Walker Opines

Here’s some thoughts on the news of the day by Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker.

Two interesting stories today:

First, the annual “The Sky is Falling” story on the parks.  Since there was not much to get upset about in the budget request for the parks department, they played up the size of the reduction.  Basically, our parks department is asking to eliminate the entry level, year-round, full-time park worker and replace them with seasonal hires that have new equipment to make them more efficient during the spring and summer. 

The 6 wading pools that are being closed are replaced by splash pads (which are much more popular with kids - just ask the folks around Gordon Park).  There are NO deep well pools being closed in their budget request. 

Second, the Mayor is talking about using all of the $91.5 million on a streetcar system.  The cruel irony here is that the people who stand to lose the most in that plan are transit dependent people in the City of Milwaukee. 

Certainly the bus system has serious challenges today, but taking away a source of help to upgrade and improve the bus system and using it for a streetcar system seems to be a major flaw in priorities.  The budget request from the transit system calls for route reductions and fare increases.  Instead of helping the bus system, the City of Milwaukee seems to want to stick a dagger in it. 

My guess is that there are plenty of people in the City of Milwaukee who don’t want that money spent on a streetcar system either.

Scott

1. Funny that old Scott forgot about the two rec centers that are being proposed for closure or privitization, or the layoffs that would occur.  If he wanted to lead the county instead of posturing, I think he would have wanted to sit down with Barrett and hold a discussion instead of sending of emails to cronies and supporters.  But then again, when has Walker showed leadership?  I’m sure that when this blows up, he’ll have a handy scapegoat ready.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 18, 2007 at 0740 hrs




2. Last I checked, Walker has been leading the County for years and it’s been doing just fine.  But it’s not “leading” when you disagree, is it?

   Posted by Owen on July 18, 2007 at 0743 hrs




3. Looks like Scott is ticking off Michael Cudahy.  Not smart to do so.

   But he’s not playing much of this very well.  He thinks only poor non-voters ride the city bus, so no one who matters will matter on this one.  Wrong.  It’s an interesting group on a lot of bus lines in this city, a talkative group, and many from suburbs, too.  And a lot of them are fed up with the way the county keeps screwing up mass transit—especially when there is federal funding for it that goes to other cities if Scott keeps up with his obstructionism.

   And now Michael Cudahy is on to him, too—on to Scott’s constant talking out of both sides of his mouth, promising cooperation but then showing that he’s congenitally incapable of it.  But unlike our extremely civil mayor, Cudahy doesn’t pull his punches.  He’s a scrapper,  and he gets done what he wants done in this city.  He will compromise, as he did with Pier Milwaukee.  But he will not countenance going back on a promise, as it looks like Scott just did.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 18, 2007 at 0750 hrs




4. Kay,

   If they disagree about something, it doesn’t mean that they are not “cooperating.”  I don’t see Barrett agreeing with Walker.  Is Barrett engaging in “obstructionism?”  Also, it’s Walker who wants to spend the money to improve the bus system.  Barrett wants his train in downtown.  Which do you think better serves the bus-riding follks?  Furthermore, when the hell did Cudahy get elected that he gets to decide how to spend our tax dollars?

   Posted by Owen on July 18, 2007 at 0755 hrs




5. We know that Walker has been doing this sort of threat every year, long before Barrett—so there goes that argument. 

   And ask Michael Cudahy who is cooperating here.  (And keep in mind that he lives in the city. . . .)

   But I ought to have made clear that commuters who take such mass transit want a mix of options, as exists in most big cities.  And a lot of them remember just a few years ago that we had trains again, during road construction—and really liked it. 

   That’s what I’m hearing from some regular bus riders (I walk to work) who were train riders, who talk daily with other bus riders who were train riders.  And what I hear is that they don’t want mass transit in the city to be beholden only to the county—although they are in the suburbs.  But they seem to think that the city would do a better job of getting people into the city.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 18, 2007 at 1008 hrs




6. If he’s trying to communicate his plan to the “transit dependent people in Milwaukee,” he’s certainly not reaching them by emailing Charlie Sykes.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 18, 2007 at 1031 hrs




7. Kay,
   I heard that some people in the city don’t want a mix of transit options and I hear that some people didn’t like the trains.  I also hear, from some people that talk to some other people, that making statements based on what you “heard” from unidentified sources is a very weak form of argument.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 18, 2007 at 1115 hrs




8. Kay

   91mill on an absurd choo-choo that runs in a limited square? Who is that accomodating?

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 18, 2007 at 1227 hrs




9. REL, no, I’m not giving you their names.  You’ll want addresses and phone numbers next, maybe their SS#‘s to prove they exist?

   I live in the city, I work in a workplace dependent on mass transit as well as driving, and I live around and have many family and friends who are commuters within the city and into it by bus and by car—and I listen to what they have to say.  And I relay it here. 

   If I heard as many people saying the opposite, I’d relay that, too.  But I don’t.  I don’t hear a one of them saying it would be a good idea to give up almost $100 million of our federal taxes that could be coming back to us, a chance to try doing something different.  To do more of what we’re doing now, which isn’t serving them well and so isn’t working, would be . . . well, it does meet the definition of insanity.

   So, what do you hear?  Do you live in the city?  How many of your coworkers, family, and friends are commuters who do use mass transit in Milwaukee, such as it is?  Or have they also had to cut back on it because of the constant cutbacks, changed routes, etc., in the so-called service provided by the county—to workplaces, for workers, not just to malls for shoppers?

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 18, 2007 at 1633 hrs




10. Bajaskier, look at the route in terms of population density, workplace destinations, etc.—and think in big-city terms, as other big cities do, where people (as they do in park-and-ride lots in the suburbs) use a mix of transit options daily.  Drive to train, take train downtown, hop on bus or walk few remaining blocks to work—and it works if all parts of the mix are working efficiently.

    We need a system of mass transit, not “a” mass transit.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 18, 2007 at 1637 hrs




11. Drive to train, take train downtown, hop on bus or walk few remaining blocks to work—and it works if all parts of the mix are working efficiently.

    That is, dare I say it, if the jobs are downtown. Most of the jobs in Milwaukee aren’t. We live a short bus hop from downtown, and not one of the more than a dozen jobs I’ve had since moving here has been one for which the capital intensive inflexible train system would ease my commute.

    Posted by triticale on July 18, 2007 at 1718 hrs




12. Owen-

    I recognize that when you hear the phrase “tax freeze” you get as giddy as a school girl, but iteration of a populist phrase does not make a leader.

    What was Walker doing, if not leading?  How but trying to put together a campaign for governor, running for governor, licking his wounds after having to bow out.  I will grant you that he was served up a big, steaming pile of crap to deal with due to Ament’s greed.  But instead of trying to work with people, taking advice and leading, he set himself for a campaign run, tried to sweep troubles under the rug long enough for him to become governor, and when he couldn’t he started to point fingers at everyone but himself for the consequences of his decisions (or lack thereof).  That might be all you want from a leader, but I’d like a bit more.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 18, 2007 at 2130 hrs




13. And still managed to put forth budget after budget with no tax increases and negotiated with the County Board to have final budgets with minimal tax increases.  At the same time, the busses continue to run, the parks are doing well, the zoo is great, and the county court house maintenance staff is still sleeping on the job. 

    Sounds like he’s doing more than just talking.  So is it only leadership when someone is talking about raising taxes?

    Posted by Owen on July 18, 2007 at 2135 hrs




14. Less busses continue on less routes for higher fees, most people are decrying the condition of the parks, the zoo receives minimal support from the county, and county management are still not monitoring their employees would be more accurate.  Also, don’t forget to mention, the only two parkways the county is responsible for are unsafe to drive on, maintenance on most county buildings is way behind and in violation of codes, the mental health complex is understaffed leading to higher injuries, deaths of mentally ill people and a whole expose by MSJ, the House of Correction is understaffed leading to higher injuries, higher overtime costs and fodder for lawsuits in this too sue-happy country, and the millions of dollars wasted on health insurance benefits because Walker waited three years to agree to the original offer by the unions. 

    Sounds like all he is doing is talking.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 18, 2007 at 2243 hrs




15. Kay:

    And what if the choo-choo doesn’t go where you are going, when you are going there? These questions are NEVER answered…NEVER!

    If I have to drive to the train, drive around to find a place to park and then pay to park, what am I gaining? All this for only 91 million…I can’t wait!

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 19, 2007 at 1305 hrs




16. Bajaskier, you really have to go see a city with mass transit.

    Again, you drive to a train, where there is a lot, or you take a local bus to it.  Then you take the train.  Then you get off the train and catch a bus to work.  Etc. . . .

    Continued freeway construction is not cheaper.  All the costs go far beyond just the construction.

    And do remember that the $91 million is not new taxes.  It’s federal funding from taxes—taxes that still will be taken from us for funding that goes elsewhere if we don’t use it.  That is what this state has been doing for so many years, so that we get back less than most states and our taxes go there . . . where you could go to see how a mass transit SYSTEM works.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 19, 2007 at 1811 hrs




17. Kay,

    That may make sense in a growing community.  Milwaukee is losing population to the suburbs.  How about a train between Waukesha, Menomonee Falls, Jackson, and West Bend?  We could call it the WMFJWB.

    Posted by Owen on July 19, 2007 at 1818 hrs




18. Owen-

    It’s too bad that we can’t use the money to bail out Walker’s fifth straight annual mid-year deficit, eh?

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 19, 2007 at 2124 hrs




19. Actually, a single department ran a deficit.  The budget as a whole is in surplus.

    Posted by Owen on July 19, 2007 at 2125 hrs




20. Owen, check out today’s Newswatch at JSOnline.  There are four listed, and they didn’t include the House of Correction, which has already used up all their overtime allotment for the year.  For you reading pleasure.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 19, 2007 at 2243 hrs




21. Owen,

    As I reread the article, it mentions that Walker is blaming the increase cost of locking up juveniles, but the article does not list Juvenile Probation.  Methinks that is just the tip of the iceberg.

    Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 19, 2007 at 2257 hrs