Opinion: What the Krew needs to know
It's been many months of silence since I've spoken on any Franklin political issue. Life here can be so discouraging or grimly comic. But this one is so much the latter I need to say something obvious.
Mayor Olson's veto complains about the "adverse and significant impacts to the project timeline". Kayla's Krew's leadership needs to realize by now that Mayor Olson is in a relationship with them purely of convenience to further his own, narrow political agenda. The project is not as important to him as he's leading people to believe.
He exploited the initial site at the Victory of Lamb so he could siphon impact fees and extend utilities for the proposed TIF District at Loomis & Ryan Roads. After the church site didn't pan out, he's using alternate sites in an effort to bully his political opponents on the Common Council, after a failed site plan shifted financial gain away from that site. I question Olson's sincerity regarding Kayla's Krew. Where was he as alderman for the last 5 years as the organization was trying to fundraise for their project without city funding? Example in point, I recall the plans set-up throughout the city years ago that included a possibility park (like Kayla's Playground) at Froemming Park. Olson championed efforts to dismiss the organization's attempts and instead pushed for impact fees to be returned - the same impact fees he's now wanting to use for Kayla's Playground. Now, we have a nonprofit with an opportunity to sadly be used as a political weapon. Mayor Olson is throwing all of his devious skills into manipulating the situation and whipping up emotions to cloud the political process.
As an observer of Franklin civic development over many years, I've never seen so many important planning and fiscal issues pushed aside in favor of project siting. Olson is shielded by the emotional furor of the situation that he's helped stir up. He's likely created false expectations. This emotional and feverous climate he's stirring up only helps his case and hurts political opposition. His choice of Kayla's Krew is a shrewd move, because anyone complaining of the outcome that doesn't adhere to their criteria can be accused of being against children of all-abilities. Unfortunately for the Mayor, he's committed so much to this process that he's created a series of train-wrecks with the Council members. He might soon be stranded without fuel, on the dark edges of the political cosmos because he's permanently alienated the majority of the Council. Look to Waukesha to see what can happen to a Mayor who behaves this way.
If Kayla's Krew was as important to him as he claims, why are we where we are today? Where was the leadership for the past year? Realize that Mayor Olson is a salesman by profession, and creating a set of expectations within a politically naive nonprofit organization is similar to selling a high priced copier to a small business office that's never had to buy one before. This project begins and ends in the Mayor's lap, and yet there has been nothing in the middle. But now here we go, with Kaptain Kayla leading the charge.