Wauwatosa has a lot going for it right now... the community is great, as are the people... and the businesses are trying very hard and being very successful. In fact, I'd say that Wauwatosa is having somewhat of a renaissance right now. Unfortunately, the Wauwatosa Common Council still likes to get in the way. Recently, the issue of expanding the very successful Alterra on 92nd and North came before the council. Alterra wants to expand their outdoor patio seating, which is somewhat confined. They wanted permission to expand their patio area and put seating closer to the street.

Fortunately for Alterra, they were able to garner enough votes for passage, but not without objections from some of the council members (emphasis mine):

Other opponents to replacing developer Sean Phelan's plan cited an appreciation for the aesthetics, a belief it would attract business to an already successful café, an objection from the business to proposed changes and the lateness of the submission.

Alderman Brian Ewerdt didn't support Birschel's proposal, but he did say that he, too, had concerns about the safety of Phelan's plan - that's why he also voted against that plan.

Now, I can understand safety concerns, especially given the incident at Starbucks just a few weeks prior. But I want to know who on the council thought it was appropriate to object because it would make the Alterra more successful. At a time when the economy is struggling, the last thing we need is for Aldermen to be deciding which businesses are doing "too well", and make efforts to throttle their success. Ideally, the Common Council should have the minimum amount of involvement possible in how businesses run... but short of that ideal, the Aldermen should be finding ways to work with business expand and become more successful, not the exact opposite!

I look forward to reading the minutes from that Common Council meeting so I can find out which Alderman should be voted out of office.