ocono.com

Anonymous Blogger “Huckleberry Dumbell” takes the Oconomowoc Common Council to task, complete with third-grade name-calling, over the city’s recent meaningless support of a measure that could maybe bring high-speed rail to Oconomowoc’s downtown. Maybe. Once Hell thaws back out. And the pigs land. And then only maybe.

However, we love a good ad hominem, and calling Oconomowoc leadership boneheads and taking potshots at the community as a whole is an endeavor we can, at the very least, point you toward.

It will cost you and me billions of dollars and it’s not going to stop in your little, tiny, one-horse, raccoon-frying, whistle-stop of a “city”… with a strip mall where a useful farm used to be. You will be spending your money so someone else can ride a train. Boneheads.

Why the hate, Huckleberry?

The Herald Times brings us the news of John Hopf, who later this year will be walking the Appalachian Trail as a means of building awareness and money to bring clean drinking water to those who lack it here on earth.

Why? Hopf writes on his website:

It hasn’t been until recently that I have realized there is something else out there for me to do. I am so excited to spend time to help others and to help raise their quality of life.  It is a great opportunity for me to step back and find what really makes me happy. 

An alleged member of the Oconomowoc Rotary Club, Hopf is collecting donations via the Oconomowoc Rotary Foundation.

Cheers to the Oconomowoc residents who refrained from coughing sarcastically when told Tuesday night at a special meeting held at Olympia Resort that Pabst Farms Developers intend to open a mall in 2010. From the Milwaukee BizJournal:

While he didn’t name any retailers, city economic development director Bob Duffy had earlier shown a slide that identified Kohl’s, Target, Michaels crafts, OfficeMax and Petco. Elias showed a similar Developers Diversified project that had tenants including Super Target, TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, Borders, World Market and DSW shoes.

Those later drew criticism from some residents, who noted those stores are available in nearby Delafield and Johnson Creek

One of the many reasons I’m grateful not to be a traditional journalist in today’s climate is that I’m not sure I would have been able to sit in that meeting and not cough the word "bullshit!" into my sleeve.

From the same article:

Elias acknowledged that retailers have “slowed store growth” and his company needs final approval of Oconomowoc officials before it can sign any retailers. Developers Diversified, in turn, will need contracts with retailers before the developers can secure financing for the project, he said.

You don’t have to be an award-winning journalist to see how utterly hopeless that situation is but it helps.

Sarcasm Shooter set to Kill: One thing that will certainly fix our ailing economy is the long-overdue approval of high-end condominium project aimed at giving the very rich a place to hide away while they rehabilitate their credit report.

Enter the Rockwell Village. City leaders approved Jan 6 plans to create 36 condos, two levels of enclosed parking and "niche" retail space on the corner of St. Paul and Pleasent Street in Oconomowoc’s Downtown. 

Developer Rob Perry, paraphrased by the Oconomowoc Focus, said that a major catalyst for forging ahead with the project was that, thanks to the ailing economy, he can build it far more cheaply than he ever dreamed. We’re willing to bet that had the reporter looked into Perry’s eyes at that moment, she’d probably have seen actual dollar signs.

Giving people more and better places to live in Oconomowoc is great. We think that increasing and improving Oconomowoc’s retail and residential capacity in ways that take advantage the city’s numerous natural amenities is a laudable goal.

But doing it in a way that is simply inaccessible to the majority of the population is not smart. If the recent adventures in retail disappointment at Pabst Farms have taught us anything, it’s that Oconomowoc is not the tie and tuxedo community that it thinks it is. Oconomowoc is not a Bloomingdale’s town– and that’s evidenced by Bloomingdale’s continued refusal to build a store here. Even the mighty Starbucks has chortled at the idea of building a coffee shop in Oconomowocs downtown. The $6 latte set don’t work, live, or play here. 

Building developments that continue to try to cater to a market that just doesn’t exist in Oconomowoc are not going bring people to Ocnomomwoc’s downtown. 

Build something blue collar, Oconomowoc. Come on now.

(Tip o’ the hat to our buddy MC Pickard for the link.)

True confessions time: At least one of the authors of this blog — and it’s not Pete — secretly enjoys Gordon Ramsey shows.

Lets talk for a minute about some of our favorite restaurants in town. I’m specifically going to take the high road, and not name names here, but we all know there are at least a few restaurants in Oconomowoc that seem to have lost their shine. They may have been great places in the past, but they’re not anything special anymore. They’re perfect candidates for Ramsey’s "Kitchen Nightmares" show. 

Oconomowoc is exactly the kind of town they do these shows in– maybe a little small population wise–  but the prototypical kitchen nightmares" town in almost every other way.  A major restaurant renaissance in Oconomowoc’s downtown would be the kind of thing that could really, really turn things around for this city.

What restaurant would you like to see clean up its act in Oconomowoc? Maybe you could send the owner a link, because Kitchen Nightmares is Casting.

Editors Note: This is the final part of our look ahead at Oconomowoc’s 2009. Thanks for playing.

Our Bold Prediction: Ocono.com will go a long time between updates.

Not a bold prediciton at all.*

Just like the newspapers in this town, we don’t do this for the money either. Ocono.com is a part-time operation, and try as we might to keep updates happening regularly, sometimes life gets in the way. We work and live in Oconomowoc, and care deeply about what happens to her– it’s just that reporting on her is something we only do recreationally. 
We have a few good stories in the works for 2009, and, as always, we’ll try to keep you up to date on little things happening in town, we’re a small group of recreational local bloggers. That being said, be sure to let us know what -you- want to see in 2009 at Ocono.com.
Ocono.com is your blog, Oconomowoc. Let us help you shape it.

*The irony that this post is four days late is not lost on us.

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of Ocono.com’s predictions for 2009.

We don’t think it’s a bold prediction, and its one that we don’t make lightly, but we believe, in 2009, at least one of Oconomowoc’s local newspapers will close.

This makes us sad, but it’s going to be a hard year for the local media. Frankly, it’s been a hard ten years for the local media. Oconomowoc had the luxury in the early 2000’s of having two, full-time, full-staffed local newspapers fighting for the attention of the Oconomowoc people. It made for a more honest local government, a more informed electorate, and gave the people of Oconomowoc not one, but two representative sources of its collective culture.

However, by 2010, Oconomowoc will be lucky to have even one local paper. And, then, only if you count "produced somewhere in the same county" as "local."

This is not the fault of the good people who staffed the local papers, but as production costs climbed in the 2000’s and corporate leadership became more and more interested in producing an ‘easier to manage’ product than a good one, the papers became less and less relevant to the masses.

There is still room in Oconomowoc for a good newspaper. We won’t pretend Ocono.com is going to fill that niche. But we want to note that it’s a damn shame what’s happened to both the Oconomowoc Focus and Oconomowco Enterprise in recent years. It wasn’t the passion of the staff that failed to live up to the communities trust. It was corporate greed. You don’t run a newspaper for the money– something that just don’t make sense for a publicly held firm like the Focus’s parent company.

We wish the “Living Oconomowoc Focus” the best of luck with their online-hybrid strategy, and we wish the Oconomowoc Enterprise better luck in trying to be a local paper from afar– but we think both strategies are going to prove tough sells, and both may be too-little, too late for both publications.

We’re sad about this. We hope we’re wrong. But the writing has been on the wall for a long time for the local papers. The management in charge merrily doilteld away, doing what they’ve always done instead of adapting and improving themselves to avoid the impending doom.

(Disclosure: At least one writer for Ocono.com was formerly employed by the Oconomowoc Focus newspaper.) We wrap this series up tomorrow with a frank discussion of what 2009 means to the Ocono.com blog.

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of Ocono.com’s predictions for 2009.

We’re willing to bet that at some point this year, as people become more-and-more comfortable with downtown’s fancy new roundabout, someone will die in a traffic accident there– but it won’t be the roundabout’s fault. But that won’t stop everybody from blaming the roundabout and the DOT. You all should be riding bicycles anyway, so, whatever.

We love the roundabout. It’s a great way to control traffic without the trouble and hassle of stoplights.
THat being said, what is it about the roundabout that confuses you people? It’s so easy:

1. Turn right to get in the roundabout.
2. Don’t stop.
3. Turn right to get out of the roundabout.

The Wisconsin DOT has more complete instructions for navigating the roundabout, but it’s really no more complicated than any other intersection.

Tomorrow: Dire times for Oconomowoc’s local media

Let’s make 2009 a year of Good Choices in Oconomowoc…

So don’t do what Robert Manders did in 2008, make a bad choice. Like driving home drunk instead of using a service he helped create to prevent such a thing…

From JSOnline: Safe-ride backer didn’t use service

Robert Manders, a used-car dealer who donated a vehicle for the shuttle service known as LIMOS, was arrested Dec. 13 while heading home from a Christmas party, according to a criminal complaint obtained Tuesday.

The Waukesha County district attorney’s office alleges that Manders failed a sobriety test after he was stopped while driving a vehicle emblazoned with the shuttle program’s logo.

“I don’t understand why, when he’s running a service, why he wouldn’t just call,” said Lori Reed, manager of Lakerz tavern, a downtown Oconomowoc establishment that serves as the LIMOS (Late-night Initiative Making Oconomowoc Safe) unofficial headquarters.

And getting caught driving home drunk in a vehicle “emblazoned with the LIMOS logo”? Even worse…

So again… Good choices in 2009! Let’s help make Oconomowoc a safe place to live…

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of Ocono.com’s predictions for 2009.

In spite of bold promises, downtown will remain empty

Call us pessimistic, but we don’t think that the hard economic times will impact only the development of the city’s south side. The long awaited conclusion of last summer’s major downtown reconstruction project won’t be the magic bullet for bringing Oconomowoc’s downtown into economic prosperity. Sure, it will be nice to be able to get around town again, but lets face it, stores we don’t need or want to go in aren’t going to bring us downtown.

As much as we love the idea of buying a $6,000 lawn chair, we’re probably not going to buy more than a few of them in 2009.  — Actually, that’s not fair. On the Deck is exactly -not- the kind of store we’re talking about in this post. If I was in the market for a $6,000 lawn chair, I’d probably head down there tomorrow.

Here’s the thing, we actually went downtown more times last year than we had in any recent memory, largely because of the quality of the stores that are down there. Downtown has some good stores these days: Ice Cream and Candy Shops, Comic Shopes, JC’s Restaurant. We love them all.

But here’s the thing:  If you open a crappy store, you’re going to close. If you have bad customer service, you’re going to struggle. If you’re a jerk, you’re not going to make it.

However, quality stores, with proprietors with great attitudes and smart business plans will also struggle– that’s just the economic reality of it all. Lets not pretend its about downtown. Every business has got problems.  Downtown shoppes need to stop pretending that they deserve some kind of special treatment from the government and the people of Oconomowoc, and instead focus on running a good business. Good Businesses run by smart Business people will still struggle in 2009. But expect marginal, menial businesses run for the convenience of their proprietors to close up shop in 2009– and that’s got nothing to do with location. 

Tomorrow: The High Cost of Going in Circles.