Family Guy

When Israeli bombs slammed into the Lebanese village of Qana
yesterday they did more than kill three dozen children and a score of adults,
it made me question why is the US in Iraq when we could care less about Lebanon.
As our elected officials are silent on the atrocities inflicted on the murdered innocent
women and children of Lebanon, I can only think of the hundreds of billions of dollars,
as well as thousands of US soldiers lives being wasted in Iraq trying to make it a democracy.

You may say that Israel has a right to protect itself, however what
would our community do if a police officer killed fifteen kids at
a day care to stop a hostage situation. How many Hezbollah were
taken by the Israeli secret police before they kidnapped two Israeli Servicemen?

To date 51 in Israel (33 solders & 18 civilians) have died while
524 Lebanese (mostly civilians) died . More Lebanese civilians will die in
next several weeks as more children die of starvation & dehydration.
Historically Israel kills 10 civilians for every one Israeli death.

If the US is risking the lives of our brave service men & women to promote
democracy in the Mideast, why then are we silent when our ally is doing
everything they can to destroy an existing one.

What will happen when, after spending a Trillion dollars and 10,000 American
Servicemen lives to build a democracy in Iraq, Israel decides that is doesn’t like Iraq’s
Ruling party and attacks it. Will the president be silent? Will congress be silent?

What are we fighting for?

The whole world is crying out for an end to this destruction, yet the US is silent.

The sound of our silence is deafening.

Of the hundred or so great blogs on the WauwatosaNow web site, two related
to reassessments. Of the two reassessment blogs (which I did), both relate to
the unequal way the tax burden is distributed (Westside home pay more as a
percentage of homes than Eastside home.) I guess it’s not right of me to question
when a $700K home on the eastside pays less in taxes then my $390K Westside home
(both purchased last year). The $700K home new reassessed value decreased to $560K
while mine increased to $406K

When Kathee Isleb stated in the last Newtimes piece that she thinks
“homes in the Highlands are capped out” what she is really saying is
that she is unwilling to assess home in the Highlands at the market value because
she doesn’t want to see$15K-$20K tax bills.

Another example is two of the three recently sold homes on Milwaukee Ave had new tax
assessments decrease $100K from their sales price. I know several people in my area
(Mayfair Park) whose assessments increased $60K-$100K when they are already paying
over 1.8% (2005 taxes/FMV).

I am not complaining about the reassessment process. I think reassessments should be
done every two years (like Brookfield).

I wouldn’t complain about my $8,100 tax bill if I knew that most homes valued around $400K
paid around $8K, but I know that’s not the case.

I have done more than 30 blogs, I don’t think I’m obsessive about the taxes. I try to mix-up
my topics.

The funny thing is I received more emails on my tax pieces than any other of my Blogs.

Please don’t consider this blog about taxes-- it’s about reading before you write.

Have any of our local officials thought of lobbing the State of WI
to use a portion of their cut of the DHS funds ($24.4 million in 2006)
to help fund a portion of our New Fire Station?

As first responders, I cannot think of a more appropriate use of
DHS funds than helping to improve communications between
our first responders. The state of Wisconsin is interested in directing
funds for to "Implement a State Communications Interoperability Plan"
Can anyone of our local officials solicit the state by requesting a grant for
funds to be used in conjunction with our substantial commitment to improve
first responders capabilities. We could direct the grant to include a new
communication command center in the new fire department.

Note that Sheriff David Clark received over $100,000 in DHS funds to
purchase a Mobile Command Center (Fancy RV) which has his name on it.

I assume that bid for the New Fire Department has specific lines
items for communication costs. If we could get grants to defer
a portion of those cost to DHS, than that less of a burden on
the taxpayers

It’s time local officials think outside the box when it comes to
funding local projects. Just like the Village Voice’s comments
to get outside funds for Hoyt, funds received from non-taxpayers
are twice as sweet and funds from taxpayers.

Too Much Junk Mail?



Log on to dmaconsumers.org/offmailinglist.html and register for the Mail

Preference Service. Your name will go on a “delete” list that the

Direct Marketing Association compiles for its clients. After you

register, you should see about a 75% decrease in your junk mail.



Receiving too many unsolicited credit card offers?

Call 888-567-8688 to stop the three major credit card unions

(Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) from selling your name and

address. You can also check obviously.com/junkmail for instructions

on how to get off of specific mailing lists such as AOL,

Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes and more

If there is anyone interested in starting a petition against the re-assessment
please email me @ jrhart@wi.rr.com

I am considering a petition that will require a review of the reassessment process
by the formation of an advisory committee made of three aldermen, three taxpayers,
the city administrator and a private appraisal company.

The purpose of the advisory committee would be three fold
1. Analyze re-assessment data and identify inconsistencies in valuations
2. Determine ways to improve the appraisal model to improve fairness in valuations
3. Make recommendations to the assessor and procure funds (budget but not yet spent)
to improve the accuracy, efficiency & fairness to the assessment process.

I have a database provided by the assessors office which has the 2500 sales from 2003-05
The data has been sorted and show the homes paying the most and the homes paying the least

The trend, which I have discussed with the Assessor, Mayor, City Administrator & several aldermen, shows a distinct bias in favor of homes in the Village.

I will send anyone a copy of the data who is interested.

If you think you are paying too much in taxes, (2005 taxes were 1.85% or greater than you Estimated
Fair Market Value) then you may be interested in signing the petition

The New Times is considering writing a story on this very topic

Christine's great idea for revenue generation at the dump was a stroke of genius!

To add to that idea, I propose to sell naming rights to the Dump as well.

The following are suggested advertisers

Decon- for the inside part of the dump where the critters live $1,000/yr

Sears - for the top part where you dump the fridges--when you
pay your $10 dumping fee you get a $25 coupon at the
Sear's outlet $1,000/yr

Dell - for the computer dumping station. Also charge a $10/monitor
dumping fee. $1,000/yr

Hawks - discount wood chip station- watch for tree bores! $1,000/yr

Aldermen Vandelay - dirt hill (composite pile) he is all about dirt $500/yr (from his pac $$)

MMSD - tree & brush station. Since they are all about knockin down trees & vegetation. $1000/yr

"F Tom Ament Municipal Dump" Sounds great don't it!!! 10% of his annual pension payoff (excuse
me I meant "out")

Savings taxpayers -- Over $20K/year!!!!!!



Next up-- Michael McGee Municipal Police Station

Remember tax assessments stand on their own

Doesn’t matter that your neighbor’s assessment is half of yours


The following will happen before you get the assessor to lower your assessment


Half Ton Man getting is weight correctly guessed at State Fair

Brad & Angelia’s marrage making it to their silver wedding anniversary

My Daugther cleaning her room without being told

Find a good parking space at Mayfair on December 24th.

Myself spending more time with my family then on my blog

Gas going down to $2 gallion

The US Govt balancing the budget

State Street being a viable travel option

Reversal of Tosa’s smoking ban

Guard rail being installed on 116th & Watertown Pk. to protect Underwood School kids from trains

Having no wait at the DMV

Tommy Raider holding court at a Tosa East’s Basketball game

Tom & Jackie Hegnight (Miracle Homes) being nominated for sainthood

Building a Fire Station on Mower Court

Wauwatosa West getting an assistant Band director

There were two homes on Alice Street sitting side by side.

They were quite similar, nicely kept homes with big yards on a quiet cul-de-sac.

Their taxes were even quite similar #13 were $4,250 & #23 were $4,570.

One day last July, #13 was sold. The price was quite fine $369K.


Today, the new assessments came out and all of a sudden the homes are different.

Now #13 is assessed at $349K and #23 is still unchanged at $244K

Before #13 paid hundreds less in taxes than #23.

Now #13 will pay thousands more than #23


Moral of the story—it’s sweet being #23.


PS. I am not picking on #23, I lived there for 23 years.
PPS. I don’t feel sorry for #13, I paid over $8K in taxes last year.

Mayor reprimands Alderman for bad language

After Tuesday night’s Common Council meeting, Mayor Estness
reprimanded alderman Vandulay (9th district) after several of Vandulay
comments were overheard and broadcasted on the cable access channel.

Alderman Vandulay who was talking to a fellow alderman at the end of the
last night’s Common council meeting thought the mikes had been turned off.
The microphones, which are used to assist in the broadcasting of the meetings
were apparently still on and picked-up a couple of Vandulay’s expletives.

Vandulay’s was commenting on MMSD’s dumping in the Menomonee River
and was overheard saying “I hope MMSD would stop dumping that “expletive”
in our river”. Vandulay, was also overheard saying “there is no “expletive” way
I am voting for a new fire station on Mower Court”

After many citizen complaints, Mayor Estness publicly reprimanded Vandulay
saying “our citizens don’t need to hear that language coming from our public
officials. We as elected officials need to hold ourselves to a higher standard when
it comes to conducting the business of running Wauwatosa”

Alderman’s Vandulay said he was sorry and won’t “do that” again.

Keep your hand on your Hamburger

Six years ago. “Look M (my six year old daughter), there’s a pig in the sky”
M looks and I steal some of her French fries.

Three years ago. “look M, there’s a horse in the road” M looks and take a
bite out of her sandwich.

Yesterday. Look M, there’s a dog in our yard. M looks and I grab a spoonful
of her ice cream.

This trick, known to most father’s, and has been past down from generation to generation.

As M gets older, I have to make the hook a little more believable. Three years from
now I will probably have to say “M look at that Prada Bag” to get a bite of her hamburger.


This trick works well for government too.

“Hey taxpayers, look we are going to knock down your houses to build a fire station”
Taxpayers listen, argue, get outraged, call their aldermen and try to stop it. City then
says ok, we listened, and do what they originally planned to do-- they spend $10-$11 million
retrofitting the old fire station so that they can park their longer fire truck.

The city has no real intention of using eminent domain to kick out the home owners
off Mower Court- that would be political suicide. They are using Mower Court as the
worst case scenario in order to make it easier to taypayers accept the only other alternative –
retrofitting the old one. The discussion is now focused on Mower Court
rather than whether each taxpayers want to spent $100-$200/year on a new fire station.

I think the Mower Court residents have more to fear from the impeding tax assessments
(tax increases ) then the fire station. (a discussion for later date).

Time will tell, but hopefully the Wauwatosa taxpayers will take a lesson from my daughter who keeps her hand on her hamburger whenever I am around.

Yes, you heard me right, I think it’s time to change Hart Park’s Name

Here’s why:

I grew up around three blocks from Hart Park. In my early years, my friends
and I would go down to Hart Park (we called it City Park in those days) in the winter
and break ice on the river. We also would ice skate & play hockey on the flooded parking lot.
In the spring, after a rain fall, we would go down to the river just to see what floated by. In Summertime, after the Tosa East Tennis team would be done with their season, we would take our cheap wooden rackets and half dead tennis balls and try to play a game or two.

In junior high, I got a job as a Sentinel carrier. My route was from 73rd & Milwaukee
to 70th & Chestnut. Chestnut no longer exist. It was leveled.

During my high school years, as part of the East marching band, my autumn's were filled
with walking down to Hart Park during lunch and practicing band routines which
would be performed at East Home football games.

My family has lived in Wauwatosa (mostly in the village) for over 120 years.
My father (Class of ’36 ) and grandfather (’05) spent their childhood doing
roughly the same things I did at Hart Park—having fun.
My dad use to tell me we were related to the Hoyt’s not the Hart’s. (Two Harts & a
Hoyt founded Wauwatosa)

I find it difficult to go to Hart Park these days. I am on a Board that meets in the
Mueller Bldg at Hart Park so I have to figure out which road is open to even get to the meetings.
Hart Park doesn’t resemble anything I remember. The roads which I drove my bike
or are gone. The homes which I used to deliver papers to are gone. Trees
which I used to climb on to hop the Football field fence so I could get into East games free are gone.

MMSD has a really nice depiction of how the park will look when they get done doing
what they are doing. It’s nice to know that Wauwatosa’s only park has been gutted to
hold waste water for communities upstream.
People tell me MMSD knows what it is doing. Funny, a big organization with it’s own community
board cannot figure out that soil & seed may get washed out when it rains.

MMSD Deep Tunnel project grossly underestimated the volume of rainwater, underestimated the cost (currently in the Billions) and oversold the benefits. The Tunnel which now costs taxpayers millions every year, is a system that cannot even handle a one inch rain and continually comprises our greatest natural resource-- Lake Michigan.

I think when all is said and done, Hart Park, or whatever it will be named will
just be a field filled with junk trees & crab grass waiting for the next rain. It will
be so under-engineered as to make it over capacity with a mild down pour.
It will be under maintained and will be used as a incubator for the West Nile Virus.

If you think I am overly pessimistic, just look at MMDS’s track record.

I am sorry for the over wordy rant about Hart Park. Hart Park to me no longer exists so
call it whatever you want. I think it would be a dis-service to our Indian forefathers to
call it Neshnabek Park. I think it should be called something like “MMSD Wastewater
Storage facility #1”. Maybe we could honor those who helped push the Parks to the
brink by naming roads after them such as F Tom Ament Drive or Scott Walker Way.

I hope I am wrong and maybe after 20 years it will go back to the way it was and
we can rename it Hart Park

After my wife joined a book club a few months ago, I thought
it would be a great idea if I joined one as well. I searched all over
Tosa to find a men’s book club and couldn’t find one so I decided to
start my own. I discussed my book club idea with several friends
at the 4th of July festival who all said it was a great idea—Men getting
together to discuss books we like. I thought I would share our first
meeting discussions so that other men could maybe start their own.

The following are the actual meeting minutes:

The meeting was called to order on Saturday night at 7:30. I decided
that the first meeting should be at my house for several reasons.
First, I had a big backyard that has a firepit so we could arrange chairs
around the fire. Second, I have ample outside bathroom facilities and
finally I had lots of extra beer from having to buy two cases of Miller to get
a free Summerfest ticket (which I bought eight cases).

There were six guys in attendance and we all brought a sample book to
try and persuade the group to read/discuss. Scott was the first to plead
his case. Scott brought a Tom Clancy book – “Ops Center”. First question
the group asked was how many pages it was (895 small print). The group
thought Clancy was too wordy and spent too much time on submarines.

Next book was a Lennox heating & air conditioning Manual brought by Roger.
The book had lots of merit, but was considered a bit dry for some mechanically
challenged members

The third book was actually not a book at all but a fantasy football draft guide brought
by Eric. The group said that this would be better for our August book than July.

Next up was our single friend Jerry who brought a Penthouse forum. The group spent the
next 30 minutes discussing whether the Forum was actually a book or a collection of short stories.
It was then voted down because we thought our wives might not like our selection.

The fifth book was brought by Hugo who tried to class-up the meeting by bring
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”. The group thought Dostoevsky’s
work was too filled with rage & revenge and may be too depressing. If we were going
for Russian writers we should start out with Chekhov or Pushkin instead.

The final book of the night was mine. One of my favorites. The Hardy Boys “The Secret
Of the Caves” I told the group of the many interplaying themes of the book and how it
was really a metaphor for the existential matter of being. They all laughed at me and
decided on the fantasy football guide as the first book for the club.

After we finished our second case of beer we thought it was time to end the meeting.
Eric said he would host the next meeting a week before his fantasy football draft.

I thought the meeting was a great success and wanted to share my experience with other
men so that they could maybe start their own book club.

Thanks and good reading.

Last night MMSD voluntary dumped thousands of gallons
of untreated sewage at 60th & Wisconsin Ave at Honey Creek
(pardon the pun) parkway. MMSD spokesperson Paul Luter
acknowledged the facts of the dumping incident adding
“my bad”. Paul Luter said “we had no choice, it was either
Tosa or the lake—and people get mad when we dump in the lake”.

When Tosa activist Antia Jon asked Luter “doesn’t to river flow
into the lake, Luter said “well generally, however we hope most
of the solids settle on the banks and dry out, thus creating a kind of
compost. Luter also added “solid waste happens and since Tosa
has been so great with letting MMSD destroy their green space,
we thought Tosa wouldn’t mind getting a little sample of what's to come.

The mayor hasn’t commented on the dumping incident.

1. Buy more fireworks.

2. Drink more bottled water—try the hose for a change

3. Watch more TV. Go walk in a park or catch a little league game instead.

4. Eat at McDonalds or Taco Bell. Try a Gyro or Miles Standish.

5. Pay for gas with a credit card. Try playing with cash and thank the cashier
Remember Exxon may have made $50 billion last year but the person
behind the register may not even be able to afford health care.

6. Start another diet. Take a month off of dieting and toss the scale.

7. Worry about what other people think. It’s what you think that matters.

8. Buy lottery tickets. If you are going to throw away money, give it to
a homeless person or the guy playing sax at the brewer’s game (he needs lessons)

9. Ignore a quiet person. Surprise them by asking them something about themselves.

10. Stop believing in yourself.

Ratt, Poison to play at Tosafest

80’s Heavy Metal Bands Ratt & Poison have signed contracts
to play at Tosafest in September. In a strange twist of events,
Alderman Vandulay mistakenly signed Ratt & Poison to play
At Wauwatosa premier music festival. During Wednesday Common
Counsel meeting, Vandulay, who is chair of the rodent & weeds sub-committee,
was allegedly half-asleep, when the mayor told him to purchase rat poison
to curb the going rodent problem at the city dump.

Vandulay, who admitted staying out late the night before, attending the Slayer
concert at Summerfest, mistook the mayor directive to mean that he should
book Ratt & Poison to TosaFest (which he also chairs). Saying that it was no
big deal, Vandulay said he already hired P. Piper to get rid of the rats (he comes
highly recommended, and the Irish love him).

Vandulay also stated that “it’s time Tosafest book some of those kick#$#%
bands that I love”

Cost of booking the bands is estimated at $20,000 and will be taken from
the rodent control budget.

Alderman Hanson has asked for an investigation.

On a related story, Rev. Horton Heat & the Chain Smoking Altar Boys
have cancelled their contract with Tosafest, stating “because of the smoking
Ban, the Altar Boys refuse to play”

Observations of the 4th of July in Wauwatosa

Parade – Always a great way to kick-off the 4th.
People were very polite & friendly.
Best Marching band - Waukesha North
Not sure why East band didn’t have their full uniforms on. East band
looked half the size of West and when did they get rid of the Guns, Flags
and Trumpets.

I remember my last 4th of July as a member of the Tosa East Band. We were
one of the largest and best bands in the state. In the fall we were in the Macy’s day parade and our band director – Orville Mathias (boss) was one of the best teachers
that I can remember. Attendance in the parade was mandatory, even for those
who graduated? We also put on a full show to open the night’s fireworks show.

Well, back to the parade. Was it just me or did WI Screen door float look more
Like an advertisement then a float. The Tripoli Shirners motorcycles and little
Mini cars are was great. When did they start riding the little motorcycles (are
they the B Team?) I don’t understand the people walking with banners—do they sponsor the parade?
Too many Cooper Mini’s Didn’t know if there was that many in the state.
The Mayor was out shaking hands (didn’t see Scott Walker do that)
I miss the kids with there bikes decorated. Is it a liability issue that kids cannot ride bikes in the street.
My favorite float was Wilson School’s float which Greg Koch was play his version of Jimmy Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner (Good job Greg!).
Didn’t miss seeing Jerry Taft!
Overall great parade.

If you missed the races at West you missed out. See parent and kids run, trip & fall together reminded me of the intro to Wild World of Sports. I remember cheating as kid by saying I was 9 when I was 11 just to win a cardboard airplane or other toy bought at Drews. No Ice cream cups (with the wooden spoons) or Cracker Jack (what a rip –off)
Good weather for fireworks and everyone was camped (except for the football field) Don’t know how decided we couldn’t go on West football field when it was ok at Hart Park?
The picnic astrosphere was great and the fireworks didn’t disappoint. Great 70’s music during the day.
Tosa East, Tosa West & Espree poms show were good. Should have booked Greg Koch for the music instead of the jazz trio.

I cannot believe the amount of private fireworks display going off well into the night. Hope everyone
has all their fingers!

Overall Good job planners, police, & volunteers for another great 4th. Just another reason why living in Tosa is a good thing.