The Political Environment

Take The Day Off

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:21:00 +0000

And celebrate The Constitution.

Fine Piece About Coal, From One Of My Favorite Websites

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:40:00 +0000

If you are not reading Daily Yonder, this is a good time to begin.

Sarah Palin Knocks Mark Sanford To The Back Pages

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:22:00 +0000

Sarah Palin's weird holiday resignation announcement keeps Mark Sanford on the back pages.

As does the continuing Michael Jackson story.

This Is What Will Finally Get America - - And Milwaukee - - Better Transit

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:19:00 +0000

And suburbanites will lead the clamor.

Summerfest's World-Record Happy Hour Shows State's Nutty Attitude Towards Alcohol

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Wisconsin just can't decide:

Are we a state serious about addressing our national lead in drunk driving and binge drinking, or are we the celebratory boozers who just set the world's record for the biggest happy hour, with dollar beers at Summerfest?

Will Ted Kanavas Trade Brookfield For Dallas?

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:52:00 +0000

Hap tip, Robert Doeckel.

Sendik's Pulls The Plug On Franklin Venture: Some Are Not Surprised

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:53:00 +0000

Sendik's brief occupancy in the suburbs' southern edges falls flat.

More commentary and reporting, here.

Reminds me of the winding down of Pabst Farms and its commercial center out Western Waukesha way, as Franklin's Sendik's, despite the hoopla, is to become a Pick 'n Save, and the upscale Pabst Farm mall, still not built, is looking to morph into part Big Box Heaven, part strip mall.

Whoo-Hooo.

Letter To The Editor Details Free Speech Denial At WisDOT Hearing

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:26:00 +0000

The Journal Sentinel Thursday printed a letter from activist Jeff Gonyo, whom Wisconsin Transportation Department officials prevented from distributing materials at a hearing last week about the $2.3 billion Zoo Interchange project.

His letter is on this Journal Sentinel page, at the abbreviation DOT, for Department of Transportation.

Sen. Herb Kohl Supports A Public Health Care Option

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:40:00 +0000

This is a good news from a moderate Democrat with a business background, and a sign that a public option in US health care reform has a good chance of inclusion in a final bill.

Text below from statement emailed Wednesday:

President Barack Obama recently paid a visit to our state to talk about the urgent need for comprehensive health care reform. He continued to make his case, and as your senator, I can tell you that President Obama is absolutely right. The time for health reform is now.

We have fallen far behind other nations that provide coverage to all their citizens and still deliver better quality care at lower cost. We desperately need to catch up before health care costs threaten to destroy us. America spends more on health care than any other country, yet in 2004 we ranked 26th in life expectancy and 32nd in infant mortality.

The high cost of health care is also affecting our economy and our ability to compete in the global marketplace. Studies have shown that slowing the growth of health spending and expanding coverage to the uninsured would create as many as 500,000 jobs a year and provide a net gain of $100 billion a year to our economy.

Our federal budget is not the only thing straining under health care’s skyrocketing costs. The cost of health care is threatening the ability of businesses, particularly small businesses, to stay afloat. Providing health care benefits to employees has become harder for business owners as the cost eats up more of their budget.

Families are feeling the pain of health care costs, perhaps the most. Over the past nine years, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance have more than doubled, growing six times faster than wages. Many are finding they are just one bad illness away from financial ruin, with nearly two-thirds of all personal bankruptcies caused by medical expenses. It’s no wonder, with these exorbitant costs, that we have over 70 million Americans either without health insurance or without enough health insurance.

We must reduce the cost of health care and improve its quality now. While those two crucial goals seem to be in opposition, the fact is they are very much in line. Lately, there has been a lot of media attention on how it costs two to three times as much to fund a Medicare recipient in some American cities than it does in others. Those studying the health system have come to the conclusion that health care quality does not increase with higher spending.

In fact, researchers have shown health care costs in places like LaCrosse and Green Bay are much lower than the national average, yet quality is better than the national average. If we could reform health care in our country to be more efficient, as Wisconsin has done in many areas, we could save billions of dollars, we could help businesses remain competitive, and we could spare families from anguish and financial damage.

Plans are beginning to form on how to improve the health care system, and I believe reform must include some mandatory conditions. We need to move toward paying for value instead of volume. We must eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse from the system. We should expand prevention and wellness education to help nip potential health problems in the bud, rather than treating people once health problems have developed.

As we create a more efficient, higher quality health care system, we must expand coverage to all our citizens. And, again, contrary to conventional wisdom, it will save us money to do so. When the uninsured cannot afford to pay the cost for the health care they desperately need, these costs are shifted to those who can pay. Doctors and hospitals do this by charging insurers more for the services provided for patients who have health insurance, and the insurers pass on these shifted costs in the form of higher premiums for consumers and businesses that purchase health insurance, resulting in a “hidden tax” at a cost of roughly $1000 per family, per year. Expanding coverage also means helping small businesses and the self-employed find quality, affordable coverage, and ensuring that vulnerable Americans who have had health problems in the past are not denied coverage in the future.

While our goal is to reduce the growing costs of health care, we’re going to make sure that those who like their current health coverage can keep it. Others who are in need of better coverage will have more choices. Ideally, I think health reform should include some type of a public option. After all, millions of seniors are happy with their government-sponsored Medicare coverage. There are many proposals on the table, and I am confident that we will end up with one that won’t undermine current health providers, will not rely on government subsidies, and will garner bipartisan support. I believe we can reach consensus on this and all of the critical issues in health reform if we don’t get caught up in ideological labels and work together for the good of the country.

More efficiency hand-in-hand with higher quality; more coverage leading to lower costs—it can all seem like a pipe dream. But we know it’s not, because Wisconsin is providing a model for these very goals. President Obama came here because he knows that if every city in America boasted a system like LaCrosse’s or Green Bay’s, or the many other Wisconsin health systems that are doing it right, our country’s health care system would be much-improved.

Another Month Passes - - Nothing From The Feds About SEWRPC's Certification

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:28:00 +0000

Way back in October, officials from the Federal Highway Administration came to Milwaukee and held a court-reporter-equipped open meeting/hearing so that the public could tell the feds whether the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission should get another four-year permission slip to approve federal highway and transit spending in SEWRPC's seven-county region.

Federal officials have stopped answering email queries about why they haven't released the certification review, and findings about SEWRPC's activities, such as outreach, or an analysis of the public's input last Octoberm but what was supposed to be a short, few-months' process is now into month #9.

Could it be that they are trying to square SEWRPC's role and promises with two pending federal discrimination complaints about hiring, citizen committee composition and policy-making, and other dust-ups SEWRPC has had with its own Environmental Justice Task Force and, more recently, regional and statewide environmental groups?

Are they trying to figure out just why the Milwaukee Common Council approved a resolution asking for basic changes in SEWRPC's state-mandated composition.

Or why the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors asked the legislature in a separate resolution to subject SEWRPC to a performance audit, given SEWRPC's annual receipt of about 36% of its annual operating budget from Milwaukee county taxpayers to run what is basically a suburban agenda and planning operation?

I've asked more than once to see the draft report, but the feds and SEWRPC have said I have to wait for the final report to be released, and that I would be getting a copy.

Nothing in today's mail.

For some perspective, here's what the feds were saying about their delayed process - - in March.

Milwaukee Gains 7,500 Residents: A Real Urban Agenda Would Accelerate This Trend

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:25:00 +0000

Census officials say Milwaukee has added 7,500 residents since the 2000 count, and having been involved in that count as the city's liaison to the federal effort, I can tell you that the true increment will be even higher when the 2010 count is completed.

Even in recessionary times, cities expand because that is where the greatest concentration of options and choices and opportunities are presented to the widest diversity of resident.

Even in recessionary times, cities provide housing, culture, energy, creativity and connections that are far more extensive that smaller communities, whether towns, villages or traditional suburbs.

A city like Milwaukee has to continue to take maximum advantage of its resources and advantages - - existing infrastructure, bountiful water, walkable neighborhoods - - and not get dragged down by negatives.

Milwaukee has stopped years of population loss through strategic reinvestments in the Menomonee Valley, along King Drive, in the Third and Fifth Wards, throughout the downtown, and with infill and small-lot development, city-wide.

It needs to keep on this path, and focus on more improvements to transit because gasoline and vehicle costs will continue to encourage more people to embrace city living, where car ownership is less essential.

That means politicians like Gov. Jim Doyle, County Executive Scott Walker and others who are using transit in Milwaukee as a political football have to stop the game-playing and put transit sustainability back at the top of the urban policy list.

Along with that, the city's legislative delegation has to move forward restructuring or rebuilding from scratch a regional planning commission that puts Milwaukee and an urban agenda first.

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, which includes Milwaukee but gives a majority of its commission votes to Walworth, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha Counties, is a culpable party to the institutional dismissal of Milwaukee and its opportunities.

The stronger is Milwaukee, the better is the state.

When Inside Baseball Trumps Policy, Ugliness Is The Result

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:29:00 +0000

Watching Democrats destroy each other is bad for Milwaukee.

Big day for the GOP and the road-builders.

Foolish day for politicians governing through pique.

Ugly day for transit riders and everyday people.

Transit Advocates Meet For Television Premier, Fun, On July 2nd

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:04:00 +0000

See the broadcast of "Gridlock: Public Transit in Southeastern Wisconsin" Thursday July 2nd, at 6 PM, on Milwaukee Public Television, Channel 10.1 (MPTV).

"Gridlock" provides an intimate look at our transit dilemma and accomplishments -- and a snapshot of what is happening in some other cities.

Local leaders and grassroots advocates are featured in this documentary.

TransitNow, leading the push for Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail, is hosting an event at The Transfer Café at 5:30 on July 2nd to enjoy "Gridlock," tasty eats and drinks.

RSVP to Kerry Thomas at: kthomas@transitnow.org - - by Thursday, July 2 at noon.

More details:

Transfer Café is at 101 W Mitchell St., Milwaukee, WI 53204-4041.

(414) 763-0438.

And on Milwaukee County Transit System bus routes: 11, 15, 54

Animal Planet Program July 8th All About Crypto

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:16:00 +0000

Milwaukee's bout with cryptosporidium will be featured on Animal Planet on July 8th.

The "Monsters Inside Me" series takes a look at parasites and other critters within, and will include interviews with Milwaukeeans.

Coleman Concedes: 'Bout Time

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:37:00 +0000

Welcome, Sen. Al Franken, (D-MN).

Some Highlights From Tuesday's SEWRPC Water Study Meeting

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:38:00 +0000

Here are a few notes from today's meeting of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission's advisory water study committee.

[Regrettably, SEWRPC does not transcribe, videotape, audiotape or stream these meetings; hand-taken notes by a staffer are eventually posted online - - sometimes delayed by months - - so if you are not there, you miss the details, nuances, and asides. I'm putting down a few highlights, and some observations in italics.]

1. SEWRPC officials told the committee their work will not be completed until November or December. That is because SEWRPC is adding a socio-economic analysis to the draft report as urged by the Environmental Justice Task Force. The analysis will be written by a consultant not yet selected, SEWRPC officials said.

It is unclear whether the amended draft report will be circulated at public meetings, as was the current draft. If I had to guess, I'd predict it will be discussed at a meeting of the justice task force, and a water committee meeting - - but not at another round of public sessions with a comment period. Continuing to treat this issue like the study's ignored step-child could come back and bite SEWRPC's wobbly credibility.

2. The committee addressed and then skirted efforts by committee member Lisa Conley, representing the rural group Town and Country Resource Conservation and Development, Inc., to have her strong concerns about drug and other exotic water pollutants added to the section of the draft report that included SEWRPC's formal responses about comments made by the public.

Conley said the exotic chemicals were "a looming threat" that needed more attention now, citing earlier chemical dangers, like DDT and others that were disregarded for far too long.

SEWRPC staff and other committee members agreed with Conley that water quality is a big-picture concern that was not addressed directly by the Great Lakes Compact, which governs diversions and focuses mainly on water quantity issues, but said water quality was primarily the responsibility of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources or the US Environmental Protection Administration, or could be addressed in other studies.

SEWRPC agreed to add some language in the final report to address Conley's concerns, but not in the comment section or in the specific context of Waukesha adding its treated wastewater to Lake Michigan.

Over the years of the study, Conley, with few allies on a committee dominated by water industry, utility and local government officials, has persistently tried to get the committee and staff's attention to big-picture water conservation and quality issues that others at the table do not whole-heartedly embrace.

Among her passions have been rainwater catchment systems as a working water conservation alternative, and now - - at the Tuesday meeting - - a heightened sense of concern about water pollution and water quality.

3. Milwaukee's committee member, water works manager Carrie Lewis, told the committee that the City of Milwaukee's official position is that no diversions that are subject to approval under the new Great Lakes Compact be approved until the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources writes its administrative rules governing Wisconsin's review and approval procedures.

She pointed out that when the committee began meeting in 2005, there was no Compact.

Waukesha's representative, water utility manager Daniel Duchniak, said the DNR had indicated "they do not need to wait...this [action prior to rule-making] happens all the time."

Lewis and Duchniak engaged in some friendly 'let's-take-this-outside' banter: in the end, SEWRPC staff, looking for some middle ground, said it would work on language stating for its its final recommendations that recognized the need for full compliance with the Compact, but did not add today Milwaukee's official position as part of the committee recommendations.

I suspect this issue is not resolved; the committee's inclination to side with Waukesha on this issue will help move Waukesha's application-drafting process forward, but could put Waukesha's application at risk in the eight-state approval process.

That is because other states may see the DNR and the state as a renegade, uncollegial regulators, with the SEWRPC committee in Waukesha's pocket.

4. SEWRPC staff at several points strongly defended the integrity of its land use plan - - the SEWRPC over-arching master plan document in place for decades and that is regularly updated - - that some environmental groups and activists are continuing to challenge as flawed, weak or ineffective.

Even inducing sprawl.

Some recent history here.

At one point, SEWRPC Executive Director Ken Yunker acknowledged that some development in the region had occured away from urban centers "regardless of what the land use plan recommended...but it was not recommended."

Also weighing in: SEWRPC's emeritus director Kurt Bauer - - the agency's first executive director, and now the water committee's chair and also for years a SEWRPC consultant.

Bauer directed the writing of the original land use plan and is very much identified with what is SEWRPC's corporate identity and seminal document.

Bauer has long argued that the land use plan is sound, and that if inappropriate development in the region had taken it was because local governments disregarded the plan.

For example, Bauer has cited development at Pabst Farms on agricultural lands as a project that took place against the recommendations of the land use plan.

At one point in today's discussion - - during a presentation about regional water supplies that led to some discussion of the land use plan - - Bauer made this observation:

"All this nit-picking by the environmental groups on the land use plan is dead wrong. It's a good plan."

Final observation:

SEWRPC writes plans, but they are not followed. And SEWRPC does not believe that plan advocacy is part of the agency mission. Finger-pointing aside, why defend a plan or the processes that create them if they are ignored?

Regionalism To Save Milwaukee Transit? Not With Waukesha A Player

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:31:00 +0000

Gov. Doyle vetoed Milwaukee County's sales tax aimed to save Milwaukee's failing bus system.

He says he wants a regional approach.

Well, what region?

Waukesha County opposed even the Milwaukee Transit Authority - - see The Freeman's blunt anti-Milwaukee position here - - and killed Milwaukee's light rail plans ten years ago, so if Waukesha continues to have a regional veto, nothing will happen and Milwaukee's transit keeps withering away - - which seems to be OK with current county exec and Doyle campaign opponent Scott Walker, a leader more in line with Waukesha thinking than Milaukee's.

Politics is driving Milwaukee's transit into the ground and stunting its growth and options.

In our region, regionalism means Stick It To Milwaukee.

A new planning commission, with authority over transit planning would help, but that means packaging Waukesha into a different region or restricting is veto powers.

Come Hear SEWRPC Respond To Water Study Critics

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:50:00 +0000

The advisory committee that has been working on a draft regional water supply plan for the seven-county Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission meets again Tuesday morning, at SEWRPC's Pewaukee headquarters, at 9:30 a.m.

Here is SEWRPC's website, with driving directions, as this is the committee's first meeting since September, 2008 - - and the meeting will be well worth your time.

That's because the committee will read through, discuss and react to all the public comments that have come SEWRPC's way since the draft was rolled out at a round of public meetings.

I'd suggest you come and watch SEWRPC conduct what planners have come call "review and dismiss," wherein SEWRPC's staff will deflect, deny, or outright trash comments on the proposed plan.

There's already been a whiff of that, when environmental groups that took issue with the draft - - and the overall Land Use Plan that informs it - - and got letters from SEWRPC upbraiding them for having had the unmitigated gall to call the water study and especially SEWRPC's land use plan into question.

There are still at least four major lines of inquiry not yet answered about regional water use as SEWRPC is recommending - - the centerpiece being a diversion of Lake Michigan water to Waukesha:

1. Is it clear that the assumptions about growth and population driving the land use plan, and water demand as outlined in the study, are accurate?

2. Does the land use plan adequately coordinate water needs and sustainability with other planning basics in the region, such as housing, transportation and economic development?

3. Does sending Lake Michigan water to Waukesha produce a return flow plan that meets the legal and procedural requirements of the Great Lakes Compact, as well as the region's environmental integrity and the health of tributary into which Waukesha's treated wastewater will be dumped?

4. Will the socio-economic analysis that SEWRPC has agreed to add belatedly to the draft study, after nearly four year of work, be a genuine effort to redo the draft on a bigger canvas, or will it be perfunctory?

Tuesday's meeting is as much about the water study as it is about the internal workings of SEWRPC - - its administrative mindset, study procedures and processes, and planning culture.

You'll hear a lot of self-referencing justifications, along the lines of 'that issue is dealt with in the land use plan, so no need to worry about that.'

Arbitrator's Anti-Walker Furlough Ruling Not Surprise

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:28:00 +0000

The contract was upheld.

A contract is a contract, and Walker had to know this would be the ruling.

Walker will still use his 'executive leadership' as campaign fodder, with labor as the foil.

Paul Krugman Calls Out Congressional Climate Change Deniers

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:37:00 +0000

New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman finds it incredible that 212 members of the House of Representatives found a way to vote against the climate change bill last week.

We hear the same, anti-science conspiracy theorists on conservative talk radio.

Solutions: turn off the radio and votes these knuckleheads out of office.

Growing Power's Will Allen Gets Props On CNN

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:31:00 +0000

Kudos to Milwaukee's Will Allen, who launched Growing Power and made the city the center of American urban farming.

CNN takes note.

Rush Limbaugh Continues To Denigrate Women

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:30:00 +0000

El Rushbo was on his high horse - - where else - - today, blasting what he calls "the drive-bys" and "state-run media" (that his code for mainstream media and pro-Obama outlets) for "the chickification of the news."

Too many "chicks" reporting on the Mark Sanford scandal for Rush's tastes.

And, of course, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotormayor is "a racist" for her appellate opinion that was overturned today, 5-4.

All in all, just another few minutes from the King of Rightie Talk Radio.

Highway Expansion Will Not Save Us From Idiots Behind The Wheel

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I found myself stuck in a major traffic jam Saturday on I-894 approaching the Zoo Interchange from the south.

Turns out that to the north, a couple arguing lost control of their car and caused an horrific crash that led to the fiery death of a motorcyclist.

Somewhere in the record-keeping section of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, this grisly crash will be counted as a fatality on a stretch of highway set for reconstruction and widening, with all the data thrown out there to support new and wider lanes.

But most fatalities on the road are caused by speed, alcohol or other factors tied to driver inattentiveness or indifference, and spiffy new lanes and perfect pavement only makes these menaces more dangerous.

Twice in the last two weeks - - once on Madison's beltline heading west and once in the gaudy new Marquette Interchange - - I was nearly sideswiped by motorists on my right who changed lanes without looking.

My evasive maneuver in Madison was so abrupt that the next day, a broken axle showed up in my steering that sent me to the repair shop for more than $600 in repairs.

I am still amazed that we avoided a collision.

And I find the new Marquette more hazardous for motorists who want to exit westbound at 26th or 35 St. as they have to move quickly to the right into traffic coming from behind coming downhill from high ramps feeding in from the Highrise Bridge or I-43 south.

The new Marquette induces speeding - - smooth pavement, gravity, the perception that the whole machine's alleged efficiencies are there to make your trip faster have created a Death Valley in the interchange just past the Marquette University campus.

It's the stupidity factor that kills people on the highways, and I am convinced that WisDOT's rebuilding and redesigning schemes only make idiots more dangerous.

And if WisDOT wants to pour resources into redesign, it should start with changing the way it manages public meetings and trains the people who run them.

Squashing public discussion and the free flow of information about highway expansion as WisDOT did at last week's Zoo Interchange public 'hearing' is the management equivalent of mindless, aggressive driving.

Right Wing In The Land Of The Falling Sky: "We're Doomed!"

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:50:00 +0000

What do we hear from the Right?

A catastrophizing, Chicken Little, broken record.

"We're doomed!"

Barack Obama's election is the end of the world. This is when the Right's craziness began, with a surge in guy-buying.

I heard Rush Limbaugh say the other day that "Obama must be stopped" from destroying America, and the greatest economy ever devised - - something Rush called our "birthright", etc.

Then it was the stimulus package that's the end of the world. It's inflationary consequences will destroy America, and the greatest economy ever devised, etc.

Of course, the climate change bill that cleared the House of Representatives is the end of the world. It will destroy America, investment and jobs [a lie] and the greatest economy ever devised, etc.

And offering a public option in national health insurance reform - - an option, mind you, straight from the "choice" language proffered by conservatives as always the way to go - - is the end of the world.

It will destroy America, blow up [a lie] any relationship you have with doctors or private insurers, ration health care [as if that isn't already happening; See: people who can afford good health care, or have it provided as a benefit (usually best in the public sector], and will destroy the greatest economy every devised, etc.

And let's not forget that Obama's foreign policy is the end of the world. His speech in Cairo surrendered the notion of American exceptionalism, etc., and Dick Cheney keeps popping up to tell us Obama is making it easier for terrorists to hit us again.

I noticed this morning that the world had not spun off its axis, nor had a falling sky landed on our collective heads.

I saw blue sky.

Happy 50th To The St. Lawrence Seaway - - And To The Great Lakes-Wrecking Invasive Species Coming In Through The Seaway, Too

jer45y@gmail.com (James Rowen) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:37:00 +0000

The seaway, an economic failure, has helped poison the Great Lakes with invasive mussels and other ruinous species.

The overly-clear water at the edge of Lake Michigan near the city water works' Linnwood Treatment Plant - - and the stinky weeds that grow at the lake bottom as a result of excess penetrating sunlight - - are a direct result of the presence of nonn-native, invasive mussels that rode into the lake in the purged ballast water of ocean-going freighters arriving here through the Seaway.

Just shut the seaway down.

Its negatives outweigh modest shipping activity, now about 20% of what was initially promised.