City’s Elected Officials and Payne & Dolan’s Dirty Little Secret

IMPORTANT MEETING TONIGHT

Have the City’s elected officials put politics ahead of public safety or have they been asleep at the wheel when it comes to monitoring the mining operations at Payne & Dolan's Quarry and  the the air quality coming out of that quarry?

A Franklin citizen’s group has asked former Alderman and editor and publisher of THE FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL, Basil Ryan to moderate its meeting this evening (Thursday, September 28, 2011) at 7:00PM to discuss and explain how Franklin’s elected officials and City staff have put Franklin citizens at risk of contracting Silicosis due to years of lax and legally required oversight of the Payne & Dolan Quarry.

Quarry Meeting Flyer

According to OSHAs website, Silicosis is caused by exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust. Crystalline silica is a basic component of soil, sand, granite, and most other types of rock, and it is used as an abrasive blasting agent. Silicosis is a progressive, disabling, and often fatal lung disease. Cigarette smoking adds to the lung damage caused by silica. Silica has been classified as a human lung carcinogen.  Silicosis makes an individual more susceptible to Teburculocis (TB), Scleroderma – a disease affecting skin, blood vessels, joints and skeletal muscles, as well as possible kidney disease.  OSHA also points to the following sources of exposure for Silicosis. 

• Sandblasting for surface preparation
• Crushing and drilling rock and concrete
• Masonry and concrete work (e.g. building and road construction and repair).
• Mining/tunneling; demolitions work.
• Cement and asphalt pavement manufacturing

If it were not for Payne & Dolan’s expansion ("enhancements" as City officials explained) of its quarry operation along South 51st Street, essentially between Rawson and Drexel Avenues, more than a decade old oversight failure by City officials may have never been discovered.

Ffollows are questions submitted to City staff during an August 24, 2011, Neighborhood Meeting pertaining to the Payne & Dolan Berm “enhancement” Project.  Answers are organized by topic, and were provided by the City of Franklin Planning Department.  We received these answers by email on Friday, September 16, 2011.

Questions & Answers to Quarry Questions (9-16-11)

The question now is: Who in City government should be held accountable for this serious failure to protect the citizens of Franklin from this potential cancer-causing agent produced potentially being produced ad released from the quarry operation?  In the private sector it would fall squarely on the shoulders of the Chief Executive Officer.

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MMSD Public Hearing Regarding New District Boundary for the City of Franklin

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) has given notice that it will hold a public hearing tomorrow, Tuesday, September 27, 2001 [2011], at 10:00AM at the District’s headquarters building located at 260 W. Seebooth Street, Milwaukee.  Oddly, at this writing this notice cannot be found on The City of Franklin’s website.  We did however; find the following notices on the website’s front page (Priorities?):

• Annual Spaghetti Dinner to Benefit Charities
• Emergency Services Chili Cook-Off

While both are great events, Tuesday’s MMSD Hearing is to gather public comment on MMSD’s biennial review to consider whether and how much of the City of Franklin should be included into District’s taxing boundary on account of the Ryan Creek Interceptor. It appears that that the City of Franklin permitted MMSD to include the whole City of Franklin in its taxing boundary.  Weren’t taxpayers told repeatedly by Mayor Taylor and Alderman Taylor and other City officials that the Ryan Creek Interceptor Project wouldn’t be a tax burden on Franklin taxpayers?  This latest collusion between the City and MMSD could result in Franklin residents with their own septic systems having to pay annual taxes to MMSD for service they may not want or need.

It appears that Galileo was correct: "All truths are easy to understand once they are disdovered."

MMSD Public Hearing Notice regarding Franklin Boundaries 092711

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Update on Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 10:34 AM by Basil Ryan

ERROR IN MMSD HEARING PUBLIC NOTICE DATE

THE FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL has contacted MMSD this morning to notify the body of an error in its posting of the aforementioned public hearing notice concerning the Ryan Creek Interceptor Project.  Here is the main text of our email:

The public hearing notice that appears on your website (Notice of Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District for public hearing regarding the district boundary for the City of Franklin) has the incorrect year listed.

It says, “... will hold a public hearing to gather public comment on the District's biennial review of its boundary on September 27, 2001.” Therefore, since THE FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL is bringing this error to your attention, our question is, will MMSD postpone the meeting and re-notice the meeting with the correct date?

If you are waiting for someone to file a written complaint, consider this a written complaint. THE FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL feels your notice is incorrect and confusing to the general public and should have the correct date. Otherwise it leads the reader to believe that you'll be discussing a topic that took place in 2001. FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL had numerous inquiries about the article we posted on our newspaper. We linked your public notice to our article and readers were confused about what we were trying to say and what your notice articulated. Your incorrect date has confused our readers. Please consider this objection for the reasons stated above. Please contact us if we can be of any further assistance or help.

Editors, THE FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL

We received the following response from MMSD this morning:

Dear Editor,

Thank you for catching that typo on our web site.

We did post a nearly full page public notice in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that correctly listed the proper hearing date and time. We do plan to hold the meeting this morning as noticed in the paper.

Bill Graffin

MMSD Public Information Manager

(414) 225-2077

NEVER EVER GIVE UP IN LIFE!

Let'end the week on an inspirational high note...

Who will be Milwaukee's 2011 Jerk of the Year?

Thanks to a reader’s tip we have learned that the Shepherd Express’ Best of Milwaukee—arguably the oldest and most revered—Reader's Choice poll in the City of Milwaukee, this year  includes Franklin’s own District 4 Alderman Steve F. Taylor; on its list of nominees for “Milwaukee's Jerk of the Year.”  For context here are a few of Alderman Taylor’s competitors in this category:

• County Executive Chris Able
• Mayor Tom Barrett
• Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway
•  State Senator Lena Taylor
• JoAnne Kloppenburg

Click here to cast your vote at the Shepherd Express.

GOOD LUCK Steve, we’re pulling for you!

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HAPPY CONSTITUTION DAY!

Constitution Day or Citizenship Day is an American federal observance that recognizes the adoption of the United States Constitution and those who have become U.S. citizens. It is observed on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787.

 The law establishing the holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill of 2004.  Before this law was enacted, the holiday was known as "Citizenship Day". In addition to renaming the holiday "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day," the act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day.   In May 2005, the United States Department of Education announced the enactment of this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds of any kind.   This holiday is not observed by granting time off work for federal employees.

When Constitution Day falls on a weekend or on another holiday, schools and other institutions observe the holiday on an adjacent weekday.

Universities and colleges nationwide have created "U.S. Constitution and Citizenship Weeks" in order to meet the requirements of the law. For example, the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) has created a celebration week that includes "Constitution Trivia Contests", distribution of free copies of the U.S. Constitution, a campus & community fair (in which volunteer and community groups can share information with students), a web page with facts and links related to the Constitution and history of the United States. MSOE has also distributed thousands of free "Presidential quote" t-shirts to all students on campus.

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Franklin Home of City’s Favored Developer Faces Foreclosure

Tom Daykin of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Land and Space blog recently reported that U.S. Bankruptcy Court documents revealed that local developer Mark Carstensen’s Shoppes of Wyndham Village (pictured above), is at the center of a Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy filing by developer Mark Carstensen.  Documents show a claim pending against Carstensen of $19 million, owed to SB1 General Portfolio Owner LLC.

Adding to Carstensen’s financial misfortunes is the fact that on August 24, Yahoo Real Estate Listed an asking price of $662,000 for the 5,112 square foot Franklin home of Mark E. Carstensen and Mary M. Horton-Carstensen, 9860 Wolffel Rd.  The total assessed value of the property according to the Franklin Assessor's Office is $1,206,300.

The latest financial woes for Carstensen and The Carstensen Group, may have been foreshadowed by the controversies and financial problems surrounding not only the  Shoppes at Wyndham Village, but company’s financial problems with a more recent project—the Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake development.

Artist rendering of the Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake apartments.

 Carstensen, a regular contributor to local politicians' campaigns, received rave reviews from local and state politicians for his the Monastery Lake project, whose construction, according to City officials,  has since been taken over by another developer selected by Sacred  Heart officials.

Carstensen’s Chapter 7 filing lists assets of $3.2 million, and liabilities of $46.4 million.

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