Takin' the Blog for a Walk
Join Waukesha resident Brien Lee and his blog, Sir Fido, as they explore the city and report on the interesting things they find.
Email Brien at howlinblog@yahoo.com.
i should be a fan
I should be in support of Governor Walker's plan to eliminate same day voter registration. Ward 18 at St. Mary's had over 400 registrants, 40% of in-person voters, on Nov. 6th which produced a constant long line throughout the day.
the most important thing I'll do this year
This will be my first presidential election as chief inspector. It certainly could be one of the most important things I've ever done. The same could be said about voting. You're not only voting for the direction you'd like to see the country headed the next four years, but being a resident of a swing state in a very close election your counts so much more.
2 weeks from today
early voting began in wisconsin yesterday. last of the debates was yesterday. we got a absentee ballot yesterday. oddly enough, the special election for state senator dist. 33 is on the back of the ballot. it's clearly the same ballot to be used at the polls in two weeks, but i guess i was expecting the dist. 33 republican primary to be on a separate ballot after reading about it in saturday's freeman.
Tuesday's primary
Election Tuesday went really well at St. Mary's 8th District polls. We were a little overstaffed and had low turnout, but it was good practice for November. Again very satisfied with all my poll workers and the location.
Paul Ryan for President?
I turned on the TV this morning in time to see Governor Romney endorse Janesville's Paul Ryan. The morning paper was already hinting Ryan would be the running mate. The radio I listened to on the way back from an early a.m. blood donation noted the announcement would be coming soon.
one for the history books
Tuesday was one for the books and not just because there was a rare Transit of Venus that day. Though it'll be 2117 the next time Venus crosses the sun, some say we'd probably be dead then. Now if we weren't that would be historic.
you work 16 hours, what do you get?
Put in sixteen hours at the polls yesterday helping make sure your vote counted. If you'd been an observer at District 8 polls in the City of Waukesha yesterday you would've seen 13 hours of smooth and trouble-free operation by six of Waukesha's most dedicated poll workers book-ended by strange incidents at the 7:00 a.m. opening and 8:00 p.m. close.
resurrections
Happy Easter and Chag Pesach Sameach! Am wishing you a holiday as nice as this great spring weather.
first of five
One election down, four more to go. Tuesday's primary at Waukesha's newest polling location - St. Mary's - went well, if a little slow. I attended four training sessions this year and never felt more ready for an election. We had more than enough competent poll workers. Didn't even come close to running out of ballots. The St. Mary's Community Room is a large, comfortable, well-lit affair with kitchen and restrooms close by, plenty of parking and handicap accessible.
veto vetoed
The mayor's water negotiation team veto was overturned at last night's council meeting. It was 9:00 by the time the last of the public commenters was heard and I was tired, so I didn't see the veto vote.
the job's not over until the paperwork is finished
The recount is over! Waukesha County finished it's recount Wednesday and sent all the volunteer tabulators home. All that's left is another day or two to reconcile the numbers.
"Spit in your shoe."
It was Mom's answer to "What can I do" when I was a young lad. I often asked the question when no brothers were around to play with. I thought she was a little strange. It shut me up. Didn't realize until years later she was just messing with me by rhyming.
Spruce'n Up the Yard
Thought I'd do a little biking before groceries Saturday. I'd just read about a short ride through Waukesha with the president of Carroll U, his wife, Mayor Scrima and others for a Ride with the President. They were pedalling through the historic McCall Street area, a side of town I don't get to nearly enough, to raise awareness and encourage use of alternative transportation. I didn't leave early enough.
Tuesday's primary
Tuesday was first time for me as chief inspector at the polls when I actually had time to prepare. I felt ready, but things can go wrong, though it would have been embarrasing to make mistakes with such low numbers.
State of State Address
In case you missed it. Governor Walker's first State of the State speech yesterday, 2/1.
State of the Union
Extremely busy yesterday. Worked overtime but managed to get home for the speech. Glad I did. I got a lot out of it and agreed with most of it. It was well thought out and delivered. It was good to see our Republican and Democratic Representatives sitting together for once, and good use in the speech of the occasion. The speech was motivational. It layed down what had to be done if we wanted to be competitive in the new world marketplace, and what we had to do to keep our heads above water.
If you saw us on 12
A camera crew from 12 News showed up at Waukesha's District One poll station at the Elk's Lodge on Springdale at some point in the morning. If you happened to watch, (First District is in the slideshow on their site starting with first photo - I'm pictured in slide 12) it was nothing compared to just a few hours later.
My civic duty. It may not involve voting.
Just 12 hours after blogging about poll working all day at Hawthorne I got a call from Gina, Deputy Clerk of Waukesha. She needed a chief inspector at the polls at the Elk's Club. The usual inspector went into the hospital unexpectedly.
"You can't complain if you don't vote."
My friend Rod was quoted in today's Freeman speaking yesterday at his polling station. It's funny because I said the same thing. I worked the polls 16 hours yesterday. Huge turnout. Nearly 40 percent. The great weather helped, but 40 percent? I had the feeling more people are paying attention and interested in politics.
this rest area temporarily out of order
One of Sir Fido's favorite p-mail servers crashed last night. One less place to leave an instant message.
the "New Day In Waukesha" fund
I'm glad I waited to comment on the mayor finally returning half his salary to the city. James Wigderson said it way better than I ever could have. Read the blog here.
thanks for voting
Someone didn't expect the numbers to be so high yesterday. Started the day with just three voting booths and ended the day running out of paper ballots in the 9th Ward. We had maybe a 30 percent turn out among the approximately 2700 registered voters in the 4th District.
my wish for Waukesha
Seeing as today is my birthday I'm hoping one wish will come true. My wish is for what's best for Waukesha. If the best thing for Waukesha is an inexperienced mayor who has many ideas, ideas that don't hold water so to speak, then that is my wish. Just don't expect to see a "Scrima For Mayor" sign on the front lawn.
"I LUV U"
It's not that I don't love each one of you, it's just that I wouldn't come right out and say it like this. By using quotation marks in the title I'm able to avoid any emotional connection.
Mayor for Mayor
My prediction for the mayoral primary? One of the winners will be Mayor Nelson. He's done and is doing more for the city than any other mayor. He seems to have been working well with other governments, council members and city staff. Even though I'm not real happy about our assessment, flooding or condition of city streets, I can't hold Mayor Larry personally responsible for the state of the economy or acts of God. Larry is a tireless cheerleader for the city and has a decent plan for it's future.
H2 oh oh
The timing wasn't exactly "perfect". Today's mention in the Freeman and Journal Sentinel of Waukesha's 20 year, $100 million plus, estimate of purchasing Lake Michigan water from Milwaukee happened to coincide with mention of Milwaukee's request for a 36% water rate increase for suburbs purchasing water.
third year's a charm
It's been three years since the beginning of WaukeshaNOW and this blog. There's still plenty going on to share. The enjoyment I get from writing hasn't receeded, and as long the computer is working, and I still have the time, I'd like to continue.
can't fight City Hall?
If you've received your 2009 Notice of Assessment and plan on fighting it... good luck. How many people have the time and resources to get an appraisal, do a market analysis, get repair estimates, compare recent sales of similar properties?
things I would've blogged about
I don't like going this long between posts. Must be a victim of the economy - cutbacks are everywhere. More time spent working, less spent writing. Laying off half the employees doesn't necessarily mean the workload decreases by half.
living history
I had no plans for Thursday when I first took it as a vacation day three months ago. I knew the kids were off school and that was enough. Later I learned there were a few things going on at the colleges that day.
working vacation
Seems I can't get enough of work, even working on my day off. Worked the polls yesterday 6:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., (yes, there was an election Tuesday). Getting paid was never as much fun.
don't be the one
During the last presidential elections Waukesha County was known for what?
defending your right to make a difference
I spent 16 hours in a library a week ago and didn't pick up a single book... For you.
baseball and the city
There's already at least one discussion on the topic of a stadium in Frame Park for a Northwoods League team, so I won't start one here. But because it's outcome could affect most everyone who goes Downtown, it's important that those who would have an opinion after it's built speak up now, before it's approved.
got e.s.p.?
I guess I'm OK when it comes to predicting the future, but are we going to be the last ones to get the Economic Stimulus Payment? I predicted we'd see our cash at least a month ago. We filed taxes early and electronically. We've had so much time to think about how we're going to spend the money that we'll have to borrow to do half of it. (It's what the government is doing for the money anyway.)
the rest of the story
Little Caesars. One of my last posts mentioned a sad individual without balloons and, even though I haven't gone hot air ballooning in months, wasn't referring to me. At least I didn't think so. No, I'm not the clown who lost his balloons. But I am sad that Little Caesars on Summit is closed. Sunday the pizza shop made one last attempt to attract customers by attaching bunches of yellow and orange balloons to a sign in the parking lot and by Monday they were permanently closed. Now I'm not a connoisseur of fine pizza, but did love the fact that we could run in for a quick, hot, inexpensive meal that everyone would eat.
swearing to uphold the Constitution on President's Day
Monday I was sworn in as a poll worker. Tuesday I spent 16 hours at Hawthorne School initialling and handing out ballots and helping make sure things ran smoothly at the polling station for Aldermanic District 4. Four of the seven workers, myself included, were first time workers. I think we handled the crowd pretty well.
the 3-legged race to the polls
It's a 3-legged race to the polls and there's two entrants: It's the team of Clinton, Obama and McCain versus Team Democrat, Republican and Undecided.
Mayor Nelson's blog
The mayor's blog is finally up and running, his first post was yesterday. The comments feature is turned off, but that's OK. The NOW sites started out the same way and we eventually got ours turned on. Give it some time and I'm sure he'll eventually have all kinds of links and pictures, etc.
bring a pillow
Next Tuesday's annual city budget adoption meeting at 7:00 promises to be a long one. As a matter-of-fact, here's your excuse to stay out past midnight if you want to. No, the pillow isn't for sleeping, it's for sitting on. Several hours of sitting on those hard fibreglass chairs and you're going to need one.
state budget
If we made no changes to our lifestyle here at the Lee household, the new state budget will cost us almost $1200.00 more in 2008 than this year. That's a lot of groceries!
