by | March 2, 2011 · 11:27 pm

Big Lakefront Development Plans for Oak Creek

The look of the lakefront in the South Shore could change drastically in coming years.

Wispark LLC is reportedly negotiating with Oak Creek to purchase 80 acres on South Fifth Avenue, not far from South Milwaukee’s southern border, for potentially mixed use development.

Click here to see the Journal Sentinel story. From it:

Development firm Wispark LLC is negotiating to buy 80 acres along Oak Creek’s lakefront, a property that would play a major role in that community’s effort to redevelop former industrial properties near Bender Park.

The property, at 9006 S. 5th Ave., was once home to the Peter Cooper Co. glue factory, and was later used by Oak Creek Storage and Handling Inc.

City officials have been working for years to redevelop the larger lakefront area, dubbed Lakeview Village.

Last year, the Common Council approved a tax incremental financing district that covers 335 acres, most of it undeveloped or underdeveloped, overlooking Lake Michigan near Bender Park, which is at the end of E. Ryan Road.

City planners have envisioned a mix of uses in the area, including housing and retail, along with public green space that provides access to Lake Michigan. The area would likely take 10 to 20 years to develop, according to a 2009 study conducted by the Urban Land Institute.

Of course, this is not the only major redevelopment project planned for Oak Creek in coming years. Wispark will also work to redevelop the former Delphi site at Howell and Drexel Avenues — a project that could become a “city center” of sorts for Oak Creek — and a business park proposed for Howell and Oakwood Road. Oak Creek Patch has more detail on all three projects.

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by | March 2, 2011 · 11:09 pm

News From the County: Updates from County Supervisor Jursik

Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik has published her March edition of E-news. Among the updates in this month’s edition of particular interest to 4th District residents:

  • The March 16 South Shore Economic Development Forum at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center;
  • An update College Avenue construction, including word that the stretch from Pennsylvania to Packard Avenues will close to through traffic from April to November; and
  • An update on the Hoan Bridge repair project.

Pat also provides a perspective on the ongoing budget debate in Madison. From it:

Is there some ability to compromise? Is it necessary to deal with the entire budget deficit in one year after the worst recession since the Great Depression? I hope all constituents will call on our state leaders to find a way to compromise.

Here here!

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by | March 2, 2011 · 10:13 am

Big Brother: Walker’s Argument for Meddling in Local Government

Here are the pertinent sections of Gov. Scott’s Walker’s budget brief that relate to local governments and his rationale for seizing more control over how local governments are run.

Property Tax Relief and Local Government

In challenging economic times, Wisconsin property taxpayers continue to have among the highest property tax burdens in the country. According to U.S. Census data, Wisconsin ranked ninth among the 50 states in property tax burden as a proportion of personal income in 2008 and has been in the top ten states most of the past three decades. In 2010, property taxes as a percentage of personal income rose to their highest level since 1996 as levy growth exceeded the growth in personal income.

Despite the significant budget challenges facing the state, the Governor recommends maintaining nearly $900 million in general fund support for direct property tax credits, including funding a $5 million annual increase in the first dollar credit enacted in the previous biennium. The Governor also recommends restraining the growth in property tax levies by extending county and municipal levy limits for the next two years and limiting the growth in levies to the greater of 0 percent or the change in equalized value due to net new construction. To further protect property taxpayers, the Governor recommends limiting the base allowable levy to the actual prior year levy. Additionally, if debt service would be lower in the budgeted year than in the prior year, counties and municipalities must pass those savings on to the taxpayers by reducing allowable levies accordingly.

In the context of local government aid reductions for schools, technical colleges, counties and municipalities, strong levy controls are important to avoid aid reductions from becoming tax increases for property owners and renters. Under current law, levies could be increased to offset the amount of the aid reductions, placing a significantly larger burden on property taxpayers.

Due to state budget constraints, current funding of county and municipal aid cannot be maintained. The Governor recommends reducing county and municipal aid payments by $96 million in calendar year 2012, with reductions to municipalities of $59.5 million and reductions to counties of $36.5 million. Recognizing that aid reductions may put a strain on local government budgets, the Governor, in his budget repair bill, has recommended providing the necessary flexibility to local governments to meet these reductions without a significant degradation of essential public services.

To provide assistance to local governments in meeting the constraints of diminished resources, county and municipal aid reductions would be allocated in a targeted manner so that low population and low value communities that will not be able to realize significant labor cost savings will see modest aid reductions. Due to larger full-time labor forces in more populous municipalities, measures to reduce labor cost pressures for those governments will yield greater savings, so those governments are generally better able to manage reductions in state aid. Low population, low value municipalities that rely heavily on county and municipal aid due to limited tax bases generally will see smaller savings from higher employee contributions to pensions and health insurance. To address these mismatches, the allocation of county and municipal aid reductions has been structured with aid reduction maximums based on valuation that rise with the population of municipalities to match the general tendency of compensation savings to be concentrated in larger municipalities. While individual municipalities will have varying abilities to meet these state aid adjustments, the allocation of aid reductions has been designed to align with the ability of local governments to absorb the reductions.

General transportation aids for counties and municipalities have been reduced by 10 percent for calendar year 2012 and will remain flat through calendar year 2013. The reductions in general transportation aids for municipalities are also targeted to lessen the impact for less populous communities. This was done by lowering the aid rate per mile of road by only 3 percent, protecting small communities with many miles of road and shifting reductions to larger communities with both the tax base and the employee compensation savings to absorb larger reduction amounts.

Other Local Government Initiatives

The Governor recommends providing additional tools to local governments to manage expenditures by:

  • Removing recycling mandates;
  • Allowing municipalities to merge police and fire departments to create greater operational efficiencies; and
  • Eliminating library maintenance of effort funding requirements.

I’m not sure what the last bullet point refers to, but I will find out. And it’s disappointing to hear that we’ll be receiving less transportation aid from the state under Walker’s budget plan — another way he’ll stick it to local taxpayers.

You can find this language, and even more flawed arguments in favor of less local control, on pages 50-53 of this document.

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by | March 2, 2011 · 12:46 am

Walker’s Budget: Of Course It’s Bad For South Milwaukee

South Milwaukeeans: Get ready to feel the pain from Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget.

While we’re still sorting through all of the potential impacts of Walker’s plan announced Tuesday, it’s very clear that the governor has decided to balance the state budget on the backs of local governments (in addition to the poor, middle-class teachers and other public employees, unions and countless other constituencies who dared not support him during his campaign).

Does this surprise anyone? It shouldn’t.

My biggest objection: The further erosion of local control through new and ridiculous mandates on local communities from a governor who somehow claims to be in favor of smaller government while at the same time loves telling local leaders what we must do to govern local residents.

Among my biggest complaints with his hypocritical plan:

  • Shared revenue cuts. As expected, Walker is using cuts in shared revenue to local governments as a key part of his plan to balance the state budget, and why not? Passing the buck like this is easy. The average cut is expected to be more than 12 percent … which for us could quickly punch a nearly $400,000 hole in our budget. And it could be more. Just what will that mean for services in the short and medium term? Stay tuned.
  • Levy limits. At the same time he slices state aid to local governments, Walker wants to limit how much communities can increase their tax levies to fund the services facing the cuts. His proposal: Allow local governments to only raise property tax levies equal to the amount of new construction. For South Milwaukee, where new construction is almost non-existent, that likely means we will not be able to raise taxes at all going forward. Now, I’m no fan of large tax increases, nor could I see supporting one, but I stand behind the approximately 2% percent increases we’ve delivered in our last two budgets – fair and reasonable increases that reflect the fact that costs to deliver our first-class city services go up every year. In Scott Walker’s world, apparently there is no such thing as inflation.
  • Recycling. This is perhaps the most hypocritical part of Walker’s plan. He is proposing that the state no longer help local governments pay for their recycling programs – while removing the mandate that communities offer these programs at all. The state now provides South Milwaukee more than $120,000 for this purpose. Without it, we will likely have to pass on the full cost of our recycling efforts to residents, resulting in higher fees for this service. The alternative? Get out of recycling altogether, which simply can’t be an option if you at all care about the planet. Plus, we recently signed a long-term deal with Veolia to run the South Milwaukee recycling program, so that can’t happen anyway. When you see this increase on your bill, I ask you to remember that it is brought to you by a Republican governor who campaigned against higher taxes and fees.

Couple all of that with Walker’s “budget repair bill” — his attempt at killing public unions and providing so-called “tools” that likely won’t come close to closing the shortfall he would create with the three items mentioned above — and you have a terrible piece of legislation that will deliver nothing but pain to local residents.

And it will be painful. Count on it. South Milwaukeeans will see real impacts from Walker’s budget through cuts in services, and there is simply no way around it. Our budget is so tight already – our staffing so lean – that it is inevitable. I wish it weren’t, but it is.

Yet, it could be worse. I can’t even begin to get into the potential impacts of Walker’s budget proposal on local schools. That’s another post for another day.

But rest assured that our kids will feel the pain even worse than we will at City Hall thanks to Scott Walker’s “reform budget.” As the parent of a Rawson Elementary kindergartner and husband of an ESL teacher for the Whitnall School District, that scares the heck out of me.

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by | February 28, 2011 · 11:55 pm

Waiting for the Coming Cuts …

We should know more Tuesday about the scope of cuts South Milwaukee will face with in coming months, as Gov. Scott Walker delivers his budget address.

It surely won’t be pretty, as we prepare for a significant cut in shared revenue from the state.

As you can see in our 2011 budget, shared revenue is a significant line item for us. We were projecting more than $3.1 million in these types of revenuves this year, the same as our 2010 budgeted amount, but more than $100,000 less than what we received in 2009.  

So even a 10 percent cut in this line item is significant — potentially more than a $300,000 hit to a budget that is already fat-free. At this point, any additional cuts are almost certainly going to mean a reduction in services … and that’s a sobering thought.

I’ll keep you posted as we begin to navigate through this.

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by | February 27, 2011 · 11:43 pm

Advance Auto Parts Eyes Grant Park Plaza Site

It appears, thankfully, that the eyesore of the vacant outlot building at Grant Park Plaza won’t stay an eyesore for long.

Advance Auto Parts is interested in adding a location there, modifying the space previously held by Blockbuser and Verizon Wireless.

The item is on the Plan Commission agenda for Monday and Tuesday’s City Council agenda. I’ll keep you posted.

There are also Advance stores in Oak Creek and St. Francis.

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by | February 27, 2011 · 12:12 am

What About the Rest of Us? A Word on “Faux Mandates”

On Jan. 1, Journal Sentinel colunmnist and respected local historian John Gurda wrote a column for the Sunday paper headlined: “Beware Faux Mandates: Other Politicians Through History Have Mistaken Election for Mandate.”

I can’t get that column out of my mind these days. Because it was so prophetic … and so right.

Gurda wrote:

Scott Walker is skating rather blithely on the same thin ice as Ryan. He defeated Tom Barrett 52% to 47% in November. That’s a five-point spread – decisive, but hardly a landslide.

Walker has to live – and govern – with the knowledge that nearly half the state’s voters don’t want him in the executive mansion, and that some of his loyal supporters disagree sharply with his opposition to high-speed rail.

True humility in his situation might suggest a conciliatory, consensus-building approach, but Walker has plunged ahead with the spotless conscience of the utterly convinced, a man forever untroubled by shades of gray. Acting for all the world as if he had a mandate, the governor-elect who won’t even hold office until tomorrow has already scuttled the high-speed rail project and cowed the Legislature into leaving the state employees’ labor contract on the table.

So, I ask: Where is the mandate? Where is undeniable support for making the sweeping changes Walker has already led since being elected, especially the union-busting legislation he is pushing through now?

If Walker had beaten Barrett 60-40%, or even 55-45%, that might be another story. But we are talking about five percentage points here — a closer race than many, including me, predicted. Five points. I ask again, where is the mandate?

Of course, Walker has strong support from his base on his so-called “budget repair bill.” The people who love Scott Walker love that he is out to essentially put an end to collective bargaining and, in turn, public sector unions. That much is clear.

But just how many people is that, exactly? Fifty percent of the state? Less? What about the rest of us? What about the tens of thousands of protesters who are showing up in Madison day after day to fight against this legislation (including Saturday)? Do their voices count here? Does my voice count?

Now, I’m not blind to the fact that, on the whole, there was a historic Republican wave in Wisconsin in the November elections. The governorship, the state legislature, a U.S. Senate seat and several Congressional races all turned over toward Republicans. I get that, although I argue this “throw the bums out” mentality will be the norm, not the excpection, moving forward in state and national politics, including 2014.

That said, even the 2010 election was no mandate, certainly not Walker’s disappointing showing against Barrett. I just wish Walker would stop treating it like one and, as Gurda writes, quit plunging “ahead with the spotless conscience of the utterly convinced, a man forever untroubled by shades of gray.”

Walker needs to compromise on the collective bargaining issue, as unlikely (impossible) as that is. 

But don’t take my word for it — listen to the more than one million people who voted for Barrett … and the countless others who may not have voted in November but, if the election were held today, would run to the polls to sweep Walker from office.

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by | February 26, 2011 · 6:02 pm

It Was a Great Ride: Bike Race Not Returning in 2011

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Even if it was for one year.

Sorry I haven’t blogged on this yet (the governor’s anti-union legislation has taken up much of my blogging time these days), but the City Council essentially sealed the fate of the International Cycling Classic bike race at its last meeting by not reviving it.

As you will recall, Bucyrus International announced last fall that it would not sponsor the event, which was known as the Bucyrus International Cycling Classic in 2010, again this year. This, combined with the chairwoman of the committee not wanting to fill that role again in 2011, put the race in jeopardy.

However, I worked with the ICC to secure a pledge of $7,500 from Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare to pay half of the “site fee” for 2011. Fundraising was underway for the rest of the $15,000 fee, and additional funds, when the council voted in late January to extend an opt-out clause in our contract with the ICC until March.

Then it got complicated. The race was formally cancelled when the city did not receive necessary paperwork in time from the ICC regarding the extension. It’s a long story, but this was ultimately due to the paperwork being sent to the wrong email address.

The City Council debated the issue at its Feb. 16 meeting, and no motion was made to revive the race (nor, I suspect, would a motion have been supported had it been made). So the event remains cancelled.

And I do not expect any additional efforts to bring back the race for 2011.

I feel bad this happened, and I hope we can one day bring it back. I continue to support the race and see it as a great way to market our city to a new and diverse audience while also delivering a fun and exciting spectator event for our residents and others.

We simply did not do this event justice. In order for something like this to work, it has to be a multi-year commitment. I know the Cycling Classic would have been better in 2011, even better in 2012, better still in 2013.

Imagine if we had killed Evening on the Avenue after its first year … a decision that could have easily been made due to low participation early on. The community would have been robbed of a special celebration without giving it a chance.

I feel that way about the bike race. I’ve seen this work in other communities, where it has turned into a memorable event that the city looks forward to every year. I was hoping that could happen here. Unfortunately, it won’t … and that’s a loss for South Milwaukee.

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by | February 23, 2011 · 11:14 pm

School District Puts Off the Pain, But Only Temporarily

I just saw the following note on the South Milwaukee School District website …

The 2011-2012 budget recommendations will not be discussed at the February 23, 2011 School Board meeting due to the lack of a state budget.  Recommendations will be discussed at the March 2, 2011 meeting.

So stay tuned. This won’t be pretty.

It also begs the question: What’s left to cut? Check out this list of school district cuts since 2003. It’s stunningly long, and depressing, and it provides some context around the new labor deals approved by the School Board and ratified by the unions last week.

The only glimmer of hope here is that there are very dedicated and smart people at all levels of the school district — from the School Board and administration on down — that I know will act fairly and reasonably in doing the tough work in front of them. That much was driven home during the thoughtful and honest discussion during the district’s long-range vision and planning process I was a part of last fall.

I wish them the best … and realize we’ll probably be making some of these same tough choices at City Hall before too long.

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by | February 23, 2011 · 10:52 pm

Economic Development Forum Set for South Milwaukee PAC

Milwaukee county executive candidates Chris Abele and Jeff Stone are among those appearing at a forum set for Wednesday, March 16, at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center.

The South Shore Forum on Economic Development begins at 6:30 p.m. and includes a roundtable discussion with local leaders and comments from Abele and Stone on key issues like the Hoan Bridge, transit, parks and 794 extension.

Learn more in this story on SouthMilwaukeeNow.com.

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by | February 23, 2011 · 12:25 am

Divide and Conquer: A Losing Strategy for Local Governments, and Unions

Obviously, I’ve made my objections to the Republican plan to kill public unions in Wisconsin pretty clear, and I’ve tried to focus many of my arguments on its potential impact locally.

The decision to separate out police and fire employees from the benefit cuts and restrictions on collective bargaining may have the biggest impact of all.

For starters, exempting these groups seriously weakens the “tools” Gov. Scott Walker said he wants to give local governments to help offset the looming cut in state aid. Since spending on public safety employees is such a large part of our city budget, as it should be, not forcing them to pay more for benefits like everyone else will do little for the city when it comes time to making the hard choices with which we’ll be faced after the legislature is done here.

In other words, in choosing this path, Walker undermined a key point of his own reasoning for the “budget repair plan.”

(Of course, I have many other concerns with the reasoning behind the legislation that I’ve laid out on this blog.)

Also, think of the complexity this adds to the work of our administration, staff and others in negotiating different contracts for different unions, as well as managing completely different work rules and pay and benefits packages for different types of city employees.

Then there is the biggest reason of all to hate this: The “haves vs. have nots” discontent that can be bred when one city worker is working under different rules, and with a different pay and benefit structure, than another. This hurts employee morale and productivity. That in turns impacts city services.

How is that good for anyone?

Of course, this is clearly part of the Republican strategy here. It’s “divide and conquer,” pit one union against another with a clear endgame in mind: killing all public sector unions.

Indeed, police, fire and other public safety unions should not feel safe simply because they were spared the pain this time around. Walker is coming for them next as he continues his assault on workers’ rights and the middle class.

Thankfully, local public safety workers get this, and it’s a big reason why many of their unions did not support Walker in his election bid.

Milwaukee’s did. Many others didn’t, including the parent unions of our local workers. So I am happy to hear that they are standing side by side with their union brothers and sisters in Madison — and back home — as this struggle continues. Keep up the fight.

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by | February 23, 2011 · 12:02 am

Democrats on the Run? More South Milwaukee Perspective on the Senatorial Walkout

Channel 4 stopped by AMF South Park Lanes on Tuesday to talk to area residents about the decision by 14 Democratic state Senators to leave the state in order to avoid a vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget repair bill” and force a compromise.

Check out the story here. From it:

As 14 Democrats remain in Illinois, their constituents are taking sides. … One thing both sides agree on, they will vote based on how their senator behaved during the budget battle.

That, I believe, we can all agree on.

Also check out this coverage from Fox 6 on South Milwaukee’s State Sen. Chris Larson. His quote:  “This is the worst bill that’s ever been presented in the history of Wisconsin.” I can’t say that for certain, but I can’t remember a worse one in my lifetime.

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by | February 22, 2011 · 10:26 am

South Milwaukee School Unions Ratify Contracts … and Wait

Five unions representing teachers and other employees of the South Milwaukee School District ratified new contracts over the weekend, Superintendent Rita Olson confirmed to me in an email.

Now they wait to see what will happen in Madison as to their future of their pay, benefits and collective bargaining rights.  

From the highlights Dr. Olson provided:

  • All steps given in the 2009-2010 and 2010-11 school years would be honored and individuals would not be required to move backwards to previously held salaries. 
  • The contract would have a 0 percent per cell increase in the first year and a 1.28 percent per cell increase in the second year. 
  • Effective July 1, 2011,  health insurance premiums would be increased to 9 percent or current law, whichever is greater.
  • There is also a cap on health insurance contributions for retirees, and staggered years of service to qualify for retirement health insurance benefits.

This sounds fair and reasonable to me … and a great example of what I continue to say in the debate over the governor’s union-busting plan:  Let local units of government (in this case, the school district) work with their unions to control costs and deal with budget pressures as they see fit.

State government should not force our hands, especially when it comes to what we can and can’t collectively bargain for with our workers.

To the governor and those in the Senate and Assembly: Accept the compromise proposed by Senate Democrats, which gives you the savings you need to help solve the state budget crisis and allows local governments to deal with looming shared revenue cuts.

I thought that’s what this was supposed to be about anyway. Isn’t it?

Of course, I know it’s not. I get it. This is first and foremost about breaking public unions and ending more than 50 years of collective bargaining with barely a debate — and no desire for any level of compromise. It’s about balancing the budget on the back of middle class workers. And it’s wrong.

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by | February 21, 2011 · 2:48 pm

Walmart Backs out in the Falls

Update: Here is a Journal Sentinel story on this.

Walmart is no longer interested in building a new store in Menomonee Falls, according to The Business Journal.

Read the story here. From it:

On Jan. 4, the Menomonee Falls Plan Commission unanimously opposed a request by Gatlin to rezone a site at West Lisbon and Pilgrim roads for a 115,000-square-foot Walmart. Fitzgerald said he’s not sure if Gatlin plans to bring the rezoning request back later or if it’s giving up on the proposal, which faced heavy criticism from Menomonee Falls residents. Lisa Nelson, a regional spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said the company is taking a fresh look at the site based on feedback from neighbors and the village.

I don’t really have much of an update on the Walmart proposed locally. We are still awaiting submittal of a formal site plan, and environmental studies of the site on North Chicago Avenue continue.

I will keep you posted.

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by | February 20, 2011 · 2:21 am

Why I’m Pro-Union: Some Context …

Regular readers of this blog know that I’ve tried hard to play it straight, providing a comprehensive and unique news source for South Milwaukee without interjecting much opinion.

That is why I launched this blog, and that is what this blog will continue to be. Most of the time.

As you can see, this week has been different. I feel strongly about the issue of protecting union rights, and I feel a responsibility to use this pulpit to make that position known and respond to what I consider unfair and unwarranted attacks on public workers by our governor.

Why do I feel so strongly about this? I attribute some of this to my life experience.

A former union member myself, I am married to a public school teacher. My father is recently retired after a long career as a unionized social worker in the Wisconsin prison system. My stepfather is retired from the U.S. Post Office. My sister is a unionized social services worker in Walworth County. Also, my mother is a nurse at the veterans hospital and, while not a union worker, she benefits from a strong union there as well.

(And I assure you that none of my family members have gotten rich working as public employees. Far from it.)

Additionally, my position on this issue should not be a surprise to my constituents because I was endorsed by two unions in 2009 and made that clear in much of my campaign literature.

So, yes, I side with unions in most cases … and certainly on such a fundamental issue of preserving collective bargaining rights.

With that in mind, my position on unions has led some to surmise that I am as liberal as they come. I am not.

I’d like to think I am like most of America — liberal on some issues, conservative on some issues. I am conservative on many social and law-and-order issues, for instance, while liberal on others like commuter rail (a purely economic development issue for me).

I hate that everyone these days is labeled “liberal” or “conservative,” and it’s assumed they are, or must be, completely left-leaning or right-leaning all of the time and on every issue. That’s certainly not the case with me, nor many of the people I know.

Moreover, I like to think my vision for South Milwaukee is apolitical. That’s why aldermanic races are non-partisan.

Positive ideas for the future of this great city should appeal to liberals, conservatives and everyone in between. And I promise to continue to do my best to deliver them.

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