As I See It
Who wants to be La Crosse’s mayor?
Just when it felt like we had put the big campaign season behind us, and had started to prepare for the holidays, there’s another political campaign to talk about…at La Crosse City Hall. Time for the next election for mayor, and we’ve just learned it’s going to be another open race. Our former WIZM co-worker, Mitch Reynolds, has decided not to seek a second term. We already had two announced candidates for mayor before hearing that news, and I expect more to come our way soon. La Crosse had 10 candidates in the 2021 mayor’s race. Looking at the city’s history, I don’t expect any future mayor to beat the 22-year tenure of Pat Zielke, from the 1970’s to the 90’s. We’ve had a couple of two-term mayors since Pat, in John Medinger and Tim Kabat. Will future mayors want to serve more than four years, and will the voters want a single mayor for that long? That future is a long way off. Right now, campaign season is back in La Crosse, and it could be quite a show. I’m Brad Williams, on WIZM.
Dylan
November 20, 2024 at 8:43 am
They need to increase the compensation for this role… You aren’t even able to buy half of the homes listed on Zillow in La Crosse on 80k a YR with current rates and prices… Aside from that low pay, you are expected to be available essentially 24/7 for that in addition…
This just weeds out any potential candidates that aren’t willing to suffer on that low of a wage. OR those with assets/side income from business’ investments…
walden
November 20, 2024 at 9:00 pm
Let me get this straight. The City shut down the southside branch library for want of $100,000. Subsequently the library received $3.1 million in ARPA grant funds. No word on where that money went. And the library has adequate staff to send employees to the LGBTQ non-profit to read LGBTQ books to “0 to 10 year olds” according to News8.
The City and the Homeless Industrial Complex have spent many millions cleaning up after the coveted homeless population and the damage they cause. The City also burned through $20+ million in Covid funds. But the City can’t find $100,000 to fund the annual city-wide cleanup.
This is one messed up city that the next mayor is going to inherit. It’s never actually about money; its about choices. La Crosse makes bad choices.