Cast you vote for best Pride of Oshkosh lion photo in OCNN's online poll. Voting closes April 2.

This is the first of three photo contests we are sponsoring as part of the Oshkosh@151 project.

Directions on entering can be found here.

You can look at all photos that have been submitted to Oshkosh@151here.

At Tuesday's meeting the Oshkosh Common Counil will consider a proposal by Paul Esslinger to shorten the time that taverns can hold but not use liquor licenses.

"Currently, the city ordinance requires that a license holder use their liquor license within a two-year period, at which time the Council reviews the license for continued issuance," City Manager Richard Wollangk said in his weekly newsletter. "Council Member Esslinger would like this to be changed to only a one-year period that a license holder can hold, but not use, a liquor license."

The Council will be asked Tuesday evening to approve bids for buying cement, stones and asphalt mix that the city will use in road repairs.

The bad news is that prices are going up. Some stone and chip is up 5 percent, and some hot mix asphalt is up 13 percent.

After Tuesday's open meeting, the Common Council will meet in two executive sessions, the second of which will deal with "the evaluation of the City Manager."

Both of the candidates for mayor have had some interesting things to say about the current structure of city government in the current online debate.

Now don’t laugh. It does exist—journalistic etiquette, that is—although it apparently is in short supply in Oshkosh.

Here’s how it works: When The Washington Post gets scooped by The New York Times and has to chase the story a day later, it will include in its account a reference to the fact that the news item was “first reported” in the Times. The same goes vice versa. And all of the other major papers do it, too, giving credit where credit is due even if the credit goes to ... (hold your nose) ... a Web site.

It’s just a classy tip of the hat that shows self-confidence, generosity of spirit and a willingness to acknowledge that in news—as in most other aspects of life—competition is a good thing.

What am I talking about? This and this.

The Northwestern refers to the Oshkosh News story as "highly politicized revelations." What in the world does that mean? Anyone reading the story can see that the main sources for the story were the Internet and developer Ben Ganther.

It's true that we asked for comments from all sitting members of the Council and all of the current candidates and that we posted everything that we received. That just seems like sound news-gathering to me. We also asked for comment from the city manager, the director of community development and the city assessor. Only the city assessor got back in touch, confirming what was already posted on the Web about the collections process.

For the record, Oshkosh News is brought to you by the Oshkosh Community News Network, an independent, nonpartisan organization made up of local citizens. Everyone is invited to join and to have a say in how we cover the news.

Daniel Blankenship, dean of UW Fond du Lac, is none to keen on the idea of merging with the four-year campus up Highway 41, according to this article in The Reporter.

“What’s wrong with the system now, and what problem does it solve?” Blankenship asked. “The problem hasn’t yet been identified.”

The North Star and the Index of Oshkosh North and West
High Schools are sponsoring the second student-led
school board candidate debate on Tuesday, March 15,
2005 at 6:30 p.m. in LRB. The event is also being
sponsored by the student councils of both high
schools, and is being taped by TV-9 to be aired on
OCAT.

Last year we had a nice turnout, and the candidates
were pleased with the questions students posed. As we
did last year, all questions are posed by students,
and the event is run by students. This is their
opportunity to have an audience for their ideas.


Trent Scott

Copyright 2005, Oshkosh Community News Network. Please credit.

The developers of the mixed-use building at 100 North Main have fallen more than $150,000 behind in city property taxes but expect to announce new commercial tenants--including an Italian restuarant--that will help them put the project back on track.

In a Feb. 22 letter to the city, developer Ben Ganther said the owners of the building would make their first quarter payment to the city by March 15 and clear up the outstanding taxes by Sept. 15.

"Next week we plan to announce the signing of our first retail tenant and we are in ongoing negotiations with a possible first floor restaurant tenant," Ganther added.

In an interview with Oshkosh News, Ganther said he was not at liberty to identify the new tenants. But he described them as a "national media company" and a "Northern Italian/Tuscan" restaurant.

Ganther's letter, addressed to Community Development Director Jackson Kinney, said attracting residential tenants to the downtown structure had proven more difficult than expected "due to a local overbuilt apartment inventory and a low home mortgage interest rate environment."

"Today 100 North Main stands with a 72 percent occupancy and 82 percent when including apartments with deposits on our waiting list," Ganther wrote. "We are on track to have full occupancy by June 1, 2005."

The city's online assessment records, which are sometimes out of date, indicate that the owners of 100 North Main owe $157,640.58 in 2004 property taxes and $68,043.96 in 2003 taxes.

But Winnebago County, which assumes responsibility for collecting taxes after July, said the 2003 taxes have been paid in full.

Ganther said the county transfers funds to cover unpaid taxes to the city when it takes over the collections process. "I don't see that the city is at any risk," Ganther said.

He noted that the project could get caught up in the current election campaigns for mayor and Council and could be used by critics of development and specifically of tax-increment financing.

To avoid that Ganther said that he had tried to keep city officials and at least some politicians abreast of what was happening with the project.

"I have informed most of the Council members and some of the candidates of what's going on," he said.

Ganther's letter to the city detailed some of the rental concessions that the project has made to attract residents.

Weak market conditions "created the need for our rates to be dropped $200.00 per apartment below our original pro-forma projections in order to be competitive in the Oshkosh rental market," Ganther wrote.

"To speed the lease-up period to 95 percent occupancy, we also have included two months free rent for each lease signed," he added.

"These factors and the length of time it has taken to sign the first lease in the retail space caused the 100 Block LLC to make the business decision to defer our real estate tax payment."

The Oshkosh Public Library is sponsoring a "Best Website in Oshkosh Contest."

Cast your ballot by March 31.

Atomic Katz and the Winnebago Peace and Justice Center have teamed together to create The Pomegranate Masquerade Ball at the Algoma Club on Saturday, March 5. The evening will begin at 8pm with the masquerade ball and silent art auction, then a vintage fashion show at 10pm with the masquerade ball swinging until midnight. The music will be performed by The Jazz Orgy. The silent art auction will be open to the public through the Downtown Art Walk from 6-8pm.

All the proceeds from The Pomegranate Masquerade Ball and silent art auction will go to support to support the physical needs of Omro, Winneconne, and Marion high school art programs.

If you attend in a costume and mask, the charge is $5. If you are playfully caught without a costume and mask, the charge is $20. There will be masks available for purchase.

This event was organized by Atomic Katz and Winnebago Peace and Justice Center
and sponsored by ProgressMedia, Digital Printing Innovations, Advance Office
Systems, New Moon Café and Water City Grill.

For more information, Please contact Bob Poeschl,920-203-6966 or bob@bobpoeschl.com.