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Politics & Government

Have a Voice – Don't Let More Parks Budget Cuts Go Unchallenged

The quality of our parklands is in our hands, as further major reductions are proposed while system is already visibly suffering.

Wauwatosa has the great fortune to be a city full of parks and parkways. Wherever you live in Wauwatosa you are always near open green space. That the city government values its parkways was made clear last June when it was announced that a new marketing plan would brand Wauwatosa as And a walk in the park is all it takes to see that the citizens value their beneficence.

The problem for Wauwatosa is that most of its parklands belong to Milwaukee County.

The parks are infested with buckthorn and other invasive species. Trees that fall into park lawns used to be cut up and hauled away, but now county crews mostly mow around them. And if you’ve been following Wild Wauwatosa you know how I feel about the condition of the . The litany of deferred maintenance is too long to enumerate.

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If the parks belonged to the city would we allow them to deteriorate so badly? I hope the answer is no. But although the county owns them, the parks still belong to all of the citizens who value them. So, why are we letting the parks deteriorate so badly?

It’s budget time again in Milwaukee County. Time to decide whether or not to provide enough funding to keep our award-winning park system from further deterioration.

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On Sept. 29, County Executive Chris Abele released his proposed 2012 Milwaukee County budget. It includes a $3.7 million (14%) reduction in funding for our parks. This continues a downward trend that has transcended political parties for over 25 years.

On Monday, the County Board's Finance Committee recommended restoring not quite $1 million of that cut. Sounds good, but note the details, as reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: About half of those funds, if reinstated, would merely preserve the status quo for 15 park maintenance workers, already an understaffed area – and the other $500,000 would restore just half of Abele's proposed $1 million cut to the budget for seasonal workers.

So, it's small relief if the full County Board approves the move, as it still leaves a gaping hole in the parks budget and does nothing to reverse the overall decline.

The County Board supervisors can choose to accept those changes and amend Abele’s proposal further. But they are unlikely to do more unless they hear from their constituents that the parks must be supported adequately.

The board is holding a public hearing on the 2012 budget proposal at 7 p.m. Monday at the Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W. Vliet St.

If you are unable to attend the public hearing you can contact your county supervisor directly. If you live in Wauwatosa, your supervisor is either Lynn De Bruin or Luigi Schmitt.

Please tell them that the time has come to secure a sustainable and responsible funding source for our parks. Everyone enjoys well-maintained, safe parks. Why can’t we provide adequate funding to keep them that way? The answer, most likely, is because the parks budget is entangled with the rest of the county budget.

There are alternatives. One would raise the county sales and use tax one-half percent. The citizens of Milwaukee County passed an advisory referendum to do this in November 2008, but it was never implemented.

Another alternative would be the creation of a separate Park District that would transfer the park system from Milwaukee County to an elected, volunteer board of directors. In my opinion, this is the preferable option.

How bad do our parks have to get before we push hard enough reverse the downward spiral of budgetary malaise and neglect?

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