After serving as Milwaukee County Supervisor from the 12th District, Tony Zielinski was first elected as Milwaukee Alderman from the 14th District in 2004 and was easily re-elected in 2008. Besides degrees in political science and business administration, Ald. Zielinski holds a law degree from Marquette University.

Ald. Zielinski says he went into high gear for a campaign immediately after Attorney Jan Pierce announced his candidacy for alderman. He said it takes a totally different frame of mind to run a campaign and when not working on city issues, he’s always out there getting the campaign geared up. He promises to focus on running a positive campaign.

Over the past eight years, Ald. Zielinski has actively supported the renaissance in the Bay View area. He’s been instrumental in developing the restaurant and bar area around the Kinnickinnic and Lincoln intersection…including the recent development for an Alterra coffee location including their wholesale bakery currently under construction. When the Alterra plans were originally revealed, Ald. Zielinski held two public hearings featuring the owners and planners for the development. Although many residents were concerned about a threat to Bay View’s existing coffee shops and cafes, the local owners didn’t feel it was an issue and the Alterra plans were generally accepted by the local residents.

Just north of Lincoln, Alderman Zielinski strongly supported closing down Chasers bar which was a known trouble spot. The location is currently The Backyard. And across the street, he brought Omega Burgers and Custard to revamp the closed Burger King location. More recently, after Omega also closed, Ald. Zielinski suggested the location to the local franchisees of Hamburger Mary’s.

He has also supported the new apartments being constructed on Kinnickinnic at the intersection with Conway. This 5 story, 70 unit complex replaces a group of colonial revival apartments built in 1903 and the Trading Post that was right at the corner.

Ald. Zielinski is also a champion of renewable energy, working on the recently announced solar initiative that provides city homeowners with no money down, low interest loans for solar panels. He also worked with Bay View residents on a compromise on placement of the wind turbine that is scheduled to be built next to the Port of Milwaukee administration building on Lincoln Memorial Drive east of the Hoan Bridge.

Other city wide initiatives that the alderman is particularly proud of: leading legislation to make Milwaukee the first major US city a Fair Trade city. This requires the city to purchase fair traded items. And Ald. Zielinski protecting American workers via legislation which prohibits the City of Milwaukee from purchasing items manufactured in sweat shops.

Bay View has been fortunate that one of Milwaukee’s major urban farming projects, Sweetwater Organics, chose Bay View for its initial location. They now need to expand and Ald. Zielinski has supported city help in their planned expansions. Possible future expansion includes a new building and facility on the old Army Reserve property on Bay Street north of the Buelah Brinton play field.

In an email to me, Ald. Zielinski promised continued empowerment of the constituents in the 14th district. He will continue to hold meetings in his district, particularly on major projects that will affect the residents. He will continue to work towards improvements in public safety with new programs similar to his efforts against graffiti and installation of security cameras by the Kinnickinnic Business Improvement district. He will continue to support a strong Milwaukee Police Department presence in the community.

Realizing that good jobs that pay well and provide benefits are a recurring issue in the district, the alderman will work toward more developments that provide industrial jobs that provide family supporting wages.

Ald. Zielinski feels that he has been a proactive advocate for the district at not only the grassroots level but at the macro level as well. That he has a proven track record of being proactive, hard working and responsive. The alderman also stated “Every year as I grow I become a more effective advocate for my district and the greater community”.

Being the incumbent and a known quantity, Alderman Zielinski has accumulated a large number of endorsements from elected officials and organizational leaders as well as business people and residents of the district. Some of these are: District Attorney John Chisholm, State Senator Chris Larson, County Supervisors Marina Dimitrijevic and Jason Haas, State Representative Christine Sinicki, the Milwaukee Police Association, and Milwaukee School Board Director Terry Falk.

Alderman Zielinski says that he is responsive. And from my own experience (even before I was involved in politics or blogging), when I had an issue he always responded to my emails or phone calls within 24 hours. Now I won’t always say that I got exactly the answer I was looking for…but he responded. I have heard of issues where the alderman was brusque in his responses to some residents, but I don’t have any particular instances that I can relate. But it is quite possible that that could occasionally occur.

There have been the usual plaints that the alderman is a career politician. And looking at his history, yes, certainly he has been in public office for sometime. And it is an open secret that Ald. Zielinski would like to advance to higher office at some point in his career. Early in 2010 for instance, he started to campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. But it will be up to the voters in April to decide if he’s the best fit for alderman in 2012 and forward.

Obviously Ald. Zielinski is taking Jan Pierce’s challenge very seriously. He’s been at my front door twice this past fall and a few days after yard signs became legal, literally hundreds of orange Re-elect Zielinski signs appeared all over the district. There was one issue with a sign erected on a former barbershop on South Howell Ave. The sign was declared illegal but the alderman said that an enthusiastic supporter erected it. Campaign signs in yards or exteriors of buildings can not be displayed until December 1st of the election cycle and must be removed within 5 days of the election date in the City of Milwaukee. And of course I’ve received a pair of campaign mailings.

But one of the standards of modern campaigning is the effective use of social media. So far this seems to be a little beyond the alderman’s grasp. Although he has a personal Facebook page, he doesn’t have one dedicated to the campaign. That would be a major asset in talking about progress during his campaign. He would have the opportunity to link to events and articles of interest to the district and his campaign…as well as relate anecdotes from the campaign trail. All the cool kids are doing it!

His campaign website is a bit dated looking and needs to be brought up to 2012. The home page lists some of his major endorsements and a bit of biographical background…but I’d think a better use would be outlining his policy positions and campaign theme similar to his mailings and hand cards. And the items need to be updated – the issues should be new and current – there are only two archives shown: one from April and one from June 2011. Modern websites are the perfect place to toot your own horn but they need to look fresh and stay fresh (static sites aren’t that impressive, I know from my personal experience). And please update the photo? A less vibrant tie perhaps? And contemporary versions of Photoshop should make the alderman look more part of his website!

I also would have expected more comments on current city events…such as the trolley, the budget, and other city wide issues.

I recently heard a criticism that Ald. Zielinski had too many pictures of himself with residents. Well, it’s rather quaint that his neighbors and constituents are willing to pose with him when he’s helped them and their neighborhood or business. And doesn’t it dispel any issues about the alderman being not being active and responsive in the area? It just seems like a Bay View kinda thing to do.

Well, there it is…the Tony Zielinski profile. Since there are only two candidates for the 14th Aldermanic District…it will be Alderman Zielinski vs. Jan Pierce on April 3, 2012.

1. Owen from Boots:

I admit that when I first heard the news, I thought it might be a fraud or a hoax. It was too good to be true. But it’s been nearly a week now and the scientists aren’t denying that the documents are authentic. It’s an utter travesty the fraud that these “scientists” are trying to hoist on the world.

2. freddy at censored debate WI has made it his mission:

I believe this example shows better than almost any other the reality of climate science and politics. Quite simply climate science ceased being science and started becoming political issue a long time ago.

Hopefully the world is waking up to the fraud being perpetrated upon it.

3 . J Wiggy gets yet another story completely wrong.

The MacIver Institute is investigating the connection between UW researchers and Climategate, the scandal concerning global warming researchers fudging the numbers and suppressing criticisms of the theory.(yes Macgyver institute and investigating in the same sentence is purportedly NOT a joke.)

Well you get the idea.

Now new information comes out that Climategate scandal? Not so much!

NSF Inspector General: “Finding no research misconduct or other matter raised by the various regulations and laws discussed above, this case is closed.”

H/T Illusory Tenant.

Checking around the local right wing cheddarsphere for retractions/apologies/mea culpas –

Last week I posted a short blog about Bay View attorney Jan Pierce challenging Alderman Tony Zielinski for the seat. Little did I know that this little blog which I expected only a handful of people to care about would garner the most interest and attention of anything I’ve posted. Yes it doesn’t look that impressive on BB, but both campaigns have reached out to me and a number of others have posted on Facebook. So now I have decided to follow up with three related posts. This first one in the series will briefly outline just a few of the issues that I would expect to be discussed during the campaign. I hope to follow with an article about each candidate after I’ve had the opportunity to talk with each of them. The following discussion is not a criticism of any current or future candidate…but just what I think needs to be addressed for the city and district to succeed.

Over the past 5 months a tidal wave of legislation has either been passed in Madison or approved in committee for inclusion in Gov. Walker’s first budget that will have tremendously negative impacts on Milwaukee. The most obvious is the one that has caused the most uproar in the Capitol and that is the nullification of collective bargaining for public employees. And then the cuts to state revenue sharing with the cities, the artificial limits on taxing authorities to levy property taxes to cover the shortfalls, the reassignment of shared funds for local street/road repairs, the abolition of residency requirements for Milwaukee police and fire fighters (there are 122 municipalities in WI with similar laws, why only Milwaukee?). the unfunded mandate of voter ID that will require additional poll workers and the maintenance of poll logs for voters to sign, the $100,000 limit on local governments for local road repair at which point they must bid out the work to private contractors, etc. And although not directly applicable to city government, cuts to MPS which will make it harder to educate our youth and limit our ability to maintain a skilled workforce, cuts to public transportation which will decrease many of our citizens mobility and increase demands for other infrastructure items like roads and parking.

The next alderman needs to be actively concerned about these issues…able to work with citizens to determine immediate needs…able to work with other local officials including county and neighboring municipalities and willing and able to lobby our representatives in Madison to make sure that Wisconsin stops handicapping Milwaukee directly by its actions.

Speaking of infrastructure, the City of Milwaukee has continued effective and efficient city service such as trash/recycling pickup and snow removal. But have you paid any attention to the local streets? Portions of major throughfares including Oklahoma and Kinnickinnic Avenues are pockmarked and deteriorating at incredible rates and the secondary and residential streets are well past their useful life spans. The next alderman will need to address those basic issues.

Development of the district will be critical. The 14th has seen some significant growth over the past 8 to 10 years and we have a great entertainment district now. But we need more businesses that can pay better than waitstaff wages or retail wages. Jobs that provide livable wages and benefits.

Improvements in public transportation are key to the areas growth. The major bus routes running into and through the area have been reduced or eliminated by the last county executive and need to be restored and/or improved. And can we develop a new plan to develop a parking ramp on the city lot on E. Lincoln just east of KK so we can improve parking and traffic flow in the area?

Along with our entertainment district we’ve seen new events and revitalized events throughout the area, including the South Shore Frolics, South Shore Farmers Market, Chill on the Hill, Bay View Gallery Night, Bay View Block Party and more. The alderman needs to be a cheerleader for these events and do what he can to keep them viable. And can we reduce the impact on immediate neighbors without impacting an event…like shuttles for the Frolics or Chill or 4th of July Fireworks along the Bay View lakefront or Humboldt Park.

We have a number of areas that need redevelopment…particularly the industrial area between Bay Street and the Kinnickinnic river…like the junk yard just north of KK and Bay and the old Louis Allis plant. There is also a swath of green space south of Bay Street that might be appropriate for housing that fits with the existing neighborhood (as opposed to the housing proposed several years ago that would have been non-conforming). And care should be taken in the development of new housing, particularly condos or apartments…that they be distinctive without being obtrusive. I’d hate to turn Bay View into the east side or the beer line.

The Sweetwater Organics expansion to the brown field that was the Army Reserve center just north of the Beulah Brinton center must be brought to fruition. Can we finally find someone with the wherewithal to restore the Avalon Theater building. Can we bring more professional offices and services to the area?

And speaking of Sweetwater (and the windmill and community gardens I didn’t speak of) can we continue searching out ‘green’ opportunities for the 14th District. Can we entice one or more of the water initiative companies to locate in the district.

Although Bay View was recently identified as the safest neighborhood in the city, we can’t be complacent. Is the recent reassignment of district stations responsible for covering portions of the district the most effective for the area. (this is an aside…I seldom see MPD in my area unless there is an issue…I see the SFPD far more often since I am about a block north of St Francis and they need to turn around). And with the large number of county parks in the district, can our next alderman work with the Sheriff’s Dept to insure safety for our friends and neighbors in our local parks?

And our alderman needs to be responsive to the constituents and businesses in the neighborhood and be visible in the district.

And although I realize the 14th District is more than Bay View, I see that I am Bay Viewcentric (although I was trying not to be)…so our next alderman has to make sure to represent the entire district.

This has been percolating in my brain since Saturday but I didn’t bother to write down any notes, so I am assuming I have forgotten something I wanted to include. When I recall whatever it is, I’ll add it below with a date stamp so that everyone knows it is new content.

6/9/2011 update: Here are a few other things that I forgot yesterday…development on KK has been the most visible growth in Bay View over the past few years…so now it’s time to fill in other former business streets in the area, Howell comes to mind for instance.

And with the merger of Fritsche Middle School into Bay View HS and the pending migrations of Dover Elementary and Tippecanoe School for the Arts and Humanities into the empty Fritsche building, we have the opportunity to reconfigure these properties.

The answer can be found here.