Waukesha Dribbling Out Information About Its Diversion Plans

Working in Waukesha behind closed doors to develop a Lake Michigan diversion application and plan that will cost tens of millions of dollars - - I was recently denied a copy under Open Records though City of Waukesha documents indicate diversion application drafts have been frequently circulated for months among officials, public relations consultants and scientific advisers under contract - - the city is none the less scheduling some meetings to finally disclose its official thinking and taxpayer-paid planning.

Details, here.


Waukesha officials and their contractors have been operating also without the checks-and-balances provided by normal state administrative rules processes during the nearly year-and-a-half since Wisconsin approved the Great Lakes Compact.

Under some language in, and possible interpretations of, the Compact, Waukesha could obtain a diversion of water, though all eight Great Lakes states that share management responsibilities over the waters must approve the application because Waukesha is entirely outside the Great Lakes basin.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources elected not to write those rules, a startling example of regulatory and public trust capitulation.

Its laissez-faire approach further opens the door to Waukesha's intended diversion of Lake Michigan water from the City of Milwaukee, and thus also Waukesha's probable return flushing of the water back from an expanding service territory (due to projected annexations) through Underwood Creek in Wauwatosa.

Talk about water problems being transferred with the resource itself from one basin and community to another.

I wonder when Wauwatosa is going to weigh in on becoming Waukesha's toilet - - a function blasted as unacceptable for his community when State Rep. Cory Mason, (D-Racine), found out that Waukesha initially considered the Root River through Racine as Waukesha's return point for diverted Lake Michigan water.

Read about halfway through this excellent 2008 regional water history in Milwaukee Magazine for Rep. Mason's assessment.

Waukesha has often referred to its eventual diversion application as a gold standard exercise in environmental improvement.

I'd argue that its penchant for closed Water Utility Commission meetings in pursuit of Lake Michigan water, and the regional planning commission (SEWRPC) recent and oh-so predictable endorsement of the diversion scheme - - while omitting careful study of reasonable alternatives - - makes the approaching Waukesha application a costly misstep, missed opportunity and procedural fumble.

And thus likely to be rejected as insufficient and unjustified by one of more of the other seven Great Lakes states.

In Support Of Housing, UN Declares October 5th World Habitat Day

Think globally, act locally.

Because of this fundamental truism, I'm posting information and guides to action through a link here in support of the United Nations Declaration of October 5th as World Habitat Day.

This is certainly relevant in southeastern Wisconsin, where everyday might as well be Habitat Action Day.

This is because fair and affordable housing for thousands of residents is and has been effectively limited, even denied, through a combination of a) the 1955 state law barring annexation that applies only to the City of Milwaukee, b) aggressive local zoning codes that ban multi-unit housing and c) regional enabling of suburban sprawl that has encouraged development far from the urban center in Milwaukee.

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, yielding to pressure from community organizations and its new justice task force, has finally begun rewriting the last regional housing plan it adopted for the seven counties it represents - - a 1975 effort - - after decades of sprawl, distorted housing starts and spin-off business expansion that has carried growth and opportunity far from Milwaukee to the more suburban, exurban and rural Washington, Waukesha and Walworth Counties.

Little wonder that the region is among the most intensely segregated in the country.

Further so defined by a lack of transit to connect workers and residents with job openings, but makes those alternatives and opportunities more available on 127 miles of ever-expanding freeways to workers and families with cars.

The UN is reminding everyone that housing is a basic need and right, so check in with the website I linked for more information.

Opportunities To Say Where New UWM Science Schools Should Be Located

Readers of this blog know that there has been a lot of discussion here recently about where UWM should locate its new Engineering and research college, and also the School of Freshwater Science.

I think that the UWM Great Lakes WATER Institute, at the end of E. Greenfield Ave. at the Harbor, is the best site for the freshwater school, since that is where current UWM Lake Michigan water research takes place. (I put that argument into an August op-ed in the Journal Sentinel's Crossroads section.)

There is land at or near the Institute, as well as walkable, transit-served neighborhoods nearby, including the Fifth Ward, Third Ward, and downtown.

I also think UWM could seize the day and undo a land-use and transportation disaster in the making - - siting its new Engineering school on the County Grounds - - and combine it with the Freshwater School near the Water Institute.

That would create a cutting-edge science, research and development study center that also takes advantage of nearby Bradley Tech high school and one of the state's leading engineering firms - - Rockwell International - - among other valuable commercial, retail, housing and entertainment amenities.

I say disaster out at the County Grounds because even if there is a bus line created to it from the East side campus, most students and faculty will make the cross-town trip there and back by car, adding a bigger carbon footprint to the region.

Plus - - the County Grounds are right off the already-busy Zoo Interchange, and it is scheduled in the next few years for eight years of reconstruction, expansion and congestion.

That hardly sounds like a rational plan, especially since UWM is making nice progress on greening its main campus.

But here's the good news and serendipitous opportunity:

UWM has two public comment sessions set up next week at the student union to discuss these very school siting questions (Also included: a new public health school, which I believe is already ticketed for a downtown site slightly to the West that is the consensus choice.)

The school siting sessions are part of the campus' Master Plan study, on which consultants have been working - - but my hunch is that the consultants had done much of their work before the Pieces of Eight site was abandoned, and discussion began about putting Engineering with Freshwater Science, too.

So this is a great opportunity to urge UWM campus planners and administrators to locate the new Engineering and Freshwater Science schools together on the near south side - - a far better location for students, faculty and the City as a whole than were the County Grounds (Engineering) or the now-discarded Pieces of Eight lakefront site (Freshwater Science), too.

Here are the details; save the dates, bring your friends and organizations' position papers or comments, and weigh in:

Draft Campus Master Plan to be presented:

Master plan consultants from Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. (HGA) and Sasaki Associates will be on campus Tuesday, September 29, and Wednesday, September 30, to present a draft of the UWM Campus Master Plan:

When and Where:

6:30 pm – 8 pm, Tuesday, September 29, Union Wisconsin Room.
8:30 am – 10 am, Wednesday, September 30, Union Wisconsin Room.

Feedback on the draft plan will be accepted throughout October.

Based on feedback, the consultants will develop a final master plan, which they plan to present in December.

Further Details Online:

Visit http://www.masterplan.uwm.edu/ to review past presentations or submit feedback. [There were some access problems Monday afternoon, though not Monday morning, fyi]

For further information, or if you have special needs that require assistance, please reply to:

http://us.mc541.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=masterplan-feedback@uwm.edu.

River Alliance Auction Has Cool Stuff

Only a few days left in which to grab wonderful items and contribute to a great cause in the River Alliance of Wisconsin's Third Annual Auction.

You'll need to register online: details here.

Simple Plan To Help Maintain The Great Lakes

The Director of UWM's Great Lakes WATER Institute suggests that we water users pay a miniscule fee to help keep the Great Lakes plentiful and clean.

The cost per month: about the price of a cup of coffee, and I don't mean a triple shot mega grande latte, either.

Details here.

Shed The Zoo? Scott Walker Wants To Privatize It

Flash forward to, say, 2012:

The Scene: The Apex Bugkiller Zoo (formerly the Milwaukee County Zoo.

Little Boy: "Mom, where are all the animals? I don't like these displays of bug sprays."

Mom: " I know, honey. But Scott Walker said the animals were too expensive to take care of. The new Zoo is doing things differently."

Little Boy: "But I want to see the penguins and the camels."

Mom: "Look, sweetie: The cockroach room."

The end.

Maybe privatizing the Zoo is the step-too-far that reveals the GOP gubernatorial candidate's overly one-dimensional approach to government.

We'll see...

Rail Successes Abound Elsewhere: Milwaukee, Wisconsin Denied

I was in New Mexico not long ago and ran into an old friend who was thrilled about the new Rail Runner commuter passenger train line that connects Greater Albuquerque - - New Mexico's largest city - - to the capitol city of Santa Fe farther north.

My friend, an active senior and business owner, had just taken the Rail Runner from Albuquerque to an Indian Pueblo nearby for a statewide meeting. Cost of the ride: $3.

The system, long-discussed, and now in operation with a catchy name and brightly painted cars, has created a buzz.

More than 100 businesses already partner with the brand new Rail Runner by offering discounts on merchandise and services to riders.

Hotels are working train passes into package deals.

Special trains are added for University of New Mexico home football games in Albuquerque.

There's talk of running the line all the way to Denver.

In other words, New Mexicans love it - - and tourists will flock to it, because Santa Fe does not have scheduled airline service (locals rejected runway extensions, preferring their peace and quiet), so to get to the growing and popular State Capitol from Albuquerque's airport you need a ride, a bus ticket or a rental car loaded with taxes and fees.

You can read about Rail Runner here.

And you can read about Phoenix's embrace of its light rail system, which this New York Times story says has helped that city's downtown avoid the nationwide recession by delivering people on weekends to restaurants and other urban hot spots.

While business plunged across the city, revenues are actually up in the areas in the downtown served by light rail - - an unforeseen but greatly appreciated consequence.

And here in Wisconsin - - a state that had a reputation as a national laboratory for progressive thinking and policy experimentation - - we have, when it comes to urban rail...

Zip.

Yes, there is a proposed commuter rail line to connect Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha - - and thus to northern Illinois and Metra links to Chicago - - but it is blocked by regional politics, fearful local officials and fumbled state leadership.

And light rail was blockaded by a mutually self-serving alliance of anti-Milwaukee right-wing talk radio jocks and Republican politicians (then-Waukesha County Executive Daniel Finley, then-Assembly Majority Leader Scott Jensen, and then-Gov. Tommy Thompson) a dozen years ago.

I can remember Mark Belling promising to fight light rail to his dying breath, and hearing Finley, live on the Belling show, deliver the good news that, through his veto, the Waukesha County Board of Supervisors had buried further consideration of a rail-and-highway improvement plan for both Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties.

It was a plan that both County boards had preliminarily endorsed, and with separate reservations, but with a commitment to move forward, cooperatively.

Even promising Waukesha County it could opt out of the rail piece didn't satisfy the anti-Milwaukee movement, as it felt a sense of accomplishment by driving a stake into Milwaukee's image, economy and future.

The talkers are still at it: light rail is an all-purpose dart to throw whenever needed at Milwaukee, especially those trying to modernize transit beyond buses.

And current Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, now a GOP candidate for Governor, is only too happy to call up the talkers and oppose anything on a rail in Milwaukee - - opposition that cost the county millions in its most recent sharing of federal transit financing with the City.

What counts for normal around here is negativity over positive action, politics over common sense, rhetoric over reality and self-imposed economic restraint over business development in Milwaukee:

The politics of rail in this area, as driven by suburban, anti-city interests, is that self-destructive.

So...forbidden by a special, Milwaukee-only statute from expanding through annexation, and poisoned by some political leadership that plays to suburban, conservative ideology, Milwaukee remains one of America's poorest cities, and also among its largest cities without urban rail.

Talk about cause-and-effect.

[Some light rail history, here.]

And it is in this context that I was interested to see that The Journal Sentinel's Sunday Crossroads section carried a long, cover piece about Milwaukee's perilous financial situation and the state's contribution to it.

The article's focus is tax and fiscal policy.

I'd add to it - - here is a link - - the enforced absence in Milwaukee of rail as an economic tool and transportation choice.

The construction of the Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha commuter line would be a remedial first step, connecting south suburban communities and and two medium-sized cities to the Big City, and helping people understand first hand that rail is a virtue - - a value added - - and not a virus.

This always happens in cities that finally build rail. "Ah-ha" moments abound. The New York Times story about Phoenix notes that even critics of the system are using it.

The same benefits, the same changes in attitude and outcomes would take place if a streetcar/light rail system could get built in Milwaukee.

The latest proposal has a focus on the densely-populated East side- University of Milwaukee campus area, according to Mayor Tom Barrett.

In the long run - - delayed by false starts and anti-urban politics - - the Milwaukee economy needs a comprehensive urban rail system to bring people to the new Intermodal station (to which Midwest High Speed Rail will connect), the airport, the Menonomee Valley, Miller Park, the multiple downtown housing/retail/
commercial and entertainment venues, the Third and Fifth Wards, and the Medical complex - - just to name a few.

Imagine the ridership to and from a light rail station within walking distance of a new UWM School of Freshwater Science - - perhaps also a new UWM School of Engineering and Research - - near Allen-Bradley on S. 1st. Street - - with stops also in Bayview, on Water St., at City Hall, on Brady St. - - and all the way to UWM's main East Side campus.

Shorewood would want it.

Bayshore - - a major new retail destination where Whitefish Bay meets Glendale would want it.

Franklin, and New Berlin and Downtown Waukesha would, too.

Around the country, the synergistic rail-and-development message has been received: it is resisted in and for Rail-Free Milwaukee by forces that do not have Milwaukee's best interests in mind.

Around the country, there are successes where the public and private sectors have decided to work together, break the right wing and talk-radio/anti-city/anti-rail hammerlock, and make things happen.

Houston, Denver, Dallas, St. Louis, Cleveland, Baltimore - - and now Phoenix and Albuquerque - - are reaping the benefits of adding rail to their transit mix.

Can you imagine the DC area without Metro Rail?

Or Portland without its Light Rail?

What separates these cities and regions from Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin is civic optimism, and an ability to move forward.

Around here, we have stultifying regional stubbornness, a fear of new ideas and experience and a tendency - - amplified on talk radio - - to say "No," or "We Can't" that keeps conservative radio ratings and suburban ballot counts sky high, and which keeps Milwaukee's stagnation intractable.

When will we begin to start saying "Yes?"

And "Now!"

Toxic Waste Where You'd Least Expect It: A Cautionary Tale

This Washington Post story about poisonous World War I munitions still being found in an urban area caught my eye, for two reasons:

1. It's a reminder of how long-lasting are the environmental hazards from using, testing or storing hazardous products: Wisconsinites should take note, as there is a move afoot to add more nuclear power plants and thus more nuke waste - - perhaps even shipped from elsewhere - - in Wisconsin.

2. The effected neighborhood in the story - - Spring Valley, in Washington, DC - - is not far from where I grew up.

Because of family activities the last couple of years, including my mother's 2008 hospitalization, it's a neighborhood where I recently spent considerable time.

And never knew that there were old chemical weapons lying around from WW I tests conducted on the grounds of nearby American University!

Amazing.

Bottled Water Loophole In Great Lakes Compact Getting More Scrutiny

Dave Dempsey brings us up to date on efforts to close the bottled water loophole opened during closed-door 'negotiations' that produced the Great Lakes Compact - - purportedly a water management and conservation document.

As written, critics say, the loophole continues to allow and encourage the wholesale and unregulated export Great Lakes water from the basin in bottles, large and small.

Details, here.

The State Screws Up - - Milwaukee Gets Hurt

Someone said this to me recently:

"The State is incompetent, and Milwaukee gets hurt."

There was a dual context to the pointed, accurate remark:

The first was the failed state oversight of child care funding routed to scamming providers in Milwaukee.

The second was the monumental screw-up by state institutions which failed to collect required DNA samples for a data bank from 12,000 felons.

One such inmate, recently-arrested Milwaukee serial killer Walter Ellis: allegedly murdered one of his female victims after his release from prison - - so Ellis remained on the streets and that murder not solved at the time because the Ellis DNA sample wasn't on file.

The oft-discussed Madison-Milwaukee disconnect can have deadly, shameful consequences.

Rep. Pedro Colon Pushing WATER Institute Site For New UWM Science School

State Rep. Pedro Colon, (D-Milwaukee), is promoting the existing WATER Institute site on E. Greenfield Ave. as the best location for UWM's new School of Freshwater Science, reports the Daily Reporter.

That's been the theme on this blog for weeks now.

Sample here.

Also in a recent Journal Sentinel Crossroads op-ed, too.

In fact...now that industrialist and philanthropist Mike Cudahy says he will not help finance UWM's proposed new Engineering and Research Center on the County Grounds in Wauwatosa - - an announcement made almost simultaneously with the evaporation of Cudahy's plan to help UWM build the Freshwater School on the lakefront next to his Pier Wisconsin facility - - it's time that UWM consolidates its two planned new schools - - Engineering and Freshwater Science - - near the WATER Institute.

Which is within walking distance of Rockwell International, formerly the Allen-Bradley Co. - - the iconic high-tech private sector firm on the near south side - - as well as Bradley Tech High School and a host of other manufacturing firms, engineering and architectural firms.

Then you've got a powerhouse public/private education/research/development complex in the City, close to the downtown, retail, housing, transit, rail connections, and the airport, too.

New, modern, strategically placed and linked engineering and freshwater science schools can help clarify, redefine and advance the Milwaukee and UWM's collective standing across the Great Lakes.

It's time for vision and leadership:

UWM, the City, the M7 and the neighborhoods should go for it.

CNU Transportation Summit Schedule

The Congress for the New Urbanism is hosting a major transportation summit in Portland.

Details here.

When A Beverage Masquerading As Healthy Is Not

I like to think I know my health foods, and that previous work at Consumers Union on nutrition, and other research and writing I've done makes me a savvy, healthy consumer.

So shame on me.

Long story short:

I was on a flight recently, and when it came to ordering beverages, my wife ordered a Coke (I disdain them completely: too much sugar, and the truth is, I've only sipped them and have never drunk an entire Coke or even, say, an eighth of one. Ever) and I ordered what I thought was Apple Cranberry juice.

Sounded like the healthiest choice: All those good northern Wisconsin cranberries...

What I got was a Minute Maid (Coca Cola Co. product) "All Natural Cranberry Apple Cocktail."

D'oh!

Compared to my wife's 39-grams-of-sugar-Coke, mine had 59 grams of sugars.

Her Coke had 140 calories. My all-natural juice cocktail: 220.

Either I didn't hear the key word "cocktail" in the flight attendant's spiel, since I know what that means (forget the juice: sugary conglomeration coming your way), or she offered it as a juice along with orange, apple, and so forth.

Isn't it interesting in this junk-food, waistline-expanding culture we live in that an all-natural juice beverage - - that's what it says on the can - - manages to contain 50% more calories and sugars than a Coke?

Michael Savage Paranoid Musings

AM 620 WTMJ radio - - the most influential 50,000 watt station in Wisconsin, and a Journal Communications property - - turns its late night airwaves over to the far-right talker Michael Savage and his show, "Savage Nation."

You wonder why some of the anti-Obama protesters sound so goofy these days?

Savage speaks directly to the fringes. In fact, Savage, known for his anti-immigrant rants, and allegations that President Barack Obama's health care reforms would cover illegal immigrants - - flatly denied by Obama in his speech to the Joint Session of Congress last week - - was clearly being channeled by South Carolina Republican Joe "You Lie" Wilson's during his imfamous interruption.

It was as if Wilson opened his mouth and Savage spoke.

But Savage outdid himself late NaziThursdsay/early Friday (I wasn't watching the clock) when he twisted some remarks by House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA), into a nutty, Nazi reference.

She is from San Francisco, from which Savage broadcasts, and is one of his favorite targets.

Pelosi had worried aloud that harsh rhetoric nationally in recent weeks could lead to violence - - an understandable remark, given the state of the country, a growing, hysterical Obama backlash, the appearance of guns at some Congressional town halls and Presidential events, and so on..

Savage said Pelosi's remarks to him meant that Democrats were planning a Reichstag fire episode, in which leftist agent provocateurs would stage an act of violence and blame it on the right.

Probably leaving some tea bags and Birther leaflets at the scene, Savage opined.

To which callers responded with, yeah, you're right Michael, etc.

Well, a day later - - early Saturday morning, and Savage is still at it.

Obama is a liar. Pelosi - - "this woman" - - is the worst Speaker ever, NBC and MSNBC are Communist networks.

On an on. Hour after hour. Day after day.

This is what's out there on national talk shows that pull in large numbers of listeners - - and in the state's largest market, aired courtesy of Journal Communications.

Take The Anti-Socialist Guvmint Pledge

From a Daily Kos posting. Pretty funny.

Hat Tip, e -mailer B. McG.

Wisconsin Assembly, Under The Wrong Influences, Backs Weak OWI Package

Wisconsin State Assembly members are hailing their unanimous adoption of some tepid, baby-step OWI reform proposals as a major move against Wisconsin's drunk driving epidemic.

What a joke.

Details here.

What an insult to families whose relatives have been killed by drunk drivers who have, despite their numbing grief, pleaded with legislators to really get serious about curbing drunk driving in Wisconsin.

Assembly members are leaving virtually intact the Wisconsin provision - - unique among the 50 states - - that allows a first conviction to be a ticketing matter only, with the new wrinkle that it becomes a misdemeanor only if there is a passenger under 16 years old in the car.

Big deal. So it's still not to be a crime to drive drunk with your 17-year-old cousin in the car, and get pulled over as a first-time offender?

Your grandmother in the car? Or your uncle, or your best friend as you're driving someone to church, or the dentist, to dinner, or home from a restaurant, sporting event, Summerfest, etc?

Why the official tolerance for some drunken driving?

The so-called reform package also establishes some 4th convictions as a felony - - again, with many states already designating felony charges for a a second or third offense - - but only if the fourth occur within five years of the third.

So many 4th offenses will continue to be misdemeanors.

Right now, it takes a fifth offense to be a felony in Wisconsin - - right at the top of the chart of states' offense ratings.

All the language parsing and finely-drawn exceptions and exemptions keep more drunk drivers on the road, and without true consequences landing on them as early as possible.

What this bill does is serve the alcohol lobbies and impaired drinkers - - it's as if they drew up the bill - - not the vast majority of people who drive sober, and don't hang around at fundraisers, and don't make whiny excuses about the Wisconsin drinking culture rendering them powerless to find their backbones and do something modestly substantial.

The Assembly bill is an embarrassment - - because every alcoholic will tell you, and I know a few who are now in recovery - - that they drove drunk often, sometimes everyday, thus were repeat offenders many many times before their first so-called "first offense."

So to our state legislators:

After the fake and self-serving celebrations in the Assembly are over, and once the Senate falls into line, you will have produced little impact on drunk driving in Wisconsin because the laws you continue to validate - - and now, even worse, under the guise of "reform" - - enable offenders to keep our roads unsafe.

Legislators who cannot stand up to special interests and overcome their own weird tolerance for risky behavior will end up with blood on their hands; the data being what they are, and with Wisconsin leading the nation in drunk driving, the first victims of this legislative surrender will be identified a mere few hours after the voting and back-slapping and rationalizing about this so-called reform effort is over.

[By the way, props to AM620 WTMJ conservative talk show host Jeff Wagner for continuing to take a hard line on this issue and to call out legislative members of both parties for failing to show leadership on this issue,]

New York Times In Midst Of Impressive Water Series

This installment about ag runoff poisoning drinking water is nothing new to Wisconsinites.

UWM Could Build Cool 5th Ward Annex, Or Campus, Housing Freshwater School

UWM could initiate a design competition to capture the urban hipness of the 5th Ward, and views of the Harbor, freighters, tug boats and other water-based industrial sites if it choose to put its new School of Freshwater Science at or near the current Great Lakes WATER Institute where E. Greenfield Ave. meets the water.

The area is within walking distance of the downtown, the Third Ward, the near South side's restaurant district and other cool spots.

Remember philosopher/planner Richard Florida's concept of the "creative class," and its gravitation to funky urban settings?

The Fifth Ward fits that construct perfectly, enhanced by a new specialized big-city school.

And its close to transit connections, the airport and the Intermodal station downtown, too.

UWM has the chance to do something really great in the City if it is willing to make the leap.

SEWRPC Contest: Test Your Political Skills! Win A Fabulous Prize!

Readers of this blog will know that I have been posting updates - - with no fresh news - - about the incomprehensible delay in the release of an every-four-years certification review by federal authorities who look at the work and outreach effort of Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission - - with which SEWRPC can approve major transportation projects in our seven-county region.

The 2004 review hearing was a public relations bloodbath for SEWRPC, and the resulting federal report forced some changes at the agency - - namely the creation of an Environmental Justice Task Force that since its 2007 founding - - yes, delay is the name of the game with many SEWRPC functions - - has been a growing force for planning openness and innovation.

When the 2008 review had its public 'meeting' phase - - October 22, to be exact - - the Federal Highway Administration officials who were in charge tried unsuccessfully to turn the formal hearing into a tepid, so-called open house, without amplified testimony directed to both officials and the large audience that had gathered.

People who had gathered protested, and a compromise was reached - - though after Federal Judge Lynn Adelman scolded federal officials in the Highway J (164) process for pulling the same stunt, I doubt this deadening format will be allowed as a hearing substitution around here again.

The certification report was to be released in March, 2009. Then May. Then the Federal officials stopped answering my emails and calls about the report's whereabouts and release date, though they have promised me a copy when it's done.

Now that we closing in on an entire year since the hearing-cum-open house, I've decided to enliven the process by seeing who among you can guess when the report is actually released.

Notice my optimism: I didn't say "if." I said "when."

So let's do this: Through my email - - jer45y@gmail.com - - or on this blog comment section - - I will gather entries guessing when I will get notification that the report is a released public document, or when that notification gets posted on SEWRPC's or the FHWA's or another public sector website, whichever is sooner.

You should state the date and time.

You will win the following great prize from my personal library - - the very nice and collectible copy of the hardbound and illustrated 1949 Trees, Yearbook of Agriculture, a publication of the USDA.

And coffee and the location of your choice, where I will deliver your prize.

Rules: No entries from anyone at FHWA or SEWRPC: you might have some inside information.

One entry per person.

I guess I can send it to an anonymous entrant, but that will be up to you to resolve.

Have fun!

Daykin Scoop: Control Issues Steered UWM Away From Lakefront School Site

I could write this lede every day of the week:

You think you don't need daily newspapers: well think again.

Here's another solid exclusive - - Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel development beat writer - - sheds sunlight on some of the reasons that UWM stepped away from locating its School of Freshwater Science on the Milwaukee lakefront downtown.

Turns out that Michael Cudahy, the retired industrialist/inventor/donor/ driving force behind acquiring the Pieces of Eight restaurant site next door to Cudahy's Pier Wisconsin/Discovery World complex, wanted a level of control over the school's design that UWM found unacceptable, Daykin reports.

As I wrote earlier, the City had design difficulties when Pier Wisconsin was first proposed (then rejected, then downsized, relocated and approved), so there is some precedent for these kind of difficulties - - magnified with legal and community issues also on the table when lakefront developments are proposed.

Sometimes, philanthropy and development cannot be reconciled.

And now we know it wasn't some cabal of selfish tree-hugging environmentalists trying to preserve a grove of trees and a sliver of open space between Pier Wisconsin and the Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum that prevented UWM and its private sector partner, the M7 Water Council, from building at the Pieces of Eight site.

As I have written here and in the Journal Sentinel's Crossroads section - - and believe me, these are not proprietary ideas - - the Pieces of Eight site on the lakefront, pretty as it is surely, is also too narrow, and too separated from UWM's signature WATER Institute labs and boat dock near the Harbor on E. Greenfield Ave., to insure that the new Freshwater School became a successful, coordinated and focused teaching and research campus.

I can understand why Cudahy wanted that input into the project, but if it was not a doable stance - - which seems to be confirmed by UWM's stepping back and Cudahy announcing he would turn the site that he now owns into a new restaurant - - then everyone should move forward with a different site selection process and agenda in mind.

Beginning with this premise: if more than $30 million in public funds were to be committed by taxpayers in the name of water education, research and development - - a solid idea for the University of Wisconsin system, and Milwaukee, absolutely - - then spending those dollars as strategically as possible has to be a perquisite.

And that should include leveraging the most employment from the investment - - from high-end R&D spinoffs to retail and service jobs emanating from new construction.

In an urban environment, that means spending those funds on Milwaukee's near south side/Harbor-area commercial district - - if you truly believe in public-private partnerships and the use of something like a social balance sheet of assets and liabilities that also fits with the traditional balance sheet, too.

No better place for the school than in the near south side 5th ward, where the WATER Institute resides where E. Greenfield Ave. ends at water's edge near the Harbor.

So to Tom Daykin: a tip of the hat.

To the community: let's keep Milwaukee's revival south of the downtown on track. Look at the Third and Fifth Wards, the Harley-Davidson Museum and the growth in an improved Menomonee Valley.

Add the School of Freshwater Science to the mix.

Public Option Foes Should Opt Out Of Medicare, Insurance Coverages

Foes of the public option and evil guvmint participation in health care should be opted out of Medicare, or their Cadillac publicly-funded health insurance, such as that enjoyed by state and federal legislators.

Might bring down the cost for the rest of us.

Dems Should Act With GOP On The Sideline

Republicans in the Senate have decided to withhold support for already-compromised health care reform legislation put forward by the pivotal committee chair and long-time reasonable Capitol Hill leader Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat.

So there you have it: zero bi-partisanship by Congressional Republicans content to hide behind the far-rightists and anti-government tea bag protesters and their talk radio/Fox cable news controllers.

Democrats should rally around President Obama, approve a meaningful bill, and do the same with the Climate Protection Act - - then go out with backbone and stamina and campaign on these issues in 2010 and 2012.

The public put Democrats and President Obama in office in 2008 to make these fundamental changes, and now is the time to get that agenda moving forward towards adoption.

Let's not waste the 2008 mandate.

Highway J (164) Decision: Link To Full Text

As promised, here is a link to the case file including US District Court Judge Lynn Adelman's Monday decision on allegations made by two Waukesha-area organizations that federal and state agencies violated various laws and procedures in approving the widening of State Highway 164.

Adelman found serious flaws in documentation, studies and hearings the agencies used to approve the 18-mile road-widening, wetlands-filling project - - portions of which have been completed.

It will be fascinating to see what remedies are ordered, or if and when appeals will be filed.

But this much is clear: any state or federal agency that embarks on a project with a similar mentality will find itself in court, and facing fines, mandatory remedial action, and other costly consequences.

The Road To Sprawlville, Chapter XXXI: Around Waukesha, Of Course

It is fitting that the latest chapter of our blog series, The Road to Sprawlville, is an update to a long-standing matter: the dreaded Waukesha Bypass.

As planners and developers and local officials paved and overbuilt Waukesha County, and the City of Waukesha pushed beyonds its borders, the traffic demand set in motion the inevitable drumbeat:

A bypass.

Problem is: it's got to go through someone's properties.

Iowa, Illinois Treat 3rd OWI As Felonies: Wisconsin's 'OWI 'Reform' Would Begin At #4

Right now, OWI in Wisconsin does not rise to a felony until a 5th conviction.

Reforms that may pass the Legislature could bring that down to conviction #4: note that in neighboring Iowa and Illinois, the felony level begins at #3, and in Indiana, it can be as early as a second.

National chart, here.

Citizens Should Not Have To Sue To Make Government Obey The Law

It says a lot about the way that federal and state governments have been forcing highway expansion onto the land and the general public that citizens have had to resort to litigation to get officials to follow the law, and to ensure an open process, when public funds, public hearings, public projects and public property are all in play.

That's the underlying paradox in this week's US District Court decision that found a pattern of illegality and injustice in the way state and federal officials have carried out the expansion of Highway J (164) in Waukesha and Washington Counties.

I remember meeting the Highway J activists in a meeting in Waukesha County years ago when they invited Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist to a meeting.

The activists had had a petition signed by thousands of residents along the highway corridor turned aside by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission - - this was during the McCallum administration - - and, in their disbelief at the way their petition had been dismissed, thought Norquist might have some suggestions about how to fight the power.

And these were homeowners, farmers, and everyday rural and suburban folk, not East siders or Story Hill city dwellers who had been fighting against SEWRPC indifference and WisDOT bullying.

So it's taken nearly ten years, but the Highway J activists, having had the widening shoved down their throats, finally had a good day in court.

But it shouldn't have come to this: governors of both parties in Wisconsin have given their WisDOT administrators carte blanche to tear up the land, pave the tax base, spend billions, overbuild highways, bypasses and freeways, and enrich contractors, with little regard to the interests of everyday taxpayers and the landscape.

I hope Judge Lynn Adelman's ruling gets wide attention in the state and across the country, and that policy-makers get the message:

Law first. Then common sense, equity and sanity - - by people who work for the public and should do the public's business without a judge explaining the errors of their ways.

Former Journal Sentinel Editorial Board Member Likes Joe Wilson's Style

Life on the fringes.

Wisconsin Legislative Madness: Lighter Penalty For OWI Than Do-Not-Call Violation

The Senate will vote on a proposal to make a Do-Not-Call violation a $10,000 fine.

Most first-time OWI offenses will still be a ticket, under an Assembly proposal.

You don't think lobbyists have power, or that legislators are cowed by the drinking culture, but want to look like they are doing something?

Groups Win Huge Highway Victory In Federal Court

I have not yet read the decision, but I am hearing that the Highway 164/J Coalition and the Waukesha Environmental Action League (WEAL) have prevailed in US District Court Judge Lynn Adelman's courtroom on procedural and substantive challenges to the expansion of Highway 164/J through Waukesha and Washington Counties.

The Coalition is the same group booted out of two recen highway hearings by officials - - one of many recent posts about this issue, a first-person account is here - - so maybe now we know why, as the Coalition appears on solid footing when it has said that highway expansion in this region is rife with flaws and law violations that have stripped the public of its rights and property.

I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know what comes next as far as remedies, or appeals, but it appears as if a great victory on behalf of open and fair government and public policy-making, and environmental preservation, has been won.

It will be interesting to see if state highway officials, or the regional planning commission which works closely with those officials and often shares the same institutional arrogance, will take away any lessons from the way this case is heading.

I invite comments and when I see documents in the case in formats I can post, I will do so.

Growing Power Expansion Is Regionalism, Water-Related Development Without All The Hoopla

Growing Power, the internationally-acclaimed organic food and teaching business created by urban farmer Will Allen, has made a deal with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission to expand on an MMSD site in Oak Creek.

This is good news on many levels:

Allen's operations get much-needed new space.

The region will get a bigger outlet for recycled food waste and thus a greater output of healthy food.

More people will get trained in Allen's sustainable methods.

Milwaukee and region will get more solid media from Growing Power's work and presence.

All in all, a terrific outcome, but notice that it took place in a nice loop of public and private and non-profit partners and benefactors who worked towards a regionally-and-nationally-beneficial set of goals.

This is regional development that shows you don't have to have a glitzy corporate machine promoting the area's existing resources.

Just people willing to roll up their sleeves and get the work done.

Keep Your Comments That Are Ethnically-Insensitive To Yourself

They won't make it onto this blog (you can't keep it to yourself when talking about the Freshwater school or the Pieces of Eight??).

You know who you are, folks. Find another way or spot to express yourself.

How To Really Improve The Pieces Of Eight Site

Mike Cudahy wants to put a new restaurant at the failed Pieces of Eight eatery site on the Lakefront now that UWM has correctly decided it was never a good spot to locate the School of Freshwater Science.

Well, maybe, as the Pieces of Eight was always an illegal use of lakebed land, but let's hope there are better uses that cooler heads will choose.

Nice blog item and discussion in the Sunday Journal Sentinel by Mary Louise Schumacher about what else could be done with the site, and I'm glad to see mention in her story about how the current WATER Institute could be made into a showcase with imagination and commitment.

I've been pushing that site for a while, as it would provide a boost to an industrial site near the Harbor through the leveraging of public dollars.

Are Stonewalls In The Federal Transportation Planning Handbook?

We're approaching the 11th month since Federal Highway Administration officials came to Milwaukee and held a listening session/hearing to gather input for the agency's every-fourth-year recertification review of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

And still, no report on the process released by the federal agency - - surely some kind of record for slow-going by the feds - - and a delaying action that renders useless the feedback offered by the many people who attended and gave feedback, most of which was negative.

As I have said on this blog several times, my efforts in the winter and spring produced little good information about the report's completion, and my last couple of requests for information went unanswered.

Meanwhile, SEWRPC continues to operate, I suppose, with some kind of continuing, de facto certification to approve federal transportation spending in the region - - even though both SEWRPC and federal highway contracting are still the subject of open discrimination complaints.

Some process.

Health Care Reform: Let's Get Started

As self-employeds paying exhorbitant (north of $1,700/mo. for two) premiums monthy - - along with high deductibles and co-pays, but healthy enough to work seven days a week - - I'll be glad if a national health care reform proposal meets, say, 80% of a progressive's agendas and needs.

[Update: see the comment and response.]

OWI Town Hall Fine, But Action Will Speak Louder Than Words

Several Milwaukee-area legislators are holding a town hall meeting Monday on OWI reform options.

I regret that I cannot attend; my input would be, and has been on this blog, that real reforms to stem Wisconsin's OWI road carnage are long overdue.

And that nibbling around the edges with minor tweaks do not bring Wisconsin into line with the other 49 states that treat all first offenses and misdemeanors.

Legislators have to stop enabling bad behavior on the roads.

It is time for leadership, and while meetings are nice, and may give some legislators the cover, if you will, to support new legislation, we all know the problem on the roads is influenced by a drinking culture that gets too much tolerance.

Treatment, yes.

Enforcement, yes.

First offenses should be criminalized.

All offenders get mandatory ignition devices.

Second offenses should be felonies.

No more messing around/

No Funding Available To Pay For Speedy Zoo Interchange Project

Having foolishly begun an eight-year reconstruction and expansion of I-94 from Milwaukee to the Illinois line - - and committing $1.9 billion in funding - - the state cannot rush ahead and begin an equally long project in the Zoo Interchange, which will cost at least $400 million more.

Some legislators and the Journal Sentinel are pressing the state to go ahead and the Zoo Interchange on a faster track - - but with what money?

Are the proponents willing to support added registration and other fees? A higher gas tax? Tolling the interchange, or all major state highway projects, for that matter?

Will the proponents agree to trim the new lanes from these two projects, saving hundreds of millions of dollars?

The state transportation fund is already over-committed. It's a perpetual problem in Wisconsin: over-expansion that has led to heavy debt, and now, too many projects at the same.

For the state to launch the Zoo project before the I-94 north/south leg is finished will have some fiscal consequences somewhere: cuts to local governments for transit or street aids, highway programs cancelled, or fees and taxes raised.

Wisconsin has been living without realistic budgeting or reasonable road-building/expansion priorities for years - - so jumping into $4.2 billion of major Interstate and interchange work is hardly the way to get an out-of-control situation better managed.

As I've said often on this blog, freeways are not free, despite the nomenclature, so what better time than now to begin to decide what projects and added lanes are really needed, and what can be cut or cut back so the state lives within its means.

Why Listen To Talk Radio

Why are you listening to conservative talk radio, commenters ask?

Fair enough question.

Whether we like it or not, conservative talk radio in the Southeastern Wisconsin market is a force that frames, or inflames, some issues.

Along with the national programs - - Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, et al - - we have more local rightwing political talkers than do many other markets.

So listening here and there is a way to keep up with one strain of political influence in the greater Milwaukee area.

And posting some tidbits and low-lights, as I do, is a way to push some accountability their way, if only by telling non-listeners about the garbage that is regularly out there on the public airwaves.

All in all, I don't think it's a bad thing to listen.

I'm aware that most of the talkers lecture Milwaukee constantly, even though (Belling excepted) they live in the suburbs.

Those without kids (Wagner, Belling) are famous for tsk-tsking moms and dads about parenting, and the talkers self-proclaimed victimization at the hands of Democrats or Obama or the left is laughable, given the position of power and privilege from which the preach.

Talk about your unintended self-parody!

So I listen, aware of their contradictions and often fake bellicosity, and I figure the only thing lost to more creative or spiritual pursuits is a few minutes everyday.

Best Case Against I-94 North-South Project In ACLU Complaint

Data, argument here.

Talk Radio Discovers Freeways Aren't Free

You gotta wonder where these people have been all these years?

Jeff Wagner, the AM 620 WTMJ early afternoon conservative talker, was grousing Tuesday about apparent delays in widening and rebuilding the Zoo Interchange.

Wagner must think the $2.3 billion projected cost for the project can be cobbled together out of thin air.

He made a good point - - also made by what he dismissed in the same segment as the anti-freeway crowd - - that the $1.9 billion I-94 widening and rebuilding south of Milwaukee to the Illinois state line shouldn't have begun before the Zoo Interchange piece was reconstructed.

Of course, the anti-freeway crowd has pointed out that the I-94 North/South leg is more than expensive: it's widening was not supported by data - - but regardless, there is no way that the state could take on both the Zoo and North/South projects at the same time.

So the Zoo is going to have to wait. Interim repairs will be needed, and commuters going to and from Waukesha County, and north-south on State Highway 45 and I-894 are going to have to slow down or find alternative routes.

Yes, it's an inconvenience, but you know what: Not everyone gets to drive at so-called freeway speeds whenever he or she wants, just as freeways are not free.

Waukesha commuters can spend some of their time framing this question for their County Board supervisors and conservative talk show hosts:

Was killing further study of light rail connections linking Waukesha and Milwaukee Counties back in the 1990's really in commuters' long-term interests?

That option would have been in place right now as a comfortable, mitigating alternative to freeway congestion.

Former Sen. John Warner Links Climate Change To National Security Risks

Fascinating interview with a retired Republican senior Senator who understands the connections between environment and US security.

A must read.

UWM WATER Institute Best Site For New Freshwater School

With UWM abandoning the too-narrow Pieces of Eight restaurant site on the lakefront for the new School of Freshwater Science, there should be a quick consensus that the best site all along has been the existing UWM WATER Institute near the harbor on E. Greenfield Ave.

It meshes projected teaching with UWM's existing research and boating facility and will boost the neighborhood with the public construction and development funding.

EcoWalk, Fundraiser, On Milwaukee's East Side 9/13

Talk about a great event; Book this, and pass it on...

Eco Walk September 13th, 2009, 11 am

Join the UWM community, alumni, & neighbors for the first-ever Eco Walk. This walk will take you through the urban ecosystems & sustainable landscapes of UWM & Lake Park, while highlighting their unique features.

Even in the city, there are ways to encounter the natural environment.

By taking part in the Eco Walk, participants will experience the native woodlands of Downer Woods on the UWM campus, the Waterfall Ravine in Lake Park, and a rain garden at the North Point Lighthouse, as well as many other prairies and natural landscapes.

Register on UWM's Spaights Plaza, then enjoy breakfast snacks and pick up a free raffle ticket, making you eligible for the drawing of an Apple Laptop Computer.

All adult participants (18 years or older) will receive one free raffle ticket, but more can be purchased on the day of the event. The drawing will be held in the Marcia Coles Community Room in Lake Park (lower level of the Lake Park Pavilion) after the walk.

Extra raffle tickets will be available at $5 for one ticket or $20 for five tickets.

From Spaights Plaza, walk along a self-guided marked path through the UWM campus, Lake Park, & North Point Lighthouse grounds.

Interpreters will greet you at each special ecological site.

Finish with a hearty vegetarian chili lunch in the Marcia Coles Community Room. The walk will lead you there.

Proceeds support the UWM Sustainability Fund and Lake Park Friends.

Register at and find more information at: www.ecowalk.uwm.edu

Help Boot Joe "Liar" Wilson From Congress: Donate To Rob Miller, Iraq War Vet

Go to this link and donate. I just did, and it feels good.

D'oh! No Cudahy Funding For UWM Engineering School

Great reporting by Tom Daykin: philanthropist Michael Cudahy says no dough for the new engineering school on land UWM has already bought from the cash-strapped county government.

That's a stunner: I thought the campus out there on the County Grounds was to bear his name.

Is this Cudahy's response to his failure to promote a new UWM School of Freshwater Science next door on the lakefront to his water industry museum, Discovery World?

Cudahy says "no."

I remember when Discovery World/Pier Wisconsin was on the drawing board some years ago, and when the initial, over-bearing design was nixed, Cudahy withdrew the plan entirely and said he was done with project sponsorship in Milwaukee.

After a while, a new design was approved through a competition, and Cudahy graciously returned as the building's funder.

I'm not sure if the same scenario will play out, but for now, UWM will have to do some fancy footwork and fundraising to make sure it hasn't bought a pig in a poke.

Doyle's Transit Plan: Many Moving Parts

Gov. Jim Doyle laid out a complex plan Tuesday to rescue failing transit in Southeastern Wisconsin and improve services, too.

Steve Schultze of the Journal Sentinel does a good job explaining all the elements, here.

To succeed, the plan needs the approval of the legislature, officials in Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee County, and an infusion of federal funding, too.

That's a lot of moving parts that have to be meshed by several units and levels of government that have been at odds with each other, or that have been disengaged from the process, depending on your perspective.

And, of course, Waukesha County is a non-participant - - by choice - - in a regional solution, which does removes an overtly hostile player, but which also leaves potential transit improvements stalled at 124th St.

Without a real solution, Milwaukee County's transit system could shrink through fare increases and service cuts to irrelevancy, or fall into a form of receivership necessitating a state takeover or bailout.

We'll see if Doyle can pull off this regional rescue. It's true that he has made himself a lame duck, but can work on a deal for Milwaukee County without feeling like he's also campaigning against County Exec Scott Walker at the same time.

I wish Doyle well: the public need is immense.

Recession Depth Is George Bush's Legacy

Along with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - - which drained the economy of capital - - permanent damage to New Orleans and eight lost years of work towards cleaner air and reduced dependence on foreign oil.

Republicans can lay it all at incumbent Obama's doorstep, but the Bush administration's failures will drive the Bush legacy into Ulysses S. Grant territory.

Rightfully - - no pun intended.

Name-Calling On Talk Radio Continues Unabated

A few days ago I said on this blog that taking shots at the union at Mercury Marine from the outside was of little value.

I forgot that's right-wing talk radio's bread-and-butter.

Today, within a few minutes, I heard Mark Belling on 1130 WISN-AM refer to union leaders or anti-contract members as "greaseball goobers...thugs...goons...stiffs."

So it goes on Milwaukee talk radio.

Cuprisin Scoops Media On Cianciola's Firing At WTMJ-AM

Tim Cuprisin, late of the Journal Sentinel and now at OnMilwaukee.com, told his readers last Friday that long-time AM 620 WTMJ radio personality Phil Cianciola was fired.

Since Tim is not at the newspaper or on jsonline.com anymore, having taken the last buyout, fewer people probably know about this big story in Milwaukee media.

Cianciola gave WTMJ's afternoon drive-time program "The Green House" most of its pulse and laughs, as its namesake, Jonathan Green, is a relatively humorless and crusty conservative.

[Late Tuesday update validated that assessment: In about an hour this afternoon, I managed to hear Green opine that problems with the cash-for-clunker program was proof that the government should never be allowed to run anything, except the military, and in response to a news story about a high school kid being baptized without his parents' permission during a football team outing, Green wondered aloud whether the kid's name was Mohammed? Turns out it was Danny.]

Green regularly undermined the more upbeat and informed chit-chat between Cianciola and sports guy Bill Michaels: the show absolutely sang when Green was on vacation and now-departed Mark Reardon (currently in St. Louis) filled in.

So it's a loss for WTMJ listeners, and proof that if you want to know what's happening in Milwaukee media, Cuprisin continues to be a must-read.

Obama Speech To Be Non-Political: I'll Let Rush Be The Judge Of That

So the lefty New York Times says President Obama's address to school children will avoid politics, stressing hard work and big dreams.

Oh, sure. Like the Times doesn't tell Obama what to say, and vice-versa.

I heard Michael Savage say just last night that everything the AP writes about Obama is cleared with Rahm Emanuel, so why should the Times be any different?

I'll wait to hear what Rush Limbaugh has to say about the speech, since that's where I get my objective analysis.

Red Menace To Infiltrate Kids' Classrooms

As the dreaded hour of his sinister speech approaches, I thought I'd repost last week's public service blog here decoding the propaganda Chairman Obama will sneak into the young Socialists recruiting message beamed into your kids' classrooms.

Par for the course from our first foreign-born,Muslim President.

Announcement Tuesday Afternoon By Gov. Doyle On Transit

Gov. Doyle is speaking at the Intermodal Station on Tuesday, at 1 p.m., on transit plans.

Look for news about the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Commuter line, which has inched forward to a ground-breaking, but is, like other transit needs in the region, stalled for lack of funding.

Milwaukee Public Market Update: Outstanding Mexican Food Addition

You gotta love the Milwaukee Public Market as it continues to redefine itself; there was a mob there Saturday as management and vendors keep improving the mix of hours and offerings.

Case in point: the new Margarita Paradise sit-down/carryout counter and produce market at the building's first-floor south end facing Water St.

Delicious, fresh food; friendly staff, fair prices.

Checked it out twice in a week, and I think it's the real deal.

I haven't been to the original Margarita Paradise on W. National Ave., in West Allis, but I will the next time I am that far west and want a meal or carryout.

The Public Market took a long time to complete, as it was a complicated public/private/neighborhood partnership, and matching sales and services to customer preferences has also been a work in progress.

The whole thing was an experiment.

I think things there are stabilizing, which is good news for the Third Ward and a downtown that is always looking for cool destinations.

Familiar Story: Doom And Gloom About The Zoo Interchange - - But Have You Noticed How Congested The New Marquette Interchange Remains?

More sky-is-falling data from state transportation planners, this time about the cost of delaying the reconstruction (and yes, let's widen it at the same time) of the Zoo Interchange.

But the state doesn't have the money - - $2.3 billion - - in part because it has begun flushing down the drain $1.9 billion to reconstruct - - and, yes, widen - - the I-system between Milwaukee and the Illinois state border, even though only phantom congestion there was in need of mitigation.

The same arguments were made about the dire need to repair - - and yes, then widen at the same time: why not? - - the Marquette Interchange, which I find just as congested as before, and less safe, given the traffic pouring off the High Rise bridge and a steeper entry ramp westbound on I-94.

It's such a shell game: fears are raised, money is committed, debt is increased, and the only thing certain along with new induced traffic is the need for another round of maintenance/repairs/redesign/expansion.

Rolling Bars, Ott's Folly; Cross-Purposes To OWI Reform

Call it special disinterest legislation:

State Rep. Alvin Ott, (R-Town of Brillion), is proposing that pedal-driven rolling bars - - on which patrons on board could imbibe and/or manipulate the steering and brakes - - be permitted on Wisconsin roads and other locations, the Associated Press reports.

It's not clear if drinkers could actually steer or brake the vehicle; regardless, it does put an entirely new spin on "open carry," to say the least.

Lest you think some practical joker is out there confusing Labor Day with April Fool's, here is one of many links in Midwestern media to Ott's Folly [my term, not his].

Yeah, this is some great PR for Wisconsin - - akin to the proposal from one of Ott's brethren also representing people in the 1st Senate District - - that school teachers pack guns in the classroom.

Ott's Folly comes to light just as other Wisconsin's legislators are talking about reforming the state's weak and ineffective drunk driving laws, which are part of the reason Wisconsin leads the nation in drunken driving.

Ott says there is interest in bars rolling through Lambeau Field parking lots.

I can't imagine stadium management wanting that liability on the property, or that pedestrians would appreciate the risk.

Can you picture these rolling bars (and yes, "pedal pubs" does sound a bit more quaint, something along the quiet, traditional British tavern model...) on Regent Street during the Badger football weekends, or through taligaters at Miller Park, or on Water Street in downtown Milwaukee on a hot summer night around bar-closing time?

Has Ott discovered an alcohol deficiency on Wisconsin roads or at sporting events that needs curing?

And please: don't tell me that criticizing the idea somehow is an argument for Prohibition.

Criticizing the proposal is an argument for sanity.

I predict Ott's 'idea' will be drowned by waves of laughter and condemnation.

And that the collective disbelief sure to follow the Folly may actually push more serious-minded legislators towards a true OWI reform package - - if only to distance themselves from a really bad idea that would make Wisconsin's drunk driving situation even worse.

But that a legislator would put his name on such a zany proposal underscores the ignorance or disinterest in certain corners of the State Capitol about Wisconsin's drinking-and-driving problems.

Ott has been in the legislature since 1986: you'd think he'd know and do better..

King Coal Pushing For Perks In Climate Change Plans

Senators from coal states are trying to build competitive advantages over cheaper and cleaner-burning natural gas into climate change legislation under review in the Senate, reports The New York Times.

They don't call it King Coal for nothing.

Hysteria On The Right, Ratings For Talk Radio, Fox 'News'

The anti-Obama, post-Obama election hysteria on the Right continues.

It had its roots in the disinformation about whether Obama was a Muslim, which morphed into whether he was a citizen, and has now landed on the weird conclusion that he is a Socialist.

Who wants to use a national address to school children as indoctrination while his legislative allies are working on national death panels, and God knows what else.

Much of this is fomented by business interested in making money, including Fox Cable, with goofy Glenn Beck joining the ranks of Hannity and O'Reilly, and national radio talkers like Limbaugh and Michael Savage.

Ginned-up paranoia and fear-mongering leads to rating points, and better ad rates and sales to advertisers.

The boycott against Beck has produced results, but the advertisers who have left his program are still with Fox.

Democrats have to back Obama, stick to core principles and confront rightist bigotry and propaganda.

I'm not sure if Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs' response to the school kids speech attacks as the "silly season" is tough enough.

I'd like to see stronger condemnations of the coordinated effort to demonize Obama.

Parsing, Tinkering At The Margins Make Some OWI Reforms Farcical

Bullied by lobbyists, and fearful of backlash from constituents enabled to drink and drive by a boozy culture and weak laws, Wisconsin legislators continue to consider OW reforms that edge close to meaningful change - - but fail to address the problem.

A new example; proposals to change Wisconsin's unique and embarrassing state law that now treats a first offense as a mere ticket to a misdemeanor - - like it is in the other 49 states - - but only if the offender has a minor in the car.

So it's still only a ticket if the driver has Grandma in the car?

What about the risks posed to people in other vehicles? Or pedestrians. Or cyclists?

The point is that an impaired motorist endangers himself or herself, and others nearby, and that should be a crime when it is exposed.

Other examples of this legislative timidity?

Making only some repeat offenses felonies, depending on the time frame in which the offenses happen.

Or perhaps requiring some repeat offenders to have and use an ignition lock on the car that can measure alcohol content in the motorist's breath.

Legislators have to stop pussy-footing around and make Wisconsin's laws tough enough to start saving lives.

Anything less is a waste of time.

Arctic Temps Warmest In 2,000 Years

Plus: Greenhouse gas emissions are preventing cooling from returning there, studies find.

Think we don't need, or won't get some form of cap-and-trade to slow this damaging trend?

Mercury Marine Contract Approval Logical, Yet No Doubt Tough

In a down economy, and making a discretionary item, the workers at Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac had no real option but to swallow hard and accept cuts in pay and benefits to save their jobs and community.

The factory floor can't be much of a positive working environment, and no doubt there will be resentments against management and within the union, given that there were pro-and-anti contract factions along with unhappiness with union leadership, too.

Time and a better economy will certainly help, but it's going to be a long process.

Finger-pointing and anti-union judgementalism from the outside is of little value.

Dirty Air Alert For State Saturday

Too much soot in the air, so don't be fooled by what you can't see.

Here is the DNR air quality alert:

Air Quality Watch for Particle Pollution, Issued: 12:43 pm Friday, September 4, 2009

The Wisconsin DNR has issued an Air Quality Watch for Particle Pollution effective 12:01 am Saturday, September 5, 2009 through 11:59 pm Tuesday, September 8, 2009 for Adams, Barron, Brown, Buffalo, Calumet, Chippewa, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Door, Dunn, Eau Claire, Fond Du Lac, Grant, Green, Green Lake, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, Kewaunee, La Crosse, Lafayette, Langlade, Lincoln, Manitowoc, Marathon, Marinette, Marquette, Menominee, Milwaukee, Monroe, Oconto, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Portage, Racine, Richland, Rock, Rusk, Sauk, Shawano, Sheboygan, St. Croix, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vernon, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago, and Wood Counties.

The watch is being issued because of the forecast for elevated levels of fine particles in the air. Fine particle pollution is composed of microscopic dust, soot, liquid droplets and smoke particles that are 2.5 microns or smaller.

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

The Air Quality Index is forecast to reach the orange level, which is considered unhealthy for people in sensitive groups. People in those sensitive groups include those with heart or lung disease, asthma, older adults and children. When an air quality watch is issued, people in those groups are advised to reschedule or cut back on strenuous activities during the watch period.

People with lung diseases such as asthma and bronchitis and heart disease should pay attention to cardiac symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath or respiratory symptoms like coughing, wheezing and discomfort when taking a breath, and consult with their physician if they have concerns or are experiencing symptoms.

Fine particle pollution deposits itself deep into the lungs and cannot easily be exhaled. People who are at risk are particularly vulnerable after several days of high particle pollution exposure.

Suburbs Don't Like Water Rate Increase: Then Buy Water Somewhere Else

Suburban communities don't want to pay for Milwaukee water at the rate Milwaukee has filed for review with the state Public Service Commission.

Maybe Milwaukee should simply send the water to the suburbs for free - - swallowing the pumping, infrastructure, maintenance and disinfection costs, as well as costs for basic services that keeps the city open for business.

Maybe the suburbs would like to have water delivered along with sweet roles and fresh berries, too?

What else would the suburbs like with their water? Maybe Milwaukee city workers could cut the lawns and fill the pools and wash everyone's car.

If suburbanites' sense of entitlement is that powerful, and they don't want to pay the proposed rate - - and let's see if the PSC approves Milwaukee's rate request - - then the burbs can go ahead and purchase water from Racine or Oak Creek, or WE Energy - - pretty far from Milwaukee and the suburbs' infrastructure, with water that is not cleaned to the high standard Milwaukee's Water Works provides through costly ozone filtration.

UWM Correct To Withdraw Lakefront Site For Freshwater School

As some of us have been saying for weeks and months, the proposed site at the Pieces of Eight restaurant on the lakefront for the UWM School of Freshwater Science was too small and controversial to be the community's first and best choice.

Now UWM agrees - - Tom Daykin is reporting - - and that's good news.

In a Journal Sentinel Crossroads op-ed a few weeks ago, I suggested that UWM, the city and state agree that the current site of the UWM WATER Institute on Greenfield Ave. - - close to the harbor and on the near south side - - get a complete makeover to add the school and boost the neighborhood.

That gets water-related job creation to the grassroots, and puts freshwater teaching side-by-side with research and the Institute's boat - - something the Pieces of Eight did not accomplish.

There is ample room there for the M7 Water Council, but if the address is not prestigious enough, there is certainly Class I real estate space downtown for the Council's offices.

Helping The Right Reveal The Code Words In Obama's Education Speech Next Week

I went to enough Barack Obama campaign meetings last year to be able to help the Right - - and God Bless those folks for being on top of this threat early - - reveal the true meaning of the coded words the President will use in his upcoming brain-washing address to students across the country.

If you hear the President say, "respect your teachers," that means "obey only the Commissar in the new Re-Education Camps" the government is secretly building in Area 51, and also in nationalized factories.

If the President says, "stay in school and get an education so you can get a better job," that means "leave home immediately and run away to one of the new government-run collective farms masquerading as centers of organic produce, or United Nations Peace Training centers."

If the President says, "don't skip Phy Ed," that means "go home and brow beat your parents using community organizing techniques into supporting a public health care option."

If he says, "don't back away from any challenge; remember, the sky is the limit," that means"always follow the orders from your local teacher's union Central Committee."

If Obama says, "thanks for listening, kids, and have a great year in school," that means "you are now all officially Young Socialist Pioneers; All power to Chairman Barack."

What could be simpler?

Jerry Bott, Your Jewish Wisecrack Friday Afternoon Was Not Appreciated

WISN-AM radio executive Jerry Bott is filling in for Mark Belling this afternoon - - so he must figure that gives him license to morph into just another insensitive shock jock.

Case in point: as the 5:00 p.m. hour approached, Bott began chattering about the seemingly new trouble he has reading.

When did I get so old, he wondered?

He said his arms weren't long enough anymore to hold a printed page far enough away to read it.

OK, fair enough. A little self-effacing humor.

Then his producer Paul must have said into Bott's earpiece that he could get glasses and wear them on a chain.

Instead of saying, 'that's a look I wouldn't like,' Bott said, and I think I heard this correctly, though I might have missed a word or two, but not the heart of it:

"Am I an old Jewish woman?"

Bott then said all he could visualize was someone with eyeglasses on a chain asking another presumably Jewish woman, "Suki, do you want to play Mah-Jong?"

This is completely stereotypical thinking and speech aired out to tens of thousands of listeners, based on who knows what except Bott's biases.

As a Jewish person with plenty of women relatives, I can say that none of them wear eyeglasses on chains.

My mother-in-law used to: she was a Methodist.

Why in Bott's mind do older Jewish women come to mind?

Jerry?

La Crosse, Where Everyone Has A Dying Declaration, Gave Birth To 'Death Panel' Myth, Says Wash Post

La Crosse gets national publicity for its money-saving, family-supporting end of life care that has been community-wide.

Justice Task Force Needs Role In New SEWRPC Consultant's Work

Sorry for than long title, but here's the deal:

After pressure from its Environmental Justice Task Force, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission agreed, at the 11th hour, to add to its nearly four-year long regional water study an independent, socio-economic analysis of water planning in the region.

SEWRPC recently selected the UW-M Center for Economic Development to conduct the study.

Now comes the important work: the Center has begun drafting the essential scope that will determine just what gets studied.

I think the EJFT needs to be in the room to make sure that the study hits the points it wants included.

This is a problem, as the EJTF is not scheduled to meet for another three weeks, on 9/24, by which time a contract between SEWRPC and the UW-M center could easily be set, along with the scope of work.

SEWRPC has not let the EJTF select its own officers, but the staff could easily poll the members electronically and have them select a representative to sit in on the scope planning meetings.

Until that representative is selected, those meetings should stop.

You can see from the description SEWRPC posted when it advertised for consultants - - especially see page 11 of the document - - that it wants the consultant to look at the potential implications of the water study's basic recommendation: that water be diverted from Lake Michigan to Waukesha and several other communities.

This validates the fact that the water supply study's recommendation were made long before the notion of socio-economic considerations were put on the table - - forced there by the EJTF.

Had these issues been included from the beginning, the recommendations for Lake Michigan diversions might have been different, broader.

There might have been a fresh approach to defining what actual resource sustainability might look like if socio-economic factors, and not just dollars-and-cents, or aquifer conditions beneath the region were included.

Remember, the consultant will have just 90 days to finish its study, so there is little time after the opening gun to add elements that would require more work.

And the EJTF needs to make two other big questions are answered in advance:

1. Is this new study going to be an appendix added at the end of lengthy, multiple chapters that have already been approved by the water supply advisory committee. In other words, will SEWRPC agree to integrate the findings with all the data and conclusions agreed upon by the advisory committee, staff and the earlier consultants?

2. Will the new study seriously look at the overarching Land Use Plan, to which the water study is supposed to connect, and make a judgement if the Land Use Plan, with the water study attached, is also adequate from a socio-economic perspective?

This is the best chance since SEWRPC was founded 50 years ago to truly open up the agency and its work to economic justice considerations.

That is the real task of the work that the UW-M center has before it, and only the EJTF, an arm of SEWRPC, can make sure that happens.

Waukesha Wants The Ability To Flush Some Diverted Lake Michigan Water Away From Lake Michigan

Although the Great Lakes Compact says diverted water must be returned to the source - - minus a reasonable amount for so-called consumptive uses - - the City of Waukesha, should it receive a Lake Michigan diversion, says its "official position" will be to state in advance that it would send some Lake Michigan water down the Fox River and away from Lake Michigan.

The reason: to alleviate flooding concerns along a stream it wants to use as the return route to the Lake.

Other documents identify that preferred stream as Underwood Creek, with a discharge point in Wauwatosa.

This is a perfect example of why it is a fundamental mistake for the State of Wisconsin and its Department of Natural Resources to be on the verge of accepting an application for the diversion from Waukesha without having used the 15 months since the approval of the Great Lakes Compact to lapse without having begun, let alone completing, the drafting of administrative rules to assist with the implementation of the Compact in Wisconsin.

The information comes in a 9/2/2009 email from Daniel Duchniak, general manager of the Waukesha Water Utility, in response to questions I emailed him that same day.

My questions to him were based on a a copy of a May 15, 2009 email that the utility had provided in documents to me, upon request, in which Bill McClenahan, a Waukesha public relations consultant, suggested that Waukesha make certain "significant changes" in language describing the city's return flow and a reduced need for water.

The language changes were proposed for a then-upcoming Waukesha document.

In his proposed language changes, McClenahan said Waukesha should say that return flow of diverted water be continuous to Lake Michigan during certain rain storms.

Waukesha had earlier indicated that the return flow would, at times, be directed into the Mississippi River watershed via the Fox River, thus away from the Great Lakes basin and Lake Michigan.

Below was a paragraph from McClenahan's email that I asked Duchniak to clarify:

"Another example of the evolving nature of Waukesha's potential application for Great Lakes water is a change in its preferred option for return of water to Lake Michigan after use. The utility proposes to return water to Lake Michigan via a tributary, setting an innovative precedent of using treated wastewater as a resource that can potentially improve the flow and quality of a stream. Previously, the utility had proposed cutting off the return flow when the stream reached a certain level, roughly corresponding to levels reached during a two-year storm event. The utility's new preferred option, however, is to return the estimated daily withdrawal of Great Lakes water, minus the Compact's allowance for consumptive use, during such rain events. Water can be returned under such conditions without causing concerns of flooding."

In his clarifying answers, Duchniak said discharge cut-offs to the stream and their redirection down the Fox River would occur if "concerns of flooding" arose.

I have below italicized Duchniak's answers, which he had inserted at the end of each of my questions:

"Were these [McClenahan] changes proposed for the draft application, or for another document, such as the answers to the environmental groups, or for the Mayor's remarks at the Public Policy Forum luncheon later in May?

"These changes were for the answers to the environmental group questions.

"Secondly, is the continuous daily return flow during two-year storms now the official position of the city?

"The official city position is to return the estimated daily withdrawal of Great Lakes water minus the Compact’s allowance for consumptive use, during such rain events as the water can be returned under such conditions without causing concerns of flooding.

"What about continuous flow in rain events heavier than the two-year storm level? Would the return flow at those levels be directed to the Fox?

"Our intent remains as stated above, to return the estimated daily withdrawal of Great Lakes water minus the Compact’s allowance for consumptive use, during such rain events as the water can be returned under such conditions without causing concerns of flooding. The volume of water above that amount would be directed to the Fox."

Waukesha has said it intends to launch its application before the end of the year, and even though Milwaukee's official position is that it should not be accepted by the DNR before rule-making, additional documents obtained from the Waukesha Water Utility indicate Waukesha expects Milwaukee to sign onto the application to help complete it - - something that Common Council resolutions and other Milwaukee actions appear to block.

This all may appear as inside baseball to some, or confusing, or repetitious - - but my opinion is that if Waukesha's "official position" is to state its intention to send an unspecified amount of Lake Michigan water away from the Great Lakes basin - - thus defeating a key, Great Lakes water preservation concept embedded in the Great Lakes Compact - - Waukesha will have to explain somehow, some way hoe its application for a diversion isn't looking for an exemption or exception to the return flow expectation that simply isn't there.

Doyle Promoting State Energy And Climate Bill

Gov. Doyle wants a state energy and climate protection bill approved even as federal legislation, having passed the US House, is still pending in the US Senate.

I'm glad to see that Doyle is countering arguments from partisan Republicans and some manufacturers and utilites who claim the bill will hurt the Wisconsin economy.

On the contrary: green energy production will stimulate new technologies: if anything, Doyle's goal to generate 25% of the state's electricity from renewable sources doesn't go far enough.

You can follow the national push for climate protection, alternative energy generation and green jobs legislation through the Repower America site, here.

Time Enough? After More than 15 Months, No DNR Rules For Great Lakes Diversions

Gov. Jim Doyle signed Wisconsin legislation approving and implementing the Great Lakes Compact on May 27, 2008 - - more than 15 months ago, yet the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has yet to write the key administrative rules that should guide communities readying applications to pipe in water under the Compact framework.

A fifteen-month delay is not an accident.

It's a deliberate waiving of responsibility and public trust to smooth the way for Waukesha's application approval in Wisconsin - - which takes place prior to the review by the states.

For the last week or so I have been posting commentaries with links to documents provided upon request by the Waukesha Water Utility about these matters.

In the record, there is an unverified assertion from a Waukesha Water Utility consultant that it would take 4,000 hours of DNR work to write the rules - - the implication being that the task was overly burdensome on the DNR.

I have asked the DNR to verify the number, but I have yet to receive an answer.

Let's say it's accurate.

It sounds like a huge number, but with more than 2,000 hours in a working year, a small team of four employees could have finished the task by now having worked on the project less than half-time.

And much of the data and materials needed had already been assembled because the Compact had only recently been approved, with the DNR as lead agency at the Capitol.

And had represented the state in negotiations that produced the Compact over several years along with counterparts from the other Great Lakes states.

I don't think this approach is going to help Waukesha in the long run convince the public, and the other states that must approve it unanimously that the Waukesha application is as credible as it could and should have been.

Or that it had the most comprehensive review possible by Wisconsin authorities.

This is why the City of Milwaukee, as the probable Lake Michigan water seller, wanted the DNR to have rules in place prior to receiving Waukesha's application -- requests of the DNR made twice by Milwaukee leaders that went unanswered.

If and when Waukesha's application stalls, say, in Michigan's review, or elsewhere, the DNR or others advising or directing it will shoulder much of the blame.

Less Midwest In Midwest Airlines: Continuing Story

More layoffs take place at Midwest Airlines, as new owner Republic (a very old regional name in these parts) continues to substitute its Brazilian-made aircraft for Midwest's Boeings, and cheaper flight crews to operate them.

Soon, Midwest will be an airline-in-name-only, more associated with cookies than actual flights.

Waukesha Diversion Consultant's Report On Use Of Underwood Creek: Full Report

A consultant has provided Waukesha with a report indicating that Underwood Creek can absorb the city's wastewater discharge as part of a plan to divert and return water from Lake Michigan.

Here is the full report.

How Government Gets Things Right

I am not sure if this posting is really from a conservative, as it purports to be, but it is pretty funny none the less.

Comment Goof-Up Today; Please Resend

I accidentally deleted a couple of comments this morning about the posting on Milwaukee legislators' effectiveness. If you sent me a comment, and don't see it, please resend.

One reminder: gratuitous name-calling does work against you...

To Bash Ted Kennedy, The Right Will Embrace The KGB

And the writer says Kennedy was "repulsive?"

New Vote At Mercury Marine Suggests Compromises, Doyle Assist

That there will be a third contract vote at Mercury Marine suggests management has made some contract changes that will help union members swallow hard and approve a contract that basically cuts their standard of living for a long time.

But preserves much of the payroll, opens the door to production moving to Fond du Lac from Oklahoma, and keeps local suppliers selling parts and services.

All in all, even if the contract is approved, the community has been bruised.

Note to Gov. Doyle haters: it appears as if Doyle played a positive role in getting the two sides together.

How does that fit with your "Doyle-isevil" template?

And if the vote is "no," those bruises will be much deeper.

Milwaukee Needs A Tougher Legislative Caucus

There has been no shortage of damaging news stories about people and institutions in the city and county of Milwaukee of late:

Massive scamming of the state-run child care system.

A state social services caseworker impregnating a client.

County government routinely dumping recyclables into landfills. [Another piece of solid disclosure reporting by the Journal Sentinel's Dave Umhoefer. And some of you think you can do without old-fashioned journalism? Get serious.]

City revenue shortfalls through state shared revenue cuts and restrictions on local taxes and fees, based on a report from the Public Policy Forum.

Resolving or adequately addressing these and other urban issues require a strong, coordinated, activist voice in the State Legislature by Milwaukee's representatives and senators - - to initiate legislative fixes, demand better agency oversight, and stand up for the city and county with the Governor.

But over the years there has been a drop-off in legislative representation, both in numbers and effectiveness. A notable exception: breath-of-fresh air newcomer Sandy Pasch, a Democrat who replaced Sheldon Wasserman. Wasserman lost a bid to move out Alberta Darling, the River Hills Repyblican.

Voters have to understand that without more vigorous legislators, Milwaukee and the rest of the state will get stuck with the status quo, and that is simply unacceptable.

Look how long it took to undo the clout of the Milwaukee Police Union at the Capitol to finally rid Milwaukee taxpayers of the unique and unfair burden of paying police officers after their convictions for crimes.

Stronger legislators would have long ago reformed or eliminated the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission which obtains about 17% of its annual budget from City of Milwaukee taxpayers but does not give the city a single seat on the suburban-dominated, 21-member board.

Too many state legislators from Milwaukee are content to go everyday to Madison, serving without an agenda or a sense of urgency, or much of a record to show at the end of the session.

Push is coming to shove in Milwaukee - - city and county and the school system, too - - and along with taxpayers here, will remain scrambling for revenue and initiatives and solutions to real problems until the local legislative delegation shows some backbone and leadership.

Scott Walker's County Government Broke Landfill Laws

Recycling 101: Do not co-mingle recyclables with landfill refuse.

Most five-year-olds know this.

Thought apparantly not Milwaukee County Executive (sic) Scott Walker.

Anybody in charge over there at the County Courthouse and atop the organizational chart, or is Walker's relentless statewide Gubernatorial campaigning/fundraising/motorcycle touring now in its second interation just too demanding to take care of the basics?

Tower Site Development Plan Emblematic Of Milwaukee's Needs

The Milwaukee Common Council's Zoning and Neighborhood Development Committee today approved a $35 million redevelopment plan for the former Tower automotive factory site on the city's west side.

This is precisely what Milwaukee must do with underutilized industrial and other available acreage in and near its low-income neighborhoods - - clean these sites, invest in improvements, and partner with local non-profits and traditional businesses to create jobs and add to the tax base.

It's especially important for Milwaukee because the city has been land-locked by a special, anti-annexation state law since 1955, so while other communities can add land for development, Milwaukee cannot.

It's a constant process of reinvestment, redefinition, and risk-taking - - made crucial because Milwaukee has so many low-income and minority residents who are financially unable to move to neighboring communities, let alone get to them on inadequate transit, where job development is accelerating.

There is a nice description of the project in this story in the Daily Reporter. I am happy to see my son Sam quoted: he is business development director at one of the non-profits involved.