A good, good start. May it carry forward — we need all the brains, passion and commitment we can get.

Chris Abele, though, simply does not have his act together. Yesterday I got an big Abele campaign ad boasting that Chris would rescue the county by freezing the budget of the county executive’s office and cutting back on county cell phones.

Golly. Won’t that accomplish a lot! Those pennies, combined with several hundred million dollars more, and the county’s problems will be solved!

Today the JS reported that Abele hasn’t paid state income tax for at least four years (note to paper: invoking Uncle Sam when discussing state taxes is a federalism error).

The Abele campaign sounds absolutely lame trying to explain it away:

“Chris Abele has paid the taxes he’s owed,” said Abele campaign aide Brandon Lorenz, who confirmed that the candidate also had no federal tax liability last year.

Lorenz noted that Abele, the son of a co-founder of the medical equipment company Boston Scientific, draws no regular salary from his family foundation, makes significant personal donations to charity and pays a five-figure property tax bill.

So just what is the Argosy Foundation’s compensation structure for Abele? That “no regular salary” statement does not rule out a hefty paycheck in some tax-avoiding form or another.

Lorenz goes on to make matters worse by making clear just what a fancy schmancy house Abele calls home:

As for Abele, his campaign staffer emphasized that the first-time candidate paid more than $64,000 in property taxes last year.

Abele bought his N. Lake Drive digs for $2.6 million in 2005, according to the paper.

The decision is finally made: Jim Sullivan for county executive.

His campaign, in a prepared statement, said that “Chris will grant a short-term property tax exemption for new small business startups based on new net jobs created in Milwaukee County.”

Really? And what about that pesky uniformity clause in the State Constitution?

As the League of Wisconsin Municipalities put it in a Q and A:

Chris Abele wants money from me!

Snort. Giggle.

He is looking for cash for his county exec’s race.

Yes, I am glad Chris Abele is part of the Milwaukee community and believe he has every right to run for county exec.

BUT: He really hasn’t explained his position on anything — an omission his website, as of today, does not correct — and one of his backers, Sheldon Lubar, is a Scott Walker suck-up.

As Lubar told the JS:

“I came on board yesterday,” said Lubar, a prominent Republican and founder of Lubar & Co.. “Chris and I agree that there are some specific changes that are needed, and we have a man who’s governor who knows what they are better than anyone else.”

What are those changes? Don’t know. Abele hasn’t said.

That checkbook is staying closed.

PR Newswire reports that

According to the HNTB America THINKS transit survey, nearly 9 in 10 (87 percent) Americans who have access to public transportation where they work or live take advantage of it. In addition, almost 7 in 10 (69 percent) Americans feel there are many times when public transit is a better option than driving, and nearly three in ten of them choose higher gas prices (29 percent) and convenience (29 percent) as the biggest motivators for riding public transportation.

“Whether it’s buses, commuter trains, light rail or streetcars, public transportation is an essential element for our communities,” said Elizabeth Rao, chair public transit services for HNTB. “People like transit and successful cities deliver it.”

Approximately 1 in 4 respondents think the most valuable feature of public transportation is that it reduces traffic congestion (28 percent), or saves users money (24 percent), while about 1 in 7 (13 percent) say it’s most valuable feature is the environmental benefit.

“Healthy transportation infrastructure is economically and environmentally sound. It spurs job creation, stimulates the economy, reduces dependence on foreign oil and enhances quality of life,” said Rao. “Unfortunately decades of underinvestment have taken their toll.”

The nation’s largest public transit agencies face an $80 billion maintenance backlog just to bring their rail systems to a state of good repair. Within the next six years, almost every transit vehicle (55,000 vehicles) in rural America will need to be replaced.

Hellow, Wisconsin Department of Transportation and Milwaukee County! Are you paying attention? Both are severely underfunding transit and have been for years.

And is HNTB paying attention to itself? HNTB has not been a big transit friend in southeastern Wisconsin, first consulting on the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission study that recommended expanding freeways and then getting multi-multi-million dollar contracts on projects to expand those same freeways. (That’s a 10 on the ethical puke-o-meter, if you are keeping track.)

The cut means that the county cannot afford the 29 temporary third shift employees who work in the winter months, Takerian told Dewayne J. Johnson, WisDOT’s southeast region director. Cutting those workers may result in more accidents, more serious accidents and more disabled vehicles and stranded motorists, he said in a letter to Johnson.

“WisDOT should also be prepared to notifying (sic) the public of their decision,” Takerian wrote in a memo to Supervisor Michael Mayo, chairman of the County Board’s Transportation and Public Works Committee. “A similar snow event that Milwaukee County has seen in years past would have huge impacts on travel times due to snow accumulation or road disrepair.”

Area highway commissioners have asked WisDOT to notify local school districts of the funding cuts so they “might plan for more late starts or more closures,” Takerian wrote.

The county will not have enough staff to maintain response times to weather-related road hazards “such as the emergency pavement blowouts that have occurred on several occasions this past year,” he wrote.

Takerian asked WisDOT’s Johnson to restore $750,000 of the funding so the third shift can be maintained.

Ms. Cele Stepke owns the building at 1210 E. Potter Avenue in Bay View. The building is occupied by a company named Piedmont Property Corporation. Located at this address are two garages that abut Hwy 794.

On January 8, 2010, a county truck engaged in a snow removal operation threw snow over the wall between the highway and the two garages. One of the garages incurred significant damage to its structure and doors.

This is an on-going problem of which the Highway Department is aware. The plow operators have been instructed to lower the speed of their trucks as they pass along side the subject property.

Gosh darned that Highway Department for damaging buildings and God knows what else through careless snow plow operation. Can’t help wondering, though, if the problem has anything to do with fewer people expected to plow the same number and miles of streets and highways.

Budget cuts have consequences.

Results of the Mitchell Blvd. Park weed-out

Thanks, folks, for the successful weed-out Saturday at Mitchell Blvd. Park. A total of 15 people donated their time and effort to beat back the evil garlic mustard. The effort was sponsored by Sustainable Story Hill.

Thanks also to the Park People of Milwaukee County and to the Milwaukee County Parks Department for assistance and supplies.

So how long before she asks for her teaching job back? And could she be denied on the basis of her being a thief?