That’s likely, accordingto a new report by the ACLU of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Riverkeeper, MidwestEnvironmental Advocates, Sustainable Story Hill and the Milwaukee chapter ofthe NAACP.
The groups studiedhousing and economic patterns in the region and found that the differencebetween Milwaukee and Waukesha counties is stark. In 2008, an astounding 92% ofWaukesha residents were white, compared to 58% in Milwaukee. Four percent ofWaukesha residents were Hispanic, while Milwaukee had a population that was 12%Hispanic. And a shocking 1% of Waukesha residents were African American,compared to 25% in Milwaukee County.
In addition to racialsegregation, the groups found that housing policies in Waukesha favorsingle-family homeowners and the well-off, reliable transportation between thetwo communities is lacking, and Waukesha continues to foster an unwelcomingattitude toward non-whites.
So those decidingwhether Waukesha should receive water from Lake Michigan should consider if itwould foster additional suburban development that shuts out minorities andthose who aren’t wealthy. Sharing a natural resource such as water should leadto sustainable communities, not to more segregated, isolated islands of thehaves and have-nots.
Hero of the Week
Rhonda Ray
In today’s 24-hour newscycle, even horrific stories can become forgotten quickly, such as theearthquake that devastated Haiti in January. Just last week, however, PresidentObama reminded the world that the situation in Haiti remains “dire” and muchwork needs to be done.
In light of the ongoingcrisis, we salute the efforts of Rhonda Ray, a Kaplan College student who, asan intern at Riverwest’s Capitol Medical Group, went above and beyond tocoordinate a large donation of needed medical supplies to relief workers inHaiti. Ray spent many unpaid hours on the phone soliciting donations from areamedical organizations and arranging their transport to Haiti.
For her outstandingexample of what one determined person can do to make a difference on a globalscale, we make Rhonda Ray our Hero of the Week.
Jerk of the Week
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. VanHollen
Last week J.B. VanHollen announced that he was filing charges against five individuals forelection fraud. Now, everyone agrees that planned and coordinated double votingcompletely undermines the democratic electoral process. But after all of VanHollen’s politically motivated efforts to appeal to his suburban base byfinding “massive voter fraud” in Milwaukee, he has essentially come up empty.Two of the five people were charged with voter registration fraud, but not voterfraudnames were registered, but there were no actual illegal votes cast. Oneperson was on probation and voted, which is illegal in Wisconsin (though legalin other states). And the final two were the only people charged with actuallyvoting twice. They voted early by absentee and, according to the complaint,apparently didn’t remember and voted again on Election Day. Wrong, yes. Amalicious conspiracy to commit fraud, definitely not. After wasting tens ofthousands of taxpayer dollars on his political crusade to find voter fraud inMilwaukee and then striking out, Van Hollen owes Milwaukee residents anapology.
