In today’s newspaper there was an article on major repairs to Miller Park Stadium, the home of the Milwaukee Brewers. We, taxpayers, are responsible for 70% of major repairs to the stadium which are around 1.4 million this year and expected to be 1.5 million in 2016. One of the products being studied is how to provide heat to the lowest 13 rows of seats. Most of Miller Park’s seats are heated with warm air flowing through ducts hidden below the rows. But tight space and other factors prevent that system from reaching the lowest 13 rows. So a separate air handling units warms those seats. However, these new units are now facing corrosion due the salt from peanut shells. Since banning peanuts at Miller Park is not possible so a new system needs to be created for these 13 rows.

Last Thursday the Milwaukee County Executive presented his budget to the County Board of Supervisors. After his presentation a county supervisor asked the County Executive what his budget would do to help the Milwaukee African American community, the largest such community in Wisconsin? His response was to talk about increased spending for social programs, such as more programming at the House of Correction (an extension of the county jail), child support enforcement, social services and mental health services. One commentator said the County Executive “apparently thinks that most African Americans are criminals, unwed mothers, welfare queens and/or psychotic.” See Cognitive Dissidence blog

Last night the Mayor of Milwaukee held a public hearing on his 1.55 billion budget for city of Milwaukee. People were angry at spending $880, 000 of the 278 million police budget to equip 1,200 beat officers with body cameras; the city spending millions on the new Milwaukee Buck’s arena; the news streetcar trolley serving the elite who can afford to live downtown; the low wage of Milwaukee’s public employees struggling to keep up with the cost of living. Critics of the budget pointed how all this money could be used to reduce recidivism, fight poverty and prevent homelessness. After the hearing the Mayor said: “Overall, I was very, very pleased. There was really little criticism of the budget itself.”

The city, county and State lawmakers decided that the taxpayers should pay 400 million dollars (with interest) on building a new Milwaukee Buck’s basketball arena and entertainment district downtown for the Wall Street Edge Funds owners of the team. Some call it ‘welfare for the rich’.

The newspaper also announced today that a new charter school was being planned for the South Side of Milwaukee. This charter school would use State public education funds, private and Federal government grants, thus further eroding funds from traditional public schools that often are left with the hardest to educate.

I continue to be amazed by the construction of the new street in front of our house. All the money, engineering, labor going into this project is amazing.

Maybe the poor and segregated in Milwaukee, the second poorest city in USA and the most segregated should start eating peanuts on the streets of Milwaukee so the salt from the peanuts will corrode our neighbors and force city to reconstruct these neighborhoods and thus create jobs for citizens in Milwaukee. But maybe corrosion of our neighborhoods from salted peanuts would just be ignored like other issues of housing, employment and good public schools. Then again people in need and the Black community are left with peanuts from the city, county and state, as it is. So why not try.

Comments

Please send any comments on this post to . Let us know which day’s post your comments pertain to. If the comments are appropriate we will post them here for you.