TIMMERMAN A TAXPAYER WASTE

Dear Reader,
Thanks for checking in with Milwaukeeworld today. Today's theme, quite inadvertently, is transportation, and we are going intermodal with a vengeance.
First we look at Milwaukee's "other" airport -- Timmerman Field, as we locals call it. Why does the county still own this money-loser? Could it be that people who own airplanes like the convenience of Timmerman and vote republican?
Then, as 21st centurites, our knowledge of Great Lakes Schooner basics is woefully limited. Our friends at Pier Wisconsin answer a few questions like, "how do you turn a schooner around in the Milwaukee River?" It can be done, as the Denis Sullivan has proven recently.
Finally, we look forward to the reopening of a long-abandoned tunnel.
Thanks for tuning in, and please let me hear from you.
Michael Horne
Editor / Publisher
horne@milwaukeeworld.com
1 414 978-8039


TIMMERMAN A BOONDOGGLE?
By Michael Horne

Milwaukee County's two airports are budgeted to bring in $62,085,486 in revenue in 2006, and are expected to earn a profit of $2,721,316. Thus, County Executive Scott Walker can proudly say that the airports do not cost the taxpayers a dime -- unless you look at the books of Lawrence J. Timmerman Airport, the county's general aviation (i.e. private plane) airport. Timmerman's books are combined with those of General Mitchell International Airport, Wisconsin's largest, which serves mostly commercial passengers -- generally those who do not own private aircraft.
In 2004, the most recent year for which information is available, the airport system of Milwaukee County -- that is, Mitchell and Timmerman brought in revenue of $53,924,727. After expenses, $1,262,848 was left over.
In 2004 Timmerman had 69,134 takeoffs and landings compared to Mitchell's 188,133. That sounds impressive, but Timmerman had expenses of $372,910 yet brought in revenue of only $265,347. So, as a stand-alone operation, it lost $107,563. The 2005 budget calls for Timmerman to lose $216,965 this year, and to lose $133,526 in 2006.

This leads to the question of why taxpayers must absorb the losses of a county-owned airport that caters to small craft owners. If you can afford an airplane, you could afford to fly it out of an airport that is not subsidized by the taxpayers, you'd think. Of course, I'd bet you that most airplane owners vote Republican, favor a tax freeze, and oppose government subsidies.
Furthermore, Timmerman occupies a large tract of potentially valuable real estate.

The County, which is hard-pressed for money these days, should either see to it that Timmerman pays its own way, or sell the place and use the potential tens of millions of dollars it would receive from that valuable real estate to bail itself out of its never-ending fiscal disasters.
Maybe a good first start would be to give Timmerman its own line on the County's budget, rather than burying its losses within General Mitchell International's budget report.

May I also suggest that with the closing of the 440th at Mitchell Airport, that former military base could be used for pleasure aircraft, Timmerman could be shut down, much or all of the land could be developed and the tax base would increase considerably.
But as it is right now, Timmerman is Milwaukee County's biggest and most exclusive park -- it's our "airpark."


SULLIVAN SAILS THE MIGHTY MENOMONEE
A couple of weeks ago I sat in the M&M Club on N. Water Street, well within view of the Water Street Bridge, a bascule span that doesn’t open very often this time of year. I noticed the bridge open, and was expecting a coal boat like the K. E. Barker (which was in town over the weekend) or the steel ship Isolda, which I believe I saw idling off Brady Street last week.
But, no, the ship was the Denis Sullivan, sailing downstream.
This led me to wonder a number of things, including how the Sullivan manages to turn around in the Milwaukee River, whether it can sail backward, how Great Lakes schooners managed to navigate in the Milwaukee River back in the days when there were hundreds of them and what is the Denis Sullivan doing here in Milwaukee in Novemer?
Meredith Berghauer of the Pier Wisconsin was kind enough to respond to my questions, and I thought you would like to read what she had to say:

Hello Mr. Horne!
Yes the Denis Sullivan did go up the Menomonee River twice in the past few weeks, once on Oct. 19th and again on Nov 1st. Our first trip up the river was to dock on the River Walk in the Third Ward. We stayed there for an afternoon to help kick of the Christmas in the Ward celebration and to pre-sell Christmas trees.
Boats similar to the Sullivan would make yearly trips in November from northern Michigan and bring Christmas trees to southern Wisconsin and Illinois. One of the most famous of these vessels was the Rouse Simmons, one of the boats we are modeled after, and in its memory we have been selling trees for the past few years.

The second time we went up the river was to dock for the winter. The Sullivan will be staying in Wisconsin this winter; normally we head south to Florida to conduct educational programming. Our new facility will be opening in early June so in order to make sure the Sullivan is here for the grand opening we will just stay up north for the winter. We must dock up the river, next to the power plant, to avoid being frozen in and ice damage occurring to the vessel.

Now as to your question of the turning radius and how they did it in the old days…Our turning radius is 140 ft (the vessel is 137 ft long), if we are using a push boat and we have good weather. The push boat will push our bow around for us enabling us to turn in small areas (we also use this method in high wind days at roomier docks). You are correct about the high traffic of schooners in the 19th century as well. The way they managed to come up the rivers was first they had a center board that they raised up which made the draft much less. The Sullivan has a lead keel to meet Coast Guard regulations unlike the schooners of the past. Once the center board was up a tug would come and pull or push the boats up the river. The same tugs would then turn the boats around if needed. I have also heard that they would sometimes pull the boats up the river backwards to avoid having to turn around.

The last question you asked is can we sail her backwards, the answer is yes, sort of. The Denis Sullivan and the old Great Lake schooners had a very unique sail called a Raffee. It is a gigantic triangle sail that is on the top of their foremast. This sail is rigged perpendicular to the hull, allowing the vessels to catch winds above the buildings in the harbors and to back the boats up under sail. While we can back up it is not the desired or designed way to move the vessel (the bow is design to “cut” through the water much better then our blunt stern) nor is it the most efficient method of movement.
Thanks so much for your interest and I hope to see you out sailing with us next summer.

Meridith Berghauer
Interim-Marine Operations Coordinator
Pier Wisconsin


VALLEY TUNNEL TO REOPEN

At the groundbreaking for the Palermo Villa pizza factory in the Menomonee Valley last week, Laura Bray of Menomonee Valley Partners told the audience that a long-closed tunnel would reopen in the valley. This abandoned public works project was news to me. Corey Zetts, the project director for Menomonee Valley Partners wrote to tell me where to find the tunnel, and about its original purpose. His letter follows:


Hi Michael,

The tunnel ran from S. 37th under the railroad tracks and then connected
to a bridge the crossed the Menomonee River -- this was the route
workers on the south side took to get to their jobs at the Milwaukee
Road shops. When the Shops closed, the tunnel was boarded up on both
sides, as there was nothing to walk to.

This year MVP received $2.08 million in funding from the federal
transportation bill (TEA-21), thanks in large part to the efforts of
Representative Gwen Moore and Senators Feingold and Kohl, to be used to
create pedestrian and bicycle connections from the surrounding
neighborhoods to the future park. After detailed study, we decided on
three or four best options for these connections, one of which is
reopening the historic tunnel. We've had some meetings with
neighborhood groups about this to get their thoughts on how to make the
tunnel as safe and inviting as possible.

If you go along Pierce St., look to the south at 37th Street. The north
entrance to the tunnel is beside the large brick building, but down
below street grade (it's easy to pass by unless you're actively looking
for it). You can also see the south entrance now from the new section
of Canal Street (near where Palermo's groundbreaking ceremony was) as
the trees are being torn down and the riverbank graded. A section of
the Hank Aaron State Trail would pick up at the tunnel and run the
length of Airline Yards, the strip of land between the railroad tracks
and the river, with pedestrian bridges connecting to the park near 35th
Street and also connecting to the Domes near 27th St.

Hope that helps! If you have more questions, let me know.

Corey