Selected Presidents Letter
President's Letter
Jan 13, 2012
PDF Version: 17377_2012-Jan-13_President's Letter.pdf

President's Letter

January 2012

Nadine S. Walsten

Happy New Year to all!  May 2012 be kind, healthy and prosperous for you and yours.  May economic conditions continue to improve, job opportunities increase and the suffering of Main Street appreciated by our public policy makers on all levels.  If you know me, and many of you may not, I am passionate about bringing economic development to this Village, because without it, we cannot keep our taxes from rising, provide the services we need and improve our quality of life.  A resident contacted me recently to express her disappointment with her decision to move to Brooklyn—“there is no Here, here” she said, frustrated she had to drive elsewhere for most of her shopping and basic services.  Her assessment is accurate. Businesses can move here—and they have-- but they close or move on usually within one or two years, especially if dependent on local residents for support and trade.  This revolving door will continue until more non-retail businesses bring customers and, ideally, bring jobs.  Because the Economic Development Committee and the Planning Commission activities have been setting the stage for economic development, I am very excited that in 2012, if we have Board support, we will begin to see the results of their efforts.  Most community planners, commercial development professionals think my chances of bringing businesses to Brooklyn are slim to none, or at best, “unlikely” but they agree Brooklyn will either move forward commercially or it will lose its economic opportunities to neighboring villages and bringing it back to life will be much more costly and incredibly difficult.  We are seeing improvement, however, and I know this in my heart, we can bring commercial businesses to Brooklyn.  Our location is ideal—there is no reason we can’t make this work, but then, I’m the one that’s crazy to believe this.  If you feel as I do and want to add constructive, positive energy to this goal, let me know.

I have to correct a mistake in my last month’s letter.  I said our permanent part time law enforcement officer’s hours were increased from 24 to 28 hours/week.  That was wrong—Officer Engelhart’s hours were increased from 28 to 32 hours/week .  I apologize for this error.

One important item which has not been highlighted, is reporting on the results of our Community Survey conducted in September and analyzed in October/November.  This survey provides input from you, the residents, to guide present and future Village decisions on a wide range of economic and development issues.  There is not enough space in the newsletter to discuss the entire survey, but I will break this down over the next few months.  I encourage you to get copies from the Clerk’s office or visit the Village website www.brooklynwi.gov.  When reviewing this survey, however, remember because the 122 respondents are households, there may be multiple answers, etc. so percentages may not add up to 100% for each question.  This survey was based on other professional surveys for small villages, but we did not hire a professional firm to conduct this survey.  That would have been the best option but the cost and time limitations prevented this.  Each survey was mailed to each household and could be answered online or on hard copy.  There was a representative distribution across age, reflecting the population age groups previously identified through census.  Brooklyn is primarily a thirty to forty something town with young or elementary age children.

Additional demographic information of interest is as follows:

Length of time lived in the village:  <5 years: 23%; 5-10 yrs: 34.4%; 11-20 yrs: 12.3%; >20 yrs: 30.3%.  An overwhelming number of respondents (63.9%) work in Madison with Oregon next at 13.9%; Fitchburg at 9.8% and minor percentages listed for 13 other communities.  Not working was .8%; retired was 9% and homebased or in the Village:  4.9%.

Question #2, the most important reasons chosen to move to Brooklyn are 1), rural/small town atmosphere; 2) cost of home; 3) accessibility/highway access; 4) quality of schools; 5) near family or friends; 6) appearance of home; and 7) low crime rate. 

Question #3, do you expect the quality of life in Brooklyn to improve, stay the same, change little or worsen.   Based on the written comments, several respondents confused the national economy with the local quality of life, but even so, most respondents (38%) believed the quality of life would remain the same.

Question #3, at what rate do you want to see the Village grow, was split between grow at the current rate (37.7% or 46 respondents) vs. faster than the current rate at 40.2% or 49 respondents.  Twenty seven respondents did not want to see growth or want growth slower than the current rate, thus growth was supported by 78% or 95 of 122 respondents.

I will continue to report on the community survey, next month.  Oh yes—I’m going to create a Village President Facebook page to improve communications between myself and the residents of Brooklyn.  Nationally, face to face meetings are disappearing due to poor attendance, so surveys and social media are now the preferred methods for elected officials and governments to connect with their communities.  I’d rather talk than text, so don’t hesitate to call, email or write. 

Archive

• Apr 15, 2012 President's Letter
• Mar 15, 2012 President's Letter
• Feb 21, 2012 President's Letter
• Jan 13, 2012 President's Letter

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