Spring Break
Local official an enemy of students?
Royal Purple staff
Issue date: 10/15/08 Section: Opinion
Do you ever find yourself searching for parking, looking for decent off-campus housing or crossing Main Street between Prairie and Prince?
If so, there's an enemy in our midst. It's not campus administration or even law enforcement.
It's Roy Nosek, the verbose, stubborn, and pretentious micromanaging District 3 representative on the Whitewater Common Council, and he makes his intentions quite clear.
"Between [the sophomore housing exemption] and the loss of these single family homes on Tratt St. which are zoned R1, the most restrictive in the city, prompted me to try to find someone to run for city council to promote my concern," Nosek said during one of his long-winded "comments" at a Sept. 9 meeting of the Common Council. "And failing that, I ran for city council."
At that particular meeting, UW-Whitewater officials Jeff Janz and Stephen Summers gave a well-studied, quantitative presentation on the dynamics of the student housing situation.
Nosek, conversely, simply stood by his concerns, often neglecting to substantiate his claims with empirical evidence. When he did, his statistics just didn't hold up.
"The city has something like a 62 percent multifamily, that is rental property, versus, a 38 percent privately-owned single-family mix, which is just the opposite of most communities," Nosek said. "That, to me, is the death knell for a community. I have grave concerns about this."
Now Nosek's a nitpicker. He apparently prowls around town in search of trash bins not promptly hauled in, at least that's what he told the Common Council. So let us do the same.
According to the 2007-2008 Wisconsin Blue Book, there are 592 cities and villages in the state. Of those, and this is being generous, Menomonie, Superior, River Falls, Whitewater, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Platteville and Stevens Point are small(ish) communities containing public schools with a large student population.
That means 98.5 percent, i.e. "most communities," do not face the same lopsided population circumstance Whitewater does. That means Roy's right when he says we're unlike most communities, but it's no death knell, it's what's to be expected.
If so, there's an enemy in our midst. It's not campus administration or even law enforcement.
It's Roy Nosek, the verbose, stubborn, and pretentious micromanaging District 3 representative on the Whitewater Common Council, and he makes his intentions quite clear.
"Between [the sophomore housing exemption] and the loss of these single family homes on Tratt St. which are zoned R1, the most restrictive in the city, prompted me to try to find someone to run for city council to promote my concern," Nosek said during one of his long-winded "comments" at a Sept. 9 meeting of the Common Council. "And failing that, I ran for city council."
At that particular meeting, UW-Whitewater officials Jeff Janz and Stephen Summers gave a well-studied, quantitative presentation on the dynamics of the student housing situation.
Nosek, conversely, simply stood by his concerns, often neglecting to substantiate his claims with empirical evidence. When he did, his statistics just didn't hold up.
"The city has something like a 62 percent multifamily, that is rental property, versus, a 38 percent privately-owned single-family mix, which is just the opposite of most communities," Nosek said. "That, to me, is the death knell for a community. I have grave concerns about this."
Now Nosek's a nitpicker. He apparently prowls around town in search of trash bins not promptly hauled in, at least that's what he told the Common Council. So let us do the same.
According to the 2007-2008 Wisconsin Blue Book, there are 592 cities and villages in the state. Of those, and this is being generous, Menomonie, Superior, River Falls, Whitewater, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Platteville and Stevens Point are small(ish) communities containing public schools with a large student population.
That means 98.5 percent, i.e. "most communities," do not face the same lopsided population circumstance Whitewater does. That means Roy's right when he says we're unlike most communities, but it's no death knell, it's what's to be expected.
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 7
Tina
posted 10/16/08 @ 8:38 PM CST
I completely agree. I sit down with my husband on a weekly basis and watch the meetings on tv, Now that we're townies since we've bought a house here, I can say this. (Continued…)
Dr. Jason Seaver
posted 10/18/08 @ 4:34 PM CST
I dont believe the "staff opinion" really understands what our counsilman brings to this community. These implant students like to whine about this great american who has goals of bringing real american values back to our great community, while they keep busy destroying it with their wild parties,fast cars, and lack of moral fiber. (Continued…)
Travis Sarandos
posted 10/20/08 @ 11:39 PM CST
"Dr." Seaver-
Shove it. First of all, councilman is spelled with a 'c' and American should be capitalized in all references. But lets go beyond the superficial issues I have with your comments. (Continued…)
Justin O'Rourke
posted 10/21/08 @ 1:17 AM CST
If Nosek was such a great American, he would not have so harshly opposed the polling place on campus, which has brought record student turnout at the polls. (Continued…)
Tim
posted 10/23/08 @ 2:10 PM CST
Face it, students don't vote. If they do all they care about is the "important" elections - so many students (and people in general) have no idea who will be on the ballot. (Continued…)
Tabitha
posted 10/28/08 @ 5:13 PM CST
The laws alluded to in this article are extremely discriminatory towards students. I graduated from UW-Stevens Point last May and work full time, so I am not a student in the least. (Continued…)
wendy
posted 10/29/08 @ 11:19 AM CST
I am a mother of two college age students. I wish parents would think back to there high school and college days. Were they so different? NO. Why in the world would anybody purchase a home to live in near any campus? All college students are going to do something wrong in the eyes of the law. (Continued…)
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