2013 predictions


What  do I see happening in Racine for 2013








8) The fight over CAR 25 results in two law suits

9) The Journal Times shuts the doors



11) City of Racine buys Azarian for back taxes.



Let’s see what happens! The above is my guess


Give the Mayor a gift of love!


I understand that Mayor John  Dickert and at  least one Alderman hates the idea of the Go Go Girls vs the Nazis being made in Racine.

For a few dollars you can help the next teaser get made! This in turn helps the film get made!  What a great way to show the powers that be what you think of them!

You know you want to!

Here is the link:  http://igg.me/p/280944/x/75891

North Beach becoming?


Are there plans in the works to create at North Beach a Water Park? You may have read in the paper were there is talk of a four story slide to be built and operated. Is there more attractions coming? What might those be?  Perhaps a fun house or Carnival games?

As long as it’s not City money being used I am all for this. Why not?

My fear is that:

1) The City uses this as a way to charge for beach access.

2) The City spends money in creating this Water Park as speculation investment.

Lets see what happens with this.

Power of CATV


Your thoughts?


Lawyers, Guns, and Money or Will CAR 25 be the downfall of Mayor Dickert?

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money the shit has hit the fan, words from the song of the same name by  Warren Zevon, a singer I was big on from my days at U.W. Madison. Ah the days of my youth.

Now of course, in Racine, we have (as I see it) the great war on CAR 25, a war quickly   expanding from petty games by the Mayor of Racine to take CAR 25 over, to the courts.

See something the City does not understand is the Mayor nor the Good Old Boys on City Council can censor programing they do not like sorry.

Attempts to  do so will  get them sued, not I believe in the State courts but in Federal Court.  In fact the parties perhaps suing may not only be say myself and other local producers but ACLU and the FCC.

Does the Mayor want to  tangle with the feds or even the ACLU? Who in looking into CAR 25 issues might just discover the other dealings some in Racine think are going on? Boy would that make Racine look good.

Over the past few days. I have been doing research on the issues on CAR 25 as I see them, reading what I can going to city meetings and talking to other producers.

I believe  that should the RFP(s) go on that Mr. Brice will be right the City will find itself in both State and Federal court.

More interesting will be some of the upcoming Committee of the Whole meetings. Mayor Dickert I feel will be finding out that his Sheep are becoming wolfs, and they are hungry.



CAR 25 or Mayor Dickert’s Waterloo Editorial


The fight for CAR 25 goes on. I have no idea how this fight will end.

The calls I get and I am getting them, the #1 question I get is why did the fight start and #2 what does he seek to gain?

As I believe I can answer the first, I can only guess at the second, however  I am not believing  the Mayor’s stated goal of making CAR 25 better. Only God knows the true why.

As much as the war has been entertaining to watch real City employees  have and will suffer from the War there is no good outcome from the  City.

Mr. Bryce who spoke at The Cable Commission meeting on Monday said and  I paraphrase ” This (RFP on  CAR 25) might get the City sued” Might? no it will get the City sued by one person perhaps more then one, and take down (Bankrupt) at least one friend of the Mayor.  This whole CAR 25 thing is just wild.

This are my observations:

Commissioner  Robert Krug answers  questions about the RFP / CAR 25 posted on this blog, are going to be followed up on to see how accurate they maybe, as I understand it old employers to include TV stations contacted.  An open records   request will be filled with the city for a copy of a “White Paper” on Broadcasting Mr. Krug claims to have written.

Members of the Cable Commission need to understand that they are public officials and CAR 25 war has brought them into the public eye.  We will see soon, I hope more about them all and links if any to the Mayor.

Men who have hated each other in the past,  have started talking, solved the issues of the past and started working together  not only to save CAR 25 BUT what to do to bring down the Mayor.

As I have been lead to believe one business group in Racine has dropped  a Dime on a long time friend of the Mayor’s  sharing info on past events for payback on both the Mayor and the FOJ.

At least one area newspaper is looking closer  at the City Hall Bathrooms and subcontractors involved. Open records may be coming

The Journal Times have started to send open records requests to the City over CAR 25. The Reporter covering this story (CAR 25) is pulling no punches.

More members of the public are coming to city meetings AND speaking out.

At the last City Council meeting  12/19/12 that I was at,the Mayor during public comment  some I have talked to saw Mayor John Dicket as a bully trying to control how the public can communicate with Alderman, and as one man said Can he trust a letter given to the city clerk  to be passed to his Alderman get to him/her if the Mayor does not want it to happen?  WOW.

The public is more and more seeing the Mayor as a Bully and a petty Dictator.

In this fight so far I have seen

Monday’s (12/17/12) night Cable Commission meeting

An alderman ( Ray Dehahd)  lie about scoring for the CAR 25 RFP)

The Chairman (Ron Thomas) call Dehahn out on the lie

The Chairman state that he had questions on the RFP and wants more transparency.

Other members thought the same about wanting more info

The Director of Information Systems Paul Ancona: 1) Say he had no idea about how the scoring worked on the RFP  he was in charge of. (what?)    2) That the City had talked to Sky Fall Media moving CAR 25 to Kenosha (Why  did the city talk to Sky Fall about this before anyone had won the RFP unless it was preselected?)

By my count 3 video cameras were going (Not including I phones) and one tape recorder. I and others are hoping to see the video from this meeting soon.

The Fiance Committee meeting the week before was also interesting:

Why if Mr. Hendrix proposal was taken off the agenda was Sky Falls RFP not taken off the agenda? One would think that if Alderman Hert needed to be there to hear Mr. Hendrix’s  proposal that he would need to be there for Sky Fall?

Why does the MIS director not have a clue when it comes to how companies  selected to receive  the bid information? Why did so much change between the two RFPs?

At the first Common Council meeting did the Mayor of Racine have info removed from desks of the alderman? in the 16 years I have been in Racine I have not seen this occur before. Why now?

Why as it looks to me does Mayor John Dickert NOT want Chase Hendrix to donate $10K to the city of Racine?

As I have been told by  long time community members its looking like Mayor John Dicker is in panic mode over the RFP on CAR 25

By my count the Mayor does NOT have the votes to give Sky Falls the RFP.

I stand by what I said last night.

Please put away the CAR 25 RFP. If you feel you must do another do it in away that is fair and open to all. This fight is doing nothing to help the City.

I and others stand ready to help promote the good things about the City if given the chance with CAR 25. The RFP is not needed  (Paraphrased)

My bet is the Mayor finds away to give the bid to Sky Falls the City gets sued. A lot of ugly facts come out about how the Mayor acts when he thinks he can get away with it.

CAR 25 Questions


1. Was CAR25 staff consulted regarding the RFP, Official Notice #7 and #15, and what were their recommendations?
2. Was CAR25 staff given the opportunity to make any recommendations in order to keep managing the channel?
3. What are the new benefits that this company can provide that our staff, volunteers, or current members cannot provide?
4. The RFP to outsource channel operations to a business also includes advertising programs. What do our policies, procedures and ordinances say about advertising on CAR25? What do our municipal and state franchise agreements say about this? What are the legal implications?
5. What does WCM say about advertising on PEG channels?
6. Has the City met with Time Warner and AT&T to discuss advertising on the channels?
7. Why can’t Racine save the extra $20,000 for Professional Services that does not serve the community in any way, and is not needed for this and put it to better use, especially in times of financial crisis?
8. What was the reason for the 2nd RFP Official Notice 15 if multiple bids were received for Official Notice 7?
9. Why was Official Notice 15 not made available to the public for 30 days or advertised in the Journal Times, and offered equally to all companies in and around Racine?
10. Why did Ron Thomas not vote in the ad-hoc sub-committee when reviewing the proposals?
11. Why did Mayor Dickert instruct MIS staff to throw away documents offering a $10,000 donation to the channel and community?
12. Why did Tom Friedel tell Ald. Ron Hart to disregard the $10,000 donation offer to the channel and community?
13. Why did an open ended contract to outsource CAR25 operations get added to the Finance agenda without going through the Cable Commission or Common Council when the only other item related to CAR25 was removed?
14. Why did the City Clerk say that the missing item was an oversight, but then was changed to say it was due to Ald. Hart not being able to attend?
15. What questions does Ald. Hart have about the donation that he could not ask at the meeting, and what questions did he have any questions related to outsourcing CAR25 operations?
16. Why did Ald. Hart not contact the company making the donation offer any time after the initial presentation at the Cable Commission meeting and again at Common Council when he had all of the details in writing plus direct contact information?
17. Was the Cable Television Commission consulted regarding the RFP, Official Notice #7 and #15, and what were their recommendations?
18. Were any former Cable Commissioners or Aldermen contacted or consulted with regarding the RFP to provide input?
19. What companies were contacted for Notice 7, and who submitted proposals for Notice 7? Who selected this list, and what was it based on?
20. What companies were contacted for Notice 15, and who submitted proposals for Notice 15? Who selected this list, and what was it based on?
21. Did the City contact businesses it has previously contracted video-related production services with?
22. Did the bidders for Notice #7 present to the Cable Commission or Committee of the Whole?
23. If you are qualified to make decisions about CAR25 operations, can you describe the equipment and hardware/software used at CAR25?
24. Wouldn’t a company from Racine be a better fit to manage a Racine Community Television channel and resource, rather than a music production company from Kenosha?
25. Who will provide the training for the new provider? Who will provide support?
26. Does the company have any experience working with CAR25? Have they volunteered in the past? Have they offered any donations or additional contributions?
1. Why were the bidders not given the opportunity to present?
2. Why was there no budget in the RFP?
3. Why were there no financial details or budget in the recommendation submitted to enter into a contract at the Finance meeting?
4. Why did the item get referred to go through Finance and enter into a contract before the sub-committee even went back to the Cable Television Commission?
5. What experience do Mary Osterman and Ald. Ray DeHahn have working with CAR25 or managing PEG television or CAR25 operations?
6. Did any of the bidders meet with CAR25 or go through the walk-through?
7. Who authored Official Notice #7 and #15?
8. Who originated the idea for RFP, Official Notice #7 and #15, and what was that based on?
9. Who was consulted regarding the RFP, Official Notice #7 and #15, by the author(s)?
10. Who will be making the recommendations and decision, and what experience do they have working with CAR25, or with other PEG Programs and Services?
11. Did the City use the Wisconsin Vendor Net System in the RFP process?
12. Will the Cable Commission get a copy of the proposals to review in advance of the next meeting?
1. Why has Rob Krug not attended any meetings since he authored the RFP?
2. Why has Rob Krug not been removed from the Commission for lack of attendance?
3. How many meetings has Rob Krug attended since May 2010? (est. 30 months – Cable Commission meets once per month, on the 3rd Monday)
4. What experience does Rob Krug have working with CAR25?
5. What are the details of Rob Krug’s analysis of CAR25 operations, and what are they based on?
6. Why is Jim Rasmussen not on the Cable Commission any longer?
7. Why is Gary Alvarado not on the Cable Commission any longer?
8. Why is Pamela Hoadley not on the Cable Commission any longer?
9. Why is Chase Hendrix not on the Cable Commission any longer?
10. Is there a term limit to appointments on the Cable Commission?