Brett Farrey

I chatted yesterday with a real estate agent who was having an open in our building yesterday. It was actually the unit below us. He told us the unit is selling for $105k, and the sellers bought it for $145k. The unit is just like ours, except they have the view of a rock wall, which is by far the worst view of any condo in our building. The owners moved out months ago, so I’m assuming they really just want to get rid of this thing as soon as possible. I get it, but I really wonder if they can afford to sell at such a low price. If it doesn’t sell, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a foreclosure. I’m also concerned how all of this will affect the value of the rest our condo’s units.

We have our unit listed at $5k below what we paid for it, and it’s probably about $20k higher than the average person has for our layout in our two buildings. The problem is these other units aren’t getting anymore showings than we are, so we’ve decided not to drop our price anymore. We simply refuse to go in the red on this, so we’ll probably end up taking our condo off the market for a few years. At that point, we’ll see if the market is any better and try to sell it again. If not, we may refinance, and then rent it out. Either way, we’ll need to find a new place to live with more space.

This isn’t our condo association, but this is our situation…
Condo owners make the best of a tough situation

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City Data

Copps
This used to be one of my favorite grocery stores in town. They always had a decent prices, a fair selection of food, and was extremely convenient due to their multiple locations. They’ve since been bought out by Roundys, and now they’re one of the worst grocery stores in the area. The selection of food has been inundated with the Roundys brand of food, which is just disgustingly awful food. For example: my wife and I both found out, for whatever reason, Roundys’ brand eggs make us sick to our stomach. We tried them several different times, and have since switched to organic non-Roundys eggs. They’ve also recently reorganized their West side location, and it makes absolutely no sense. If it wasn’t for their salad bar, they would have gotten an “F”.

Grade: D-

Sentry – Hilldale
This is one of my favorite grocery stores in town, aside from the prices. The selection of food is excellent, it’s clean, the layout is terrific, but the prices are high. If you’re stopping in for a few items for an evening’s meal, it’s excellent. If you’re shopping for this week’s groceries, it’s not ideal.

Grade: C

Whole Foods
I’m listing this one right after Sentry, since I see them as being very similar. They both have a large and unique selection of food, but both are expensive. Whole Foods has an excellent deli and salad bar, with very unique items on both. If I’m in the mood for something different, Whole Foods is toward the top of my list, especially if I’m thinking of grabbing something from the deli. Unfortunately, you have to pay the price for good food.

Grade: C+

Woodman’s
I think it’s pretty safe to say that Woodman’s has the best selection of food in town. The store is huge, the layout is decent, but it’s also kind of dirty and always packed full of people. The produce section is just a bunch of boxes opened up for people to pick through, so be careful what you take home with you. The ethnic food sections are tremendous. Woodman’s probably has the best selection of food tied in with great prices, but it’s also packed with a ton of people and is typically dirty.

Grade: B-

HyVee
I just went to the new HyVee on the East side of Madison, and it’s fantastic! The selection of food wasn’t as good as Woodman’s, but it’s probably the second best in town. They sell some of their own HyVee brand of food, and from what I can tell so far, it’s far superior to Roundy’s. The prices were very competitive to other stores in town, but they had some really good deals. The layout of the store was very organized and quite unique. At front of the store, they had small sections for season items, which was arranged with an excellent assortment of products. Copps has a section for season items, but it’s in the back of the store and the arrangement only has the necessities. There were a ton of places to try sample different foods. The deli is one of the best in town. The cheese area made me feel like I was shopping at Brennan’s. They also had a place where they have cooking classes, a pharmacy, and an a extremely large liquor store. They had a ton of prepared food that you can either take home with you, or eat in their little cafe area. I very much look forward to having one on the West side of Madison.

Grade: A

Ultimately, I believe HyVee will be the end of Copps in Madison. Good riddance!

I understand that this Edgwater plan would increase jobs, and potentially revitalize a college student inhabited neighborhood, but at what price to the taxpayer? As it is, the new budget will have Madison paying an additional average of $76 on taxes. That’s ridiculous!

I’d be all for paying more taxes on something that would improve the city. Hmmm, like say, improving our streets. There are a ton of streets that need some major work. Example: Midtown Road.

The council made only modest changes to the mayor’s proposed operating budget “for hard times” for next year, and on a voice vote early Thursday morning approved a $239.8 million spending plan that increases city taxes 4.1 percent ($76) to $1,936 on the average $245,000 home.

$16 million to revitalize a hotel, but only $25,000 to help the homeless. Really???

Due to the tough economy, the council added $100,000 to boost community services and $25,000 to help the homeless.

Council sets aside $16 million for Edgewater proposal

I’ve been playing around on the new Madison.com site, and I have to be honest, it’s awful. The old site was slow, the new one is even slower.

The design is more modern and fun, but it’s not a good design for a newspaper website. Maybe I’m just a minimalist, but I don’t necessarily want my eyes stimulated on a website that has a ton of information. I want it clean, and I want the functionality to be flawless. Plain and simple.

This website’s design is so awful, I don’t even know what else to say about it, except to say whoever was involved in the development and deployment of this website has no right working for a website like Madison.com. I hate to rip on Madison.com, but don’t take my word for it, compare Madison.com to some of the following websites, and it painfully clear they need to scrap the new design and start from scratch….

Madison.com

JSOnline.com

nytimes.com

latimes.com

There is something that’s been bothering me for quite some time, but for various reasons, I’ve decided not to blog about it. The issue is with the way some people cross the street along Raymond Road. They’re crossing the road extremely slow and often slowing down when they see traffic coming towards them. I’m not talking about some elderly individuals, I’m talking about people of all ages.

I’ve had people walk right out in front of me, just to make sure I stop. I saw one woman, who had plenty of time to cross, stop in one of the lanes, and just stared at the driver of the car. Her friends were on the other side of the road embarrassed by her actions, and rightly so.

Raymond Road is a four lane road, two lanes going both directions, and it’s very busy, so I just don’t understand taking the chance of getting hit. The only thing I can think of is this is some way for these individuals to force drivers to show “respect”. I have zero respect for people who are looking for respect by purposely upsetting others. Respect is earned, and no respect is earned with these kind of actions.

I believe if there is an issue with people crossing the street, the police are the ones that need to get control of the situation before someone gets hurt. I personally despise jaywalking laws, but it might be time for them to be enforced. I’m thinking once the word gets out about people getting jay walking tickets, the issue, for the most part, would get solved.

Related

Man dies after being hit by vehicle Downtown

Copps has done away with their key savings card to get the discounts on certain grocery items. You can now trade your card in and get savings on gas? Gas? Really? The way it’s been explained to me, you no longer need a Copps card to save money on your groceries, and you can trade your old card in for a new card to save money on gas. Save 10 cents for every $50 spent on groceries. Wait….10 CENTS??? Is this some kind of a joke? That’s not even worth carrying the card around, just to save a few pennies. Either way, I told them I’d pass, and I’d hold onto my old card.

Today, I go to Copps for lunch to hit up their salad bar. I do the self-checkout, and the machine says, “Don’t forget to swipe your Copps card.” So I pull out my ol’ trusty Copps card and swipe it….”System error, please wait for assistance”. Three out of the four machines had this same error and everyone was waiting. The snotty grocery clerk girl was highly annoyed we were making her day a living hell. I believe one of the managers came up and apologized for the mess, and explained the situation….super nice guy.

Anyway, no more Copps card for me, and I can’t wait to get one of these.

I was thinking about the Overture Center last night in lieu of trying to give itself to the city for a buck. And who says you can’t get much for a buck these days? They’d literally be giving itself to the city, but they’d also be giving the city a large debt, which would eventually need to be paid off by the tax payer. I think it’s safe to say the taxpayer would be livid about bailing out a business for its failures. Don’t we pay enough taxes already?

Before I go any further I just want to say, I’m a huge fan of the Overture Center. I go to many shows there each and every year. It’s an absolutely gorgeous facility, but did Madison really need a “world class” facility? Of course not. Madison needed something better than the Civic Center, but maybe updating the current facilities would have been a better option. Either way, the facility has been built and there’s now a huge debt in the midst of a recession, so now what?

If I were to buy the facility, here’s what I’d do:

Overture Board. I’d first and foremost do away with the Overture Board. I have nothing against anyone on the board, but like the Green Bay Packers defensive coaching staff, it’s time for a change. They need to inject some youth into the board with business-minded individuals who have a love of the arts.

Better Programming. There is a lot of great acts coming to the Overture Center, but there could be a lot more. That place should be booked pretty much every night of the week. The programming should appeal to a wider demographic, not just old rich white people. Get edgier. For example: If you’re going to book comedians, don’t play it safe with performers like Bill Cosby and Jerry Seinfeld. How about someone like Dane Cook or Bill Mahr? No more Nylons, Four Bitchin Babes, or Pink Floyd tribute bands. I’d bring back the Isthmus Jazz Festival, Madison Blues Festival, and probably create a few more music/art festivals to the Overture. Wisconsin Film Festival would be another one.

Promoters. I would talk to all of the major promoters in town and see what they can do for me. I’d get a wider variety of artists in all of the venues within Overture’s facility, in particular, the Capital Theater. Provide some competition for the Oprheum, Barrymore, and the Majestic.

Union. I would get rid of the union and trim any fat needed to allow for better overhead. In this day and age, there is no need for a union. If the workers don’t like it, they can walk…..buh-bye!

Sell the Organ. The organ is super cool, but is it necessary? I’ve heard it many times, and each time I’m anticipating being blown away, and I’m not. The only person that’s blown away by the organ is probably the person that gets to play it.

Naming Rights. I actually despise it when businesses sell the naming rights to their facility, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I guarantee there’s a business out there with a ton of money willing to pay top dollar to slap their name on the building. Sign a business to a 10-15 year contract, pay off some debt, and be done with it.

Alcohol. I would allow alcohol in the venues, depending upon the type of show. If the Capital Theater is going to have a blues or rock act, sell booze. Madisonians love to sit down, listen to music, and drink some alcohol….in that order.

Sponsors. I say get some big name sponsors to put their name all over the facility, but in a tasteful manner. I wouldn’t want to the Overture Center to turn into a sponsor driven facility like the Kohl Center, but more revenue is needed.

It’s time to put egos aside, and come up with some new and innovative ideas. It’s time for change. The current formula isn’t working. Good luck!

Related Articles:

Overture board, city defend closed-door meetings on debt

Owner wants to give Overture Center to city

Owner wants to give Overture Center to city; not a good idea, mayor says

Kelly Nolan. Joel Marino. Brittany Zimmerman.

That’s three murders just off the top of my head that have gone unsolved. All three of them young people with bright futures, and it’s starting to make me wonder if Madison might have a serial killer and whether it’s a safe place to live anymore. I personally don’t feel scared of being murdered, but I don’t know how I’d feel about sending my children to college in the Madison area right now.

The Madison Police have given the public very little reason to believe any of those three murders cases will ever be solved, and it leads me to believe the investigators are just incompetent. That’s three murder cases with very few leads, at least that the public knows about, and probably no chance of them getting solved. Maybe I watch too much CSI, but I find that hard to believe. I do realize the police must keep certain information confidential as to not hurt their case, but the public deserves more.

There has been a man living in a red Isuzu Trooper just south of Elver Park, where S. Gammon comes to a dead-end, right next to the garbage cans. I believe he’s been living there since sometime last Summer, which means he toughed out a nasty Winter living in his vehicle. Yikes! The cops must know about him since they frequent that street, but I’m not sure there’s much they can do about it. It’s not like the guy is breaking the law.

I have two issues with this:

1. There is trash on the ground around the area that he parks, but I’ve never seen him actually litter. Regardless, he lives there, so he should pick up around the home.
2. He’s a big guy and it makes me nervous when my girlfriend goes for walks by herself. He more or less keeps to himself, but you never know.

Yesterday, I was walking my dog, and he was laying on his side with his shirt off inside of a sleeping bag. Another time, I saw him washing his hair with a jug of water. It’s not exactly what you want to see on the street you live on.

I realize this has been a bad Winter, but what is the deal with the roads being so awful? I feel like the last month or so the snow removal folks have given up. I’m not knocking the workers that have been busting their ass all Winter, but we had a storm Sunday, I couldn’t get into to work yesterday, and barely made it today. I don’t even think they’ve plowed, salted, or put gravel down in my area. I tried to get up the S. Gammon hill that goes up to Raymond Road and had to back down it…two days after the storm! Midtown Road doesn’t even seem like it’s been plowed and looks excellent for ice skating. Another good ice skating rink is the intersection of Raymond Road and Whitney Way. It took me an HOUR to get to work today!

Also, when it was raining Sunday morning, why weren’t there salt/gravel trucks out being a little more proactive? Instead, Madison roads turned into pure ice. You can argue that it’s too cold for salt, but my place of employment put down salt in their parking lot and it’s melting. Again, I realize the Madison snow removal crew has had one hell of a Winter, but come on, step it up!!!

<Sigh> Is Winter ever going to end?