Gun "Buff?" Really?
You decide if that's a good description of this fellow.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Suburbs Unhappy That Water, Infrastructure Costs Don't Come Cheap
Waukesha might look more closely at new shallow wells, cleaned deeper well water and riverbank wells, rather than Milwaukee water, if cost as allowed by the state PSC is the issue.
Editorial Support For City Rail Transit
Good to see the Journal Sentinel lining up behind Milwaukee's streetcar plan.
Great cities worldwide offer a variety of transportation options: Milwaukee needs to get out of the rail-free zone.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Another News Story Comment Opportunity Brings Out The Racists
Read through the comments and then tell me what's up with people around here?
I don't see any use in offering anonymous readers the chance to spew their venom underneath a news story on the paper's website.
Under an opinionated column, maybe.
But with news, why?
I have raised this issue earlier.
You can't behave this way in the Letters to the Editor columns.
And don't talk to me about censorship. I'm not talking about government muzzling of free speech. I'm talking about a corporate policy at a private-sector company that needs some rethinking.
Hat tip to the person who brought this to my attention this afternoon. That person keeps his/her anonymity.
Waukesha, Again, Says It Will Improve Underwood Creek
This defense of its Lake Michigan water diversion return flow regime comes from Waukesha's Common Council President, through the Water Utility's consultant.
Text below:
Thursday, May 13, 2010
For more information, contact
Bill McClenahan
414.405.1051
Waukesha water will not add to flooding concerns
Return flow will improve, not harm, Underwood Creek
Waukesha’s proposed return of water to Lake Michigan will improve, not harm, Underwood Creek and will not add to flooding concerns, according to Ald. Paul Ybarra, the President of the City’s Common Council.
“We recognize that communities along Underwood Creek have experienced flooding and that any additional water seems like too much. I want to assure residents and communities along Underwood Creek that returning the water we use would not increase the risks of flooding,” Ybarra said. “During heavy rain or snowmelt events along Underwood Creek, we would temporarily pause the discharge of water to Underwood Creek. We would not cause any increased risk of flooding.”
The Council President said even if the city’s plan had not included plans to temporarily pause the return flow, water from Waukesha would increase the flow of Underwood Creek by 2% or less during a two-year creek flow (flows caused by heavy rains or snow melt) and by less than 1% during a 100-year flow. “We heard the concerns that residents may have, so we are proposing to pause the flow to the creek during events that threaten flooding,” he said.
Ybarra said cutting off the flow temporarily flow cut-off will not prevent Waukesha from achieving its goal of returning 100% of the volume of water taken from Lake Michigan back to the lake. “The temporary pause in flow is something that would occur infrequently and we can make that volume up by having small increases in return flow on other days, without any adverse impact to the creek or to Lake Michigan,” he said.
The alderman also commented on concerns regarding water quality in the creek, saying, “The fact that the public has questions about water quality is also understandable, but the fact is that the water from Waukesha would actually improve the creek’s ecosystem.” Ybarra referred to modeling results that were independently reviewed that show that Waukesha’s return flow would reduce bacteria concentrations in Underwood Creek, which is a local water quality concern. Waukesha has said it will disinfect the return flow water year-round.
Development around Underwood Creek has reduced the natural recharge of the creek and the creek flow at times goes to zero. Water studies show that the return flow water would create a baseflow during dry periods, allowing for the development of better fish habitat. As an example, Ybarra noted that the Lower Rouge River in Michigan has seen an improved fishery, in part due to the use of treated wastewater as a resource. Waukesha is proposing to provide a similar environmental benefit to Underwood Creek – a benefit that would be lost if it piped the return flow water all the way back to Lake Michigan.
“Piping the water directly to the lake instead of using it as an environmental resource is less sensible,” he said. “Building a pipe under the existing infrastructure in Milwaukee would eliminate the environmental benefit to the creek and also be disruptive for Milwaukee residents and businesses.”
He noted that the city’s application for Great Lakes water, along with its appendices, is approximately 2,000 pages. “The impacts of all the alternatives have been extensively studied by experts,” he said.
Ybarra noted that Waukesha’s request is similar to the discharge systems in most municipalities in the state. Most utilities discharge into streams or rivers. “State regulations for communities that discharge to rivers and streams are more stringent than those for communities that send water directly to Lake Michigan. Waukesha’s treatment of wastewater will meet or surpass state regulations. And Waukesha does not have combined sewers that add storm water to its sewer system. No untreated water will be returned to Underwood Creek.”
He added that Waukesha is downstream from other communities that discharge to the Fox River. “It’s not unusual to be downstream from another community. It has been no problem,” he said.
Ybarra said the City of Waukesha is seeking a Lake Michigan water source because continued use of the city’s current deep aquifer water supply is unsustainable. “Recharge of the aquifer is limited due to a layer of shale in the area and it’s dropping five to nine feet per year. The drawdown is also having negative impacts on surface waters in the area. In addition, water quality issues in the deep aquifer, including radium, are increasing. By switching to Lake Michigan, we can protect public health, recycle the water back to the source, and help local groundwater resources recover,” he said.
The alderman said the city is proud of its leadership in water conservation. “We were the first community in the state to ban daytime sprinkling, the first in the state to enact rates that encourage water conservation and the first to adopt rebates for remodeling with water efficient toilets,” he said. “Those kinds of efforts, along with public education, helped us reduce water use by 11% is just three years. But conservation alone cannot solve our water problems. We must find a new water supply.”
# # #
Does BP Want To Plug The Leak, Or Re-Capture The Flow?
Hard to tell, but the Gulf is paying the price.
Neumann!
There are indications that GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Neumann may run as an independent - - a tea party-friendly strategy for sure.
Could this become the Republican version of the messy Joe Checota/Jim Moody senatorial primary scrap in 1992 that opened the door for now-incumbent US Senator Russ Feingold?
I heard Mark Belling the other day opine that it's getting close to that.
If Walker and Neumann run against Tom Barrett - - advantage Barrett.
Does Neumann just hate Scott Walker, or does he truly think he can ride this tea party/anti-incumbent/anti-traditional political party sentiment to a gubernatorial victory?
Lee Bergquist has some details. Don Walker, earlier.
Waukesha Lake Michigan Diversion Application: So Far, An Incomplete
With the City of Waukesha's application for a Lake Michigan diversion on a continuing hold (the water utility there told me today by email they'd let me know when it's posted online), it's worth noting how often this journey to the Great Lakes has hit potholes, detours and roadblocks.
After the city stopped a long, costly and failed battle fighting a national radium standard laid down by the US government, former Waukesha Mayor Carol Lombardi asked Gov. Jim Doyle by letter in 2003 to help send the water Waukesha's way - - an effort simply turned aside by Doyle without a formal review because there were too many legal barriers in the way.
I wrote that up, along with an accounting of some of the early Waukesha water consulting work, for WisPolitics.com in 2006.
Here is the same story re-posted at OnMilwaukee.com.
Then there were the confidential Waukesha missives twice sent by a Waukesha contract attorney to Doyle in 2006 seeking 24 millions of Lake Michigan water daily - - documents I found and posted on WisPolitics.com after an Open Records request to the Waukesha Water Utility.
Those documents and some history, including Waukesha's claim at the time that the city was connected underground to Lake Michigan, are here.
Doyle sent those requests to the DNR, which set them aside, because at the time the Great Lakes states were moving towards a regional Compact to handle such applications and there was no way he could have circumvented that process by awarding Waukesha the water.
But Waukesha took the shot. Sought a short-cut. And failed.
And the DNR said it would only accept for review what it called a formal application - - which is interesting because even now, long after the Great Lakes Compact was created, and won approval by the state legislature, the DNR has yet to write the administrative rules that would guide an applicant like Waukesha in the construction of an application.
Has the DNR offered advice?
Yes.
But rules written in the light of day, and creating an unambiguous road map?
Nope.
Also remember that when the DNR forwarded New Berlin's so-called comprehensive and complete diversion application to the other states - - a courtesy referral only for an in-basin diversion plan - - several states turned it back with harsh criticism.
And organizations across the Great Lakes were not impressed. Details here.
My assumption all along has been that Doyle or his office told the DNR not to start rule-making because it would be interpreted as a political barrier from Madison in front of Waukesha - - and Waukesha has said repeatedly that time is of the essence.
Though it cannot seem to actually get that application to the DNR.
Waukesha's Common Council approved a draft application for forwarding to the DNR on April 8th, but city officials are editing it at the behest of city lawyers, according to Waukeshs Water Utility General Manager Daniel Duchniak.
This is part of a pattern:
You will remember that at the end of 2009, the utility changed its technical consultants, and brought in CH2M Hill to finish putting the application together, replacing the consultants it had been using as lead technical advisers since 2004.
CH2M Hill had been involved in Waukesha water studies since at least 2002.
The 2009 delays raise the possibility that the process of actually launching the application was influenced by the need for then-mayor Larry Nelson, the application's biggest booster, to at least declare prior to the April 6th election that the application was near completion and would be scheduled for a Common Council vote.
That scheduling was announced by Nelson in late March (the application vote was a success on April 8th)- - but by then Nelson had lost the election in an upset to newcomer Jeff Scrima.
He was an early opponent of the Lake Michigan option, but then Scrima became a convert of sorts by saying he would let the application proceed - - a process that is still hung up somewhere between the Water Utility and City Hall.
It is fair to say that the long-term impact of Scrima's surprise election on the water issue is unclear.
Add that unknown factor to unpredictable outcomes and responses to the application, when it gets finished and mailed, at both the DNR and the other seven Great Lakes states that must all approve it.
And we haven't even begun to see if Waukesha and Milwaukee can reach a financial and political deal on a water sale - - should all eight states give their mandatory OK.
You can see why Waukesha may have been ill-advised all these years to choose the Lake Michigan option over other less-problematic solutions closer to home.
Some people think that this is all part of a grand strategy in Waukesha to delay, delay, delay until the 2018 legal deadline for finding and implementing a new source of water becomes so pressing that local, state and regional reviewers will all feel pressured to say "yes."
It may come to that - - though I'd say the opposite is true because Waukesha is the first out-of-basin diversion applicant, and as the precedent-setter will get the toughest examination possible.
I think the delays are caused by the inherent legal and technical hurdles that this application has to address, then survive over many years - - some of which have been presaged by and raised in written detail prior to the Waukesha Common Council approving a draft application on April 8th.
The big issues include whether Waukesha has adequately looked at other water sources, and whether the return flow regime that uses Underwood Creek is a smart, sustainable and viable option.
There are at least two problems with the return flow proposal: the potential effect on the Creek and properties downstream, and the discharge of some diverted wastewater during storm events to the Fox River and thus away from the Great Lakes basin.
Waukesha has defended itself against these and other criticisms. History here.
But here's the bottom line:
All these matters could have been better assessed a) if the Nelson regime in Waukesha between 2006 and 2010 hadn't gone with 'Lake Michigan or bust,' and b) if the DNR had cast clear rules for Waukesha to follow when creating an application.
Science, not politics, was supposed to govern this process.
So far, that gets an incomplete grade, too.
Waukesha Deflects Environmental Groups' Diversion Critique
Waukesha's water utility manager addresses many concerns raised by environmental groups over the city's plan to divert Lake Michigan water and return it as discharge to Underwood Creek.
The groups' have on more than one occasion raised these issues; Waukesha and the groups duked it out this time at Milwaukee Magazine's News Buzz online site. History here.
Lewis Black On Glenn Beck On The Daily Show
Black skewers Beck's overuse and misuse of "Nazi" analogies, in case you missed it.
The Road To Sprawlville, Chapter XXXVII: Cul-De-Sacs Are Bad For You
A prestigious business journal looks at the consequences of the cul-de-sac, though urbanists have for years made the point that cutting off through traffic and discarding traditional street grids violates planning and common sense 101.
Not to mention adding fuel burn and more air pollution.
Cul-de-sacs run up costs for municipalities and thus taxpayers, too, which is why the Virginia legislature is going to limit cul-de-sacs from now on.
High-Speed Rail Will Be A Boon To Our Economy
Unless a Republican governor (disrespecting train-luvin' Tommy Thompson) cancels it, says Steve Jagler, noting the ironies.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
More Arizona Nuttiness
As if the immigration law and John McCain's flip-floppy campaign werem't enough: now we've got John Kyl, the other GOP Senator from AZ, suggesting this is the perfect time to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.
Arizona Immigration Law Already Costing Convention Business, Phoenix Officials Say
And the damage totaled so far doesn't include the GOP 2012 convention (late news: the GOP is talking its gathering to Tampa, though Phoenix was on the short list) or the 2011 baseball All-Star game.
Denver took in an estimated $286 million revenue when the Democrats held the 2008 nominating convention there.
Arizona is paying big time for its self-defeating immigration law.
Discrimination is becoming expensive. Sign of the times.
With Limitations On Offshore Drilling, Energy/Climate Bill Launched In Senate
Lindsey Graham is still on the sidelines, but the bill is out, and much needed.
Let's promote non-polluting energy alternatives that would rein in our addictive shipping of billions in petro dollars to hostile governments.
An Old Madison Hand Weighs In On The Train Station Issue
And I mean "old hand" with respect, Ron McCrea.
Bart Stupak On BP Oil Disaster
Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak, (D), had been known for his interest in Great Lakes protections before becoming a household name during the health care bill's approval, and in his last year in the House is again making news.
Kohler Golf Tourney Interchange Follies Continue
Let Sean Ryan of the Daily Reporter take you through the latest act.
Remember - - this is the I-43 interchange that will be closed except when there is a major tournament at Kohler's Whistling Straits course.
Like every five years.
Three Wauwatosa Aldermen Like High-Speed Rail Stop
I'm hearing that three Wauwatosa aldermen - - Dennis McBride, Bobby Pantuso and Linda Z. Nikcevich have endorsed the idea put forward by Milwaukee County Clerk Joseph Czarnezki to put a high-speed rail stop at the County Grounds rather than locate stops in Waukesha County.
As Milwaukee Ald. Bob Bauman says, the idea is getting traction.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Wisconsin Smoking Ban - - Presumably Fixed - - Goes Into Effect in Two Months
Yes, Wisconsin's reluctant smoking ban finally gets into the books with one final amendment - - but not until lawmakers delayed the implementation until after one last July 4th holiday money-grubbing, cigarette-celebrating carcinogenic inhalation.
And had to fix their so-called initiative by closing, maybe, a head-scratching loophole.
How does that happen?
Note that North Carolina, home to cigarette making, beat Wisconsin to it. As did entire countries where smoking is a tradition, in and out of taverns.
How does that happen?
The smoking ban fiasco speaks volumes about the dismal state of the Wisconsin legislature, and its embarrassingly tepid, unapologetically agenda-free Democratic majority and leadership.
On OWI reform - - legislators instituted weak, tinkering changes after a spate of horrific high-profile OWI deaths because tavern and other lobbying forces successfully kept Wisconsin the only state in the country where nearly all first-offenses remain as tickets.
And you still gotta get four convictions before you have committed a OWI felony. The message there: First offenders, you get a pass.
Repeat offenders - - have one for the road.
On clean energy progress - - total failure.
On payday lending - - shallow, first-ever changes - - but no cap on interest rates - - even after a key Democrat who had been a champion of tough regulation admitted to a relationship with a payday lobbyist.
On regional transit - - nothing (though an earlier veto by Gov. Doyle left them with a tough situation - - one they were not strong enough to repair).
Gone are the days that Democrats stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the disenfranchised and powerless.
These days, Democrats care more about fund-raising and staying in office than actually doing anything once there, which is one reason why a lot of them are going to lose their seats.
The legislature shouldn't be a place for place-holders.
Spencer Black, Legislative Environmental Leader, To Retire
Black will be missed. Here's hoping good candidates come forward.
Kagan On The Environment
Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan added environmental focus at Harvard Law School, and is climate realist, results-oriented, says Grist.
Environmental Groups Blast Waukesha's Great Lakes Diversion, Return Flow Plan
A coalition of Wisconsin environmental groups tells Milwaukee Magazine's Buzz that Waukesha's plan to dump wastewater into Underwood Creek poses real pollutant risk to the Creek.
Details here.
And pay careful attention to the pollutant increases that could be added to the Creek if Waukesha is allowed to dump its wastewater treated to the same levels as is currently permitted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for wastewater Waukesha sends into the Fox River.
Says the Buzz:
"The Coalition says the discharge, if identical to the treated wastewater Waukesha releases into the Fox River, would contain 20-30 times more fecal coliform bacteria, which serves as an indicator of disease-causing bacteria, than what’s typically found in Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District discharge – and more than nine times the maximum legal limits for the bacterium.
"The environmental groups also say they would expect Waukesha to remove mercury and chloride from the water. The city has variances that allow its discharge to contain normally prohibited levels of the chemicals."
What would possess Wauwatosa or Milwaukee downstream to accept those loads?
This blog has often reported on Waukesha's diversion and return flow planning problems, and noted the ongoing delay in Waukesha's forwarding the diversion and return flow plan to the DNR for review.
You will also see that in this post's comments, Waukesha's contract lobbyist and public relations consultant objects to the characterization of Underwood Creek as "Waukesha's toilet" - - a paraphrase of Racine State Rep. Cory Mason's defense of the Root River with regard to one wastewater flushing regime discarded by Waukesha in favor of Underwood Creek.
Well, maybe "chemical tailing pond" is a better description of what could become of Underwood Creek.
Waukesha has said the forwarding delay is due to minor changes that are not required to be resubmitted to the Common Council for examination and a new vote.
It would be good to learn that changes are meant to deal with the very pollution issues raised by the coalition.
Climate Scientists Want The Skeptics To Control Themselves
Their plea will probably gin up the deniers, like the well-known naturalist Rush Limbaugh.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Milwaukee County Supervisors Urge Mental Health Official's Firing
Three questions in the wake of a true scandal involving a policy that puts women patients at risk of assault:
1. Only three supervisors?
2. County Exec Scott Walker defends the policy?
3. And some of you want this man to be the Governor?
Poll Shows Support For Energy Reform, Post-BP
Time for the Senate to get that Energy reform act introduced and passed.
Limbaugh On Oil Is Natural, Maybe Enviros Blew Up the Rig, Etc.
Here's Rush Limbaugh's transcript about how oil is natural, the waters will take care of it, and maybe enviros are behind the spill, etc.
A few graphs:
" Don't forget, the original Earth Day, 40 years ago, was inspired by the river in Cleveland catching fire. Forty years later, the day before Earth Day this year, the Gulf is on fire. Coincidence? Jury's still out. The regime is on the case, soon to tell us what happened. "
And...
"There's natural seepage into oceans all over the world from the ocean floor of oil -- and the ocean's pretty tough, it just eats it up. Dr. Spencer looked into this. You know the seepage from the floor of the Gulf is exactly 5,000 barrels a day, throughout the whole Gulf of Mexico now. It doesn't seep out all in one giant blob like this thing has, but the bottom line here is: Even places that have been devastated by oil slicks like... What was that place up in Alaska where the guy was drunk, ran a boat aground? (interruption) Prince William Sound. They were wiping off the rocks with Dawn dishwater detergent and paper towels and so forth. The place is pristine now.
"You do survive these things. I'm not advocating don't care about it hitting the shore or coast and whatever you can do to keep it out of there is fine and dandy, but the ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and was left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is. (interruption) Well, the turtles may take a hit for a while, but so what? So do we! Hell, remember that story we had at the beginning of the show: The barred owl that flew into the windshield of the Wentzville, Missouri, fire truck, and they got to the fire and the thing was still hanging on out there. It had a broken wing and they took it to some animal veterinary sanctuary or hospital or something. Just give it a pain pill! Why not? That's what they had for us, and we don't even launch ourselves into the windshields of fire trucks."
"You do survive these things. I'm not advocating don't care about it hitting the shore or coast and whatever you can do to keep it out of there is fine and dandy, but the ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and was left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is. (interruption) Well, the turtles may take a hit for a while, but so what? So do we! Hell, remember that story we had at the beginning of the show: The barred owl that flew into the windshield of the Wentzville, Missouri, fire truck, and they got to the fire and the thing was still hanging on out there. It had a broken wing and they took it to some animal veterinary sanctuary or hospital or something. Just give it a pain pill! Why not? That's what they had for us, and we don't even launch ourselves into the windshields of fire trucks."
I-94 Overbuilding; Exhibit "A"
Unless I misread it, the eastbound sign west of Pewaukee on I-94 in Western Waukesha County said "Pewaukee next four exits."
Four.
The Village and City of Pewaukee, according to the 2000 census, together have less than 20,000 people.
How much access to the Interstate highway system is enough?
Think about the construction, maintenance, plowing, patrolling - - and yes - - eventual replacement and expansion cost in the regional freeway 'improvement' plan - - that the existing configuration entails.
Could it be that the spread-out nature of housing and businesses in that area has all but required so many interchanges?
Or did the original I-94 placement trigger the sprawl?
Hard to say, but everything in Waukesha County expansion suggests that there will be more of the same on the way, and that includes the City of Waukesha's intent to send Lake Michigan water to its south and west, the building of the Waukesha bypass, the Pabst Farms I-94 interchange to a cancelled shopping mall, etc.
It is amazing that the regional planning commission (SEWRPC) has a master land use plan in place, and all the sprawl west from both Milwaukee and the center of Waukesha's business district has been allowed to happen regardless.
And is it a coincidence that the regional planning commission's offices are in ...Pewaukee?
Rail's Potential In Madison
Another brainy piece by Marc Eisen.
Rail is a development tool - - a simple lesson lost or warped by railophobes who have blocked or upended so many opportunities in Wisconsin.
County Mental Health Unit Enabling Abuse Of Women Patients
Kudos to the Journal Sentinel reporters who aired this scandalous situation, and thanks also to the County Supervisors who are leading the county out of this mess.
And where is Scott Walker?
Is he on a motorcycle ride?
Chatting up some voters somewhere, instead of being back in the county courthouse, cleaning house?
White Flight From Suburbia To Cities
The Brookings Institution confirms cities' growth at the expense of suburbia.
Former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, now the CEO at the Congress for the New Urbanism, has been talking about this for years; cities have cultural advantages that suburbs cannot provide.
One form is not for everyone, obviously, though government policy - - highway building, mortgage and interest deductions, public bonding and tax programs, and more - - tilted the playing field towards the suburbs.
Not it looks like the market, and individual choice, are speaking loudly.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
More Walker Hypocrisy: Attack Federal Spending...But Take The Transit Funds
Scott Walker will use federal funds to help keep the buses running.
Same federal government - - the only one we have - - that gave the county stimulus funds, after Walker opposed taking the money, and then agreed to take it.
Election year follies.
AL Gore On The BP Oil Spill
Definitely worth the read.
Consider the first few graphs from his New Republic essay:
The continuing undersea gusher of oil 50 miles off the shores of Louisiana is not the only source of dangerous uncontrolled pollution spewing into the environment. Worldwide, the amount of man-made CO2 being spilled every three seconds into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding the planet equals the highest current estimate of the amount of oil spilling from the Macondo well every day. Indeed, the average American coal-fired power generating plant gushes more than three times as much global-warming pollution into the atmosphere each day—and there are over 1,400 of them.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Milwaukee County Official Wants Waukesha Booted Off Rail Line
Here's an idea:
Czarnezki Proposes Second Milwaukee Area High-Speed Rail Station Elimination of Waukesha County Station
A second station for the planned Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail connection should be placed in western Milwaukee County, according to Milwaukee County Clerk Joe Czarnezki.
"A second station should be placed in western Milwaukee County near the Milwaukee County Research Park and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s proposed engineering campus, to provide business and university travelers easy access to high-speed rail service to Madison,” Czarnezki said.
Having two Milwaukee area stations – one downtown and a second on the Westside – would provide greater access to high-speed rail for Milwaukee area businesses and residents.
Czarnezki also suggested eliminating one or both of the proposed Waukesha County stations.
“Waukesha County officials are on record as opposed to high-speed rail, apparently because they believe their constituents would not use it, so there is no reason to spend tax dollars to construct two stations in Waukesha County,” Czarnezki said.
###
Makes sense to me. If Waukesha wants out of light rail and a regional transit authority, then their isolationist wishes should be honored.
Institutions, Like People, Can Be Their Own Worst Enemy
Marquette wounds its image and effectiveness by withdrawing an administrative appointment to an opinionated academic - - over sexual orientation issues.
This leaves the perception that MU is a narrow-minded institution, thus hurting the school in its competition for students, faculty and administrators.
More Details On Monona Terrace Train Station
The proposed high-speed rail stop at Monona Terrace makes a lot of sense, as there is parking there, with just a short walk up the hill to the Square, Madison's City Hall and State Capitol, this State Journal story shows.
I guarantee I will use this service.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Lindsey Graham Could Be The Post BP-Spill Environmental Leader
If he came out of his shell and forcefully got behind the climate change/jobs bill in the Senate right now, Lindsey Graham could be the post-partisan, post-BP oil spill hero the country is looking for.
Right now, when the bill, crucial to energy independence from hostile foreign oil sellers and polluting companies alike, needs a jump start in the Senate.
And needs some GOP backing.
Lindsey Graham, seize the time.
RNC Housecleaning; Grasping After Tea Partiers
The Republican National Committee continues to clean house.
After all, how can you attract the tea partiers when your spending is so lavish and pointless?
More Wisconsin Communities Hope To Board Rail Plan
Wisconsin residents outside Milwaukee and Madison will have to elect rail-friendly officials if they want to be included in the coming train boom in Wisconsin.
Independent Ad Attacks State GOP Gubernatorial Candidates
When yoy side with the rich, others will take note...
New Report Will Further Tie Cancer To Chemicals In Food
Organics, BPA bans and other initiatives will get a boost when this new report is released.
Bottom line: environmentalism is all about public and personal health.
Wild Market Shows Need For Reform Legislation Stability
On a Thursday when the Dow-Jones fell about 1,000 points before a partial recovery, Democrats and two brave Republicans in the Senate picked a good day to fend off an effort by most GOP Senators to weaken a Wall Street/Big Finance regulatory bill soon to pass the Senate.
The Republicans' willingness to stay tight with Wall Street after the near total stock market and financial sector meltdown of 2008, and yet again yesterday, tells me th party of Big Business still prefers Wall Street donations and inflexible ideology over common sense.
The Dems may yet avoid a 2010 massacre in November; if they do, they ought to strike a medal with Mitch McConnell's face on the front. Maybe Big Spending RNC chairman Michael Steele on the obverse?
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Former Senate Staffer Sought As Milwaukee Streetcar Lobbyist
Jeff Boothe is the DC lobbyist Milwaukee officials hope can spring loose more cash for the streetcar system.
Boothe is also on the board of Reconnecting America, a leading transit advocacy organization.
News about the city's strategy began surfacing about ten days ago.
Dave Reid, nice summary.
Stock Market Derailment Today Shows Perverse Power Of High-Tech Traders
I'm reading Scott Patterson's book about the rise of computer-and-math-driven stock trading - - The Quants - - and it helps explain what the heck took place in the markets today.
Too many exotic high-tech formulations, too many really-really-really smart (mostly) guys have programmed a worldwide network of super-computers that can panic the markets and make them electronically to behave completely irrationally.
Which is ironic, since these new Masters of the Universe - - including physicists and other technicians outside of traditional economics or finance backgrounds - - are using their brains and computers and corporate platforms to search out what Patterson calls "The Truth," or the Holy Grail of market control and thus infinite profit.
These are arrogant and deluded people with too much power. Today they cost people around the globe billions, trillions, perhaps.
And not for the first time.
Rush Hour From Milwaukee West...Light Rail Would Have Eased It
Every time I am caught in rush hour traffic in the Marquette Interchange, and I see that frozen wall of traffic crawling west, I think about the light rail system killed by Waukesha County and talk radio that would have been mitigated a lot of that congestion.
And when the Zoo Interchange reconstruction begins...
State, Local Rail Plans On Track
As I predicted earlier on this blog today - - and, yes, I confess this wasn't too tough - - both Milwaukee's streetcar plan and the state's high-speed train program moved forward.
The high-speed project gets a better-located Madison stop - - close to the Capitol, as I said more than a year ago should happen. The newly-announced station below the Capitol at Monona Terrace is a very good choice.
Additionally, Milwaukee's streetcar plan is a step closer to ground-breaking, thanks to a a 3-1 vote by a planning committee made up of public and private sector reps.
The only off-note was the opposition of the County Executive's appointee, but that is nothing more than another Pavlovian burp by GOP gubernatorial candidate and current transit-killer Scott Walker.
Walker needs to convince the GOP base that he is anti-Milwaukee, despite his perch as County Exec, so what better way to prove it to out-state and suburban voters than to tamp down on a key public service in Milwaukee?
Talk radio will hail Walker's obstructionism: the party of No and their boosters need a healthy hit of negativity every day, so this can do for the Thursday fix.
So all in all, for the rest of us and progressive public services - - a good day.
In Defense Of Birds; Carl Schwartz
Carl Schwartz, a former colleague at The Journal and Journal Sentinel, explains why birds and their habitat are essentials.
His new work is the antidote to the passionless approach I discussed in a recent post.
High-Speed Rail Stop Closer To The Capitol To Be Announced Today
State and local officials will announce today a station close to the Capitol Square for the projected Midwest High Speed Train.
The first plan had the stop at the Madison airport, which would have limited its Milwaukee-Madison traffic.
Many rail advocates, including this blog, had urged the downtown stop as an alternative.
Good that this is being resolved, but backers of the plan shot themselves in the foot with the airport station concept.
Milwaukee Streetcar Plan Should Win Procedural Vote Thursday
I expect the committee planning Milwaukee's streetcar system to vote affirmatively Thursday, thus keeping the long-stalled project on track.
Most modern cities in the US and worldwide have some form of rail; Milwaukee needs to be steady in its resolve to get the project begun and expanded, regardless of the roadblocks that will be thrown in the way by talk radio, rightwingers, Tea Partiers, and the like.
Details here.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Huge Solar Collector Project In Milwaukee
Milwaukee continues to make news with advances (wind turbines, high speed rail and Lake Michigan initiatives, to name a few) in alternative energy research, development and manufacturing.
Add to that growing green presence a large solar collector project that is a partnership among MATC and manufacturers.
Thomas Content has a nice story about it in the Journal Sentinel.
Superfluous I-94 Interchange Has GOP Legislator "Stoked Up"
Some boosters of the highway lobby just can't contain themselves when there's the smell of fresh concrete air in the air.
Jeff Honadel, (R-South Milwaukee), you are getting your 15 seconds. One...two...three...
And Jeff Stone, (R-Greendale) - - you win the hyperbole prize for predicting billions of dollars in new development from the interchange.
Billions?
What are you guys stoked up on, anyway?
Waukesha Border War Over Water Edging Closer To Recall Election
Just following the progress of the unfolding story along the Waukesha City/Town border over access to groundwater.
Latest from the Journal Sentinel.
Additionally, citizens involved in the recall effort have a website, here.
Dave Obey's Bowing Out Is A Huge Story
Cong. Dave Obey was a great asset for Wisconsin and good friend to Milwaukee. His decision against running for another term leaves a big political and fiscal hole to fill.
Milwaukee County First Blog Bemoans Tosa's Forfeiture Of County Grounds Parcel
The Milwaukee County First blog watched Wauwatosa vote away a piece of the County Grounds.
To me, it's part of a larger pattern.
No Passion For The Land; Tosa Forfeits County Grounds Stewardship
So the City of Wauwatosa approved on Tuesday UWM's chaotic and unfunded plan to build on more than 80 acres at the soon-to-shrink Milwaukee County Grounds - - with the blessing of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors which had already taken the land deal money and run.
The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning, predictably, sat on its developer-happy, highway-enabling hands, too, saying nothing about the loss of the County Grounds acreage - - just as they said nothing as the Pabst Farms project was developed in Western Waukesha County on land SEWRPC had suggested be kept designated agricultural.
No doubt SEWRPC would say that no one asked its opinion about the County Grounds, and, yes - - why would anyone ask? - - as SEWRPC has already recommended the expansion of all the highways right next door to the County Grounds - - I-94, I-894, and US 45 - - in a $6.4 billion freeway reconstruction plan the agency wrote for the state that does not contain a recommended nickel for transit.
So it is left to UWM and the failing Milwaukee County Transit System to somehow, someway provide transit links to the County Grounds from UWM's main campus miles away crosstown on Milwaukee's East side.
Look for surface parking instead - - the lowest usage of prime real estate known - - to anchor what will be called the new campus' transportation plan.
Speaking of transportation, the regional East-West Corridor Study had endorsed light rail with service to the County Grounds, but anti-urban, anti-transit forces in Waukesha County blew up the study more than a decade ago, and the Tommy Thompson administration gave up on the concept - - which it had endorsed until panicked by right-wing talk radio and local politicians in Waukesha County, which is the core of the GOP's conservative base.
So goes planning and land preservation and transit provision in and around these parts - - even though plenty of political leaders churned out Earth Day proclamations in April that, in light of recent and real-time events, look pretty insincere.
State legislators led by Democrats even killed the Clean Energy Jobs Bill on Earth Day itself, with the help of State Sen. Jeff Plale, a prominent Milwaukee Democrat (sic) who had helped craft it.
Wauwatosa is looking at another environmentally-hostile shoe to drop: the use of its Underwood Creek as a municipal toilet by the City of Waukesha - - the latter wanting to flush its wastewater through Wauwatosa to save proposed piping costs when returning Lake Michigan water to the Great Lakes watershed.
And, yes, SEWRPC has preliminarily endorsed the Lake Michigan water diversion plan for Waukesha - - and even told Waukesha in writing it can send the water into relatively-undeveloped acreage that expands the Waukesha municipal water service territory by 80% - - and, with a SEWRPC shrug, said environmental reviews of the diversion plan were up to others.
Waukesha and SEWRPC and UWM are telling us they see the land as something principally to pave, pipe through and build on rather than a limited resource to preserve and pass down.
Activists in Wauwatosa tried their best to persuade their elected officials that digging up the County Grounds and disrupting Monarch Butterfly migration territory was not in the public interest, but in the end, UWM's private sector-fueled Real Estate Steamroller could not or would not be stopped.
Maybe those Wauwatosa residents who spoke against desecrating the County Grounds will have more success keeping Waukesha's daily flow of 11 million gallons of wastewater out of the Creek that runs through their downtown - - a situation that Waukesha would certainly resist if Wauwatosa chose to save a few bucks by discharging its wastewater into Waukesha's downtown Fox River.
And I do give credit to Milwaukee County supervisors, led by John Weishan, Jr., who recently voted 13-3 in opposition to Waukesha's diversion and discharge plan.
But if Wauwatosa disregards its power and responsibilities in this matter, and were to capitulate to imperious Waukesha down the line, then Wauwatosa and the rest of Southeastern Wisconsin will have proven they learned little from the oil spill devastation ongoing in the Gulf of Mexico.
And learned nothing about Gaylord Nelson.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Will Shell Oil In The Arctic Be BP North?
Shell Oil's permits to drill in the Arctic are being challenged.
With the BP disaster unfolding are to the south, let's ask:
Have we learned anything yet?
Milwaukee Magazine Finds Much Rhetoric, Fewer Facts, In "Water Hub" Claim
Milwaukee Magazine has published and posted a devastating critique of the claim by some local business, academic and civic leaders that Milwaukee is some sort of "water hub."
The author is former Milwaukee Journal reporter Barbara Miner, who finds merit in the scholarship of Marc Levine, a UWM professor and critic of UWM's approach under current Chancellor Carlos Santiago to academic/business ties.
Miner's piece is definitely worth a read.
Waukesha Water Application Set For Later This Week, Or Next Week
I received the response below a few minutes ago by email from Waukesha Water Utility General Manager Dan Duchniak about whether Waukesha's Lake Michigan diversion application had yet gone to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The application - - which Duchniak had said recently was undergoing minor changes - - was approved by Waukesha's Common Council on April 8th - - including permission to make such changes administratively and without a repeat Council vote, Duchniak said:
"It did not go yet, we are in the process of printing the final version with all of the attachments and it should go out and be available on the web site by the end of this week or early next week."
Reminder: Wauwatosa To Vote On UWM/County Grounds 'Improvement' Tonight
Wauwatosa's Common Council meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall, 76th St. and North Ave., and will vote whether to approve UWM's unfunded plan to build a new engineering school and so-called innovation center on a big piece of the Milwaukee County Grounds.The project will compromise open space and rare Monarch Butterfly migration habitat, pave more than 80 acres of public lands and add traffic and air pollution through what is essentially a sprawl extension of the main UWM campus located miles to the East.If it is to be built - - an open question - - the plan's ever-changing design and parameters need refinement and firmer boundaries, but without a crowd at the meeting, the Council may bend to the heavily-lobbied joint private sector/UWM real estate steamroller.Good Tosa blog about it, here.
More Michael Savage Radio Lowlights Courtesy of Journal Communications
It's been a while since I tuned into the far-rightwing Michael Savage, whose program airs late on AM 620 WTMJ radio - - the Journal Communications flagship station with the state's strongest signal.
Savage was in typically high rant, complaining that various arms of the US Military had been "de-balled" and " feminized" and otherwise ruined.
Savage lambasted other targets as "putzs" and "schmucks." [These are Yiddish terms - - you can look them up.]
Then he brought on an author who has written an anti-Obama book, "The Manchurian President," that continues the right's obsession with Obama as being the illegitimate other, and an enemy of the state.
And the failed NYC bombing attempt? "Obama's Katrina," yelled Savage.
Go figure.
Monday, May 3, 2010
What's Up With That? Waukesha's Mystery Diversion Application
Four of 15 appendices in the draft on the Waukesha Water Utility Website are still listed as "in progress."
Two weeks ago, it was already two weeks late in transmission to state regulators.
If You Believe The Earth Is 6,000 Years Old, Stop Reading
Or, start - - as the link will take you to a story about a Mammoth (no pun intended, but see, the facts are even embedded in our language) evolutionary phenomenon that began 7,000,000 years ago.
High-Speed Rail Update: Madison Station
And not a moment too soon.
And note the information about where to send your input.
Media Documentary Produced By Milwaukee Journal Alum
I'm a bit late, but I want to thank Tim Cuprisin for interviewing our former Milwaukee Journal colleague Manny Mendoza and posting a piece at OnMilwaukee.com about Mendoza's timely TV documentary about the decline of print media.
We may reprise at another time the hilarious side of Mendoza's short but memorable stint at the paper, but for now, let's celebrate his creative leap into yet another medium.
Wauwatosa Council Meets Tuesday On UWM/County Grounds Plan
Wauwatosa's Common Council meets Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall, 76th St. and North Ave., at and will vote on approving UWM's unfunded plan to build a new engineering school and so-called innovation center on a big piece of the Milwaukee County Grounds.The project will compromise open space and rare Monarch Butterfly migration habitat, pave more than 80 acres of public lands and add traffic and air pollution through what is essentially a sprawl extension of the main UWM campus located miles to the East.If it is to be built - - an open questions - - the plan's ever-changing design and parameters need refinement and firmer boundaries, but without a crowd at the meeting, the Council may bend to the heavily-lobbied joint private sector/UWM real estate steamroller.Good Tosa blog about it, here.
Wal-Mart Installing Wind Turbines
Alternative power generation is getting pretty mainstream.
If Wal-Mart's Sam's Club stores ca go green, who can't
Greek Bailout Equals Recent Wall Street Annual Payouts
What a coincidence:
Wall Street pay and bonuses have averaged around $150 billion annually since 2008 - - including to Goldman Sachs execs, and the international financial rescue plan for Greece equals about the same amount.
And some of the Greek and European financial problems are traceable to bad Goldman Sachs investment instruments.
And you still think we don't need Wall Street reform?
Phosphorus Rules Could Become Part Of Waukesha Water Plan Cost
It has taken a decade - - so don't you go blaming Barack Obama or Jim Doyle or the Man in the Moon - - but federal rules originating in 2000 designed to reduce the amount of algae-enhancing phosphorus discharged by municipal wastewater treatment systems are working their way towards approval in Wisconsin.
And some treatment plant operators in Waukesha County say the rules will increase their costs.
The final Department of Natural Resources rules have not been written, and the state legislature will have to approve them, so nothing is set in stone.
But assuming they pass, you've got to ask this question:
What's the impact on the City of Waukesha, which is looking towards discharging wastewater into Underwood Creek, in Wauwatosa, from a Lake Michigan diversion?
Again - - that diversion plan, and its permissions and approvals and permits, has a long way to go.
But what kind of phosphorus loading can Underwood Creek accept?
And what would the DNR indicate is appropriate for the Menomonee River and Lake Michigan to absorb from the discharge, too, since Underwood Creek is but the first piece of Waukesha's discharge return flow scheme?
The discharge regime is probably the trickiest part of the Waukesha application, since it does not involve returning treated wastewater through a pipe to the lake, or directly to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
If Waukesha has to boost its treatment plant processes to remove more phosphorus, the price of the $164 million diversion plan could go up.
Or course, a GOP-controlled legislature, or Governor, could simply put the regulations on the back burner, and river edge residents and lakefront communities could kill or harvest more algae, I suppose.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Some Major League Ball Players Support Boycotting All-Star Game, Moving Spring Training From Arizona
I had suggested a few days ago on this blog that Major League baseball pull its spring training games out of Arizona.
Seems that Adrian Gonzalez of the San Diego Padres thinks the same thing.
He's a marque player.
Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen also said he would not attend the 2011 All-Star Game, set to be played in Phoenix.
This will snowball. Bud Selig, baseball's Commissioner, needs to speak out.
27% of Major League ball players are of Latino descent.
Longer story here.
BP = Broken Planet
As the British Petroleum oil spill moves towards both the US coast and the Atlantic Ocean - - courtesy of the Gulf Stream current - - these are my thoughts:
BP wants "Beyond Petroleum" as its motto. I say BP stands for "Broken Planet."
And who signed off on that permit to build without the remote blow out suppression devices, let alone a plan to deal with a worst-case scenario?
Milwaukee Doing A Good Job Fighting Crime
I continue to be impressed with the overall job being done by Chief Ed Flynn and the Milwaukee Police Department to fight and prevent crime.
Mayor Tom Barrett and the Fire and Police Commission made the right choice to bring Flynn in; he seems to understand what the public wants and how to make sure his officers deliver in very difficult environments.
Being chief is a demanding job - - managing a large department, a budget in lean times, balancing crime detection and prevention with protecting civil liberties and community sensitivities.
I've worked in two Mayors' offices, and been around many of the issues that touch a city's policing; it's hard for a city is to find the right personnel and help them succeed.
Milwaukee is on the right track. There is always more to do, as this is about progress and not perfection - - but so far, so good.
Online Discussion About Fixes For Blown Out Gulf Well
The New York Times has an interesting online discussion going about possible fixes to the leaking Gulf undersea well.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Alderman's Arizona Boycott Proposal A Good Idea
Ald. Jim Witkowiak is on to something.
Arizona has to get the message that the anti-immigration law it approved is unacceptable.
BizTimes Breaking News: Franklin Mayor Wants Interchange, Breaks Tie Vote
"In a special meeting today, the Franklin City Council voted, 4-3, with Mayor Tom Taylor casting the deciding vote, to spend $500,000 on improvements in the South 27th corridor. A couple of things: Nice job by BizTimes. And can the suburbs always find the dough to add more highway lanes, interchanges and the like? "The Drexel Avenue interchange on Interstate 94 in Oak Creek is one step away from becoming a reality," says Biz Times Saturday.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation told the cities of Franklin and Oak Creek that they must jointly contribute for half of the costs of the estimated $12.8 million project.
The Oak Creek City Council approved plans to provide a total of $4.4 million for the area, including $3.75 million to build the interchange, $500,000 for South 27th Street lighting and $150,000 for Drexel Avenue lighting and utility work. The Oak Creek funds would come from a tax incremental financing (TIF) district.
However, the project met some resistance in Franklin because the interchange actually would be located in Oak Creek, even though it would provide service to Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. campus in Franklin.
When it built a corporate campus in Franklin, Northwestern Mutual provided $1.6 million to the Department of Transportation for area road improvements. That money will be used for the Drexel Avenue project if an agreement between the DOT, Franklin and Oak Creek can be reached.
The DOT had indicated it would give Franklin some consideration for its expenditures on lighting and other improvements in the South 27th Street corridor.
The DOT's decision on the project is expected on Monday."
Now The Little Government People Want Big Government
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, in government himself, wants a lot more from the feds.
Maybe he should call old Halliburton (the failed oil rig's construction contractor)/Unfettered Drilling Champ Dick Cheney.
City Streetcar Lobbying Contract Might Do The Trick
A small lobbying contract working its way through the Milwaukee Common Council might be just the surgical, strategic lever to get Milwaukee's streetcar on track.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
