Practically Speaking
Kyle and her husband moved to Brookfield in 1986. She became active in local politics and started blogging in 2004. Her focus is primarily on local issues but often includes state and national topics, too. Kyle looks at things from the taxpayers' perspective in a creative, yet down to earth way, addressing them from a practical point of view.
How is Barrett "knee deep" in sewer water yet squeaky clean? JournoList?
FEMA came to town yesterday; they will be assessing the flood damage over the next few days. Residents in Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, Milwaukee**, and other flooded areas, are still cleaning up (some for the 2nd and 3rd time) and hoping to get some help.
Tom Barrett campaigned for mayor "with a pledge to clean up MMSD*" in 2004. (Scroll down to 3rd entry: "Rains Bring Flood of Troubles for MMSD".) Since then, the sewers have been backing up, flooding, and sewage dumps into Lake Michigan have become more commonplace than ever, as in 2 Billion Gallons of Sewage!
I have heard horror stories of acquaintances living there. What a nightmare. A thought came to me: Since Tom Barrett is ultimately at the helm of the failed MMSD and these people from the more liberal area of the Metro Milwaukee area are justifiably fed up by the flooding and dumping, would their ire carryover to the voting booth in November?
But there doesn't seem to be any tie in to Barrett. Where is the criticism of the Mayor in the news media?
They were quick to jump on County Exec. Scott Walker for going on the campaign trail last Saturday instead of visiting the flooded as Mayor Barrett and Gov. Doyle did. No matter that Walker already visited the flooded areas and signed the documents declaring Milw. County a disaster area the day before on Friday. The Journal Sentinel article didn't mention that bit until midway down the page. No mention of Tom Barrett's pledge to clean up MMSD in his 2004 election in that article.
Why isn't Barrett held more accountable in the local news? He is in effect knee deep in the sewer water problem yet remains squeaky clean in the media and people's perception.
Nationally, Conservatives and Republicans ask this same question. They knew the news stories were skewed favorable toward Obama during the election while McCain and Palin were skewered. Nothing negative would stick to Obama, not Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, his radical positions...nothing. It seemed the media was and still is in cahoots: No negative stories on Democrats--eviscerate Republicans.
Then we found out our suspicions were confirmed with the now exposed "JournoList" group. (My emphasis) Outed journalist "Dave Weigel is a portal into the dark world of hardcore liberal bias in the media. This opening gives us a deeper insight into the insidious relationship between liberal think thanks, academics and their mouthpieces in the media." These people "form the narrative used by the press to thwart conservative messages. Like a ventriloquist’s dummy, the reporters on the listserv mimicked the talking points invented and agreed upon by the intellectuals...”
Barrett blamed mayoral opponent Marvin Pratt for the "overflows and inadequate sewer system" back in 2004. But we don't hear much about the mayor's responsibility regarding the MMSD from mainstream media now that the hip boot is on the other foot.
Could it be that Milwaukee's media has some sort of JournoList pact too?
*I wouldn't have remembered this because I didn't live in Milwaukee, but talk show host Mark Belling certainly does! He is one of the few media people discussing Barrett's MMSD tie in. Bloggers such as Freedom Eden have made a good case: 2 Billion Gallons of Sewage, Flood: Journal Sentinel Spins for Barrett, Slams Walker.
**The combined sewer in these areas of Milw. County are largely responsible for the dumps and sewer laden flood waters.
Post from the past: Teflon, Velcro, and Teflon II of presidential politics
8 COMMENTS
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While not an exact quote, this article leads one to believe it was promised: http://www.jsonline.com/historicarchive/search/?searchBy=word&searchText=Tom+Barrett%2C+Barrett%2C+Steve+Schultze&dat=&fromDate=&nid=jvrRlaHg2sAC&s.x=0&s.y=0
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It is so easy to fall into the simple conclusions from the news as reported by biased reporters. It is easy to point fingers to find someone to hold accoutable. It takes some independent thought to question and dig a bit deeper and see something closer to the whole picture. I do not in any way mean to be an apologist for Barrett, for MMSD, for any person or group -- I am unafiliated with any of it. I have no 'agenda' but honest logical thought. I want the rivers and lakes as clean as possible. But I also want politics as clean as possible. Trying to hang Barrett (or anyone else) on this matter is just plain dirty politics. (Don't take this to mean I'm a dyed in the wool Barrett supporter. Far from it!) I think there are far better issues to evaluate him on than to take freak events of nature and try to hang consequences from them on him. Fact is that miles of deep tunnel have been added in recent years. (I don't know or care if it had anything to do with Barrett.) And while Milwaukee may be virtually the only city in Wisconsin having combined sewers, the fact is that we are not the biggest offender when it comes to polluting rivers and lakes with combined sewage. Chicago just happens to dump theirs into a 'sanitary canal' to dump into a river which they reversed the flow of so it heads to the Illinois River and down the Mississippi! Detroit has a far worse problem than Milwaukee. Do a search and you'll find plenty of data about other cities with CSO problems. Does that excuse Milwaukee? NO! But it helps put it into a bit of perspective, which seems completely missing from all the local reporting and talking heads.
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It is so easy to fall into the simple conclusions from the news as reported by biased reporters. It is easy to point fingers to find someone to hold accoutable. It takes some independent thought to question and dig a bit deeper and see something closer to the whole picture. I do not in any way mean to be an apologist for Barrett, for MMSD, for any person or group -- I am unafiliated with any of it. I have no 'agenda' but honest logical thought. I want the rivers and lakes as clean as possible. But I also want politics as clean as possible. Trying to hang Barrett (or anyone else) on this matter is just plain dirty politics. (Don't take this to mean I'm a dyed in the wool Barrett supporter. Far from it!) I think there are far better issues to evaluate him on than to take freak events of nature and try to hang consequences from them on him. Fact is that miles of deep tunnel have been added in recent years. (I don't know or care if it had anything to do with Barrett.) And while Milwaukee may be virtually the only city in Wisconsin having combined sewers, the fact is that we are not the biggest offender when it comes to polluting rivers and lakes with combined sewage. Chicago just happens to dump theirs into a 'sanitary canal' to dump into a river which they reversed the flow of so it heads to the Illinois River and down the Mississippi! Detroit has a far worse problem than Milwaukee. Do a search and you'll find plenty of data about other cities with CSO problems. Does that excuse Milwaukee? NO! But it helps put it into a bit of perspective, which seems completely missing from all the local reporting and talking heads.
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Not to diminish how gross it is to dump any sewage into any river or lake, but the talking heads (radio, TV, newspaper, bloggers) blindly following group-think have failed to see the big picture.
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Reality - I would be happy to be enlightened on what Tom Barrett promised to do with respect to MMSD and MPS. Point out a link to his quotes on the matter, and I will read them with an open mind. I want to read his words on the subject, not someone's summarizing his position by saying "he promised to fix it."
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While it may be true that there was 2 billions gallons of untreated "sewage" released into the lake, one must recognize what is defined as "sewage." ("Wastewater" is probably a better definition, due to the many components it's comprised of, but "sewage" sounds so much more ominous.)
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Padraig:
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"sewage dumps into Lake Michigan have become more commonplace than ever".
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Back to topKyle Prast - Aug 31, 2010 10:24 AM - Report Abuse
Milwaukee Journal, "Barrett calls for overhaul of area sewerage district
If elected mayor, he says he would seek to stop MMSD dumping"
Jan. 7, 2004
"Milwaukee mayoral candidate Tom Barrett on Friday called for reforms to the sewerage district aimed at eliminating raw sewage dumping, including reconsideration of having a private firm operate the deep tunnel system and treatment plants."
IndependentVoice - Aug 05, 2010 7:10 PM - Report Abuse
IndependentVoice - Aug 05, 2010 7:10 PM - Report Abuse
IndependentVoice - Aug 05, 2010 6:52 PM - Report Abuse
1) As Padraig states, the deep tunnel HAS dramatically reduced the number and volume of CSOs (Combined Sewer Overflows). It was never designed to completely eliminate ALL possibility of any further CSO.
2) As CarpieD points out, a relatively small percent of the CSO is actually sewage. As I write, MMSD reports treating (between Jones Island and the South Shore plant) 173 million gallons per day. This may be near average or still slightly elevated from the storms. However, something more akin to this is the actual amount of waste water 'available' on any given day. And as CarpieD mentions, think of how much 'grey water' (showers/baths, washing machines and dishwashers, hand washing and dish rinsing, etc) you use each day, as compared to the number of times you flush a mere 1.6 gallons of water with actual sewage.
3) Not mentioned by anyone here, nor the media is the fact that rainwater running off from lawns and gardens (picking up fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, etc), driveways, streets, parking lots (picking up oil leaks, radiator leaks/boilovers, brake lining particles, tire particles, etc), picking up trash, debris, and droppings which lie curbside and in grassy roadsides (not everyone is consciencious about picking up after their pets) ... by the time 'pure, clean rainwater' hits the rivers and lake, even absent a CSO it is AS BAD AS untreated sewage!
4) In concert with the above, what few people EVER consider, is that the rivers and the lake are probably actually cleaner (on average) BECAUSE we have combined sewers! Right now, on all occasions that it rains and DOESN'T overwhelm the system, we actually treat a lot of rainwater which would otherwise NOT be treated! Separate the sewers completely and there would still be beach closings from the runoff!
Padraig - Jul 30, 2010 4:20 PM - Report Abuse
With respect to MPS - I must point out that the Mayor does not control the schools, and the move to hand over control of schools to the City was not successful - at least to this point. Other than encourage folks to vote for sane School Board members, I'm not sure what Barrett should be expected to do to fix a budget and a workforce that does not work for him. He can lobby folks to give the City control, but frankly, I don't think City control is the answer. Getting informed voters to vote for well-intentioned, intelligent school board members is the answer. I don't know if I'll see that in my lifetime.
Regarding MMSD - I don't know what Barrett promised, but I doubt that he promised an end to the dumping in the lake post heavy rains. If he did, then he's an idiot, because he can't accomplish that, nor will his successor. Little steps have been taken (huge retention areas like the one off Swan Blvd. in Tosa, and some other steps), but the only way to ensure the dumping to stop would require HUGE expenditures - expenditures that are in no way feasible or possible at this time. Why are we dumping waste water in the lake? Because - whether they know it or not - the public would like either alternative a whole lot less . . . a) huge tax increase; or b) crap in your basement.
CarpieD - Jul 30, 2010 1:17 PM - Report Abuse
The majority of the release, in fact over 85% of it, was rain water that fell that day. Yes, that also means upwards of 30 million gallons of NON-rain water was released. In that NON-rain water was some household sewage: toilet flushing effluents, laundry water, sink water, etc. But also previously stored runoff from earlier rainfalls that happened to be stored for treatment.
Was Walker unfairly treated for leaving this mess to campaign? Perhaps. But Barrett stuck around all weekend to at least show more of an interest in this. I guess it was a matter of perception. All is fair in politics. This is not exactly a "Swift Boat" incident, however.
As for either of them getting favorable or negative treatment in the "media", there are plenty of outlets where informed people can get information. Keep in mind, the links and sources that you (KP) provide are as one-sided as any.
RealityCheck - Jul 30, 2010 1:17 PM - Report Abuse
Are you in the media? You must be because you are giving the Mayor a pass. When he first ran for Mayor he specifically said he was going to address the problems with deep tunnel. Enlighten us to what he has done. He was also going to fix MPS. We have a Mayor that is only famous for getting beat up. What does that tell you about his accomplishments?
In terms of costs of fixing it, I have an idea. Perhaps the Mayor can call his good friend Obama and ask if we can take the $800 mil choo choo black hole and use it as a downpayment on fixing the deep tunnel
Padraig - Jul 30, 2010 9:53 AM - Report Abuse
Actually, not even close to being true. Pre deep tunnel, I believe we were averaging about 10 billion gallons dumped per year, and post deep tunnel have been averaging less than 1 billion gallons dumped per year. We paid a king's ransom for the deep tunnel - and got 90% improvment in return.
The ecologically sound manner in which to "fix" the problem would be to separate the waste water and storm drainage pipes. Cost - about $7 billion. Should I put you down, Kyle, as being in favor of increasing spending by $7 billion?