As city thinks about limiting new bars, a committee splits on how many bars Racine should have

One alderman's attempt to limit the proliferation of bars in Racine is headed for a showdown before the City Council.

At issue are the number of Class B liquor licenses the city issues, and how much applicants have to pay for one of the licenses.

Alderman Greg Helding wants to make it more expensive to get a Class B liquor license - the one needed to run a bar or a restaurant with a bar - if the license exceeds the state-set quota on liquor licenses in the city.

OK, that's a mouthful. Let's break it down.

State law says Racine can give out 128 Class B liquor licenses and 22 "reserve" Class B liquor licenses. So what does that mean? There's two ways to see it:

1.) The city has a limit of 128 liquor licenses. The 22 "reserve" licenses are special and should be treated as such.

2.) The city has 150 Class B liquor licenses. There's no difference between regular and reserve licenses.

(There's actually a third option: The city could set a limit on its Class B licenses lower than the state-set limit, which is based on population. This may be the direction is headed this year.)

Right now, the city follows option No. 2. Racine has given out all of its regular licenses, and is now issuing reserve licenses. There is a $10,000 fee to get a reserve license, but the city refunds $9,500 of the fee, meaning the reserve license costs the same as a regular liquor license. (The city also doesn't treat reserve liquor license applications any different from regular applications. The only difference between the two is you need $10,000 upfront with the understanding most of the money will be returned.)

OK, this all sets up Monday night's Public Safety and Licensing Committee meeting. Helding proposed eliminating the $9,500 refund for the reserve licenses. The city is allowed to do so under state law, Helding said, and it would create a special, more expensive tier for Class B liquor licenses. In essence, it would be aligning the city option No. 1 above: the city has 128 liquor licenses, and if someone wants to exceed that number, it's going to cost them.

Helding's proposal ran into opposition. Aldermen Bob Mozol and Jim Kaplan voted against the measure saying it could cost new businesses, like a restaurant, too much money to get started.

"That $9,500 could be another piece of equipment in the kitchen," Kaplan said.

Aldermen Sandy Weidner and Aron Wisneski voted in favor of the proposal, but it still failed on a 2-2 vote. Alderman David Maack, who sits on the committee, was not in attendance.

The committee then voted unanimously to "receive and file" Helding's proposal, which heads to next week's City Council without the Public Safety and Licensing Committee's support. But that doesn't mean the proposal is dead.

It now heads to the full City Council, which can vote to override the committee's vote. Helding said Monday night he's not sure if he'll push for the council to consider his proposal or regroup and consider other ways to limit Class B liquor licenses in Racine, such as making it more difficult to exceed a locally set quota on Class B liquor licenses.

Second candidate files to run against Racine Alderman Jim Kaplan

The Insider News is reporting a third candidate will run for the City Council's fourth district this spring.

Sherrie Lawson is jumping into the race to take on incumbent Jim Kaplan and challenger Ken Lumpkin, who also owns the Insider News. Lawson's entry sets up a Feb. 16 primary to narrow the field to two candidates.

The general election is April 6.

City Council: Kaplan, Lumpkin ready for another round

No surprise here, but Ken Lumpkin is officially running against Jim Kaplan for a seat on the City Council.

It'll be a rematch of the 2008 race that Kaplan won by about 50 votes. There's no love lost between these candidates, who ran two campaigns against each other two years ago. Kaplan won them both, taking Lumpkin's County Board seat by a single vote.

The only other contested race, so far, is Donald Dwyer taking on Dennis Wiser for the City Council's now vacant 10th District seat. Incumbent Kelli Stein is declining to run for re-election. Dwyer and Wiser both applied for the open seat in August when the City Council picked Stein.

With a week to go before the filing deadline for City Council, Aldermen Sandy Weidner, Aron Wisneski, Ron Hart and newcomer Eric Marcus are running uncontested.

City Notes: Taxi biz gets approval, but owner can't drive; Props to Shakoor

James Ragland

The Journal Times' Mike Moore picked up a good story Nov. 26 when he reported a man the city approved to run a taxi business had been charged with driving without a license.

James Ragland got the OK to run Metro Taxi of Racine on Oct. 26 despite owing a $173 fine in Caledonia.

Moore's reporting made the city look bad - they'd conducted a background check on Ragland but apparently not a check on his driving record - and the Public Safety and Licensing Committee re-took up the matter Monday night.

This time they approved a business license for Ragland, but not a license to allow him to drive a taxi. If Ragland's license gets approved by the full City Council, he could hire a driver, but he can't drive a taxi himself.

The ordeal led to some humorous, if common-sensical, quotes at the meeting.

"If you don't have a license you can't expect us to issue a license to run a cab," said Alderman Jim Kaplan.

"I'm not planning to operate against the law," Ragland said. "That would be foolish."

The committee voted 3-1 to grant Ragland his business license. Alderman Bob Mozol voted against the license, saying it didn't make sense to approve a taxi business for someone without a driver's license.

In other news ...

Sunshine

Props to Alderman Q.A. Shakoor II for holding off on last week's Corinne Reid-Owens Tribute committee meeting due to open meetings concerns. We raised questions about whether meeting was properly noticed last week. Shakoor then postponed the meeting, refusing to even discuss a date for the next meeting. That's admirable conduct from the City Council president and a good example of government acknowledging it must operate in the sunshine.

Liquor licenses

Alderman Greg Helding's proposal to end refunds for people who receive "reserve" class B liquor licenses was deferred. The city now pays back $9,500 of the $10,000 reserve license fee to new license holders. Helding wants to eliminate the refund, which would make it harder, or at least more expensive, for bars and restaurants to acquire licenses. The committee will take up the issue at its next meeting.

Zoe complaint

The Finance and Personnel Committee denied Zoe Outreach Ministries $4,800 claim against the city for a broken sewer line. Assistant City Attorney Nicole Loop said the problem couldn't be traced to the city, and was, if anything, Mount Pleasant's fault because they own the line. But a claim against the village would be difficult because work done on the line occurred two months before the break occurred. That makes it near impossible to blame any one entity for the damage.

McReynolds defends Human Services, laments budget at Town Hall meeting

County Executive Bill McReynolds and County Board Supervisor Pamela Zenner-Richards.

Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds doesn't know how the county will make up the $2 million hole in its 2010 budget.

"I can't answer that question right now," McReynolds said in response to a question at a town hall meeting Tuesday at the Cesar Chavez Community Center in Racine. "I have not had the budget on my desk."

But the county executive also assured the audience of seven, including one child, that county government will be OK.

"We will get through this," he said.

It's gonna be tough. The county is losing income from its investments, drops in construction and property transfers and $2 million in delinquent property taxes this year alone. The county's total unpaid tax bill is $8.5 million.

The state didn't help with its budget, McReynolds added. The recently passed budget continues a seven-year trend of shifting state spending to local governments. Next year, Racine County will have to offset at least $1.6 million in lost aid or additional costs from the state. (Read the JT story on this here.)

McReynolds said the cuts will affect county residents with mental illness.

"I don't understand why they would go after not funding people with mental illness issues," he said.

The state did raise the cap on the county's property tax levy from a 2 percent to a 3 percent increase. But in reality the increase is barely enough to cover salaries, McReynolds said.

Less state money for the county's Human Services Department comes less than a year after the department was hit with two controversies.

In one, Racine residents were found abusing the Wisconsin Shares child care program to collect tens of thousands of dollars in state aid for services they didn't deliver. In the other, 2-year-old Brian Hawes died after four reports of abuse in the home were called into the department. The state found the department's response inadequate.

Jayne Siler, of the Racine Taxpayers Association, asked McReynolds if he considered a management change (Debbie Jossart heads the department) after the incidents. McReynolds said he hadn't.

He said the Human Services Department deals with the most at-risk people in the county, and at times tragic things will happen.

"I'm sorry we can't prevent every bad thing that happens in the county," McReynolds said.

He said the county "maybe could have done a better job" at responding to the Hawes' complaints, but also said the county can't monitor every families' actions.

"You can't be with people 24 hours a day, seven days a week," McReynolds said.

On the Wisconsin Shares program, McReynolds wondered aloud why the District Attorney's office has yet to file charges despite fraud coming to light in January. He also criticized local legislators for not introducing bills to prevent future fraud.

He also pointed out the state budget stopped money to investigate child care and welfare fraud. Racine County lost its entire budget - $58,000 - to track down people abusing state systems.

Tuesday night's Town Hall meeting. Six more people came in during the meeting.

Turnout was light at the Town Hall meeting, which McReynolds said was county's 15th since 2003. County staff and County Board supervisors easily outnumbered the audience of seven (including RacinePost). Audience members were invited to ask county officials questions about anything on their mind.

One gentleman in the crowd asked about plans to extend Highway 794 south into Racine County. McReynolds said the extension, at one time called the lake arterial, probably won't happen.

"All of the right-of-ways for the arterial were given up," he said. "I don't see it as an alternative at this point."

McReynolds added that he learned about the issue Tuesday from reading RacinePost.

However, significant road construction is planned for Highway 32 (Douglas Ave.) through Racine and Caledonia, officials said. The state highway may be rebuilt in the next two years and there's talk of two new roundabouts near the intersection of Highway 31 and Highway 32.

Further north, the timetable is longer. Register of Deeds Jim Ladwig, who owns Mulligan's mini-golf on Highway 32, said the highway between 5 Mile and 6 Mile roads is scheduled to be rebuilt in 2015.

County Board Supervisor and city Alderman Jim Kaplan, whose county district includes Douglas Avenue, threw in that there's talk of rerouting Highway 32 south to Hamilton Street and using business improvement district money to upgrade the look of the highway. "It would be beneficial to this area," Kaplan said. "We could use some assistance."

Two recounts underway at courthouse

Ken Lumpkin and Kaplan's attorney Michael Maistelman
watch as Rosanne Kuemmel and Joan Rennert examine ballot

UPDATES: Kaplan wins by one vote. Mount Pleasant recount won't be finished until Thursday.

ORIGINAL POST: What's the old quote about two things you never want to see being made: sausage and legislation?

Add recounts to that list.

Two recounts are underway at the Racine County Courthouse this morning -- one in a storage closet and the other in a more spacious meeting room.

Relegated to the storage closet are Ken Lumpkin and Jim Kaplan, fighting over Kaplan's two-vote margin in the contest for the Racine County Board seat in District 4.

In the meeting room was Ruth Gedwardt, trying to overcome a 41-vote deficit in her effort to win election to the Mount Pleasant Village Board. Gedwardt came in fourth in a three-seat race.

The Lumpkin/Kaplan recount was the more interesting affair, what with Kaplan's two lawyers monitoring every step County Clerk Joan Rennert and her assistants made in the claustrophobically confining space, crammed with 14 people. Atty. Michael Maistelman, fresh from a recount in Franklin yesterday, pointed out to Rennert that in Franklin "the table was much bigger and the clerk bought us pizza."

"In that case," Rennert replied, "you should buy today."

Instantly, all decided that would be inappropriate, so the nitty-gritty of counting ballots, examining absentee forms and zero-ing out the voting machine for testing went on.

Things were more refined in Gedwardt's recount, where clerks sat quietly around a big table -- at least four times larger than the one Rennert and her two assistants were using. Gedwart, too, had an attorney present.

The recounts were expected to last up to eight hours...

Jim Kaplan and his wife, Julie

Ruth Gedwardt and Atty. Joe Kremkoski

Kaplan takes two; Lumpkin wants recounts

Update 2: Lumpkin is planning on recounts in both the City Council and County Board races. He believes absentee ballots may have not been counted. It appears his argument is stronger in the County Board race, where he lost by two votes and there are 38 undervotes - registered ballots without a vote in the race. He lost by 51 votes for City Council, an insurmountable number considering there were about 350 total votes cast in the race.

You may recall Lumpkin is no stranger to recounts. He lost by two votes to James Rooney for the County Board in 1998. Lumpkin defeated Rooney two years later by 20 votes.

Update: Well, our headlines holds ... for now. The county results show Kaplan defeated Lumpkin by two votes for the County Board seat, 220-218. Expect a recount here.

Original post: Jim Kaplan will be working double duty for the next two years. The City Council member won re-election to his District 4 seat and also beat Ken Lumpkin for the District 4 County Board seat.

Kaplan is a former city employer who has won two straight contested elections for the council.

Lumpkin is out of elected office after eight years on the County Board.

City's 12th District candidates spending big

Money is flowing in the race for the City Council's 12th District.

Incumbent Aron Wisneski and challenger Joey LeGath have raised the most money among candidates for city office this spring, according to the March 24 campaign finance reports.

Wisneski, finishing his first term, raised $2,959 year-to-date and has over $2,000 to spend in the closing days of the election. He had the most individual contributions of all candidates, receiving donations from 16 individuals.

LeGath, who owns three bars, raised $6,295 year-to-date and spent $2,562.06 through March 24, leaving him over $3,700 to spend before Tuesday's election. LeGath gave his own campaign $4,000.

Ken Lumpkin has spent $2,278 so far in his race with Jim Kaplan for the council's Fourth District. Kaplan has spent $174.50 so far. Lumpkin and Kaplan are also running for the County Board.

Troy Johnson has spent $1,775 in a race for the Ninth District seat vacated by Pete Karas. His opponent, Terry McCarthy, has spent $223.53. Johnson and Wisneski had several donors in common on their reports.

And, challenger Jameel Ghuari is outspending Bob Anderson in the Second District. Ghuari has raised and spent $791, nearly five times as much as Anderson.

Local candidates are required to file a pre-election campaign finance report with the City Clerk by March 24. Another report is due after the election.

Here's a recap of each candidate's campaign finance report:

District 2

Bob Anderson

Contributions - $200
Expenses - $169.76
Balance - $30.24

Jameel Ghuari

Contributions - $791.67
Expenses - $791.67
Balance - $0
* $30 contribution from Donnie Snow

District 4

Jim Kaplan

Contributions - $418.28
Expenses - $174.50
Balance - $243.78
* $100 contribution from the First District GOP

Ken Lumpkin

Contributions - $2,278
Expenses - $2,278
Balance - $0
* Campaign finance report filed three days late

District 6

Sandy Weidner
* Reported no campaign activity

District 8

Q.A. Shakoor II
* No report filed; expected to file no campaign activity

District 9

Terry McCarthy

Contributions - $300
Expenses - $223.53
Balance - $81.47

Troy Johnson

Contributions - $1,775
Expenses - $317.25
Balance - $1,457.75
* 16 contributions

District 10

Tom Friedel
* Reported no campaign activity

District 12

Aron Wisneski

Contributions - $2,959
Expenses - $893
Balance - $2,066
* Citizens for Helding gave Wisneski $100

Joey LeGath

Contributions - $6,295
Expenses - $2,562.06
Balance - $3,739.94
* $200 from the Wisconsin Peoples Conference

District 14

Ronald Hart
* Reported no campaign activity

RIC hosts City Council candidate forums

The Racine Interfaith Coalition is hosting two local election forums this week. The forums include:

12th District

Tuesday, March 25, 6-8 p.m.
Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 322 Ohio St.
Candidates: Aaron Wiseneski and Joseph Legath

4th District

Thursday, March 27, 6-8 p.m.
Greater Mt. Eagle Baptist Church, 929 State St.
Candidates: James Kaplan and Ken Lumpkin

Battle of Incumbents: Kaplan challenging Lumpkin for County Board

Jim Kaplan and Ken Lumpkin will be pulling double-duty this election season.

Kaplan, who sits on the Racine City Council, has taken out papers to challenge Lumpkin for his County Board seat.

The news comes less than a week after Lumpkin announced he was challenging Kaplan for his City Council seat.

It also sets up an interesting election for most voters in the city's Fourth Aldermanic District and the county's Fourth Supervisory District. The two districts largely overlap; map is the county district.

Voters will get to decide if one person should represent them on both elected bodies, or whether they should split their votes in hopes of both candidates winning an election.

The winner will not be the first person to serve on two bodies. Alderman and County Board Supervisor Q.A. Shakoor serves on both.

UPDATE: Ghuari running for City Council

UPDATE: Ghuari is running for council, along with several other challengers to incumbents. In all, five of the eight elections for City Council are contested, so far. There are no primaries, so far. The deadline to file is Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. Here's the list:

SECOND DISTRICT
ROBERT L. ANDERSON, 1638 S. MAIN STREET,
JAMEEL GHUARI, 1700 S. WISCONSIN AVE.

FOURTH DISTRICT
JAMES E. KAPLAN, 400 KEWAUNEE STREET
KENNETH LUMPKIN, 1646 EAST STREET

SIXTH DISTRICT
SANDY J. WEIDNER, 2310 THOR AVENUE

EIGHTH DISTRICT
Q.A. SHAKOOR, 1516 W. 6TH STREET

NINTH DISTRICT
TERRENCE A. McCARTHY, 317 WEST BLVD.
TROY W. JOHNSON, 1571 MARIA STREET

TENTH DISTRICT
THOMAS FRIEDEL, 1904 DWIGHT STREET
CHARLI WALTER LEROY SMITH, JR., 2312 WEBSTER STREET

TWELFTH DISTRICT
ARON WISNESKI, 1025 ARTHUR AVENUE
JOSEPH LEGATH, 1423 HICKORY WAY

FOURTEENTH DISTRICT
RONALD D. HART, 4420 REPUBLIC AVE.

Old post:

We're hearing from people that Jameel Ghuari, head of the Bray Center in Racine, has taken out papers to run for City Council. Ghuari would run in the city's second district, which is currently represented by first-termer Robert Anderson.

Lumpkin running for City Council

County Board Supervisor Kenneth Lumpkin, owner of the Insider News and a four-term Racine County supervisor, told supporters he'll run for a seat on the City Council in the upcoming April election.

Lumpkin, the owner of the Insider News, is running for the Fourth District seat currently held by incumbent Alderman Jim Kaplan. Kaplan was first elected in 2006.

Lumpkin whose business and home is located in the Fourth District said his experience in business and government makes him the perfect candidate to turn-around a waning community.

“We have watched as other areas of Racine go through a new growth while our historic district slowly declines because of the lack of attention and resources,” Lumpkin said.

He said because of so many needs in the diverse and changing community, the Fourth District couldn’t afford to spend more time training leadership. The district needs an alderman with a vision of how the neighborhoods need to look decades to come, Lumpkin said.

“My strong stand against crime in our neighborhoods, economic development for the Fourth District businesses, commitment to education and proven ability to help create jobs make me the best candidate to move the Fourth District forward,” Lumpkin said.

In a District that is 67 percent minority, Lumpkin is working with Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds to design a project that will aid small minority businesses.

He added that he worked closely with the Al Gardner and the developers to bring the new Corrine Reid-Owens Square project to the Central City.

Lumpkin said his efforts will help revitalize distressed business areas like parts of Douglas Avenue and bring affordable housing to the vacant lots in the district.

“The success of bringing change will be based on weeding crime out and seeding jobs opportunity in,” Lumpkin said.

About Lumpkin:

• Age 60

• Married, proud Father and Grandfather

• High School graduate

• 8-Years on the Racine County Board

• 20-Year Business Owner (owner Insider News)

• Member of New Omega Church

• Home and Property Owner

• Vietnam-Era Veteran

• Winner of the Ted Harris Humanitarian Award

• Winner of Gateway Humanitarian Award

• Nominated by Congressman Paul Ryan to the National Civil Rights Commission

• Member of the American Legion

• President of the Flatiron Mall Association

• A member of the City of Racine Community Block Grant Committee