359 Degrees

Stem cell research has become a very hot topic, both scientifically and morally.  I ran across this item on stem cells that has an unexpected Brookfield  connection.

A standard method for growing clusters of stem cells (embroid bodies) is called the hanging body technique.  You place a few cells into a tiny chamber, let them float in a nourishing fluid (mmm, yummy!)  and bump into each other.  The start to grow and differentiate, e.g. generic stem cells start changing into specific purpose cells, such as organs.  Every day you must change the fluid, a tedious manual task.

Professor Michelle Khine of the University of California - Merced specializes in microfludics.  That's a new engineering field that attempts to create extremely small mechanical devices to perform some remarkable tasks.  Dr. Khine decided to construct a tiny growth chamber for hanging cells that was shaped to make it easy to exchange the fluid.  Normally constructing such tiny devices requires an elaborate photo-lithography machine, but the young professor had no research grant money.  So, she improvised based on a childhood memory - Shrinky Dinks.  She printed a pattern of the machine she wanted on the plastic sheet, warmed it up and the 3-D growth chamber (a biaxially pre-stressed thermoplastic sheet) formed up .

For those of you who don't know the story, Shrinky Dinks were invented by two Brookfield cub scout den mothers in 1973.  Their names?  Betty Morris and Kate Bloomberg.  Yes, THAT Kate Bloomberg.  They commercialized the product, selling the first boxes at the Brookfield Mall.  Click here for the official Shrinky Dink web site.

I don't think this method will ever actually be used directly to create stem cell growth chambers, but it is a creative bit of research showing how simple materials can be adapted for life changing experiments.  For more details, including a 7 minute video, see: "Shrinky-Dink Hanging Drops: A Simple Way to Form and Culture Embroid Bodies", Journal of Visualized Experiments,

I was talking to one of my hundreds of readers (see below) and he suggested that I solicit ideas for future blog entries.  After all, my main focus for starting this blog was to get some discussion going on topics of interest regarding the City of Brookfield government.  I have a long list of things that I want to write about, but part of my job as alderman is to listen to (well, in this case, read from) residents.  So go ahead.  Post your ideas and I'll see what I can do.

Scott

One of the most significant changes to Brookfield government that I have been a part of is televising the meetings of the Council, Plan Commission and annual budget meetings.  It was a highly controversial topic at the time, but I think it turned out well. 

Televising was approved in concept on October 7, 2003.  The first video recorded meeting was June 15, 2004.  Televising was expanded to include the Plan Commission and annual finance meetings on October 5, 2004. (By the way, those are links to my aldermanic web site where searchable copies of almost all council minutes from April, 2000 to the present are publically available.  Due to the volume and size of the pages, a link is the easiest way to make it available to you.)  There was always opposition to televising from some aldermen due to fears of excessive cost, the potential of grandstanding, etc.  As with all legislative acts, it took a lot of work to build a majority and every vote counted, not just mine.

The meetings may be viewed on cable channel 25 for several days following the meeting.  On request, you may view a past meeting at the City Clerk's office in City Hall.  For a small fee, you can get a DVD copy of the meeting.

At the April 15, 2008 council meeting, I made a referral to expand the televising of meetings.  That means the city staff and the appropriate committee (in this case it will start in Finance) will study the idea and decide what to do about it.  The referral was:

To: Mayor Jeff Speaker

Date: April 10, 2008

Re: Meeting Audio / Video Streaming

This is a service request / legislative referral I will make at the April 15, 2008 Council meeting.

I request the City study expanding televising of city meetings.

• Expand the televising program to all official meetings. This may be a phased implementation, but a specific program should be outlined, funded and scheduled.

• Allow real time (live) internet based audio or video streaming of certain meetings. Council and Plan Commission meetings would be good candidates. The City of Waukesha telecasts the Council and Plan Commission meetings live. Waukesha County Supervisor meetings are audiocast.

• Allow video streaming on demand for past meetings. If YouTube can do it, so can we.

Here is a link to a PDF of the submitted referral:   Referrals_20080415_Televising.pdf

There has been a continuing problem with the sound for meeting.  This is mostly due to the fact that the aldermen do not speak directly into their microphones.  Due to the arrangement of the desks, aldermen in the front row tend to turn around to talk to their colleagues which means they are facing away from their microphones.  There has been some discussion of remodeling the council room to arrange the desks into a horseshoe so that everyone will naturally look toward the audience which will also be towards their microphone.  There is no specific plan to do that now, though it may be part of the study I requested.

By the way, the television equipment was paid for with fees from Time-Warner Cable Company.  The cost of room remodeling is always tax dollars.

Brookfield residents take great pride in their homes, including landscaping.  That means they produce piles of leaves, sticks, flowers and all sorts of other yard waste needing disposal.  A special task force met in 2003 and proposed several new restrictions on leaf burning.  They are summarized in this article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel of August 17, 2003.  At the council meeting of December 2, 2003 the council accepted a slightly modified version of that task force recommendation, which placed new restrictions on leaf burning.  Note that I supported a total ban on burning. 

At the April 15, 2008 council meeting, I made a referral to study (again!) yard waste disposal, including leaf burning.  That means the city staff and the appropriate committee (BPW) will study the idea and decide what to do about it.  The referral was:

To: Mayor Jeff Speaker

Date: April 10, 2008

Re: Yard Waste

This is a service request / legislative referral I will make at the April 15, 2008 Council meeting.

I request the City study revising the yard waste disposal policy.

• Implement yard waste (leaves, grass, flowers, sticks, etc.) pickup at all residences on a seasonal basis.
• Once the collection system is in place, a phased reduction of leaf burning eventually leading to a total ban.
• Implementing this may have a substantial financial and operational impact, so the review may fall outside the normal committee workload.

Here is a link to a PDF of the submitted referral:  Referrals_20080415_YardWaste.pdf

The last point about "may fall outside the normal committee workload" hints at the possibility of handling this outside of the Board of Public Works committee meetings and instead holding public hearings or even using a special task force.  In any event, the BPW will be the starting point.

So, what do you think?

Well, the April 15 Council meeting held a few surprises after all.  Here are the highlights.

Mark Nelson and Dan Sutton ran for Council President and Mark Nelson won.  The first and second ballots were ties, 7 to 7. The mayor chose to abstain since he felt this vote was unique to the aldermen.  Besides, a tie breaker would have instantly alienated half the group.  After the  second vote, Dan Sutton asked for a recess.  When the meeting started again, Dan stated that his candidacy was about unification, not division, and he withdrew from the race.  The third ballot was 13 for Nelson, 1 for Sutton.

Electing a Council President is the only situation where state law allows a secret ballot.  It is clear that a close vote could create permanent tension in the group and poison the rest of the term.  That being said, this is my personal opinion of who voted how:

• For Sutton: Sutton, Carnell, Balzer, Blackburn, J. Mellone, L. Mellone, Lowerr
• For Nelson: Owen, Reddin, Garvens, Ponto, Nelson, Mahkorn, Berg

I have a pretty good idea of who the lone Sutton vote was on the third ballot, and it wasn't Dan (or me!).  The really sad thing is that lone alderman has repeatedly shown that he has no interest in the people's business.  He just wants to settle scores, real or imagined.

The proposed north side fire station was another big topic.  Director of Administration Dean Marquardt, Director of Parks Bill Kolstad and Interim Fire Chief Bill Selzer prepared the presentation and answered many questions from the Council.  In the end, the aldermen agreed to the following:

1. The Park and Recreation Commission should study the proposal for placing the station in Fairview Park.  A long list of concerns from aldermen and residents was created, including parking, playground equipment, stormwater management and landscaping.
2. The staff should prepare a report on the four alternative locations (all near Calhoun Road and Capitol Drive) comparing the sites for operational efficiency, cost and traffic impact, plus anything else that might come up.

Nothing about the stations was "decided" or "cast in stone".  This is one more step in evaluating many options.  With this dual track analysis, and under the best possible conditions, a decision might be made by the council in July. 

There were perhaps 10 residents in the gallery for the fire station issue which is about the same as the number who attended last week's joint Plan Commission / Park Commission meeting.  It was erroneously blogged that last week's meeting was packed.  In fact, almost half of the visitors were developers, architects, lawyers, etc. for the Plan Commission meeting, plus several aldermen not on those Commissions (I was one of them).

I also made four referrals for committee action.  Each has many details that I will describe in future blog entries as they are considered by committees.  To summarize:

• Review the yard waste disposal policy.  Ideally, this would lead to a comprehensive residential collection system and phase out leaf burning completely.  The real problem here will be money.
• Expand televising to all city meetings.  Start live broadcasts and internet audiocasts. 
• Provide aldermen with city managed email accounts.  Some new technology makes this much easier than in the past.
• Convert all city records to electronic form, accessible to anyone via the city web site.  The challenge here will be cost and a perception that such widespread accessibility would be useless.

The meeting started about 7:45 and ended about 10:15, which is average.

The first meeting of the 28th City of Brookfield Common Council will be held on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 starting at 7:45 p.m.  There are a few items of special interest.

The first order of business will be swearing in the 7 newly (re) elected alderman.  They are (in order by district) Dan Sutton, Rick Owen, Ron Balzer, Steve Ponto, Scott Berg, Chris Blackburn and Renee Lowerr.  Renee is the only new alderman. (I haven't had a chance to ask her if she prefers alderwoman.)  I remember my first inaugaration very well.  It's a moment of great satisfaction.  Then the real work begins!

Second will be the election of the Common Council President.  There are several duties for Council President, including:

• Appoint most of the committee members
• Chair Council meetings in the Mayor's absence
• Serve as acting mayor if the mayor is unable to serve
• Perform ceremonial duties such as ribbon cuttings

This year, there will be two candidates.  First is 1st District Alderman Dan Sutton.  Dan announced his intentions with personal phone calls to each of us.  There are tight limits on what he could say as outlined in a letter from the City Attorney, but his main point was that he wants to bridge the rift that has developed in the council in the last few years.  The second candidate is 4th District Alderman Mark Nelson who mailed each of us a letter (I got mine today) outlining his experience and his intentions to foster healthy debate yet unify the group.  The candidate who gets a simple majority (at least 8 of the 14 alderman) immediately takes office.  In the event of a tie, the Mayor is legally entitled to vote a tie breaker, but he is not required to.  For this issue, the Mayor is almost certain to abstain, letting the aldermen sort out who should have the job.

The other key item will be a presentation on the proposed location for the new north side fire station (Station #2).  The first public presentation was at a joint Plan Commission and Parks Commission meeting last week on April 7.  Many of the questions raised by the commissioners and residents will be answered at this presentation.  I will have lots more to say about the fire stations in future posts.

There are also lots of routine ("ministerial duties") items such as granting bartender's licenses which usually go pretty quickly.

If you can't attend the meeting, you can always catch it on the local cable channel during the next week.  I will share my insights on the meeting in a couple of days.

Welcome to BrookfieldNow's newest blog - "359 Degrees".  I chose that name because a full circle has 360 degrees, yet too many bloggers focus on the tiniest one degree segment that interests them.  My intent is to be thorough when discussing issues and show you the many angles that issues can be viewed from.  However, by the time I'm done I will often state which "degree" is the one I prefer.

As a City of Brookfield 5th District Alderman since April, 2000, I have been fortunate to have been involved in many important decisions for the city.  The next few years will bring even more challenges and decisions.  I encourage you to contact me on this blog or privately by email.  I plan to moderate the blog posts, at least until I have a chance to add any required responses.  Since I don't do this full time, it may take a while for me to catch up.  Also, I want to be clear that any opinions and interpretations are mine and will be marked as such.  I am not speaking for the Mayor, Council or staff, just myself.

So, get out and enjoy the spring weather!  When you're ready for that cup of coffee, check back and see what's new.

Scott