Economic Development Woes: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was taken to task for some of his recent economic development initiatives, including the Pabst Brewery redevelopment and his plan for a research park on the grounds of the VA Medical Center.

Ald. Joe Davis, Sr. sent a highly critical letter to Barrett regarding a lack of job training funds for the Pabst project. He noted that in the first Pabst plan -- rejected by the council last year -- Barrett supported $2 million for low-income, minority job training. But Davis is upset that in the latest version of Pabst, that funding is only 25 percent of the original plan, despite the city spending essentially the same amount in aid for the project. He calls it "contradictive to your current public statements and coordinated initiative."

Davis also takes issue with the fact there were no job training dollars for the Manpower office project when the mayor first proposed it, even though the city is putting $25.3 million into its Downtown relocation. In light of that track record and other issues, Davis questions Barrett's plan to create the Mayor's Office of Workforce Development, since he says it duplicates current effort underway by the Department of City Development. He says calling for a new office while not using the tools at hand is "like blaming the teacher for not turning in your homework."

Meanwhile, the mayor's plan to spend $21 million to develop 28 acres of the VA complex was rejected by a Milwaukee-area veterans group. Barrett tried to entice vets by promising to restore several historic buildings on the site that desperately need preserving. The Allied Veterans Council of Milwaukee said they didn't like the idea because it would interfere with expansion of Wood National Cemetery, which is also part of the VA center.

No More Bar Time Blues: Perhaps in honor of OnMilwaukee.com's celebratory bar month in February, the state Legislature changed the law so that bars could stay open later this weekend. A change in daylight savings time, which begins Sunday, contradicted with current state law on bar closing times. It covered only the previous time enacted by Congress for April. So that gives us another 30 minutes of legal drinking on Saturday. And who says politicians don't ever do anything right? Cheers.

Cart Curmudgeons: Some Milwaukee aldermen want to take on that menace known as the shopping cart. Alds. Robert Donovan, Robert Puente, Jim Bohl and Joe Dudzik want to hold grocery store owners accountable for their carts, requiring carts to be stantioned on the grocery lot. Fine and penalties hover over offenders. What does it mean for the city? An expected $17,500 a year in extra revenue from those fines.

Should We Call Them the Ballyard Brawlers? The Milwaukee Brewers may get their security for less this season, or use less security. Under a deal expected to be approved by Common Council, the Brewers will pay the city $1.2 million for the next two years of police presence for Miller Park. That's down about $40,000 a year from the last two-year deal.

Officers will be able to volunteer for the assignments and the Brewers will pick up the cost of overtime dollar-for-dollar. OT rates range from $41.38 to $49.36, but if the price goes for some reason, the Brewers can cancel the deal. No word on who will pay for workman's comp should an accident happen. The deal is still apparently cheaper than what the Brewers used to pay the county. Sheriffs patrolled the games from 1980 to 2004.

War Sit-ins to Continue: Congressman David Obey (D-Wis.) Got a taste of the American opposition to the war in Iraq. Four members of the protest group Occupation Project camped out in Obey's Wausau office this week and refused to leave, prompting their arrest. They chose Obey's office because he even though he says he opposes the war he continues to vote to fund it. Three were arrested after doing the same thing on March 7. Sen. Herb Kohl's Madison office was the target of the same tactic every Monday since Feb. 7, but no one has been arrested.