A company that submitted a public bid to Washington County for its new radio system suddenly doesn't want to play in public anymore.
M/A-Com, Inc., the winning bidder, wants to keep its bid secret in order to keep its electronics from public scrutiny. It has asked a judge to block public access to its bid.
That would seem to go against the whole concept of open competitive bidding, but that has not stopped M/A-Com from trying. The Massachusetts-based company was the low bidder on a job for vehicle and hand-held radios for county emergency crews. Its $10.3 million bid was lower bid than the bid from its regular competitor, Motorola.
M/A-Com claims trade secrets would be revealed if the bid was open to public scrutiny.
M/A-Com was also the low bidder for the City of Milwaukee emergency radio system several years ago, even though the company's products do not communicate with other brands of radios, making it obviously difficult for police and fire departments from various municipalities to talk to each other.
The Milwaukee bid was particularly controversial because it was done before efforts to upgrade other technology -- upgrades necessary in order for the city to qualify for millions in cell phone fees, which are used to improve 911 call locations.
For that reason, the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department was awarded the fees since it has equipment that is compatible with other municipalities. M/A-Com also used proprietary technology, ensuring orders from Milwaukee well into the future.
Tyco Electronics, M/A-Com's parent corporation, recently announced that it was shutting down a plant in the Milwaukee area putting hundreds out of work.
Busted Busses: The situation at the Milwaukee County Transit System is so bad that apparently Milwaukee aldermen are looking to help.
A report from the Public Policy Forum that aldermen will hear this week calls the recent history of transit in the county as "one marked by desperation and false hope." The Forum polished off its crystal ball and envisions a transit system that will have no freeway flyer service, few night and weekend routes and sparse service west of 76th Street, south of Oklahoma Avenue and north of Silver Spring Drive if somebody doesn't find any money for the system.
The Forum lists the following as its key findings:
- If there's no further help from the federal government, the system will run deficits of $1.6 million next year, $18.3 million in 2010, $23.7 million in 2011 and $21.1. million in 2012.
- Since 2001, the transit's reserves have been drained from $44 million to $4 million. The system held off on bus purchases to keep up the reserves, but those days of waiting are over and the county needs 150 new busses.
- The bleeding from the regular transit service can also be found in the county's para-transit services, which offer service to persons with disabilities and seniors.
New Park: The City of Milwaukee has got a new park -- Hartung Quarry Park on the city's northwest side. As the name indicates, it's on the site of a former quarry used by the city as a landfill. Groundbreaking was held last week for the $150,000 first phase. The first phase of work on the park will encompass approximately five acres on the northwest quadrant near the Menomonee River Parkway and Keefe Avenue.
The first phase of the project -- expected to get underway this summer with completion in late fall -- will include a children's play experience / tot lot, a demonstration rain garden, a small play/picnic area and limestone Silurian Reef outcroppings. The 16-acre quarry, used as a landfill for the city since 1964, will reach its capacity in the next couple of years and plans to use the area as a public park with approximately 10 single-family homes along the eastern and southern boundaries. The whole project will cost a tad more than $500,000.
The Mashers are Back: Mashing apparently has become a sexless problem in the workplace. Or at least maybe just a problem at City Hall. A new ordinance is proposed that would make it illegal for mashing members of either sex. For those who haven't heard what mashing is about, the law states it prohibits a person "from improperly accosting, ogling, insulting, following, pursuing, laying hands on or otherwise molesting any person of the opposite sex theretofore to him or her unacquainted." It also raises the fine from $250 to $500.
An avid outdoors person he regularly takes extended paddling trips in the wilderness, preferring the hinterlands of northern Canada and Alaska. After a bet with a bunch of sailors, he paddled across Lake Michigan in a canoe.
He lives in Bay View.
