tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6621691715090523319.post4005849572039296772..comments2023-10-08T04:12:46.273-05:00Comments on The Political Environment: Waukesha water hearing focuses on diversion's reachJames Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10203270946492159686noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6621691715090523319.post-78264530620857939452015-08-18T13:12:15.616-05:002015-08-18T13:12:15.616-05:00Sandy Hamm writes...
I was at the Monday meeting....Sandy Hamm writes...<br /><br />I was at the Monday meeting. I have watched this issue for decades. What is clear to me and what I spoke about at the meeting is that the City of Waukesha is in the business of expansion, growth and development - Period.<br /><br />The City is not interested in conservation (of anything), or the cost to taxpayers (I think it was Water Commission member Paul Ybarra that rhetorically asked "why would we do this if it hurt our voters" - My Answer -> because you don't care about little voters. Because you care about land developers or a Meijers kitty-corner from a Pick and Save, etc. etc.<br /><br />The City and its expanded Water Service Area is completely about serving the needs of land developers and the city expanding its tax base. They have expanded their borders and their water and sewer responsibilities year after year to the tune of 100s of acres every year, and 100s of those acres and 1000s of those apartments with people in them were added while under the court order to comply with the EPA standards. Completely irresponsible. They have no guarantee of getting water from the Great Lakes or anywhere else for that matter.<br /><br />IMHO, the City of Waukesha is misguided.<br /><br />And as for the land developers (many of them friends of mine), I say too bad if you invested in land that now can't sustain city-sized lots. If you buy a stock and it goes up, great, you made money. I don't care.<br /><br />But I don't care either way. If you buy stock and it goes down or the business goes bankrupt you lose money.<br /><br />Same for those that chose to invest years ago in land - land they paid nearly no taxes on for decades, as it was zoned agricultural in the Town of Waukesha. The plan... hold on to it and later annex to the City and put in postage stamp sized lots or apartments. And that's great if the City can service your needs and has the resourced to do it.<br /><br />But if the City doesn't have the resources, so you just went bust. Your land investments have now turned out to be a poor ones, no different than a stock that tanks.<br /><br />But No. They want to be like banks that are "too big to fail" and they want to now insist they are entitled to the water and want the City to go get it from the Great Lakes.<br /><br />The citizenry all knows that the City can work with the wells they have and deliver water to the population they now have. The citizenry all knows this is about growth and development. Duh.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10083610219657497540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6621691715090523319.post-51834409183498417352015-08-18T10:14:36.972-05:002015-08-18T10:14:36.972-05:00Meyer writes: The data is in and the conclusions a...Meyer writes: <i>The data is in and the conclusions are clear: Waukesha can sustainably meet its current and future water needs for its water service supply area by <b>treating existing deep groundwater wells for radium and other contaminants</b>, without depleting its groundwater supply. And it can do this at one-half the cost to their ratepayers.</i><br /><br />The Global Water Center in Milwaukee's Fifth Ward was mentioned a year ago in the inaugural address of Marquette University's President Michael R. Lovell. Entrepreneurs can take advantage of Marquette's new <i>Water Law and Policy Initiative</i> in important SEWRPC-type matters that involve water and policy, hopefully for the protection of our Great Lakes water resource (as explained by the law school's Associate Dean Matt Parlow): <br /><br />http://law.marquette.edu/prospective-students/matthew-parlow-profile<br /><br />...to accomplish what Meyer suggests!! If we quit dilly-dallying around then perhaps Wisconsinites will actually clean up ground water contaminations in superfund sites like Menomonee Falls, that landfill in Franksville, the problem in Madison.<br /><br />I'm beginning to think there's something in the water that's s - l - o - w - i - n - g down our responses to some serious, critically important issues in WI.La Mernoreply@blogger.com