Ray Misner

At a fundraising party held Thursday evening at Twisted Cuisine, Alderperson Ray Misner announced his mayoral candidacy.  The writer conducted an hour-long phone interview with Misner, and here’s what he had to say:

Question:  What concerns led to this decision?  Answer:  “It was not an easy decision to make to run for mayor.  I was hoping that there would be a candidate step forward that I could put my trust and faith behind.  There are a few people who would do a wonderful job, who would not have difficulty running and managing the city.”

Question:  What do you find wrong with the way the city is being run?  Answer:  “Development is not positive.  We must bring ‘true’ jobs to the city.  That’s not happening.  You can blame it on the economy, but I don’t think the mayor is doing anything to attract businesses to come to Kenosha.  There is an executive in a board room somewhere who’s looking to build a new factory, and he has to find a city to do that in.  We have to make sure that Kenosha is in the top ten cities that he’s looking at.  I think we can do this by coming up with a campaign on why Kenosha is a great place to relocate to.  We need to boost tourism, which I believe is way underserved.”

Question:  What kind of solutions are you proposing?  Answer:  ”I plan to create a Kenosha Business Development Corporation, which will be funded by grants, fundraising, and business license fees.  I propose that every business will need to apply for a business license.  Then, we will phase out all of the separate licenses businesses have to apply for.  There won’t be so much bureaucracy.  Businesses like Lowe’s, Menard’s, and Office Max will have to pay more for their licenses than the small ‘mom and pop’ stores.  There will be a streamlined process, a less complex process.  Businesses would no longer have to pay for all these other licenses.  We have new businesses open up, and they don’t understand the process.  My hope is that they take this idea and utilize it to recruit businesses here.  The license fees would stay in the budget and be used for business purposes, like giving business loans.”

Question:  Doesn’t the Kenosha Area Business Alliance (KABA) do that?  Answer:  “I don’t believe they’re doing enough for the city of Kenosha.  They favor Pleasant Prairie over Kenosha.  Kenosha gets the short end of the stick.  U-Line should have been located here in Kenosha.  KABA should be our representatives.  When U-Line came here to Wisconsin, why was Pleasant Prairie chosen over Kenosha?  They’re supposed to represent the two cities, but like a real estate agent who represents both the seller and the buyer, you’re never really sure which one they represent.  Those are the problems with the current system.  KABA has its limits.  Like a small business organization, we have to develop marketing campaigns in order to recruit major companies to relocate to Kenosha.  Houston has a similar program.  They apply for federal and state grants, and provide small business loans.  They are a sideshoot of a government entity; they put dollars in the business community.  That’s the largest area of reform I’d like to bring to the city.”

Question:  That sounds like a viable idea.  What else can you tell me about it?  Answer:  “I’d like to take the idea to the marketplace.  Banks are not providing loans now.  This is a lost opportunity in jobs and the tax base.  It doesn’t focus a lot on major business transactions.  Small and mid-size companies get lost in the process.  It’s not a bureaucratic department.  It takes the revenue earned to provide programs and benefits, and work to attract larger companies.”

Question:  You mentioned tourism earlier.  Tell me more about that.  Answer:  “Tourism is crucial to our economic future.  The mayor is practically doing nothing to promote tourism.  When the former mayor, John Antaramian, took office twenty years ago, he was thinking big, the museums, the trolley.  He was doing things to make this a better place.  I didn’t agree with everything he did, but he is an intelligent man, and he had a vision.  I’d like to build a convention center.  The odds are stacked against the dog track being used to create a casino.  It really upsets me.  I keep asking them for a back-up plan, and they haven’t provided one.  If we were to build a convention center at the dog track site, and if the casino ever comes to fruition, maybe they could relocate somewhere else, like the old Chrysler site.  I would work with the City Council and the business community to build a convention center.  Kenosha would become the new Wisconsin Dells.  We already have a start in that endeavor.  Gurnee has built one water park hotel.  Kenosha could become the center of regional entertainment.  We could attract water park hotels, give them an incentive to come here.  The money collected in hotel taxes and room taxes could be used to develop marketing programs.  We could attract people from Chicago to come to Kenosha and spend their money.  With federal dollars, the trolley could be extended to go all the way to the convention center.  I believe people would enjoy riding the trolley to the convention center all the way to the downtown area.  It would be the staple of the tourism plan.”

Question:  Do you have any plans in mind for the downtown area?  Answer:  “I’d like to find a lot of new businesses in the downtown area.  We need to tear down dilapidated buildings and revitalize the downtown area.  I’d like to see a new main street, which would mean that we’d have to shift blocks around.  Fifty or one hundred years from now, people would look back and say that we’ve done some amazing things.”

Question:  So, what changes will you bring to the mayor’s office?  Answer:   “I think that the mayor needs to lead.  I endorsed and supported him when he was running for office.  I sent letters out for him.  I don’t want to ruin his possibilities.  But everything changed when Frank Pacetti came on board.  He is one of the most difficult councilmen to deal with on the Common Council.  He made my life a living hell on the Common Council.  I’m concerned because there is a contingency of people behind the scenes.  The mayor gets votes from this contingency.  I’ve been involved for four years, and now it’s come down to either the mayor goes, or I need to go.”

“I will be conducting a ’high tech’ campaign.  Videos will appear on my website.  I also plan on making it fun.”

To visit Misner’s website where you can make a campaign contribution, go to:  http://raymisner.com/.