve delayed taking action for so long that we have no choice but to pay a pretty penny to finally fix the problem.
As for you opponents, I don’t even want to hear “Let’s just wait longer” or “Let’s hire another architect.” We’ve been doing that for over 10 years, and it hasn’t worked. The time to build is now, otherwise the cost will only grow larger.
The county needs more space because we have let county government get too big! I thought this county was run by Republicans, I thought Republicans hated big government, yet we've sat here and let it happen. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Government just keeps reinventing itself, writing new policies and regulations, re-thinking previous decisions, doing study after study, and hiring of more and more staff. We didn’t have all this 20 years ago and we had a lot more in town. It seems like there was a lot more activity then. Why do we need it now?
Chain gang, what part of "economic crisis" don't you understand? These are historically bad times for this country. It would be fiscally irresponsible to build a new courthouse now.
Knock Knock doesn’t understand how inflation and rising construction costs continue to increase the overall price tag. Don’t you get it? The longer we wait, the more we will pay, regardless of the economy. If we had listened to our hired architect a decade ago, the project would be done and paid for by now in about half the cost. Unfortunately, the county pissed away the last decade listening to a small yet vocal group of hysterical opponents, and now gets to pay the price (literally).
We simply can’t wait any longer. It’s only going to cost more.
I'm not advocating waiting any longer to start the project, but in theory, as inflation increases, more money should come in from sales tax income. So, we should be able to handle inflated costs.
As I understand it, if the sales tax doesn't cover it, and it probably won't, we taxpayers are on the hook. In addition, we will have to heat it, insure it, maintain, etc., etc. The sales tax does not do it all.
This is a scary time to be committing to something this big in a small county with an older population and not a lot of well-paying jobs.
Has the county ever offered a public tour of the existing courthouse so that we can see for ourselves the "dire need for more space"? If our courthouse was in Japan, there would be 3 times more people (at least) working efficiently in that large of space and they would not be complaining about it. The problem is that Americans want want want more than they need. Spending is way out of hand. The courthouse is structurally sound and there is unused space. We are a small county with a low crime rate! Should we really spend 30 million dollars so a few low-life criminals can sit in a new court-room and the judge can have a spacious office?
Green Lake is turning into a ghost town as it is, with affordable homes sitting on the market for years and little hope in sight. Building a courthouse we can't afford in very uncertain economic times is just plain stupid. So what if it could have been built 10 years ago for half the cost. The bottom line is that we really don't need a new building.
....to argue that renovations are not an option is absurd!!!! If a new courthouse is built and the exsisiting building is sold, some one will "renovate" the structure for far less than the county is whining about and turn it into shopping/offices/residential=revenue... If you renovate keep the constuction LOCAL!! Plenty of qualified Companies in this area. You don't need to spend millions on a company filled with overhead!! When will you learn???You can not justify building a mega structure for a County that is NOT growing by population or $$$$!!!!! It's Republican greed again. Bigger is not always better as we now are seeing. Be happy and adjust to what you have people.
I Like the casino idea!
Hey, I am a republican and I am not greedy. Greed does not have a party. If you are going to appoint parties, then Hatred belongs to the democrats.
There are many old courthouses in Wisconsin that are still operational as courthouses. They are historic, functional, beautiful buildings that bring charm and character to the cities that built them so many years ago. We don't need a bigger courthouse, we need less criminals and a different judge.
Rather than just repeating "We don't need a new courthouse" over and over, why don't you opponents provide evidence, statistics or square footage documentation to support your claims? There's a reason the County Board finally voted (in a landslide) to pass this proposal. The supervisors eventually came to terms with how necessary it is, contrary to the hysterical opposition.
I say leaders should make the best decision and the most economical decision LONG term, not short term. And the answer is new buildings on Highway A. Parking space will be greater. Maintenance and utility costs will be lower. The county will save money by having the courthouse and Health Department at the same location. Plus we can expand again if we ever need to, unlike the decrepit, land-locked buildings we have now. The opponents conveniently never mention how Potter Lawson estimated it would cost over $30 million for proper downtown renovation. For that, it makes more sense to built new for $28 million.
Prove me wrong!
In the end, the opposition comes down to one thing: A fear of change. Oh, sure, the opponents will hide behind the economy and the county’s population (as they have for the past decade) but really they just don’t like change. Simple as that.
Amen- to the last poster. Fear of change is exactly the problem around here. This fear of change is what is costing us millions of dollars. If you don't upgrade with the times you lose. If something doesn't work you dump it and build what you need. That old courthouse smells like urine. Shame on the county for dragging their feet for so many years. If my home or place of work smelled like that I would tear it down. I can imagine how much abestose is filled it that building. Like I always say- We all pay taxes- Why can't we get something for it- all the other counties do.
Not Me... "Hatred belongs to the Democrats". What a ridiculous statement. Hatred or ignorance belongs to persons of either or any party (usually the extremists) who cannot open their minds enough to see that despite the strength of their own convictions, persons who think differently are not here to just be stepped on and ignored. I'm not saying this in the tone of "let's just all have a big group hug" but in the tone of us extending honesty and respect to one another.
I was only trying to make a point in response to the prior statement of "Republican Greed" and demonstrate the foolishness of it. Of course hatred and ignorance are no respector of persons. However when it comes to intolerance towards others, the democrats take the cake and are the ones who are not willing to have both parties work together for the common good. The democrats continue to spew out their hatred and intolerance because they think that they are the only ones who are right, while republicans are at least trying to work together with others who don't share their beliefs.
To not me...
If your post is an example of how Republicans are "trying to work together with others", I think I see why it's not working so well.
Beginning an attempt to "work together" with name calling and attacks ("Democrats continue to spew out their hatred and intolerance") is not usually an effective strategy for starting collaborative talks.
Instead, let's talk about the issues - what economic measures are the Republicans and Democrats proposing to help tax payers out of this financial disaster? I'd like to decide my vote based on that type of information.
I was not name calling or attacking, just stating the facts.
As far as economic measures go, cutting spending in Washington and cracking down on waste makes a lot more sense to me than raising taxes and making government even bigger.
This blogsite is mainly for local subjects of interest, hence the name Green Lake County Inquisitor. While we could all have our say about the nation, I don't think it would do any of us any good and it sure wouldn't change our minds about who to vote for. Let's steer the conversation back to a local level.
I see there is a poll on the right column about turning the courthouse into a Casino. Is this an issue that has been looked into with some amount of seriousness? Aren't some of the offices in the courthouse going to stay after the "rest" of the courthouse is moved to the new building, such as the UW Ext. etc? If so, then who is going to pay to heat both the buildings? This sounds very counterintuitive.
There is little doubt that a casino would bring tourists (aka gamblers) to Green Lake. However, these types of people are not always the type we want in Green Lake. Many folks get addicted to gambling, it is a real problem here in the USA. I have personally witnessed a man rip the back seat out of his car in a frenzy, looking for loose change in the parking lot of a casino in MN.
I am not saying I am against the idea of a casino, it could bring jobs here, and tourists, but is that the kind of "personality" that Green Lake is looking for to draw families to live here? I guess if there is to be casino in the area I would rather it wasn't smack dab downtown. After all we don't want Green Lake to turn into Pottersville!
Last Thursday, in the late afternoon, I stared up at the blood red sun, brown and soot gray clouds enveloping it, and watched ash fall in flurries. I suddenly flashed on the rejiggered city limits sign in “High Plains Drifter.” It read: “Welcome to Hell.”
Hell had come to Lago Verde, once again, and, once again, it was in my backyard.
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