Today's topic is the River Bluff Townhomes controversy. Besides the fear of people who don't make as much money as we'd like, the fear of people who aren't white like us, and of renters in general, the real fear here I see is the fear of change. I'm sorry folks, but South Main Street between Washington and Walnut hasn't been "downtown" for 20 years and it isn't coming back, no matter what anyone says. It has been slowly decaying since at least when the original Paradise Mall opened and arguably before then. So what? The same folks who lament the proposed housing plan were the first ones to ditch Tennies for Wal-Mart, the downtown theater for Paradise Theater and any of the slew of failed downtown coffee houses for Starbucks.
Why bitch now? You've been slowly letting "downtown" go to seed for years. What did any of you really think was going to go on the site? The access roads are all insufficient for any large-scale project and even if they were, there isn't the same built-in traffic brought to the south side by 45.
It beats looking at that pile of rubble at least. Right?
West Bend has changed. Get over it.
Head here to read the full fear over on Boots & Sabers. There are even some just fantastic comments by local scientist Mary Weigand.
I agree with everything you wrote, except about the "decaying" downtown. Prior to the redevelopment project in the 1980's, the property values downtown were dropping year after year. The number of vacant properties today is a fraction of what it used to be. We're never going to have 100% occupancy... there's always turnover.
ReplyDeleteFair enough. Maybe I was a bit harsh. My point is still valid though... "downtown" will never be what ever these people imagine it will be. West Bend isn't Cedarburg. The people against this project say it's because it's so close to "downtown" when the real reason is they don't like poor/black/brown people.
ReplyDeleteThere was a supreme irony in watching Herb Tennies complain about this project because it will supposedly hurt downtown. Herb never had a good thing to say about the downtown reconstruction (except when the city built a parking lot next to his store). He was wrong then and he's wrong now.
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