The tap dance goes underground By Tom Murphy News-Chronicle It's been suggested by a Florida reader (via Internet) that Green Bay's suburbs, now talking with Manitowoc about water, also might want check out the underground river in the eastern portion of Shawano as a potential source. As long as the Brown County Water Authority is looking east for potable water, it might as well look west, too, and have attorneys and geologists check the flow, says our reader. He's formerly from this neck of the woods and had clients involved with that underground river. He says the source is on Shawano's east side and about the same distance from the suburbs as Lake Michigan. The artesian flow is from Lake Superior's glacial underground to Rockford, Ill. As best we can tell, just Shawano (and perhaps a few smaller communities to its north) now taps the reservoir. We find it interesting that while the Green Bay Water Commission stews about the suburbs interest in Manitowoc water, Mayor Jim Schmitt comments on the blessings to be derived from a second right-of-way to the lake. "We're going to need it sometime," says Schmitt. (By the way, he's a native of Two Rivers and should be up on Manitowoc and its goings-on.) If so, Mayor, why not push your leadership button and come up with a revolutionary idea: Create a metropolitan water authority with board membership based on existing assets in each community and provisions for seating based on future usage. What could be more equitable, and reasonable for city water users, than having everyone pay for a new pipeline you say you need? Or has your most voluble water commissioner dug a hole too deep? It should be remembered that this is Brown County. It is not Afghanistan vs. Pakistan or Tadzhik vs. Afghanistan. It's us. There certainly is promise in Manitowoc offering a price of 88 cents per 1,000 gallons (vs. $1.23 per 1,000 (plus operating costs) from Green Bay). But it could prove prudent to check out Shawano. It's mostly downhill from there. When Green Bay's largest consumers decided it's cheaper to drill their own well (or expand or reopen existing sources) than buy high-price H20 from the city, what happens to current smaller business and residential user rates? Up, up and away! And what happens if the suburbs connect with Manitowoc and develop the capability to serve the city's large commercial users with cheaper water, this as well as Denmark and perhaps other communities between here and there? City ratepayers might be best served if the commission backs off that arrogant attitude adopted by one of its own. Do any of you believe, as we do, that Green Bay's been inordinately quiet since the Manitowoc-BCWA idea surfaced? STILL GROWING Green Bay Blueprint, now in its 86th year, breaks ground this week for a new headquarters at 2240 Holmgren Way. The company was founded in 1918 by architect Max Schober, of Foeller Schober Architects. (That firm's name has had a couple of additions and subtractions since then and now is known as Berners-Schober Associates Inc.) (Among other recent projects, the architect/engineering firm created the renovations at Camp Randall Stadium. St. Vincent Hospital and other health care, commercial and educational buildings also count among regional landmarks.) In any event, P.J. Vidani III who now owns Green Bay Blueprint, plans to be in the 12,000-square-foot building in February or March. Howard Immel Inc. is the general contractor. Blueprint was located in the 200 block of North Adams Street, across from Foeller Schober, for 62 years. Construction of the Boston Store bounced the company to Bellevue 22 years ago. Vidani said the firm did all the blueprint work for Lambeau Field renovation and expansion. In addition to work for contractors and architects, Green Bay Bluepring specializes in digital printing. Color enlargements for coporate clients are common, including blowing up a standard 8x10 photo to 5-feet-by-10-feet. Curbside: The Radisson Hotel and Conference Center on Airport Drive is one of 28 units in the national chain to receive the corporate President's Award for hospitality. The recently expanded and renovated hotel/conference center/casino is owned and operated by the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin... One of the more pleasant results of last week's California recall and election was the draw of the Green party. With 99 percent of the votes reported, Green candidate Peter Camejo was a distant fourth with about 207,000 of the 7,000,000 votes... The rumor mill has the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce moving into the former Boston Store once all the condemnation proceedings are past. Former Mayor Paul Jadin, a staunch supporter of downtown revival, now is president of the Chamber.