Doxtator: Bike Lanes on Side Streets OK, City PD Needs New Space
By Brandi Makuski
George Doxtator is running for reelection of the city’s 1st District. He was first elected to the seat in 2013.
Doxtator, 50, was born and raised in Stevens Point, and graduated from UW-Stevens Point with a political science degree. He is single and has no children.
Doxtator is a firefighter/EMT at the Wisconsin Veterans Home campus in King. He is being challenged for the seat by Tori Jennings.
Why are you running for reelection?
“I think over the last four years I’ve been involved in many projects that are coming to fruition, and I want to see them through and turn out right for the citizens.”
There’s a recent uptick in interest installing bike lanes throughout the city; what are you thoughts on that?
“I think they’d be most useful on streets that are not main arteries, because at rush hour it’s just too dangerous. They should be someplace off the main corridor, like the city’s comprehensive plan says. I’m not against it at all, but they have their place.”
How do you feel about re-striping Stanley St.?
“I do not see Stanley as having a dire need to spend $50,000 (the estimated cost of re-striping); that money could be better used for the 20 percent of the [TAP] grant we can to kick in. It’s great that we got the grant, that the Bike-Ped Committee did that, but now the city’s on the hook for $100,000 and it’s got to come from somewhere. So we could put that $50,000 to better use.”
What are you thoughts on police department staffing and location?
“The police department and city hall are one of my priorities over the next two years; we have to get out of the county-city building. It’s just a drain of taxpayer money. It would cost us so much to go into Mid-State, or possibly one of the empty big box stores, but for their safety, the police need to get out of that basement. The don’t have the room; they don’t have parking and they need more staff. I’ve already had people contact me after what happened in Weston say they’d like to see a couple more police officers in the city. It’s time to suck it up and get the police the facility they need. We’re paying $300,000 a year for our 27 percent of the building.”
What should the city do to fix the downtown TIF?
“I think Michael Ostrowski and his staff at redevelopment have been working 100 percent on that problem, and we put Mid-State down there, we’ve got Great Lakes, Cobblestone…the key piece of the puzzle is whenever we can get Lullaby filled, and that TIF will work itself out of its hole, eventually. But honestly, the vibe downtown is great. It’s a thriving center of town.”
What about other parts of the city, like the south side and the North Division corridor — are they being ignored?
“Well, there are four points to the compass of Stevens Point. The downtown gets a lot more attention. Looking at south of the [railroad] tracks, AECOM had a good plan for redesigning that area of the city, because there was the room to do it from Patch St. all the way down to Minnesota [Ave.]. That corridor is a lot like the Whiting and Plover corridors, it’s got the room to make the flow work for all the business owners. It we did that in the south side, that business corridor could grow and bloom. That would be the first chunk we bite off on Bus. 51, if we do it. We get that cleaned up, we get the infrastructure, we can budget it all out and then work on the north corridor. But I think Sentry’s new complex going in will be a big shot in the arm for that north business corridor.”
What are you thoughts on abstaining from votes?
“It’s absolutely appropriate whenever there’s a conflict of interest the alderperson can be drawn into.”
Where do you stand on regulating rental units and on-street parking permits?
“Parking permits, I’m all for them. We’ve been working on this a long time with that parking study that started four years ago. We had meters downtown when I was growing up, and that might help fill city parking lots, and people can walk a little farther, and help pay for those parking spots that cost us $200 a year to maintain. As far as the rental units, I’d like to see how the City of Oshkosh is going it; they just came up with a way to regulate all their college rentals. So we could take some pointers from those guys, because it’s cutting-edge, really the first in the state. But the city is pretty powerless to inspect rentals; unless someone in the house complains, there’s not much we can do. I think they should increase the cost of the rental license.”
In your opinion, what are the financial priorities be for the city?
“Comptroller-Treasurer Ladick spells it out for us at every meeting; he and his staff do a great job keeping our debt capacity where it needs to be. Stevens Point is doing so much better than other municipalities in that department. If the right project comes down the road, he’ll let us know if it works financially.”
Just before the City Council overturned the Plan Commission on the east side town-home project, you were the only council member to not speak during the comment period. Why, and why did you vote the way you did?
“I did not give a monologue, even though the mayor gave me the chance to, because after two-and-a-half hours of debating this project, I didn’t think anything more needed to be said; I think it just needed to be voted on. There was enough hemming and hawing going on, I just wanted it to move ahead. I voted in favor of the project because I think it was the right thing to do, for the city and the businesses involved. Everything out there was all wetlands before development; that’s the Jordan swamp out there. They filled it all in. Now we’re seeing growth. Point of Beginning, they know what they’re doing out there. They know how to build a building and still save the wetland from future development.”