Former Milwaukee Alderman Bob Donovan served for almost 20 years representing Milwaukee’s 8th District until his decision not to run for a 6th term last year. He is known as an outspoken critic of the mayor, the Milwaukee streetcar and a strong proponent of increased spending on public safety.
Donovan made a Facebook post which caught the eye of Wisconsin Right Now. We think Milwaukee residents should take notice when he tells them, “The best advice I can give to my fellow Milwaukeeans is two-fold: either consider moving or buying a gun.”
Bob Donovan’s Post
Just where is Milwaukee headed? Wherever it is, it won’t be pretty. Consider the following:
1) 120 additional officers cut from MPD. That’s in addition to the 60 cops cut last year. I’ve lost count of how many have been cut in the last 10 years. All this as we see a doubling of our homicides and crime, fear and disorder go largely unabated. And who suffers the worst from these cuts? Those living in our challenged neighborhoods. Largely poor, largely disenfranchised, largely minority. In addition, given the current political climate and the war on cops, officers remaining are not being proactive whatsoever. Quite frankly, I don’t blame them.
2) We’re paying more and more for less and less. Prepare yourself for a large increase in your property taxes, largely due to MPS. We are all expected to bail out a failing system. In addition, you’re going to see increases in fees on your water bill. There’s a new streetlight fee so we’ll be paying even more for the streetlights that seem to fail us so frequently. Did I mention the $10 increase in the wheel tax? I’m sure there’s much more in the small print. Get your wallets out.
3) A significant number of department heads have seen the writing on the wall and are bailing out of Milwaukee. We all know what happened to Chief Morales, but now our Health Commissioner decides to up and leave. I might add, at the height of a pandemic. In addition, the Exec. Director of the Election Commission has left just prior to the biggest presidential election of the century. Also, the Commissioner of the Dept. of City Development, the Director of Employee Relations, the Deputy Commissioner of DPW, the Exec. Director of the Fire and Police Commission and the Fire Chief have all left or are leaving soon.
4) And what do we hear from the business community? You know, the movers and shakers of Milwaukee, the people who get things done? What a joke they have become. Year in and year out, blindly supporting our feckless elected officials and the status quo. So very sad and pathetic. A dimly lit shadow of the giants of our past.
5) Which leads us to our elected officials – our ruling class. They offer no vision, no plan for Milwaukee, other than increased fees and taxes for less services. Let’s face it folks, our Mayor’s greatest claim to fame is he’s a “nice guy”. Whether he is or isn’t is rather immaterial. He is a man who for 16 years has turned indecision and timidity into a fine art. I’m here to tell you folks, indecision is a tragedy in a man, but a disaster in a Mayor. We are also left with too many elected officials cowering in their basements succumbing to the madness of the mob and unwilling or unable to summon the common sense and courage to do their job and lead Milwaukee, and the few that are leading are leading us in the wrong direction. But let’s not forget, we do have a streetcar costing us taxpayers millions of dollars every year.
This irresponsible leadership is digging Milwaukee into a hole that we may never get out of.
With all this in mind, the best advice I can give to my fellow Milwaukeeans is two-fold: either consider moving or buying a gun.
That is, while you still can.
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