Murphy’s Law
The Bizarre Politics of Ald. Tony Zielinski
Once a hard core conservative, he’s now a Bay View liberal. Except when opposing things like the streetcar.
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Once a hard core conservative, he’s now a Bay View liberal. Except when opposing things like the streetcar. Back to the full article.
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-For instance, in 1990, he proposed that the county sell the organs of dead welfare recipients. When told by a county lawyer this would be unconstitutional, Zielinski said he would call on the state to legalize this. Making his feelings clear about welfare recipients, he declared: “If they can’t help society while they are alive, maybe they can help it while they’re dead.”
I just nearly spit my coffee. That’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever read.
Sounds like a responsible REPRESENTATIVE…..
Imagine if more politicians felt like this: “Whatever my constituents support then that is what I support.”
Actually sounds more like spinelessness and someone who’s easy to manipulate.
Tony has always been a political chameleon, saying whatever the person standing in front of him wants to hear. He’s also a physical magic act…hair plugs, nose job, face lift, calf job. There is nothing genuine about him. Nothing.
OK, so compromise with Tony…We harvest and sell the organs of welfare recipients to pay for the streetcar. I guess he’ll support it then?
Everyone start the letter writing campaign!
@Jared why is that? Because he changes his views according to the views of his changing district?
I’m in neither support nor opposition to him but I’ll tell you I rather have someone who is responsive to the people he represents than someone who just views the job as a mean to a check.
When I lived in bay view I had no problem getting into contact and receiving feedback from Tony whether he agreed or not, I now live in district 6 and have only had communication returned once and it was the alderwoman referring to her assistant.
The Steering and Rules Committee today at 1:30 pm could be interesting. Hope Bruce can get over there in time.
@Dave I’m tuned in.
“Whatever my constituents support…” Many of us support the Streetcar, but the opinions are being completely ignored.
Alderman Zielinski has an assistant who replies to emails pretty quickly. No problems there. Regarding the Hide House, the neighborhood residents were told about the development after it was already rubber-stamped. (The hearings to get it branded as “historical” were a joke.) The alderman seemed supportive (though not proactively) of our concerns, but keep in mind when the apartments were eventually built he retained the goodwill of the developers, not to mention the potential votes of his new constituents who moved in.
For the record, I live a block away from the apartments and contrary to our concerns, there have not been any major problems.
Rumor has it that Tony Z. is denying the legitimacy of this article over on Facebook in the Bay View Town Hall page.
Tom, Zielinski hasn’t noted any inaccuracies Of course if there were any errors we would want to correct them.
Oh, I don’t doubt the article’s accuracy. I’m just adding to the discussion that Tony Z is posting on facebook that the article is false. Maybe he’s saying it because the majority of his constituents want it be false. 🙂
Just so people are aware, the proposed Streetcar will require an annual subsidy from the city of $1.8 million, according to Martin Matson, city controller. This will make up the difference between estimated revenues and estimated expenses. Matson said this yesterday at a Streetcar meeting, apparently.
However, Ald. Bauman says this will not be an issue as the city has “plenty of money”.
I thought this was interesting and had not been covered in you other Streetcar articles.
I’m far more concerned about what we’re about to spend on freeway expansion. $1 billion compared to $1.8 million.
Of course the streetcar will require a subsidy. So what?
@Alison Correct, to run a transit system there will be operational costs. And I’ll add that Ald. Bauman was referring to was the parking fund, which every year has a budget surplus.
I should add that city controller Martin Matson also stated that all transportation systems are subsidized in the US.. roads and so on.. (he failed to mention air travel but that is too).
Tony Z is either a liar or a moron. He is a political opportunist of the highest degree with no discernible personal beliefs of his own (unless one presumes his earliest and craziest proposals were the best reflection of his true character). Bruce’s piece makes that abundantly clear.
What bothers me most about the current issue at hand is that Tony is actively misleading his constituents. Although the nuances of the financing have been presented to him and others multiple times on Facebook he continues to fan the flames about how we can’t afford it (untrue) and how we should use the money elsewhere (practically impossible).
@PMD-I agree the freeway expansion debate is far more important than the Streetcar debate.
@Dave Reid-My only point was that this was new news to me and I did not see the $1.8 million annual subsidy number in any of your articles (unless I missed it). You have done excellent work on keeping people informed on the subject. Is the annual Milwaukee Streetcar subsidy comparable to other cities that have Streetcars and subsidize their Streetcars? Is it higher or lower? Do other cities take money from parking funds to pay the subsidy? I would guess the subsidy would rise over time due to inflation?
The City’s 2015 budget is approximately $1.5 billion dollars. $1.8 million is 0.12% of the budget. One way to look at that is the City portion of my property tax bill is $1200. 100.12% of $1200 is $1201.44 or an additional $1.44 on my taxes. Can I afford that? Yeah, I think so. While that may not be exactly how it works regarding paying for the $1.8 million “subsidy”, I think it gives a fairly accurate representation of the orders of magnitude we’re talking here instead of the standard “$1.8 million?”, “can’t afford it” garbage we’ll hear in the coming months.
Obviously, I’ve made the assumption that additional parking revenue won’t happen and us tax payers will be left on the hook for the entire 0.12%!
I live in the city and I am for the streetcar. Does anyone have any insight into whether or not the Common Council is in support of the plan? Are they terrified of the talk radio crowd? Does Davis or Donovan have a chance of getting this to referendum?
@PMD no joke. What is the total either already spent or set to be spent overhauling freeways just in the Milwaukee area?
I recall estimated costs of approximately:
Marquette Interchange $1 billion
Zoo Interchange $2 billion
Miller Park Interchange $1 billion
I43 Expansion $500 million
794/Hoan Bridge $300
I94 North-South $1.5 billion
Total is over $6 billion, which is about $4,000 for every man, woman and child that lives in the Milwaukee Metro.
This isn’t to say that these costs are not necessary, just to point out how deep the area can dig to encourage growth. Hopefully we do so with the much much smaller costs of a streetcar.
@Alison During that same meeting yesterday, the comptroller said the operating subsidy was (as were all of the other costs) in line with other comparable US streetcar systems. Transit system operating costs are funded all sorts of different ways. “The Portland Bureau of Transportation, which runs the streetcar…is funded largely by the city’s portion of the state gas tax revenue.” Now that’s not a option even remotely available to the Milwaukee, but it is an example. And I’d say the parking fund is a perfect solution for the streetcar, as that subsidy can be targeted to downtown (meters, ramps, tickets) along the line. In fact that is a pretty elegant solution. Finally, of course costs will rise over time due to inflation, doesn’t everything?
PS The real story from that Steering & Rules Meetings was completely ignored by the JS… if only I had time to write about market based pricing…
Regarding Portland’s street car — it appears to me that about half of it is paid for by Trimet, which covers a large metro area not available to Milwaukee.
Here is their budget… see page 9
http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?a=487580&c=64479
About 2 years ago I saw Tony at Gurnee Mills holding hands with a young Asian girl. He looked at me like I was familiar and quickly turned around and hide his face. From there on I can’t trust him. Liberal or not he’s a sketchy politician with many selfish motivations. I have an iPhone photo I took of him with the girl in case he ever tries to screw with my business.