Don Rosen in the morning.
W-R-J-N.
His honor is here, the mayor of Racine, the city of Racine, and that's Mayor Corey Mason.
Thanks for coming in.
Glad to be here.
We appreciate it.
What's that pin you're wearing there?
Oh, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's the city
of Racine.
Yeah, that's nice.
Our little logo.
Yeah, that's very nice you wear that.
Okay.
Before we begin anything here, the sister cities were here on the
Fourth of July.
Yeah.
Fourth and then we did a really great 250th celebration on Main Street on the 5th of July did our time capsule and I had a community meal with 500 people, but it was a nationwide event that happened where we celebrated our 250th birthday with it was the America's biggest potluck ever I think is what they build it as so but it was really great that and we had mayors here from France and Canada and Mexico
So it was great.
It was that Montelomar, France, the Patloneo, Mexico, and Brantford, Ontario, and Canada.
And what I didn't realize when they came to visit, though, they all had World Cup games going on while they were visiting here.
So while they were there, they were like, where can we go to watch our country play in their next match?
So it was a lot of fun.
And I will say they were in the Fourth of July parade.
And, you know, there's a little bit tenuousness.
I mean, the folks from Canada in particular, you know, they hear the rhetoric from our president about.
you know, Canada and the 51st state and they take real offense to it and they didn't know what to expect.
And I was just so thrilled how welcoming and kind and encouraging everybody was from Racine to the mayor from Canada and all three of our sister cities.
They applauded, they clapped, they welcomed them.
And what it did is what you hope the sister city project does is they went back and said, you know what, we were just in the states and they're great.
They're great people.
And, you know, forget all this national politics stuff.
people are people and we have a lot more in common than we have that separates us.
And so it was a great way to really experience and be part of celebrating America, which in some ways was, you know, celebrating that we all, unless you're Native American, we all came from somewhere else.
And it was a really great reminder of that.
Well, I, we just got done, my wife and I watching the Ken Burns 12-hour
documentary
on the American Revolution, 12 hours.
Yeah.
And didn't realize how much France actually helped.
Oh,
yeah.
It's our first hour.
The communists.
Yeah.
So we talked about them were here, you know, we talked about, you know, France being our ally that we wouldn't be an independent country right now.
Perhaps we're not for France intervening on our behalf.
And then the mayor of Montelamar said, you know, well, you know what, I don't know that we ever would have been freed from, you know, Nazi Germany had Americans not stormed the beach normally.
The bill has been paid.
Yeah.
But it was it was just this really great historical recognition that, you know, we've been we've been there for each other.
And so it's again, a great reminder with some intentionality of.
of the fact that we have a lot more in common than we do that separate us.
Now, would have felt uncomfortable if we had a sister city in England come to visit on the fourth
day.
Yeah, I
wondered
about
that.
A little
uncomfortable.
Well, so the mayor of Brantford actually, you know, his family fought on the side of the British Revolution and then fled to Canada after.
So he actually can trace his heritage back to the Mayflower, but he was on the British side.
And so it was sort of a, you know, he did point that out.
It's
they on the throw the British
out.
But the connection we have to Canada in downtown Racine, if you think about it, you know, that Joshua Glover story, right?
You know, the the slave, the future slave act comes in, these bounty hunters come in to take Joshua Glover and escaped slave back to to the South and they arrest him and put him in jail and abolitionists from Racine go up to Milwaukee to break him out of jail and then
get them on a ship to send them to freedom.
Where do they send them so we can be free?
Canada, because there's no slavery in Canada.
So it all sort of works in together when you think about how we're connected with each other.
I recommend that.
Go to the public library.
You can get the whole 12 hour Ken Burns documentary on the American Revolution.
It's so good.
You can't watch it all in one sitting.
We watch it over a period of a week.
Yeah.
But it's really fascinating.
Things I didn't know about before.
Yeah.
And then we saw the movie Young Washington at the Marcus Theater.
Oh, how was that?
It was excellent.
Oh, that's great.
It was excellent.
And here's a strange part.
General Burgoyne, when Washington beat him at the Battle of Saratoga, that was like the beginning of the end.
And for two weeks after the Ken Burns documentary, that name, General Burgoyne, was in my head when I was sleeping at night.
And I said to my wife, my neighbor came to visit.
I said, I can't get that out of my head.
General Burgoyne.
I don't know why that name is in my head.
I can't get it out of my head.
only got to that in my head.
It took two weeks.
Wow.
Yeah.
He was the guy who actually screwed it up for the British.
Yeah.
Thank goodness.
Yeah.
And here's something else a lot of people don't know.
General Washington actually fought for the British.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then when he didn't get his commission in the French and Indian War,
right?
Yeah.
When he didn't get his commission,
he got ticked off and said, I'm going to the colonists.
I also didn't realize watching that Kim Burns is like a lot of
A swimming was just Washington waiting them out, right?
They said anything in one point.
It's not so much that we needed to win.
We needed to not lose.
We just basically needed to draw, you know, where the British out so desperately that finally they'll say, Uncle,
OK.
And the men followed him because he was always on the front line.
He wasn't like a lot of generals that waited in the back.
Yeah.
He went to the front line and they said, if he's going to do it, we're going to forget about being a great president.
He was a.
Wonderful, fabulous general.
Yeah, we're so lucky.
We had the right man
at the right time.
Yeah, Kim Burns says in the documentary that Washington's probably the greatest president or the greatest Americans for those two reasons that militarily we needed him to win our independence, but he was a remarkable first
president.
And he didn't want to be king, right?
He could.
Yeah,
right.
He said, I wait for a couple of
years and
then you find somebody else.
Two terms and then I'm out.
Yeah.
So
really remarkable.
And
there were
a lot of presidents who reasoned.
Memory which would have taken the
king absolutely It is I think a nice thing to remind everybody though I know we live in very divisive political times But as we're celebrating the 250th birthday, I think it is important to reflect on not only our history and how great those stories are But just how lucky we are to live in a country that's you know having freedom for 250 years and no doubt
Our project is not done.
It's incomplete.
We need to expand liberties and freedoms to more people in more places.
And we're an imperfect nation, right?
And it acknowledges that right in the preamble of the Constitution in order to make a more perfect union.
So we keep working at it.
But as we live in these divisive times, one of the things that I worry about, whether it's on the far right or the far left, is that people seem like they're losing faith in this American experiment.
And one of the things I hope we can do
in this 250th anniversary of America.
Our semi-quincentennial, they like to say.
They just remind ourselves.
You're proud of yourself, you know that word.
I am.
I practiced it several times before I could get it to roll off the tongue.
But we should remind ourselves how lucky we are to be able to do this.
And the things that challenge America, you know, our founders were smart enough to put a system in place that if we're willing to, we can fix those things.
And
and expand liberty and freedom to more and more people.
All right.
The mayor is here and we have his honor.
We're seeing Mayor Corey Mason.
We had a ton of topics to get through.
Let's see if we can get through all of them.
Clean sweep.
What is that?
Yeah.
So we just did a neighborhood cleanup on West Prospect.
It's our second one of the year.
But what we do is we bring all the city resources to like a 12 block area for two days and we replace the sidewalk squares and we fill the potholes and we trim back the trees and we help homeowners with with some
some yard work if they need it and we plant flowers and we get to go get to know the neighbors.
The police department's there to talk to people about their safety concerns.
The fire department knocks on doors and again this one they installed 50 smoke detectors and fire alarms in people's homes and it's just really a way for us to bring people together and then we let people know about the home repair grants that are eligible in that neighborhood and so we follow up and hopefully fix up their porches and help them out around the yard.
So it's a really great program.
We'll do the next one in mid-September
on Racine Street.
So I look for that to come, but it's been a highly successful program as the fourth one we've done.
We did two last year.
We'll do three this year.
But the neighborhoods love it.
It really brings all of our resources together in one place.
And the neighborhood looks a little bit cleaner and a little bit more loved when we're done.
And the people who live in those neighborhoods really appreciate the effort that the city puts forward.
And, you know, the city staff, what's great is
You know, everybody works in their own department, right?
The forestry work with other foresters, the DPW guys are working with their folks.
Now, all these people are in the same place at the same time, and they can really collaborate on some problem solving and make the place look really nice.
You
know, the country of Uganda just passed a law that every Saturday you have to start cleaning your house.
Oh, I think it will enforce that.
That's a great question.
OK, well, the
next topic is early voting.
Yes.
So right now, so people may or may not be aware that there is a primary coming up on August the 11th, who will determine who the folks are that will be the general election candidates in our November election.
So there's competitive primaries going on for governor, for Congress, for a number of different seats, sheriff, sheriff as well.
Yep.
And that's coming up on August the 11th.
And so that's when the election day is.
But
If you're going to be out of town or you're like, you know, voting, I don't know, I'm going to have to stand in line for 20, 30 minutes.
I don't have time for that.
You can vote early at city hall now during regular business hours between now and election day, not the day before the election.
But for the next couple of weeks, if you want to skip the line or you know what, I just live in the city and it doesn't matter where in the city you live.
You can just come to city hall, vote early, get it out of the way and then it's done.
So it's a great way for people to participate if they're worried about.
Skipping the line and and just want to be able to do that makes it makes it a lot easier for people and encourages more participation I will say we were just talking about America's 250th and how great it is You know for democracy to work you need people to vote right and there's a lot of things we need to do to make a democracy work But the most foundational thing you can do is vote and I guess the other thing I would say even if you're not a registered voter if you bring in an ID if it's got your current address or
a photo ID with a, if it's not your current address, but you've got a utility bill or something on your current address, you can register right there on that day and vote on that day.
So we really want to encourage people as we're celebrating America and how much we love it.
There's lots of ways to do that.
But boy, one of the most fundamental ways you could do that is by participating in a democracy and voting for the candidate for your choice on
election day.
Hey, I like to vote on election day.
Something about it.
I have a new polling place this year that got rid of my school.
I got a new place.
Yeah.
Thank you for mentioning that.
So you know where your place is?
I got it on the postcard.
It's the Community Action Agency, just on Gould there, just real close to the zoo.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But that's where your polling location will be.
Thank you for mentioning that.
That's the one place that's changing.
So thank you for mentioning that.
Yeah, they
threw me out of the school.
No, I can't vote there.
OK, let's talk about the water.
Yeah.
It's a lot of people say it smells, it tastes funny.
Yeah.
I don't notice it, but I'm in the minority on this one.
Let's talk about
what happened to the water.
Yeah,
absolutely.
So, I mean, people may have noticed.
I mean, I would say we put this in the larger context of this is what happens when climate change becomes real.
So I think everybody remembers the smoke that we had a couple of weeks ago from the fires up in Canada.
That's certainly a contributing factor of climate change.
But here in Wisconsin, Lake Michigan is now warmer than it's ever been.
I mean, it is in the 70s.
in mid-July.
It's usually late August before it gets that warm.
When that happens, you start to get algal blooms and other things that contribute to a smell or an odor in the water that some people notice.
Now, it's really important to say the water is still perfectly safe to drink.
It's nothing unsafe from a human health standpoint about the water, but it's not pleasant, right?
And so last year when this happened, utility ratepayers are now paying more than a million dollars for a new filter that we're putting in at the water utility.
We're waiting for the DNR to approve the filters on it.
So ironically, we're waiting for the DNR to give us the authorization we need to make the water clean.
But once that's in place, that should filter out the smell and the odor so that we don't have to experience that again moving forward.
But make no mistake, this is money ratepayers are spending to address smell and odor issue because water is getting warmer, because the climate is changing and we're living in a warmer and warmer world.
And so
as we deal with storms that are more frequent and more intense, as the water gets warmer, there's adaptation we're going to have to do, and that's not going to be free.
So, you know, people sometimes wonder, all this climate change stuff for decarbonization, does it really matter?
How does that affect me?
Here's a real world example of how it's affecting
us.
Yes, stinky water.
Yeah.
A few years ago, we had the best water in America.
Remember, we've seen how the best water.
All right, let's talk about the Shoup.
shoot park golf course.
Yeah.
So
what is
that?
I've heard it in the news.
I'm not a
golfer.
So it didn't really.
Yes.
And I've joked that if it doesn't involve a fake windmill and a putter, I don't know the first thing about
the windmill hole.
Absolutely.
I can do that.
I can do that.
But I am not a golfer either.
So again, talking about climate change and intense storms in 2020, people may remember we had an enormous storm in January of that year that, you know, put huge rocks on purging park, almost destroyed the bluff by the zoo.
But in addition that it took out a good chunk of Some of the bluff at shoot park now shoot park is an interesting case because it is the city park that is in the village of wind point And how that happened you'd have to ask shoot who donated the property more than a hundred years ago But it is the space and so you know the city was always stuck with you know We have millions of dollars of repairs to do on the waterfront that city the city limit I don't know that we're ever gonna get to
to the bluff that's in Johnson Park.
Well, a little bit more than a year ago, Craig Leopold and Helen Johnson approached us and said, hey, what if we fixed up the park?
What if we could do some things to make this a nicer golf course?
Because it's really fallen into disrepair.
And in five to 10 years, if we get another big storm like that, then a whole parking lot area at Shoe Park is just going to collapse into Lake Michigan.
And they said, look, why don't you let us enter into a long-term lease?
We have a lease right now with another company that
operates it for us, but why don't you let us fix up the golf course?
We'll repair the shoreline.
We'll have a nice space along the waterfront so people can actually walk along the beach down there.
We'll build a new clubhouse that'll be closer to the lighthouse there, and we'll build just a spectacular nine-hole golf course.
Now, they're partnering with a group called the Kaiser Group.
I'm not familiar with golf, but for people who know about golf, these are the best golf course designers.
They've got some
some courses in central Wisconsin that are apparently spectacular.
That's who's going to design it.
And one of their designers is the grandson of Jens Jensen, who designed all of our city parks.
So Jens Jensen, the third, I believe, is who it is.
And so he's helping design the project.
And so they're going to put at least $10 million into fixing up the bluff and repairing the golf course and putting some dunes and prairie grass back in the space, building a new golf course.
They're also going to contribute almost $2 million towards the King Center in the city.
It creates a scholarship program for caddies that opens up them up to a all tuition and housing scholarship.
It's called the Evans Scholarship.
So if people caddy throughout high school, they can get a full ride to college.
But the big thing that we heard from city golfers was, what is it going to cost me to golf there?
That sounds like a pretty fancy golf course.
And if you go up to Whistling Straits or whatever near Kohler,
You know, that's that's a couple hundred bucks.
People here can't afford that.
And so we just went back and forth quite a bit with with Craig and Helen Johnson on this.
And basically, they said, OK, for city residents, since it's a city park, what we will say is if you live in the city, we will tie the car.
It'll be twenty four dollars a year for the first two years.
And then after that, we will tie it to the highest nine hole rate at Johnson Park, which right now is thirty five bucks.
Well, that's pretty reasonable.
So for city residents.
they will be able to golf at that cheaper rate, whatever that nine-hole rate is at Johnson Park.
That is a benefit that is open to the city of Racine residents, and I believe the Wind Point residents too, I'm not 100% sure of that, but only those residents.
So if you live in Caledonia, or Mount Pleasant, or Summers, or Kenosha, or Milwaukee, or Oak Creek, you'll pay the same full price that anybody else would pay.
Now, I think the listener wanted to know who's paying for all this to
fix the... Yeah, great question.
Johnston Leopold is paying for all of it.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
So just to be really clear.
So the so the benefit to that is not only will the community get a stellar premier golf course overlooking Lake Michigan.
But, you know, the challenge the city always had is they would say, well, you know, doesn't this don't we need a new don't we need a new clubhouse at Shoe Park?
I'm like, sure.
But we I've got 72 other buildings that I've got to take care of, too.
You know, the zoo's got its buildings.
We own those.
We've got, you know, dozens of cities.
We're building a new fire station.
Next year, we'll need to build a new police station after that.
So the likelihood that we were ever going to be able to invest in that was really low compared to all the other needs that we have.
And so when Craig Leopold and Helen Johnson came forward and said, look, we'll pay for all of it.
You won't have to pay for the maintenance.
You won't have to pay for the capital.
What a gift.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
What a gift.
It's a great gift to the community.
And for local golfers living in the city who are like, I don't know if I'm going to be able to afford it.
It's going to be 24 to 30, whatever it is at Johnson Park, which lots of city residents enjoy right now.
that rate's going to be available to you at Sheep Park, but only if you live in the city.
Got a minute here.
Let's talk about the traffic lights.
You got that flashing thing by the zoo now.
What is that?
Yeah, we have two pedestrian crossings, right?
So we got, you know, concerns as people are trying to walk to the zoo or, you know, at Augusta there on the north end of the if you want to get down to Zoo Beach and North Beach and, you know, not being as safe as we'd like it to be, right?
You'd like people to be a little bit more mindful of pedestrians.
So it's a solar operated thing where
You press a button and the lights start to flash.
So even though pedestrians, if there's a crosswalk, they have the right of way, right?
But motorists don't always do a great job of acknowledging that.
And so you have, you know, pedestrians sort of tend to, so now you see these blinking lights that sort of remind people, hey, you got to yield to pedestrians.
Why is it we're stopping at every single light on Main Street now?
Yeah, well, you were always supposed to stop when there's a red light.
I know, but now it's every year.
It is slower.
Right.
So you so we got a number of requests from downtown retailers saying we just got too much speeding coming through downtown.
And in fact, there was a proposal to move the state highway from Main Street over to Marquette Street, which would have cost us more than a million and a half dollars to do.
And we sort of got to, well, what's what's the reason you want to move the state highway?
Well, we just want traffic to be slower.
So now instead of it taking an average of
of 90 seconds to get through those main street lights.
It takes about 140 seconds.
So almost a minute longer to get through those lights.
So if you're trying to move fast.
You might be a little bit frustrated, although I will say you could take Wisconsin.
Yes, I do.
I take Wisconsin.
Which is why they're no longer one-ways, right?
We decouple those for a reason.
So if you're in an extreme hurry and can't wait the extra 50 seconds or 40 seconds it'll take, you can do that.
But we've heard from a lot of retailers, this is great.
This has really slowed it down.
It doesn't feel like a drag race anymore.
So it's not my
imagination.
It is not your imagination.
I know we're past eight o'clock here.
Got 60 seconds on this.
What is with those scooters going up and down the street?
Oh, my gosh.
And also, the loud cars.
Yeah.
I mean, those are
loud.
So loud cars, we do have an ordinance against that.
But nobody's paying attention to it.
Oh, we are.
I mean, the police are enforcing that.
No, I'm not you.
The people with the loud cars aren't paying attention to it.
They enjoy it.
Like they modify their cars intentionally to make them loud.
So it is a definite point of contention.
The police department is very much aware of it.
They're very much doing enforcement on it.
And so that is real.
But these little scooters that are weaving
in traffic.
Right.
Right.
I mean, so there's this debate about are they traffic legal or not?
Like are they spoke?
Well.
you say that other people say yes they are it's a motorized vehicle with no registration it's right exactly so so there's certainly not supposed to be on the sidewalks right and with 13 year olds can't drive motor vehicles on the street there's this whole range of vehicles that weren't there before you got these electric scooters you've got e-bikes now you've got these little so i think there's a real need for the legislature to update the law i'm like what who gets to go where do they need to be registered is is it all you know anything
that with a motor that you can imagine you can put on the city streets but there's really we need the legislature to update the law here and make it clear about what you can and can't do.
Yeah but you get these
13 and 12 year old kids and they don't know anything about stop lights
and they don't have a driver's license and that's why
two are killed already one in Milwaukee one in Kenosha.
Hey mayor thank you for coming in.
Always a pleasure.
All right it's honor the city we're seeing mayor Cory Mason love talking to him.
We gotta talk more about the 250th birthday and that Ken Burns documentary.
Absolutely.
