Tuesday Burnt Toast and Coffee Time

Half of my retirement money is gone.  The thought of having to work full time for 12 years just to get back to even is depressing. But like I always say, it could always be worse. I think next week will be another “Gratitude Week”, where each day I tell you something I’m grateful about.

• Do want to be depressed with me? Watch this video from CNBC this morning. It’s 10 minutes long, but worth your time.  The first 2:35 is pretty wonky, so you might want to fast forward through that part but then this guy who’s been right before says the we are already in a depression and it’s going to get worse. Also from CNBC, this story which tells me that, at least, I’m not alone in being a depressed baby boomer.
• Daffy Duck fooled Elmer again and got him arrested on the 200 block of West College Avenue.
• Everything is not in financial ruin. Bielinski Builders report that they doubled their home sales in January over January 2008. All Pro Motorsports of Waukesha made a top 10 nationwide list.
• And Waukesha City Administrator Lori Luther is up for a big raise!
• In other news, Waukesha and the Wisconsin DNR have agreed on the amount of our radium fine.
• If you want to get you blood pressure up, Senator Russ Feingold will be at WCTC early, early, early Saturday morning.
• Speaking of WCTC, Asociate Dean Brian Dorrow received the Freeman’s highest honor. The attendees to the event look like they’re waiting in line to pay taxes.
• From the police blotter, how much would you bet these two events are related:

3:52 p.m. – A person said their car was struck by a sport utility vehicle that didn’t stop as he or she was pulling into a driveway in the 600 block of North West Avenue.

5:54 p.m. – Two drunk men were reported fighting outside of a building in the 100 block of North Grand Avenue before leaving in a sport utility vehicle.

• This reported armed robbery is in the blotter.
• Meanwhile, Diamond Jim Doyle plans to tax gun ownership out of existence, just as he is trying to tax cigarettes out of existence, just as he will try to tax alcohol out of existence. Boots and Sabers has more on the gun tax.
• A massive Sound Off today. The gem for me:

Waukesha; Mayor Nelson

Regarding the Freeman article about the new Target and Pick ’n Save stores at The Shoppes at Fox River where Mayor Larry Nelson is quoted as saying, “I think it tells everyone that Waukesha is thriving,” struck me as curious, as even though this is a new development, it is overshadowed by several prominent facts:

The Shoppes at Fox River is not all it was supposed to be due to Lowe’s pulling out of the development.

Less than 150 yards away from the “Shoppes” is a decaying Fox Run center that has had 50 percent of its floor space empty for over a year.

A half-mile east of the “Shoppes” is a former Kohl’s grocery store that has been vacant for more than five years.

A few miles up Highway 164/59 near Arcadian Avenue is a huge empty car dealership that used to house Buick, Jeep and Subaru franchises and an abandoned Jewel/Sentry store.

On the north side of town, there are many vacant store buildings in the strip mall behind Culver’s on Grandview Boulevard.

Major streets like St. Paul Avenue are crumbling, narrow and otherwise a network of temporary patches.

These facts seem to point not to a city that is thriving, but one that is barely surviving. Effective leadership would help mitigate these problems. 2010 cannot come fast enough! Hopefully, effective leaders will step forward by then.

• Also from Sound Off: Per a recent front-page request, I have an idea for a sculpture for The Shoppes at Fox River. Why don’t they commission a statue of Mayor Larry Nelson dressed as the Roman emperor, Nero, holding a violin with the inscription, “Nelson fiddled while Waukesha burned,” at its base. It just gets worse every day.
• Done: