Wisconsin
La Crosse Mayor Reynolds on last four years, what’s next and some city business
La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds in the WIZM studio for La Crosse Talk with less than a month left in office.
We discuss what he’s most proud of over the past four years, and things he wish he could have accomplished. Plus whether he’s going to get back into politics and some city business currently happening.
La Crosse Talk airs weekdays at 6-8 a.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk wherever you get your podcasts.
Started out with the big unknown, ‘Is Reynolds going to get back into politics at some point?’
After that, we talked about former Mayor John Medinger’s endorsement in the current mayor’s race and his being a role model for Reynolds.
We then got into the La Crosse Regional Airport. That included the city council’s decision to put aside $250,000 for the revenue guarantee fund for airlines, in case they don’t break even on flights.
The rest of the show included some of the ups and downs as mayor, including additions to the police and his thoughts on the council not hiring a city administrator.
Bob N.
March 21, 2025 at 10:50 am
A half-hour of softballs directed at the Mayor from his former colleague and friend. It’s worth a listen as Reynolds totally ignores the frustration felt by voters over the past 4 years.
His botching of the “homeless” infestation for the first 3 years of his term, not mentioning the Houska Park debacle, the Econo-Lodge mistake, the Maple Grove Motel botch, the plague of Riverside Park, Cameron Park and the waste of millions of dollars in public ARPA money that could have been used for worthwhile projects were never mentioned.
No mention or even being asked about tax relief for property owners.
Reynolds says he wishes he had gotten on the proposed City Administrator bandwagon early in his term without saying why the current Mayor/Council should be replaced. A good interviewer would have asked why an administrator was needed if the past 4 years went as well as Reynolds says they did.
Outgoing politicians rarely mention any failings, pretending, instead, that they aren’t there. Instead we usually hear regrets that some projects could have started earlier or they should have “fought harder” for their pet projects.
The law that now exists prohibiting overnight camping in city parks and other municipal property was enacted late in his term, despite Reynolds fighting it all the way. He said early- on when the parks were full of squatters that he would never agree with making vagrancy a crime. This belief of his was the main reason it took so much time and money to rid the City of this infestation of losers on City property. Reynolds shoulders most of the blame for the “homeless” problem.
Dorothy Corrigan
March 22, 2025 at 2:12 pm
He had a responsibility to protect the broader public health of the city. The “vagrancy” label covers up the major problems of mental health and addiction among the homeless/unhoused. What was his plan to help these people or make arrests as needed- last time I checked doing drugs and having open containers in public was against the law. This mayor just showed zero common sense when dealing with the compounding errors of managing this difficult population. “Ethical leaders” like this need to go back and review their master’s coursework.
walden
March 21, 2025 at 7:13 pm
It will take a long, long time for La Crosse to recover from this mayor, if it is possible at all. The crime, loss of families to surrounding areas, the destruction of our once beautiful downtown, etc didn’t begin on his watch but certainly accelerated during his term. Petty politics not seen since the Medinger years.
Bill
March 22, 2025 at 7:49 am
I watched Channel 8’s debate between Chris Kahlow and Shaundel Washington-Spivey last night.
Kahlow, who is Council President, was asked to grade Reynolds’ Mayor performance.
She gave Reynolds a “D” on relations with the Council and a reluctant “C” on overall performance.