359 Degrees

Yesterday there was a reply to my post on deer population control by frequent contributor Santa's Elf.  He included a link to an online discussion regarding a rifle he believes was written by Brookfield's own intewedm.  That got me wondering what else Mr. intewedm might have written.  After a little googling around, I found over 1,500 entries by a person or persons using the name "intewedm".

There was one rather curious entry.  You can find the entry by going to Google and entering the keywords "intewedm pillow".  When I tried, the only Google result is the following, dated August 15, 2007 at 9:08 p.m.  Warning: The web site may be offensive to some.  In fact the quote posted using the name intewedm said,

"What's with the [**] comments?  Get lost in the closet!  Angelina is homely.  Charlize is a doll!"

With that find, I posted the following reply to Santa's Elf comment.  Unfortunately, I used the quote from the next line on that page regarding pillow fights from someone using the name Lawrence.

"As for INTEWEDM, have you seen the comments on a web site dated August 15, 2007 by a person using that name regarding lesbian [will this get through the MJS word filters?] pillow fights?  Specifically, "the pillow fights will be awsome [sic]"  I'd post the link, but it would never get past the MJS editors. 

Besides, it couldn't have been posted by OUR intewedm who wears his faith on his sleeve and berates others for poor spelling. THAT would make him a hypocrite and I would never suggest such a thing!"

I sincerely apologize to Mr. Intewedm, whomever he is, for confusing Lawrence's comment on pillow fights with his [intewedm's] comment on closets. 

Of course, I have no way of knowing whether the intewedm from the web site is Brookfield's own, which is exactly why I used the phrase "by a person using that name [intewedm]".

I want to thank Brookfield resident Cindy Kilkenny for bringing the error to my attention.  She is only too familiar with how easy it is to fall prey to a misinterpretation of web pages.  Back in the fall of 2006 election cycle for state assembly, Mrs. Kilkenny wrote the following BrookfieldNow blog entry.  I'd provide a link to it, but the blog was erased when Mrs. Kilkenny stopped writing.  Not that I mean to imply the change was so that evidence of poor journalism would be covered up or anything.

[NOTE: I editted this after its original posting to make it less wordy.  I believe the gist of the post is unchanged.]

"FRIDAY, Sept. 1, 2006, 9:32 a.m.

Here's hoping Mike Maxwell can find his way home (UPDATE)

Help me, I can't stop blogging. There's a post from yesterday you may have missed, but you'll have to click the red "Aug" below to see it.

The real problem is that politicians can't stop lying. Mike Maxwell gave his home as "Town of Brookfield" in today's bio information for the Journal Sentinel article. Earlier he told fellow blogger Richard Cieslak that that he lives in Brookfield.

Mike Maxwell lives in Waukesha. His county GIS information (as well as his candidate registration) shows his home as Waukesha.

[deleted comments about Maxwell trying to "manipulate my (Kilkenny's) perception".]

UPDATE - 12:30pm

I apologize to Mike Maxwell. He does live in the TOWN of Brookfield. His mailing address is Waukesha, the school district is Waukesha, and his candidate registrition [sic] uses the Waukesha mailing address, but he pays TOWN of Brookfield taxes. Again I apologize: I implied he was lying when I said, "politicians can't stop lying" and then I said he lived in Waukesha. And this time the paper was right, he lives in the TOWN, not the City of Brookfield.

[Deleted comments about town and city of Brookfield relations.  Deleted comment about how it's all due to a poor Waukesha County supplied map.]

 By the way, the discussion on rifles by intewedm noted earlier included this comment,

"21st Aug 2004

I was on vacation and got the rifle a few days after I returned. It came with a tin of Beeman Silver Bear pellets. The pellets are so much better than the Chinese "junk" I was using. The first shot was at a bird on my suet feeder, 10 meters away, and the bird is now in "bird heaven". I couldn't be more pleased. I am not missing any varmints that are raiding our bird feeders. The rifle is quieter too, so I won't be tipping of [sic] the neighbours that I am shooting. The only "problem" is that it's pretty long and it's hard to sneak it around my blind without the varmints seeing it. Slow and easy does it though."

I thought the use of meters instead of yards was out of character for Brookfield's intewedm.   If this comment was written by a City of Brookfield resident, it would be a confession of breaking the following city ordinance:

9.28.010 Discharge of firearms prohibited.   

A. Except as provided in subsection B of this section, no person shall fire, discharge or use any firearm, air rifle, spring or air gun of any description, or any instrument which impels a missile or pellet by compressed air, spring or other means within the city nor shall any person have any firearm, air rifle, spring or air gun of any description, or any instrument which impels a missile or pellet by compressed air, spring or other means in his possession or under his control unless it is unloaded and knocked down or enclosed within a carrying case or other suitable container. The discharge or use of any bow and arrow is prohibited in the city, except in designated areas in city parks.  

B. Exceptions. Subsection A of this section shall not apply to any of the following:  

1. Any duly authorized law officer in the performance of his duties;  

2. Any supervised rifle or pistol range or shooting gallery authorized by the council;  

3. Any deer or animal control program duly authorized by the common council. (Ord. 1891 sections 1 and 2, 2002; Ord. 1843 section 1, 2001; Prior code section 9.01)

It's a good thing that none of these comments were made by OUR intewedm, right?

One of the quality of life issues the city manages is controlling the deer population.   With a plentiful food supply (your lawns), no natural predators (bobcats, anyone?) and plenty of natural cover (all that green space everyone wants more of), it's a perfect environment for a deer population explosion.  It's a common problem in many suburban areas.  There are several options to control the population as outlined on this page from the Wisconsin DNR, all with good and bad points.  The city started a control program in 2002.  It is summarized in the following chart.

There are some public safety issues as well.  Deer can carry Lyme Disease, chronic wasting disease, and be the cause of auto accidents.  This chart shows the deer/car collisions in the city.   A "reportable" accident is an occurrence that originates or terminates on a traffic way that involves at least one motor vehicle in transport, and results in any of the following:

• Injury or fatality of a person
• Total damage to one person's property to an apparent extent of $1,000 or more
• Damage to government-owned property to an apparent extent of $200 or more, except government owned vehicles, where the threshold is $1,000 or more

A "non-reportable" accident is an occurrence that does not meet the above criteria.  For example, a couple of years ago I was waiting behind a school bus for two deer to cross North Avenue by Wirth Park.  My car was rear ended by a car whose driver was busy tuning the radio.  It was not seen as deer related.  Of course there are also accidents that don't get reported at all and thus can't be classified as reportable or non-reportable. 

Year	Reportable	Non-Reportable	Total
2000	60	21	81
2001	67	13	80
2002	43	21	64
2003	70	1	71
2004	32	16	48
2005	39	18	57
2006	40	8	48
2007	38	14	52

MJS, June 17, 2008 Deer - Jogger Collision

In January, 2008 the program cost $25,763.  That works out to about $233/deer for sharpshooting (rifle) and about $400/deer for live trapping.  The article linked to above indicates this is a bargain.    The city is under tremendous pressure to reduce spending and taxes.  This is an excellent example of a new program (started in 2002) with a continuing cost (new deer are born every year, so the deer population reduction continues every year) that is not absolutely essential (in the way a fireman is deemed to be) but is politically popular. 

Should the deer control program be continued?  You tell me!

On June 9 the Plan Commission considered my referral on a historic building preservation ordinance.  It was about 10:15 pm and all but one resident had already left.  I was late to the Plan Commission meeting because I was meeting with some District 5 homeowners who had suffered flooding.  You can't really understand the challenges those residents face by just sitting in your family room with a laptop and a crate of Oreos!

There were many good questions from the commissioners about past commission meetings on preservation, what the goals should be, how to measure community support, etc.  In the end, the Commission unanimously decided to assign the 2035 Master Plan Task Force the job of discussing the topic at one of their first meetings with a report back to the commission.  The idea is to use the task force as a sounding board for public opinion to measure if Brookfield residents believe historic building preservation is worthwhile.  The staff will also try to locate a consultant to review and update the building inventory.  If both of those are positive, the hard part of figuring out how to pay for the study will be next. 

Why hire a consultant?  There's an important difference between being architecturally or historically significant and being just another old farm house.  Some definitions use 50 years as the start of an "historic" designation, then narrow it down with many other factors.  For example, there is a not-so-old house in Brookfield that is considered by some architects to be a treasure because it was bought from a Sears catalog!  I wish you could have heard the excitement of several of the commissioners.  Unfortunately, I understand that a malfunction with the video equipment meant none of the meeting was recorded.  I'm sure we'll hear all sorts of un-medicated paranoid conspiracy theories about that!

By the way, I will soon be mailing in my membership application to the Elmbrook Historical Society.  They are the volunteer group behind the Dousman House.  I'm sure someone will consider this a conflict of interest, but I want to show I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is.  Are you?

A few weeks ago I made a request for the city to study creating an ordinance protecting historic properties. I wrote about it in my blog entry Historic Building Preservation. It comes up for discussion at the Plan Commission meeting on Monday, June 9.  As with most things in city policy, the two biggest hurdles will be community support and money.

My recommendation is to start with a study determining how many historic buildings exist in the city and finding out what can be done to preserve them.  That will cost money that was not budgeted for this year.  Before the city can spend money now allocated for some other purpose or take it from a contingency fund (how do you think we paid for that extra road salt last January?), we'll need some feel for whether people will support the whole concept to begin with.  Here's how you can help:

1) Send an email to the city clerk's office (cityhall@ci.brookfield.wi.us) stating, "I endorse the city's study to identify historic local buildings which may lead to ordinances restricting the use and remodeling of those buildings in order to preserve them for future generations."  If you really want to make a point, you can state "I will support an increase in my property taxes or a voluntary user fee for the purpose of funding this preservation effort and am willing to make a private donation as well."

2) Speak at the public comment period of the Common Council meeting.  The next one is June 17 at 7:45 pm.  Your comment can be pretty much the same as in 1), but in person it can be more effective.

If this issue is of importance to you, this is the time to speak up.  I'll need a lot of help to make this go anywhere!

Click here for a copy of the official 1993 report listing local historic properties:  1993_HistoricInventory.pdf

The official staff report to Monday's Plan Commission reads:

"Report: 

1. At the May 6, 2008 Common Council meeting Alderman Scott Berg forwarded a legislative referral to the Plan Commission to consider an historic building preservation ordinance. 
2. Alderman Berg also issued a memo on May 1, 2008 outlining suggestions for how staff can research and create the ordinance.  Attached is his memo for your review. 
3. In the early 1990’s, an inventory of historic buildings was created by the Community Development Department.  Staff also provided an educational presentation to Plan Commission and Common Council on historical building preservation in the City and available grants and programs.  In addition, staff drafted an historical building preservation ordinance for consideration by Plan Commission and Common Council.  Ultimately, the ordinance was rejected because the City felt it was too draconian and onerous to property owners.  No other activity in regard to an ordinance has taken place since this time. 
4. The Mayor has identified that by statute, the 2035 Comprehensive Plan is to include a Historical Building Preservation section.  That could be a possible venue for this discussion. 
5. Staff’s direct response to Alderman Berg’s memo is as follows:

• Item 1:  Funding would be required to update the historic building inventory.  The last inventory was conducted in 1993 at a cost of $14,000.00.  An estimate of the cost today is not known because the inventory is complete and would need updating; however, the existing inventory is 15 years old.  Funding would need to be identified, possibly in the 2009 budget. 
• Item 2: Plan Commission and Common Council can direct staff to conduct a local, regional or national search for what other communities have done in this regard. 
• Item 3: Currently, VK Development is planning on preserving the Ruby Farm house and outbuildings west of Calhoun Road.  The Dousman-Dunkel-Behling house is preserved and the City has implemented a recommended preservation of the Village Railroad Depot in the Village Area Neighborhood Plan and completed an architectural assessment of the building. 
• Item 4: This could be addressed through the 2035 Comprehensive Plan process. 
• Item 5: The creation of any ordinances or implementation of tools would need to wait until staff was directed by Plan Commission and Common Council directed staff to undertake the previous items discussed in this report.

 Please note that items #2 and #5 are not currently within the scope of services for 2035 Comprehensive Plan update. 

6. Staff is requesting that Plan Commission review the referral and provide direction to staff, with particular guidance given to items 1, 2, 4 and 5 of Alderman Berg’s memo."

One of the most common complaints an alderman gets is someone stating their neighborhood's traffic is too fast, too reckless, in too high a volume and that the situation is highly unsafe.  The Board of Public Works (BPW) adopted a new policy for "traffic calming" at its May 13, 2008 meeting.  The chief architect and champion of that new policy is 7th District Alderwoman Lisa Mellone, who placed it on the 2006-2008 City Strategic Plan and wrote about it on her blog.

I serve on the BPW and support the new policy.  The following is an overview.  I invite your comments!

Implementation

So, how do you get your street considered for this treatment?  The policy defines a process to be followed, roughly (see the link below for the complete policy) as follows:

1. A resident makes a complaint and fills out an application describing it.
2. The city staff determines if the complaint falls within the policy guidelines.  If so, continue on.
3. Supporting data is collected.  That's the police speed trailer, accident history, etc.  If the objective data looks bad, continue on.
4. Start the education and enforcement steps.  If the problem persists, continue on.
5. Select an engineering solution.  e.g speed bumps, etc.
6. Review of the proposal by BPW, budget for changes, give approval.
7. Continue to monitor to see if the changes solved the problem.

There are several good reasons for this seemingly complicated process.  One is to make sure the problem is real, and not just an isolated incident.  Another is to place all complaints on an equal footing and eliminate unfairness (real or imagined) on which neighborhood gets consideration.  This deliberate process defuses many of the opposing arguments by weeding out the questionable cases.

Education

The first component of the policy is education.  The idea is to remind people what safe driving is and to involve the people most aware of the situation in its solution. First, yard signs can be placed with messages like "Slow Down".  Second, the police trailer that shows an oncoming car it's speed as measured by radar can be used.  That also collects objective data to document traffic volume, average speed, time of day patterns and generally raise awareness in the minds of those driving by.  Another possibility is to lend residents radar guns to measure the traffic speed for themselves so that they understand that a car going 25 mph might appear to  going be a lot faster when you're close to the road.

Enforcement

Station police patrols to monitor the traffic and write citations as needed. 

Engineering

If an area has a recognized problem with speeding traffic, the road can be physically modified in an attempt to slow it down.  Keep in mind that the following list is what other cities have done.  They would be constructed only in extreme cases and only after careful consideration.  Some may not be used at all in Brookfield.

• Additional signs - Indicating the speed limit, asking for caution, warning of pedestrians. Simple and cheap, but easy to ignore.
• Vertical deflection - That's engineer speak for speed humps.  A hump is like a bump, only not as tall and steep and thus not as jarring.  There are a few in Weston Hills in the southwest corner of the city.  Another version is the speed table which is sort of a speed hump but not as high and as wide as your car.
• Horizontal deflection - More engineer speak for making the road curvy.  A good example is Norhardt Drive (west edge of Ruby Isle) where there is a curve in the middle, forcing traffic to slow down to see around it.
• Bulb (bump) outs - Curbs extending into the street creating a narrow point.  You see these in the Brookfield Road Village area defining parallel parking spaces and corners.
• Chokers - Make short sections of the road one lane to force one car to stop while a car heading in the opposite direction passes through. 
• Street closure - Make a dead end, ending cut through traffic but forcing all the residents of that street to exit the neighborhood in one less way.

There are other, in my experience less popular, constructs such as traffic circles (mini-roundabouts for low volume locations) and chicanes (think zig-zag), but you get the idea.

Cost

Nothing is free.  Here are some ballpark cost estimates from the consultant.

• Speed humps - $2,000 for several humps close enough to be effective.
• Bulbouts - $7,000+
• Partial (one way traffic) or full (dead end) closure - $120,000 for ripping out the pavement, planting grass, changing signs, etc.

Some cities will only implement traffic calming in a neighborhood if the adjacent residents pay for it.  It ensures people only pay for something that benefits their house and is a way of ensuring that neighborhood support is sincere.  Would you be willing to pay $100 for "your share" of the speed bump in the road in front of your house?  City assessments are treated like taxes.  Once the cost and affected area is determined, you must pay, whether you agreed with it or not.

 Official Policy - I know it's dry reading, but everything is there.

Policy adopted on May 13 by the BPW

Presentation by traffic consultant on February 19, 2008

Related Web Sites on Traffic Calming

Wikipedia entry on traffic calming.  A fair overview.

Traffic consulting firm's site on the topic.  Very similar to what Brookfield's consultant said.

Federal Highway Administration site on traffic calming

 An Opposing Viewpoint

There are some objections to traffic calming.  This is part of that other 359 degree of a debate that some blogs ignore because they don't agree with it.  I believe in a truly fair and balanced discussion before making a decision.  My affirmative vote speaks my decision after considering these points.

• Fire trucks, ambulances and police cars have to slow down when they encounter them, even in an emergency.
• The problem is not speed or recklessness, but heavy traffic.  These measures just chase the traffic into someone else's neighborhood, solving nothing.
• None of this stuff is free.  Are you willing to pay for it?
• How can you plow snow with all that junk in the road?
• Cars running over speed bumps make a "thump" noise that wasn't there before.  Is it too noisy?  Does it ruin the car's suspension or tire balance?
• Anything can be abused.  Two cars may reach a choker and "play chicken."  Speed bumps may be seen as a challenge.
• I've lived on this street for 30 years and raised my kids here without a problem.  This is just some worry wart parents too lazy to supervise their kids properly.
• Air pollution increases.  You slow down coming to the barrier, then accelerate leaving it rather than keeping a fuel conserving steady speed.

Americans Against Traffic Calming

Road Access for Disabled Americans

National Motorists Association

At the Council meeting of May 6, I submitted the following legislative referral to study the preservation of historic structures in the City of Brookfield, possibly leading to a new protective ordinance.  Brookfield has been my home for over 20 years and I understand just how fragile our link is to the city's roots. 

In response to this referral, the planning office has given me several documents concerning previous unsuccessful efforts for preservation.  One was the historic building inventory of 1993.  There were also minutes of Plan Commission meetings in 1995-96 and results from a special citizen task force.  No action was taken then because, in the Commissioner's opinion, there was insufficient public support and fierce opposition from owners who feared such an ordinance would unduly limit their ability to  manage their own property with no proportionate compensation.  Planning is often about balancing the rights of property owners against the desires of the larger community. I'll keep you posted as this develops during the coming months.

The complete referral:

This is a service request / legislative referral I will make at the May 6, 2008 Council meeting.

I request that the city consider a historic building preservation ordinance.  There are still many fine examples of late 19th and early 20th century buildings that remind Brookfield residents of their roots and of how much life has changed in a relatively short time.  Besides, Brookfield will never have 300 year old farmhouses if they are all torn down when they are “only” 100 years old!

This complex task was attempted in (I believe) the early 1990’s and the records from that effort may provide a better definition of the task. Some concepts include:

1. Update the inventory of historic buildings created by the planning department in the earlier effort.  I believe some of the buildings have been razed or renovated beyond recognition.

2. Outline what other communities have done in this area.  I am especially interested in Cedarburg (often cited during the Village Neighborhood Plan meetings),Waukesha (nearby and its downtown has many significant buildings), Town of Brookfield (neighboring community with many historic and demographic connections) and major historical sites such as Boston.

3. Give special attention to the Ruby Farm property, the Dousman-Dunkel-Behling House and the Village Railroad Station, which are probably the largest and most prominent structures.

4. Solicit public comment.  I believe the heart of the issue will be whether the burden of new, severe restrictions on historic structure property owners is outweighed by a greater public good of preservation.

5. Suggest ordinances, creation of historic building district(s), historic building review boards and other planning tools as may be needed to achieve the desired results.

In Brookfield city government, the first detailed debate on an issue happens in a committee.  That allows a few alderman to focus on a topic and make the first judgment on what is reasonable. 

Here are the committees appointed on Tuesday, May 6.

The Finance committee sets policy on the entire city budget.  One major task is debating the annual budget proposed by the Mayor and staff every October for the following year.  Continuing duties include approving purchases over $50,000, dealing with claims from residents (e.g. snowplow hit my mailbox), selecting the bank for city funds, etc.

One common debate is whether the Finance Committee can effectively nullify some other committee's decision by removing all funding for it.  That's common at the state and federal level.  The reverse is to fund a program that was rejected by the "correct" committee, which is the heart of the federal earmark spending actions.  That doesn't really work at the city level since the budget is relatively simple and transparent.  Besides, the entire Council, including the originating committee members, have to approve such a decision.  Continuing issues for finance include funding services while keeping taxes in check, despite declining federal and state aid, little new construction (new tax base) increasing employee insurance costs, etc.

A central activity is reviewing the past budgets and setting the next one:

• May - Set broad budget parameters.  e.g. property tax rate can go up 2%
• Summer months - Mayor and department heads discuss what to spend for the next year, balancing new services against the limits set
• September - Mayor submits the Executive Budget to the aldermen
• October - A series of marathon meetings reviewing the Executive Budget and amending as desired
• November - Public hearing on budget.  I've seen as many as two (2) residents at this meeting. 
• December - Final adjustments to the budget based on state aid, etc.  Tax bills get mailed out and paid.

The Human Resources and Public Safety (HRPS) committee (I'm the only alderman to have opposed that unfortunate name) sets policy for city employees, including salaries, benefits, harassment lawsuit claims, behavior standards, etc.

The Legislative and Licensing (L&L) committee grants liquor and bartender licenses and, more significantly, originates most city ordinances.

The Board of Public Works (BPW) manages the streets, stormwater and city buildings.  Continuing issues include building the fire stations and continuing the Calhoun Road expansion.  Yard waste disposal (leaf burning) will be discussed here.  This committee is unusual in that the Mayor is a full member but can appoint an alderman to serve in his place.  In practice, the alternate almost always serves.  In addition, if one of the other aldermen is absent there is an aldermanic alternate to serve in his place.  In other communities it is common to have citizen members or to have a staff member (usually the City Engineer or Director of Public Works) to be a voting member.

The Water & Sewer Board (two separate committees until 2006) sets policy for the water utility and sewer utility.  Continuing issues include building out the water system, finding a safe and plentiful water supply (Lake Michigan water?) and dealing with the endless lawsuits from the Town of Brookfield over sewers.  This committee deals with a lot of public hearings for installing water mains.  I recall very clearly when, in the course of one minute, a resident called the committee members *** and Communists.  It's not a ho-hum committee when people's basements fill up with sewage!  Up until 2006, the mayor was a committee member and appointed an alderman as his alternate.

The Forestation committee sets policy for planting trees in city parks, roadsides, building yards, etc.  Many cities merge this function with the Board of Public Works.  However, since the BPW is always tempted to keep the roadside right of way clear of all plantings, there is always a conflict of goals.  Having a separate committee was the compromise to plant a reasonable number of trees along roadsides.

A few comments:

Almost every week, each alderman receives a packet of information regarding the city.  It is delivered to their house, usually on Saturday morning, by a Brookfield Police Reserve officer.  This ensures delivery in a timely manner, especially for those aldermen who have full time jobs, who travel often, etc. and thus would otherwise have difficulty getting the pacet.  The old joke is that once someone is elected aldermen, "the cops are always over at their place."

The packets range in length from a dozen pages to hundreds of pages.  They include the agenda and supporting information for each committee meeting that alderman must attend during the coming week.  Also included are minutes of past meetings, letters from residents sent to city hall, special reports, the library newsletter, and the occasional miscellaneous item.

At the council meeting of April 15, 2008, I requested a study be done to:

• convert the packet information (supporting information for committee meetings) to electronic form for delivery to the aldermen
• place the electronic packets on the city web site where they would be available to anyone at anytime for free
• convert all past city records into electronic form and stored in a searchable database. 

Click here to see my referral on electronic packets.

It's all about making the city's business as open and available as possible.  Round the clock for free seems pretty available to me, and would be a natural outgrowth of modernizing the current paper bound system.  Of course, it won't be free since a new database tool would have to be acquired, old documents would have to be located and imported into the system, etc.  Brookfield already has agendas, minutes, some reports and planning documents available in this way, but I want to expand it greatly.  The city clerk's office has long used a special database product designed for city clerks.  My point is that it doesn't include everything and is not available to the general public or even the aldermen.

To help you understand what this information is, I have scanned every packet I received since January, 2008 into a PDF file and stored it on my web site.  Here are a couple of examples:

So, what do you think?  Would allowing everyone full access to exactly the information the aldermen see, at the same time it is delivered to the aldermen, be worth a few bucks?  Do you think it would create better public policy, debate and decisions?  Do you think it would address the accusation that the city is always hiding something?

I want to share with you some photos of recent vandalism activity in Brookfield.  An important part of the city's job is ensuring the safety of its residents and protection of private property.  I would like your opinions on whether this stuff is harmless or dangerous.   

• How many of your tax dollars do you want spent on police patrols looking for this sort of midnight hijinks? 
• Do you think it's fair to the property owner and his neighbors who have to clean this stuff up?
• What would you do if your kid (!) was caught doing this?  Boys will be boys?

First, here are some photos of a "TP-ing" that was probably the result of high school "Junior - Senior Wars".  Two trees in the front yard were covered in toilet paper, the front yard had dozens of plastic forks inserted and landscape rocks (75 lb+) were moved out of position.

Here are a few photos from a back yard.  The rear lot line abuts one of the walking/biking paths being installed throughout the city.  Kids turn off the path to take a shortcut through the backyard, leaving tire marks.  This time, one of those kids threw a bottle bomb.  The chemicals killed the grass and debris was thrown over seven (7) feet.  Do you want your kid biking around with caustic and volatile chemicals to throw in someone's back yard?  And so much for privacy!  By the way, you can get the recipe for this in about two minutes with a Google or YouTube search.  Even the local TV news has covered it a few times.  The yellow arrows point out the impact point and shrapnel.

Now the final question:  Do you think these kids flew in from St. Louis for the day to vandalize Brookfield?  I mean, your kids would never do this stuff, right?  At least, they were never caught doing it!

Stem cell research has become a very hot topic, both scientifically and morally.  I ran across this item on stem cells that has an unexpected Brookfield  connection.

A standard method for growing clusters of stem cells (embroid bodies) is called the hanging body technique.  You place a few cells into a tiny chamber, let them float in a nourishing fluid (mmm, yummy!)  and bump into each other.  The start to grow and differentiate, e.g. generic stem cells start changing into specific purpose cells, such as organs.  Every day you must change the fluid, a tedious manual task.

Professor Michelle Khine of the University of California - Merced specializes in microfludics.  That's a new engineering field that attempts to create extremely small mechanical devices to perform some remarkable tasks.  Dr. Khine decided to construct a tiny growth chamber for hanging cells that was shaped to make it easy to exchange the fluid.  Normally constructing such tiny devices requires an elaborate photo-lithography machine, but the young professor had no research grant money.  So, she improvised based on a childhood memory - Shrinky Dinks.  She printed a pattern of the machine she wanted on the plastic sheet, warmed it up and the 3-D growth chamber (a biaxially pre-stressed thermoplastic sheet) formed up .

For those of you who don't know the story, Shrinky Dinks were invented by two Brookfield cub scout den mothers in 1973.  Their names?  Betty Morris and Kate Bloomberg.  Yes, THAT Kate Bloomberg.  They commercialized the product, selling the first boxes at the Brookfield Mall.  Click here for the official Shrinky Dink web site.

I don't think this method will ever actually be used directly to create stem cell growth chambers, but it is a creative bit of research showing how simple materials can be adapted for life changing experiments.  For more details, including a 7 minute video, see: "Shrinky-Dink Hanging Drops: A Simple Way to Form and Culture Embroid Bodies", Journal of Visualized Experiments,

I was talking to one of my hundreds of readers (see below) and he suggested that I solicit ideas for future blog entries.  After all, my main focus for starting this blog was to get some discussion going on topics of interest regarding the City of Brookfield government.  I have a long list of things that I want to write about, but part of my job as alderman is to listen to (well, in this case, read from) residents.  So go ahead.  Post your ideas and I'll see what I can do.

Scott

One of the most significant changes to Brookfield government that I have been a part of is televising the meetings of the Council, Plan Commission and annual budget meetings.  It was a highly controversial topic at the time, but I think it turned out well. 

Televising was approved in concept on October 7, 2003.  The first video recorded meeting was June 15, 2004.  Televising was expanded to include the Plan Commission and annual finance meetings on October 5, 2004. (By the way, those are links to my aldermanic web site where searchable copies of almost all council minutes from April, 2000 to the present are publically available.  Due to the volume and size of the pages, a link is the easiest way to make it available to you.)  There was always opposition to televising from some aldermen due to fears of excessive cost, the potential of grandstanding, etc.  As with all legislative acts, it took a lot of work to build a majority and every vote counted, not just mine.

The meetings may be viewed on cable channel 25 for several days following the meeting.  On request, you may view a past meeting at the City Clerk's office in City Hall.  For a small fee, you can get a DVD copy of the meeting.

At the April 15, 2008 council meeting, I made a referral to expand the televising of meetings.  That means the city staff and the appropriate committee (in this case it will start in Finance) will study the idea and decide what to do about it.  The referral was:

To: Mayor Jeff Speaker

Date: April 10, 2008

Re: Meeting Audio / Video Streaming

This is a service request / legislative referral I will make at the April 15, 2008 Council meeting.

I request the City study expanding televising of city meetings.

• Expand the televising program to all official meetings. This may be a phased implementation, but a specific program should be outlined, funded and scheduled.

• Allow real time (live) internet based audio or video streaming of certain meetings. Council and Plan Commission meetings would be good candidates. The City of Waukesha telecasts the Council and Plan Commission meetings live. Waukesha County Supervisor meetings are audiocast.

• Allow video streaming on demand for past meetings. If YouTube can do it, so can we.

Here is a link to a PDF of the submitted referral:   Referrals_20080415_Televising.pdf

There has been a continuing problem with the sound for meeting.  This is mostly due to the fact that the aldermen do not speak directly into their microphones.  Due to the arrangement of the desks, aldermen in the front row tend to turn around to talk to their colleagues which means they are facing away from their microphones.  There has been some discussion of remodeling the council room to arrange the desks into a horseshoe so that everyone will naturally look toward the audience which will also be towards their microphone.  There is no specific plan to do that now, though it may be part of the study I requested.

By the way, the television equipment was paid for with fees from Time-Warner Cable Company.  The cost of room remodeling is always tax dollars.

Brookfield residents take great pride in their homes, including landscaping.  That means they produce piles of leaves, sticks, flowers and all sorts of other yard waste needing disposal.  A special task force met in 2003 and proposed several new restrictions on leaf burning.  They are summarized in this article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel of August 17, 2003.  At the council meeting of December 2, 2003 the council accepted a slightly modified version of that task force recommendation, which placed new restrictions on leaf burning.  Note that I supported a total ban on burning. 

At the April 15, 2008 council meeting, I made a referral to study (again!) yard waste disposal, including leaf burning.  That means the city staff and the appropriate committee (BPW) will study the idea and decide what to do about it.  The referral was:

To: Mayor Jeff Speaker

Date: April 10, 2008

Re: Yard Waste

This is a service request / legislative referral I will make at the April 15, 2008 Council meeting.

I request the City study revising the yard waste disposal policy.

• Implement yard waste (leaves, grass, flowers, sticks, etc.) pickup at all residences on a seasonal basis.
• Once the collection system is in place, a phased reduction of leaf burning eventually leading to a total ban.
• Implementing this may have a substantial financial and operational impact, so the review may fall outside the normal committee workload.

Here is a link to a PDF of the submitted referral:  Referrals_20080415_YardWaste.pdf

The last point about "may fall outside the normal committee workload" hints at the possibility of handling this outside of the Board of Public Works committee meetings and instead holding public hearings or even using a special task force.  In any event, the BPW will be the starting point.

So, what do you think?

Well, the April 15 Council meeting held a few surprises after all.  Here are the highlights.

Mark Nelson and Dan Sutton ran for Council President and Mark Nelson won.  The first and second ballots were ties, 7 to 7. The mayor chose to abstain since he felt this vote was unique to the aldermen.  Besides, a tie breaker would have instantly alienated half the group.  After the  second vote, Dan Sutton asked for a recess.  When the meeting started again, Dan stated that his candidacy was about unification, not division, and he withdrew from the race.  The third ballot was 13 for Nelson, 1 for Sutton.

Electing a Council President is the only situation where state law allows a secret ballot.  It is clear that a close vote could create permanent tension in the group and poison the rest of the term.  That being said, this is my personal opinion of who voted how:

• For Sutton: Sutton, Carnell, Balzer, Blackburn, J. Mellone, L. Mellone, Lowerr
• For Nelson: Owen, Reddin, Garvens, Ponto, Nelson, Mahkorn, Berg

I have a pretty good idea of who the lone Sutton vote was on the third ballot, and it wasn't Dan (or me!).  The really sad thing is that lone alderman has repeatedly shown that he has no interest in the people's business.  He just wants to settle scores, real or imagined.

The proposed north side fire station was another big topic.  Director of Administration Dean Marquardt, Director of Parks Bill Kolstad and Interim Fire Chief Bill Selzer prepared the presentation and answered many questions from the Council.  In the end, the aldermen agreed to the following:

1. The Park and Recreation Commission should study the proposal for placing the station in Fairview Park.  A long list of concerns from aldermen and residents was created, including parking, playground equipment, stormwater management and landscaping.
2. The staff should prepare a report on the four alternative locations (all near Calhoun Road and Capitol Drive) comparing the sites for operational efficiency, cost and traffic impact, plus anything else that might come up.

Nothing about the stations was "decided" or "cast in stone".  This is one more step in evaluating many options.  With this dual track analysis, and under the best possible conditions, a decision might be made by the council in July. 

There were perhaps 10 residents in the gallery for the fire station issue which is about the same as the number who attended last week's joint Plan Commission / Park Commission meeting.  It was erroneously blogged that last week's meeting was packed.  In fact, almost half of the visitors were developers, architects, lawyers, etc. for the Plan Commission meeting, plus several aldermen not on those Commissions (I was one of them).

I also made four referrals for committee action.  Each has many details that I will describe in future blog entries as they are considered by committees.  To summarize:

• Review the yard waste disposal policy.  Ideally, this would lead to a comprehensive residential collection system and phase out leaf burning completely.  The real problem here will be money.
• Expand televising to all city meetings.  Start live broadcasts and internet audiocasts. 
• Provide aldermen with city managed email accounts.  Some new technology makes this much easier than in the past.
• Convert all city records to electronic form, accessible to anyone via the city web site.  The challenge here will be cost and a perception that such widespread accessibility would be useless.

The meeting started about 7:45 and ended about 10:15, which is average.

The first meeting of the 28th City of Brookfield Common Council will be held on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 starting at 7:45 p.m.  There are a few items of special interest.

The first order of business will be swearing in the 7 newly (re) elected alderman.  They are (in order by district) Dan Sutton, Rick Owen, Ron Balzer, Steve Ponto, Scott Berg, Chris Blackburn and Renee Lowerr.  Renee is the only new alderman. (I haven't had a chance to ask her if she prefers alderwoman.)  I remember my first inaugaration very well.  It's a moment of great satisfaction.  Then the real work begins!

Second will be the election of the Common Council President.  There are several duties for Council President, including:

• Appoint most of the committee members
• Chair Council meetings in the Mayor's absence
• Serve as acting mayor if the mayor is unable to serve
• Perform ceremonial duties such as ribbon cuttings

This year, there will be two candidates.  First is 1st District Alderman Dan Sutton.  Dan announced his intentions with personal phone calls to each of us.  There are tight limits on what he could say as outlined in a letter from the City Attorney, but his main point was that he wants to bridge the rift that has developed in the council in the last few years.  The second candidate is 4th District Alderman Mark Nelson who mailed each of us a letter (I got mine today) outlining his experience and his intentions to foster healthy debate yet unify the group.  The candidate who gets a simple majority (at least 8 of the 14 alderman) immediately takes office.  In the event of a tie, the Mayor is legally entitled to vote a tie breaker, but he is not required to.  For this issue, the Mayor is almost certain to abstain, letting the aldermen sort out who should have the job.

The other key item will be a presentation on the proposed location for the new north side fire station (Station #2).  The first public presentation was at a joint Plan Commission and Parks Commission meeting last week on April 7.  Many of the questions raised by the commissioners and residents will be answered at this presentation.  I will have lots more to say about the fire stations in future posts.

There are also lots of routine ("ministerial duties") items such as granting bartender's licenses which usually go pretty quickly.

If you can't attend the meeting, you can always catch it on the local cable channel during the next week.  I will share my insights on the meeting in a couple of days.

Welcome to BrookfieldNow's newest blog - "359 Degrees".  I chose that name because a full circle has 360 degrees, yet too many bloggers focus on the tiniest one degree segment that interests them.  My intent is to be thorough when discussing issues and show you the many angles that issues can be viewed from.  However, by the time I'm done I will often state which "degree" is the one I prefer.

As a City of Brookfield 5th District Alderman since April, 2000, I have been fortunate to have been involved in many important decisions for the city.  The next few years will bring even more challenges and decisions.  I encourage you to contact me on this blog or privately by email.  I plan to moderate the blog posts, at least until I have a chance to add any required responses.  Since I don't do this full time, it may take a while for me to catch up.  Also, I want to be clear that any opinions and interpretations are mine and will be marked as such.  I am not speaking for the Mayor, Council or staff, just myself.

So, get out and enjoy the spring weather!  When you're ready for that cup of coffee, check back and see what's new.

Scott