The Daily Reporter articles from May 2008

The Daily Reporter archives from May 2008

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse gets student vote for stadium project.
May 1, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Construction will start in June for the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Students Tuesday voted 2,272-375 in favor of shifting $750,000 to help finance the first phase...

Wisconsin high school's resurfacing project stuck in mud.
May 1, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Monona Grove High School won't resurface its track and field with artificial turf if it doesn't find donors with big bank accounts. "And there are no donors out there right now stepping up," said Mark Scullion,...

Oconomowoc police clear Luxemburg-based Dorner Inc. in April blast.
May 1, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Dorner Inc. will avoid criminal charges stemming from an April 2 explosion that destroyed a church and two houses if Waukesha County's district attorney takes the advice of Oconomowoc police. District Attorney Brad...

Milwaukee County fights Wisconsin's asbestos lawsuit.
May 1, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee County is the last defendant standing after Professional Service Industries Inc. settled in a state lawsuit over asbestos violations on Milwaukee's courthouse annex demolition. Milwaukee County, the fifth...

Unions step in time with Latino march in Milwaukee.
May 2, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Laborers Local 113 wants to draw more Hispanic workers to its ranks, and union members took that message to Milwaukee's streets Thursday when they marched in the A Day Without Latinos event. Hispanic laborers are...

Construction moratorium in La Crosse sparks worry.
May 2, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder La Crosse city officials say they're proposing a break from new construction in the city in order to revamp standards for commercial projects. But some say a break is bad for business. "Anytime the 'm' word comes...

Cities in Wisconsin offer a palette of choices.
May 2, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The Stoughton Chamber of Commerce is targeting artists within a 60-mile radius to gauge interest in redeveloping an old downtown warehouse into an artist colony. Madison is doing much the same with its plan for an...

Lawsuit filed by nine Wisconsin business groups gives mercury rule cold welcome.
May 5, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan A lawsuit filed by nine Wisconsin business groups could derail state plans to get approval this year of more stringent mercury limits at power plants. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which worked on the...

Legend in Milwaukee boasts eye for detailed design.
May 5, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan In designing a house for two clients in Whitewater, M. Caren Connolly spent Friday morning picking out the perfect toilet-paper holder. Connolly, an associate with Louis Wasserman & Associates, Milwaukee, said her...

Madison's development positions draw zero interest.
May 5, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder If the volume of resumes received is any indication, no one wants to lead Madison's Department of Planning, Community and Economic Development. The city opened its candidate search in February. Applications for the...

Population problems plague Stoughton colony.
May 6, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Ed Bieno's confidence took a hit when fewer than 20 people showed up for the first public meeting on a proposed artist colony development in Stoughton. "I looked around and saw how many people were there," said the...

Madison's Central Park gets back on track.
May 6, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Train tracks aren't ideal, but they give Madison's Central Park idea its best chance in more than two years. Since hatching the park plan, the city focused on how it could move the tracks that cut through the...

Wisconsin's budget shortfall fix fuels more road worries.
May 6, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder As government officials struggle to find a fix for the $652 million state budget shortfall, some are eyeing the piece of the pie that is transportation. And that could mean project postponements and job loss. The...

Laborers in Wisconsin see trouble on horizon.
May 7, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Road builders say they can't wait any longer for the Legislature to repair the state budget. "If it's not fixed this week, we're in trouble. That's it," said Thomas Fisher, president and business manager of the...

Madison hotel earns cautious confirmation.
May 7, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Madison developer Robert Sieger might finally build something on the corner of Monroe and Regent streets, though the city and neighborhood remain skeptical. "There are still lots of questions with operational plans...

Union exposes gaps in granite work in Milwaukee.
May 7, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee asked LaLonde Contractors Inc. to redo some granite planters on West Wisconsin Avenue after unions wrote the city arguing the project was not up to spec. Crews from the Milwaukee-based, nonunion contractor...

La Crosse shrinks moratorium's scope to one road.
May 8, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A proposed moratorium on commercial development that La Crosse officials insist isn't really a moratorium now targets only one road in the city. The La Crosse Committee of the Whole on Tuesday approved a 90-day...

State of Wisconsin keeps I-94 cash beyond reach of rail projects.
May 8, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Pro-transit groups in Milwaukee keep bashing a state plan to widen Interstate 94, but highway supporters say trains and buses will never siphon cash from road jobs anyway. Those who want a wider I-94 from Milwaukee...

Project gives homeless workers incentive.
May 9, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan When VJS Construction Services asked subs to train homeless people for a Milwaukee project, the first concern was whether the trainees signed up at the union hall. The training program is owner-driven. Guest House of...

Park East developers bide time to buy property.
May 9, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee will suffer in the long run, according to city and county officials, if it rushes developers into making choices for their Park East land. During her first meeting as chairwoman of the county's Economic and...

Madison lands new theater in border battle.
May 9, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A new entertainment complex planned by the Marcus Corp. for Madison's east side should spark a renaissance for the area and heighten a tug of war with neighboring Sun Prairie. "I think it's certainly going to spark...

Site in Wauwatosa needs basics before buildings.
May 12, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan A group advocating University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee build its new engineering campus in downtown Milwaukee said a hefty price tag for utilities should sway the university against building in Wauwatosa. But city and...

University of Wisconsin-Madison roof bid overshoots state estimates.
May 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The state admits it's entirely to blame in underestimating a roof replacement project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. David Helbach, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Administration's Division of...

Fox Lake Public Library wants picture to be worth $210,000.
May 13, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Fox Lake residents want two questions answered before they donate money to build a new public library. "'We want to know where it's going to be, and we want to know what it's going to look like,'" said Julie...

Asbestos abatement in Wisconsin gets pricier.
May 13, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Increasing costs may force the state's asbestos regulation program to raise fees, despite times being tight for contractors, too. Bill Cook, project manager with Team Environmental Contractors, Milwaukee, said...

Wisconsin road builders relieved state lets will be.
May 13, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Black Tuesday is looking a little brighter for Wisconsin's road builders after the state Legislature on Monday announced a budget repair agreement. Had the Legislature not found common ground, the state Department...

City of Fitchburg seeks a sense of self with new library development.
May 14, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder After 25 years, Fitchburg still can't find its identity. "We don't have a library, our City Hall is relatively new, and we don't have a school district," said Jayne Kuehn. "We're just part of Madison and Verona's...

Wisconsin Department of Transportation lags behind peers in setting safe work priorities.
May 14, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Editor's note: The following story kicks off an occasional series inspired by the April 2 gas-line explosion in Oconomowoc and the discovery that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation does not check safety records...

Contractors ignore bid on bridge in Lake Geneva.
May 14, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Lake Geneva is regrouping after contractors decided not to bid on the city's project to replace the 70-year-old Main Street bridge in the center of downtown. The city earlier this year budgeted $300,000 for the...

Janesville trims fat from city operations.
May 15, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Janesville's Public Works Committee is the latest victim of the new City Council's commitment to shed excess government weight. "I'm not sure why it was set up that way," said Amy Loasching, City Council president....

Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge forces talks in Tower lawsuit.
May 15, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee officials will get onto the Tower Automotive site eventually, according to a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge. Charles Kahn, judge, Tuesday told attorneys for the city and property owners to go back to...

Budget force in Wisconsin feeds tax exemptions.
May 15, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Developers use it, small communities fear it, and officials from Wisconsin cities generally agree that, like it or not, tax exemptions for low-income housing shouldn't be tied to fixing the state's $527 million budget...

Waukesha resident requests water plans.
May 15, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Facing an accusation that the Waukesha Water Utility is too secretive, Dan Duchniak said disclosing some details would ruin plans to find a new water source for the area. The public knows the utility will either try...

Madison draws big crowd to rewrite zoning codes.
May 16, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Madison's 26-member Zoning Code Rewrite Committee has less than two years to replace the city's 42-year-old zoning code. It scheduled four meetings to get the job done. Carole Schaeffer, executive director of...

Milwaukee's City Hall sculptures wait for new homes.
May 16, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee doesn't know what to do with more than 100 urns, lion heads and other sculptures that will be replaced in its City Hall restoration project. If they're worth money, the city could sell them to developers...

Fired up: Expansion of coal-based plants protested in Madison.
May 16, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A planned 300-megawatt expansion to Alliant Energy's Nelson Dewey Generation Station in Cassville still is sparking controversy. Protestors gathered outside the Alliant Energy Center in Madison on Thursday before a...

West Allis developments boxed in by sand.
May 16, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan West Allis has a sand problem. To help developers deal with it, the city created tax-incremental finance districts and a landfill. Now, West Allis might even issue bonds to make a development a little easier. ...

Wisconsin Gov. Doyle vetoes cut into roads, kill exemptions.
May 19, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Tax exemptions for low-income housing will not be tied to fixing the state's $527 million budget shortfall, and transportation money will return to the level it was at last fall if Gov. Jim Doyle's vetoes withstand...

Recycled paper fails to take the LEED.
May 19, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan It would be easier to convince contractors to buy recycled paper for plans if the U.S. Green Building Council recognized it when rating construction projects, said Joe Shaw, senior account executive with A/E Graphics,...

Pig farm expansion snags approval of Wisconsin state panel.
May 20, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan A state panel reversed a decision preventing Roth Feeder Pig Inc. from expanding its Wauzeka facility, opting instead to validate a Crawford County project permit. Last month, the Wisconsin Livestock Facility Siting...

Rural Wisconsin projects center on land preservation.
May 20, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A 100-acre conservationist/residential development in rural Onalaska might help the city take a strong step toward more urban infill. "We're not going to promote conservationist development to achieve (urban...

Road projects wait for Madison's East Washington Avenue.
May 20, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Cost is the problem with Madison moving $772,000 earmarked for next year's fourth phase of the East Washington Avenue reconstruction in order to pave and resurface other parts of that road and state Highway 113 this...

Low bid can't win University of Wisconsin-Stout project.
May 20, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Shaw-Lundquist Associates Inc.'s $29.5 million bid for the Jarvis Hall project was $1.5 million higher than Miron Construction Co. Inc.'s offer, but Shaw won anyway. State law (PDF) requires minority-owned companies...

Courtroom in Ozaukee beats highways to cash.
May 21, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan A 6-foot chunk of plaster broke away from the ceiling of the Ozaukee County Board's meeting room six months ago and fell 20 feet onto a supervisor's chair. Nobody was hurt, said Andrew Lamb, Ozaukee County finance...

Hotels seek more space in Madison.
May 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder With a proposal pending, it's pretty clear Oshkosh-based Supple Group falls on the too-few side of the Madison hotel argument. That might not be a winning position if other development trends serve as indicators in...

Woodley Dam demolition leaves Polk County locals leery.
May 21, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Charles Nielsen doesn't have the money to fight the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Nielsen this week gave up on his campaign against a DNR and Polk County project to tear down the Woodley Dam (PDF) on the...

Wisconsin Department of Transportation pries crowfoots from freeway bed.
May 22, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan It costs less to save the tiny seaside crowfoots growing along Interstate 94 than to figure out if they're actually an endangered Wisconsin plant. The crowfoots, ranunculus cymbalaria, could be an invasive strain...

School District of La Crosse threatens school closures.
May 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The School District of La Crosse won't take 'no' for an answer, and now it's holding school closures over voters' heads. But closing schools might not be the worst idea, said Dione Dannhoff, resident. She has three...

Going green saves green.
May 23, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Ziegler/Bence Development LLC paid more to build green features into its new Menomonee Valley industrial building, but its tenants will benefit from the project's energy-saving design and construction. The extra...

Bidding open on University of Wisconsin-Madison's Ogg Hall demolition.
May 23, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Restoration work on the site of University of Wisconsin-Madison's Ogg Hall dormitory is at a standstill until the east tower of the old building is torn down. Bidding on the demolition opened Thursday, and...

Price tag on Milwaukee chapel rehabilitation inches up.
May 23, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan It will probably cost the Soldiers Home Foundation an additional $500,000 to restore a veterans chapel in Milwaukee after a bureaucratic hullabaloo delayed the $5.8 million project. The Department of Veterans Affairs...

Easy Street in Milwaukee could prove rough.
May 27, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Dr. Kenneth Lee is not sure there is enough money to build veterans an Easy Street in the new spinal-cord injury building at Milwaukee's Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. Easy Street would be a gym featuring an...

Regulations would run off onto retail projects in Milwaukee.
May 27, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Proposed rules intended to decrease runoff and pollution in Milwaukee would also affect development and public transit. The rules, drafted by the city and Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, would limit the...

School District of Janesville goes to mat for popular sport.
May 27, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Money is tight in the School District of Janesville, and that has left it wrestling for every scrap when it comes to renovating its two high schools. "Whenever we can save a dollar we will," said DuWayne Severson,...

Westosha Central High school relishes residential slump.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The drop-off in Paddock Lake's housing market bought time for Westosha Central High School to make room for a building expansion. A few years ago, school planners saw increasing population numbers and figured the...

Madison bleacher argument takes a seat.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The Madison Mallards baseball team is learning the difference between want and need in its push for a renovated stadium at Warner Park. The Northwoods League team added urgency to its push for $5.6 million in...

Milwaukee alderman pushes car fee to fuel projects.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Robert Bauman, Milwaukee alderman, knows some people will grumble about his plan to charge a $20 car-registration fee to pay for city street projects. One resident already called and said he'd prefer the potholes,...

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee dorm boom threatens landlords.
May 30, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Erik Nelson's Prospect Avenue building has 20 empty apartments that University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students normally would be renting right now. It's the first year after the UWM Foundation opened its 480-bed...

La Crosse Municipal Airport hangar project falls off radar.
May 30, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Project proponents won't let a shortage of demand or money keep them from pushing for a new hangar at La Crosse Municipal Airport this summer. As far as runway and instrument approaches go, I think what we have at...