#10: The city's bizarre plan to relocate its growing homeless population from downtown to Palmer Park, then to Traxler, eventually settling on a parking lot near the police station.
#9: Uncovered by citizen journalist "The Rock," was another city fail when a contractor hired for restoration work after the removal of the Monterey Dam reported that more testing of the soil was needed for contaminants and structural integrity to build a berm. For his diligence, the contractor was fired.
#8: The city's skyline changed forever as the iconic GM smokestack was dragged down into rubble without notice. For many in Janesville the chimney was a symbol of activity, prosperity and community. Daft city officials squandered the historic moment.
#7: Warned of a historic property tax shift and hike resulting from their support of the city's wrongheaded growth plans, the Janesville school board made the ultimate sacrifice; they voted themselves an annual property tax relief stipend! No referendum.
#6: City Hall opened 2019 by expanding TIF District agreements to include housing developments. The city closed 2019 with a proposal to loosen TIF District property tax kickback terms even further for downtown, from 15 years to 20, for select developers.
#5: Under normal circumstances this would have been #1, but the sale of the Janesville Gazette, its radio stations, followed by the sale of the Beloit Daily News, should have brought renewal and hope. It didn't. On the plus side, I have more content than ever.
#4: With the end of the bitter, petty and divisive partisan politics of Paul Ryan and Scott Walker, 2019 marks a potential new beginning for Wisconsin and Janesville. Both have packed up their bags and were last seen heading to the East Coast.
#3: The run-up to a holy-cow 53% increase in water rates, purportedly needed to lower the city's long-term debt load by $24M, coincided perfectly with the city's urgency to open a new $24M borrowing note for hockey rinks at the capital investor owned Mall.
#2: The Janesville School Board sold out by putting developers' profit over childrens' education and taxpayers when they endorsed city deals exempting sweetheart housing developers from paying property taxes from up to 500 families paying market-rate rent for the next 15 years.
#1 A perfect storm of bad city economics and mismanagement culminated in the city-wide property tax revaluation to deliver historic increases on homeowners tax bills. The Janesville Gazette editorialized that the dynamics behind the tax hike are a "mystery."
One honorable mention. The city of Beloit picked up two major construction developments in 2019. It was announced that a developer for Amazon will be building a one million square foot warehouse in the city. Meanwhile, local investor D. Hendricks paired with Q. Studer to propose building a new ball park for the Beloit Snappers. The big kicker: Local taxpayers will not be put on the hook paying out long-term annual subsidies for either of these proposals. SHOCK!
1 comment:
Wow. Just wow.
Janesville and environs are plummeting toward status as some kind of feudal estate, a Pottersville for the new century.
Even now, whispers in the corridors of City Hall include talk of renaming the city Hendricksville. Will her ladyship be granted a peerage? No need. She'll self-anoint.
At least the congenital brown-noser and Ayn Rand devotee Paul Ryan did what he could for his constituents (pause for peals of laughter). His smarmy replacement is equally useless, and also has no interest in performing the actual duties of a public servant.
Janesville can't stumble "Forward" fast enough...
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