Waukesha

Will Milwaukee County Throw Away Another $800,000+ On SEWRPC?

October 15, 2011 by The Political E...

Every year, same old story, or here, too - - Milwaukee County ships to the un-elected Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission an annual gob of taxpayer dollars without a contract, a performance review, a memo about deliverables for the coming year, a projected or promised work plan, a wish list - - nada - - and though about half of that County funding comes from City of Milwaukee taxpayers, the City has no representation out at the Pewaukee-based Commission's 21-member, heavily suburban and rural board.

SEWRPC simply draws up an annual budget - - no taxpayers are involved - - and allots each of seven counties a sum it expects to be sent to meet its budget - - the agency's 2011 budget is here - -  and the counties ship off the money.

Milwaukee County's assessment in 2011 - - $830,000, and not mere chump change for a broke county.

Months Later, The Record About Waukesha Water And Growth Is Clarified

September 26, 2011 by The Political E...

Last year's discussion about a possible Lake Michigan water diversion to the City of Waukesha got a little-noticed clarification in the record after UWM consultants hired by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, (SEWRPC) had released a water and related issues of economic justice.

In digging through minutes of recent meetings of SEWRPC's Environmental Justice Task Force. (EJTF), I noticed a section in the January meeting minutes, and because I missed that meeting due to illness I add the information to the documentation about water, Waukesha and social justice that is gathered and archived on this blog.

The bracketed ID information is mine to help out readers with names and titles, and I have turned a reference to a newspaper story into a link to a URL:

Could Wauwatosa Dip Into Federal Water Project Funding Stream?

September 21, 2011 by The Political E...

The City of Wauwatosa is facing up to $84 million in sewer infrastructure work, and a lot of it means installing expensive new pipes:

For $34 million to $39 million, the city could install bigger pipes and a storage tank...

That's a big chuck of change, but the good news is that the city's Congressman, Fifth District Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, is already helping to prepare a federal grant plan to provide southeastern Wisconsin municipalities up to $100 million for water projects that include new pipes.

Note that the City of Waukesha, which hopes to get a big piece - - perhaps $50 million - - of the money to defray some of its possible Lake Michigan diversion expense, has said that other communities are eligible, too.

Said Daniel Duchniak, Waukesha's water utility general manager:

Suburban Milwaukee Crossroads Author Unafraid To Say "Apartheid"

September 19, 2011 by The Political E...

I don't know Dr. John Ridley, a retired surgeon living in Mequon, but I appreciate his Sunday Crossroads op-ed's straight-forwardness:

I have relatives who live in Whitefish Bay near Hampton Ave., and I have relatives who live in Milwaukee's central city near Hampton Ave. Only a few miles separate their neighborhoods, but they live worlds apart...

It's currently fashionable to assert that folks are mired in poverty due to an unwillingness to assume personal responsibility. It should be equally stressed that in Milwaukee's case, the practice of apartheid as public policy systematically created the distressed environment that sculpts such lives.

People yell at me sometimes for using the word "apartheid" to describe our region's policy-driven reality - - an example, here - - but it's the truth, as I see it.

And, alas, the analysis is not new.

Waukesha's Great Lakes Diversion Plan Adds A Willing Town

September 16, 2011 by The Political E...

Delafield says, "OK," but the Town of Waukesha has yet to be heard from.

We'll see if the other Great Lakes states approve of boot-strapping non-applicant communities into an application - -  on the strength of a map and service territory that never had a hearing when drawn up by a non-elected regional planning commission.