While working on stories, reporters come across interesting tidbits that aren't quite full stories - at least not yet. Sometimes they'll add them to the end of stories, which insiders call a "notebook dump." Here's a notebook dump on items collected from the past week:
* NEW CAFE: Ben Lerner from the REC Center in Racine is opening a natural foods cafe in the former Daily Grind coffee shop. Lerner and his brother are set to open Circa Celeste around Aug. 1. They'll have coffee and tea and cafe-style food made from natural ingredients. We're hoping to catch up with Ben next week to learn more about the cafe.
* NEW RESTAURANT: A new seafood restaurant is opening up in Sturtevant. Captain's Cove Seafood Bar and Grill, 904 S. Sylvania Ave., should be serving food around Aug. 1. We've heard there's some interesting interior decorating going on, and hope owner Rodney Woznicki is available for an interview next week.
* RECORDS REQUEST: RacinePost appeared before the City Council Tuesday night seeking the release of former Mayor Gary Becker's email. The city has agreed to grant our records request for the emails - at a cost of $10,274.28. We contend the emails should be released at no cost because it's in the public's interest to uncover Becker's dealings as mayor. Our suggestion is to release the emails and place them at the library for anyone to see. Thanks to Tom at WRJN for reporting on our request.
* ROTARY: RacinePost was also invited to speak at the Downtown Rotary Club last Wednesday. Thanks to the club for having me speak - and for the great lunch!
* ALICANTE: Interviewing Maribel Salo earlier this month she told me about Alicante, Spain - her hometown. She described it as a beautiful city on the Mediterranean Sea with a constantly shining sun and temperatures in the 70s year round. She highly recommended it for any Spain-bound travelers.
* ENVI: Doug Nicholson said work on his next venture, the night club "Envi" on Main Street in the former Racine News building should be done in 9-10 months. Driving past we noticed a new framed structure on top of the building, but didn't get to ask what that's for.
* BIG BAND: This week we'll have a story and photos of a big band that plays every other Tuesday night at McAuliffe's on the south side. The group is off next week, but back the week after.
* LOCKWOOD TENNIS COURTS: The struggle to resurface the tennis courts in Lockwood Park is ongoing. The city has a couple of bids to do the work, but action seems stalled on the item. Just to recap, the courts were resurfaced years ago but the concrete immediately cracked. After a lengthy battle, the contractor redid the concrete, but then the paint chipped off. The courts are supposed to be a deep blue and red. Instead, they're concrete colored with lines painted on top. The city won a case to have the courts redone, but then the company that did the work went out of business (no surprise there, given the quality of their product). Local tennis fans hope to get the courts repainted for next year, but in tough budget times the money may not be there.
What does the city claim the $10K cost is supposed to cover for the emails? Umm...if there were that many that they need to use that much paper, then what was Becker doing in office? Otherwise, I can understand a nominal charge for the paper and the labor (RPD charges 25 cents per page to get something printed), but that much is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThe city claims that the cost will be incurred during the blacking out of confidential information contained in said emails.
ReplyDeleteCity Atty. Rob Weber says the emails need to be checked by 3 sets of eyes to prevent "certain information" from being released.
Sounds like a load of crap.
These people are already being paid, do work.
Sharpies are on sale and you can get a pack for about $5 each. Even if you get a box of paper (usually ten reams), that's $30. We could get this whole thing done, with labor, for like $100. This is nuts!
ReplyDelete(Anon 11:33)
The biggest and most attended festival of the year this weekend "Roma" and where are Pete and Dustin.
ReplyDeleteWe're very sorry we didn't get to Italian Fest this weekend. Everything we heard was it was amazingly successful. If anyone has pictures or anything they'd like to share about the festival, please send an email (racinepost@gmail.com) or give a call (262) 488-3419. Congratulations to the organizers!
ReplyDeleteYea - they don't cover the Roma Festival which thousands attended but gave tremendous coverage to a 30 person stroll that had no benefit to anyone. At least Roma raises funds for the hospital - that's what I call action and they have done this for years. Thanks to all of those that volunteered to put on such a wonderful event.
ReplyDeleteMost of the cost of the emails comes from having to pull Becker's emails off of storage tapes. It is a pretty time consuming process. They are not sitting on a computer somewhere.
ReplyDeleteNo, the earlier comment is right. Most of the cost comes from city employees reviewing the emails to make sure they don't release confidential information.
ReplyDeleteDustin wants to look through all Becker's old emails in hopes to find something wrong? Surely you must have something better to do with your time Dustin. Unless you know of something you are searching for in particular, what's the point in this? It would be like finding a needle in a haystack I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteGive it up - there has to be better use of anyone's time than to try and dig up additional dirt. Move on!
ReplyDeleteI want everyone to search through Becker's haystack. There's a few specific issues I'm interested in, but there should be a thorough investigation of every mayor - especially mayors forced to resign for morally repugnant behavior. I want the JT, WRJN, City Council members, residents and anyone else interested looking through those records. If there's nothing there, great! Then Becker governed well and is a model for future mayors. If there's problems, they should be brought to light to show future mayors they will be held accountable. Right now, Becker is going to get away with everything he pulled - and everyone seems OK with that. That's too bad.
ReplyDeleteDustin "Right now, Becker is going to get away with everything he pulled" Very unbiased journalism!
ReplyDeleteThe guy cut a secret deal with SC Johnson that's going to cost city taxpayers millions of dollars and bought a sculpture for $40,000 using city money. The City Council didn't know about either deal. Biased is not calling Becker out on those deals.
ReplyDeleteDustin you are full of s____. You said "If there's problems, they should be brought to light to show future mayors they will be held accountable." You are doing this for your own gratification. Why not treat your site like true jounalism and quit adding your personal biases.
ReplyDeleteAnon 8:08- I guess we can lump you in with the people who are OK with governing in secret.
ReplyDeleteNo Dustin, I think you should run your site as a jounalistic tool, not a forum for your minimal minded opinions. Time top move on.
ReplyDeleteSo is Dustin going to start going through the emails of the current mayor? Might as well start now. And why not throw in the new city administrator? Has Dustin asked for Ben Hughes emails too? I suspect those would be far more interesting than Becker's.
ReplyDeleteDustin will do anything that puts him in the limelight.
ReplyDeleteCould not find a suitable section so I written here, how to become a moderator for your forum, that need for this?
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