“Is the GOP-run state Legislature at war with Milwaukee?”
That’s the headline of a piece posted on JSOnline.com on Saturday, and it’s a pretty dumb question if you ask me.
Even before such hot topics as residency and a proposed streetcar came before the Republican-dominated Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee last week, one City Hall partisan was preparing for the worst.
“We’re calling it Screw Milwaukee Day,” the official said.
The actions by the committee, the Legislature’s powerful budget-writing panel, not only proved to be a disastrous defeat for Mayor Tom Barrett’s administration, they were a reminder of the divide – philosophically and politically – between the state’s largest and most important city and the Republican leadership in Madison.
It’s an old story in many ways. There have been sewer wars between city and suburbs; the bruising debate over the financing and construction of Miller Park; the back-and-forth rhetoric between Barrett and Gov. Scott Walker in last year’s recall election over what is best for Milwaukee; and, more recently, the fight with the state over whether to use mortgage fraud settlement money to pay to demolish hundreds of abandoned homes.
Of course Republicans in Madison are at war with Milwaukee, because they’ve made it clear that they simply don’t understand the challenges of a large metro area, which is not surprising, considering many of them have probably never stepped foot in Milwaukee. What’s more, Republicans in Madison have made it clear they’re perfectly comfortable screwing Milwaukee over on residency requirements for the City’s employees and the City’s attempts to get a streetcar up and running, just to rattle off a couple of issues.
What does it say about Milwaukee for its own Mayor to say that if we can’t force its employees to live here, they will all leave? Does the mayor really think so little of his city? That is not leadership. I want a mayor who works to improve the quality of life to the point such flight isn’t a concern.
Yeah, yeah…spare me the rhetoric about the flight of taxpayer dollars. If local government was funded with resident income taxes, this would be a valid concern. As it stands, many city employees will only be able to move out if they find a buyer for their house. That buyer will then pay those property taxes.
Nationally, residency requirements are the exception, not the rule. So why should we believe Milwaukee will collapse when thousands of cities across the country get along just fine without residency?
As for the “war” on the streetcar project…as a Milwaukee resident, I welcome the infusion of sanity on the issue of this colossal waste of tax dollars. Barrett has an unhealthy fixation with a project that ignores those most in need of quality public transport just so he can dump some cash on his cronies who back him. Proof that this is a fixation is that, despite the pending flight of tax dollars that Barrett claims will happen, he steadfastly wants to forge ahead with this project that will add millions Milwaukee’s operating budget and debt burden. The streetcar money should be used to improve existing transportation systems…but that would require competent leadership.