This land belongs to us. It’s ours, and not a bountiful commodity to be sold or given away piece by piece.
When are you voting, and are you taking additional comments?
Sura Faraj
Who's Lake? OUR LAKE!
22 Jun 2009 | 5:14 pm | Environmental Sustainability, Water | No comments yet - Add your comments
What do these cities have in common?
Duluth
Milwaukee
Toronto
Chicago
Detroit
Windsor
Toledo
Buffalo
If you guessed that we’re all on the largest freshwater basin in the world, you guessed right.
I believe we need a coalition of Great Lakes citizens to work together for the purpose of protecting the water for our children, our planet, our neighbors and ourselves.
Fresh water is a depleting resource. Agrichemical and other industrial corporations continue to pollute our water by polluting air, rivers and lakes. And those same or other corporations come in to “buy” the rights to filtering, distributing, cleaning and selling the water.
Let me be blunt. Privatization of a water system is stealing water. Water is a human right, a natural resource that is necessary for all life on the planet. It can’t — or at least shouldn’t — be sold to a venture whose purpose is to make a profit.
As citizens, we’ve been negligent in allowing corporate control over this precious, life-giving resource. Milwaukee, and many other cities are experiencing the water grab and we’re beginning a public battle to keep our water in the hands of the people.
Join us.
Email me here to get in touch.
14 Jun 2009 | 1:32 pm | Representation, Water | No comments yet - Add your comments
of course not.
So why would we sell it to another corporation? (Answer: Because city leaders lack the creativity or guts to figure out other ways to increase revenue or decrease spending). This is a critical issue and here’s how you can help:
1) Sign the petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/Stop-Water-Privatization-Wisconsin
2) Come to the Common Council’s public hearing on Monday, June 15 at 12:30, at City Hall. 200 East Wells. (Some of us will bike or carpool together — depending on weather — from Riverwest on Monday. Email me if you’re interested.)
3) Call your alderperson and tell them NO to privatizing our public assets. 414 286-2221
The City of Milwaukee Water Works is a well-managed, efficient public utility. As a result, water rates are relatively low and the water quality is high.
Clean water is vital for families, businesses and community safety. It is a major resource for jobs and economic development. But now, in a desperate effort to generate revenue, some city leaders have proposed privatizing the system through a long term lease. Privatization in other cities has led to soaring water rates, unhealthy contaminants in water, declining investment in water system infrastructure, political corruption, and a lack of accountability.
This plan hurts the people of Milwaukee. We have already seen the private corporation operating MMSD dumping raw sewage into Lake Michigan to save money. If the city privatizes drinking water system, costs will soar and water quality will go down as has happened in other cities, including Indianapolis, Cleveland, Stockton, Gary, Peoria and others. We can find other ways to support city services.
Many water companies are foreign-owned. That means taking our money as profit and sending it overseas. The following are just some of the foreign owned water companies, including those with American names: American Water Works, Illinois-American Water Co, RWE, Siemens, Suez, United Water Resources, U.S. Filter, US Water, Veolia, Vivendi.
We need to ask our Mayor and Alders “Whom are you representing — Multinational corporations or the people?”
KPOW! (Keep Public Our Waters)
12 Jun 2009 | 2:37 pm | Representation, Water | No comments yet - Add your comments
Small groups have been meeting over the last several months to explore our options on creating our own local currency.
In the meantime, several other local currencies around the country have sprung up.
Come to a film screening (short), discussion and mutual credit demonstration tonight to find out more.
We’re looking at creating both a local currency* and a mutual credit system* (networked barter). We want to hear your ideas and input.
The film we’ll watch and discuss is “Coming Home: EF Schumacher & the Reinvention of the Local Economy” It’s 37 minutes and a great intro for people to local currency and some of the premises of Transition Milwaukee.
We also plan to do another mutual credit demo, this time with your real skills and needs (can you babysit, fix bikes, walk dogs, prepare vegan meals, or tutor math? Do you need someone to clean your gutters, mend clothes, carpool downtown or install a rainbarrel?) . If you missed the last one, you won’t want to miss this one. It’s fun, fast-paced action and an eye-opening way to show how we, as a cohesive community, have the necessary skills and resilience — but only if we’re networked!
Please bring and invite your friends and join us!
Wed., June 3, 6-8pm
Woodland Pattern on Locust between Fratney and Pierce
*Local currencies and mutual credit systems both support the local economy. One supports the formal economy and the other supports the informal economy.
3 Jun 2009 | 1:24 pm | DIY - Do It Yourself, Economic Development, Environmental Sustainability | No comments yet - Add your comments
This Memorial Day, I participated in the Victory Garden Blitz in Milwaukee. We made raised beds and compost bins. 
Here’s the compost bin. It’s built of cedar and wire, and is attached with hooks and eyes instead of screws. It’s lightweight, and with the hook and eye construction, it’s fast and easy to move. The wire construction allows for more airflow, and makes the wood longer-lasting. The wood is untreated, so no chemicals will find their way into your food. I have one that I built over 15 years ago. I think the metal will rust before the wood rots.
Here’s a 4×4 bed, just built. The lumber is hardwood, white oak, a true 2″ and can be made 10″ or 8″ high. It will last much longer than pine or other woods. It’s also untreated. 
Here’s that same bed, partially planted. You’ll want to fill it with clean topsoil. Most soil in the city is contaminated, which is why we build raise beds. When you put your bed on the ground, you’ll first want to lay a few layers of overlapping newspapers on the ground. They will help kill the grass underneath, while still allowing the worms to find their way up into your bed. Worms are good for your soil. 
Here’s a 4×8 bed partially planted. Using 10″ boards, it takes a cubic yard of soil.
I’m making and selling these now. I can make custom sizes for both the beds and the bins. The bins can be made with doors as well. They can be picked up or delivered and installed on location. Call 263.1513 or email me for prices and details.
3 Jun 2009 | 10:54 am | DIY - Do It Yourself, Development, Health | Read 2 comments - Add your comments
The City of Milwaukee is moving toward privatizing Milwaukee Water even as they speak of making Milwaukee the Fresh Water Capitol of the world (privatization is part of that scenario too).
Other cities and communities that have privatized water have seen
terrible results, including skyrocketing prices, neglect of
infrastructure maintenance, reduced water quality and destroyed public
confidence. Water is becoming more precious by the day and it makes no
fiscal sense to bid it out at today’s values.
If you want to be involved and active on fighting this short-sighted, fiscally irresponsible idea, join the “Keep Public Our Waters” group by sending an email to kpow-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
You can find your Alder here. Their email addresses are below or you can call them at 286.2221
1. Ashanti Hamilton <ahamil@milwaukee.gov>
2. Joe Davis <jldavis@milwaukee.gov>
3. Alder Nik Kovac <nkovac@milwaukee.gov>
4. Robert Bauman <rjbauma@milwaukee.gov>
5. Jim Bohl <jbohl@milwaukee.gov>
6. Milele Coggs <mcoggs@milwaukee.gov>
7. Willie Wade <wwade@milwaukee.gov>
8. Bob Donovan <rdonov@milwaukee.gov>
9. Robert Puente <rpuent@milwaukee.gov>
10. Michael Murphy <mmurph@milwaukee.gov>
11. Joe Dudzig <jdudzi@milwaukee.gov>
12. James Witkowiak <jwitko@milwaukee.gov>
13. Terry Witkowski <twitko@milwaukee.gov>
14. Tony Zielinski <tzieli@milwaukee.gov>
15. Willie Hines <whines@milwaukee.gov>
21 May 2009 | 2:41 pm | Environmental Sustainability, Representation, Water | No comments yet - Add your comments
Milwaukee is officially on the Map: www.EarthHourUS.org/map.php. Globally, 1,485 cities and 9 out of the Top 10 cities in the world are going dark for Earth Hour.
“TURN OUT, TAKE ACTION”: Let your elected leaders know you care about the future of our planet. Send a letter to your Member of Congress and Senator at www.EarthHourUS.org/raiseyourvoice.
WHERE WILL YOU BE WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT? Enjoying a candlelight dinner? Watching the night sky? At home with your family?
Spread the word. www.EarthHourUS.org, www.EarthHourKids.org.
16 Mar 2009 | 2:08 pm | Environmental Sustainability, Events | No comments yet - Add your comments