Candidate Ricky Ranz Answers Mayoral Forum Questions

Editor's note: Four candidates vying to become the next Port Washington mayor were invited to participate in a forum last week, but a diabetic complication landed candidate Ricky Ranz in the hospital for several days. Ranz took the time to respond via e-mail to Patch to the questions that candidates Tom Mlada, John Sigwart and Jim Vollmar answered during the forum. An archived blog on Patch includes answers by all other candidates.

The following is the e-mail sent by Ranz:

First thing that I would like to do is thank Patch and Lyssa for giving me the chance to answer the questions that were asked at the Feb. 9 forum that I could not participate in due to a serious diabetic issue that landed me in the ICU for a couple days. I would also like to thank all ... of you for the well wishes, I am doing much better now and am trying to catch up after a week of illness. So without further delay, let's take a crack at those questions:

Does the city have a role in downtown redevelopment beyond supporting Main Street, and what is that role?

I think that the city does have a role in the redevelopment of downtown beyond supporting Main Street. The more people that are there to help and bring ideas to the table, and to keep all lines of communication open the better. Butting and controlling every aspect of what Main Street is trying to do is not what I'm talking about, though. The city should assist with what they can, make suggestions for business adventures, but really should be helping keep everything on track towards a bright future.

In light of recent failures of several downtown business ventures, what would you do as mayor to ensure success for new business owners?

The best thing that I could do as mayor to help out new business owners is to listen to them. Go talk to them every so often and see how they are doing and what their concerns are. What can the city do to make it easier to operate? Is there someway we can help their business grow? We have to ask these questions, and I know that there is not always something we can do but the first step is communication.

While there has been much attention paid to downtown, industry has been very important. What would you do to create and maintain such jobs?     

Industry is very important to Port! We took a big hit when Trak and Simplicity left, a hit we still are feeling. Once again, it is the city's responsibility to go out to our existing industries and get to know them. Take tours, learn what they do and find out how we as the city impacts them positively and negatively.

How important do you believe tourism is to the city? Do you plan to continue the partnership with the tourism council, or increase that contribution?

Tourism in Port is great, and I would love to see that aspect continue to grow! Already there has been a great job done bringing people into Port from all over for our various festivals. Pirates Fest is growing well, and Fish Day has seen a little decrease but is still huge. I find it neat to hear radio ads for the fests when they are getting close and would love to see advertising increase. Those fests bring people into our small city and hopefully show them how great Port is and make them want to come back. Now we just need to come up with a Winter Fest that be just as big as Fish Day.

About the coal docks. How should the city improve the property to provide the best for the city, and what's a reasonable timeframe and financial methods?

The coal docks of Port Washington are a very interesting topic. What should we do with them? Obviously we want to fix them up and make them into a asset to the city. An idea that has been brought up that I agree with is using that land for a proposed marine museum. I have heard that an organization is looking to build a marine museum along the shores of Lake Michigan. The coal docks would be a great place to do so, and what if we add naval ship to tour to those docks as well? Modeled after manitowoc, I think that would could be a great business adventure for Port to look into.

Has the city done enough to provide access to Lake Michigan?

I believe that there is sufficient access to lake michigan in port washington. the narrowing of the streets may have made it a little rougher on boaters but our marina is still great. as for the beach, walking around the sewage plant is still not amazing, but now we have the stairway from the bluff down to the beach and south beach is open to the public as well.

How do you propose the city handle increasing cost while maintaining services residents value?    

To be honest I don't have a great answer for the increasing cost vs. services problem. Compromise is the best solution I can come up with right now. Fees and prices might have to go up a little to keep all our services we want, but the city can look and see what sending can be trimmed to limit that fee increase.

What will happen to that land that was bought by VK and the plan that is now dead?

I don't believe that the city needs to do anything with the VK land right now. Unless a great offer comes along to use the land that will greatly benefit Port, our focus should be on fixing our current problems and not potentially creating new ones.

Should the city pursue cooperative adventures with neighboring cities and, if so, what?    

Cooperative adventures with other cities are always a big plus! It is a way of promoting our city and helping all involved grow. I think some of the best joint adventures are charity events. Maybe we have a contest between our neighboring cities and Port to see who can raise the most for a charity. (The) winning city has a big bash thrown by the losers — it could be great!  

Thank you again for letting me answer all the questions presented at the forum. I hope a lot of the readers of Patch will agree with what I have to say. I am not a polititian in any way — I am a blue collar worker and all my answers come directly from the heart and mind of a hard worker. Thank you all for listening and I hope to have your vote on Feb. 21 at the primary.

Ricky Ranz

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If you'd like to submit a letter to Patch, e-mail Lyssa.Beyer@patch.com.