The Forum

The Brit Inn now occupies half the space which formerly housed the Shorewood Inn. I stopped in for a drink after work with a few friends last week, to get the lay of the land, and check out our newest watering hole. The ambiance is inviting and comfortable, with plenty of seats, unobtrusive music, and dark wood furniture. Large, flat panel TVs were tuned to CNN, rather than the World Series, though the English are not well known for their love of baseball.

Having spent three months living in London, I can tell you the overall feel of the place is reminiscent of any of the 7,000 London pubs. The neighborhood pub is an art form mastered to a unique degree by the British. Although the entire experience reminded me of a British pub, the wide selection of transoceanic beer is the most noticeably British aspect of the establishment.

The food is standard pub fare, though surprisingly American in form. Noticeably absent from the menu were the expected fish and chips, ploughmans, shepherds pie, and other English curiosities. These were replaced with club sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, salads, and other surprisingly Yankee-ized fare. Prices are very affordable, with most options between $6 and $9. I would not recommend making the Brit Inn an intentional destination for dinner, though if you happen to be struck by the pangs of hunger while enjoying your Smithwicks, the menu is certainly sufficient.

The staff is still new, and faces some service challenges. Although we were the only people in the place, it was still a considerable challenge to procure the desired libation.

If you are looking for a place to take a friend or coworker for a drink in the evening, the Brit Inn is worth a visit. If the Brit Inn can put the final touches on their pub, it could well become a round-the-corner escape to the land of Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Part of what Shorewood needs to succeed long-term is young leaders stepping up to participate in our Village organizations and government. In the next few years, one of these leaders will be Wesley Warren. He recently moved back to Shorewood, after working his way through an impressive, Ivy League education, and several years living and working in Milwaukee. He and I graduated from SHS together in 1995, and reconnected earlier this year, while working at Northwestern Mutual.

I sent him a few questions about his thoughts on returning to Shorewood, and what the future may hold for him.

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1. Where did you do your undergrad/in what?

Yale University, B.A. Political Science 1999 (though it crossed my mind to try to do Art History)

2. Where did you do your grad work/in what?

Harvard Law School, J.D. 2002

3. What is your current job title at NM?

Counsel

4. Why did you choose to move back to Shorewood?

In my time out East, I always knew that I would return to Wisconsin. First, and most importantly, my family is here. But more than that, I thoroughly enjoy the way of life, the pace of life and the values of the Midwest (not to mention the Packers).

As for Shorewood in particular, I fell in love with the community when I bused in a "Chapter 220" student (my family relocated to Shorewood from the north side of Milwaukee in 1994). At its base, what I like most about Shorewood, and what I suspect most people would say, are the people that comprise the community.

5. What would you hope to contribute if/when you did decide to run for office?

A different, more diverse viewpoint. I am a young, minority professional, who has lived within and without Shorewood. However, I attended Shorewood schools my entire life and essentially grew up in the community. Accordingly, I have an understanding of the traditions and values important to Shorewoodians over time, but I have also been privy to other ways of doing things and bring a rather unique perspective to the table.

Nobody that I have asked has the remotest interest in running for office. Nobody that I have asked knows of anyone who has the remotest interest in running for office. The question is, do we really want two incumbents running unopposed in 2007?

Below are some of the comments I got when I asked people if they or anyone they knew might be interested in running.

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"Thank you very much for considering me as a potential candidate, but I'm going to have to decline the offer. Although I know how important it is, I just don't feel that I can successfully manage that along with the work and meeting the kids' needs (and be able to maintain some balance/sanity)."

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"I have not heard of anyone even remotely interested in running."

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"No I have not heard anything. Not sure anyone has the hutzpa to deal with all there is to deal with when running for an elected seat in Shorewood. You need thick skin, and I for one, do not have it. I will ask around."

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"I'm a bit jaded. I saw 3 great candidates run and not get elected - I'm not sure Shorewood understands the consequences yet.....

But eventually they will!"
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I struggle to come up with a positive spin on the current Village of Shorewood website. The best I can do is..."quaint." It has what a real estate agent would call, "old-world charm." There is no larger political point to make here, other than a general call for someone, anyone to address this issue.

Writing a list of the current deficiencies of the Village site would be take months, and reading such a list would waste everyone's time. Let's fix this problem. Surely we can sacrifice one of the many $20,000 - $50,000 consulting contracts we pay every year for studies of varying degrees of usefulness. For the love of efficiency, please make us a functional website.

The Journal Sentinel has finally realized that Project Lightspeed is a story.  They ran a story yesterday, providing some more depth to what I have been writing about for months.

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TV battle goes local

Cities consider implications of Internet video

By LARRY SANDLER
lsandler@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Oct. 21, 2006

Milwaukee and other Wisconsin cities are gearing up for a high-stakes battle over a new form of television.

Local officials are debating whether AT&T Corp.'s planned Internet video service would interfere with cable TV franchises that now reap millions of dollars for municipal treasuries. It's part of a nationwide struggle between telecommunications giants that is already being fought in Congress and over the airwaves, and that is swiftly working its way into city and village halls, state legislatures and perhaps the courts.

Phone companies say consumers want more choices, newer technology and lower prices than cable companies now provide. But consumer advocates and local officials question whether Internet video will offer the same public benefits now required of cable TV.

Milwaukee Common Council leaders have held two closed-door sessions in less than a month to confer with city attorneys and administrators over the new system's legal implications. City Clerk Ron Leonhardt says he's trying to set up a public meeting on the issue, possibly early next month.

"The issue is whether or not AT&T is building a cable system and has to comply with our cable ordinance," City Attorney Grant Langley said.

That is not an issue for Milwaukee alone.

Telephone and cable companies clashed publicly earlier this year, in dueling TV and newspaper ads over federal legislation that would have allowed the phone companies' Internet TV services to bypass existing local cable TV franchise regulations. Phone forces, organized as the TV4US Coalition, portrayed the bill as a way to give consumers "a choice to cable," while the Wisconsin Cable Communications Association derided it as "special rules for special interests."

With that bill stalled in Congress, AT&T and other phone companies are now turning to state legislatures to avoid the prospect of negotiating with hundreds of city councils and village boards, say Rich Eggleston, spokesman for the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, and Dan Thompson, executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.

Several states already have adopted new telecommunications laws. No such bill has been introduced yet in the Wisconsin Legislature, but AT&T and municipal leaders say it could come up in Madison next year.

The stakes are high. Both cable and telephone companies have invested billions of dollars in networks that already compete in telephone and Internet service. And AT&T is pouring another $4.6 billion into Project Lightspeed, a 13-state effort that will upgrade its telephone and Internet offerings as well as lay the groundwork for the new video service, said Jeff Bentoff, a Wisconsin spokesman for the phone company.

By 2008, that new service - dubbed U-Verse - will provide more than 200 TV channels, digital music, local programming, video on demand and other features to 19 million homes, or about half of AT&T's local phone customers, Bentoff said.

A Washington, D.C., law firm has given Milwaukee city officials a legal opinion that says U-Verse would meet city ordinances' definition of cable television service, the "one-way transmission of video programming or other programming services," Leonhardt says.

Revenue at stake

If U-Verse is cable television service, municipal leaders believe it must operate under franchises that require cable TV companies to pay part of their revenue to local governments and to provide channels for governments, schools and public access, said Eggleston, whose organization represents Wisconsin's biggest cities. Time Warner Cable is paying Milwaukee $3.7 million this year, rising to $3.8 million next year, said Patrick Curley, Mayor Tom Barrett's chief of staff.

And if AT&T is allowed to provide cable television service on different terms than cable companies, franchise agreements in Milwaukee and elsewhere have "me-too" clauses that would let cable companies demand the same terms, warned Curley and Thompson, whose group represents villages and smaller cities.

Time Warner would consider invoking that clause, because it believes "like products should be treated alike" and wants all the players in its business to "operate on a level playing field," said Celeste Flynn, a Wisconsin spokeswoman for the cable company.

In the m

As promised, the Village Manager's memo includes a substantial section concerning the issue of Project Lightspeed, a story that I first brought up several months ago. As predicted, AT&T does not want to stop after the construction of just one box.

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"AT&T Project Light Speed. AT&T, in an attempt to enter the cable TV business, is constructing large equipment boxes in municipal right-of-ways. AT&T has certain rights to erect these large equipment boxes in the right-of-way because there is limited space within the boxes for “non-cable” services. Because of the substantial public outcry resulting from the placement of these large equipment boxes in residents’ front yards, municipalities such as Shorewood have been asking AT&T to work with them to install such facilities in spaces that are less detrimental to property owners. A recent request from AT&T to install a large equipment box on Cramer Street indicates that they are not interested in such cooperation.

Meanwhile, in Madison, AT&T has sponsored legislation through Representative Phil Montgomery from the Green Bay area to circumvent the regulatory authority municipalities have over taxpayers’ rights-of-way. AT&T continues to take the path of campaign contributions to implement their business plans. I will continue to update readers in this regard."

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I would strongly urge you to email your Trustees and ask them to stop the spread of these boxes until we figure out what their presence will mean for the Village.

Well apparently, this idea died on the table. I have heard nothing since the initial flurry of interest. Given the fact that we are in the height of budget season, this would be the time to take action if any action were planned.

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From previous posting from August 2006

I have received responses from several of the officials I contacted regarding the school funding idea. As you can see, there are some valid questions that need to be answered. However, as the emails below show, there is interest in this concept.

Here are the responses so far, for your reading pleasure.

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FROM: Ruth Treisman, School Board

Steve,

Thanks for the good information. The Superintendent, Blane McCann, is checking with the village about this. He also has spoke with the business manager of the School District.

Ruth Treisman

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From: Blane McCann, School District Superintendent

Dear Steve:

Thank you for bringing this idea to me. I promise I will check it oit with our interim business manager and see if this could save any money.

Blane

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From: Margaret Hickey, Village Trustee

Steve
I do not know much about the amounts we are talking about. How much would the school system need and for what term? As you may know, we have been having meetings with a consultant to help us set policy with regard to the fund balance and other issues.

Thanks. Margaret
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I attended tonight's public hearing on the Master Plan to redevelop the business district. After the meeting, Chris Swartz, the Village Manager, pulled me aside to let me know there will be an article about the AT&T Project Lightspeed issue in the upcoming edition of the Village Manager's Memo, due out this Friday. When that is available, I will post it here. I have written about this issue several times, and am pleased the Village is taking action before more grey boxes crop up.

If I learn anything about potential candidates for the 2007 Trustee election, and who might be running, I will post it here. I emailed Trustees Phinney and Eckman to see if either of them have made up their minds. Trustee Phinney has not yet responded. Here is Trustee Eckman's response.

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Steve
Thank you for your interest in my candidacy. I have not made any decision at this point but will certainly make my decision in a timely fashion. I can let you know at a later date.
Ellen Eckman

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I will not be running this year. Hopefully we can find some good candidates though, since unopposed elections are not good for anyone since nobody has to discuss the issues if they are unopposed.

Thinking about the Milwaukee County budget makes me ill. After the last five or so years of county politics, there are many things I would rather think about. Dental surgery. Nails on a chalkboard. The Chicago Bears. But it is budget time again, and the County Government wrangling over the budget is again splashed across the front pages. Both sides are crying foul and calling each other all sorts of names.

My particular issue is with our own County Supervisor Gerry Broderick’s idea of cutting the $288,000 amount given to the Milwaukee Art Museum down to nothing. Today's Journal Sentinel article puts it this way:

“The county's operating donation to the Art Museum, which is on county-owned land, had dropped to a proposed $280,000 for 2007, a small piece of the museum's $12 million budget.”

It is actually a 2.3% piece, which is not small at all. While this amount may not seem immediately important, I can assure you that, given the constantly precarious nature of non-profit budgeting, it is indeed important. Look at what the Shorewood Library had to do when they did not receive the level of increase they wanted. Imagine what they would have to do if their budget decreased. A 2.3% drop matters a great deal in this day of soaring energy costs, benefit costs, and so forth.

There is another reason beyond simple budgeting math that we need to restore this amount. Ask yourself this. What is Milwaukee known for? What building appears on 99% of photos, logos, and graphics of the City of Milwaukee? The Art Museum. Cutting funding for it would be the rough equivalent of Paris cutting funding for the Eiffel Tower, or London deciding to stop paying for the Tower of London. The Milwaukee Art Museum is the most recognizable building in Wisconsin. It is a cultural treasure of inestimable value. It should be funded accordingly.

As election season is heating up, a thought crossed my occasionally feverish brain. If the Village Board’s original plan would have been implemented, we would now be having an election to fill Trustee Anderson’s seat. You will recall the original plan was to appoint someone to fill the seat temporarily, and then hold a new election scarcely four months later. Later, after Village Attorney Ray Pollen had spent additional time analyzing this option, and after I personally called the State Elections Board to seek clarification on the matter, it because clear that the option the board had selected was not only bizarre, but illegal. Thank God for small graces.

If the original plan for November elections had passed, we would already be deep in the throes of a new campaign, with our valiant Trustee candidates trying to break through the deafening thunder of Green and Doyle screaming at each other, the fallout from Mark Foley, Harry Reid land deals, and the tidal wave of partisanship now sweeping across the land. It is best that Shorewood elections do not need to compete for attention with the "Marriage Protection Amendment", the death penalty, the war in Iraq, North Korean nukes, immigration policy, and Mark Foley. Imagine trying to get people interested in TIF financing, sewer management policies, and walkability at this point. Believe me, it is hard enough to get people to listen in April, when nothing else is on the ballot.

On another level, Dawn Anderson should be given enough time to learn the processes, and make a positive difference, rather than merely keeping a seat warm for four months before being shuffled out the door. Anyway, this is a policy matter probably not of the least interest to most people at this point in the election cycle.

I generally try to stick to stories with connections to Shorewood. However, there is a story out of Afghanistan that is so bizarre, I have to deviate for a moment to draw your attention to it.

Troops battle 10-foot marijuana plants.
Fri Oct 13, 8:48 AM ET


OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet-high marijuana plants.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.

"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly.

One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."

Thinking of taking Rover for a walk? Better plan ahead and bring a scoop, or you may find yourself tasered.

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Section 13-213. Person Walking Dog or Cat Required to Carry Excreta Scoop

No person shall walk a dog or cat beyond the limits of his own property without carrying or having in his possession, a scoop, bag or items designed to pick up and remove dog or cat excreta.

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So if you see your neighbor out with Fido but no scoop, you know what to do. Phone the police immediately.

Who remembers when this story came out? It has stuck in my memory for the last two years, irritating me like a pebble in my shoe.

Realities of recruitment
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Posted: June 23, 2004

This story included a number of statements from kids who were in High School at the time. I certainly would not want to be held to everything I said in High school, so I will refrain from arguing with anything specific the students said in the article. But the general point of the article is summarized in this section:

"Some Shorewood students say their reasons vary for avoiding the military. But they say it mostly has to do with having well-educated parents who can more easily afford to send them to college. They also say that having well-educated parents enables them to do better academically, and thus gives them more academic opportunities."

I got home from Iraq in April of 2004, only two months before this article was written, and roughly two years after completing my Masters Degree at UW-Madison. My academic program actually asked my permission to exclude my Army salary from their annual post graduation salary figures, given that it was only about 1/4 of the class average. As such, I can tell you with confidence that people join the military for many other reasons beyond a lack of educational opportunity. I reject the notion that academic achievement excuses a person from answering the call to serve.

We have an all-volunteer force for a reason. If one does not wish to serve, one may simply state "I do not wish to serve." Making up reasons such as having too many other opportunities belittles the service of those who, to serve their country, temporarily lay aside the other opportunities they have.

Several months ago, I wrote about the big grey box in front of the Shorewood Animal Hospital. It is part of Project Lightspeed, an AT&T initiative to deliver content (including video) over the phone lines, without going through the bother of a cable franchise. Project Lightspeed continues unabated, though Milwaukee news on the subject is still in short supply. There has not been a story about the issue since July, although Marie Rohde of the Journal Sentinel did look into the matter. "I wrote the story," she told me, "but apparently it never ran."

Here are the stories which have since appeared about Project Lightspeed in Northern Illinois.

1. Video system fees adopted
Kane County Chronicle - Oct 03 12:00 AM

"GENEVA – To bring Project Lightspeed to the residents of Geneva, AT&T first would have to agree to pay franchise fees to the city, Geneva officials said. A multichannel video communications service agreement also would require AT&T, or any other company, to meet certain standards for constructing facilities in the city's rights of way, to designate channels for government, educational and public use, and to abide by certain customer-service guidelines."

2. Wayne Says OK to Project Lightspeed Village to Be First Municipality in Area to Agree to AT&T's New Service
Posted on: Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 21:00 CDT

"Wayne residents soon will get the high-speed Internet and cable television service that the otherwise affluent community has lacked. The Wayne village board voted Tuesday to allow communications giant AT&T to install Project Lightspeed, an upgraded fiber-optic network, in the community of about 2,200."

And finally...here is a picture sent to me by Shorewood Resident Jim Genthe showing what he thinks of the new box.

This afternoon, I took Ginger and Ruby to The 5th Annual Brady Street Pet Parade. Unfortunately, I did not bring a camera, so I missed the chance to take a picture of a Bulldog dressed up like Brett Favre, and the two tiny dogs dressed up like a bride and groom. The event centered around a dog parade up Brady Street. Rounding out the afternoon were dog costume contests, and a blessing of the animals by Father Tim at St Rita's Church. Every kind of dog imaginable showed up ready to march, from the smallest Miniature Pinschers and Chihuahuas, to huge St Bernards and Great Danes.

The proceeds from the event benefited the Wisconsin Humane Society, which as you know is my favorite cause.

While we are on the matter of dogs, here is an idea to ponder. With the way the County Parks budget has been suffering, members of the Milwaukee County Government have been discussing all sort of option for what to do with the parks. Would there by anything to the idea of the Village of Shorewood taking control of part of Estabrook park for the creation of a dog park? There are huge numbers of dogs in Shorewood, and no dog parks in the immediate vicinity. I would imagine such a park would become an instant hit with area dog owners.