Attention Wauwatosa: WisDOT Says Feds Green-Lighting Zoo Interchange Project

WisDOT sent out this email an hour ago today:

From:

"DOT DTSD SE Directors Office" <director.dtsdse@dot.wi.gov>

To: undisclosed-recipients

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) received federal support for the reconstruction of the Zoo Interchange in Milwaukee County.  

WisDOT has published a newsletter updating the public on the progress of the project with information on the redesign, construction staging, improvements to alternate routes to improve traffic flow, and information regarding business opportunities. The newsletter, posted in both English and Spanish, may be found at our project website: www.zoointerchange.wi.gov.

So, motorists, tourists, and particularly Wauwatosa, you've been warned.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper Posted Early Warning About Threats To Historic Buildings

I want to update this issue with an important posting about Walker's role in the Eschweiler debacle at the County Grounds.

And when I wrote about the probable loss of those historic buildings on the Milwaukee County Grounds, I omitted mention of this important early warning by the environmental group Milwaukee Riverkeeper.

Still Trying to Save the County Grounds

May 2, 2012

A recent Journal Sentinel article, the "Fate of Wauwatosa's Historic Buildings in Flux" describes the sorry state of the existing Eschweiler Buildings on the Milwaukee County Grounds and their uncertain future.

They are part of the 89 acre parcel of the County Grounds that Milwaukee County sold last year to the UWM Real Estate Foundation for development of Innovation Park - a project to include a university research building as well as privately owned technology-oriented companies and other uses.

UWM officials have been negotiating a sale of the Eschweiler buildings to Mandel Group Inc., which wants to convert them into apartments. The City of Wauwatosa allowed for development of new residential buildings on this portion of the County Grounds as a compromise to help fund the expensive rehabilitation of the Eschweiler Buildings.

Riverkeeper and our partners opposed this new development, which encroached upon important habitat for monarch butterflies and other wildlife. If Wauwatosa allows for demolition of one or more of the Eschweiler Buildings, the density of new residential development, if any, should be reexamined.

Walker Had Role In Historic Buildings Historic Demise

More on the County Grounds debacle from Chris Liebenthal; one of his postings shows this was more than benign neglect. 

Can you say, "recall framing?"

When Scott Walker was swept into the office of Milwaukee County Executive, ironically as a result of a recall election, he had also promised to preserve these treasures, saying that if he were to do anything, it would be to work at having the area designated as a state park.But as is all too often the case with Walker, what he says and what he does are two vastly different things.

Instead of filling positions in the important Economic Development Division with competent people that would be able to attract businesses to Milwaukee County, he instead filled it with campaign staffers like Robert Dennik and Tim Russell.  (Yes, that is the same Tim Russell that has been arrested and charged as a result of the ongoing Walkergate investigations.)

One of the many bad things that happened from Walker’s poor decision making is that as businesses and agencies moved out of the county grounds, none moved in to take their place.

By 2006, the buildings stood empty.

The empty buildings quickly started succumbing to the weather, aided by the fact that Walker’s austerity measures prevented from the county from taking any preservation or preventative measures, or even allowing the utilities to stay on.  He refused even in the face of a letter written my then Wauwatosa Mayor Theresa Estness, which reminded him of his promise to split the cost of sealing the buildings in an effort to preserve them.

You can see pictures of the damage from the weather, the neglect and vandalism that has occurred over the years here and here.

Then, not satisfied with intentional neglect, and with a new conservative mayor in Wauwatosa, Jill Didier, Walker decided to break his promise completely and started courting the necessary authorities to allow the grounds to be sold to land developers.

Walker Telling Donors He's Facing $40 Million Opposition

Thanks to the Cognitive Dissidence blog, we can read a Scott Walker campaign fund-raising letter seeking up to $10,000-per-donor to fend off a $40-million-push against him. Evidence? None cited.

Journal Sentinel Expands State Journal Story On Questionable DNR Enforcement

An interesting and newsy Sunday, for sure:

The Journal Sentinel late Sunday added to the State Journal's Sunday scoop about the DNR's wrist-slap to an egregious polluter.

I doubt we've heard the last of this story, or its consequences.

Here is the original State Journal piece, and here is the Journal Sentinel's follow-up.

Monday update: The Journal Sentinel version is gone. Am checking...

Later Monday update: Managing Editor George Stanley emailed to say that in response to a request to reprint, the WSJ gave the JS permission to link through the online link.

DNR Touted Pollution Self-Regulation; Record Showed Its Failure

The Department of Natural Resources explanation for its tap-on-the-wrist handling of an egregious human waste dumping pollution case is undermined by agency records cited by the Wisconsin State Journal.

DNR Executive Assistant Scott Gunderson - - the official at the center of the decision to let the matter be settled with minimum-level tickets instead of a referral to prosecutors - - told the State Journal that the agency goal is to encourage businesses to encourage them to voluntarily follow the law.

“If we can work with folks and bring them into compliance, then hopefully they are going to be self-regulators in the future,” Gunderson said.

But the State Journal is reporting that the same business owner in the dumping case was hit with heavier fines in a different pollution case for violations that stretched over several years:

Richard Herr has been in the DNR’s sights before. In 2008, the state Department of Justice brought a suit against his company, alleging it violated storm water runoff rules.

Herr and his Delafield company, Stoneridge Associates LP, paid a $240,000 settlement in the case, which was referred to the Justice Department by the DNR.

DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp's gratuitous, parsing news release Sunday night about the agency's handling of the human waste case calls it a first-time offense and did not mention the earlier case.

Equally outrageous: Walker's Friday defense - - bad timing, eh? - - of the agency's overall pullback from enforcement. Again, the State Journal reported:

Enforcement by the DNR has dropped precipitously at the agency in the past two years with the issuance of violation notices reaching a 12-year low last year. Referrals to the Department of Justice also are down dramatically, from the 12-year annual average of 65 to 21 in 2011. Stepp and other administrators blame the drop on lack of staff as well as a change in philosophy that emphasizes cooperation with businesses and bringing violators into compliance earlier in a case rather than relying on prosecution.

In a statement Friday, the governor’s office praised the DNR’s approach.
“Increasing compliance and decreasing the number of environmental regulation violations is a good thing for Wisconsin’s valuable natural resources, Wisconsin residents, tourism, our economy and ultimately for the next generation,” Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie wrote.

DNR Enforcement Pull Back Is Walker At Work

DNR Executive Assistant Scott Gunderson, Deputy Secretary Matt Moroney, and Secretary Cathy Stepp are the instruments of the agency's pullback on pollution enforcement, but the driving force is Scott Walker's ideological, robotic servitude to corporate power.

In fact, the Governor praised the DNR's wrist-slapping just two days before news of the human waste dumping fiasco broke:

Increasing compliance and decreasing the number of environmental regulation violations is a good thing for Wisconsin's valuable natural resources, Wisconsin residents, tourism, our economy and ultimately for the next generation. 

This unbelievable, unacceptable, unprecedented case of human waste dumping gone amok -- and the business owner involved is not new to pollution enforcement action - - is the public-interest-be-damned tipping point for Walker and his tenure of sixteen divisive, disgraceful months unambiguously now fully look, feel, sound and smell like recall.

Stepp's Pollution Posting Definitely Behind The Times

There is this line at the bottom of the news release web page. I did not make it up.

Last Revised: Saturday, December 30, 1899

North Lake Access Fight Reinforcing Waukesha County Image

For years,  you might have well have posted "No Public Access" signs at North Lake, despite the state constitutional provision guaranteeing public access.

I'll bet this judge's ruling isn't the end of the obstruction.

Give Business Control Of Public Resources - - Bad Things Will Happen

[Originally posted, 3:00 p.m. Sunday, May 6, 2012] If you let developers have their way with the Milwaukee County Grounds, you can kiss open space and historic buildings good-bye, and say hello to more roads and traffic, too.

With the not-so-surprising 'news' that buildings at the Milwaukee Grounds on the National Historic Registry may be razed as part of the UW-M research park plan there, remember also that Wauwatosa officials told the Waukesha Patch a few months ago they were dismayed at the effects of the Zoo Interchange freeway plan on the development and site, too.

...a sort of glum realization seemed to settle over aldermen as they saw what impact the project will really have on the County Grounds.

"The road looks really – big," Ald. Tim Hanson said after seeing the plans for the north-to-south route planned to serve the research and development center between Watertown Plank Road and Swan Boulevard.

If you let right-wing corporate ideologues run state government and the natural resources department - - this warning dates to 2010 - -   laissez-faire regulation and favoritism inevitably will let human waste hauling trucks unload near your Wisconsin farm fields and drinking water supplies.

It's the logical consequence of letting the fox move into the hen house.

We'll leave it to State Rep. Joel Kleefisch, (R-Oconomowoc) - - husband of recall-worthy Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and back of the waste hauling dumper explain, courtesy of Ron Seely at the Wisconsin State Journal, businesses these days in Scott Walker's Wisconsin should be allowed do do whatever they pretty well damn please wherever and whenever they want:

At a second meeting, on Dec. 20, [Joel] Kleefisch — who also received $100 in campaign donations from [hauler Richard] Herr and whose wife Rebecca received $2,250 from the Herr family during her campaign for lieutenant governor — challenged [DNR Executive Assistant Scott] Gunderson to reconsider the citations the DNR was weighing against Herr.

“In the age of the DNR/Wisconsin Governor being pro-business, why is the DNR giving Herr 5 citations and why can’t 2 or 3 be taken away as a show of good faith?” Joel Kleefisch asked, according to [DNR investigator David] Bolha’s notes of the meeting.

He also reportedly asked that the fine be reduced. Kleefisch didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Bolha also noted Kleefisch asked Gunderson to write the district attorneys involved suggesting the DNR would be in favor of even lower fines.

Gunderson, Bolha reported, “did not seem enthusiastic about writing a letter” but emphasized the agency “had done everything the DNR could to keep the referral from going to the DOJ where the civil forfeitures could have reached $20,000 to $40,000.”

In an interview last week, Gunderson said he recalled making the comments but said he did not ultimately write a letter to the district attorneys suggesting lower fines.

You may remember this recent DNR/Joel Kleefisch interaction.

Cathy Stepp, Perhaps: 'What...The Governor's Office Is Calling...This Late?'

The DNR press release machinery isn't usually in overdrive on a Sunday, but today was an exception, because...

DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp had avoided being interviewed by Ron Seely for his Sunday blockbuster story about the agency's passive response to the dumping of human waste - -

...Stepp, who declined several requests to be interviewed for this story...

- - but then engaged in some evening news release damage control posted on her agency website:

Why wasn’t the story just about the facts and the differing views of the appropriate level of punishment? Why didn’t it include all of the facts? 

Stepp's appointment, from the beginning, was a huge mistake, and her track record proves it.

Tonight she's pathetic.

State Journal Scoops On DNR A Reminder About Traditional Media

The Wisconsin State Journal's veteran environment and science Ron Seely reporter has twice in a few days delivered major news stories about willful lapses in clean air and water enforcement by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Without the resources of a daily paper, you, and I the mere blogger, would not have seen these important stories, nor would you have had this information as the recall movement against Scott Walker takes shape:

DNR appointee resolved massive waste violation internally instead of referring case to DOJ

Shift in philosophy: DNR writing fewer tickets

 

Favoritism For Polluter Makes Mockery Of Walker's "Transparency" Claim

It is impossible to match up the stunning disclosures of string-pulling by top Scott Walker DNR appointees on behalf of an egregious polluter with candidate Walker's now laughable claim to transparency made during the 2010 campaign:

"I don't just say that, I've lived it."

Blockbuster Disclosure: Walker DNR Appointees Helped Polluter Get Wrist Slap

A waste hauler avoids referral by DNR staffers to prosecutors for egregious human waste dumping near wells and farm fields.

Turns out in Walker World if you're in that kind of trouble, it doesn't hurt to know the political appointees he put in charge of the DNR, or a well-connected sitting legislator, too,

Overall, Walker's appointees have systematically turned a blind eye to clean air and water violations.

But it's worse than you can imagine: check out this strong, records-based report by veteran Wisconsin State Journal environmental writer Ron Seely, whose reporting about wrist-slaps for repeated dumping of human waste near drinking water supplies and farm fields condemns the DNR's failings and also makes the case for a special prosecutor:

A top political appointee at the state Department of Natural Resources chose not to send a complaint against an Oconomowoc waste hauler to the Department of Justice for prosecution despite findings by agency staff that the company was treating fields with so much human waste from septic tanks it risked poisoning nearby wells, DNR records show.

Scott Gunderson, executive assistant to DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, “made an extra effort” to deal with the complaint internally last year even though the agency’s enforcement staff urged that the case be referred to DOJ, which could have imposed fines of tens of thousands of dollars.

Instead, Gunderson decided to ask district attorneys in Waukesha and Jefferson counties to issue five citations against Herr Environmental and fine the company $4,338 — the minimum forfeiture for the permit violations, which the lead DNR investigator called “among the worst” he’d seen.

Gunderson, a former Republican state representative, received $750 in campaign contributions from the owner of the company, Richard Herr, and Herr’s wife in 2006 and 2008. Last week, Gunderson said he forgot when he agreed to oversee the case that he accepted political contributions from the Herrs, major supporters of Republican campaigns as well as some Democratic candidates. Gunderson said even if he had been aware of the contributions, it would not have influenced his decision.

The case normally would have been assigned to DNR deputy secretary Matt Moroney, who said he handed it to Gunderson because he was acquainted with another officer of Herr Environmental.

But agency records show Moroney, also a political appointee and the former executive director of the Metropolitan Builders of Greater Milwaukee, intervened at least once on behalf of the company prior to his recusal, urging the DNR staff to listen to his friend at Herr Environmental because “he has always been a very straight shooter” and “we all make innocent mistakes.”

I've been writing about this crew and their philosophy of "loosened regulation" since January, 2011.

Walker's DNR Interfering With Personal Freedoms

The DNR orders someone's private property from the Chippewa River!

And here I thought that the Wetlands Deregulation Act that Walker signed before an adoring crowd of Realtors meant you could build out into any old Wisconsin waterway, with impunity.

Another hit to personal freedom in Wisconsin.

In Great Lakes Region, Define Energy Pipeline Integrity As A Water Issue

Now there's a novel proposal for the health of the largest supply of fresh surface water on the planet.

National context, here.

Wauwatosa 'Shocked' At Impact Of Zoo Interchange? Please!

With the not-so-surprising 'news' that buildings at the Milwaukee Grounds on the National Historic Registry may be razed as part of the UW-M research park plan there, remember also that Wauwatosa officials told the Waukesha Patch a few months ago they were dismayed at the effects of the Zoo Interchange freeway plan on the development and site, too.

...a sort of glum realization seemed to settle over aldermen as they saw what impact the project will really have on the County Grounds.

"The road looks really – big," Ald. Tim Hanson said after seeing the plans for the north-to-south route planned to serve the research and development center between Watertown Plank Road and Swan Boulevard.

Other aldermen echoed Hanson's feeling. The broad roadway sweeping through the Grounds suddenly looked immense on just 51 acres open to development.

Zoo Interchange complicates matters

Starting out the presentation, City Administrator Jim Archambo had referred to the "complicating factors" of the imminent Zoo Interchange Project, which will rebuild Swan Boulevard west of the Technology Parkway intersection and all of the Watertown Plank Road intersection starting in 2013...

The Zoo Interchange "complication" that hit most council members hardest, though, was an alteration in the Department of Transportation's design plan that forced the Watertown Plank entrance to Technology Parkway to be moved from the west side of the development to the east side.

In the middle sits the historic Parks Headquarters Building, so the entrance could only be on either side of it...

Access road or thoroughfare?

Finally, Ald. Brian Ewerdt asked the most pragmatic question about the road through Innovation Park.

"What is being done to keep this from becoming a shortcut?" he wanted to know – while confessing that he drives that way every day and would be strongly tempted to use it himself, even though he might have no business to conduct in Innovation Park.

He was told that a roundabout in the middle of the proposed road, its overall winding and swooping nature, and a speed limit of 25 mph ought to discourage most through-traffic drivers. But at the same time, designers said, "The complexion of traffic will change before, during and after" the DOT works through its concurrent project.

C'mon: activists working to save a portion of the County Grounds for a trail, and migrating Monarch Butterflies, along with this blog also raised questions for years about tearing up the County Grounds for pavement.
I wrote this in August, 2009:

I am not sure if people really understand the breadth of landscape and habitat destruction that is in this financially-absurd proposal...

Among the plan's chief backers: Scott Walker, Milwaukee County Executive, which means he is the chief steward of the very Milwaukee County Grounds open space, habitat, woodlands and landscape the Zoo Interchange will demolish, pave, flood and otherwise trash.

If he is elected Governor, you can expect the mentality that wants to ruin much of the County Grounds, with its attendant air and water pollution, grafted onto an already out-of-control state highway budget.

In December, 2009:

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, having already agreed to sell 89 acres on the County Grounds to UWM, could decide next week on a development plan designed to allow both UWM's construction on the grounds to go forward and preserve the Monarch habitat.


But there are doubts that both can be achieved, given the size of the UWM project - - a new engineering school and innovation center - - along with roads and ancillary development in support of the school and center by businesses to follow.

In March, 2010:  

You've gotta feel for Wauwatosa these days.

Traffic will be messed up there for years when the full Zoo Interchange reconstruction and widening gets underway. That's an eight-year deal.

UWM wants to build on 89 County Grounds acres, with harsh impacts to open space and a world-class natural phenomenon - - the Monarch Butterfly habitat.

In May, 2010:

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

In March, 2011: 

Tom Held and the graphics people at Journal Sentinel do a masterful job showing how the Zoo Interchange plan favored by Scott Walker's DOT grabs a lot of land for an LA-Freeway worthy expansion for the intersection of Blue Mound Rd. and Mayfair Rd. that is just north of the core of the I-94.894/Highway 45 interchange in Wauwatosa.

Some of that land is on or near the Milwaukee County Grounds - - or should I say the fast-disappearing County Grounds - -  where a scheme cooked up by UWM, area business leaders, the Milwaukee County Board and then-County Executive Walker will also pave over 80-some acres on the County Grounds for an engineering school and research center that will bring more pavement and traffic and 'development' to the area.

In April, 2011 - - and believe me, I could go on and on and on and on...

The deadline for comment submission is the end of the work day Monday, April 4th. The more comments received that oppose the expansion in this no-transit/ $1.7 billion highway-only project- - particularly mentioning the loss of wetlands, Monarch Butterfly habitat and other open space on or near the County Grounds - - the more likely it is that the project can be redesigned and its damage at least mitigated.

In February, 2012:

Given the Legislature's contempt for wetlands preservation statewide, and the Milwaukee County Board's documented preference for one-time dollars over open space at the County Grounds, it wouldn't surprise me if more green space there gives way to building and parking. Eddee Daniels has the story.

Enough? Spare me the surprise.

CUB Contesting Waukesha Water Rate Hikes

The basic issue is whether Waukesha can raise rates, in part to pay for the Lake Michigan option, before any Lake Michigan water deal is struck and all eight Great Lakes states approve the diversion.

Separately, there a ton of political and procedural questions and hurdles, too.

More, here.

And here.

Developer Changes Plan; Historic Eschweiler County Buildings To Be Razed

[Originally posted 12:55 a.m.] When Milwaukee County made a controversial deal with UW-M so it could sprawl from the East Side of Milwaukee to a proposed research park on public lands in Western Wauwatosa, saving historic buildings there by famed Milwaukee architect Alexander Eschweiler was part of plan.

I had my doubts about it in 2010:

I missed this Business Journal story when I was out of town and want to post a link to it because it shows how the proposed UWM engineering campus on the Milwaukee County Grounds has evolved.

Key point: five historic buildings on the site will be converted to graduate school housing.

My first reaction is that it indicates just how misplaced is this site, and why more than ever the new school should have gone downtown.

Still, in 2011:

Rehabbing the Eschweilers
This housing would be centered on the Eschweiler Campus, a group of buildings designed by Milwaukee architect Alexander Eschweiler that are collectively on the National Historic Registry. The buildings have been in disuse for many years and have fallen into a sad state of disrepair.

“They are pretty much just shells,” Gilbert said. He added that he expected about 100 housing units would be in the rehabilitated Eschweiler buildings and another 150 in new buildings on the grounds.

And now, in 2012:

Four of the five historic buildings on the County Grounds in Wauwatosa would be demolished, with one building preserved, as part of Mandel Group Inc.'s latest plan to develop nearly 200 apartments on the site.

Mandel executives told members of the city Historic Preservation Commission on Thursday night that it's too costly to preserve the other red brick buildings, three of which were designed by noted architect Alexander Eschweiler.

But in highway-happy Wisconsin and southeastern Wisconsin, are we surprised to see that road-building through the project carries the day? 

Or that you could jam a road through the project area and call it a Parkway?

There were no hearty congratulations on the long-awaited beginning of a project that has been called the biggest and most promising in the recent history of Milwaukee – about which Real Estate Foundation Director Dave Gilbert said, "We feel we can compete with any region in the country... even Silicon Valley itself."

There were not even any smiles. Rather, a sort of glum realization seemed to settle over [Wauwatosa] aldermen as they saw what impact the project will really have on the County Grounds.

"The road looks really – big," Ald. Tim Hanson said after seeing the plans for the north-to-south route planned to serve the research and development center between Watertown Plank Road and Swan Boulevard.

Other aldermen echoed Hanson's feeling. The broad roadway sweeping through the Grounds suddenly looked immense on just 51 acres open to development.

But UWM Foundation designers said the road, which has tentatively been named Technology Parkway, had actually been downsized from preliminary plans – plans the aldermen had already seen – that called for two lanes in each direction.

The road now would be just one lane in each direction, but with a 5-foot bike lane on each side and an 8-foot parking lane on one side, plus a 16-foot median along much of its length. Altogether, about 58 to 60 feet wide.

The MilwaukeeCountyFirst blog has more of the history:

When Scott Walker was swept into the office of Milwaukee County Executive, ironically as a result of a recall election, he had also promised to preserve these treasures, saying that if he were to do anything, it would be to work at having the area designated as a state park.

But as is all too often the case with Walker, what he says and what he does are two vastly different things.

Instead of filling positions in the important Economic Development Division with competent people that would be able to attract businesses to Milwaukee County, he instead filled it with campaign staffers like Robert Dennik and Tim Russell.  (Yes, that is the same Tim Russell that has been arrested and charged as a result of the ongoing Walkergate investigations.)

One of the many bad things that happened from Walker’s poor decision making is that as businesses and agencies moved out of the county grounds, none moved in to take their place.

By 2006, the buildings stood empty.

The empty buildings quickly started succumbing to the weather, aided by the fact that Walker’s austerity measures prevented the county from taking any preservation or preventative measures, or even allowing the utilities to stay on.  He refused even in the face of a letter written by then Wauwatosa Mayor Theresa Estness, which reminded him of his promise to split the cost of sealing the buildings in an effort to preserve them.

You can see pictures of the damage from the weather, the neglect and vandalism that has occurred over the years here and here.

Then, not satisfied with intentional neglect, and with a new conservative mayor in Wauwatosa, Jill Didier, Walker decided to break his promise completely and started courting the necessary authorities to allow the grounds to be sold to land developers.

MMSD Leader Wins Environmental Policy Award For Decade Of Leadership

MMSD Executive Director Kevin Shafer wins a well-deserved, major award for career innovation. I knew Kevin before he was appointed to the position, and I can tell you that he's one of the good guys.

From the award release (and I'm proud to have reported three years ago on the Greenseams program cited):

Innovations in Milwaukee’s sewerage district, a project to divert thousands of tons of street sweeping from landfills, and a novel adaptation of trucks to save labor and equipment in leaf collection have won Lloyd D. Gladfelter Awards for government innovation.

The competition, administered by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, annually recognizes problem-solving and resourceful ideas generated by government employees.

"These are the kinds of creative ideas and money-saving efficiencies that people expect from government at all levels," says Tom DeLeire, director of the La Follette School and member of the awards committee. "The Gladfelter Awards honor that inventive spirit."

A $5,000 award went to Kevin Shafer, executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, for a career of innovations aimed at implementing “green infrastructure” to minimize pollution of the Milwaukee regional waterways.

The award committee was struck by Shafer’s career of work at MMSD, especially since taking over as executive director in 2002. Perhaps the most significant MMSD green infrastructure project initiated through his leadership is the Greenseams® Program under which land located adjacent to area waterways is preserved under permanent conservation easements.

This preservation achieves the purpose of making the land available to store storm water (preventing downstream flooding) while also preventing much of the pollutant load in that stormwater from entering the waterways and allowing natural processes to take place. Because these lands will remain undeveloped, they are available for wildlife habitat and recreation. In addition, air quality benefits result from the natural state of the properties.

Journal Sentinel Says Recall Primary Has Been Ugly. Really?

Actually, it has been relatively and remarkably tepid. My guess is that ugliness fully reveals itself after the primary, when Walker and his free-spending allies will drop their ad-money bomb on Wisconsin.

But to this point, I think the paper overstates its disagreement with the primary process.

Krugman Could Tell Walker Why Wisconsin Is Losing Jobs

Austerity at the wrong time, like now, costs you more jobs.

Take a billion dollars out of state spending and push a lot off to insurers and the retirement fund, and the loss of disposable income hurts the entire economy.

How To Tell If Your Climate Change Message Is Crazy Toxic

If even Republican Congressman F. Jim Sensenbrenner/Climate Change Denier finds it objectionable.

Read more...

Romney's Ridiculous Jobs Goal Undermined By Walker's Ridiculous Jobs Goal

Scott Walker's political fortunes are wilting under the weight of his absurd pledge to create 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin in four years - - or roughly 5,000+-a-month - - so here comes Mitt Romney who suggests that he'd oversee an economy producing 500,000 jobs a month nationally.

Consider that Wisconsin has about 2% of the country's population and shows up often in the middle of the pack in other indices, so speaking generally, can a Romney led-US produce 2% of those jobs in Wisconsin?

That's be 10,000 new jobs every month - - or twice the rate of Walker's failed pledge.

As I said, I'm speaking generally, but you get the picture and can see right through this job-creating fake narrative.

In fact, only 6,000 new jobs have been created in Wisconsin the last 12 months, according to Walker's Secretary of Workforce Development.

When The 1/1000th Of The 1% Go At Each Other

T. Boone Pickens calls out Scott Walker's best friends:

"The biggest deterrent to an energy plan in America is Koch Industries," the BP Capital founder tells Yahoo's Aaron Task. "They do not want an energy plan for America because they have the cheapest natural gas price they've ever had, and they're in the fertilizer business and they're in the chemical business. So their margins are huge. And they do not want you to have an energy plan, because if you had a plan, then natural gas prices would come up."

We'll See If The Packers Are Immune From Wetlands Criticism

So it's a Cabela's to be built on wetlands near Lambeau Field - - on the same site Bass Pro Shops bailed after controversy arose over the contradiction between an outdoors and recreation business interested in filling wetlands.

Which is going to happen more frequently in Wisconsin under Walker.

Top Ten Posts Here Last Week Were Political/Environmental Mix

Thanks for the readership.

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Conservation Group Exposes Walker's Harm To State ... May 2, 2012

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Job Losses From WI Budget Cuts Accurately Predicte... Apr 29, 2012

Romney Undercuts Walker

Romney continues bashing Obama on jobs - - but at least nationally there are gains.  Has Romney looked at the ugly Wisconsin job picture threatening to seal Walker's recall?

Theorized Walker/Doe Charging Threshold Fast Approaching

There was cautionary discussion in this recent, authoritative Dan Bice piece about whether more John Doe charges might be filed suggesting that filings made less than 30 days before the June 5th recall election could be construed as politically-unfair.

William Jennaro, who served 12 years on the bench after working as a Milwaukee County prosecutor, suggested a moratorium on new criminal charges in the 30 days before an election.

Jennaro said he believes Chisholm, a Democrat, could initiate new charges against aides to the Republican governor before May 5 - but not after.

"That would shout partisanship," said Jennaro, who has given primarily to Democratic candidates. "The fact that the election is coming up - and there's a date specific - is a known factor, and fairness would dictate respecting a neutral time zone."

Today is 33 days out from the June 5th election, so this could be crunch time as that "neutral time zone" approaches - - after which one side or the other in the Walker recall battle is going to be really upset, no?

Packers Risk Brouhaha Over Wetlands Filling

The Green Bay Packers risk making themselves the center of controversy by announcing Friday a development plan adjacent to Lambeau Field that would involve filling 12 acres of wetlands.

Does the organization, and the state, need this political football right now?

The Journal Sentinel has the story.

Of course, the Packers are popular, but so are wetlands.

New Berlin Discovers There's Need For Workforce Housing

People lining up at 2:00 A.M. tells you there is a need.

As late as 2008, New Berlin had but 80 units of so-called affordable housing.

And there was a struggle to get past 80 units.

And though New Berlin is not Waukesha, the New Berlin experience - - including the prompt addressing of regional socio-economic issues once Milwaukee agreed to sell New Berlin Lake Michigan water for a portion of the city that is outside of the Great Lakes basin - - colors Waukesha's water sale discussions with Milwaukee.'

That's just the way it is.

Now if only New Berlin would begin addressing its transit deficit.

Awesome Example Of Roads/Rail Double-Standards

In the Highways-Industrial complex that defines Wisconsin state planning and transportation spending, rail projects are squeezed to death over an alleged lack of financing, but highway expansion - - called 'investment' - - is never subjected to the same dollar due-diligence.

Here is a perfect example, but remember that Gov. Walker's budget proposed eliminating all state aid to transit systems:

In our broke state, the same anti-rail Team Walker officials and toadies who killed Amtrak between Madison and Milwaukee by cooking the numbers, who blew up commuter rail in Southeastern Wisconsin, who are blocking Milwaukee urban rail and wiped out regional transit agreements legislatively are about to commit the state to 25 years of spending to make 140 miles of State Highway 41 into a more truck-friendly segment of Interstate Highway - - yet no one in this definitive story says one word about the cost.

Which could be $20 million. Without long-term maintenance, patrolling, and plowing thrown in.

I guess that's chicken feed to the Walkerites.

More Wisconsin examples in the billions of dollars, here.

Racine Editorial Suggests Link Between Growth And Waukesha Water Deal

Waukesha's Water Utility has regularly denied that its application for Lake Michigan water is a Trojan Horse to stimulate growth - - the most recent such statement being a highly-publicized letter to Milwaukee officials downplaying the use of Lake Michigan water to stimulate  expansion.

The text is available, here.

It's a hot-button issue given Waukesha's declining daily water demand - - a recent blog discussion with history about the issue is here - - and an editorial in the Racine Journal Times reinforces the connection between water and growth in Waukesha as also beneficial for Racine and regionally, too.

Here is the editorial, which gets into the job discussion this way:

Concerns have focused on whether Racine will be selling jobs along with water. About 15 percent of Waukesha’s area is available for growth, and the city’s application for Lake Michigan water projects a maximum daily demand in 2030 of 16.6 million gallons. But that’s also for a projected 24 percent population increase.

The mistaken assumption is that these supposed jobs would come to the Racine area if they don’t go to Waukesha. Yet they would be available to Racine County people who commute, especially to residents of the Burlington-Rochester-Waterford corridor.

Also, companies settling initially in Waukesha may create spin-off divisions near Racine, or they may attract related companies which settle here.

What we should be working on is making the region stronger, for economic strength in Waukesha County helps everyone. It makes the entire area more attractive and dynamic.

Milwaukee officials have long argued that a water deal with Waukesha needed to take into account the benefits and impact of water on jobs, transportation, housing and other regional issues.

A Milwaukee Common Council resolution about city water sale policy can be found here.

Washington Post Notes Walker's Ineffective Campaign Spending

How many big DC donors to Walker might now have second thoughts about throwing good money after bad?

Movie Themes Undermine Walker

Walker's polling weaknesses despite his overwhelming money advantage suggests a post-primary narrative echoing "Moneyball."

Or maybe it'll play off "Wall Street," with Gordon Gekko's 'greed is good' mantra backfiring on Walker and his out-of-state millions.

In fairness to Gekko/Michael Douglas, the full quotation, which is just as relevant to Walker and his backers is:

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.

Walker Mistakes Certitude For Awareness

On his message, but off-the-mark. His self-absorption, one-dimensionality and lack of insight is frightening:

"You see, when we prevail, God willing and with the help of voters June 5th, this will send a powerful message and not just to Madison," but across the country, he said.

"Conversely, if we lose, which is obviously possible in a 50-50 race, I think it sets aside any courage - Republicans or Democrats alike - in politics for at least a decade," he said.

Conservation Group Exposes Walker's Harm To State Wetlands

Wetlands are crucial to the state's economic and environmental health, but as the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters discloses, wetlands are just another commodity on Walker's auction block.

Wetlands prevent floods, purify water, bolster the tourism economy, and provide critical wildlife habitat. But why protect all of that goodness when there are parking lots to build?

Wetlands paving was one of Walker's first Gubernatorial actions.

My take a bit earlier, in December, 2010 on the Walker/Stepp DNR:

The new Walker DNR motto: "Cut it, pave it, gut it, fill 'er in."

For the WLCV, this is the fourth in its fine #walkerfail series:

The Walker Conservation Failure Files

During his first legislative session, Scott Walker proved to be the most anti-conservation Governor in Wisconsin’s history. From air to water and land to wildlife, Governor Walker left no stone unturned, desecrating the things that make Wisconsin a great place to live, play, and work. Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters urges voters to replace Walker in his upcoming recall. The Walker Conservation Failure Files detail his many conservation failures.

File IV: Wetlands Fail 

Wetlands prevent floods, purify water, bolster the tourism economy, and provide critical wildlife habitat. But why protect all of that goodness when there are parking lots to build? At least, that’s what Governor Walker and his campaign contributors figured when they passed detrimental wetland bills this past session that endanger our health, our sporting opportunities, and our basements.
Over the last 150 years Wisconsin has lost 5 million acres of its wetlands (nearly half!) to construction and agriculture.¹ Without these wetlands, Wisconsin residents face a number of bleak scenarios:

• Flooding: Destroying wetlands today means more flooding tomorrow. Wetlands act as natural sponges, storing and slowing runoff. When wetland protections are removed, areas downstream will be more vulnerable to the flooding of their homes and businesses. After all, the water has to go somewhere.
• Contaminated Water: Without wetlands, pollutants will flow straight into our lakes and rivers without being naturally filtered. This means things like pesticides and animal wastes are more likely to end up in the water that we drink,² or there will be a greater need for pricey water purification plants.
• Destruction of Ecosystems: Nearly 40 percent of Wisconsin's 370 species of birds live in or use wetlands, and many important game birds, mammals, fish, amphibians and reptiles are associated with wetlands, among them waterfowl, white-tailed deer, ring-necked pheasants, northern pike and walleye.³
• Loss of Tourism: The destruction of wetlands means fewer places for our favorite past times-- hunting, fishing, hiking, canoeing, and cross-country skiing to name just a few. Bird-watchers and wildlife watchers alone spend $271 million annually waiting for a glimpse of their favorites.³ This bill means less out of state visitors and fewer dollars coming to Wisconsin to enjoy our outdoor recreation.

The first bill cooked up by Walker (SS-SB-10/SS AB 10) created an exemption to wetland protections in the Village of Ashwaubenon for the benefit of a single developer,⁴ who happens to be a campaign contributor to Governor Walker.⁵
The next bill (SB 368 & AB 463) went much further, completely reversing the carefully crafted rules that protect Wisconsin’s wetlands, rivers, and lakes.⁶ One of the biggest problems with the bill is its primary support of “mitigation.”

Here’s the thing about wetland mitigation.
It doesn’t always work.

Wetland mitigation requires that there be no “net loss” of wetlands statewide. So even if the restoration of a destroyed wetland happened 400 miles away, the wetland mitigation standard is satisfied. Filled a wetland in Superior? Just build a new one in Kenosha. As long as this flawless

Walker logic is in place, home and business owners across the state won’t be able to rest easy.

What if the rest of the world operated on the same proposition? It would be like going in for heart surgery and waking up to find your heart sewn to the bottom of your foot. Sure, there’s no “net loss” of your heart, but don’t you think everything would work a whole lot better if your heart was back where it was supposed to be?

Walker listened to campaign contributors instead of voters. In a recent poll, 69% of Wisconsin voters said they opposed weakening our wetlands laws.⁷ But instead of listening to the majority, Walker decided to listen to one of his biggest campaign supporters, the Wisconsin Realtors Association. Their PAC, which contributed $43,000 to Walker’s gubernatorial campaign,⁸ pushed hard for wetland rollback legislation and was generously rewarded at our expense.⁹
Walker has failed Wisconsin- the voters, our natural resources, and our health and safety. It’s time for a Governor that appreciates those things that make Wisconsin great—our wetlands, lakes, and rivers—and makes our health and safety a priority. Stay tuned for more from the Walker Conservation Failure Files.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

View the On-line PDF Here

Contact: Tom Stolp, Field Director Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters

715-225-3344 (direct), 715-225-3344 (cell), tom@conservationvoters.org

Read the complete Walker Conservation Failure Files on-line here.

• File I: Recycling Fail
• File II: Rail Fail
• File II: Wind Fail

Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters
133 S. Butler Street #320 · Madison, WI 53703 · (608) 661-0845 · Fax (608) 661-0835

info@conservationvoters.org · www.conservationvoters.org
^{_____________________________________}

¹ http://www.twincities.com/wisconsin/ci_20073430
² http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wetlands/function.html
³ http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wetlands/protect.html#footnotes

⁴ https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/proposals/jr1/ab10
⁵ http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/115136959.html
⁶ https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/proposals/ab463
⁷ http://conservationvoters.org/images/pdf/wisconsinpollresults1.pdf
⁸ http://host.madison.com/wsj/business/real-estate/article_1cfaef80-46af-11e0-8de7-001cc4c03286.html
⁹ http://ethics.state.wi.us/scripts/CurrentSession/LegProps.asp

GOP Allows Handguns At Convention, Bans Squirt Guns

You cannot make this stuff up.

Walker Creates Campaign Season's Best Laugh Line

The man with "false" in 30 of 47 PolitiFact ratings named his criminal defense fund "The Walker Trust."

I'd read right past that, but was reminded today.

Will add to this list.

Sorry for the shorthand. Trust me.

Gingrich Comes Down To Earth

Is officially no longer over the moon.

Walker Defense Fund May Offer Better Value To Donors, Since...

Millions in pre-recall campaign ad funding and spending seems wasted. 

New GOP syndrome: Donor remorse.

New Walker strategy: pump up the defense fund.

Waukesha Nearing Round Of Water Rate Spikes

The City of Waukesha will be looking at substantial water rate hikes during the next four-to-five years related to its spending on a new water supply, presumably Lake Michigan - - but only if a willing seller is found and all eight Great Lakes states agree.

The increased rates have been projected before; what will be interesting is whether it can be successfully floated in a conservative city, a rough economy and a political and media environment dominated by campaigns centered on government size and spending.

No Benefit Of The Doubt To Walker On Environmental Protection

A year ago, the Journal Sentinel suggested that Scott Walker's plan to 'streamline' and remake the DNR deserved the benefit of the doubt.

Gov. Scott Walker's plan to streamline the state Department of Natural Resources is a good idea - as long as it doesn't weaken environmental protections.

I disagreed.  Because that's not the way Walker and his corporate crowd rolls.

I think Walker gave up the right to that benefit when he sprang his plan to wipe out public employee bargaining on an unsuspecting electorate - - a move that the paper said would have cost Walker the election had he been forthcoming about that plan during the campaign.

Did Walker indicate during the campaign that he had such a radical plan in mind for the DNR - - (here is a DNR draft leaked to me that lays it out) - - and that he intended to do it through Executive Order, and not via legislation that might have led to hearings, and input from the public?

Not that I recall. Though he did accuse opponent Tom Barrett of harboring a radical environmental agenda - - a feint that suggests that Walker had something up his sleeve.

The newspaper remains committed to Walker, and to his jobs-creating focus, so I understand why the editorial board, even with its pro-environment caveats, would line up with Walker on this issue.

But given Walker and this legislature's related actions or plans - - giving Walker more power over administrative rules, cutting back on wetlands' filling permission processes, rushing the Gogebic mine to permitting, and other matters - - he even chose not to acknowledge Earth Day 2011, though doing so as a tribute to former Gov. Gaylord Nelson would have been appropriate, even classy - - I think environmental protections and public input into decision-making is already headed for the back seat.

Walker did not hand-pick staff and officials from the WMC, the road-builders and other special interests to regulate at the DNR. They were put there to de-regulate.

The DNR's reductions in clean air and water enforcement actions under Stepp's leadership [Sic] at Walker's behest proves that they did not and do not deserve out trust when it comes to environmental protections.

Walker/Stepp Overturning DNR's Legal Role and Responsibilities

Cathy Stepp, Scott Walker's hand-picked corporate tool to merge the agency with corporate interests, has drastically cut back DNR enforcement  activity to guarantee the preservation of clean air and water matters has the gall to tell the State Journal her behavior is but a matter of philosophy only.

Bunk.

It's a profound redefinition of the role of the DNR.

Look no farther than the DNR's webpage about the significance and extent of the constitutionally-protected (at least, pre-Stepp/Walker) "Public Trust Doctrine" to see how far Stepp and Walker are taking the agency away from mandates, legal orders and policy obligations established in the public interest.

Here is the heart of it, (and I will bold-face what Stepp/Walker have overturned in administratively relaxing clean air and water enforcement actions):

Wisconsin's Public Trust Doctrine requires the state to intervene to protect public rights in the commercial or recreational use of navigable waters. The DNR, as the state agent charged with this responsibility, can do so through permitting requirements for water projects, through court action to stop nuisances in navigable waters, and through statutes authorizing local zoning ordinances that limit development along navigable waterways.

The court has ruled that DNR staff, when they review projects that could impact Wisconsin lakes and rivers, must consider the cumulative impacts of individual projects in their decisions. "A little fill here and there may seem to be nothing to become excited about. But one fill, though comparatively inconsequential, may lead to another, and another, and before long a great body may be eaten away until it may no longer exist. Our navigable waters are a precious natural heritage, once gone, they disappear forever," wrote the Wisconsin State Supreme Court justices in their opinion resolving Hixon v. PSC.(2)

Christie Does Little For Walker

Chris Christie got trotted around Wisconsin by The Out-Of-State-Cash King.

What I wrote Thursday about ChristieFest still stands:

Christie's presence in Wisconsin will give voters a chance to see two Republicans side-by-side who hurt their state's economies and misstated (ahem!) the costs they claimed as justifications for vetoing the projects.

In the wake of the Christie visit, two questions:

* With it well-established that Walker withheld his union-busting plan during the gubernatorial election, then "dropped the bomb," does it help bringing in Christie to tell a rally:

"We treated the people of New Jersey as adults. We told them the truth," Christie said..."

So if Walker misled Wisconsin, does it mean he treated the people of the state like children?

* And with a six-to-one funding advantage, why does Walker need to be propped up by out-of-state surrogates like Christie?

Maybe money can't buy you love.

Recent Waukesha Water Posts' Comments Are Must-Reading

I recommend reading the comments on these two recent postings.

The comments preview the Q&A that will take place as regulators look through the application in Wisconsin and in the other Great Lakes states, and then at public hearings.

Here - -

Monday, April 23, 2012

Waukesha-Milwaukee Water Discussion Still Missing Major Element

And here - -

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Waukesha County Transit Fails Milwaukee Water Sale Criteria

 

Dems Share Blame For DNR's Enforcement Action Pullback Under Walker

The revelation that Scott Walker corporate tool Cathy Stepp has greatly curtailed enforcement of clean air and water laws and regulations is bad enough, but do not forget that in 2009, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed a measure that would have returned the selection of the DNR Secretary to the quasi-independent Natural Resources Board.

And Democrats were unwilling to help override the veto, so the measure died and the appointment remained in the hands of the Governor.

Doyle had campaigned on a platform promising to return the Secretarial appointment to the Board - - a change engineered by Tommy Thompson to please his big business base.

A year and three months later, enter special-interest servant Cathy Stepp as DNR Secretary, and the rest is the lamentable history.

At the time of the veto, I wrote this:

And it is a slap at much of Doyle's core constituency - - environmentalists, urbanists, conservationists - - who believe that a DNR moderately removed from gubernatorial direction would function more in the public interest and less driven by special interests.

Because there are staggered terms on the Board, and Board appointees belong to the Governor, too, Walker would have eventually gained a majority and sympathetic Secretary, but Stepp would not have been in his administration since day one.

In fact, Doyle's appointees still hold a 4-3 majority on the board and should Walker win re-election next month, would not get the fourth voe until May, 2013.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk wants Stepp out now.