Saturday, May 29, 2010

Ozone Pollution Headed Our Way Sunday

More bad air in the forecast for the Lake Michigan coastline counties in Wisconsin:

Watch for Ozone

Start Time:	1:00 AM CST Sunday, May 30, 2010
End Time:	11:00 PM CST Sunday, May 30, 2010
Counties:	Door, Kenosha, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan

AIR QUALITY INDEX CHART

Air Quality Index (AQI) Values	Levels of Health Concern	Colors
When the AQI is in this range:	...air quality conditions are:	...as symbolized by this color:
0 to 50	Good	Green
51 to 100	Moderate	Yellow
101 to 150	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Orange
151 to 200	Unhealthy	Red
201 to 300	Very Unhealthy	Purple
301 to 500	Hazardous	Maroon

For More Information:

Daily Air Quality Hotline - 1-866-324-5924 (1-866-DAILY AIR)

Manage Your DNR Subscriptions:
Add new subscriptions, delete subscriptions, and manage your profile.

If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact support@govdelivery.com. Other inquiries can be directed to the DNR.

Waukesha Supporting A Small, Affordable-Housing Project

Kudos to Waukesha for implementing an affordable housing project.

It's small - - 11 lots - - but includes reuse of building materials - - and while it will barely make a dent in the dearth of such housing across Waukesha County, it's a nice step in a good direction by the city government.

I await the snarky comments from outraged conservatives and other assorted free-marketeers who overlook the heavy government spending/subsidies for other things they no doubt enjoy: park systems, Medicare, Federal highways, local and state roads, 911 operators, fire departments and police protection, mortgage and property tax deductability, public health laboratories, and food inspections,Wisconsin corporate tax breaks for computers and manufacturing equipment, choice and charter school per-pupil grants, FAA towers, weather forecasting, SBA lending, low-interest student loans, clean water and sewer systems, Industrial Revenue Bonding and Tax Incremental Financing throughout the land, etc.

The Small Critters Matter

Back when the Milwaukee County Board was debating whether to sell a portion of the publicly-owned County Grounds in western Wauwatosa near the Zoo interchange to UWM for a college and business center, a group of conservationists objected because the property contained important Monarch butterfly migration habitat.

The sale was eventually approved, and with a conservation plan to protect the sensitive site - - yeah, I know, good luck with that - - but I remember that when I gave the conservationists encouragement on this blog some ''butterflies, so what?' comments came this way.

That stuck with me - - the contempt for part of an indivisible ecosystem that includes us people up top or wherever it is we are - - and the smaller creatures, too.

I was reminded of this again when I saw news footage of tiny Gulf of Mexico creatures - - part of the food chain that sustains the shrimp and other seafood - - struggling and dying in the oil.

No food supply - - no shrimp, or birds, tourism, commercial fishing, real estate values, Louisiana lifestyle - - and so on.

And I heard a discussion on the radio Friday about the continuing shortage of bees - - so critical to farming and our entire food supply.

Bees, butterflies, shrimp.

You can't keep taking these small living things for granted without putting everything and everyone - - the world we and they live in - - at risk.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Another Case For Fixing Our Roads First

Rather than adding more and more lanes, as this op-ed columnist urges, and 1kFriends of Wisconsin has long argued, too.

Keep Strong Transit Focus In Climate/Energy Senate Bill

Use this online form to join a call to urge transit be kept as a priority in the Senate energy and climate protection bill.

More information here.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Walker Veto Ploy On Water Plan Foiled By County Board

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors convincingly overrode on Thursday County Executive Scott Walker's veto of a Board resolution opposing Waukesha's plan to discharge, on average, 10.9 million gallons of effluent into Underwood Creek in Wauwatosa.

I had taken note of the veto, here, and, given the original 13-3 Board vote to approve the resolution, it's not surprising - - least of all to the County Executive - - that the Board would choose to affirm what it had done rather side with Walker.

In fact, the vote to override escalated to 17-3 against Walker - - who was siding with the Lake Michigan diversion and return flow plan that Waukesha sent for review a week ago to the Wisconsin DNR - - without getting the Milwaukee County Board's input.

Walker had wagged the predictable finger of regional cooperation at the Board in his veto message, but where were Waukesha's briefings and meetings and partnering with the Supervisors in the neighboring, wastewater-targeted County as the diversion plan was being written?

I think the Waukesha County Board of Supervisors would have responded the same way to a proposal, say, from Wauwatosa, to discharge its effluent into the Fox River and let it flow through downtown Waukesha.

Members of the Milwaukee County Board can read a map, so they know that the bodies of water into which Waukesha effluent would flow are in Milwaukee County, not in Waukesha County.

And they know that the effluent is not proposed to be piped to the MMSD for transportation and treatment.

Board members also know that both Underwood Creek, and the Menonomee River into which the creek empties have had flooding and pollution issues that continue to be addressed at great cost.

It's of little comfort to Milwaukee County supervisors that Waukesha is relying on a paid contractor, news releases and palliatives from politicians to assure Milwaukee County residents that Waukesha effluent won't cause flooding or pollution.

For Walker, this issue isn't about clean water or dry basements. It's about politics - - and Walker got what he wanted: An appearance of policy engagement and news coverage he can use in his search for votes as a candidate for Governor in very-Republican Waukesha County.

Talk Radio Is A Lagging Indicator

I've noticed a trend: Milwaukee's conservative talk radio hosts love to trumpet stock market dips, giving the talkers what they think and hope is yet another subject they can use to gin up their conservative listeners and flail President Barack Obama.

Ooooh, they say, the Dow is down again. We're in a tailspin. The sky is falling. More bad news, folks. And, of course, it's Obama's fault...

But I've noticed at least twice in the last few days that there have been significant market gains, or a breaking even at the final bell at the New York Stock Exchange, on the same days that the talkers worried and fretted and dieseled during earlier trading.

I've decided that the talkers are a lagging indicator when it comes to economic forecasting.

Think they're trying to push stock prices down, essentially verbally shorting the market? Are they invested in options to profit from falling share prices?

Nah - - that'd take too much work and involves too much risk.

These folks aren't hedge fund managers or whiz-kid brokers.

They are conservative ideologues who reflexively see anything gloomy on the horizon as proof-positive that Barack Obama, or Democrats, or liberals are causing market problems

The truth is that the markets - - interconnected worldwide electronically, and balanced against and intermingled with each other - - are still trying to find their way out of a financial meltdown born of reckless deregulation and greed that started in 2007 and led to the worst economic crisis since 1929.

So there will be volatility. Not a partisan dynamic.

You have to remember that talk radio is part politics, part entertainment/distraction and hardly fact-driven.

So the next time you hear a talker worrying aloud about the Dow-Jones average - - keep an open mind and consider the exact opposite from what you're hearing.

And if they are bemoaning falling prices, or touting gold, maybe it's a buying opportunity in stocks.

Seven Hurricanes Predicted This Season, But...

Is it really the way you want the spilled oil to be 'dispersed?'

Obama Suspending Additional Gulf Drilling

Again, all to minimize more damage and protect against future degradation.

He shut down or halted work on 33 deep wells.

Illinois Group Devoting Web Space To Waukesha Diversion Application

The Alliance for the Great Lakes is ramping up its coverage of the Waukesha application for a diversion of water from Lake Michigan.

A hint of regional interest to come.

More Tea Party Upsets Of Incumbent Republicans; Is Scott Walker Getting Nervous?

First it was Florida. Then Kentucky and Nevada.

Now Idaho, where Tea Partiers are driving out incumbent Republicans deemed too moderate.

Real question: Can this happen in the Wisconsin Republican primary for the Gubernatorial nod?

Will Scott Walker, an incumbent, be deemed too establishment, leading to a Mark Neumann upset?

Walkable, Transit-Oriented Development Pays Off In Portland

Hard work with bankers is making Portland even more receptive to walkability.

Arctic Drilling Postponed

Good call.

One ruined ecosystem at a time.

Urban Milwaukee Blog Gets Mainstream Media Rave

Good to see Dave and Jeramey get their due.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Bush Was Green?

Or so he says, but we remember that ol' Oily, Halliburton's Dick Cheney, was really in charge.

Scot Ross, OWN Profiled In Cap Times

Substantial feature about history and work of One Wisconsin Now and Executive Director Scot Ross has been posted by the Madison Capital Times. (For the record, I am on the board of OWN's non-profit Institute.)

Urban Wilderness Blog Assesses Madison's Arboretum, UWM County Grounds

Interesting comparison.

Waukesha Water Consulting Fees Skyrocketing

The meter is running.

Water ratepayers in Waukesha are forking over large amounts of money to outside contractors for work on various pieces of the city's water issue, but unless you have a scorecard and peruse the minutes of the Water Utility Commission, or the Common Council, you'd have a hard time adding up these recent expenditures (some contracts, by the way, date back four or five years).

From the January 2009 water utility commission minutes:

APPROVE NEW WATER SUPPLY DEVELOPMENT CONTRACTS

Duchniak recommended awarding the New Water Supply Development Contracts to Martin Schreiber & Associates (MSA) for a flat monthly fee of $11,130, for a total amount of $133,560, and to GeoSyntec for an hourly, not to exceed amount of $134,460.

Discussion: Two separate contracts. GeoSyntec – not to exceed contract. MSA – fixed price contract. GeoSyntec – Scope of Services–Application, Public Outreach, Conservation Plan. MSA – Scope of Services - Great Lakes efforts – Educating political area/region – Advocate WWU’s position. Budgeted items. History with consultants. Reputation of consultants.

MOTION BY NELSON, SECOND BY ROEKER, TO APPROVE THE NEW WATER SUPPLY DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT WITH MARTIN SCHREIBER & ASSOCIATES FOR A FLAT MONTHLY FEE OF $11,130, FOR A TOTAL OF $133,560; AND WITH GEOSYNTEC FOR AN HOURLY, NOT TO EXCEED AMOUNT OF $134,460. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

From the February 2009 water utility commission minutes:

14. APPROVE REINHART BOERNER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT

Duchniak recommended the Professional Services Agreement with Reinhart, Boerner, Van Deuren, S.C. be amended, for a cost not to exceed $15,000.

Discussion: History with Don Gallo. Radium compliance. Stipulated Order and Operation and Monitoring Plan.

From the December 2009 water utility minutes:

APPROVE FUNDING ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT FOR LONG-TERM WATER INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS

Duchniak recommended approving the 2009 Funding Assistance Agreement with Donald F. Roecker for an amount of $32,500, and with Barbour, Griffith & Rogers for an amount of $63,000.

Discussion: Earmarks. Current & future requests. Excellent interaction between Barbour, Griffith & Rogers and Donald Roecker. Workload increase. Maintained same rates/contract amounts. Two separate contracts. Not to exceed amounts. History with consultants. Results. Allocations received for fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 2007.

MOTION BY ROEKER, SECOND BY NELSON, TO APPROVE THE FEDERAL FUNDING CONTRACT WITH DONALD F. ROECKER FOR AN AMOUNT OF $32,500, AND WITH BARBOUR GRIFFITH & ROGERS FOR AN AMOUNT OF $63,000. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

[blogger note: Roeker works on federal funding, as does the Barbour lobbying firm in Washington, DC - - now BGR.]

From the January 2010 water utility minutes:

6. NEW WATER SUPPLY DEVELOPMENT CONTRACTS

Duchniak recommended approving the New Water Supply Development Contracts with CH2M Hill for an hourly, not to exceed, amount of $115,500, and with MSA for a monthly fee of $12,800 for a total of $153,600.

CH@M Hill is the consulting company that replaced GeoSyntec and Cadmus, which had held a similar contracts for several years before the utility changed contractors late in 2009.

From the March 2010 water utility minutes:

7. APPROVE CHANGE ORDER NO. 2 TO CH2M HILL WATER SUPPLY CONTRACT

Duchniak recommended approval of the second Change Order to the CH2M Hill Contract for Great Lakes Compact Application Support for an hourly not to exceed amount of $94,000, for a total contract of $322,000.

Discussion: Incorporation of public comments, preparation of educational material, and public hearings. Study includes all alternative sources. Background of dollars spent. Environmental Report (ER). Competitive rates.

MOTION BY TORTOMASI, SECOND BY NELSON, TO APPROVE SECOND CHANGE ORDER TO CH2M HILL CONTRACT FOR GREAT LAKES COMPACT APPLICATION SUPPORT, FOR A NOT TO EXCEED AMOUNT OF $94,000, FOR A TOTAL CONTRACT OF $322,000. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

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Also add the approximately $11,000 paid to a Madison attorney, Lawrie Kobza, for work between March and April of this year that will be referenced in the May 2010 minutes, when posted.

And there was the $50,000 paid to the Godfrey & Kahn law firm for earlier Lake Michigan related work:

From the May 2006 water utility minutes:

10. APPROVE CONTRACT AMENDMENT WITH GODFREY & KAHN, S.C.

Duchniak recommended amending the Legal Services Contract with Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., for an amount of $50,000.

Discussion: Additional needs. Timing is critical. Upcoming meetings that Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. need to be involved. Over budget by ~$35,000. Services. Hourly, not to exceed. Possibility of deferred billing in the future.

MOTION BY WARREN, SECOND BY ZINDA, TO APPROVE CONTRACT AMENDMENT WITH GODFREY & KAHN, S.C. FOR AN AMOUNT OF $50,000. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

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Some earlier contracting history, here.