Archive for December, 2009
La Casa opposes White Rock closing
Posted by: | CommentsAnselmo Villarreal, executive director of Waukesha’s La Casa de Esperanza, said Tuesday that he and his agency were backing efforts to stop the closure of White Rock Elementary School, a facility known for its bilingual program for Hispanics.
School District Administration is proposing to parcel White Rock pupils among three other elementary schools as part of its larger plan to move 6th graders into middle school. The shakeup would provide the cash strapped district more than $1 million in savings on building use and transportation costs, school officials say.
At a morning meeting at La Casa, Villarreal said school administration has not provided his agency nor concerned parents with details that are needed to justify the proposed closing. His support for the parents puts a powerful voice in their corner.
“The School District wants to maximize use of facilities and resources,” Villarreal said. “But what’s more important than anything else is the education of our children.”
Villarreal called the staff and the school “remarkable.”
“We cannot support the closing of White Rock,” he said. “We need to know that the great successes of White Rock will be duplicated. We don’t have answers for that and we don’t know where our children will go.”
No one from district administration or the School Board was there.
Villarreal said he sent a letter to the district last week that says he would not support the closing of White Rock.
Tony Baez, president of the Council for Spanish Speaking Inc., said the closure proposal falls into an economic strategy among school district administrators nationwide to “tighten up.”
“We’ve spent too much time building bilingual schools to let a school superintendent who basically lasts (in the district) for about three years,” Baez said. “Superintendents come and go but not the community.”
The district has held several neighborhood meetings, some at La Casa, to explain its rationale for the proposed closure, saying the school would have too few students and transportation costs could be cut because only one-third of the school’s pupils live inside its enrollment boundaries.
Parent Jose Lopez said at the meeting that he was confused by all of the facts and figures the district is using to justify the closing.
“There are so many official arguments,” Lopez said. “I get confused. I feel lied to.”
The proposal has yet to be a ted on the School Board, which reportedly is conflicted about the idea.
New Waukesha Walmart to open late summer, early fall
Posted by: | CommentsLisa Nelson, a public affairs director with Walmart, said over the holiday that the new store being built at West Ave. and the bypass should be open by late summer or early fall.
Waukesha-based Generac partners with Fiat
Posted by: | CommentsThis in from the Milwaukee Small Business Times:
Generac Power Systems Inc., and Fiat Powertrain Technologies have reached a new strategic partnership that will begin early next year, by which Fiat will supply Generac with a wide range of industrial diesel engines to be used in power generation stations designed and built by Generac.
The power stations will be capable of producing between 60 kW to 350 kW, and will use engines that will increase productivity, efficiency and lower operational costs, both companies said.
Fiat’s engines use about 37 percent less oil than its competitors’ designs and require less frequent oil and filter changes. Although Fiat’s engines are smaller than many other diesel engines used in power generation, they create more power by incorporating turbochargers and enhanced injection systems. Those designs use less fuel, while generating the same or more power than the engines designed by Fiat’s competition.
“FPT engines have many superior technology and performance advantages that Generac seeks to utilize in its gensets,” states Allen Gillette, senior vice president, engineering, Generac. “Using FPT engines will enable us to offer our customers superior products and technology. In addition, as FPT products are developed to reduce engine emissions while improving fuel consumption, they will aid Generac in continuing to meet the new exhaust emissions standards required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and providing the most innovative engine technologies on the market today.”
Generac has also launched a new hybrid electrical system for recreational vehicles. Because today’s motor coaches have all the bells and whistles and comforts of the home, they are using far more energy than ever before, the company says. The appliances and accessories that need to be powered are increasingly more sophisticated and advanced and need a dependable, clean power source.
Generac has partnered with Magnum Energy and Precision Circuits Inc. to introduce the first Hybrid Electrical System to deliver all the power needed for large RVs without having to install a larger, more costly generator.
“For more than 50 years, Generac has garnered considerable expertise in producing small engines, providing innovative and value-driven generator products for the residential, commercial and RV industries. Generac’s staff of talented engineers is responsible for creating this opportunity to expand the company’s RV product offerings, developing a cutting-edge system to answer consumer needs for a better power solution on the road,” said Bill Slavik, director of RV OEM, Generac. “This new power management system allows consumers to now have all the comforts of home without the increased energy costs.”
