Thursday, January 10, 2008

Parise or Mirr?

It will be interesting to see what will happen with the mayors race. I was under the impression Mayor Parise wasn't going to run again. Wrongly I guess.

54 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't know much about Mirr. He's a lifetime Green Lake resident. Some may find that a positive, some may not.
We know Mayor Parise has a vision for the city and wants to see it grow and its businesses be successful.
Aside from that, we'll have to wait and see what information the elections bring out.

Anonymous said...

Parise's vision for the city is to building anything, without regard to standards, just so it gets built fast.
We can better than that. We MUST do better than that.

Anonymous said...

who is this Mirr character? - what are his credentials for the job?

The last thing GL needs is another amateur/wannabe politician messing things up.

Anonymous said...

As Chuck has two businesses in town, I would think he would want to bring more people to the community. Push forth a downtown again, so to speak.

Anonymous said...

What he wants to do, and what he has the capacity to do, might be two very different things.
The question remains, what credentials does this person have for being Mayor of Green Lake?

Anonymous said...

What was Parise's previous job before he moved here from Illinois?

Anonymous said...

Did you people forget about why our country was founded in the first place. Politics was NEVER meant to be a profession! It was supposed to be "government for the people, by the people". Career politics is one reason why our nation is such a mess. A small town mayor should not have to have credentials! Benjamin Franklin didn't have credentials to be a politician, he was an inventor and publisher.

I know Chuck Mirr, and he certainly doesn't seem like a "wannabe" politician to me. More likely, Chuck, like the rest of us sees the questionable ways that our city is being "governed" and wants to do something about it. The current mayor is not doing his job in a professional or responsible manner. Thank God that someone who loves Green Lake and cares about what happens here has taken the initiative to get involved in city government and run against Parise.

The annexation issue and our relationship with the town of Brooklyn are at stake here. I can't help but believe that Parise wants to instigate conflict and do battle with Brooklyn, or he wouldn't have considered this ridiculous annexation. C'mon Joe, this isn't the Sopranos! Try acting like a human being and not some kind of domineering bully.

Anonymous said...

You really shouldn't quote history at us. For every Franklin there are a thousand people who've been promoted to their level of incompetance and screwed up.
Give the guy a chance, yes, but we really do need to see what he's about (his credentials) before we even start to take him seriously as a candidate for Mayor.
The last thing this town needs is another incompetent who plays politics at the expense of the rest of us.

Show me your papers.

Anonymous said...

The city of Green Lake should be in battle with the town of Brooklyn. We are being strangled by the town and every time we try to grow we are cut down. You can't blame the city or the mayor for trying to survive. The rich do not want to share this little piece of nowhere with more rich people,but all of us poor people who live here full time cannot make a decent living from the rich people that do live here in summer, so the city of Green Lake must develop to bring in more services and business for us who really live here. I don't know if Mirr is capable of doing anything better. I only know that if he is elected his wife will be mayor.

Anonymous said...

I want to see Mayor Joe's credentials to be an honorable person, so far I have seen no evidence of that. It is shameful how he conducts these public meetings and affairs.

Chuck has a long history of expressing his good values and respect of others. He has volunteered many decades towards preserving historical culture of GL and developing area youth basketball programs and scouting. Take a look at your city hall gym tonight and thank Chuck for leading the years of renovations and contributions from local folks (town & city). It looks far better now than it did 10 or 20 years ago.

Thanks Chuck for more than 25 years of your influence on my life and my family.

I can't say I have ever known a single thing Mayor Joe has offered personally to this community.

I can't imagine he would want to get into that ring. I do know enough is enoough...and Mayor Joe has pushed too far. I'll trust and support Chuck to do a good job.

If you know anything about Chuck, it is that he does not need anyone else to form a opinions of the right or wrong direction to go.

I think you said a lot when you said you do not know who Chuck is. Where have you been? At your other home?

Anonymous said...

"If you know anything about Chuck, it is that he does not need anyone else to form a opinions of the right or wrong direction to go"

With that statement it's clear that you know nothing about management or leadership.
Though I'm sure "Chuck" appreciates having you as his cheerleader, perhaps you'd help his cause by becoming a little more open minded and less willing to close your comments with an attack on the person(s) to whom you are responding.
It would be easy to discount your comments as biased and misguided, based on your lack of social etiquette, but I'll continue to give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume that your heart, at least, is in the right place.

Anonymous said...

Backfire, I can't help but think how backwards your statements are. What gives the city the right to take land from the township? Maybe it's legal, but that sure doesn't make it right. I like Green Lake the way it is for the most part, and services and businesses are being built at a sensible rate, such as the Crossroads and the new medical center. [Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't someone want to build a medical facility in Green Lake on the old Grocery Bag site, what happened to that? What is preventing growth inside the city limits?] I am sure that entire area of 23/49 and A will be built up within the next few years with new businesses. Whether they're built in Green Lake or the township of Brooklyn makes no difference to me! It is one thing to annex a bit of land that borders the city limits, if it works out for everyone's benefit, but this ABA balloon annexation is absurd.

Why should the city have to usurp land from the town in order to "survive"? The city needs to learn how to live within it's means and if the current mayor can't handle that, then let's find someone who can. Maybe if the "services and businesses" that currently exist downtown were anything but tourist traps, it would be a different story. (with a few good exceptions) I'd much rather have Green Lake maintain it's simplicity and charm that see it turn into just another stripmall laden wasteland.

Anonymous said...

My bad. I was refering to "if he is elected his wife will be mayor" about not needing to be directed or influenced about what to do.

Now what was that about attacking people I am responding to??? Take your "lack of social etiquette" and stuff it.

Anonymous said...

The building at the Grocery Bag site was approved after a successful challenge at the zoning board of appeals and subsequent modification to the plans by the developer.
It will have a medical office on the first floor and condos on the second floor. It will be quite a large building.
Once again the city failed to properly direct a developer and it went to lawyers. It doesn't have to be this way, folks.
I support a change in mayor because I want to see things directed more thoughtfully. Once a building is constructed we can't change it. We need to do it right straight out of the gate. It's not rocket science.
This is a beautiful, special place that we are privileged to live in and it deserves to have a lot of thought going into the changes that are taking place, instead of sniping about who lives on the lakeshore, or has money, or is from Illinois, ad nauseum.
Much of our prosperity here is based on the beauty of the area. Please always keep that in mind.

Anonymous said...

You people are all so self centered. There is no real estate available for growth in the city limits. That is why we must annex. All vacant real estate is owned and not for sale to be developed. I know for a fact that there are 10 empty lots on one street that are not available because the landowners do not want them to be developed. This alone deprives the city of needed income. Mirr is living in a make believe world and will realize he can't fix what other mayors in the past have screwed up. He too will have to make quick decisions to better the city. Green Lake is running on fumes. If we continue to ignore, the city will dissolve and become a large subdivision of Ripon.

Anonymous said...

You make it sound like Green Lake is an old cripple laying in it's death bed! Is it really all that bad the way it is? If we don't annex the ABA, are we going to crash and burn? Get real!

Anonymous said...

I am real- You people are unreal. The city of Green Lake cannot afford a street sweeper. The city of Green Lake cannot afford a library, so a rich guy built it for us. The city cannot afford to pave a parking lot, so a rich guy will pay for it so he can open a golf museum. The city cannot afford to repave its streets but only patch sections. Where is the money to come from if we can't grow or raise taxes.

Anonymous said...

Also I forgot about the remodeling of the city hall building in which under the direction of another mayor and council the city spent over $600,000.00 to fix an old ugly building. For that price a new large state of the art building could have been built and each squad car could have it's own bedroom and bath. And remember that Chuck Mirr charged the city a whooping $1000.00 per month to use a back room of his business for 10 or so months. I don't know any kind of store front downtown that would charge that sum. Remember these people all took advantage of the situation. That is part of why the city is now facing problems. Everybody is blaming Joe.

Anonymous said...

don't forget the band shelter - years of discussion at City level before someone stepped in with a donation and solved the "problem"

Anonymous said...

SO WHY IS ALL OF THIS THE TOWN OF BROOKLYN'S FAULT that the city can't afford these things??? Maybe the city should do a better job at budgeting their money!

Anonymous said...

There ARE storefronts downtown charging $1,000 a month.

Anonymous said...

oh...which ones?

Anonymous said...

I have a beef with some people who live in GL and use the town of Brooklyn's recycling center! Don't you people have pick-up in town? I wish I did not have to bundle up every Sat. and go down there and take my garbage and recycling. And to see all the non-Brooklinites ticks me off!! My taxes are paying for this!

Anonymous said...

why don't you bring your garbage and put it on the street in Green Lake?
Anytime after 4pm on Sunday will be fine.
Perhaps stop for a beer while you're in town.

Anonymous said...

Okay, as long as we're all whining anyway, I want to know why the work-out facility at the Green Lake high school is available for free to anyone who wants to use it? This simply is not right. If you aren't a local, then there should be an annual membership fee. I know that people from all over the county (and even Ripon) come to use the equipment. Let's get some rules in place to make it fair for us local taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

I thought the Town of Brooklyn had a paid attendant at their recycling center each Saturday. So how are non-town people getting in?

Anonymous said...

Well, some of the people working at the recycling center are too busy going through stuff for "goodies" and not doing their job of helping people unload their papers, garbage, etc. I suppose they don't really care if someone is not from Brooklyn Township.

Anonymous said...

As a city resident, it really puzzles me that the city pays someone to sit in a vehicle at the yard waste site. Why not use the yellow-vested community service jailee's for this instead and save some money? It irks me that this person is getting paid a decent hourly wage to simply sit there and do nothing. Even worse was the high school girl who used to "work" on weekends there, laying on a blanket with her friends and not doing one damn thing. When is the city going to start being fiscally responsible? If someone is getting paid, I want them to WORK!

Anonymous said...

The person at the compost is there to prevent non-residents from using the site, which costs the city a lot of money. More money than he is paid! He also chips wood at times. We cannot use community workers due to liabilty insurance. What if one of them got their hand in the chipper? They are not trained and cannot be for this work. Life is not so simple when you get into the real operations of this type of effort. It is best not to throw out accusations but ask someone in the know like the city public works director.

Anonymous said...

So let me get this straight, the city can use the community service workers to walk around downtown and empty trash and shovel snow etc and that is not a liability issue, but sitting on a chair and writing down license plate numbers is a clear and present danger? The community service workers would not have to use the wood chipper. The paid employee could simply show up as needed and do his work,in the event that there is wood that needs urgent chipping. I did not throw out any accusations, I merely suggested a sensible way for the city to be financially responsible.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Wasted Money! I saw a community service worker out this morning shoveling snow on the city sidewalk near the bridge. It was 4 degrees with a nasty wind chill. How is this not a liability for the city? I too am a frequent user of the yard waste site and don't see any dangers of an "untrained" person seeing to it that only city residents are using the site. Perhaps our new mayor can make some changes when he takes office.

Anonymous said...

The new mayor can make changes at the compost site? And fire his dad from his job at the city compost site? Really, do you think that will happen ??

Anonymous said...

Really? Is that who works there?

Anonymous said...

Chuck Mirr's father is the city's compost attendant! Has been for a few years.

Anonymous said...

City Compost Attendant

That has a very official sounding ring to it....

Anonymous said...

Very PC! I am sure the job pays enough to retire in a few years anyway! I can't think of anyone else better to do the job than Gene. He has worked in the tree business for YEARS and everyone knows he is full of compost!!:)

Anonymous said...

Sad political developments in Green Lake - Chuck Mirr sends letters to the local papers (Ripon and Green Lake) criticizing the current administration WITHOUT disclosing he is running for mayor. Shame on him, shame on the editors. Campaign finance reform? Let's start locally. Better yet, let's keep fighting so people looking to move here or locate a business here go to Ripon or Berlin, where the City Halls actually seem to be work for the betterment of all.

Anonymous said...

Both papers announced that he is running for mayor. No secret there.

Anonymous said...

This is true. Should Chuck Mirr have to announce that he is running for mayor in every letter or conversation he takes part in? Maybe we should make him wear a white shirt with a big red M on it. He is still a citizen and has the rights and abilities to write a letter to the newspaper. What does concern me about Mr. Mirr though is the large population of Mirrs in the area and the possibility of nepotism. Is there a policy in place regarding this matter?

Anonymous said...

You are missing the point. We have what is called equal time in the media for candidates. Will the paper offer the incumbent mayor the same column space?

Anonymous said...

Has anyone else stepped up for the race?...

if only we could find someone that looked and acted Mayoral, then at least the town would "appear" to have some credibility as it sinks into oblivion.

Anonymous said...

What should a mayor look like? I like Mayor Shinn from "The Music Man" and his wife, Eulalie Shinn was quite good at the grecian urn dance! Someone like that would be great for Green Lake.

Anonymous said...

Mayor McCheese would get my vote for sure!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Chuck Mirr, how come your Wednesday newspaper article did not list your sister on the council by the name she always uses, LouAnn Mirr-Frank? Perhaps you did not want people to know if you would be the new mayor, then you would have a sister on the council and a father hired by the city.
Just wondering!

Anonymous said...

The new Chuck Mirr Campaign Slogan?

* We want to the Kennedy's of Green Lake...only we drive better *

Anonymous said...

Did people hear that Larry McIntyre is running for Mayor as well. I believe he is doing it as a "write in"

Anonymous said...

Parise, Mirr or MacIntyre? The latter is a write-in for the coming election for City Mayor. Must Dash!

Anonymous said...

Larry McIntyred for Mayor? Please tell me this isn't true.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone read what Larry McIntyre said in the Ripon paper about his reasons for running for mayor? Larry could not get enough signatures to run for alderman last year so he ran as a write in for that also!

He indicated a $74,000 check to the city from the annexation petitioners is currently being held by a third party bank. I called City Hall. This is not true. A check for $71,918.39 was cashed by the City and deposited in their accounts.

He said Mayor Parise hired attorney Hank Gempler without the council being advised. The City Council minutes of their 8/13/2007 meeting indicated that McIntyre voted for the engagement of Mr. Gempeler's law firm for planning and other land use issues. I am perplexed about his desire to now be a candidate. He says he is against the annexation and he has not heard any of the information being prepared for the council members. What kind of council person makes a decision without hearing all the information being presented? How does he know what is in the best interests of Green Lake Citizens until he gets all the facts? Is this who we want to represent our City?

Anonymous said...

Could it be Mr. McIntyre is representing the Town of Brooklyn residents instead of the citizens of his district? I just wonder !!!

Anonymous said...

Either way, I'll be giving my vote to a candidate who opposes the annexation.

Anonymous said...

Dear anonymous,

Perhaps you should attend the Feb 20th meeting before making any decisions based on rumors on this blog. Don't you want to find out facts first?

Anonymous said...

Did anyone read about Larry McIntyre's decision in the Ripon Commonwealth to now support Chuck Mirr after first deciding to be a write-in candidate? You have to wonder what this man is thinking. Or if he is thinking at all. He makes reactionary decisions without first getting information or thinking thru the consequences of his actions. After spending time with Mr. Mirr, Mr. McIntyre finally comes to the conclusion that he will take votes away from Mr Mirr. Pretty obvious to me!

He wants to oust Mayor Parise. Yet he voted for almost all of the items that came before the council during his term in office. The Mayor did not vote, he did! Does he really think Mr. Mirr can do better than the current administration? Since the Mayor has been in office, our city taxes have not risen. That is pretty impressive to me as a private citizen. If your taxes have risen due to reassessment, that happens in all cities. The business lots have all been sold, the dam repaired, a new medical facility is started, a new grocery store has been built, a new wastewater treatment plant is underway and other new initatives have been started. A tree inventory has been completed, a 7 year street replacement plan has been developed and now the city trucks and equipment are being replaced or updated. For the 20 years prior to Mayor Parise's administration, nothing has been done to bring this city into the 21st century. It will take years to dig ourselves out of an era of non-activity.

I read recently, our city is being looked at for a new YMCA for our citizens. Wouldn't that be great for our young people? Finally, a place for them to go!

Think about these items as you head to the polls on April 1.

Anonymous said...

Well that last post could almost have been written by Mayor Parise himself!
Who else would have all those statistics at his fingertips and would use them to promote parise so blatently? (perhaps you are his wife?)

Anyway, it's wonderful having those new trees and I'm sure a YMCA would be fantastic, but what about drawing some real commerce to the area, the type that brings the need for additional support services and infrastructure, the type that creates JOBS!!!! and lets not forget a revitalization package for the downtown. I read that Parise is behind some idea where the State sponsors downtown revitalization under a program called "Main Street Wisconsin" - that's great, except it has a high chance of not being accepted/funded, and even if it is, it would likely take 10 years before any impact is felt.

What about now, Mr Mayor? - when was the last time you went out and spoke with downtown and other local small-business owers?
We need jobs not trees. We need blue collar workers moving into our $100,000 homes, not vacationers from Chicago!!

This town is a mess, and the sooner we have some change at City level the better.

Disgruntled Resident.

Green Lake Zobel Park Rec Fund

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