As expected, Walker’s latest county budget is body blow to county workers

County Executive Scott Walker’s latest budget proposal bears no cuts to the parks or transit. That would look bad in an election year. Instead, it tries to force county workers further into a deep hole. The attempt to shaft county workers comes as no surprise. It’s full of dog whistles that Walker’s base will revel in.

First, in the face of a budget deficit, this budget would lower the property tax levy. While I believe I am capable of holding two contradictory thoughts in my head at the same time, that makes no sense. Why reduce your primary source of income when you face a $45 million deficit? (That’s already been answered: it’s campaign season.)

Second, he wants to force the county workers to accept layoffs, increased healthcare costs, decreased pension payments, and yet more unpaid furlough days.

Why, in all his years in office, has Walker never pursued alternate revenue sources for the county? He vetoed the county board’s resolution to ask the state to increase the sales tax in order to pay for parks and transit. That veto was overridden, like countless many more. But we still have no dedicated funding, other than the property tax.

And then there are the workers. The county government has been shrunk under Walker’s neglectful hand. It hasn’t yet gotten small enough or weak enough that it can be drowned in a bathtub. But he’s tried. The state government has been forced to step in and take over where Walker has allowed the county to deteriorate to the point where it cannot serve its constituents. That’s unacceptable.

Notes from the September 21 county budget listening session

I had posted this on the evening of September 21, albeit not to this site.

About thirty people showed up for the county’s budget listening session, which was held tonight at the Kosciuszko Community Center. As mentioned on Milwaukee County First, this was when the county board’s Finance and Audit Committee would listen to the public’s input on the pending county budget. Most of the committee members were present, and were joined by two supervisors who were not on the committee.

Common themes were people who spoke were: preserve human services, preserve the parks, and preserve the buses.

One man who spoke told the committee that he was reliant on the #68 bus to travel from his home to Froedert Hospital, as well as to go the grocery store each Saturday. Eliminating route 68 would make his life extremely difficult, to say the least.

Several women spoke in favor of Crisis Resource Center. Another spoke of the importance of the county’s UW Extension facilities and the Master Gardener program.

Many people urged the board not to close Kosciuszko Park and the Community Center. Indeed, even though it was pouring rain outside, the gym and exercise facilities inside the center well in active use.

Two people, myself included, urged the board to take action to see that the property tax referendum that county residents approved in 2008 be put into effect. I advised the board to use the county’s lobbyist to urge passage of the improved tax code.

One man identified himself as being from Seattle praised the parks for their presence and importance to the community. A woman as being a “steam valve” that the residents could use either after a bad day, or in a prolonged bad time such as the one we’re in.

Another man spoke about the effects of deferred maintenance on the parks, including the tragedy at O’Donnell Park. That said, he urged the board not to sell the land, as it was a healthy revenue source.

The county executive will submit the 2011 budget to the board on September 30.

Watch Ron Johnson testify against removing the statute of limitations on pedophilia

When one’s deep in politics, not much can be shocking. So you know when something surfaces that actually serves to that effect, it’s surprising to say the least.

We now have seen Ron Johnson testify against the passage of the Child Victims Act, which was before the Wisconsin state senate committee in January 2010. The bill would have given victims of priestly pedophilia a three-year window within which they could sue their molesters.

Looking at Bice’s story on this, I find it further troubling that Johnson, who is now trying to gain ground on his not being a lawyer, said this to Bice:

“Actually, had I not been put on the clock (in the state Senate), I would have made another statement,” Johnson said. “I can’t think of a penalty that would be too harsh for these guys. I don’t think people that prey on children deserve a second chance. I guess God can give them one, but I sure don’t think our courts and legal system should.” [Emphasis added.]

Really? So the molesters face no worldly repercussions? And their victims would not be able to obtain even a trifling compensation for their pain?

I can’t even begin to express my disgust at Johnson’s belief that these heinous crimes should not be punishable by law. What Mr. Johnson needs to realize is that we have things like laws and norms to help build and ensure the proper functioning of our society. When a person is injured, they have a right under law to seek compensation. God knows it may not ever truly repay them for what happened. But it’s something. And it’s a civilized course of action. What would happen if we did not have such means of recompensation?

Put that aside for a moment and consider this: when Johnson testified before the state senate, he did not identify himself as bearing an interest in the outcome of the bill. He identified himself as a businessman. Deep in the million-mile-an-hour testimony, he briefly mentions that he serves on a Catholic board, but he failed to specify that it was a Diocesan finance board that handles claims against offending priests, that had an active lawsuit against it, and would have been effected by the passage of this bill. That is a serious omission of fact.

MSNBC’s Countdown WIth Keith Olberman has the video.

Also, James Rowen has plenty to say about this.

Slow posting, eh

It seems that even as we have really important things to discuss and make known, such as the voter caging that has been planned to happen in Milwaukee by the state Republicans and Tea Party groups. Or the Wisconsin attorney general’s shielding of the “sexting” D.A. Ken Kratz, and his (Kratz’s) eventual downfall. And I was asked to become a community blogger for Inside Milwaukee. That’s pretty cool.

Okay, so I’ve written about both of those, but not enough. Honestly, don’t know if I’ll be able to. But, it’s okay. I’ve been busy, between helping Chris Larson in his state senate race and raising our now two-month-old son, among other things. I haven’t been able to talk about the new county buses, which I think are awesome, or the iPad, which is pretty cool too. And heck, I didn’t even post my notes from the county budget listening session on this site. I wonder if you and post-date posts. Hmm.

It’s how “other things” that keep coming in and intruding on your life when you’re busy making other plans, isn’t it?

Don’t worry, this is not a veiled way of saying I have bad news I’m keeping secret. We’re not sick; in fact, everyone’s in good health, and the little boy is growing like crazy. I’m just busy.

There probably will be a slight uptick in my number of posts in the coming days and weeks. And then, as I’m so fond of saying, we’ll see. What we’ll see, I’m not sure. But that’s the beauty of it.

Stephen Colbert testifies before Congress on ag jobs bill

In perhaps the first major celebrity-wrought attention to farm workers, Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert testified before Congress on the ag jobs bill. According to Talking Points Memo:

Colbert was testifying on behalf of the United Farm Workers Union, which is pushing an agriculture jobs bill to give illegal immigrant farm workers a path to citizenship. The UFW started a program called “Take Our Jobs,” with the goal of drawing attention to the large immigrant population that comprises America’s farming work force. Primarily, the UFW argues, this is because Americans don’t want those types of jobs, and the program is a tongue-in-cheek way of drawing attention to this. Colbert is one of 16 people to take up the UFW’s offer for Americans to literally “take the jobs” of immigrants.

Here’s the video of his opening statement:

And Colbert taking questions:

Although it was delivered in character, what Colbert said was not classic comedy, nor was it meant to be.

As we have around eight garden beds at our house, I have some idea of what the farm workers go through. Thing is, when I get hot, or my back aches or my legs and feet are tired, I can sit down and take a break. I usually have Johnny Cash playing while I’m working. (Look at them beans! they must be two feet long!) But that’s a luxury. All my gardens, while we rely on them for ultra-fresh food, are luxuries compared to the back-and-knee breaking work that the field workers do. Or did. I didn’t know that there was idle farmland due to lack of workers. And it’s thought by some that all these migrant workers are taking jobs?

New Feingold ad looks back to ’92, ahead to tomorrow

The Feingold campaign has a very sincere new ad with bits from his 1992 ads, which featured Feingold making his simple pledge to Wisconsin voters. If you recall, he had his campaign promises painted on his garage door. They were:

1. I will rely on Wisconsin citizens for most of my contributions.
2. I will live in Middleton, Wisconsin. My children will go to school here and I will spend most of my time here in Wisconsin.
3. I will accept no pay raise during my six-year term in office.
4. I will hold a “Listening Session” in each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties each year of my six-year term in office.
5. I will hire the majority of my Senate staff from individuals who are from Wisconsin or have Wisconsin backgrounds.

I’m glad to say that Senator Feingold has kept to his promises. Wisconsinites have a strong affinity for our senator. And I want to keep him working for us in Washington.

Oh, and here’s the new ad, called “Garage Door.” Enjoy.

Voter caging ain’t nothing like professional wrestling

So called “professional” wrestling is largely fake, for show, all pomp and testosterone.

Voter caging means trying to set up groups of people, usually young college students and people of color, so that they get disqualified from voting.

The group One Wisconsin Now has found that the Republican Party of Wisconsin has been working with billionaire Tea Party funders Americans for Prosperity and local Tea Party groups to set up and cause voter caging here in Wisconsin.

If your gubernatorial candidate–with his masterful ability to turn three pages of fluff into a sixty-eight page masterpiece job-creation plan by increasing the font size three dozens times–if your gubernatorial candidate is so hot, why do you need to do this? If the anti-incumbent, anti-Dem feeling is so strong, why repress them?

Daily Kos has more on this.

God’s Outlaw to close “Music By The Fire” series at Bradford Beach

What could be a better way to send off the summer than with a bonfire at the newly revived Bradford Beach? Add a little music, and you have the “Music By The Fire” series. (Sponsored by Cascio Music and the excellent WMSE 91.7-FM.)

The outlaw country band God’s Outlaw will be close the series this Thursday, 23 September at 7PM.

What’s outlaw country? As their site says,

[The band's] music selections are not part of the pop monotonous new-school country fad that has been played out in music today. They are, however, a band of men who together perform classic country songs like they were meant to be; raw, rowdy and reckless bringing the cowboy, the biker, the hippie and the college girls all to the same venue.”

Darn straight; they got me talkn’ them up. And the show is absolutely free—all ya gotta do is show up. Hopefully the weather should cooperate and give us a break from thunderstorms.

Check ‘em out and show on up. Guarantee you’ll have a good time.

A record of the blossoming of my passion for urban gardening

I just found this short piece that I wrote this on July 9, 2008, when Stacie and I were living in a rented Bay View flat. Our landlady had very kindly offered to till the minuscule strip of grass running from the house toward the back alley. That, in conjunction with the Village Roots Garden, launched my continuing adventures in urban gardening.

• • •

I’ve got a wonderful new passion in my life. It’s helped put food on the table and brought me a satisfaction that exceeds virtually any that I’ve known before. The best part is not just that it will continue to reward me, and those around me for some time to come, but that anyone can have it.

This wellspring of satisfaction and joy is a two feet wide, ten feet long, and sits in my backyard. What is it? A pet? A car? What exactly is it?

It’s a garden. A long, narrow, bountiful garden.

While it’s “my” garden, I’ve had a lot of help from several people, including my family, my neighbors, and most certainly, Mother Nature.

But what I really like about the garden is that what’s coming out of it is enhancing the lives of virtually everyone around me. It’s especially benefitted the people who helped me with it, either directly or indirectly.

I made the first harvest from it on July 3. From that harvest came a huge basket of Romaine and red leaf lettuce, each leaf bearing a rich flavor, color, texture, and firmness unlike that of any lettuce that you could buy in a supermarket.

Next in the harvest were a handful of bright red radishes. My young daughter got a thrill from planting the radish seeds, and she was overjoyed to find some radishes were ready for plucking from the earth. Naturally, being a five-year-old, she won’t eat them. But she certainly planted them!

This was food that had grown right in my backyard in Milwaukee. More importantly, it came from our little garden in our little backyard. What’s even more remarkable is that two months ago, the garden didn’t exist. In fact, our little backyard is not even “our” backyard — my wife and I currently rent a lower flat in Bay View. But when our landlady offered to till a little strip of grass and turn it into a garden plot, we leaped at the idea. She followed through, and with a few bags of soil from our neighbors and a bag of “Milwaukee Black Gold” worm castings (read: worm poop) from Growing Power, we were soon in business planning, and planting our first home garden.

• • •

Of course, the adventures have continued since then. The building of the Bay View Hide House Community Garden has been the greatest achievement so far. And we’re starting to talk about building a similar community garden in Cudahy. Stay tuned for more on that, and please write if you’re interested in joining that project. Thanks!

What to do with O’Donnell Park?

When my wife and daughter visited the Milwaukee Art Museum two or three years ago, we chose to park in the ramp at O’Donnell Park. Looking around inside, it made me feel a little uneasy. The dark, dingy air in the ramp and the shoddy-looking concrete all contributed. While I’m not a structural engineer, I had a feeling that something was wrong. I thanked Scott Walker for making sure the county buildings were kept in good order, and went out to meet the day like most folks would do.

We know all too well that the policy of deferred maintenance lead to the tragic death of a teenager and the injury of two other people.

What is to be done now?

Proposed ideas include: sell it as land for condos, to repair the structure, or demolish it and build anew.

Selling the land may net a lot of money, perhaps tens of millions of dollars. Tempting, but ultimately, that is not the best option for Milwaukee County. Once the land is sold, the opportunity to use that land as a site of active revenue generation disappears with it. While it could become a source of property taxes, that first requires a successful sale, followed by the building of properties that could generate said revenue. There is too great a number of hypothetical situations within that for me to be comfortable with selling the site and just hoping for the best.

This is to say nothing of the fact that building a tall condo tower would interrupt lakefront visibility as you travel east on Wisconsin Avenue, or glimpse across town to see the lake. This lakefront area must be held in a higher standard with regard to access and visibility. Again, there is a facile temptation to sell it and let someone else do as they please with the land. This would seem to be the easiest way out in the short run, but it produces many long-term problems.

Next is the thought of repairing the structure. According to estimates cited by the Journal Sentinel, repairs not linked to the “decorative” concrete panels would cost nearly $2 million. Performing those repairs and removing all 70 concrete panels would boost the cost to $5.4 million.  Demolishing O’Donnell is said to have a cost of up to $6 million, which seems to be not terribly higher than the “remove and repair” estimate.

If we’re going to do anything, we should do it right. Without making any more than a cursory examination of the available information, it seems there are so many instances of deferred maintenance that it is easy for the price tag to creep higher and higher as more problems are finally acknowledged or discovered. Without having read the detailed estimates and reports—and there’s still no conclusive finding about the June 24 tragedy, and we still need an independent investigation—I lean towards having the complex demolished. That brings into mind removing and reusing the space that holds the Downtown Transit Center. (Was that once the site of the grand old Northwestern railroad station?) The space looks like a product of its era. That is to say it could be redesigned with contemporary open air, energy, and access considerations and become a much more inviting and usable space.