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Politics & Government

1st District Candidates Identify Similar Issues Facing City

Three hometown candidates say it is their time to serve.

Each of the three candidates for the 1st District seat on the Common Council is a political newcomer and each said the time was right to take on the task of serving their home town.

Tuesday, the three candidates will be reduced to two in a primary election, before the April 3 general election. The 1st aldermanic district seat will be vacated by Ald. Linda Nikcevich, who decided against seeking re-election last fall. Aldermen serve four-year terms, earning $4,200 annually.

Jim Moldenhauer shifted his focus from the mayor’s job to a seat on the Common Council after two long-time city residents and experienced community leaders declared their candidacy for the city’s top elected position, along with political newcomer John Pokrandt. Also on the first aldermanic district slate are Jeffrey Kroll and Robert Smith.

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The candidates say the 1st District is plagued by the same issues as the city as a whole:

  • costly sewer woes
  • a need for economic growth
  • the challenge of sustaining city services in difficult financial times
  • a desire to preserve green space, neighborhoods and other assets that make Wauwatosa a draw as a place to live and set up business.

Another key issue is revitalizing the East Tosa business district along North Avenue. The East Tosa business district abuts the northern boundary of the 1st district and is an area targeted for redevelopment in a newly adopted $5 million plan.

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Although each candidate cites lifelong Tosa roots as a driving desire to seek a seat on the council, each notes significantly different experiences within and beyond the city among the assets they offer in serving the district.

Jeffrey Kroll

Kroll, 32, enters the race at a time when the city’s long neglected infrastructure has evolved to near-crisis mode and said he offers an insider perspective based on seven years of summer work in the city’s public works department, as well as an internship with the department after completing graduate school.

As the youngest candidate in the race, Kroll said he offers the advantage of bringing fresh perspectives to the city’s challenges. As a social scientist, Kroll said he offers an evidence-based approach to decision-making and is keen on ensuring every voice is heard and would pursue tapping new technology to more accurately gather and gauge public opinion.

As alderman, Kroll said, his goal will be to focus on the community’s agenda as articulated by residents rather than political agendas of elected officials.

He is married and has no children.

Jim Moldenhauer

Moldenhauer, 48, said his years in private business make him a fiscally prudent candidate who also will focus on delivering a quality product in terms of city services and governance. Moldenhauer is an information technologies manager with an entrepreneurial plastics firm in Germantown that he has helped grow by 19.8 percent a year. It is that experience that he wants to bring to the Common Council.

“Even though we have fared well, we have to be competitive ... with our neighboring communities,” Moldenhauer said. “Part of the equation to do that is to have a certain level of economic development. Another part of the equation is to adequately support reforms in city government in the most cost-effective way possible.”

Robert Smith

Smith cites a long career in working with communities, including as general manager of Mayfair Mall in the 1990s, when he was appointed to serve on Wauwatosa’s first economic development committee. His career in real estate has taken him to Atlanta, Chicago and most recently Spokane, WA, where he was a key player in the city’s downtown redevelopment efforts. His most recent project was the turnaround of the troubled downtown River Park Square mall, as vice president and chief executive officer of Cowles Real Estate. 

“There is nothing that points to the potential for success more than having done it, and I’ve done it,” Smith said. 

In addition to extensive experience in community development activity, Smith said he is at home with managing huge budgets, including as vice president of a Chicago real estate firm where he managed 22 shopping centers around the country with a combined budget of more than $200 million. The city's annual budget is just shy of $55 million. 

Smith, 64, and his wife recently returned to Wauwatosa, where they raised their children and where they have always maintained a home, even during career stints outside the state. Their three children and grown and they have three grandchildren.

“It doesn’t make any difference whether we lived in Chicago, Atlanta, Spokane, Madison; we never left Wauwatosa,” Smith said.

“The city is headed in a great direction, and I think it is the right direction,” Smith said. “With a little bit of tweaking and additional involvement by all the elected individuals in the community, I think Wauwatosa is only going to get stronger.” 

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