On Hundreds of cars line up for cheap gas
Posted on May 16 at 9:45 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
batmanb4robin - perhaps you should do a little research about this supposed "corrupt" chain of gas stations. BP does not own or operate any gas stations and hasn't since 2007 when they sold the few they still operated, none of which were in Wisconsin. The BPs you drive by every day are owned by people and companies that probably live in your community or near it. They simply have a contractual agreement to sell the BP brand. That contract is not even with BP, it is with a wholesaler, who is probably also local or at least within the state. They were as screwed over by the Gulf of Mexico incident as anyone. The brand contract is 10 years and if you try to break the contract with BP you have to pay back every penny BP has given you for imaging and branding your station, which is typically between 10k and 100k depending on the location, not to mention the money you would have to spend to have all of the BP imaged items removed from your site (FYI that's pretty much everything from your sign, pump panels, building fascia, etc.). That doesn't even include the supply contract with the local wholesaler the site signed, as there are penalties for breaking that contract as well. I hate to break it to you, but the average profit margin on gasoline is between 2 and 10 cents a gallon, so these local owners aren't exactly rolling in dough. There were very few, if any, sites that would have had the cash on hand to get out of those contract and incur those costs. BP was not offering contract outs in this area after the incident in the Gulf of Mexico, so if you owned a BP branded station in order to get out of your contract you would first have had to screw over your local wholesaler, since they are actually the ones you have a contract with. That would have erupted in a legal battle between you and the local wholesaler for the money owed to them for the duration of your supply contract as well as the funds owed to BP. There is no legal fight with BP because sites do not have contracts directly with BP. This is how most major gasoline brands operate these days. The actual company that owns the brand typically has very little or nothing to do with the sites that sell their branded fuel. Another little tidbit of information for you...BP has the #1 market share in the state of Wisconsin and has for a very long time. One of the big reasons for that is that there are many, many station in this state that were originally Standard Oil, and then were converted to Amoco when Standard Oil was no more. Then in the late 1990s those Amoco sites were converted over to BP when BP bought out Amoco. There are many, many sites in this state that are only branded BP today because they have a good working relationship with their local wholesaler and have for DECADES. So if you want to talk about a "corrupt chain" you should probably find out who the local players are, since that's who you're actually hurting with your ignorant misinformation.
On Hundreds of cars line up for cheap gas
Posted on May 15 at 3:48 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
If you all want to endlessly bicker about politics, why don't you do it in the comments section of a story that is actually about politics. I wish the gazette would start removing all comments that are off topic. It's ridiculous that no one can engage in any kind of conversation anymore without it being hijacked by the political bickering.
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rickwantsmoney - If you click the link in the article, it takes you to the full story on the website of the news station that originally reported it. Apparently the gazette for whatever reason couldn't copy and paste it for us.
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You can really see the true colors of our communities these days. Plover is not a large city, yet people still line up to the point that the police have to come in to do crowd control to screw over a gas station owner. BPs are independently owned, and chances are that was a fellow member of the community who had an employee that made a mistake when changing the gas prices. The owner is losing is shorts on every sale and someone is probably going to end up losing their job for that very costly mistake, but hey ya know some people got a tankful for $0.37 a gallon so they're happy. Instead of going inside and telling someone there was a problem with the price, doing something to prevent huge losses for a local business, help someone out who made a mistake, they all just line up to get something at a steal. Sure makes me proud to be an American.
On Mobile food stand cooks up issues in Milton
Posted on May 2 at 4:45 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
It isn't unfair competition, it's just competition.
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Nothing would stop Los Agaves from opening a restaurant right next door to any of them in Merchants Row, so what's the difference? As long as they are following all of the rules, this shouldn't be an issue. Changing the rules to increase the fees because some businesses don't like the competition would be unfair.
On Council delays sidewalk program
Posted on May 1 at 9:19 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
It's been 4 years since the city decided on this, and it was debated for years before that. There was a policy requiring sidewalks, but past city councils didn't enforce it. 4 years is plenty of time to make arrangements for sidewalks. While I think that given the current economy, the city should provide some sort of extension to homeowners who can prove they cannot afford it, the rest of them need to quit whining and put them in already. They've known for 4 years this was coming. I like the point Janesvillefirst made "For the older speakers who said they would be burdened by shoveling 70' of sidewalk a few times a year; who shovels your 40' feet of double wide driveway and mows your lawn?" IMO it's part of owning a home in the city. The hilarious part is that all of the low income parts of town have sidewalks, and I don't hear those residents crying about it being too big of a burden to shovel and salt them. If you don't want sidewalks, don't live in the city. The elderly lady (she's 94) that lives on the corner of our block has sidewalks along two sides of her property, but somehow she manages to deal with it. That being said, I do think the city needs to work with property owners that have invested the time and money into landscaping and mature trees to come up with a sidewalk plan that doesn't destroy those yards and vegetation.
Posted on April 19 at 9:47 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I have nothing against loud music, but the boom of the bass makes me feel nauseous. I hate it just as much as loud motorcycles blasting out my eardrums.
On How much would you pay for a light bulb?
Posted on April 19 at 9:44 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I'm also going to start stockpiling incandescent bulbs. I hate CFLs. I would never pay $60 for a light bulb. I don't even want to pay $7. It's ridiculous that the government is regulating this.
On Was library coffee shop criticism misguided?
Posted on April 19 at 9:34 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I love the library and we're lucky to have it. They should do whatever they can do to keep people using it. Every time I go to the library there are people utilizing the Ground Floor space. I am curious to know what people thought it would be competing with?
On Capitol cleanup cost $200K, far under prediction
Posted on April 5 at 10:58 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Typical government wastefulness:
"The costs included:
$65,000 to reseed grass and replace trampled shrubs and bushes harmed by the large crowds that at times covered the Capitol lawn.
$43,520 to pay three limited-term workers to clean large swaths of the Capitol walls to remove tape residue. The workers earned $13 an hour and worked just over 1,040 hours each.
$30,504 for overtime paid to custodial workers in February and March of 2011.
$17,500 to remove marker stains from walls and replace some damaged pieces of stone.
$13,750 to pay a consultant to assess the damage to the Capitol and what needed to be done to restore it."
How do you spend $65k on reseeding and shrubs? Not to mention paying a "consultant" $13,750. I think we need to recognize that the Capitol building is a place for the people. It is where our laws are made. It's not a museum or a shrine. It should be used. We should all expect that every once in a while there are going to be things like this that happen. Whether we agree with the protesters or not, we have to admit that it is their right to be there. The Capitol is the right place to gather, demonstrate, and protest laws. So yea, the grass is going to get trampled, and things are going to need to be cleaned, but I find it very hard to believe that paying $65k for reseeding and $13,750 for a consultant were what really needed to be spent to get it done. I'm also wondering what's missing, since the above total only equals $170,274. I guess the other $30k in expenses weren't worth breaking down? Just because this is what they spent doesn't mean this is actually what it should have cost.
On Back Bar co-owner to appeal sanction
Posted on April 5 at 10:40 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I happen to agree with Sigma40 (I know, shocking) in the part where he said "Nothing to do with the music... its how you organize it, you have to know what to expect and how to control it."
I think that is absolutely right. The bar also hosted Coolie back in February with no problems. This particular incident seems to be isolated, and it happened outside of the bar. Bar owners cannot be expected to be responsible for people illegally driving around with guns in their cars and illegally firing them. It's ridiculous to expect that they can. If that's the case, then why wasn't anyone talking about pulling O'Riley Conway's license after Sam Aegerter was killed? The guy that shot him had done it right after leaving O'Riley Conways. How is that situation different except that someone was actually killed? The bar wasn't blamed then. That said, the instance of having people in the bar after hours was a blatant violation of the law and Bob has been in business long enough that he should have known better. If they were took drunk to get themselves home, then obviously his bartenders over served them. It's not like there are other bars around there they could have walked in from. I can understand not throwing them out, but you either have to call them a cab or figure out some other way to get them home and out of the bar. If they were passed out at bar time, there is no way they'd be sober to drive home an hour or so later. Either way I don't think telling the bar they cannot have live music really addresses either issue. Considering all they do is music, the intent here is to shut the bar down. Obviously that's what the ALAC is trying to do, so then why not come right out and say that? I think this is a total over reaction of the ALAC. If someone had gone out to their car, got a gun, and fired it downtown, are they going to decide that none of the bars downtown can have live music, djs, or jukeboxes? It's ridiculous. It sounds like the ALAC got its feathers ruffled when it seemed like Bob wasn't taking them seriously so they decided to teach him a lesson.
On a side note, I tend to not trust any "quotes" the Gazette prints after myself being midquoted by them. Obviously the reporter didn't understand what I was trying to say, so she just guessed, and got it wrong. I don't know why the race card is being pulled here since I was at the Looking Glass on Saturday and the DJ was more than happy to play hiphop whenever it was requested, and there were no problems.
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On Do you 'click it' or chance the 'ticket'?
Posted on May 23 at 10:36 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
garyprimer - it's comments like that that make me wish this page had a "like" button.
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By now I think we're all smart enough to figure out that the government doesn't care whether we wear seat belts. They made is law so that officers have reasonable cause to pull you over. It is a gateway to catching drunk drivers, drugs, warrants, etc. That being said, I click it mostly because I'd rather not be thrown through the windshield in an accident, or god forbid lodged INTO the windshield during an accident. The other reason I do it is that the beeping my car makes when I don't have it on is enough to drive me out of my mind.