Crank It Up: A Decade of Noise, Politics & Taxpayer Waste at The Rock

By Franklin Community News

🔑 Key Points: 

• “Crank up the sound” — developer Mike Zimmerman and ally Steve Taylor brushed off residents’ early concerns, setting the tone for a decade of disregard.

• Emergency Meeting, Sept. 2023 — Mayor Nelson, Zimmerman, Taylor, and Hersh mocked residents, calling them “terrorists”, “Karens”, and “crazy.”

• UDO Changed in 2025 — Franklin raised legal noise caps from 55 dB ➝ 65 dB, despite residents saying they could hear concerts “word for word” inside their homes.

• County RSG Study ($200k) — validated residents’ complaints but was blocked by Zimmerman, monitors left broken, and recommendations ignored.

• JPM Study ($78.5k) — approved in Feb. 2025 but delayed for months; Zimmerman only signed after Nelson confronted him at the Umbrella Bar in August. The study began after the Milkmen season, making results meaningless.

• Complaints vs. “No Data” — Nelson admits he reviews complaints with the police chief weekly. No citations issued because monitors were broken and unrepaired, producing junk data.

• Umbrella Bar Loophole — Franklin’s Tavern Music License (§ 121-7) allows “music of any kind or description” under a Class B license. Zimmerman uses this vague wording to justify outdoor DJs on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, while hosting live bands on Saturdays without proper permits. Consultants recommended an in-house system with auto-limiting DSP, but Franklin never required it.

• Political Shield —

  • Zimmerman donated the $735 max to Nelson’s campaign.

  • Hosted a fundraiser at Luxe Golf Bays ($363 in-kind).

  • Used Blend for campaign support (unreported).

  • Taylor and Hersh doubled as Nelson’s campaign team.

  • Result: ordinances bent, consultants ignored, residents dismissed.

• Taxpayer Waste — Nearly $300,000 spent on studies with no enforceable results.

• Residents’ Demands:

  • Enforce § 121-9 — require all outdoor amplified music (live or DJ) to obtain an Extraordinary Entertainment and Special Event Permit.

  • Amend Class B ordinance to tie amplified music to compliance.

  • Require an in-house, city-controlled sound system at the Umbrella Bar.

  • Repair and calibrate all monitors before new data is accepted.

  • Tie compliance to licenses and permits — revoke if necessary.

  • Launch a public dashboard for transparency.

  • End political protection — no more campaign-finance shields.

🎵 Prologue: It Started With Four Words

When The Rock Sports Complex was first proposed, neighbors didn’t object to baseball — they feared the noise. Fireworks, concerts, loudspeakers, late-night music at the Umbrella Bar. Their pleas for safeguards were brushed aside.

Developer Mike Zimmerman and political ally Steve Taylor summed up their response in four words:

“Crank up the sound.”

That dismissive phrase set the tone for more than a decade: louder events, bent ordinances, wasted tax dollars, and political protection for The Rock.

🏗️ A Project Built on Volume

The Rock didn’t rise out of nowhere — it was engineered through politics.

Steve Taylor, wearing two hats as both a Franklin alderman and a Milwaukee County Supervisor, was at the center of the deal. Records show he helped broker the sale of the County-owned Crystal Ridge property to Mike Zimmerman for just $1【County Resolution 17-XXX, 2017】. Taylor also pushed through the rezoning, leading the project from both sides of government.

In the early 2010s, neighbors warned about noise: fireworks, concerts, loudspeakers, and the Umbrella Bar. They urged safeguards before the project broke ground. But with Taylor driving the approvals as both city and county official, those concerns were brushed aside.

Economic development won. Residents lost peace.

💵 Sidebar: The $1 Deal

Year	Action	Key Players	Notes
2010–2012	Early rezoning discussions	Steve Taylor (Franklin alderman & County Supervisor)	Taylor pushes rezoning at both city and county levels.
2017	Milwaukee County Resolution 17-XXX approves sale of Crystal Ridge property	Milwaukee County Board; Steve Taylor	Property transferred to Zimmerman/ROC Ventures for $1.
2018	Franklin approvals for Ballpark Commons (TID No. 5, road changes, agreements)	Franklin Common Council; Taylor as alderman	City-level approvals clear way for construction.

🚨 The “Emergency” Meeting That Brutalized Trust

September 21, 2023, Mayor John Nelson convened what he called an “emergency meeting” with Zimmerman, Taylor, City Administrator Kelly Hersh, and Ald. Jason Craig.

According to Wisconsin Right Now:

• Taylor called residents “terrorists,” “idiots,” and worse.

• Zimmerman dismissed Supervisor Patti Logsdon as “crazy.”

• Hersh suggested branding neighbors as “too emotional” or “Karens.”

“Residents weren’t heard. They were mocked.”

No apology followed. No accountability. For neighbors, it confirmed what they had long suspected: City Hall wasn’t listening — it was laughing.

📢 When Rules Get Louder

Franklin’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) capped Milkmen game noise at

55 dB at the property line.

But in May 2025, the Common Council raised the ceiling:

• 65 dB for Milkmen games

• 60 dB for food-truck events

Residents erupted. Joy Draginis-Zinggles testified:

“I hear every word of the bands every Saturday in my home… in our bedrooms… it’s disruptive.”

Dana Gindt added:

“We could hear the games even last year when they were operating at 55dB.

Instead of enforcing the law, Franklin rewrote it to accommodate Zimmerman.

🏛️ County Steps In — and Gets Blocked

In 2023, Milwaukee County spent $200,000 on a noise study. It confirmed residents’ complaints: sound traveled two miles.

Zimmerman’s response? Deny access. By then, two monitors were broken, one hadn’t been calibrated in years, and the study was compromised.

Supervisor Patti Logsdon pushed for a lawsuit:

“It’s time to sue if they don’t adhere to the agreement.”

The lawsuit never came. The cycle continued.

🎸 The Umbrella Bar Loophole

The Umbrella Bar has long been Franklin’s loudest flashpoint. On Saturdays, live bands bring in their own sound systems — massive amps and subs — making every show different, louder, and impossible to regulate.

Consultants warned this would be a problem and recommended a city-controlled, in-house system with auto-limiting DSP controls to cap sound at the source. Franklin never required it.

Instead, Zimmerman leaned on Franklin’s Tavern Music License ordinance (§ 121-7), which states:

“Any person holding a Class ‘B’ fermented malt beverage license or a Class ‘B’ intoxicating liquor license who permits in said premises singing or music of any kind or description for the entertainment of persons therein, except the music of any coin-operated phonograph, shall first obtain a tavern music license. The tavern music license shall not permit dancing or a cabaret or floor show. A tavern music license shall permit 

This clause was meant for indoor music or DJs, but Zimmerman has stretched it to justify outdoor DJ sets on Fridays and Sundays. By doing so, he bypasses the Extraordinary Entertainment and Special Event Permit (§ 121-9) process that was designed to regulate outdoor amplified shows.

The effect is clear:

• Saturdays — full live bands, operating outside the tavern music license but unchecked.

• Fridays & Sundays — DJs outdoors, shielded by vague ordinance wording.

Consultants said fix it. Franklin ignored it. Zimmerman exploited it.

Until Franklin enforces its own ordinances and requires all outdoor amplified events — DJ or live — to obtain proper permits, residents will remain trapped in a cycle of sleepless weekends.

🎶 What Good Is a Sound Study Without Control?

Franklin has spent nearly $80,000 on sound studies. But here’s the reality: a study can’t regulate chaos if every band brings its own system.

One weekend it’s a modest duo; the next, a full band with festival-grade subs. Each setup is different. Monitoring can measure it, but it can’t enforce it.

The only solution is what consultants already recommended: a dedicated in-house system with auto-limiting DSP. Without it, every study is a paper shield — recording problems but never fixing them.

📊 The $78,500 “Accountability” Study — Stalled Into Uselessness

In February 2025, the Franklin Common Council unanimously approved a $78,500

contract with JPM Acoustics to finally bring accountability to The Rock after years of frustration.

On paper, it looked like the breakthrough residents had been demanding:

• 1-second A/C-weighted monitoring capable of capturing both music and bass thump in real time.

• 3D acoustic maps to show exactly how sound traveled into neighborhoods.

• Onsite event testing during games and concerts to catch violations as they happened.

• A public-facing dashboard so residents could see the data for themselves.

• Police training to actually enforce citations, rather than shrugging off complaints.

It sounded like real accountability at last.

But then… nothing.

• February passed — no signatures, no equipment installed.

• March came and went — still nothing.

• April, May, June — prime baseball and concert season — still no study.

By midsummer, residents realized what was happening: the contract was being held hostage. The agreement was dated July 11, 2025, but developer Mike Zimmerman refused to sign. The delay stretched on for months, effectively neutering the study before it even began.

By the time the signature finally appeared — August 5, 2025 — the Milkmen’s season was over and the city’s concert series at the Umbrella Bar was winding down. The study designed to measure peak-season noise would instead be launched during the quietest part of the year.

The holdup wasn’t just paperwork. According to multiple sources, Mayor John Nelson had to confront Zimmerman directly at the Umbrella Bar in early August, demanding he sign the long-delayed agreement. After a heated exchange, Zimmerman relented and finally executed the contract.

Even then, cooperation was minimal. Engineers weren’t allowed to repair or recalibrate Franklin’s broken monitors, meaning the study began in September with crippled equipment — and in cooler fall weather that naturally muffles sound.

What was supposed to be Franklin’s most sophisticated accountability tool had already been gutted: delayed into irrelevance, stripped of its teeth, and staged in conditions least likely to capture the real problem.

📉 Complaints vs. “No Data”

At a public council meeting (available on YouTube), Mayor John Nelson openly stated that he personally reviews all noise complaints with the Franklin police chief every Monday morning. He presented this as proof of diligence — but also as justification for inaction. Because the city’s monitors showed no violations, he said, there was nothing to enforce. No citations.

Nelson (Council Meeting, YouTube, 2025):
“Every Monday I sit down with the police chief. We look at the complaints. And based on the data, there are no violations.”
(Watch here)

The problem: those monitors were broken or uncalibrated, and engineers were barred from fixing them. What Nelson described as “clean data” was, in reality, junk data.

Meanwhile, residents testified over and over that they could hear concerts “word for word” in their bedrooms — sometimes with windows closed, TVs on, and doors shut. The mayor’s Monday ritual became symbolic of Franklin’s failure: a cycle where the complaints are real, the monitors are broken, and City Hall hides behind faulty numbers to deny the obvious.

🧩 The Politics of Protection

Zimmerman’s shield isn’t just business — it’s political.

• He gave Nelson the maximum personal donation of $735 — the highest amount legally allowed for an individual under Wisconsin campaign finance law.

• Campaign finance reports show a $363 in-kind donation for a fundraiser at Luxe Golf Bays, one of Zimmerman’s signature venues. The event costs were absorbed by the business, not the campaign.

• Witnesses also reported a separate event at Blend, another Zimmerman-owned business, though no expense was listed in Nelson’s filings — raising questions about unreported in-kind contributions.

• Supervisor Steve Taylor and City Administrator Kelly Hersh — both tied to Zimmerman’s development efforts — sat in on the infamous September 2023 “emergency” meeting where residents were called “terrorists” and “Karens.”

• All three — Zimmerman, Taylor, and Hersh — were part of Nelson’s reelection campaign team, described publicly by Taylor as the mayor’s “inner circle.”

These weren’t incidental overlaps. They were structural alliances:

• Zimmerman’s businesses became campaign venues.

• His checkbook and in-kind contributions became campaign resources.

• Taylor and Hersh became political allies and campaign operatives.

The result is a City Hall that treats residents’ noise complaints as political inconveniences, while treating Zimmerman’s businesses as campaign partners. The machine protects The Rock — and dismisses the people living in its shadow.

💸 Sidebar: What’s the Price of Noise Denial

Year	Study / Proposal	Cost	Outcome
2020	Shen, Milsom & Wilke	$4,795	Never approved
2023	RSG County Study	$200,000	Undermined by access denial
2025	JPM Acoustics (City)	$78,500	Delayed, compromised
Total	—	$283,295	Residents still suffer

🔔 Conclusion: Stop the Games, End the Noise

For more than a decade, Franklin residents have been trapped in a cycle: complain, get dismissed, watch City Hall order another study, and see nothing change. Each round costs more taxpayer money and buys developer Mike Zimmerman more time.

A sound study done under compromised conditions is worse than no study at all. It creates the illusion of accountability while delaying real enforcement.

And behind every delay is politics. Zimmerman didn’t just build The Rock — he built a campaign finance shield:

• His $735 maximum donation went straight to Mayor John Nelson’s campaign.

• His Luxe Golf Bays facility hosted a fundraiser, logged as a $363 in-kind contribution.

• His Blend business was used for campaign support, though no expense was reported in filings.

• His allies — Supervisor Steve Taylor and City Administrator Kelly Hersh — weren’t just city officials. They sat at Nelson’s strategy table, doubling as his reelection campaign inner circle.

Together, they created a revolving door between City Hall and Zimmerman’s businesses:

• Campaign money in.

• Noise enforcement out.

With The Rock doubling as both a campaign venue and a donor base, it’s no surprise Franklin has bent ordinances, ignored consultants, and treated residents as nuisances rather than constituents. This is not just a failure of policy — it’s a failure of integrity.

💰 Sidebar: The Campaign Finance Shield

Contributor / Venue	Type of Support	Amount / Value	Notes
Mike Zimmerman	Direct Campaign Donation	$735	Maximum personal donation allowed under WI law
Luxe Golf Bays	In-kind Fundraiser (venue)	$363	Event costs absorbed by Zimmerman’s business
Blend (Zimmerman-owned)	Campaign event support	Unreported	Witnesses confirm use; not listed in Nelson’s filings
Steve Taylor	Campaign ally / strategist	—	Sat in on 2023 “emergency” meeting; Nelson’s campaign team
Kelly Hersh	Campaign ally / strategist	—	Sat in on 2023 “emergency” meeting; Nelson’s campaign team

📌 Together, these contributions and alliances created a political machine:

• Zimmerman’s money and venues fueled Nelson’s campaign.

• Taylor and Hersh provided political cover inside City Hall.

• In return, ordinances bent, monitors stayed broken, and residents’ voices were dismissed.

📌 What Residents Can Demand Now

• Enforce Franklin’s own ordinances — require all outdoor amplified music, whether live bands or DJs, to obtain an Extraordinary Entertainment and Special Event Permit (§ 121-9) instead of hiding behind the Tavern Music License (§ 121-7).

• Amend Franklin’s Class B ordinance to tie amplified entertainment directly to enforceable noise compliance.

• Require a permanent in-house sound system at the Umbrella Bar with city-approved auto-limiting controls.

• Repair and calibrate all monitors before accepting any new study data.

• Tie compliance to licenses and permits — revoke them if violations continue.

• Launch the promised public dashboard for real-time transparency.

• End political protection — demand campaign finance transparency and stop developers from doubling as campaign hosts.

Franklin doesn’t need another glossy report. It needs leaders who serve residents, not donors. Until then, every dollar spent is wasted, and every dismissed complaint is another sleepless night.

It’s time to stop protecting profits at the expense of people. It’s time to stop playing games with residents’ lives. It’s time, finally, to act — For the Greater Good.