Milwaukee Biz Blog

Just as many of us plant our summer flowers and water our gardens, we know that we will also have the unpleasant job of weeding. And like these weeds, this will be our second summer when we will have to deal with those that have an agenda to remove the Hoan Bridge, a bridge named for former Milwaukee Mayor Daniel Hoan, who had the vision of connecting the north and south sides of our great city and county.

While many of us enjoy summer festivals under this great arch, Alderman Robert Bauman of Milwaukee plans to introduce a Common Council resolution in July asking the state to build a new, smaller Hoan Bridge that is only 40 feet tall, compared with the current 125-foot-tall freeway.

Such a bridge would, of course, require a lift bridge or other device to permit shipping to enter our ports.

The Hoan Bridge has itself become part of the landscape of our city on the lake; this arch is our grand entry hall to the Milwaukee Art Museum Calatrava wing. The Hoan is a young bridge that has many years remaining in its mighty life expectancy.

There is an agenda being floated by some to change course before this bridge can be re-decked for its next two decades of life.

At the county level, I have requested that the County Board's Transportation and Public Works Committee schedule this item on our September calendar to address these objectives.

After all, it is Milwaukee County, not the city, which services the Hoan. I hope my colleagues on the board hear from our citizens on the importance of maintaining the Hoan.

For my part, I have already indicated that I will not support selling county land for expansion of the Zoo Interchange until our current assets, like the Hoan Bridge, are maintained.

Our South Shore communities have experienced billions of dollars of development since the Hoan Bridge was built. I have received from the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) a footprint for the extension of the 794 freeway to Ryan Road and am now calling on the Department of Transportation to discontinue studies on demolition of the bridge and instead begin to fund the completion of this South Shore asset.

If the state wants to know where it can get funds to pay for the re-decking of the bridge and the extension of the 794 freeway, it can come from a toll road from the Wisconsin/Illinois state line to the county line.

My constituents understand the need to collect money from snow birds that earned their pensions here but no longer pay state taxes and only return to enjoy our parks and festivals. Many of these individuals visit Milwaukee County from places that already charge tolls to tourists from Wisconsin.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Patricia Jursik represents the county's Eighth District.

On May 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed changes to the federal proxy rules to provide shareholders (owning a specified percentage of the shares of a public company for at least a one-year period) with the right to nominate up to 25 percent of the company's board of directors and to have the nominees included in the company's proxy materials.

The rule proposal can be found at http://sec.gov/rules/proposed/2009/33-9046.pdf. 

This is the SEC's third attempt at issuing a rule proposal on this polarizing issue, having previously issued proposals in 2003 and 2007.

The current economic crisis has rejuvenated the issue of proxy access as politicians and regulators scramble to implement reforms designed to make the board of directors of public companies more accountable to shareholders and the public. Many commentators have predicted that, to borrow a slogan from the 2008 presidential campaign, "change is on the way."

The contentious nature of this issue has inhibited adoption of any rule from the SEC on prior occasions, but this time the consensus is that the only issue open for debate appears to be what the eventual changes to the federal proxy rules will look like.  

Under the existing rules, only the company's nominees for election to the board of directors are included in the company's proxy materials. If a shareholder wants to nominate opposition candidates, it ordinarily must prepare, pay for and distribute separate proxy materials. Even using the electronic proxy rules, this is a costly process that often prevents shareholders from nominating directors.

The current rule proposal would result in a dramatic change in the proxy rules by more easily facilitating the ability of certain shareholders to include in a company's proxy materials a short slate of candidates for director that it nominates in opposition to the company's candidates on a near-costless basis. The proposed rule would not apply to contests seeking a change in control of the company.

It should come as no surprise that the leading advocates favoring proxy access reform are corporate governance activists, spearheaded by labor unions, state and local government pension funds and the Council of Institutional Investors. An equaling shocking revelation is that the business community, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is vigorously opposed to the proposed rule. The business community is gearing up to challenge any SEC final rule on this issue in the courts.

There are numerous competing policy arguments both in favor of and in opposition to the proposed changes. One leading argument advanced by proponents of the SEC proposal is that the election of more shareholder-nominated directors would make boards more accountable to the shareholders who own the company and that this accountability would improve corporate governance by making companies more responsive to shareholder concerns. On the other side of the debate, there is concern that a shareholder-nominated director may be beholden to and focused solely on the concerns of that specific nominating shareholder or group, rather than on the best interest of the company and the rest of the shareholders.

The SEC's proposal, if adopted, may result in more contested elections for board seats.

Those in favor of the SEC's proposal argue that increased competition might lead companies to nominate and elect directors who are better qualified and more independent. Conversely, opponents have expressed concern that frequent contests would be costly and disruptive to companies and could discourage some qualified board candidates from agreeing to appear on a company's slate of nominees.  Some opposition groups have also taken the position that adopting the proxy access rule as proposed unlawfully usurps states' rights and represents an overreaching federal incursion into traditional areas of state corporate law.

If you feel strongly one way or the other about this proposal to revise the federal proxy rules, now is your chance to voice your opinion. The SEC has requested that interested parties comment on the rule proposal in general or on any of the more than 170 specific questions raised by the SEC therein. All comments are due by Aug. 17 and can be submitted electronically on the SEC's website at http://sec.gov/cgi-bin/ruling-comments?ruling=s71009&rule_path=/comments/s7-10-09&file_num=S7-10-09&action=Show_Form&title=Facilitating%20Shareholder%20Director%20Nominations.

Chad Wiener is an associate at Quarles & Brady LLP, Milwaukee, in the Corporate Services Practice Group.  He can be reached at chad.wiener@quarles.com.

I had occasion recently to be featured guest on "The Call," a CNBC television show hosted by economist Larry Kudlow. Like other supply-side economists, Kudlow follows Milton Friedman in assuming that the inflation rate is driven solely by monetary policy.

My topic as a talking head: Where is inflation headed in the U.S.? Inflation matters because it affects the stock market, interest rates and our real wealth and income.

I think horse racing is a good analogy for inflation predictions. A lot of people are betting on the horse called inflationary expectations: the Federal Reserve's monetary stimulus will create higher inflation rates so let's build that expectation into today's interest rates and prices.

Another horse is medical costs: pharmaceutical companies and health care providers are raising rates in anticipation pricing pressures once the Democrat's national health care policy is enacted.
Yet another horse is energy prices.

I'm betting on the horse called deflation, owing to the increasingly commodity-like economy coupled with recession-induced excess capacity. Those betting on inflationary expectations, I feel, are incorrectly assuming that the monetary stimulus will come on top of a traditional economic upturn.

What they're forgetting is that the only thing holding up the economy and prices today is stimulative spending and monetary policies of our government.

And we haven't even seen the full effects of state and local government deficits, record-high office vacancies causing bankruptcies and further bank capital problems and a growing retail bankruptcy rate.

Eddie Bauer declared bankruptcy recently. Who's next?

Kay Plantes, Ph.D., is an MIT-trained economist, business strategy consultant, columnist and author with expertise in business model innovation, strategic leadership and smart economic policies. She resides in Madison, Wis., and Oslo, Norway. For additional information, visit www.plantescompany.com.

Should a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court recuse himself or herself from cases involving litigants who donated $1,000 or more to the judge's election campaign?

The court has the authority to amend the state judicial code without having to run it past the state legislature.

Justices on the court are pondering dueling petitions on the issue of recusal.

The first petition was filed by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Education Fund, with full support from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and Common Cause in Wisconsin.

In a joint statement, the three organizations called for recusals when litigants contribute $1,000 or more to a justice's campaign "or tried to influence a campaign through mass communications," i.e. bogus television "issue ads" that always end with a phrase such as, "Tell Justice So-and-So to (fill in the blank for whatever cause)."

"Campaign gifts certainly don't automatically undermine a judge's neutrality. But the increasing campaign donations we have seen in recent years do severely erode public trust, even when a judge may be acting fairly," the organizations said. "The new recusal rules would restore public trust that campaign contributions will not influence a judge's decisions and give notice to special interests that there is no benefit to turning court elections into a financial arms race - not when the judge they help elect will not be allowed to hear their case. Together these reforms will restore public confidence in Wisconsin's progressive tradition of election of judges and justices."

Au contraire, says the Wisconsin Realtors Association, which has filed a petition urging the court to resist mandating judicial recusals based on campaign contributions.

The Realtors are asking that the code be revised to state, "A judge shall not be required to recuse himself or herself in a proceeding based solely on any endorsement or the judge's campaign committee's receipt of a lawful campaign contribution, including a campaign contribution from an individual or entity involved in the proceeding."

In other words, the Realtors want to still be able to play after they pay.

So, which side will prevail?

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Caperton v. Massey) affirmed the notion that a judge should recuse himself or herself when a litigant has donated substantial campaign funds. In 2004, a West Virginia coal executive working for Massey Energy Company spent $3 million to elect a state Supreme Court justice while appealing a $50 million jury award against his company. In 2007, that justice rejected a motion to recuse himself, and joined two colleagues as the court overturned the jury award in a 3-2 decision.

If the Wisconsin Supreme Court takes its cues from the U.S. Supreme Court, there could be a whole lot of recusing going on. According to a study by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign requested by BizTimes Milwaukee, Wisconsin justices have received the following numbers of individual campaign donations of $1,000 or more: Shirley Abrahamson, 341; Annette Ziegler, 95; Mike Gableman, 71; Pat Roggesack, 42; Patrick Crooks, 38; and Ann Walsh Bradley, 37. Only Justice David Prosser Jr. has not received any individual donations of $1,000 or more.

However, the campaigns of all of the Wisconsin justices have received donations of $1,000 or more from political action committees (PACs).

Often in politics, appearance becomes reality. The recent elections of justices were overloaded with special interests, as the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce put conservatives Ziegler and Gableman on the bench, and progressive forces kept Abrahamson in office.

If the Supreme Court enacts the restrictions for checks of $1,000 or more, here's a prediction: We'll see a spike of checks for $999 donated to judicial candidates.

Steve Jagler is executive editor of BizTimes Milwaukee.

Despite daily evidence from Washington and the entertainment industry to the contrary, truly powerful people do not resort to name-calling as a means of getting attention or being heard.

Crazy, I know.

We've all seen plenty of evidence showing how coarse our culture has become, and how juvenile. The name-calling in Washington and across the full spectrum of entertainment is shameful. Embarrassing, too, if you listen long enough. I have caught myself asking out loud, "Did you hear what you just said?!" as I listen to radio and TV news.

Sitcoms are worse, I'm told. I don't know. I don't watch them.

But lest we believe that the whole world is going down this particular drain, I have observed something quite different among some business leaders, educators, and bright young professionals.

Truly powerful people don't call other people names. They don't need to. They have learned how to present their point of view - even argument - with certainty and comfort in their position.
Instead of calling someone a derogatory name, they will challenge a decision or outcome based on information or process.

Reasonable people disagree. Confident people state their case and listen to opposing viewpoints. Truly powerful people take it to the next step to make things happen. They have no time for juvenile acting out or wasted time and energy involved in name-calling.

Susan Marshall is a consultant and founder of Executive Advisor LLC in Oconomowoc. She also is the author of "How to Grow a Backbone." For additional information, visit www.executiveadvisorllc.com.

In 2002, I was excited to get phone calls or even e-mails from anyone. My company was a start-up. It was just two guys in an office with a dog and a bunch of computer servers.

Today it is different. Perhaps I am partly to blame. My contact information is on the Broadlook website, I'm the registration contact for hundreds of domains and I freely put all my contact information into my email signature.

And yes, my company, Broadlook, makes software that pulls information from the Internet to empower sales and recruiting professionals. Again, I am guilty, but having my contact information is not an excuse to sell badly to me.

Here is a secret: I love being sold to. Truly being sold to means that somebody has done their homework, looked at my needs, my company's needs and has a solution to my pain. To save those hundreds of sales reps time, I've decided to (1) define the rules of engagement of how to sell to me; and (2) post them on my corporate bio.

If you follow the rules, I promise I will respond. It may be an e-mail that only says, "No thank you or "Try me next quarter," but if you take the time, I will take the time.

I like the transparency of establishing the rules of engagement. When I passed this idea by a few of my peers, leaders in both small and large companies, they all liked the idea of establishing the engagement rules and being transparent. My rules are not the next person's rules; they are mine. Everyone should craft their own and make them transparent. If more people did this, selling would be so much more efficient and enjoyable, for both sides. Imagine that!

In order to sell at a high level, you need more than an e-mail address. Perhaps having Broadlook's lead generation tools at my disposal for the last seven years has spoiled me.  When I reach out to someone, I know something about them, and I always personalize my message.

I titled this blog verbosely so people looking to sell to me would find it. SEO stuff. We'll see where it lands…

Rules to sell to Donato Diorio
1. Get my name right. I can see how people mistake my first name for a last name, but it's not brain surgery. It shows respect.
2. Personalize. I will not respond to a mass e-mails. Period.
3. Understand what my company (Broadlook) does. Can you believe that there is some idiot out there that keeps trying to sell me a list of recruiting firms? Talk about selling ice to an Eskimo.
4. Show me that I am special. Customize your sales pitch for my company. Don't use generalities. Research what my company does and ask me good questions. I don't have a burning need to seek others approval, but if you take the time to tell me.
5. Call and email. You will probably get voice mail, but I will listen to it. The e-mail will give me your contact information if I like what I hear. Tell me you will also be sending me an e-mail. Be articulate, gosh, I'm sorry, but if your accent is so heavy that I have to listen to your voice mail a few times to understand it, it will get deleted at the very beginning.
6. In your voice mail, say your phone number two times. Give me a chance to write it down if I like what I hear.
7. Don't use a voice mail script. If you do, you are not at the level yet to successfully sell to me. Try again next year.
8. Don't use a negative sell,  i.e. the economy is bad, and you can help. Bad for whom? Do your homework.  I'm an optimist.  I love hanging up on pessimists.  Realists welcome.
9. Know your product inside out. If you can't answer nearly all my questions, you should not be reaching out to me. Have you manager or top sales rep do it.
10. Don't call me if someone else at my company makes the decision.  I don't make the decisions on office supplies.
11. Did I mention … get my name right?

Here is the e-mail that put me over the top to write this blog. It was nth in a series, polite but impersonal.  I will not be working with this company.

Dear Danato,  (got my name wrong)
Hope you are doing fine.   (does he really?)     (the DELETE button was pressed when my eyes hit this line)
This is with reference to my previous mail dated 4th March 2009. (reminding me of his spam) I hope you have received it. I eagerly await your reply as I look forward to exploring a potential business opportunity with your company , which I am sure would prove to be mutually beneficial.  (he has no clue what Broadlook does)
Please let me know your interest and your availability for a short introductory call at a time that would best suit your schedule.  During the call, I would primarily like to introduce XXXXXXXXX, our services, capabilities and address any specific queries that you may have.
Eagerly awaiting your reply.  (and 50,000 others he spammed)
Thanks and best regards,
XXXX

Donato Diorio is the chief executive officer of Pewaukee-based Broadlook Technologies Inc.

There's no question that businesses today, in Milwaukee and throughout the country, are carefully evaluating their financial decisions. Economically challenging times call for even greater attention to operational efficiencies and most businesses can't afford to misjudge their needs or underutilize existing resources.

Businesses that invest in innovation today position themselves to not only better endure this difficult time but also to emerge as more a competitive player when the economy recovers. Today, the information technology industry is delivering some key innovations that will enable forward-looking businesses to build information systems and processes that are flexible, cost-effective and even environmentally friendly.

• Software plus services - A software plus services strategy provides businesses flexibility and the option to choose which software systems they access via the Internet, and which they maintain on-site. This hybrid approach is increasingly popular with midsized and smaller businesses because it enables them to take advantage of the capabilities of enterprise-class software hosted over the Web, without an enterprise-class price tag. 
• Unified communications - Unified communication technologies, which bring solutions such as voice communications, e-mail and instant messaging together, enable your company to replace traditional phone systems with an integrated software solution that reduces hardware and maintenance costs. Additionally, businesses that implement unified communications find that they can reduce travel costs by 10 to 30 percent, which benefits the bottom line and the environment as well.
• Virtualization - This computing technique makes it possible to run more than one operating system on a single computer. Virtualization also reduces energy costs and consumption by enabling organizations to use more of the computing power that they already own. Companies are finding that reducing computer energy consumption is one of the most effective ways to lower operational costs without hampering organizational capabilities.
• Business intelligence - Business intelligence solutions enable companies to identify opportunities or cut costs by helping them determine where synergies or operational inefficiencies exist.  For example, a company dashboard created as part of a business intelligence solution could reveal opportunities to lower company energy costs, benefiting the company and the environment.  With better insight into financial and operational performance, a business can better understand variances and interdependencies, as well as pinpoint sales trends and cost-cutting opportunities.  Furthermore, business intelligence solutions automates routine processes, cutting labor costs and giving employees more time to focus on business priorities.

Economically challenging times, though difficult, also provide opportunities for business leaders to evaluate their operations and make investments that better position them for growth when the economy rebounds. Take some time to assess how your business can use IT solutions to its competitive advantage.

Rob Busch is the Wisconsin enterprise sales manager for Microsoft and serves clients and partners in the company's Waukesha office.  For more information, visit www.microsoftgameplan.com.

Some would think at a period of deep recession that this is not the time to push for a Regional Transit Authority (RTA). The truth is, we can’t afford to wait. A vibrant transit network is a fundamental part of a successful and sustainable economy.

Racine has an unemployment rate of 17 percent. Just like the unemployed in Milwaukee and Kenosha, they are our families, neighbors, people we go to church with. They are taxpayers and people who purchase goods and services, which make our local economy grow.

We believe that this is why the push to create an RTA has garnered the broadest coalition for any purpose that Racine and the region has ever seen. What makes this coalition unique? Labor groups and businesses, corporations, environmental groups and faith-based organizations, merchants and restaurants not only agree but are working together to support and advance a Regional Transit Authority.

We believe that this is our best, and possibly only, immediate opportunity to ignite a sustaining spark that will get people to work and bring our economy back to life. We recognize that an RTA would garner millions of federal dollars to invest in transit that will link us to the global economy of Chicago, and provide access to more than a million jobs along the Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and Chicago corridor.

The return on this investment is real and it is substantial, to the tune of billions of dollars in economic benefits over the next two decades. The obvious is the infrastructure of the rail itself; more importantly is the development that will follow along the corridor. Our corporations will be more successful because they are able to pull from a larger pool of workers with special skills and make their companies more attractive to new hires.

Our unemployed will be able to travel the corridor between Milwaukee and Chicago to seek opportunities beyond our community. Everyone in Racine County will benefit by more tourism and sales as Racine’s businesses and cultural venues are opened up to more than 2 million people near the train stations along the corridor.

And the reverse is true. Citizens of Racine will be able travel to our surrounding cities for larger cultural, educational and entertainment venues.

We are at a pivotal point where we must decide if we want to participate in the global economy or be left behind as other regions invest in their transportation system and gather up the jobs, businesses, talent, development, private investment and the billions of dollars in federal transit funds.

Through the extraordinary efforts of our legislators, several plans have been created that would keep an RTA and a modern transit network moving forward in the state budget. Although none of the plans are perfect, with the realities of the state budget and resulting political landscape, we must move forward with a plan we can build on.

A modern transit network should include enhanced buses and KRM commuter rail in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha. We would hope that our Legislature recognizes that dedicated funding and integrated buses and trains are needed in the entire corridor to keep people linked to job and business opportunities inside and outside our transit system boundaries. If we do nothing, transit services in Racine, Milwaukee and Kenosha will be cut substantially, harming workers and employers alike.

The current Assembly plan creates the foundation for a truly regional RTA. Under the current Senate plan, Racine and Kenosha buses are left out, and the KRM Commuter Rail project will remain on the shelf for lack of an acceptable regional transit plan that the Federal Transit Administration calls for.

Almost every senator or assembly person in our Capital has run their campaign on a "jobs" platform. Now, the RTA and the KRM commuter rail have given them the chance to walk the walk.

As the budget and the RTA proposal proceeds, we know that our legislators are working hard for us. And, as the saying goes, "The devil is in the details." The coalitions have come together and spoken and now the imagination and hard decisions must come from our state representatives. We will continue to prod and support our Legislature.

The time is now to make a truly regional RTA a reality so we can get to work creating jobs, sparking our economy to life and building a cleaner more prosperous future. We believe that the RTA, and the KRM Commuter Rail would be a win for jobs, for families and neighborhoods, small businesses and major corporations, the environment and for our future. Which, in the end, makes it a win for Wisconsin.

This blog was co-written by Jim Eastman, president of Merchants Moving and Storage Inc., and Jeff Van Koningsveld, president of IBEW Local 430 and co-chair of the Racine County Labor Coalition. They are the co-chairs of the Racine Transit Task Force. For more information about the Racine Transit Task Force, contact Kerry Thomas at Transit NOW at (262) 246-6151.

With more than 270 million subscribers, cell phones are a vital means of communications for the vast majority of Americans. The enormous growth in the use of cell phones means that maintaining competition in this industry is more important than ever.

Cell phones enable instantaneous communications for millions wherever they are located, whether at work, at home, away from home, in their car, or anywhere in between. Many Americans - over 20 percent - have now discarded traditional land line phones and depend entirely on cell phones. The ease, convenience, and universal nature of today's cell phone service would have been unimaginable just two decades ago.

For many years as this industry developed, it was a competition success story - with many rivals and vigorous price competition. In recent years, however, the picture has changed. Consolidation has left this industry highly concentrated. Four national carriers now control over 90 percent of the cell phone market. AT&T and Verizon combine to have a market share of  60 percent. Consumers' choices have become quite limited, and price wars seem to be a thing of the past. American consumers pay more for wireless phone service than most other developed nations - an average of $506 per year in 2007.

Nowhere is the changed market for cell phones more noticeable than in text message service. These short, instant messages delivered via cell phones have become enormously popular. In 2008, more than one trillion text messages were sent, more than triple the number just two years before. As their popularity has grown, so has the price charged on a per message basis.

From 2006 to 2008, the price of sending and receiving a text message among the four largest cell phone carriers increased by 100 percent - from 10 to 20 cents per message. The four companies increased their text messaging prices in two steps - first from 10 to 15 cents, and then from 15 to 20 cents - within months or weeks of each other. These lockstep price increases occurred despite the fact that the cost to the phone companies to carry text messages is minimal - estimated to be less than a penny per message - and has not increased.

I convened a hearing on this issue at the Antitrust Subcommittee a few days ago to try get to the bottom of this. At the hearing, the phone companies defended these price increases by asserting that they have not been coordinated in any respect. They also pointed out that the majority of cell phone customers do not pay for text messages on a per message basis, but instead buy plans for "buckets" of text messages, typically starting at $5 for 200 messages. But is this simply a method to force consumers into expensive plans they would not have needed if the per message rate hadn't gone up? 

Nonetheless, these sharp price increases raise concerns. Are these price increases the result of a lack of competition in a highly concentrated market? Will consumers continue to see similar price increases for this and many other wireless services that they have come to increasingly depend on, such as internet connections and basic voice service? Do text message price increases represent a canary in the coal mine for the state of competition in the cell phone industry as a whole?

The concentrated nature of today's cell phone market should make us wary of other challenges to competition in this industry. It is imperative that we work to remove undue barriers to competition to ensure consumers the best rates and services.

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl represents Wisconsin and is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Panel.

You may not fully sense it, but the State Assembly took action last week that could and should resolve many years of infighting and paralysis on major regional projects. When it comes to parks and transit, there have been decades of debate over regional cost sharing, new governance models, and tough questions of who pays and how much is enough. In Milwaukee County, and the entire metropolitan area of southeastern Wisconsin, there are two areas of public policy that have captivated the voting public, the media, and other stakeholders in the community: transportation and parks.

Leaders at all levels of government: Chairman of Transportation and Public Works Michael Mayo, County Supervisor Chris Larson, Senators Lena Taylor and Jeff Plale have stood up to offer solutions and urged their colleagues to move forward on these issues. These leaders are backed by numerous community leaders, neighborhood associations, and influential civic organizations that have added their voices to the debate.  All of us, despite our differences from time to time, are shoulder to shoulder in trying to build a regional framework for important public priorities. Rather than pit one local unit of government after another, or endlessly point fingers between the Capitol and City Hall, we have done our best to move forward with positive solutions.

With the state budget currently being worked on in Madison, now is the time to make some decisions.  The following points help set the right framework for upcoming budget votes:

1.  Transit and modernizing our transportation system must be priority number one.  That means fix what you've got before you start new projects. The State Assembly version of the budget that passed last week includes a 0.65-percent sales tax option. Of that, up to 0.15 percent can be allocated to help pay for police and fire department costs throughout Milwaukee County. The remaining 0.5% must be used for transit. 
2. At a minimum, the Assembly actions would provide up to $65 million in property tax relief and completely remove the bus system from the tax levy paid by all homeowners and businesses in Milwaukee County. That's a huge step forward and would pave the way for commuter rail expansion and the city of Milwaukee's streetcar system.
3. We must not ignore the county park systems and the referendum voters that supported their funding. That means funding transit first, demonstrating we can provide property tax relief while lowering fares and expanding service for transit, then finding a solution that preserves our parks and expands recreational options into the rest of the 21st century.
4. However, transit must come before parks - (not instead of, but before). Politics and government involve tough work and setting priorities and making decisions. Ironically, the Parks People in recent years pushed hard for State legislation to take the Parks out of Milwaukee County hands and into an independent district that would have had the power to raise the property tax. Furthermore, most November referendum support on the 1-percent came in areas of the city of Milwaukee with strong Presidential turnout and frankly, outside of the Lakeshore most County Parks sit in suburban areas that voted against the sales tax.
5. Transit moves people who cannot drive or choose not to drive. Either way, transit riders contribute to the economy and help make this a great community to live, work and raise a family. They have taken it in the chin whether the devil is in higher fuel costs or petty politics. Enough is enough!
6. Transit is part of a metropolitan network of roads, trains, bike paths, and air and water ports.  Look at any thriving metro area in the United States, and you will find state-of-the-art public infrastructure:  airports, streetcars, high speed trains, and user-friendly connections so people are not forced into one option, or none at all. Schools, parks, shopping, hospitals, museums, convention centers will not grow, let alone survive, without upgraded transportation.
7. Citizens and taxpayers earn more money and enjoy a healthier quality of life when transit investments are expanded. In other words, we do this right and we get it done sooner than later, there will be future economic growth and more stable local government finances to replenish and sustain our great parks system.
8. People who want their cake and to eat it too cannot keep that diet going much longer. There are some in Milwaukee County who want the beautiful picnic, swimming, or day of golf but do not want to pay for anyone else's enjoyment but their own. And, with slight exaggeration, there are those on the County Board who want the benefits of a 1% tax increase without accomplishing the heavy lifting of voting on their own turf.

We have a one-time opportunity, despite a wicked economy and dangerous revenue projections, to help get something right. Let's deliver $65 million in property tax relief to Milwaukee County residents. Let's take the bus system off the property tax now and forever. Let's join with our regional partners in Racine and Kenosha to help build the economic infrastructure that brings more jobs to Wisconsin and a brighter future for our families.

And, let's send a collective message to the naysayers. We can do this, Milwaukee. No matter where we live, what our background, or how much money we have, when we work together, there is no stopping our progress. Yes we can Milwaukee.  Yes we will.

State. Rep. Josh Zepnick (D-Milwaukee) represents the Ninth District.