Racial Politics Revealed

There is an interesting battle brewing over a piece of property near a proposed KRM train station. One Brent Oglesby has been seeking a "hold" on the property, arguing that it takes time to secure financing etc... for his proposed project. Meanwhile, Mayor Dickert has announced that the city has put development of this property on hold. Enter our local racial grievancemongers. You see, Oglesby is black. Therefore the denial must be racially motivated, the thinking goes, such that it is.

I have an alternate explanation. The property in question may well increase in value quite dramatically if the KRM train project moves forward. Thus, offering Oglesby a hold on the property would allow Oglesby to reap the profits if KRM moves forward. And of course he could walk if KRM doesn't move forward. The potential property value increase should go to the current owners of this property, and those current owners are the taxpayer. Giving away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property value increase to any one individual, whether black, white or whatever, would be wrong.

I give Mayor Dickert credit here, even though I think the best decision would be to sell all excess property to the highest bidder. In any case, I am sure it is difficult to withstand the "racist" smears that are being hurled at Mayor Dickert. But withstand them you must for the sake of our city.

I should also mention that, to the best of my knowledge and to his credit, Brent Oglesby has not made this a racial issue. I would be even more comforted if he publicly distanced himself from the racial hucksters that are seemingly trying to work on his behalf.

The Racine Post has the story here.