I applaud you acejd93, those of us living in Brodhead would have been farther if it would not have been for the influenced and the (FORMER) city hall employees and their opinions who manipulated.

Althogh Brodhead's downtown is nice and historical, the ability to retrofit the buildings to fullfill newer and bigger things is nearly impossible let alone parking issues and the safety to go along with that. Expansion of the city to the south started a long time ago. If Dean Peterson thought he could've had a productive grocery store downtown, he probably would have. Stop n Go moved south of town. Subway could've went downtown but they didn't. See a pattern here? And further more 'seriouslyfunny', I have done the research and you shouldn't assume or accuse that I haven't. Brodhead should be growing by leaps and bounds but isn't. We're on a major highway, and on the other end of a major state bike trail. New Glarus is also on a major highway and the other end of that same trail and that city has Hotels (not bed and breakfasts that are off the main street) and yes I know they don't have a major shopping center but they do have other choices of places to shop other than antique stores. I know for a fact that the hotel that was slated to come to Brodhead decided to halt their plans because of certain people and their antics on the city's board and city hall! He may not have any voting power, but as with any government, he has influence on the others and how they vote. As for the possible job's that he is concerned for, I'm sure that they'll find something at Shopko and probably a higher wage too. I think Walgreen's should come to town too.

taysgranny, if you could prove the mayor is using his office to purposely block the free market (developer and retailer) for his own personal gain, you might have something there. But merely stating that he owns the only pharmacy in town isn't enough. Government is not obligated to subsidize development or competition. In fact, many would argue that is precisely what put us in the predicament we're in with unsustainable sprawl and growth built not out of necessity, but on destabilizing the free market with crony capitalism by picking winners and losers and the promise of tax base expansion. We can't even afford to repair the roads in 20-year old developments. seriouslyfunny hits nail on the other head. acejd writes about vacant stores in downtown Brodhead like others complain about vacant stores in downtown Janesville, yet supports drawing a TIF around vacant land and giving more than a half-million dollars to build on vacant land on the edge of town? Just like they do in Janesville. Again, we deserve everything we got coming.

acejd93, I live in Brodhead, too. And I pay close attention to what the City Council does. Mayor Pinnow may have opinions about what the City does, but he is only afforded a vote when there is a tie to be broken. While I agree that with only one grocery store in town we are paying higher prices than we would in Janesville or Monroe, that is typical of any small town of our size. It is rare for a city of 3000 to have full-size Big-Box stores. You might want to do a little research on that before you assume that this is all about anyone lining their own pockets. Further, every city--large and small--is fighting to save their downtown areas from blight. I commend Mayor Pinnow for the hard work and commitment he and the other business owners put into our small city to keep it thriving. As for the mayor owning our only pharmacy, he owned it before he was mayor. I imagine he'll own it after he's mayor. Should he not care about his business simply because he's mayor? Would you not care about your livelihood if you also held public office? Mayor Pinnow seems to go out of his way to provide a good service to the citizens of Brodhead. I hope he'll continue to do so for years to come.

"He said it would be a wonderful opportunity for the city to add $40,000 to $60,000 to its tax base." ----------------------- When? What is the term of the TIF? 13, 17, 21 years? The city will see only the baseline in property taxes, which is exactly the amount they get from the parcel today - until the TIF expires.

Nobody seems to mind the fact that the property owner, developer and retailer entered into an agreement for profit, but predicated it on getting something from government. For the most part, people have no room to complain when the cost of growth built on tax dollars exceeds its output.

Mayor Pinnow just doesn't want the competition. Most people in Brodhead have to shop out of town for things the local businesses don't carry and the little that they do carry, it's well worth the gas money to go out of town to save money and get the rest of your shopping done. But as long as Mayor Pinnow still has family, the downtown won't dry up with them occupying the empty stores and the downtown's inconvienient parking, plus a little competition might help with the monopoly pricing that the town's only pharmacy and grocery store has over the local consumers and keep business in town. One more thing, Brodhead would probably have a bigger Shopko store in the planning if he didn't pass a 'Big Box' ordinance to limit a stores square footage after the Dollar General came to town. Was that good for the city or for his own selfish reasons??? HMMMMMMMM

I am leaning towards supporting this for our town. I think the 17 full time jobs is a plus and there should also be part time jobs made available as well. As for the mighty Mayor's concern, although he may be concerned about the other businesses in town, I believe his concern is personal. He owns the only pharmacy in town, a monopoly so to speak in our fair town. To buy any item other than a prescription, in his pharmacy, be prepared to pay a great deal more than if you did go to another store such as Shopko, Walmart, Kmart or even Walgreens! It's the convenience factor at play, so if you don't want to drive 15 minutes to Monroe, you pay his price. Maybe he will have to become more competitive in his prices if this store is built and will have to earn his money in a more fair way instead of raking his constituents across the coals at the checkout! Just my opinion! Let's get the Hometown Shopko in Brodhead and provide some incentive for growth!

What does Shopko mean when it says "the equivalent of 17 full time jobs"?? Is that equal to 34 part time positions, so they don't have to pay benefits?

Basically, if you offer a tax credit or other form of subsidy (e.g. for solar, for historic preservation, for wetlands protection, or just plain economic development), you are going to encourage business to take advantage of it. That's sort of the point. Businesses are going to look for places (physically, or financially in the abstract) where they can invest and get this booster.
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TIF development has a "but for" test built in, but only rarely is it challenged under that. It is a subsidy, but determining whether the development it encourages is actually new or just moved around is a tricky business. Commercial development in particular is a weak bet compared to industrial.
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The system is particularly unnecessary during economic boom times, and particularly alluring to communities in decline, and is more politically sensitive than economic. But without TIF even less savory back-room deals flourish. On the whole, its transparency is probably better overall. Any such investment by a community bears close scrutiny or the advantages are lost.

Rarely do I read about these deals involving only a simple zoning law request or ordinance change. Since regulations and taxes are the same for everyone already playing by the rules within a community - these deals run counter to the trust required for a healthy free market. These "deals" almost always involve the redistribution of capital, sometimes free land, forgivable loans and tax credits while recipients, often well capitalized with private investment funds and sometimes wealthy in their own right, are never "means tested" for government aid. In fact, the system has been thrown upside-down, where only the well-connected and wealthiest players seem to have the success gaining a hand-out from the government.

Probably so Youkillme - however there are so many regulations and ordinances, new companies and businesses they need these favors from the very same governments to make it possible to succeed.

Is it possible for any of these developments and business start-ups to be successful on their own without depending on government aid, tax credits, capital and other free stuff? They are saying they have to depend on government for success, is that what they teach in Free Market Capitalism 101?