Village Spillage - Whitefish Bay

Rice, Cooked Part 2 & PAC Mail

2011-07-31T18:27:00.003-05:00

You may recall from my blog "Rice, Cooked" in May, that the Milwaukee County Board approved a preliminary plan to redistrict the county that dissected Whitefish Bay.

Part of Whitefish Bay will be added to Milwaukee's East Side district. The other part will be added to Milwaukee's northern district. This move, effectively consolidates more power for the City of Milwaukee, redacting one suburban district.

The preliminary plan was widely panned by groups near and far. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was against it, as was the NAACP, the Milwaukee Intergovernmental Cooperation Council, and Bayside, Brown Deer, Cudahy, Franklin, Fox Point, Greendale, Greenfield, River Hills and Whitefish Bay all passed official resolutions demanding the County to get public input and re-draw the districts instead of this crude hatched job on aimed at one Supervisor.

This redistricting plan will have zero effect on the balance of power and governance of Milwaukee County.   Reducing the suburban voice by one will simply make the eternal suburban minority a bit smaller. However, it should infuriate suburban citizens, especially those on the North Shore.

Last week, to no one's surprise, the Milwaukee Supervisors voted 13-7 to approve this plan, as those 13 get to keep their jobs and punish Supervisor Rice. It's now waiting for Co. Executive Chris Abele to sign or veto.

Frankly, Abele would be well served if he vetoed it.   He is, after all, up for re-election next year.

With Abele's approval, he guarantees 13 votes for his re-election campaign next year, from 13 thankful Supervisors.

With a veto, he gains hero status from the long list of groups who have voiced opposition, including North Shore voters and thousands of suburban voters. Even if the veto is overridden, he wins credibility as the adult in the room.

Want to weigh in? Send a short note to Chris Abele, asking him to veto this plan. He's the last hope. Write soon, though, it could be signed as early as Monday.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele
Email: countyexec@milwcnty.com
Phone: (414) 278-4211

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POLITICAL MAIL

Dear Political Action Committees:

Thank you for the 22 pieces of mail over the past week.

I'm pretty sure I speak for most everyone in the 8th Senate District when I say that your negative adverts go straight from our mailbox to the recycling bin.

Thanks for supporting the US Postal Service, though.

Signed,
Everyone.

Taking a look at my mail, the PAC score is 5 to 1.

Attacking Darling: The Sierra Club, Greater Wisconsin Political Fund, We are Wisconsin, Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters

Attacking Pasch: American Federation for Children

I may not be getting all the PAC mail, but with those numbers, it indicates that a lot of outside money is flowing to Whitefish Bay's Rep. Pasch.

4th of July .. City Market News

2011-07-06T22:47:00.000-05:00

I wanted to write a short note about the 4th of July Parade and festival on Monday:

It.

Was.

Awesome.

Spectacular weather, huge, huge crowds along the parade route and at Klode Park. You might have noticed more of the parade participants were in vehicles / trailers, which was by design. And a new ~~Beer~~ Lemonade Garden at Klode, with partitioned picnic tables which seemed to be busy all day. Even the fireworks were upgraded from last year.

Join me in thanking the WFB Civic Foundation for their dedication in pulling off this Norman Rockwell event, year after year. The sheer hours these folks put in to gift this day to Villagers is astounding.

Hats off to the 4th Chairs and Parade organizers, Paul Dryden, Brian Gaertner, Andy Busalacchi, Hugo Rojas, Tracy Rothman, Jay Kuehn, Crystal Luehne, Amy Lukas, Suzanne LaFleur, Mike Bortolotti, Ann Pasterski, Mark Szumski, Anne O'Connor, Gwen Koscinski and Dave Arnold -- along with 100+ other volunteers who staffed the event. -- They gave up their 4th for you.

One note about the parade .. some have commented on a group that was in the parade, a protest group perhaps linked with the "SDS," protesting war, or imperialism or whatever kids protest these days. The group was not an official entrant in the parade, and had indeed "crashed" the line. They jumped in for a few blocks, then apparently left. A similar issue occurred last year. The WFB Civic Foundation would never willingly allow any sort of political or protest group to intrude upon this family friendly event.

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Lastly .. CITY MARKET IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

Run the Bay

2011-05-20T19:47:00.000-05:00

This is just a quick blog to remind people that tomorrow (Saturday, May 21) is Run the Bay.

The 5K run/walk starts at 9am, so if you live near the route (see map) take a few moments to line the streets and cheer on the runners.

More information can be found here.

And, if you'd like to donate to help support Run the Bay, whose proceeds to go the WFB Schools, donate a few bucks online by clicking here.

Date: Saturday, 5/21
Time: 9AM