Wauwatosa officials have seen continuous development as a means to keep taxes low and balance the budget. What is your opinion on this direction by the city?

9 Comments

  • Osborne R. - 7 years ago

    Wauwatosa's taxes are ridiculously high. In many cities in the U.S. ~ wonderful places with good schools and plenty of amenities ~ what I pay in property taxes would mean I owned a property worth well over $1M. As it is, my home is worth significantly less than half of that. As much as I would love to have lower taxes, the city aldermen seem to always put forth the false choice that lower taxes (or taxes that don't increase as quickly) can only be achieved at the expense of quality of life and of my property retaining what value it has. It's hard to believe other cities are just that much better at handling their expenses. Maybe go back to assessing the Washington Highlands homes at what they're really worth and taxing them accordingly, and then the rest of us wouldn't have to pay so much.

    Whatever the future holds for Wauwatosa, I'm not interested in adding more junky businesses to my neighborhood, and I believe the majority of my neighbors agree. With the newer, cramped development along much of North Avenue and the already overdeveloped, partly-finished Burleigh area, Wauwatosa is on the edge of becoming really unattractive even without the addition of yet another hamburger and ice cream joint. Put such a place in a densely populated, already over-trafficed section of North Avenue, fail to provide for parking, and keep the business open until 10 p.m. (?!) and all our elected officials will have done, once again, is disrespect the tax-paying property owners who are the reason this city exists. For all those now about to chime in that I should just move if I don't like it, think about how you would feel if someone responded that way to your views about something you care about ~ as if you had no choice but to shut up and put up with whatever came along in your community or leave.

  • Phil - 7 years ago

    What ever happened to the requirement that businesses have adequate parking for it's employees as well as it's patrons? I noticed that the architect's renderings showed nothing but bicycles in his sketch. Unlikely, as this is Wisconsin and this place serves hamburgers and custard. During a warm summer night, good luck trying to pull out onto North ave. between 6 and 8 PM. Also, RIP to parking spots north of the establishment.

  • Pasadena resident - 7 years ago

    Jordan Miller, I hope some day someone tells YOU that you should leave YOUR home and neighborhood of 20+ years that you love and chose carefully, because others want to shove what they want upon you. And by the way, we were young, educated people when we moved here. Young, educated people wanting to live in Tosa is nothing new.

  • Jordan Miller - 7 years ago

    I love that Tosa has finally moved on from Leave it to Beaver and become a modern, vibrant first-suburb that young, educated people want to move to. Here's an idea: if you don't like the direction Tosa is going why don't you move? Seriously stop complaining and either become part of the new fun suburb with a pulse or move on.

  • Jack M. - 7 years ago

    I prefer the development over a higher tax bill or cuts in city services.

  • Susan - 7 years ago

    Where will the parking lot be located? Or are we now joining forces with the "East Tosa" people who act without regard to the neighboring homes?

  • Terry Salpeter - 7 years ago

    Sorry about the typo - I meant to say I don't vote in Tosa because I am not a resident.

  • Terry Salpeter - 7 years ago

    Not a bothering Tosa but I already avoid North Avenue when I am driving. New development continues to add to traffic issues and I haven't heard of any attempts to attempt to solve the problem. I feel bad for the homeowners on Lloyd because I have noticed more and more cars using the street as an alternative to North.

  • David - 7 years ago

    I realize that the city is in a renewal process, but there is very limited input from the community as it pertains to the development of large-scale projects within residential areas. I know the great pains I had to deal with during my home renovation project with the design review board and am curious how the commercial design review board takes public input and also the overall neighborhood sentiment into account when granting approvals. I realize that there is a move towards the rental market vice single family homes, but I am concerned that the projected long-term outlook may be that we are flooding the market to have future vacancies in these apartment rentals if there is a shift back to home ownership.

Leave a Comment

0/4000 chars


Submit Comment