WMC Hits New Low: Embraces Air Pollution

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce argues in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel op-ed that Wisconsinites should breathe dirty air.

The Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency wants to impose tough clean air standards on about one-third of the state, including Milwaukee, Waukesha and Dane Counties, because our air is not healthy, yet could and should be cleaner.

And the WMC objects.

And tells us the sky is falling:

"Manufacturers, many of whom are facing intense global competition, would be forced to cut jobs to pay for the higher cost of electricity and additional regulatory burden," says the WMC's Scott Manley.

"The ozone non-attainment stigma that helped cause economic expansion to stagnate in the southeastern part of the state would spread to other counties."

Business owners of Wisconsin, who also breathe the air in this state, as do your children, friends and employees:

That is your organization talking, and exaggerating the negative state of the state to the outside world.

Here is the truth:

The sky is not falling in Wisconsin.

It just needs to be clearer, so all of us, owners and consumers alike, can breathe a little easier.

Note: The Journal Sentinel editorial board comes out on the cleaner air side, too.

Putting The Honeybee Disappearance Into Context

When a scientist as prestigious as Edward O. Wilson says we need to pay attention to the insect world, it's good to take the time to read what he's thinking.

The Washington Post hears him out.

"Sicko" Shames Health Care Coverage Deniers

I saw "Sicko," Michael Moore's latest documentary, last night, and it is a powerful film.

It's a good bet "Sicko" will do for health care reform what "An Inconvenient Truth" did for climate change: elevate and amplify the debate, and turn awareness into action.

While the health care industry complains that its side of the issue didn't get fair coverage in the film, (oh, poor Big Pharma and the managed care industries, whose commercials and political power are soooo inadequate), CNN finds that most of Moore's claims are accurate.

If nothing else, the documentary will leave viewers asking three questions:

1. How did we end up with the overly-expensive yet inefficient system we have?

2. Can we do anything about it if so many politicians take money from health insurance companies that maximize profits by routinely denying coverage?

3. And the big one, guaranteed to be the cause of churning stomachs as the film's credits roll:

I wonder if my insurance will really cover me when I need it - - or will I end up like the people in the movie who had insurance, only to have their claims denied?

Or their coverage cancelled when claims were made?

Or were even forced to refund paid claims when the health insurers auditing detectives swung into action?

Note that Massachusetts is implementing a single-state health care reform plan, which California may copy.

Republicans in our state legislature, while personally enjoying Cadillac, taxpayer-paid coverage, are calling the universal coverage plan adopted by the State Senate dead-on-arrival.

Nothing self-interested or contradictory about that! It reminds me of legislators who bloviate about 'welfare' and what they call "The Nanny State,' then pocket their $88-taxpayer-paid, tax-free per diem for driving into Madison for a meeting, then home.

Maybe there's a way to dragoon legislators into a showing of "Sicko."

Free beer and brats would get them there, though the giveaway might be counter to the movie's healthy message, and perhaps illegal.

But there'd be no more appropriate audience right now for Michael Moore's movie-making than Wisconsin legislators who are blocking health care reform, and a healthier state.

Milwaukee Not Prepared To Provide Water To New Berlin: New Berlin Not Prepared To Pay For The Equipment

Milwaukee officials admit what has been talked about behind the scenes for months: the city's water system was not engineered to easily push water out of the city and over the subcontinental divide, and upgrades will cost big money.

(The subcontinental divide is best observed as the hill on I-94 at Sunny Slope Rd. west of Milwaukee.)

For the record, I wrote about this problem in a blog posting four months ago.

But mainstream media, politicians across the region, and officials in state government have been discussing the issue as if all that was needed to ship Milwaukee water westward was the flipping of a switch.

That campaign, part propaganda and part denial, has been disingenuous, and now the facts are finally coming out:

Milwaukee's pipes and pumps cannot guarantee water delivery to western suburbs like New Berlin in Waukesha County during periods of peak demand, like hot summer days or during a fire - - the very situations that define a public water system's value.

And someone is going to have to foot the bill to make the system do what it wasn't installed to do - - meaning the financial decisions at hand are larger than what rates will be charged for water exports if a sale were ever approved.

Here's part of my posting from February 28th, written about the regional push for Milwaukee water:

"And who will pay for the additional infrastructure in both the selling and receiving communities for both the supply of water, and for its return for treatment?

"Waukesha is facing big capital costs for sure if it wins a diversion, but has anyone asked the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) if it can handle a large new influx of sewage for treatment from Waukesha, assuming that's where the sewage treatment would occur?

"And it is known in Milwaukee's City Hall that Milwaukee's water system pumps are insufficient to push water over the subcontinental divide to either New Berlin or Waukesha.

"Who will cover that projected multi-million dollar cost (the number $4-8 million has been floated) if New Berlin or Waukesha wins a diversion?Milwaukee taxpayers? New Berlin's? Waukesha's?"

New Berlin, the first Waukesha city looking for water from Milwaukee west of the divide, says it may pay part of the cost to upgrade Milwaukee's water system so it can get Milwaukee water.

Part of the cost?

And ask this question: why would the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources be inching closer to approving New Berlin's Lake Michigan diversion application, knowing that the most-likely seller - - Milwaukee Water Works - - cannot guarantee New Berlin water during the very cirsumstances that a community most needs water?

Bad enough that the DNR has been told by Wisconsin's Attorney General that it cannot administratively approve any diversion of Great Lakes water without the approval of the seven other Great Lakes states - - another fact not acknowledged by traditional media.

Bad enough again that the DNR indicates that it might approve the New Berlin diversion application without the approval of the other Great Lakes states, even though conservation and environmental organizations across the state and Great Lakes region have said that approving any diversion application before all the states have ratified the pending Great Lakes Compact is premature, and could set a devastating precedent.

But touting, or worse, approving the New Berlin application, thus suggesting implicitly that there is a reliable source for the diversion while knowing otherwise - - aside from the legal prohibitions laid down by the Wisconsin Attorney General in December - - is completely irresponsible by the DNR on multiple levels.

It's time that local and state officials, including the DNR, come clean with the public by acknowledging the real problems with the New Berlin application, and put their energies into getting the Great Lakes Compact adopted for Wisconsin.

And by implementing prudent conservation and other genuine approaches to better water management in Wisconsin, rather than pushing pipe dreams and rhetoric that add nothing to the debate except confusion, false hopes, and diminution for the Great Lakes.

Legislative Hypocrisy On Health Care Is Sickening

Republican lawmakers in the State Assembly will block adoption of universal health care proposed by Democrats in the State Senate.

Some can't even control their rhetoric..."socialized medicine...boondoggle...nightmare..."

Of course, being eligible for that Cadillac health care plan provided by state taxpayers (one of a wonderful buffet of super benefits) is no doubt fine with these same legislators while they make sure others can't get the same coverage.

I've Said I Wouldn't Vote For Mitt Romney For Dog Catcher

And look how right that was!

Waukesha Grumbles About SEWRPC Over $100,000

Waukesha County has had the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWEPC) dancing to its land use and transportation tune for decades, but is now bent out of shape over a more realistic transit funding decision that awards Milwaukee County a few more bucks?

Please!

Waukesha's agendas are front-and-center at SEWRPC when it comes to freeway expansion, water supply needs and other recommendations and decisions designed to help out a sprawl-happy county.

The Waukesha County complaint about transit dollars being shifted to Milwaukee County, which has a much larger system and transit-dependent population, is beyond frivolous.

And it makes a mockery of regional cooperation, which is the flag under which so much Waukesha County policy, development and media hype has flown.

I wrote an op-ed piece for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2005 on this very subject - - Waukesha County leaders are all for regional cooperation when it serves their parochial interests - - so thank you Waukesha for helping make the issue clearer.

So when a SEWRPC decision disappoints Waukesha County, it wants to pick up its ball and go home?

Fine.

If Waukesha County were to pull out of SEWRPC, so be it.

And while Waukesha County is busy trying to dismantle SEWRPC:

Move the SEWRPC offices out of Waukesha County.

Pull the plug on the water supply study that Waukesha County asked SEWRPC to fund (with the biggest share of money coming from Milwaukee County).

Pull Milwaukee County's annual property-tax supplied contribution, since it is also the largest operating contribution among the seven counties. Every year.

Wipe off the proposed maps all those demolitions and acreage losses in Milwaukee County for the widened freeway lanes in Milwaukee for the convenience of Waukesha commuters drivers.

Then reallocate the SEWRPC commissioner seats on the basis of population in the remaining six counties so we can have genuine regional planning, and taxation with representation, too.

Fireworks' Obsession Makes Displays Routine, Annonying

4th of July fireworks celebrations?

Great fun and tradition.

3rd of July fireworks celebration in Milwaukee? A local quirk, but fine, because it allows for neighborhood events the following night.

But closing the new Lakefront State Park early 16 times to accommodate every festival that wants fireworks, too?

Overkill.

And a diminution to Independence Day traditions.

Details below from today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newswatch blog:

THURSDAY, June 28, 2007, 11:50 a.m.By Tom Held

Lakeshore State Park closing early tonight

The week-old state park sculpted from the island off the Summerfest grounds will close an hour early tonight and July 3 to accommodate fireworks displays.

Clarke Johnson, superintendent of Lakeshore State Park, said the bridge to the island will be open throughout the 11-day Summerfest run and the park will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the two fireworks exceptions.

During the summer, the park will close early a total of 16 nights for the fireworks displays launched from the island.

And You Wonder Why Congress' Approval Ratings Have Tanked?

The House approves a pay raise for itself.

Is there a bi-partisan "Defeat Me in '08" caucus?

New Berlin Lobbying For Lake Michigan Diversion

The City of New Berlin is again pressing for a Lake Michigan diversion before the state approves the pending Great Lakes Compact, or before the likely supplier, the City of Milwaukee, says it wants to sell.

And one DNR official suggests - - again, here - - his agency can approve this request without the say-so of the other Great Lakes states, something you may have read here first.

And again, just for the record: the Wisconsin Attorney General has already opined in writing that the DNR does not have that authority - - something the traditional media continues to withhold from publishing.

Get Involved In Push For Healthy Wisconsin Initiative

One Wisconsin Now points the way to citizen involvement in health care reform:

This week, the Senate Democrats introduced Healthy Wisconsin: Your Choice, Your Plan.

Healthy Wisconsin is a comprehensive health care reform bill to guarantee high-quality, affordable health care for every Wisconsin worker and every Wisconsin family.

Healthy Wisconsin is an idea whose time has come.
Healthy Wisconsin will

Allow you to choose your doctor and provider

Offer the same high-quality health care benefits as your state legislators

Provide coverage for every Wisconsin worker and every Wisconsin family
Serve as an affordable way to provide health care while asking everyone to pay their fair share

Healthy Wisconsin is currently under debate in the State Assembly. Contact your Assembly Representative and encourage him or her to support Healthy Wisconsin.

Health Care is a right, and Wisconsin families have a right to health care.
Act Now and support Healthy Wisconsin!

Please forward this on to others who you think may be interested in learning about OWN's work.

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for OWN Action Alerts.

(Note: I am on OWN's board.)

Taking "Broken Windows" Policing Too Far

It's a toss-up as to which party showed the poorest judgement in Wednesday's Made-For-TV 'news' stunt to show why you shouldn't leave your cellphones and iPods visible in cars at park-and-ride lots during Summerfest.

Was the worst judgement shown by Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke?

It was his event, complete with scary-looking deputies dressed like bad guys, demonstrating to news crews how to smash a car window to steal items left inside.

Or was it the TV stations with goofy judgement - - here's WTMJ Channel 4 's tape and online posting that aired the stunt. (TMJ4 even disclosed the very parking lots that will not be patrolled during Summerfest)

Here's a few lines from the TMJ4 news-you-can-use-or-get-paranoid-about-piece:

"To help stop the problem, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke is asking everyone to leave their valuables at home instead of leaving them inside of cars parked in the Park and Ride lots.

"They simply walk through the lots looking through windows, which makes it easy for them to determine what they can steal," Clarke said.

"Leaving valuable items at home, or locking them in your trunk or out of plain view will help prevent theft and save you a great deal of inconvenience and expense."

Good grief: Leave your valuables at home?

We need the busy sheriff of Milwaukee County to tell us that? Talk about your nanny state!

And Summerfest must have just loved the publicity. They push taking the express buses to and from the festival, and now we've got these warnings about smash-and-grab thefts, and not enough coppers to patrol all the lots?


Hey: Happy 40th Anniversary, Summerfest!

City, County Agree On A Transit And Tax Plan...

But it's in Dane County, not Milwaukee County.

In Milwaukee County, the planning, the conversation, the coordinated effort wouldn't happen, with Scott Walker, Milwaukee County Executive, the number-one obstacle.

Walker continues to support some bus line improvements, period, with no rail or better connections to even County-run operations, like the zoo and airport.

Talk radio uses city and regional rail alternatives to stir up anti-Milwaukee sentiment in the suburbs, and Walker, being one of the talkers' pets, wins their praise by reflexively bashing rail plans that have Milwaukee at the center.

Regardless, good for Madison and Dane County for assertively seeking options, and setting in motion a process that should move the entire issue further down the track.

Maybe when Walker is off to another adventure, the Milwaukee area can make some real progress on crucial transportation issues.

Ann Coulter Continues To Help The John Edwards Campaign

Everytime she opens her mouth, Coulter helps John and Elizabeth Edwards establish their campaign's appeal.

Kedzie Study Committee On Great Lakes Water Issues To Meet In July

The state legislative study committee on Great Lakes water has scheduled a meeting for July 18th, according to a posting on the committee's website.

What's significant about the meeting is that it is the committee's first since December 15, 2006.

The committee has been unable to agree upon draft legislation that would approve and implement proposed standards, rules, and other procedures governing conservation and certain uses of water in the Great Lakes basin.

More Stewardship Purchases Increase Public Access To The Wisconsin Outdoors

Gov. Jim Doyle is on the circuit today, announcing major land purchases through the popular, bi-partisan Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, adding prime open space and wild areas for the public to enjoin in perpetuity.

Like the Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee, tangible state actions on behalf of the public interest enhance the value and reputation of Wisconsin's natural beauty.

And minimize the sting of sprawl that has already eaten up some of the state's finest wetlands and forests and continues to threaten what remains, such as, for example, Waukesha County's Vernon Marsh Wildlife Area.

Former GOP Gov. Thompson, like Warren Knowles, were big supporters of the Stewardship Fund.

Acquiring these properties and expanding the Fund has always been bi-partisan, but in truth, is really non-partisan, because everyone benefits from the Fund's purchases.

There may be a handful of off-note critics who can't see the public policy forest for the remaining trees, but they should take off their ideological blinders and enjoy a nice walk in the woods, or along Milwaukee's now-expanded and more accessible lakefront.

Another Media Splash About Declining Great Lakes Levels

The Detroit News features the growing concern about falling levels in Lakes Superior and Michigan. This is not the first such story - - here's another example from March - - and, unfortunately, it won't be the last, because falling water levels in the Great Lakes is a big, visual, compelling story.

The coverage, however, usually fails to make the local connection - - namely that Lake Michigan is the source from which communities in Waukesha County want to divert water.

Without a strong, cooperative international Compact agreement based on conservation, and a focus on rules and standards governing diversions - - including prohibitions against the export of bottled water - - states and Canadian provinces could begin to unilaterally draw down these water with little regard for the resource.

And a strong Compact will help keep the Great Lakes from being piped, shipped or allowed to flow south to warmer, parched states.

With declining levels, invasive species and pollution from farms, waste treatment facilities and construction sites already stressing the Great Lakes, is this a good time, through inaction on the pending Great Lakes Compact, to make poor management of these waters even easier?

Or is it a good time - - for the right reasons - - to pay closer attention to the lakes' falling levels?

And then to turn that all-too-measurable reality into action by Wisconsin, and the other Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces, redefining these jurisdictions as assertive stewards of the Great Lakes watershed by their approvals of the Great Lakes Compact.

State Senate Adopts Pro-Conservation Budget, Group Says

The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters sums up the Senate version of the State Budget as a pro-conservation document, with these highlights, according to the Madison-based group:

“Tonight [Tuesday] the State Senate approved measures that will benefit every Wisconsin citizen…whether they live near a landfill filled with Minnesota’s waste, whether they hunt or fish, whether they drink water or breathe air,” said Anne Sayers, Program Director of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters.

"The pro-conservation budget passed by the state Senate took the following actions to protect Wisconsin ’s natural resources:

"Land Protection: The Senate version of the state budget reauthorizes the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund for another decade and restores the purchasing power of the program to allow it to contend with ever-increasing land prices.

"Out-of-State Waste Reduction: The Senate version of the state budget increases the recycling tipping fee to $10 to deter out-of-state waste, while also providing $47.4 million of the revenue needed by local entities to run recycling programs.

"Polluted Runoff Reduction: The Senate version of the state budget provides $25 million in funds to battle polluted runoff, Wisconsin ’s number one water quality problem.

"Contaminated River Clean-Up: The Senate version of the state budget provides $17 million to clean-up contaminated sediments in Milwaukee-area rivers."

Renewable Energy Loan and Grant Program Creation: The Senate version of the state budget provides $30 million for the Renewable Energy Grants and Loans program dedicated to investing in Wisconsin renewable energy technologies.

"Clean Energy Bill Protection: The Senate version of the state budget corrected an action by the Joint Finance Committee that would have undermined Wisconsin ’s prized Clean Energy Bill. The deleted provision would have encouraged Wisconsin to purchase power from Manitoba Power rather than creating jobs here by generating that power in Wisconsin.

"Voting for a pro-conservation budget were Senators Breske, Carpenter, Coggs, Decker, Erpenbach, Hansen, Jauch, Kreitlow, Lassa, Lehman, Miller, Plale, Risser, Robson, Sullivan, Taylor, Vinehout, and Wirch.

"Voting against a pro-conservation budget were Senators Cowles, Darling, Ellis, Fitzgerald, Grothman, Harsdorf, Kanavas, Kapanke, Kedzie, Lasee, Lazich, Leibham, Olsen, Roessler, and Schultz.

"The state budget will next be considered by the 99 members of the state Assembly.
#####

"The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to electing conservation leaders to the state legislature and encouraging lawmakers to champion conservation policies that effectively protect Wisconsin 's public health and natural resources."

(Note: See yesterday's post about a separate Senate action blocking freeway expansion just west of Miller Park, at the Story Hill neighborhood, which would conserve public transportation funding, precious real estate and Milwaukee County tax base, too).

Senate Dems Move To Block Freeway Expansion At Story Hill

Senate Democrats took a first step towards blocking freeway expansion west of Miller Park to Hawley Rd., a position endorsed several years ago by the Milwaukee Common Council, the Milwaukee County Board and Citizens Allied for Sane Highways.

Milwaukee freeway fighter Gretchen Schuldt offers context, here.

http://www.storyhill.net/ put it this way:

state senate moves to block freeway expansion near Story Hill
June 26 -- The State Senate voted Tuesday to block freeway expansion on I-94 near Story Hill.

The vote was part of a budget bill adopted, 18-15, along a party line vote with Democrats in the majority.

The measure would prohibit the addition of lanes on I-94 adjacent to Wood National Cemetery between Hawley Road and the Stadium Interchange.

The budget bill, including the freeway language, is a long way from becoming law.

The State Assembly, where Republicans are the majority, will adopt its own budget, then differences between the Senate and Assembly versions will be hammered out in a conference committee.

Gov. Jim Doyle also must approve the final product. The governor has broad veto over individual items contained in the bill.

Ensuring that the budget language survives upcoming negotiations, and gains Doyle's approval should be a high priority for neighborhood activists, environmental organizations and fiscal conservaties aware of the unfunded billions needed to implement the region's freeway expansion plan.

Other Senate conservation/environmental actions described here.

One Wisconsin Now Brings Reason To Health Care Debate

The Right yammers about 'socialized' medicine, and polarizes the state between health-insured "haves" and "have-nots" to distort the health care debate in Wisconsin.

And to impede progress on a vital matter for tens of thousands of Wisconsinites: health care reform for a healthier populace.

An antidote: the grassroots organization One Wisconsin Now brings some clarity to the issue.

(Note: I am on the OWN board, but have played no role in its communications on this issue.)

Taking the Global Warming Fight From Green To Red

Look for conservatives to join the fight against greenhouse emissions, now that China has officially passed the US as the #1 air polluter.

Receive Air Quality Watch Notices Via Email

That nasty grey air hanging over Milwaukee Monday presaged a warning from the Wisconsin DNR that unhealthy air is probable on Tuesday in Milwaukee and 22 counties.

That's a huge portion of Wisconsin.

Want to know if the air presents potential health risks before you head out for a morning run, or other outdoor activities?

The DNR offers a free email alert system and other related materials through this site.

Tuesday update:

The DNR Tuesday morning cut the number of effected counties to 15, but upgraded the alert level from watch to advisory, meaning there are health risks to vulnerable groups due to air poluntants, and efforts to reduce pollution, as well as exposure, are recommended.

Good dai to check the DNR website This is part of the advisory;

"The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is issuing an air quality advisory for eastern Wisconsin effective from 7:30 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 26, 2007.

"This advisory covers 15 counties, including: Outagamie, Brown, Winnebago, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Dodge, Washington, Ozaukee, Jefferson, Waukesha, Milwaukee, Walworth, Racine and Kenosha.

"The advisory is being issued because of persistent elevated levels of fine particles in the air.

:These fine particles come primarily from combustion sources, such as power plants, factories and other industrial sources, vehicle exhaust, and wood fires.

" Current weather conditions leading to this advisory include a warm, humid air mass that is expected to intensify over Wisconsin today with hazy, stagnating conditions. Air quality is expected to gradually improve for the affected area beginning 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 26/"

Former Milwaukee Journal Editor Walks The Walk

Congratulations to Dick and Barbara Leonard for placing valuable land into conservancy on Big Muskego Lake.

There are people who dismiss sprawl as a reality, and there are people who talk about stemming sprawl - - then there are people who can actually do something about it, and follow through.

Now there will be 50 acres of open space, wetlands and even lake frontage in the public domain, and as an integral part of a prized ecosystem.

As Dick told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Darryl Enriquez:

"They're building houses out there like crazy. For that property it would be a horrible thing to do," Richard Leonard said. "It's a beautiful valley with a forest that goes to the lake. We didn't want it to be turned into half-acre lots."

I'm sure the Leonards could have made far more money selling the land in individual lots, or to subdivision builders.

Instead, they put the common purpose first.

So, again, congratulations to the Leonards.

Humanist Geography? Solid Reporting Informs

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Mark Johnson has produced a soaring piece about Yi-Fu Tuan, a fascinating, but relatively-hidden Madison scholar, and Tuan's life's work, called Humanist Geography.

You'd have to be exceedingly well-informed and even better-read to be unmoved by Tuan's work and Johnson's writing.

Grandstanding On Race And Milwaukee

There are opinion-makers at various levels out there having a field day with some serious central city issues in Milwaukee.

Theirs are not the words of good will. They are not altruistic, or offering thoughtful solutions to some of the fundamental issues roiling Milwaukee - - poverty and generations'-long racial discrimination in the region, to name two.

Instead, they are edgy, self-centered voices that are turning up the heat - - naively or deliberately - - while offering nothing constructive.

Ald. Michael McGee has become one of their major targets. Blame McGee for being a fool if he is guilty - - something the courts will decide, not bloggers or squawkers or politicians with time on their hands or agendas to serve.

Ald. McGee is in the justice system. Let it play out.

What's the value of the breathless, minute-by-minute 'coverage' on the Internet by bloggers like Patrick (Badger Blogger) essentially instant-messaging his readers with posts like this:

"Sold
by Patrick @ 6:17 pm. Filed under Home
The word is, The Alderthug, Michael McGee/Jackson Jr. has sold his home on East Burleigh St.
No details yet. "

Or take Mark Belling, the right-wing AM radio talk show host. In addition to his routine McGee-bashing, he used a recent column slot in The Waukesha Freeman, aimed at a white suburban audience, to call McGee a "thug" and a "goon," and then trashed an entire community and their many leaders this way:

'So long as the predominantly black residents of the inner city keep choosing thugs like Michael McGee Jr. as their "leaders," there is no reason to believe the social pathologies that have turned the area into a ghetto of crime will disappear."

The ugly and violent aftermath of an otherwise peaceful Juneteenth Day celebration offers an opportunity to come forward with solutions. Focus on that.

Are these commentators really interested in making Milwaukee a better city? Are they genuinely interested in guaranteeing a region and state that provides opportunities for everyone - - or are they having too much fun teeing up McGee, or foaming about race?

Talk is cheap. Rhetoric is free.

Solutions, hard work on the streets, tough decision-making among office-holders. That takes serious time, effort, and will by serious people.

It's time to separate the winners from the whiners. The activists from the amateurs. The caring from the careless.

New Lakeshore State Park A Good Start

Most of the early reviews of the new Lakeshore State Park off the Summerfest grounds were pretty positive, and rightly so.

It's also good that Bill Christofferson reminded us that the park could have been more, but isn't because while it has nice points of access, it didn't solve Summerfest's arrogant blockade of the lakefront in defiance of the state's historic Public Trust Doctrine.

Fair criticism.

Then there was this grumpy gripe from Mike Nichols, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist, who wishes the park has more of that traditional, woodsy, sit-around-the-campfire feel to it.

So Sunday morning I decided to have a closer look for myself, walked the grounds, and found it to be superbly innovative.

The view of Milwaukee it offers is spectacular, and people are showing up to check it out.

There were bikers and hikers. Families pushing strollers. Twenty-somethings on roller blades. A couple of kids fishing. Kayaking being demonstrated. Kites being flown.

There were young people. Old people. People of every race, out enjoying a new view of the city from a perch in the lake.

A new experience in the city.

I don't know what it is about Milwaukee, but people who live or work here can be our most ambivilant ambassadors.

Provide something new and it gets trashed in the media because it's, well, different.

Which is often the definition of new.

This is a park that will evolve. The prairie grasses will take root and spread. The missing amenities, like benches and trashcans - - there were a few there today - - will arrive.

People will use it for a contemplative walk during the festival season, or for a luncheon stroll from The Third Ward, and as an evening platform from which to see the lake, the downtown and east side high-rise lights on the bluff.

I'm glad it's there.

Too bad that some people went out of their way to nit-pick it.

Wisconsin Seeks Relief From Federal Clean Air Rules: Feds Want Even Tougher Enforcement

In the Bizarro World of clean air enforcement, Wisconsin officials sought relief from federal smog rules to help industry expand here...yet the feds, under the Bush/Cheney pro-growth, dirty air regime, announced that even more Wisconsin counties could fall under the smog-control rules.

Some of Wisconsin's dirty air drifts up from Chicago, so it's not entirely a Wisconsin problem.

Still, you have to wonder: did Wisconsin officials jump the gun seeking federal relief from clean air rules?

Open Meetings Ruling Will Force More Disclosure; Information About Waukesha Water Strategies Could Surface

The penchant for closed meetings by the Waukesha Common Council and the Waukesha Water Utility to hash out water supply strategies has angered activists for years, but a recent court ruling should shed more light and accountability on those and other public bodies statewide.

Waukesha blogger Jim Bouman provides some context.

Tommy Supplies Comics With More Material

His campaign earns another self-inflicted wound, this time on Wonkette, the high-traffic political news and gossip website.

Politics and campaigns, it has been noted, are not beanbag.

Tommy is finding out out that Presidential campaigning in the era of Wonkette, The Daily Show and instant electronic media is completely different than rolling through friendly Northern Wisconsin on his Harley.

Is Conservation For The Birds?

So it's the first day of summer.

Seen a sparrow lately?

A grackle?

Meadowlark?

If so, take a good look, because they are disappearing by the millions and millions.

The Audubon Society has catalogued vast declines among 20 species of American birds - - averaging 68%, the group has found - - telling us once again that human activity has a deep impact on the world around us.

You can shrug off the finding, or you can consider it in a larger context, and that would include what's happening with habitat and open space in our neck of the remaining woods in southeastern Wisconsin.

Waukesha County Executive officials indicates their county of 360,800 residents (2000 census numbers) will hit 509,000 by 2035 and is headed for 520,000, as the County's development plan is updated.

And 70% of the suburbs in the seven-county region in and around Milwaukee do not have apartment buildings.

What's the connection?

Development to house these new tens of thousands of residents is going to take place horizontally, across the land, in subdivided, relatively-spacious lots on formerly open space in Waukesha, and to similar degrees, in the other counties around Milwaukee - - Walworth, Ozaukee, Washington, Racine, and Kenosha, too.

Same story up north.

And in and around Dane County, too.

And among the pressures decimating the bird populations is the loss of land, with property near streams and rivers and lakes being the developers' main delight.

We should tell the truth.

We know that we are doing harm to the natural world.

We know all these things:

We know working farms are disappearing in Waukesha County. That story has been written, and written, and written some more.

We know that subdivisions are being built across the Kettle Moraine, that efforts to help put some farm land in conservancy in the Town of Mukwonago north, and in Washington County, failed in the spring elections with the help of real estate interests.

Loss of habitat?

Another old story.

The newspapers tell us every year as deer hunting season approaches that the animals are a suburban nuisance because their former territories in Wisconsin's woodlands keep falling to the bulldozer.

And that deer-and-car/motorcycle collisions are on the upswing because of larger deer herds, on the move and looking for habitat taken by urban sprawl.

Not my term, "urban sprawl."

That's what the WisDOT guy said in the quoted story.

"Car-deer crashes are pretty much determined by the size of the deer herd and urban sprawl," Wisconsin Department of Transportation spokesman Tim McClain said.

"It's development, increased urbanization. More vehicles interacting with deer."

And we know that development can create havoc among neighbors, ranging from devastating pollution flowing from just one badly-planned signature project in exurbia, to water wars between neighboring communities.

And I'm not talking about a looming fight between the City of Waukesha, or New Berlin, and the City of Milwaukee, over Lake Michigan water.

No: For a border skirmish, look no farther than the effort by the City of Waukesha to annex 40-some acres in the bordering Town of Waukesha for some new city well sites - - with possible water draw-down influencing the health of a true regional water-dependent resource, the 4,600-acre Vernon Marsh Wildlife Area.

Land. Water. Wildlife. The quality of human life and our interaction with the natural world, and other people.

It's all connected.

Except by policy-makers, who push common sense and a true common agenda to the bottom of the list, below ideology, exercising power and electioneering.

Polls show that most people want environmental protection.

Politicians ignore the people's goals everytime they sit on commissions or in committee meetings, or behind closed doors, to rubber-stamp another annexation, more farmland conversion, new wetlands fillings' and added lanes, inviting more traffic, onto already overbuilt highways.

All that construction also creates the grist for the gossip, chatter, and wheeling-and-dealing that would make it hard to sustain a conversation during this busy political fundraising season.

(WisPolitics.com ran a news release recently cataloguing just one week's fundraisers. Peruse it here.)

Maybe the conservation message can be better heard when the birds stop singing.

Conservationists Sue To Keep Invasive Species Out Of The Great Lakes

National organizations began legal proceedings today to require that ocean-going ships rid themselves of invasive fish species they are depositing in the Great Lakes.

This is an important step that could force the US Environmental Protection Agency and shippers to do what they could already have done without a lawsuit.

And it's a real step forward in maintaining fish species native to the Great Lakes watershed.

Affordable Housing Effort To Begin In Suburbs

Some years ago, there was a proposal for each Milwaukee suburb to accept one - - only one - - subsidized single-family home as a gesture towards inclusiveness.

All the suburbs declined except Shorewood.

It is against this history - - actually decades of self-defeating economic and racial segregation in the Milwaukee region - - that a group of activists has begun an effort in Waukesha to embrace more open and fair housing.

It will be an uphill climb, with few suburban officials attending an introductory meeting, the activists found.

Note also that the regional planning commission, SEWRPC, has not written a housing plan for its seven-county region since 1975, and despite statements of good intentions, has yet to launch an update.

SEWRPC has found the money for a freeway expansion study and a water supply study, both serving the commission's suburban membership (no City of Milwaukee commission members) and vision.

No housing priority. No housing study recommendations for the region.
Was it surprising that the Public Policy Forum found five years ago that 70% of the suburbs do not even contain - - if that is the right word - - apartments?

That's the triumph of exclusionary zoning that either bars multi-family housing outright, or calls for large lots and certain kinds of subdivisions not suited for apartments - - and the perhaps low-to-moderate people that might occupy them.

I'll have more to say about the racial separation in the Milwaukee-Waukesha, two-county area in upcoming posts.

Perth-To-Pewaukee: Higher Water Rates And Comservation Should Happen

Water woes in Pewaukee?

And Waukesha, too, where some users will begin paying a premium when their water use becomes substantial?

And check out real water woes in Australia!

Additionally, this NPR piece describes how wind-driven desalination plants are not only providing water to Australians, but doing so without adding more pollution to the air.

Could Wisconsin so cleverly link clean air with drinking water provision?

Note: The Waukesha and Pewaukee water conservation rate increases are steps in the right direction, but they don't kick in until users have really pushed it.

In Pewaukee, for example, the proposed higher rates would apply after 75,000 gallons per quarter year, which means heavy use by an underground watering system or too many refills in the backyard pool.

It's a step in the right direction, but only a baby step.

For more information about major water shortages in the US, go here.

Bringing Truthiness To The 'Activist Judges' Canard

Mike McCabe gets to the heart of the right's fiction about so-called activist judges.

Mark Belling Rips Regionalism: Says It's A Pro-Milwaukee Plot

Mark Belling rants in The Freeman that the M-7 regional collaboration will steer development away from the suburbs into the City of Milwaukee.

He starts his item with this blather:

'It’s time for Chapter 27 of my ongoing Suburban Naivete Alert. Or Chapter 44 of "How the City Rolls All Over the Suburbs."

Even for Belling, champion of Conservative Schtick, this is over-the-top.

Freeway expansion...water diversion planning...Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission recommendations, membership, staffing, contracting - - nearly all of it, has suburban, out-of-Milwaukee tone, process and outcomes.

I know if you have a newspaper column in a Waukesha paper, and a talk radio show pointed at the suburbs that you need to aim your material at your base.

But for goodness sakes, don't condescend them.

Waukesha County Population Estimates Climb

In several posts, (such as this one,) I stated that Waukesha County's population is growing substantially, with greater growth - - and water demands by new residents - - projected for decades.

Waukesha County's 2000 population was 360,800, census figures show.

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) has indicated that by 2035, Waukesha County would have an estimated 446,800 people.

That increase is equal to virtually the entire 2000 population of Ozaukee County - - and any travel through Waukesha County offers easy-to-see examples of subdivisions filling-in much of the open space from Brookfield at the Milwaukee County line all the way west to Jefferson County.

There are population estimates, however, that extend beyond 2035 and come with even higher residential projections.

The office of Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas indicated by email that, by 2050, his county may have 509,000 people, according to the county's current, long-range development plan.

And in an April 24th interview on WUWM-FM (use this link, then download "Waukesha County in Great Shape"), Vrakas said Waukesha County's population "someday" could hit 520,000.

Note: Waukesha County is currently updating its county-wide long-range development plan, written in 1997, and uses State of Wisconsin population estimates for its planning that is found here.

The Waukesha County development plan updating process is described at a Waukesha County parks and land use site.

Pewaukee May Enforce Conservation, Higher Water Rates

The City of Waukesha will charge some water users higher rates to discourage consumption - - and environmentalists call the new policy only a modest beginning - - and now the City of Pewaukee may follow suit.

These efforts should be supported, and accelerated.

Pathetic Fuel Economy Standards May Get A Modest Boost

Faced with something of a circumstantial trifecta - - high gas prices, falling SUV sales and political realities conceded by both parties - - Detroit's floundering automakers are warming up to making slightly more efficient engines.

Something they had said repeatedly would absolutely ruin their sales, which, with the cooperation of pliable politicians and able lobbyists, has provided consumers with inefficient, less-appealing cars for many years.

US fuel economy standards set by the federal government hasn't been upgraded since 1983.

Think of all the wasted gasoline, and with market share disappearing to foreign companies, the missed sales and lost technological advancement for and by what's left of the Big Three.