The Don Rosen Show (Hour 2)

I'm trying to get smart.

I've been watching Nova.

You see that show?

They had a thing a couple of weeks ago about string theory.

I started watching that at 8 p.m. and at 803, my brain exploded.

They said string theory is the stuff that the physicists are now figuring out that Albert

Einstein was not able to nail down in his theories.

Something like, well, if Albert Einstein didn't understand it, me and a couch at the back

of a tatoo chip, don't have a shot.

I see what they're talking about.

Yeah, you got to incorporate gravity.

I was wondering why he didn't do that.

I'm saying they're working on my string-cheese theory.

You know, they always say Albert Einstein was a genius.

Then how come when anyone ever calls you that?

It's an insult.

You don't know where you parked the car.

Good job, Einstein.

I don't think we're honoring that man properly by using his name in vain and parking lots.

All the places for you and the place for you is a local public library.

There are books and paintings that they lend for you.

It's the latest, it's the greatest, it's the library.

Today's public library is more than books.

And if you haven't been there lately, you're missing plenty.

Read, listen, look, take part, learn, grow, enjoy yourself.

And your public library.

Education, information, entertainment, that sensation.

It's a way of life, it's for you and me.

It's the latest, it's the greatest, it's the library.

It's the latest, it's the greatest, it's the library.

Your public library.

Oh, yeah, we love the public library.

And I'm going to tell somebody something now that I don't usually brag about on the

air.

But since we lost all our Christmas music here, our Christmas, our Christmas music comes

from the received public library and they have the greatest selection of Christmas music

down there.

We're going to talk history today.

It's my favorite subject because I was learned something.

Rebecca Leonna is here, and I'm saying that right, correct?

Leanna.

Leanna.

Yeah.

Leanna, right?

I don't want to get it wrong.

Rebecca Leanna is here from the received public library and she is our historian for the

library.

And so the library actually came around the late 1800s, but the building you see and you

go to now is more modern from the 1950s.

So it's, but where did it all begin for the library?

So we actually became the racing public library when we built a building with MMC Core who

was one of our mayors at the time and he owned the C Core trunk company.

And he helped us gain the property where Delvino Delados is currently.

So that's the, that was the original building in 1897.

So when we originally opened, that was where we were.

And we used that building.

It had a reading room.

It had a like Reese reference center.

It had a children's room.

And we used that until around the 1910s.

And then we sent out a request and we actually got a Carnegie library.

And so that's the Heritage Museum is currently.

So that building was originally the racing public library.

We moved there in 1914.

And then from there we realized that we didn't have enough space.

And so we purchased the land and built the current building in 1958.

And then we expanded it again and it was 1990, I believe, where we bumped it out and

actually got that big beautiful view of the lake.

Oh, I was there the other day getting some Christmas CDs and all the chairs were taken

by the window, people reading, facing the lake, yeah, until somebody builds a skyscraper

right in front of your window, I mean, it's really, really nice to look at.

And that's a brief history of the library.

I think that building where the Historical Society is, the University of Heritage Museum,

that looks like a library with those pillars on the outside.

That's what your picture, you know, the library, but the building you have now is so beautiful,

modern.

And it had a refurbishing during COVID.

Yes.

But COVID couldn't happen at a better time because it would be difficult to do the refurbishing

and the rebuilding of it inside with people running around children.

This way you got to close it down and do what you had to do.

And it's very nice.

It's all modern.

And what I like is the library doesn't get rid of anything if it goes out of style.

You still have vinyl records, which I saw.

We brought those back, actually.

I know vinyl's coming back.

It is.

Who knows?

Maybe bait and VHS will come back someday.

I doubt it.

vinyl records.

And I have a, I told this story last, I'm going to tell it real quickly.

In 1968, they took by by birdie, the soundtrack album out of the library where I lived.

And cut to about 50 years later, I called the library and I said, I have the album.

And they said, well, we don't have records anymore.

Just keep it.

And it's just don't worry about it.

Now they probably want it back.

Probably.

Yeah.

And they're not getting it.

It was easy to say that before.

And I was going to say something about the history of the gelato building.

So you had a gelato bar in there.

I assume when the library would come back and get some gelato.

That was a movie theater after it's because I have a painting of that building and it must

have been after you guys left.

Because if you go into that building, you can see where the projection booth was.

It's all, it's obviously, when you go up on the second level, they have that walkup

level with some, you can see where the projection booth was.

It was right and back there.

That was the lobby of the movie theater where they served the gelato.

And the theater was in back.

It was called the Bijou.

Yes.

Yep.

And so I have this painting of it.

And I'm a big movie theater fan and my wife went to one of the art fairs on Monument

Square.

Or I know, I think that was the art fair by Gateway on Main Street.

And she found it and she got this beautiful painting of that.

And we added frame that great expense and it was at her expense.

So I have that.

And this one, somebody mentions that building.

I always pull that little thing out of the back of my head.

The history room at the library and I think I went here once, is that they don't make

you wear white gloves?

Do they when you're dealing with it?

No, we no longer do that.

That's kind of going against industry standard now.

Okay, because that's when I was there last time.

I had to wear the white gloves.

Yeah, that would have been before me because that was cut out when I started before I even

started.

There's a standard now just because they've come to realize that with some of the more

fragile things that the gloves are actually catching the papers and ripping pages and stuff

like that.

So it's just, you know, clean hands.

That's all we want.

So what's in there?

Lots of stuff.

So we've got city directories.

So we have actually a section out on the floor that has city directories that patrons

can look through.

But I keep like a reference collection that's limited access just for my own research.

When I need to do reference information, we've got yearbooks from a lot of the different

high schools in the area.

I've got city records.

I've got historical documents.

We have the Golden Book Archive Collection in there.

So we actually have...

Little Golden Books.

Little Golden Books.

Oh, yeah.

Everybody have those.

So we actually have three collections.

So we have our circulating collection, which is downstairs in the children's department.

And then we have our archival display collection, which is backed by the desks in the children's

department.

And that includes a cover of every single book that has been published since the beginning

of Golden Books.

So there's almost 2,000 little Golden Books in those displays.

And then I have a backup copy of Golden Books up in the archives, because as people donate,

if I don't have a backup of it for it in the collection, then I grab it for myself and

use that.

But one of our local historians, he's actually given me a lot of his stuff.

He worked at Western at one point.

And so he's given me a whole bunch of like, I have a ton of negatives of actual people

working in Western publishing.

I've got business records.

I've got account records, all sorts of fun stuff with that.

So all in that building at the public library, who would have funcate a little engine that

could?

Yes.

That's me.

That's me.

That's me.

Everybody had that little golden book.

I had tons of little golden books, but when you're a kid, you draw on them and you make

messes of them.

It's nice to have a backup set in mint condition.

Oh, no.

No, no, no, no.

They're not in mint condition.

Okay.

Good.

Used but good.

Used but good.

Okay.

That's what they say.

And now, how can people use that history room?

Can they just walk in and use it or buy appointment?

It's buy appointment only so they can go online to our website at racinglibrary.info.

And under the research and research and learn tab, there's the local history tab.

And you would just find the local history information at the bottom of the page, which

includes my phone number and my email address, and then they can contact me to set up appointments.

And I try to be as flexible as possible and be there as much as possible.

Or if it's something quick and easy, like you just need a journal Times article, we have

a digital subscription to that.

So I do quick searches for that and grab articles and mail those out and email those out

to people all around.

Sure.

Quick FBI check and fingerprint.

Fingerprint.

You get in the back room.

There's no problem.

It's very easy to do it.

How did it change during renovation at history room?

So it's actually got completely revamped.

We now have a completely enclosed room, which we didn't have before, so now it's actually

climate controlled and temperature controlled, which was my big push because with the way

the building temperature fluctuates, it was a problem because some days it would be

really warm in there and some days it'd be really cold and so now it's at a maintained

temperature at all times, which is great for saving our materials and then they expanded

it a little bit.

Sadly, I didn't get as much room as I wanted.

I wanted like so much more space because I keep collecting things from around the county.

But we expanded it.

We added a couple of extra tables in there.

They gave me some more shelving so I can store things and I now have a nice space to

work in there.

Let's start with this.

I'm going to have to break.

Hopefully we can get some of this in.

Stories you've uncovered about the library community during your time in the archives.

So many.

Oh, are these like secret stories that people are going to cringe when they hear them?

You know, there's some that are maybe not ones that I should talk about on air.

Oh, now I got to go to the library.

Like, you give us one you can't talk about.

Can you talk about any?

I, one of the ones that, now you got me intrigued, one of the ones that I really enjoyed was

when we were originally building the library at third street and I'm see core was very upset

with us because I say us meaning the public library.

Like I was obviously not around in 1897, but he was very upset because we ran out of marble.

And so we had to delay it for three months because he wouldn't complete the building without

his marble that we had ordered from overseas and so we had to wait for the ships to come

in so that he could have this marble for the library.

I want to hear the other stories that we can't tell Rebecca Leonis here and she is the

library historian for the scene public library more with Rebecca coming up in just a moment.

She'll tell me the stuff she can't talk about.

That's coming up.

All right.

Sunny today with a hundred forty nine degrees going to be a beautiful day.

Nice night tonight.

Partly cloudy.

41 low tomorrow partly sunny with a hundred fifty four right now.

It's sunny.

Clear sky.

Rebecca Leonis here, historian from the recene public library, the library 11 little kids

say that.

The library.

I don't think I ever said library February, February at the library, that was that for you.

And we're talking about a survey of free access to the ancestry.

What's the ancestry room?

That sounds like something everybody wants to get involved in because everybody that

was checking their ancestors for some reason, my mother did a complete genealogy on her family

going back as far as she could and she never put in a book form or anything.

So I was left when she passed away with this giant box of everything.

I mean, we're talking about tickets, chain tickets to send her ancestors to the camps

in Nazi Germany.

I mean, all this stuff.

So I found her cousin who wanted to work on it and I said to Amy, he's going to put

in book form or some kind of form so we can understand it.

What's the ancestry room?

So actually, that's just referring to ancestry.com.

So what it is is if you are in the library either using our computers or using our Wi-Fi,

you can have full access to ancestry.com and use it to search for your own relatives.

I use it all the time in my own reference research and I go digging through census records,

through wills and probate, which when they are written in the 1800s is just, it makes

my eyes hurt so much from all of the cursive.

Like I know how to read it, but it just takes forever.

But you have free access to it and you can just, you can come in.

You have to be within the confines of the building, basically, because it's paid for.

So you don't have to, the person using it doesn't have to pay.

It's free.

It's free.

You paid for it.

We paid for it.

Wow.

It's paid for it, which is really, but that's great, because a lot of people don't want

to sign up for it because they're cheap.

But now you can go to the library and look up your ancestors and maybe find things you

don't want to find out.

Well, and if you can't make it to the library, you can also use HeritageQuest, which is

provided through BadgerLink, which is all accessible online at our library and BadgerLink only

has to be used within the confines of the state.

So as long as you're in the state of Wisconsin and it's really like precise, which I find

amazing.

But HeritageQuest is basically a lower form of the ancestry.

So you can see some census records, but it does have like the street directories.

It's got gravesite information.

It's got military records and stuff like that.

So that's available to anybody, whether you're in the library or not.

Where is it, though?

I know they'll direct you to it when you walk in the lobby, but where is it?

So to get out of this, this is all online resources.

So you just need to go to our website, racinglibrary.info, and again, it's all going to be in the

same area because thankfully, when they re-did our website a couple of years back, we put

all of the local history stuff in one section, so at racinglibrary.info and then it's under

the research and learn.

There's not a physical room.

No, no, no physical room.

We just have to be inside the building or using our Wi-Fi.

I got it.

I got it.

I'm slow.

Eventually, I get it.

And the history room does accept donations.

I do accept donations that has to, most of what I accept is physical.

I have a couple of not physical paper or manuscript based, but I do accept a couple of cool little

souvenir-type things.

So I recently had a woman donate her case emblem badges that she had for her mom.

So I have old Abe and it just was case across it, which was really cool.

I had another woman who donated her brother's military glasses from when he was fighting.

I think she said Korea, but he had passed away and she still had them.

So he's the member of the library and so I have the history of why these glasses are

here.

Oh, that's great.

Yeah.

Because you have to keep it alive.

That's one of the reasons we did yesterday's program on WRJN for our 97th birthday, the

98th year.

There's no historical record of people's voices.

So we, next year, all during next year, we're going to interview for a half hour every

living employee we can get a hold of that have a work here and put it on some kind of

media.

So someday 50, 60 years down the line, we have an historical record of WRJN.

I mean, this place is going to be a hundred years old in two years.

That's pretty good.

Yeah.

And we're still on the air.

You want to send me a copy of that when you're all done with it, all right?

Yes.

I'll store it at the library too.

Yes.

Now we found a plate because we were wondering, what do we do with it?

Yes.

Because when each person dies, you pass it on to the next person.

You have a winter fundraiser coming up on December 14th at social on six, right?

Yes.

That's six to late 30 PM.

From my knowledge.

Yes.

I'm working.

Okay.

The Lego club, December 9th, one to three PM in every four Saturdays.

My next day neighbor has a Lego room at home.

Nice.

Yeah.

This is an adult.

And he comes with boxes of Legos.

I haven't seen it, but he said one whole room is nothing but Legos.

That sounds amazing.

It is amazing.

Memory cafe.

What is that?

You know what that is?

So memory cafe is working with senior citizens or individuals that have memory issues.

And it's just talking about things and revisiting parts of their lives to just reconnect

to them with where they are and what they're doing and just making sure that they're getting

proper resources.

Excellent.

Breathe to disagree.

I've been there.

Well, I didn't want my life to that.

I didn't go last time because I get up at 4.30 in the morning and that one day I was

just so tired.

But the next one is December 21st, six to seven PM.

The library puts out cheese, different kinds of cheeses.

Yep.

And you sit at the table with other people and just discuss whatever you want pretty much.

It's any movie TV show, podcast, video game, CD, concert tour, whatever they, I actually

have one of her patrons runs it.

So I set everything up and I set it up, but she runs it for me because her and her us,

we tried to get her and her husband, we tried to get them.

They've been, they've been part of my seasonal screams, which is our horror book club from

the start.

And so they wanted a different book club or an expanded book club that didn't just focus

on horror.

And so I was like, well, what about this?

And they're like, yeah, let's do it and they get free cheese out of it.

So when?

Yes.

I was there.

They had cheese, different kinds of cheeses.

At a good time.

We did.

We sat at the table with two other couples and we discussed everything until you get comfortable

with it.

I'm a talker.

So I get comfortable over fast, but some people are shy to start a conversation.

And once it gets started for the next, you know, how long it lasts.

Yeah.

I mean, as long as you're out by eight, when the library closes, we don't really care.

So.

I'm going to make it a sleepover.

We were going to.

No.

No.

Can't do that one.

Did you ever close the library and lock somebody in there?

I don't think I can legally say that.

That would be scary.

You know, because some people sit there and they might be reading a book and doze off in

a corner and, you know, there's a lot of nooks and crannies in that place in the public

library.

So, and I, you never know, I want to thank you for coming in.

Thanks for having me.

This wasn't too bad.

No.

No.

Rebecca Leon is here and she is the, we're seeing library history and if somebody wants

to speak to you in person, they set up an appointment or something like that.

The app they just got to set up an appointment or come in when I'm on the desk.

So.

That's wonderful.

I love the resources of the public library.

I'm there all the time.

Taking out DVDs and Lou Reyes and CD.

All the stuff that's evaporating from our society, but it's good to know it's at the public

library.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Thanks for having me.

And thanks for shaking for what's sending us all up.

She does a great job doing that.

729 is on to the mayor coming in next year at WRGN Radio.

I'm Don Rosen.

Thanks for being here.

It's on air.

Mayor Corey Mason is here.

Mayor for seeing.

Thanks for joining us here.

Good to be back here.

Glad to be back in the studio.

It's glad to have your voice sit back on the air for the city of Racine.

Well, that's great.

Yeah, it's great to be here again.

Feels good.

And this song here, rocking around the Christmas tree by Brenda Lee.

This week, for the first time in 65 years, is number one on the Billboard charts.

No kidding.

Who would have funk it?

Wow.

And she's still around.

15 years old when they recorded this song.

And here it is.

Number one, 65 years later.

And the interview Brenda Lee about it.

And she said, wow, took a long time.

A big time.

That's classic.

Yeah.

Oh, I love that song.

Briefback memories are growing up.

I remember getting records.

My one quick story for we get into all the doings of Racine here.

My father was late coming home from work.

He was stuck in traffic.

And it was nasty weather outside.

It was snowing.

And my mother said, she got my brother and I was sitting in the living room with nothing

to do.

And at night, she went down to Bohax supermarket.

We're in the basement.

They had a record store.

And she bought us.

This was 1959.

She bought us the chipmunk song.

Oh, great.

She thought it would cheer us up.

We brought it back.

And we played it all night long.

And we were laughing until my father came home.

That's what my mother did.

Wow.

That's wonderful.

Yeah.

She went out on the snow to get it too.

You were at 45 cents.

You got this 45 RPM record.

Wow.

Jim's bargain basement.

I remember those 45s.

Was great.

Oh, please.

I feel so bad.

You know, you talk about that.

We have the librarian in here.

And she's talking about all the DVDs.

We have vinyl records.

We have CDs.

Everything that's going out of business.

Well, I tell you, vinyl is making a comeback.

I mean, it really is.

I mean, my kids, you know, 15, 13 and soon to be 12.

They are just when they really want a piece of music, they want the vinyl album.

And this is a brand new record player.

Yeah.

It's what they want to last year for Christmas.

We need a record player.

I was like, really?

But that is what they want.

So, you know, they obviously got their phones and album music.

And that's what they Spotify or whatever.

They do a lot of it.

But when it's, you know, something that they're really into, they want the vinyl.

Well, look behind me.

What do you see?

CDs.

Those were sitting there when I joined the station in 1991.

Those albums were sitting there.

And here they are still sitting there.

Well, let me share one.

The first time I ever came in this building, I was in 3rd or 4th grade.

And my Cub Scout troop did a tour through the building here, right?

And we got to see the whole thing.

And sort of the parting gift, if you will, when we left is the station gave all the Cub Scouts of 45.

Of, you know, some sample or whatever.

And we go home and take it.

I think it was the greatest American hero, believe it or not.

I'm walking.

I think that was the 45 that you guys gave me.

I walked out the door when I was 9 or 10 years old.

But yeah, that was a big part of those memories, right?

It's just being able to have those albums.

It was 45.

So it's kind of cool to see your kids sort of take up the tradition in a different way.

Earlier this year, I had to clean up the basement.

Because, you know, I'm not going to live forever.

So I started throwing stuff out, including boxes and boxes of 45 RPMs.

Oh, man.

Trust me.

It hurt.

Yeah.

And the day garbage pickup was coming, I went out to the, I said,

do I want to get him out of there?

Do I want to leave him in there?

Take it out.

Yeah.

And I watched the garbage men come and I saw them going to the truck.

And I felt really, I was depressed.

Yeah.

There was all my child, everything, all my 45 RPMs tossed.

Hey, I'm going home.

I'm going to go cry in my pillow.

The mayor is here.

Mayor Corey Mason, the city of Racines mayor.

And I've seen the electric buses out there.

Yeah.

And they're nice because when you're behind him, you don't get that belch of black smoke.

You don't.

Going into the front.

They are quieter.

They do not admit any, there's no tailpipe for it, right?

It's all electric.

They actually have the most electrified bus fleet in the state of Wisconsin.

Almost 40% of our buses are electric.

And we've got a few more on the way.

So we're really excited about being able to do that.

Mostly excited that we've gotten other people to pay for it, either with the VW settlement or some other federal grants.

But we're excited about what it means to do our part around trying to address climate change.

And electrifying our bus fleet is a small part of that.

So we're excited about the progress we've made there.

And you know what?

I think in 50 years from now, you're not going to find a gas car on the road anyway.

I think it's right.

A lot of states like California already making laws that say you've got to get rid of these gasoline.

And gas liars and, you know, it's progress.

We used to, we used to have horse and buggies.

We don't see those anymore.

We don't.

Except in New York City.

Yes.

Yes.

Central cabs.

They still have those.

And how long does a charge last on a bus?

Yeah, it's a great question.

So it depends on the temperature, believe it or not.

So if it's really cold, the batteries don't perform as well as when it's weren't so.

Oh, and you picked Wisconsin.

Exactly.

Right.

So we tested them out.

And I say we, you know, all props go to the transit department and Ride Racine who did this.

But they tested them out for, you know, a winner first.

Really cold.

Like, look, can this bus handle an entire route, an entire shift of a route without us having to worry about it?

And they performed better than we were expecting.

So we've been really pleased with how the batteries have performed and our ability to provide those services.

So it's been great.

Well, tomorrow we're going to have 54 degrees and it should work really well.

And it's not that they don't work.

It's just that the charge comes down a little bit.

I mean, imagine it's sort of like, you know, how much gas to use.

It's like, well, if you drive faster, you're going to burn more gas with batteries for electric vehicles.

As I understand it, no scientist or expert here.

But as I understand it, the colder it is, the more of the charge that you'll use.

Now, does it freak out the bus drivers because you don't hear an engine?

You know, it was a big, I mean, for us, it was also just the company we worked with actually had somebody on site for a year.

I mean, it's the drivers need to be trained differently.

But then, you know, the mechanics we have, they're all diesel mechanics, right?

I mean, you come in with a bus to totally different electrical system.

It's just, you know, it looks like roughly the same from the outside, but on the inside.

It's a different vehicle.

And so we've had to train our mechanics on how to service electric vehicles as well, which is great.

Because it's how, you know, how everything's transitioning.

So they've been, you know, really good about learning how to do it.

And they're pretty excited about what they say as much as, you know,

you don't get the emissions spewing into the car behind it.

It's quiet, it's just a quiet vehicle.

Like you don't hear it sort of idling while you're sitting there.

So it's been nice.

Our former general manager, Tim Hedys, had a hybrid car.

And one day it took a ride with him.

I didn't know he started the car.

Yeah.

It was like, we start taking off.

I said, yeah.

Just start the thing.

Yeah.

You know, you get so used to your entire life.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's gone.

Now, what a solar array.

Now, this is the next step.

It is.

So, you know, when you go to an electric bus, you're certainly using a lot less carbon than you would.

We're saving, you know, it's like, I think the estimate was $60,000 a year that we're not as taxpayers paying to buy diesel.

Power these things, which is great.

It's much cheaper when you plug it into the grid and charge it overnight.

But that power is still coming from the Oak Creek power plant, right?

It's a coal plant that, and so ideally, if you're really trying to decarbonize your fleet,

you want the source of that electricity to be something other than a coal plant, right?

And so, we've got a federal grant with the help of Senator Baldwin's office to put this solar array around the transit center

where we store the buses at night.

And so, we'll be able to get a lot of that power to power those buses from the power of the sun.

So, that'll charge, you know, during the day, and then that'll create reserves.

And they can put back into the grid so that the energy we're using is being offset by the solar panels

that we're putting into the system.

And that doesn't cost a thing.

It does.

The sun is free.

It is.

And for now, anyway.

Right.

What's that giant solar panel you have at City Hall?

Yeah, it's a great question.

So, it is free for residents who have electric vehicles, but it is a solar powered electric vehicle charging station.

Is that what that is?

I've seen it there when I go to City Hall for something.

I've seen this giant thing out there, and it doesn't really say what it is.

Yeah, there's a small sign, but yeah, so it's, but that is what it does.

So, it's, again, instead of, because we have electric vehicle charging stations in a few places throughout the city,

but that one is entirely off the grid, if you will, right?

So, it draws the power from the sun, and draws the power from the sun, and then there's a battery that it charges.

And so, you know, we've had a couple of people say, you know, this is great.

It took our electric vehicle down.

We parked at City Hall, walked a block or two down to grab dinner, came back, and our electric vehicle was fully charged.

That's something. I'm wondering how many people know about that.

Probably not enough. I'm glad we're talking about it.

Well, and also, you know, a lot of people don't have fully electric cars, but the people that do probably look this stuff out.

They do try to find it.

They do.

So, it's right there in the city, in the City Hall parking lot.

You can't miss it.

It's right there.

I didn't know what that was.

Yeah, there's two stalls that people can, can charge it.

And again, it's also dependent upon how many people have used it.

How, is there a meter on it that says what it says?

How long does it take to charge a car?

It depends on your car, as I understand it.

So, it is not, it's the medium-charging speed of the, again, there's basically three levels of electric vehicle chargers.

And this is sort of the medium-range one.

So, as I understand it, if it's plugged in for a couple hours, you can get most of the charge of what you need.

So, again, it's sort of nice people plugging in, go grab dinner somewhere or go, you know, meet a friend and have a drink downtown and, you know, enjoy some conversation.

They come back and say, oh, my vehicle is fully charged, free of charge.

I give it to you.

In the 4th of July parade, all these parades you walk, you don't ride.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's what three miles that parade is.

It is, it is.

It's one of the longest in the state.

It's great.

Longest in the country.

Yeah, maybe.

Maybe, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So, that's, I'm glad it's back again because during COVID.

Oh, yeah.

And I live right on the parade route.

Yeah.

And they just had one car coming by with the Caliope or Caliope.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that was it.

It's coming.

The parade's coming.

The parade is coming.

And then five minutes later, I can't, but you know what that does?

It keeps it continuous.

It does.

It does.

I give the 4th fest.

They're like, what are we going to do?

How do we do this?

And they're like, we don't want to say that the parade ever stopped.

Even if it's at this limited, you know, route, we really want to be able to say that we

did the parade a rear end of the 4th fest credit.

They made sure they were, they could say we did a parade a rear through COVID.

There was a, um, a newspaper strike.

I forget when it took place long time ago.

And all the newspapers were closed down in New York and they had seven newspapers at the

time.

The New York Times, though, printed one page and they did it because they can say they're

the paper of record.

Yeah.

They just put a few stories on one page.

They ran out.

There's one sheet onto the streets and just put it out for limited run.

Yeah.

But they can still make that claim.

Yeah.

They're the paper of record.

And the recene parade is the parade of records.

It is.

I guess.

It is.

You have a customer service reorganization.

Yeah.

That can't believe somebody would have a complaint.

Well, it's hard to believe.

So I will tell you.

I mean, one of the humbling things that happens, you run for re-election, you learn it.

You knock on a lot of doors and you hear what people say about the city and what they

think and, you know, it's concerned about, you know, what's going on with community safety,

what's going on with, you know, the library, you know, your previous segment was a report from

our great public library.

People have all kinds of opinions.

But one of the things I heard about the most was, you know, I called to get service from

the city and the experience I had wasn't so great.

Right.

And so we just thought, wow, we have, and I heard about it quite a bit.

And it's just like, you know, look, I mean, taxpayers in the city pay, you know, a fair amount

of taxes.

It's not an reason to think that when they call a city hall that they're going to get good

quality public customer service when they do that.

So we're trying to figure out how to make that easier.

So instead of having customer service in multiple departments, we're putting them all

under the city clerk's office, which has a lot of customer service staff to begin with.

And then that gives us the ability to really make sure that we're doing this well.

Right.

So just this week, we approved some software to help serve the public better and make sure

that we're, you know, if somebody calls on a Monday, when did we get back to them?

Did we get back to Monday?

Did we get back to Monday?

Did we get back to Monday or is it two weeks later and they still haven't heard from us?

We'll be able to know that.

But most importantly, we'll be putting those customer service staff under one roof, which

will allow them to be better managed.

And for the residents who might come into city hall, you know, sometimes they'll come in depending

on what you need.

It's like, well, you got to go to the third floor for that.

And then you got to go to the basement for that and over the annex for this thing.

And then you come back to the clerk's office and it's all worked out.

We just want to make it simple for people.

We just go to one place and get their customer service needs.

But I've never had a problem calling yet.

Very courteous.

Very nice.

We just had a new porch put on recently to front porch.

And the building inspector came by, discussed it with the guy who was building it.

And there was a little something off.

But it was the concrete that was off a little bit because it all has our hundred years old.

And he said, it's fine.

Just if you ever redo the concrete, just bring it up just a little bit.

I said, none of them.

I just, but anyway, he was very nice courteous.

And then he came back when it was all finished.

I had no problem.

And the people I speak to on the phone, very courteous people, very nice.

They want to help you.

Yeah.

I mean, that's what they're here for.

No, I think, and I don't want to make it sound like we've got people down at City Hall that aren't trying to help.

But sometimes it's just, and everybody can have a bad day.

Yeah, everybody can have a day.

Look, look, I mean, I will, I mean, you know, we talk about this with staff too.

Every time it snows, the snowplows go out, right?

And every time they do, they leave snow at the end of people's driveway.

And we always get calls about people upset about, there's snow at the end of a drop.

And it's like, well, we're in Wisconsin.

That is something that's going to happen every time it snows.

But we still get the complaints, right?

Yeah.

So there's some things that we can't, you know, it's just part of living in Wisconsin.

But there are other things we could do better.

And so we're going to do that.

We're talking to receive mayor Corey Mason, his honor will be back in just a moment.

We're at WRJN radio.

We're at 1400 AM, 99.9 FM, 98.1 FM.

Sunny today with a high air 49 degrees.

I'm Don Rosenstair.

I'll be right away.

I don't move.

I see the snowman with a happy jolly snow.

With a foreign car pipe and a button.

No, that twice may not hold.

I see the snowman is a very filthy thing.

He was made a snow, but the children know how he came to life and say.

That's a funny meme.

It was a bucket of water with a carrot in it.

And it said, Frosty, the snowman repair kit or parts of the snowman assembly kit.

A bucket of water with a carrot.

That is good.

Oh, I love the runnets.

That's the Phil Specter wall of sound.

All his artists, the crystals, the runnets almost have that giant wall of sound behind them.

Just blaring in your face.

Unfortunately, he had a sad life after a rock and roll.

He murdered somebody.

No, really.

Yeah.

He murdered his girls over his house and he killed her.

Oh, my God.

And he wound up in prison.

I don't know if he's still alive.

He got life with no parole.

Wow.

Yeah.

So you come here, you learn stuff.

I guess.

And now you're going to throw out all your Phil Specter records.

Throw your goal.

And no idea.

Now, festival hall is a, it's a treasure for receiving.

And it is.

And why have been involved in so many events there?

We used to do our bridal shows there every year.

Yeah.

Memorial Hall, which is part of the festival hall thing, is the site of the very first broadcast

in WRJN, December 6th, 1926, and orchestra on stage.

We were there.

That was, say, learning all kinds of things.

Everybody comes in a little, a little smarter from when they came in.

Nothing.

So that was Memorial Hall was our first site.

As a matter of fact, we did anniversary shows there.

Nice.

Because it was our site.

Now, festival hall has new management now.

The city still owns it.

Correct.

But now somebody's going to manage it.

And it's called 5K, a brand new manager coming in.

Yeah, it's a local firm, right?

So we're kind of excited about that.

It's nice to have, I mean, the, the previous vendors that we have,

nothing against them.

But, you know, they have experienced operating those kind of facilities

in different communities about our size.

But we put it out for bid.

And, you know, 5K put in the better bid where they said,

look, we think, you know, we do events, you know,

usually, you know, doing races or whatever.

But they said, look, we have experience in this space.

And we think we can bring some new energy to both Memorial

Hall and Festival Hall, which, you know, would be great.

It would be absolutely great.

So we're excited for them to have the chance to,

to bring some new vitality to Festival Hall and hopefully

revive some of the events that we used to have.

And ideally bring in some additional ones as well.

Mark Eikors to use to work here.

He passed away, sadly.

And, but he used to put events on.

He wanted to be an event guide.

Yeah.

And he brought some rock and roll events in there.

Yeah.

Now, I don't know who brought this one in.

But they showed the movie a Christmas story in Memorial Hall.

Really?

And they brought in a kid who played Ralphie's brother.

Remember that kid?

Oh, yeah.

Who was, you know, with the, with the coat and fell over.

We had him here in the radio station with a lot of pictures.

We had him on the air.

Yes.

I can't put my arms down, guys.

Yeah.

Nobody knows his real name or rumors name from the movie.

But he's the guy with the, the snow suit.

Yeah.

Anyway, so he was here in the radio station and they brought him

as a guest to introduce the movie at Memorial Hall at Festival

Hall, a Christmas story.

And, you know, it doesn't get, I guess if you get Ralphie

himself, maybe, but this guy was very nice.

We took lots of photos with him.

I am somewhere.

I can't, I'm sure the car goes have him because they're the

radio station's historians.

And that's pretty great.

That's fantastic.

So things going well with the city were good shape.

Yeah.

I mean, some cities across America are not.

We're in good shape here.

The downtown area looks fantastic.

Yeah, we're excited.

We've got the hotel that's opened up this year.

We've got a Verdant.

Yeah, Verdant.

Oh, is that what you say?

It's Verdant.

Yes.

Verdant.

Okay.

Yeah.

You're coming.

That's right.

That's right.

Every leaf is smaller.

You can see the roof top to see the view of the bar up there.

I mean, it's just a gorgeous view of the city.

You can see, you can look over one shoulder and see the lighthouse

at one point.

You can look over another shoulder and see the SCJ research tower.

And it's just, and then looks straight ahead.

You can see the lake.

You look over another shoulder.

You can see the river.

It's a great view of the city.

And it's a fantastic building.

They did a great job.

And, you know, people have been saying for years,

what are we going to do with that zones building downtown?

And I think it's a great reuse.

We've got the breakwater going in,

which is a market rate apartment building.

That's going to have over 200.

Is that when they're building right now?

Yeah.

Stay straight.

And lake and state there, yeah.

You know, I keep, I saw, I think that tall thing in the middle

is the elevator shaft.

Yeah.

And I keep saying when it was two levels,

I said, it's got to be higher because that elevator shaft is pretty,

because that elevator has got to go to somewhere.

That's right.

And so how many floors is that going to be, do you know?

It's straight right now.

Yeah.

So it's, the ground floor is basically going to be underground parking

and then there's four stories of apartments above it.

So it's, it's four stories on a podium is what it's called.

So it'll be over 200 units and a lot of them with lake views.

So we're excited about it.

Until somebody puts a skyscraper right in front of it.

Well, yes.

I'll tell you a quick funny story.

There was a story, Rod Lancer, who started summer fest in Milwaukee.

And he was a controller for the city of Milwaukee.

He was a friend of ours.

He wanted to form a tour, a guided tour.

So he ran me and my parents, my parents and I,

through the, make shift tour that he did.

He brought us to the Spite House in Milwaukee.

And the Spite House was,

the guy had a beautiful view of the lake in the area.

And some guy built his house.

Part of his house right in front of blockers view,

because they didn't like him.

So he's called the Spite House.

And it's still there.

Wow.

The Spite House in Milwaukee.

So we don't want anything like that happening here.

Yeah.

I have some historical paintings.

The paintings are modern, but they're of historical things going on.

At the corner of state and main,

is an apartment building on the other side of the street

where a corner print is used to be an opera house.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've seen paintings of it.