No tinted windows, no chicken sandwiches, no balanced budgets.

Brief highlights from Transportation Affairs, the Plan Commission, and the school board.

Note: Sorry for the lack of news last week. It was very busy. More to come.

From the Transportation Affairs committee on June 13

My model of how federalism works is fairly simplistic. Probably because, as I suspect a lot of people do with a lot of things that don’t really affect them in their day-to-day lives, it was formed during high school when the teacher described the idea once in the middle of a 45-minute lecture, and then I never thought about it again. (This is probably a weird argument for the value of high-quality compulsory education, but—it may be the only time you ever hear certain things. If you hear the wrong thing, you will never, ever update or revisit that misconception again and will carry it with you for the rest of your life.)

Anyway, my understanding was that in general cities and towns can make their own laws. But, if they contradict state law, then the state law takes precedence. Similarly, if a state law contradicts a federal law, then the federal law takes precedence. Obviously, municipalities don’t always agree with states and states don’t always agree with the federal government on which rules apply where. They usually figure this out in court. Think of state abortion laws until Roe v. Wade was overturned. But it’s not always that straightforward. Sometimes, everyone recognizes there are inconsistencies and contradictions, and they just agree not to get too bent out of shape about it. For instance, marijuana use and possession is illegal under federal law but a lot of states think it’s okay and …nothing really happens except maybe it’s hard for your local dispensary to get a bank account or accept credit card payments.

Similarly, Wisconsin has home rule authority written in to its constitution. Cities and villages can make their own rules as long as they involve local matters and don’t affect the rest of the state. In reality, the boundaries of these concepts are fuzzy (what do “local” and “affect” really mean?) and cities and the state end up arguing a lot about what laws they are and are not allowed to pass.

But sometimes, apparently, the state passes a law and maybe a local municipality adopts it, and maybe they don’t, and maybe they start to at some point and then kind of forget about it for a while. And none of it’s too big of a deal at all.

→ On June 13, Captain Luke Vetter and Sergeant Kurt Svatek of the Wauwatosa Police Department (WPD) gave a presentation to the Transportation Affairs committee on an ordinance that would codify the State of Wisconsin’s Transportation Act (TRANS) 305 and allow the police department in Wauwatosa to issue tickets for violating the state’s window tinting standards.

According to Capt. Vetter, this had been a topic of discussion approximately four years ago, but “it never got enough legs for some reason in order to make its way in front of the Transportation Affairs committee.” Now, with the help of City Attorney Alan Kesner and Assistant City Attorney Hanna Kolberg, an ordinance has been drafted that would adopt an already existing state administrative law—TRANS 305—that prescribes “minimum equipment requirements for vehicles and standards for the equipment used on vehicles.” This includes things like having an operating horn, not having headlights that are too bright, and most importantly to the WPD, limits on how dark the tint on your vehicle’s windows can be.

Ald. David Lewis asked why the city needs to pass an ordinance. Can’t they just enforce it if it’s already state law? Capt. Vetter replied that these rules were passed not as a typical traffic statute but as part of an administrative code that the city never adopted. Many municipalities have adopted these laws, he said, including most of the municipalities in Milwaukee County. We're behind. I still don’t quite understanding this, but okay.

Statute 305.34 would prohibit any tinting on the windshield with the exception of a small strip of tint just below the roofline. Statute 305.32 would limit the level of tint on driver, passenger, and rear windows.

Capt. Vetter described heavily tinted windows as dangerous for drivers (they’re harder for them to see out of when it’s dark) and police officers (who can’t see inside the cars they pull over). “It's dangerous. We have a difficult time seeing what's going on in the car and we are at basically the whims of the occupants to listen and put the windows down for us so that we can see in. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't,” he said.

He also said that overly tinted windows on cars make it more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists who like to make eye contact with drivers as they cross the street. This is true. I can attest to this as an intermittent cyclist. I can also attest to this as a passenger in my uncle’s truck when he would intentionally look down at his lap or fiddle with the radio to encourage the pedestrians slowly sauntering across the road in front of us to hurry up and get out of the way. He hustled.

Ald. Andrew Meindl noted that many cars have window tinting from the factory and that they often exceed the limits in the ordinance. He said he had called several local dealerships and noted that factory tinting from Kia, Chevy, Ford, and Chrysler would all break these laws. He also conducted an unofficial survey of cars in the parking lot and felt that almost half of them would be in violation. “To me when we're having new vehicles sold that are not jiving with this language—and also we are talking roughly 40 to 50% of Wauwatosans that would not be in compliance with this law […] I would just ask this body to strongly think about striking and denying 305.32 from the resolution this evening.”

There ensues a short back-and-forth on whether factory window-tinting can simply be removed. The consensus seems to be that after-market tint can be while factory tint is integral to the glass.

Ald. Melissa Dolan helpfully asks whether we can grandfather in existing tinted cars. Everyone mostly agrees that would be a big pain and not really workable.

Ald. Robin Brannin motions to approve the ordinance as stated.

Ald. Meindl: No, really, what about all the cars that have manufacturer installed tint and are already breaking the law?

Sgt. Svatek: They’ll be exempted in accordance with 305.34. [My note: This is true]

Ald. Meindl: Oh really? What are you going to do walk up and scrape on the window?

Sgt. Svatek: Yes, essentially. We’ll check it when they roll down the window.

Ald. Meindl: If the window’s rolled down, how will you check it?

Sgt. Svatek: They’d roll it up a little.

Ald. John Dubinski, a retired cop, describes cars with tinted windows as a “scary, creepy thing.”

I can't tell if its a bunch of kids playing in the backseat with their toy guns or is it a bunch of thugs that just committed a crime. So anything we can do to safeguard our law enforcement personnel or first responders to keep them safe, I think is an effort well done. This is a state law.

Ald. Joe Phillips says that his son was hit by a car with very tinted windows and the driver probably couldn’t see through them very well. And also, “With all due respect Ald. Meindl, I appreciate the perspective you're bringing, but I think the safety of our community is more important than anything else, including the officers, so I'll be supporting this.”

Ald. Meindl worries it will be burdensome for some residents. “If the person impacted by this has to go to work that day and they have to go to court to deal with this ordinance because the Ford they bought has window tinting or something, they could lose their job. This is going to be affecting a lot of folks in Wauwatosa.”

No one is persuaded.

Ald. Meindl moves to amend the motion and strike 305.32. There is no second and the motion dies.

Mayor Dennis McBride says that it's a state law, should be applied statewide, and the city should adopt without changes for purposes of uniformity.

The original motion to approve the ordinance passes by a vote of 7-1. Ald. Meindl votes against. The proposal will return to the Transportation Affairs committee for further discussion at their next meeting.

From the Plan Commission on June 12

Politics is the art of compromise. I mean, some people disagree. But in general, people want different things and have different ideas about how to achieve those things, and a lot of politics in America (but maybe not Weimar Germany) is about how to muddle through with a solution that leaves most people more-or-less satisfied and the rest not-too-mad. Sometimes these conflicting desires and goals inhere in the same person. Sometimes things that look like a slam dunk are decidedly not a slam dunk.

For instance, Mayor Dennis McBride and City Administrator Jim Archambo talk frequently about the city’s need to encourage development, build more housing, and bring high-quality businesses to the area. On the other hand all those things create traffic. And people hate traffic. And the more traffic there is the more accidents you’ll have and the more people might get injured or die. And nobody wants that either.

→ Chik-Fil-A wants to open a location in Wauwatosa at 2825 and 2835 Mayfair Road, the current site of two office buildings flanked by a Red Lobster to the south and a Dollar Tree to the north. Unfortunately, Chik-Fil-A is a victim of its own success and most of the members of the Plan Commission and Common Council, especially the Mayor, were worried that it’s popularity would create a literal death trap as dozens of cars backed up onto Mayfair Road waiting to order their chicken sandwiches. Attorney Bryan Randall, representing the business before the Common Council tried his best to assuage their concerns but to no avail.

City Staff recommended against issuing a conditional use permit saying that it would be “detrimental to or endanger the public health, safety, or general welfare” and that the applicant had not provided adequate measures for “ingress and egress that will minimize on- and off-site traffic congestion.”

A quick recap of the ensuing discussion (Mostly paraphrasing, with some quotes):

Mayor McBride: “We’re not here to talk about—and I’m not being flippant—chicken sandwiches. But rather, the suitability of this operation for this site. So, please confine your remarks to that.”

Atty Brian Randall: Look, I’ve got here Joe Vavrina from HR Green, our engineering consulting firm, and John Bieberitz who did our traffic analysis. You’ve got two pretty old and unattractive office buildings here. The owners have been trying to sell them for two years and no one wants them. Our development lead for Chik-Fil-A will now talk about why you want their restaurant here instead.

Current development at 2825 and 2835 Mayfair Rd.

Development Lead: Look, Mayor, I know you said you didn’t want to hear about chicken sandwiches but let me say something about the chicken sandwiches. They’re hand-breaded. They’re antibiotic free. And the salads, they’re crisp and fresh and wonderful (they also have chicken on them, but I’ve said enough about the chicken.) We have family and kids’ nights. We offer scholarships. People love us.

Also, Wauwatosa is awesome. Did you know that?

Mayor: Look, you don’t have to sell us on Wauwatosa. We already live here.

*The development lead sits down and Mr. Vavrina approaches the microphone.*

Joe Vavrina: Okay, let me ask you guys something. Have you heard of dual drive through lanes?

This site has dual drive throughs. It’s got 70+ parking stalls, outdoor seating on the east side, bicycle parking. Did I mention dual drive throughs? Very few dual drive throughs in Milwaukee. We call it a flex lane, lots of options here. We’ve also got a “very robust landscape plan” with a “combination of deciduous and evergreen shrubs, perennials, and ornamental grass to provide year around screen as well as year around interest.” [My note: I do love looking at ornamental grass.]

*Joe Vravrina steps away from the podium and John Bieberitz takes his place.*

John Bieberitz: Look, we’re going to channelize the traffic. Only left-turns, no more u-ies. Safe, safe, safe. We looked very closely at drive through queuing operations. It’s a metered flow here. Not a surge. We’ve got a similar location at 124th and Capitol. It’s dual lane order but only single lane pickup. We’ve got full dual drive throughs planned for Wauwatosa. It’s a 41/23 car stack to overflow ratio. Almost double the piddling 28/7 car stack on 124th. “Again, there’s a huge increase in how much we can stack.” Glendale, we’re talking about our Glendale location now—only a 27/20 stack. Though, at least they’re full dual.

*Shows some time lapsed video of cars pulling up and ordering at 124th and Capitol location.*

Keep in mind, 124th and Capitol is a dual drive through for ordering only and then converges to single lane pick up. Did I say that already? Totally different than Wauwatosa. Wauwatosa is dual lane throughout.

Atty. Randall: And Mr. Bieberitz, how long have you been doing this and what are your credentials?

Mr. Bieberitz: *recites list of acronyms*

Atty. Randall: And Mr. Bieberitz, let’s look at this slide with a picture of the entrance and exit to Chik-Fil-A. Now tell me, if people want to go to Chik-Fil-A and incoming vehicles driving south are trying to get to Red Lobster, that internal connection between the two restaurants might get blocked and back up on to Mayfair. In that theoretical scenario— with that weirdo going to Red Lobster instead of Chik-Fil-A—won’t he just use the dedicated Red Lobster entrance?

Mr. Bieberitz: Yes, that’s correct.

Atty. Randall: So, in your opinion, it’s very unlikely people will be backed up through the cross-hatched area on their way to Red Lobster?

Mr. Bieberitz: Oh yeah, oh yeah. People going to Red Lobster won’t simply meander through the Chik-Fil-A connection.

Mayor: If this were a trial I’d object for asking leading questions of your own witness.

Atty. Randall: As you can see ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got a big site with extra drive through lanes, so much stacking, and everything will be A-Okay. Think of the extra tax revenue. How much are those ugly office buildings bringing in right now?

Mayor: Very well, thank you. I will now open up the floor for public comment. Anyone in favor? *silence* Anyone opposed? *silence* No? Okay, hearing closed.

*Mayor McBride addresses the applicants*

I met, along with staff, with the applicants…several months ago at their request. I remember it was a colder day. At the time I said, ‘Welcome to Wauwatosa. But not at this site.’ It’s unfortunate Chik-Fil-A did not talk to us first, went ahead and secured this site. I was an alderman for 10 years, I’ve been mayor for 3 years, and there’s probably nothing I feel more strongly about than what I’m about to say tonight which is that this is the most dangerous stretch of road we have in Wauwatosa.

*He continues*

Also, there’s a bus stop across the road. No one mentioned that. It’s going to bottle things up. There are three schools nearby. Teenagers with cars are going to bottle things up. We’ve got this internal intersection here with a 3-way stop and that just seems like a nightmare. And the 124th and Capitol site is not comparable. I’m very familiar with that parking lot. I’ve been going to that parking lot for 50 years. There’s lots of ins and outs, lots of internal circulation that we don’t have here.

Everyone goes 65-70 mph down this road. Sure, it’s a 40 mph zone but nobody pays attention to that.

We even talked about the controlled intersection at Potter Rd. “It’s apples and oranges. It’s not apples and apples.”

Nothing that I have seen in all the proposals on both sides of this convinces me that putting a Chik-Fil-A or similar restaurant at this site would do anything more than create more danger and more accidents and potentially more loss of life.

*Mayor solicits comments from other members of the commission.*

Ald. Meindl and Franzen and others agreed that this didn’t seem like such a good idea.

The commission recommended denying the conditional use permit by a vote of 7-0. The Common Council denied the request 15-1.

Contentious Internal intersection.

Other Things That Happened

• The school board met on Monday and approved the consent agenda which included the hire of seven new teachers at Eisenhower Elementary. You might recall that about 13-15 teachers (I lost count but it was around 40% of the teaching staff) at Eisenhower resigned this year.

• Mr. Jordan Stein has been confirmed as the new principal of Eisenhower Elementary after the resignation of Sumeera Masukhani which occurred shortly after a calamitous Eisenhower parents info session that I wrote about a few weeks ago. Mr. Stein said during the school board meeting that, “I'm really excited for this opportunity and to see what happens in the years to come. Go Eagles!”

• Also during the school board meeting, the board approved the preliminary budget for 2023-2024. Chief Financial Officer Keith Brightman presented updated figures that showed a deficit of $7.3 million next year (he had previously estimated a deficit of $7.9 million). School board member Phillip Morris said he was disappointed by the state legislature's actions. Board member Mike Meier said, "I can't support these levels of spending with the uncertainty we have in revenue. I hope we quickly proceed down the process of [going] to referendum." Board Member Lynne Woehrle said, "I don't think we're doing enough for our kids and for our future." Board President Eric Jessup-Anger said that Task Force 2075 is beginning to meet on Tuesday and that they'll be addressing a range of key questions "that we need to consider as a community." He agrees with Mr. Meier "that the community is going to need to make a decision very soon." The Task Force will present its recommendations in May of 2024. The board approved the preliminary budget by a vote of 6-1. Mr. Meier voted against. [Disclosure: I volunteered for this Task Force 2075. We’ll, uhh, see how that goes. Obviously, I’m not going to write about it.]

• Also during the school board meeting, board member Jenny Hoag asked when the ESSER funded positions would run out and how many there were. Mr. Brightman responded that the funds would be available through the next school year. Superintendent Demond Means said that they'd hired about 9 FTE of mental health and social services support staff and that he'd like to notify them by October 31st of this year whether they will be retained past the end of the 2023-2024 school year.

• In non-school board news, Wauwatosa Police Chief James MacGillis presented the police department's annual report to the common council last week. One surprising statistic: 70% of the people arrested in Wauwatosa are residents of Milwaukee. Only 16% are from Wauwatosa. I don’t know. I was surprised by that.