Crowley's 2027 Budget Includes Same Old Failed Proposals From Walker And Abele

David Crowley presented his proposed 2027 budget for Milwaukee County. It's the usual drivel that county executives have presented for the past 20 years.

Raising property taxes on top of the jacked-up sales tax, cuts in services, "raises" for workers that doesn't even come close to keeping up with inflation, and the repeatedly rejected regressive parking meters in county parks.

Yes, you read that correctly. Crowley is trying to take credit for the "innovative" idea of putting parking meters in county parks, especially at the lakefront:

Despite funding for the domes, Milwaukee County Parks face a gloom reality in 2027. Crowley is proposing a pilot program of paid parking at high-demand locations, like the lakefront. Without this program, the parks face significant cuts, he said.

Even though Crowley is pretending it's his latest, greatest brainstorm, it is the same old, same old that his sugar daddy, Chris Abele, and Scott Walker proposed year after year before that: What part of public parks don't these knuckleheads understand?

What worries me is that I'm not sure the current county board has enough sense to reject the proposed parking meters again.  I'm sure a couple of the supervisors, like Justin Bielinski and Steven Shea, know better, but I don't know about the others.  

Please contact your county board supervisor and remind them that public means public, despite Crowley's love of privatization.

One of Mitchell Domes Closed For "Public Safety"

Despite Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele's claims that he is the opposite of Walker, the fact is that he is just as bad, if not worse, than Walker ever could hope to be.  This holds true in many different ways, including deferred maintenance of county buildings and other assets.

When Scott Walker was Milwaukee County Executive, we saw a lot of the negative effects of his willful negligence and deferred maintenance.  Part of the courthouse cornice fell off, parts of Mitchell Airport fell and hit a passenger and most tragic of all, a part of O'Donnell Park fell and killed a teenage boy and seriously injured two other people.

Due to Abele's cutting corners and refusing to replace antiquated and overloaded electrical equipment, the Milwaukee County Courthouse caught on fire and it cost more than $17 million to clean up and fix the mess that could have been avoided for a fraction of that price.

Now we're seeing more of the effects of Abele's so-called fiscal conservatism.

WISN-TV is reporting that one of the domes at Mitchell Park has been indefinitely closed due to falling concrete:

One of the Mitchell Park Domes is closed because of falling concrete.

The Desert Dome in the middle is the one that's closed for public safety.

Signs are posted across the doors of the Desert Dome alerting visitors the exhibit is temporarily closed.

The Milwaukee County parks director made the decision after recent reports that concrete was falling inside.

In a statement to WISN 12 News, Parks Director John Dargle said, "After discovering a piece of fallen concrete at the Arid Dome, the Parks Department consulted with risk management and an independent engineering firm to determine the best course of action to ensure the safety of our employees and the public. Per their recommendation, we have temporarily closed the Arid Dome until further safety evaluations and planning can be completed."

Isn't it nice how Abele can find $4 million to build an arena for billionaires but can't seem to find enough money to properly inspect and maintain county buildings?

What I also find rather disturbing is that his highly paid director of parks needed to consult with risk management and a private company to figure out that falling concrete could be dangerous and that the building should be closed to the public.  But I guess that is the mindset that takes place when your boss is a tyrant that will fire you without just cause just because he was feeling grumpy that day.

Major Milwaukee County Parks Are In Peril

As the gentle reader knows, Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele has been concentrating unprecedented power in his hands to ease his path as he continues to go about dismantling Milwaukee County government.  Abele does this through buy-partisanship -- he pays off Republican state legislators to pass bills that give him these increased powers.

One of the more recent power purchases made by Abele was Act 55, which allows Abele to sell off any county-owned land - except for parks - without public notice, public hearing or legislative oversight.  It was because of this law that Abele was able to sell tens of millions of dollars of Park East land for a dollar.

Per a press release from County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, they have identified 43 parks that have not been properly zoned as parkland and could be sold off by Abele without any say from anyone else.  Some of the parks on that list are simply jaw-dropping.  These include the following parks:

•  Chippewa Park; 
• Red Arrow Park; 
• Cathedral Square Park; 
• Zeidler Union Square; 
• Mitchell Boulevard Park; 
• Mitchell Airport Park; 
• Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum; 
• Grobschmidt Park; 
• Franklin Park; 
• Oakwood Park; 
• Whitnall Park; 
• Sheridan Park; 
• Brown Deer Park; 
• Greene Park; 
• Estabrook Park; 
• Pere Marquette Park; 
• Froemming Park; 
• Lincoln Park; 
• Rawson Park; 
• Melody View Preserve; 
• Riverside Park; 
• Bay View Park; 
• Grant Park; 
• Kohl Park; 
• Lake Park; 
• Armour Park; 
• Runway Dog Park; 
• Servite Park Reserve; 
• Wilson Recreation Center; 
• Joseph-Lichter Park; 
• Juneau Park; 
• St. Martins Park; 
• Algonquin Park; 
• Doctors Park; 
• Hanson Park, 
• A.C.; Southwood Glen; 
• Baran Park; 
• County Grounds Park; 
• Kletzsch Park; 
• Falk Park; 
• Rover West; 
• Scout Lake Park; and 
• Big Bay Park.

A resolution has been introduced that would prevent Abele from selling these parks by correcting their zoning status.  The concern is whether it can be passed quickly enough to keep Abele honest, which is a tall order in itself.

What could prove interesting is the fact that polling numbers show that the bulk of Abele's support in the upcoming election  come from conservatives and Republicans, most of whom live in the suburbs.  I wonder if they will be reconsidering their support for Abele knowing that he could sell their community parks from right out under their noses and there isn't a damn thing they could do about it.

At least Chris Larson has made a commitment to Milwaukee County and its parks.

Boss Abele, Like Walker, Is No Friend Of The Parks

When Scott Walker was still Milwaukee County Executive, an audit of the parks system showed that they were suffering from $300 million worth neglect, needed repairs and deferred maintenance.

Then came along Chris Abele, the boy prince, who duped people into thinking he was progressive and would work to repair the damages done by Walker's neglect.  In reality, he was an acolyte to austerity and only made things worse, causing the crown jewel of the parks system to fall into disarray:

The bloom is fading at the historic Boerner Botanical Gardens in Whitnall Park, where reduced care in recent years has resulted in a "tired" and "weak" appearance within the 40 acres of gardens.

That's the conclusion of an audit report requested by the Milwaukee County Board after concerns were raised about leadership and communication at the oldest publicly owned formal gardens in the Great Lakes region.

Acclaimed and treasured for its collections of flowering plants, herbs and shrubs and a hybrid rose trial garden, the gardens have suffered over time, the audit says.

A growing burden of inadequate maintenance must be reversed for the gardens to achieve their core mission: to serve as a "living museum" of plants and an outdoor classroom for visitors; and to inform the public of native and exotic plants suitable for landscape use in the Milwaukee area, the audit concludes.

Limited staff perform "triage gardening" to go after the most visible or critical problems while pruning and weed control in the remainder of the gardens is put off year after year, according to the report of Milwaukee County audit director Jerome Heer.

Among the results: nuisance invasive plants overrun some areas of the gardens; an untamed shrub covers a bench and prevent its use; and unpruned rose bushes overrun a decorative wall.

Some signs intended to help visitors identify and learn about flowers, herbs and shrubs at Milwaukee County's "living museum" are damaged or missing.

The real kicker is that Abele has been boasting of having a surplus of tens of millions of dollars over the last few years, meaning that this neglect is willful and could have easily been avoided.

The other concern is that if the money isn't going to services - which it obviously isn't - and it's not going to the workers, what is Abele doing with all that money?

Perhaps he's giving it away to his wealthy cronies like he's doing with other county assets?

Keep O'Donnell Park Public!

As I have previously pointed out, Boss Abele, Milwaukee County Emperor, has openly declared war a privatization binge that would made Scott Walker green with envy.  Fortunately, he was stopped - for the most part - by the Milwaukee County Board.
on Milwaukee County.  In his most recent budget, he went on

Sadly, this is not the only front that Boss Abele has used in his attack.  He is also out to sell county assets in secret sweetheart deals.  Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express had broken the story on Abele's plan to surrender Kulwicki Park for a whole dollar a year.  There is no word if Abele promised to give away a vacuum with every park purchase.

One of the more publicized sweetheart deals that Boss Abele is trying to push through is the sale of O'Donnell Park.  O'Donnell Park became a well known name four years ago when part of the facade fell off and killed a teenage boy and seriously injured two others.

Boss Abele is proposing to sell O'Donnell Park to Northwestern Mutual Life (NML) for $14 million.  When one subtracts the cost of needed repairs and paying off the debt service, the county would be lucky to net $5 million.

Since the announcement of this proposed deal, it has been a constant source of red flags, contention and disconcert.

It turns out that the land's real worth is closer to $40 million and is the source of $1.2 million per year in parking revenue.  Why would Abele want to short change taxpayers by such a margin that he would sell the park for less than 10% of its actual worth?

Another problem that will arise is the fact that the land sits on a former lake bed.  The Wisconsin State Constitution rules that this land is part of the Public Trust and thus it cannot be developed for commercial gain.

Granted, Abele and his bought off Teapublican legislators changed state law to rewrite geographic history, claiming that what once a lake bed is no longer a lake bed.  But no one really believes that this law would stand up to a court challenge.

A grassroots group, Public Parks Alliance, has set up a website to fight Boss Abele's folly.  On their website, they explain the issues clearly:

Suppose a private developer offered to buy Washington Park on Milwaukee’s west side. Or Estabrook Park on the east side, or Jackson, Humboldt or Mitchell parks on the south side, or Greenfield Park in the suburbs, or Juneau Park on the lakefront.

The reaction from government and the people would be swift, sure and final:

Our parks are not for sale.

So why is O’Donnell Park different?

Northwestern Mutual Life (NML) has proposed to buy O’Donnell Park, and County Executive Chris Abele was so eager to accommodate the request he put the sale in his budget last fall. Enough county board supervisors balked to get it removed for separate consideration, but some of them were all for it. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has been cheerleading, too. So, the sale of O’Donnell is back on the table for consideration by the County Board.

Why not? O’Donnell Park is prime lakefront property, worth a pretty penny both in the sale and in future tax revenues, right? And besides, O’Donnell is a liability anyway, a boondoggle and a money hole for the county, right?

Wrong.

O’Donnell Park is among the largest revenue producers for the Milwaukee County Parks System. It brings in an average of $1.2 million a year to help fund the parks. With annual cuts to the tax levy portion of parks funding dating back decades, the Parks Department is expected to fund more than half its operating costs through revenues it generates.

County Executive Abele is aware of the harm to the parks budget that would result from the sale. He even suggested a solution in his budget request to make up the difference. It is this: He would simply raise our taxes.

In what sense is O’Donnell Park not the equivalent of other public parks – the ones we would never sell? Because a large part of it is a parking garage? As such, it provides public parking for lakefront and downtown destinations, a benefit to users and to the businesses and cultural institutions they frequent. But O’Donnell is more than a parking structure. Like many other parks, it also includes a public plaza and pavilion for casual or organized public events.

O'Donnell Park is a park in every sense that defines any other park. It is public property, intended for the use and enjoyment of the public. Moreover, unlike many of our parks, O'Donnell Park is subject both to our constitution's Public Trust Doctrine and to deed restrictions requiring that it be used as a public park.

Much of the southern part of the park rests on filled lakebed land, which, under the Trust Doctrine, must be held by a public body for the benefit of the public. It cannot be transferred to a private party. The northern part of O'Donnell Park is part of Juneau Park, which, pursuant to a referendum, was transferred by the city to the county with deed restrictions requiring that it be held by the county and used by it solely as a public park. It was these deed restrictions which were the basis of the lawsuit blocking the Lakefront Expressway.

Preserve Our Parks has said that it would sue to block any private ownership or development of that portion of the Transit Center that rests on filled lakebed . Does anyone think for a minute that they will not likewise pursue lengthy and costly legal action to challenge any sale of O’Donnell? They will. They’ve already said as much.

NML wants O’Donnell Park now for its parking stalls, because it is building a high-rise tower just to the west. What it wants to do with O’Donnell 10 or 20 years from now is another matter. NML has rejected any suggestion that it enter into an agreement with the county to simply lease employee parking at O’Donnell. No, it wants to own it outright.

NML is a very good corporate citizen, almost as old as Milwaukee itself, and as a company has rededicated itself to the downtown area. That we all applaud, and it is natural that local governments strive to accommodate the needs of their best local employers, the drivers of their economies.

But it is of such love affairs that bad precedents are too often set. If Milwaukee County proceeds with what many believe to be the illegal sale of O’Donnell Park, on just what foot will it stand when the next good citizen steps forward with a plan to develop, say, King Park. Why not? Such a plan could bring needed economic opportunities to the suffering near north side.

Let us return to point one:

Our parks are not for sale.

On the group also presents a legal analysis, which is even more telling of what a bad deal Abele is proposing:

At its November 6th meeting, the County Board delayed consideration of the proposed

sale by a vote of 14-3.  The Board expressed uncertainty about the County’s role regarding future use of the property by requesting a legal opinion from County Corporation Counsel on that matter.  They did so with good reason.  There is much confusion about the legal consequences of the proposed sale. The big question is whether the public will have any legally enforceable right to public use and enjoyment of O’Donnell Park or any of its facilities. In short, the agreement provides for almost none.  If the County Board approves this sale, O’Donnell Park will no longer be a public park. It will be fully the buyer’s private property,

The County Executive is proposing sale of the entire park complex--all of its land, structures and facilities. This is a proposed sale, not what some have characterized as a “public-private partnership.” When you sell your house you do not become a partner with the buyer.  After closing, you have no say whatsoever about how the new owner uses the property. Unless the County and NM agree to legally binding provisions for a continuing role for the County, the County will have no role in determining O’Donnell Park’s future. The public, through its County elected officials, will no longer determine whether the property could become part of Milwaukee’s own “Millennium Park,” Chicago’s destination park built atop a parking garage, nor whether the public can have access to any or all of the property. The corporation that owns the property will have the sole right to determine its future use.

As if all this wasn't enough to give the gentle reader cause to pause, Bruce Murphy of Urban Milwaukee, who is as much an Abele acolyte as any, raises concerns about the deal:

Sixth, why did the Abele administration give the impression the entire property was restricted as to future development? “We were misled at the outset that the entire property was, quote, deed restricted,” Jursik complains.

Sixth [sic], why won’t Abele change course and insist on a deed restriction for the southern half of the property? “I’m really concerned Abele is not protecting the public interest on this,” Jursik says. Abele says Northwestern Mutual has other land it could build parking on and “if we push for too much they are able to do other things.” He also notes the county’s past problems developing real estate on land it owns (largely because of board vs. executive squabbles he refrains from noting) and says he wants to send a message to developers that the county is a reliable partner: “We want to build on a reputation as easy to work with.” 

But this may be a case of being too easy to work with. From a market rate perspective, NM seems to be getting a pretty good deal even without the southern portion of the property. But if it has the ability to develop that portion of the property, the deal looks like a steal. With that land included, Jursik says, “there’s no way that’s a market-rate proposal.”

In summary, Boss Abele wants to sell off O'Donnell Park, a valuable county asset which actually generates revenue for the county, for a tenth of what the value of the park is really worth.  On top of that, Abele wants to sell the land with no protections for the taxpayers that would ensure that the public land remains accessible to the public.  Not only did Boss Abele willfully fail to put in said protections, he refuses to even consider them.

It is obvious that Boss Abele has given up even the slightest pretense of representing the people of Milwaukee County.  That is why it is up to us - the people - to make sure our true representatives, the Milwaukee County Board, hears us that O'Donnell Park - or any other park, for that matter - is not for sale!

You can call your Milwaukee County Supervisor at 414-278-4222.  If you're not sure who your county supervisor is, you can look them up here.

Boss Abele's Secretly Selling Off Milwaukee County Parks

Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express has a must read article in this week's issue regarding some of the ramifications of Boss Abele's unprecedented power grab - namely, his pawning off of county assets in sweetheart deals.

She points out the questionable way Boss Abele decided to try to practically give away the Transit Center and O'Donnell Park and his backdoor attempt at privatizing the zoo's food service to a Denver-based company.

But the real eye catcher is what he is trying to do with Kulwicki Park:

[Milwaukee County Supervisor Gerry] Broderick said he was troubled by the administration’s attempt to lease parkland without public discussion or even notifying him, the chair of the parks committee.

“This is Abele’s approach,” Broderick said. “It lends credence to the argument that Abele’s intent here is to turn the parks back to municipalities where the municipalities would choose to accept them back and in doing so undo the emerald necklace that is something that Milwaukee County is so proud of.”

Broderick said the county would have had more resources to keep up its parks if the Legislature—and the conservative Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC)—hadn’t blocked the implementation of a half-cent sales tax for parks and cultural assets as approved by voters in a 2008 referendum.  Ironically, an MMAC-led effort to push a similar referendum, including funding for a new sports arena, is now underway.

[...]

Broderick said he wanted to bring the matter up for debate in a parks committee meeting as soon as he could. And he warned that while the lease of Kulwicki Park may seem benign on the surface, it could lead to leasing highly sought-after parkland to interested developers with little to no public involvement.

“What’s there to prevent the administration from leasing Lake Park or Grant Park, or encircling the golf courses with high-end condos?” Broderick said. “To say it’s troubling I think understates the facts. This will lead to a two-tier parks system, with have-parks and have-not parks.”

Once again, Boss Abele has proven why people refer to him as Walker Lite. He has all the sliminess and underhandedness of Scott Walker, but with none of the political savvy.

I also have to point out once again that as long as the Democrats keep embracing and honoring people like Abele instead of holding them accountable, they will keep losing elections.

Abele Is Paying New Parks Director $140,000 To Spin Off, Privatize Parks

On Thursday, Milwaukee County Executive Emperor Chris Walker Romney Abele  announced that he was hiring John Dargle to be the new Parks Director.

At the time, I noted something that was conspicuous by its absence - no one was talking about how much Dargle was getting paid.  I felt it important to know, since Abele is getting the county sued for paying women less for doing the same job as their male predecessors.

So I sent a Open Records Request to Abele's office asking for Dargle's salary.

Abele's passive aggressive spokesman, failed TV reporter Brendan Conway, sent back the following email on Friday:

In case the gentle reader has difficulty making it out, here it is again:

Charles,*

In response to your request, Mr. Dargle will be paid $140,000.

Brendan Conway
Communications Director
Office of County Executive Chris Abele
Phone:  414.278.5281
Cell: 414.394.7710

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Data on Demand, Sue Black, Dargle's predecessor, made $126,990 in 2011:

Click to embiggen

Dargle is getting paid more than $13,000 more than Black did doing the same job and having the same credentials.  The only difference is that Dargle is a man and Black is a woman.

Update: Per this MJS article, Abele gave Black another raise just before he fired her, putting her salary after many years of service at about the same level as Dargle's starting pay.

I don't know about you, gentle reader, but I am starting to see a real pattern here.

Then again, it might not be just gender involved with the fact that Abele is paying Dargle so much money.  It could be that Dargle comes from a Parks Authority, meaning that they had spun the parks off into a quasi-privatized agency already.  And spinning off the parks into such an entity has long been one of Abele's and GMC's many goals.

If your thinking that this might be no big deal, look at how well it worked out for New York City:

When New York began relying on public-private parks partnerships following the fiscal crisis of the seventies, the idea was that private philanthropic groups would pick up the slack. And they did. Groups like the Central Park Conservancy, the Prospect Park Alliance, and the Bryant Park Corporation rose to respond to that crisis. But the city’s newest parks, paid for and operated largely by nonpublic dollars, are girded tightly by their private patrons.

The High Line was invented as a park by Friends of the High Line, which raised $44 million in donations and helped select the design. Celebrity endorsements (Edward Norton, Diane Von Furstenberg), caps on visitor attendance, adjacent real-estate development, and a dense police presence compared to other parks have all contributed to the appearance of something less than fully public. Elsewhere, the Parks Department has met with a local interest group called Coalition for a Better Washington Square Park, which offered to hire its own security and maintenance forces for the newly renovated green. Parks turned them down but did “discuss the designs of the next phase of renovation.” And in order to build the $350 million Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, a public agency, is using the private developers of luxury condos like One Brooklyn Bridge Park to pay for the maintenance of its public front yard (never mind what’ll happen if the condos don’t sell).

Expect more of the same. “What’s happening on a basic level is that the city does not feel that parks are its responsibility anymore,” says Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates. “But every community deserves to have healthy parks, not just ones that have wealthy benefactors.”

[...]

But more and more private control — you can purchase time in a “public” basketball court for a fashion show, as happened in May with designer Joseph Abboud in Greenwich Village, or pay to park a branded exhibition in Central Park, as Chanel did last fall — has become the norm. The question is how much more that means. “While privatization has brought some very good management techniques, like at Bryant Park, the nice thing about it so far is that we don’t have ‘Exxon Bryant Park,’ ” says Christian DiPalermo, the executive director of New Yorkers for Parks. Well, not yet.

So yes, it's very conceivable that we will be paying for the parks twice - once through our taxes and again as a user's fee.

That's how Abele defines efficiency.

*Do you suppose he calls Abele Charles or just Chuck? Oh, and this immaturity is what is passing for leadership in Abele's administration. Explains a lot, doesn't it?

Abele Cannot Even Announce New Parks Director Without Flubbing The Job

Milwaukee County Executive Emperor Chris Walker Romney Abele has Abele announced his new Parks Director, John Dargle.  The announcement comes more than nine months after fired the award-winning and very popular Sue Black.  Abele has yet to offer a rationale for the sudden dismissal of Black.

But true to the nature of Abele's reign, this move is surrounded by questions and controversy.

Dargle is supposed to come with quite the resume, including winning the "Gold Medal" for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management.  It should be noted that Black won the same honor in 2009.  It should also be noted that the award was  awarded based on a video and an essay written by one of then County Executive Scott Walker's aides.

At the time of her firing, Abele's administration was dismissive of Black's achievement.  It is more than a bit ironic that this is now one of their bragging points for the incoming nominee.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel points out another article which reports that Dargle suddenly departed his old job two months ago "to pursue other personal interests."  It would be nice to know what those interests were, since just two months later, he is taking the job in Milwaukee.  The taxpayers have a right to know that their money is being invested in someone who will be on the job for more than a few months - like most of Abele's staffers.

And speaking of pay, there has been no mention in Abele's press release or any of the news articles on what Dargle's salary will be.  This is important as well to make sure that he is being fair in his pay scales.  We can't afford any more lawsuits due to Abele's discriminatory practices.

(I have sent an open records request regarding Dargle's salary to Abele's office, but have yet to receive even an acknowledgement of it's receipt.  What are they doing? I get better response from my county supervisor, that's for sure.)

The formal announcement is being held at Kosciuszko Park, which is in Supervisor Peggy Romo West's district, but  Abele didn't bother to invite her, despite all of the time and hard work she has dedicated to the park.  It is not known if the snub is due to his disrespect for the Board or his misogyny.

I also wonder if Dargle is aware that Abele is planning on spinning off the parks into its own quasi-public/private district.  That might not mean long for Dargle's career with Milwaukee County.

Also interesting is that Abele apologist Dan Cody was involved in the choosing of Dargle, at least per Cody's bragging.  Odd thing is, Cody did not mention this in his press release as president of the Park People.  This raises the question of whether Cody was involved as a representative of the Park People or on some other level.

Nor has this been the first time that Abele and Cody have blurred their lines.  It has been reported that Cody was lobbying for the Usurpation Bill, but Cody is not listed as a lobbyist per the state records.  On who's behalf was he lobbying?

With the upcoming shifting of power into the county executive's hands, it would be nice to have one that can do the job with transparency and efficiency.  Abele is failing horribly in both of those areas.