Straight Poop on Barrett’s Poop in the Lake

Barrett Takes Credit for Norquist Deep Tunnel Expansion

Now that Mayor Tom Barrett’s MMSD is Wisconsin’s biggest polluter, having dumped over 2 billion in untreated sewage into Lake Michigan last month, his campaign spokesman may be drinking the water.

As the controversy swirls like a toilet bowl, of course Mayor Tom is unavailable for comment. Choosing to exercise the Barrett leadership style of disappearing in crisis.

So enter Phil Walzak, flak for Barrett’s campaign for governor, with the unenviable job of defending a politician who said six years ago he would clean up the sewage mess, and who had attacked his opponent in 2004 for dumping a measly 90,000 gallons of poop and more into the lake.

Walzak today told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Barrett had added capacity to the deep tunnel to avoid sewage dumping in the lake.

POOP SPINNING IN THE MEDIA BOWL: “Since Barrett became mayor, 116 million gallons of storage capacity has been added to MMSD's deep tunnel system, a 28% increase, Walzak said. City funding for sewers has also gone up, he said,” The Journal Sentinel reported today.

Poor Phil may be drinking the Mayor Barrett’s Lake Michigan water straight from the lake.

Let’s take a look at the record:

STRAIGHT POOP: The 116 million expansion was planned in 2002, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau.

STRAIGHT POOP: The construction began in January of 2004, before Mayor Tom was elected. In fact, the record shows MMSD was $29.4 million into this construction before Barrett was elected.

STRAIGHT POOP: He is taking credit for Norquist’s plan because the Milwaukee Mayor has control over MMSD (appointing 7 of 11 members). In six years, he as not used that power to keep his promises.

So when Mayor Tom runs into the bathroom stall to hide from the press, you should know that’s his management style.

That’s the straight poop. And there’s no denying it.

Here’s what the Daily Reporter Reported in 2002:

“McCabe, legal services director for the district, said three projects are planned that will increase capacity of the Deep Tunnel by more than 25 percent.  "The Northwest Side Relief Sewer will add 89 million gallons of capacity," McCabe said. "Bids were let on that several months ago, and construction has begun."

Two other projects planned for the future, he said, include a $25 million Wisconsin Avenue sewer, adding capacity of nearly 25 million gallons, and an $18 million Port Washington Road sewer, with another 2 million-gallon capacity.

Completion of the $117 million relief sewer, a 7.4-mile, 20-foot diameter tunnel, is expected in December 2006, while the other two projects are slated for completion in December 2009.  The Deep Tunnel capacity is 404 million gallons, McCabe said, and the three projects will add a total of 116 million gallons."

New UWM School of Public Health Could Educate Mayor Barrett

Study: Diarrhea in Kids Caused by Sewage Dumps

A School of Public Health could find a lot to study in a city that is forced to drink its own excrement.

They could study whether giardia cysts and fecal coliforms in drinking water might make children sick.

Oops, the Journal of Pediatrics already did. The study is called, “Pediatric Emergency Department Visits for Diarrheal Illness Increased After Release of Undertreated Sewage” and it takes place right here in Milwaukee … I wonder why.

They found, to no one’s amazement, that adding millions of gallons of crap to the drinking water supply can make children sick.

In fact, they concluded, “Emergency department visits for diarrheal illness increased significantly after 2 events of release of partially treated sewage into area waterways. These data suggest a potentially harmful effect of such practices.

Funny, we didn’t see Mayor Barrett bragging about this study done right here in Milwaukee by researchers from our very own Medical College of Wisconsin. In fact, the kids with diarrhea were from Milwaukee and the surrounding communities who drink Mayor Barrett’s Special Sewage Mix in their water.

So, Mom and Dad, next time you take off from work to drive your kids to the ER or clean up after a domestic dump of … raw sewage at your home, remember who PROMISED to stop the sewage dumps that contaminate Milwaukee water.

Stop the Presses: Reporter Asks Barrett a Question!

It has been six years since Mayor Tom Barrett famously promised to stop flushing sewage into Lake Michigan. As of press time, no one has asked him how that project is going.

Back in 2004, when Barrett made leadership and MMSD accountability a campaign issue, Wispolitics reviewed Barrett's top three goals for MMSD with MMSD Executive Director Kevin Shafer.  Given 7 of 11 MMSD Board appointments, six years, and millions in taxpayer dollars to achieve those goals, let's review how Milwaukee's Milk Carton Mayor has measured up against his own standards.

Goal #1: Zero overflows in the separated sewer areas.  NOPE!

Goal #2: Zero combined sewage overflows. NOPE!

Goal #3: No raw sewage dumping. Shafer: I’m not sure what that is unless he’s talking about blending.  (You mean the Mayor isn't communicating his goals to MMSD, yikes!)  In that case, NOPE!

Hey, hey -  another no hitter!  What an exciting year!

For 8-years, the Milwaukee Police and Fire Departments have struggled with the $18 million boondoggle known as the OpenSky Radio system. Amid hundreds of officer reports of the dangers of this failed system and fire department investigations of its implementation, no one in the press has asked Barrett how he is protecting officers and citizens from a system officially declared “not intrinsically safe.”

But, today, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel broke with tradition and asked the Mayor of Milwaukee about a critical issue under his control and we have the proof.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of July 31, 2010. An article entitled “Water Rate Increases Revised, Proposal doesn't settle suburbs' concerns about rising costs,” contains the following statement in paragraph 14:

“Barrett was not available for comment late Friday.”

Kudos to MJS reporter Larry Sandler for at least making the effort.  Hopefully, it's the start of a trend!

Stay tuned. If they keep asking questions, he may actually answer one - someday.

Barrett Reveals Secret Ingredient that Makes Milwaukee Water Worth 30% More in Taxes

When we started the "Wisconsin Waste Watchers" blog this wasn't necessarily the kind of waste we anticipated.  However, we now understand why Barrett wants to charge so much for water!

From the City that brought you cryptosporidium . . .

two-Billion gallons of Barrett's Secret Sewage Sauce added to Lake Michigan.

To paraphrase the Snapple Commerical, "What used to be the best stuff in the world . . . just got worse!"  We wonder if it comes in "diet" as well as "pre-digested?"  "Would you like a side of E. coli with that, sir!"

Mouthwatering, huh?  Hey Waukesha, still want our water?

Mayor Barrett, How About a Tour of Your Radio System? Or MMSD?

Today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a story with Barrett’s Democratic Party flunky bragging that Barrett had stayed in Milwaukee over the weekend and “spent several hours touring five areas that were damaged by the flood.”

Wow, we're sure touring on Saturday was a lot more important than Walker’s touring flooded areas the day before Barrett. In fact, touring a day late was so important that Barrett’s Democratic Party Chief Flunky said, "One man stood up and led, Tom Barrett."

Now that Barrett is leading through timely tours, we have a couple more tours to suggest:

OpenSky Radio System – As CRG uncovered, Barrett has literally hundreds of police officers he is responsible for who would love to show him around this $20 million boondoggle. They would love to talk to him about the 500 plus pages of reports they have filed warning him that their lives and the lives of the citizens they protect are put in danger every day by a system he won’t even talk about.  By the way, Barrett has already had SIX YEARS in office to solve the problem ,, and virtually EVERYONE blames lack of leadership!

Here is what your Police Chief had to say about you.

The police union rep also blamed your lack of leadership.

And the firefighter's union blamed your lack of leadership citing specific incidents like the "Pizza Man" fire where police officers, firefighters, and citizens lives and property were endangered!

Six years Tom - SIX (not to mention millions in cost overruns)!

MMSD – Normally, Barrett would have to go down to the Milwaukee River or Jones Island to see his sewer system continue its annual pollution of our Lake. This week, he can tour basements all over the city to see what his six years of inaction has left for others to clean up. Maybe Milwaukeeans can wipe their floors with the MMSD study Barrett commissioned six years ago.  Hmmm, speaking of things no one has seen or heard from lately, where is that report?

Here are a couple of interesting shots.  No, this is not the Gulf Coast.  This is Tom Barrett's Milwaukee.

Anchors away Tom!  We have a boat fueled and ready to take you on this tour and await your call!  Funny how visible and eager you were when you were blaming it all on Marvin Pratt!

Earlier this month, CRG revealed internal Milwaukee police documents showing the Mayor and the police chief know cops lives are placed in jeopardy as $20 million in radios fail in deadly situations. And even more documents, obtained under the Open Records Law, reveal that the radios are failing the firefighters, too.

Mayor Barrett has issued no public statements in the wake of those revelations. His silence is deafening, and he needs to plop his butt down in Milwaukee and fix the mess before he starts job-hunting. We’d at least like to know he spent enough time in Milwaukee to read the reports from his officers before someone gets killed.

Mayor Barrett, tours are nice. But, they shouldn’t be confused with leadership.

Stand Up! Lead! Protect your police officers! Protect Lake Michigan!  If you REALLY care!

Take your own advice; don’t leave Milwaukee until the crises you are responsible for are fixed!