Wi-Fi Proposal Goes to Hines' Committee; Elm Grove wants Milwaukee Water

Dear Reader,
I have a few thoughts for you today, and I thank you for visiting milwaukeeworld. Today I notice that Alderman Willie Hines decided the Public Works Committee might not be the best place to hold a hearing on the recently-announced Wi-Fi plan for the City of Milwaukee. The council president yanked the item from the Public Works agenda, and put it on the agenda of his own committee, Steering and Rules. The things you can do when you are boss!
Also, there will be 306 new paper boxes on the streets of Milwaukee, and the Police union is not too crazy about an alderman's plans to shift some training from the academy to MATC -- all to save Fire Department jobs.
Finally, we tell you that Wauwatosa, which already gets our water, wants more of it -- to sell to the Village of Elm Grove. Also -- a clarification of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel police blotter item from the Village Attorney of Whitefish Bay.
Thanks for reading,
Michael Horne



WI-FI PROPOSAL MOVED TO HINES COMMITTEE

The plans for a city-wide Wi-Fi network to be constructed by sole bidder Midwest Fiber Networks LLC will be heard by the Milwaukee Common Council Public Works Committee on November 1st 2005, as scheduled.
However, the meeting agenda states "This file is only being scheduled in order to refer it to the Steering and Rules Committee."
In other words, once President Willie Hines realized what a big deal the potential Wi-Fi system would be, he shifted the meeting to the Steering and Rules Committee, which he rules as chairman. The hearing on Common Council file 050833 will take place Wednesday, November 2nd 2005 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 301-B, City Hall.
Steering and Rules is traditionally populated by Chairmen of other standing committees of the Common Council, in this case including Hines, Michael Murphy (Vice-Chair), Joe Davis, Michael D'Amato, Robert Bauman, Robert Puente and James Witkowiak.
The agenda still lists Robert Donovan as a member on its letterhead. This is wrong,, since Hines removed him as the Chairman of the Public Safety Committee on July 14th, after Donovan's indictment on Federal charges. and replaced him with Robert Puente as chairman and as member of Steering and Rules.
Meanwhile, while the Council debates whether to issue a contract to Midwest Fiber Networks, Google, a much larger company, has announced plans to Wi-Fi San Francisco in a competitive bid to provide service to that city. http://www.alternet.org/story/27340/

MORE PAPER BOXES FOR THE STREET
The Employment Guide wants a permit to install 150 newspaper boxes across the city, and its competitor Job Dig wants to install 156 newspaper boxes. The city charges a $30 biennial fee for newspaper box placement in Milwaukee.

POLICE DON'T DIG DONOVAN MATC IDEA

Sebastian Raclaw of the Milwaukee Police Association executive board says he is not pleased with the idea of Ald. Robert Donovan that police recruits begin their training at the Milwaukee Area Technical College rather than at the Milwaukee Police Academy. Donovan came up with the idea as a way to more quickly and cheaply train police officers and to use the savings to save Fire Department positions due to lose funding in the new Barrett budget.
Raclaw says the Donovan plan would change many dynamics in police training, particularly since the unpaid MATC students would not be subject to the employer / employee relationship as exists for paid students at the Milwaukee Police Academy, the nation's first such institution. It is conceivable that a student could take the MATC classes without undergoing a background or drug check, or any number of other scrutinies available under the current situation.
Raclaw asked Milwaukee Professional Fire Fighters' Association boss Greg Gracz at a public meeting why he shouldn't shut down the Fire Academy to save jobs. Gracz ducked that one. Hot stuff.

TOSA WANTS MILWAUKEE WATER
(TO SELL TO ELM GROVE)

The thirsty village of Elm Grove has requested the Wauwatosa Water Utility to extend its water service area to include the Village of Elm Grove.
Wauwatosa receives its water from Milwaukee under terms of an agreement by which the community purchases the water at wholesale rates.
Wauwatose has adopted a resolution requesting that Milwaukee evaluate the "feasibility of providing additional water to Wauwatosa for that purpose," according to City of Milwaukee Common Council File Number 050847.
According to a Common Council resolution of 1999, the Legislative Reference Bureau must first conduct an analytical study of the proposed water sale and the Milwaukee Water Works must conduct an engineering feasibility study before the matter can be presented to the Milwaukee Common Council to enlarge the service area of Wauwatosa to include Elm Grove. This could be a significant source of revenue for Milwaukee and could ease water fears in Elm Grove. I could not determine by press time whether any portion of Elm Grove is west of the subcontinental divide, which could be an issue. I'm afraid the maps I encountered were of insufficient detail, and will poke around for them tomorrow.

MORE INTERESTING NEWS
A Starbucks coffee shop will open in November in the Milwaukee Hilton Hotel downtown. ... Construction is underway at the Reuss Federal Plaza. The overhanging portion of the building, at Wisconsin avenue, will be filled in to the street for retail purposes, to wit: a steak house. ... Construction bumpouts are being put into place right now on Brady Street. This should significantly slow down traffic and give pedestrians a fighting chance.

CRACKDOWN IN THE BAY?
JS overdoes it, says Bay Atty.

I sent the following letter to Atty. Chris Jaekels and include his response.

Atty. Chris Jaekels
Village Attorney
Village of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
c/o Cook & Franke Law Firm
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
27 October 2005

Dear Sir:
I write you in your capacity as the Village of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin Village Attorney.

From Today's Thursday, October 27th 2005 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Milwaukee County Police Report I note:

WHITEFISH BAY
Other

"Police conducted another crackdown on drivers seeking to avoid a temporary bottleneck at N. Lake and E. Silver Spring drives by cutting through residential neighborhoods. Signs have been posted not to cut through, but eight drivers were ticketed on allegations of doing so..."

Under what authority may officials of a community dictate the route one must take through that community? Under what authority can access to public streets be denied in this instance?

Atty Jaekels responds:

Michael, 

The "crackdown" to which the Journal/Sentinel referred is nothing more

than Village Police writing more tickets for illegal turns in the area

in question than they had in the past. The reason is simple, due to

construction in the area, more cars than ever have been turning right on

to Shore Drive from northbound Lake Drive or left on to Birch Avenue

from northbound Lake Drive.

The signs which prohibit these turns have been there for at least 30

years (I remember them from my route home from Marquette University High

School). There are no new signs. No one is prohibited from driving

through neighborhoods, and there is no temporary rule or regime applied

to the area, just more people disobeying the signs than usual and thus

more tickets.

I think the Journal/Sentinel's description is at fault for any

misunderstanding.