The state Department of Transportation took its road show to the Common Council last week briefing Milwaukee officials on its plan to redo the Zoo interchange. DOT says it is the busiest interchange in the state and needs some help in moving vehicles along. They offered a new road term called the "Texas U-turn."

But it didn't get a warm reception.

Aldermen have been skeptical of DOT highway expansion plans because they always seem to include tearing down homes or businesses. In one scenario the DOT presented for the Zoo interchange, 13 homes and one business would have to go. They assured aldermen, however, that it wasn't on the ‘A' list of alternatives, even though they admitted it was still on the table.

But the DOT folks drew the ire of aldermen when they said there was no consideration of including light rail or other mass transit options in the redesign.

"I just don't think that's good planning," said Ald. Joe Davis. "We're losing the opportunity to bring people in the fold" of city transit options.

"We're by-passing a significant mode of transportation," chimed in Ald. Willie Hines. "It seems as if there is a really narrow approach here."

Ald. Bob Bauman noted that there has been no discussion about just fixing the road and not expanding the interchange. "Maybe we can do something else with the $300 million to $400 million we'd save," he said.

DOT representatives said the plan for the interchange is to make a final decision by April, which had Ald. Michael Murphy acknowledging that the city really has no say in what the DOT wants to do.

"You're asking us what our position is but in the past we been fairly well ignored," he said.

Debt-laden: Ask anyone if they could use an extra $133 million and the answer would most certainly be a swift yes. But when Milwaukee aldermen heard that's what the city is owed in back taxes, unpaid tickets and other fees, they cringed.

"I think the average citizen in this community would be shocked to hear this number," responded Ald. Bob Donovan.

"That is a staggering number," admitted Jim Klajbor of the comptroller's office. "We can do better."

The city has a number of tools it can use to get people to pay their bills -- including seizing income tax returns and property. In fact, the city treasurer's office expects the city to foreclose on more than 1,000 properties this year due to unpaid taxes.

Playground Politics: State Sen. Alberta Darling is usually content to lob criticism at Milwaukee Public Schools from her Republican district in River Hills. But now she and state Rep. Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford) want to inject themselves in the collective bargaining process of the teachers' union at MPS.

The two are proposing to eliminate the residency requirement for MPS teachers. The issue has always been a staple for the union, which chose long ago to trade pay raises for the residency requirement, but would still like it changed. Milwaukee and Chicago are the only two large city districts in the country that have a residency requirement. But we're not sure why Gunderson has all of the sudden taken an interest in what MPS is up to.

"Attracting and retaining more quality teachers would have a major positive impact on student achievement without costing a dime," said Gunderson. "And the best thing about this bill is that it will swiftly improve MPS because open positions would be filled based on merit and ability, and not be artificially limited based upon the residency status of a teacher."

Business Takes a Powder: It's probably more a symptom of having a weak candidate to back rather than any sort of soul searching on doing the right thing, but Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce has announced that it will not be a player in the state Supreme Court race this spring. Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson holds a substantial fund-raising and popular support edge over relatively unknown Jefferson County Judge Randy Koschnick.

WMC has spent millions on the past two court races and credits itself for helping two conservative justices get elected to the bench.

All is not lost for Koschnick, however, since he was endorsed this week by Wisconsin Right to Life.
I can sum up my career in one word, "independent judiciary," Abrahamson said at a debate last week.

Walking on Walker: The state Democratic Party feels that Milwaukee County Exec Scott Walker must have a decent chance of getting the governor's mansion. It's already taking potshots at Walker and his stealth-like campaign. The state party attacked Walker for sending out a press release regarding Gov. Jim Doyle's state of the state speech.

"Everyone knows Scott Walker is running for governor, and when he chose to use his county office to launch a political attack against Gov. Doyle, he broke the rules," said Joe Wineke, Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

"Apparently Walker is against using tax dollars to create jobs, but has no problem using them to launch campaign attacks. ... Walker is apparently only concerned about creating new jobs for one person ... himself."