Ok. Aside from changing government policy on tax, labour, and education at the city, state, and federal levels, how do you propose spending a given sum of money on 2nd Street (which must be spent anyway given its poor condition) to best benefit the area?

You asked why Doyle didn’t go after the VW plant. I would guess that the state did, and they probably offered several hundred million (like they offered to GM), but were outbid by states like TN that were willing to give them $500m. Should they have matched the $500m? That’s a worthwhile debate. Wisconsin outbid Oklahoma on the Mercury Marine thing. That’s just part of the game, you win some, you lose some. The companies, however, always win because they have what every politician and region wants: jobs.

It’s not like the City and State aren’t engaging in this activity at all. You mentioned spending $25m at the Tower site would be a big deal. Well…they City recently approved spending $30m at the Tower site to make it attractive for companies to open shop there. Should more be spent? Possibly. But I’m sure that you realize that the $30m spent there, or the $500m spent in TN, is usually done through borrowing money, so future generations pay it back, with interest. While it probably needs to be done to attract jobs in some cases, it’s not a clear cut right or wrong answer every time.

Ah yes, just let it be stupid tax payer. Don’t you understand that we know better than you? Stop talking about how superficial our plans are and pointing out all the other mistakes and white elephants we’ve created across the city.

> But what I don’t get is why you want to rag on Barret so much?

He’s not much of a leader or advocate of the city. Has everyone forgotten how he sorta just became mayor? He entered the race after losing the gov, making a 3-way race between a guy so incompetent he didn’t get his name on the ballot and a corrupt long time insider.

> Are republicans that afraid that he may become mayor?

Gov? Not afraid at all. Considering how stronger Dem candidates (Kind, Falk) don’t even want to run, I think they all know the GOP will win the gov next year. Even Barrett doesn’t want to run, he had to be heavily pressured by the prez. He doesn’t want to move his family to Madison. He doesn’t want the stress and hours and travel that being gov will require. He’s supported Doyle all these years and has no issues to run on. We’ll see how enthusiastic he is when/if he ever starts campaigning.

> notice how you never seem to mention Scott Walker in a negative light.

Yes, Scott Walker is the *County* Executive. He doesn’t have much to do with anything we’re talking about, especially since he doesn’t get anything done because the board overrides him on almost everything. It’s funny how the liberals blame him for cuts, since his budget has been overridden by the board every single year that he’s been exec, and county taxes have continued to go up every year.

> Park East wasn’t his making but why won’t you admit that he is ultra against anything Milwaukee.

Scott Walker is the *County* Executive. He represents the whole county. Half of which is NOT the city of Milwaukee (though even he got good support in the City, I guess 46% of Milwaukee residents in 2008 are also “ultra against” Milwaukee) . Why don’t you just admit you don’t like him because he disagrees with you? Barrett and Doyle don’t do the things I want them to do, does that mean they are ultra against Milwaukee and ultra against Wisconsin?

Get back on topic, S.2nd st will be redeveloped. The residents of the community want it to happen, so just let it be.

I can only assume what your career is, but mine is one where I can afford a 20mi one way commute for my job, and I’d be able to get another job if my company went out of business, and I could find work in almost any city in the country. I’m by no means wealthy, but people like you and I and those who earn even more can pick and choose where we want to live for other reasons besides taxes. We are not the majority of residents of the City. Most who live here have limited choices. They are here for a specific job (which if they lost, they might leave the city) or they live here because its cheap. Many are here living off social services.

Don’t give me the crap that the budget is cut to the bone. You know as well as I do the reason cities all over the country are blowing their budgets: they have required contributions to make to the lavish pension funds that had to be drastically increased this year as the funds lost half their value in the market crash. The fire crews need to be cut (I’ll give Barrett credit for sticking with that). The labor unions need to be busted. These pensions need to be eliminated for new employees (try to find a private sector job today that even has a pension program anymore). And staff needs to be cut. Every private business makes these decisions every year, but the City just wants more. You’re fooling yourself if you think your tax money is being spent responsibly here. My out of state friends and relatives are shocked at the property taxes we pay.

And if DPW needs some more suggestions for cuts, how about the ridiculous brick planters that were installed all over the city this year? It’s a slap in the face every day I drive to work while my salary is frozen, thousands of others are laid off or have their hours cut, and we get to pay a new wheel tax and continue hitting potholes everywhere. And DPW is paying people to plant flowers.

A neighborhood with character, huh sure sounds like you moved to the city for reasons other than taxes, possibly quality of life?

As far as MPS, that is a complete separate budget from than the on the City has control over, not Barrett’s attempt to get control.

So I’m curious the two largest portions of the cities budget, that are actually on the property taxes, are police and fire, what should they cut? DPW? They have been cutting DPW for years, note the beat up streets. In fact every department, except elections, was cut this year. I appreciate the concept of “cut taxes” but across the board generalizations are not solutions.

Well our taxes only go up here. The schools are a big reason for that, and they certainly don’t need any more money. No one is going to move to Milwaukee for the parks or the roads.

People relocate (or stay) for jobs. I’m all for reasonable subsidies to create real jobs. It beats the hell out of TIF for apartment buildings. And making some progress on the massive black male unemployment in Milwaukee would be a good first step in fixing the schools (ie, fixing the families).

$50k per job for 500 jobs is $25 million. That’s a lot. But adding 500 jobs, to say the Tower site would be a big deal. It makes more sense than spending double ($54 million) to merely *establish* a downtown rail system to serve no one.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/41230152.html

Interesting about the VW plant. VW is gonna spend $1 billion to build the thing for starters. That’s a big deal, and a big commitment.

They are offering $500m in incentives for 2,000 jobs. That comes out to $250,000/job.

The article also refers to subsidies that Alabama and Georgia have used to attract manufacturers.

Mike, TN, KY and many other southern states have attracted those large manufacturers with massive subsidies. Usually to the tune of $50-150k per job. I’m not saying whether that is right or wrong, I think there are good points to be made on both sides. But you asked what they are doing and that’s what they are doing.

Some could argue that those subsidies more than pay themselves off in the long run, based on property and income taxes paid on the new factory and by employees, as well as the lower level of social services required due to higher unemployment.

Others could argue that the money be spent on any number of other things that could enhance the quality of life of an area: schools, lower taxes, parks, roads, transit, etc.