Almost all of Milwaukee County’s suburbs had a referendum questions that asked for voter’s opinions on reducing the size of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and reducing the position to part-time during Tuesday’s election. In every community it was asked, voters overwhelmingly voted to reduce the number and pay of supervisors, but what would that achieve?

Welcome to the first weekly installment of Eyes on the Street, a new column running down what’s happening in urban Milwaukee. This week features taxi cabs, election news, a list of openings and closings, and the photo of the week.

The race for Milwaukee County Executive promises to be an intriguing one, if only because in a little over a year Milwaukee County residents will vote for the position four times (two primaries, two general elections). The extra election is caused by Scott Walker heading off to Madison with a year still left on his term.

Milwaukee County is going ahead with executing a plan for its pension system that involves borrowing money, investing it in the market, and hoping to earn a 2% profit. The plan has garnered support from County Executive Walker, the County Board, and the county’s actuary consultant.

“Today I’m a little disappointed in my alma mater,” said Supervisor Lipscomb at the Thursday, May 21st Milwaukee County Board Meeting during the discussion of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s purchase of part of the Milwaukee County Grounds for an engineering school. As a graduate of UWM’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning his words and actions showed he understood how this proposal flew in the face of the school’s own teachings.

As the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors barrel ahead towards Thursday’s vote on the Milwaukee County Ground land sale to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee word comes, according to the Daily Reporter article Main Campus Still in Play for UWM Engineering Building, that UWM’s own planning includes possible development sites for College of Engineering and Applied Science buildings on the East Side campus.

The Milwaukee County pension troubles are a serious issue that affect everyone in the Milwaukee area. By eating a significant portion of the county’s budget every year in the form of increased pension payments, the pension scandal has forced cuts in county services and tax increases. Milwaukee County has taken Mercer to court over the highly-flawed pension system, and a decision in Milwaukee County’s favor could relieve a lot of stress at the county level.

We often hear about the lack of “transparency” or that “the process wasn’t followed,” and it is actually my belief that often enough this isn’t true. Most of the time public meetings go fine, input is taken, and decisions are made respectfully and properly. That said what I have recently experienced were a couple of poorly run, if not rude, unprofessional public hearings on high profile issues. Hearings like these give the public pause, divide communities, and do a disservice to the process.

The proposed Regional Transit Authority recommendations were on the agenda after being delayed at a previous meeting of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.  At the previous meeting a task force was created and charged with putting together a positive message from the county supporting regional transportation. Supervisor Jursik explained that despite the task force’s [...]

This meeting of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors featured the much debated resolution regarding the proposed Regional Transit Authority. Supervisors Mayo, Clark, andWeishan led the efforts to pass a resolution rejecting the RTA’s proposal. They raised concerns regarding the proposed governance structure of the RTA, and that not all of Racine would be included in the taxing area. In addition to these concerns Supervisor Clark added that she doesn’t want the RTA “take our authority away, and then took aim at the RTA’s proposed use of a sales tax funding source saying, “all of a sudden they have a novel idea.”