Dear editor,
The city (of Wausau), in an attempt to erase the memory of a bad multimillion dollar investment of our money, leveled the mall. The Greater Wausau Prosperity Partnership and it’s offspring, the Wausau Opportunity Zone have begun a well financed, coordinated campaign to convince us that it is in all our best interests to fully support allocation of now $10.8 million of our money to the development of high-end living units and retail shops to fill in the eye sore that remains.
We are to have full confidence in a process that has been riddled in secrecy, promoted using wacky math with figures millions of dollars apart, and short on jobs and disposable income. We are to put our trust in many of the same people who orchestrated the fiasco of the mall and costly setbacks, including big legal bills, experienced along the development of (RiverLife Park). These expensive missteps have all been financed by the citizens of Wausau directly resulting from the actions of former and present city administrations, some (Wausau City) Council members and the Chamber of Commerce.
The next step in this deja vu leadership of the city will require them determining how much public participation they feel is necessary before moving on to repeating their steps along this well trodden sordid path. But they can take steps to follow another path.
A positive first step would be full transparency of all discussion and calculations to all council members and the public.
A positive second step would be to utilize the wealth of city resources to engage with all sectors of the community. About half of Wausonians live at or below the ALICE threshold of poverty. Anecdotally, I have been to many council meetings for discussions of development of the downtown. I have not seen one of the few “regular Joes or Janes” state that they felt strongly that such a large amount of our money should be directed to high-end development, especially while so many are struggling to pay well over the accepted benchmark of 30 percent of income, an aggregate which exceeds the national average.
The city must accommodate the needs of working and poor people who can’t make regular council meeting times as they juggle family and job responsibilities, lack reliable transportation or face accessibility challenges. Current meeting times accommodate only retirees, business leaders and high-end developers.
The city must convince at least half the population that they take sincere and unbiased consideration of the needs of all levels of society. Applying for a free multimillion dollar pedestrian bridge designating COVID relief money to lightbulbs and bubblers over transitional housing and eliminating the 550 person waiting list for subsidized housing are missteps they must overcome to be portrayed as true servants of the public.
By not engaging with the public, and disregarding the requirement of sound government by nurturing confidence at all levels of community, our city government will once again fall in line behind the well-financed and strongly represented wacky mathematicians whose cost benefit analysis continues to cost us while benefiting mostly them.
Bruce Grau of Wausau
Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email [email protected] or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.
