The Milwaukee Post

May 12, 2017 • Milwaukee County Post • 9 OPINION By ASHANTI HAMILTON It is up to us to be intentional about directing our energy and ded- ication to improve the safety of our neighborhoods and our city as a whole. Considering the many posi- tive and high-impact collaborations happening in Milwaukee, we have a prime opportunity to make this summer one of our safest in years. To make this happen, there are key actions that my colleagues and I must work together to achieve. We know that trends in police officer retirement and current staffing levels create realities that we must pay attention to. Some of the things we can do now to address those realities include offering incentive programs to officers who are approaching retirement to stay on beyond their retirement date. Another solution to this issue is to create a structure that engages seasonal officers, retired officers and individuals with law enforce- ment experience to work with police. Both are possible solutions the council dis- cussed this time last year. I will con- vene commit- tees to consider both options and I will work to engage the P o l i c e D e p a r t m e n t , Budget Office, Pension Board and the police union in these pro- posed strategies to address solu- tions to community safety con- cerns. It has been the Common Council's call and my personal commitment to collaborate with law enforcement to achieve a safer Milwaukee. We all acknowledge that public safety concerns cannot be borne on the shoulders of the Police Department alone. We are pushing a solution- focused narrative in our neighbor- hoods this summer while working toward providing jobs for youths in targeted neighborhoods and build- ing infrastructure to connect adults who are willing to work to employ- ment opportunities. We are leveraging city resources in targeted neighborhoods in Milwaukee so that there is a collab- orative effort to keep neighbor- hoods clean, develop plans to address foreclosed and abandoned houses, and create positive activi- ties and programs for our youths who will be out of school this sum- mer. My vision for a safe summer in Milwaukee is achievable and it is a vision we all need to believe in. We will not let counterproductive nar- ratives set the tone for how we per- ceive our city this summer. Instead, we all have to roll up our sleeves and work together to make the vision for a safe summer in Milwaukee a reality that we all can celebrate. (Ashanti Hamilton is the Milwaukee Common Council presi- dent.) GOP tax plan would hurt Milwaukee workers To the editor: Milwaukee County is focused on meeting the needs of our res- idents and getting people to work. The proposal by legislative Republicans to eliminate critical transportation funding will make it harder for people to get to work and contribute to the eco- nomic growth of our county and the region. I was not in favor of the wheel tax for Milwaukee County, but it was adopted by the board and it has helped us meet the trans- portation needs of the county and get people to work. The Legislature needs to give us the tools we need to maintain our transportation system and roads. In Milwaukee County, we balanced our budget for 2017. The proposal by legislative Republicans would put Milwaukee in a $21 million hole before we even start dealing with the structural deficit for 2018, estimated at more than $50 million. That's a cri- sis waiting to happen and legislative Republicans from across Wisconsin will share the blame for Milwaukee's economic prob- lems from this point forward. Republicans in Madison need to explain why they continually single out Milwaukee County with hostile action like the plan to repeal Milwaukee County's vehicle registration fee when we are the economic engine of the state. By undermining the economic health of Milwaukee County, legislative Republicans are hurting the rest of Wisconsin. As goes Milwaukee County, so goes the rest of the great state of Wisconsin. Michael Mayo Milwaukee County supervisor, Transportation, Public Works, and Transit Committee chairman LETTERS TO THE EDITOR By OWEN B. ROBINSON There has been a virulent strain of anti- free speech fascism developing on our col- lege campuses, and on too many campuses, this fascism has been nurtured and encouraged by the very faculty and staff that are charged with expanding minds. The most recent high-profile example of this trend happened at the University of California, Berkeley, over the past few weeks. A group of fascists rioted in order to prevent conservative firebrand Ann Coulter from giving a speech on campus. Under the threat of violence and Berkeley officials' unwillingness to control the riot- ers, Coulter canceled her speech. This has been happening to invited speakers who do not espouse leftist politi- cal beliefs at campuses all over the nation. In March, students at Middlebury College in Vermont shouted down American Enterprise Institute political scientist Charles Murray, pulled the fire alarm, banged on the walls, and assaulted a female professor. Berkeley was the scene of more riots back in February when pro-free-speech (not conservative) provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak. The fascists set fire to trees, attacked bystanders, and forced the speech to be canceled. Lest you think that such behavior is con- fined to the coasts, Madison and Milwaukee were the scenes of similar actions when conserva- tive public speaker Ben Shapiro came to Wisconsin last year. When Shapiro spoke at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, stu- dents organized to shout Shapiro down and prevent him from speaking. Over at Marquette University earlier this year, Marquette's faculty was caught trying to sabotage the event by reserving seats for the speech as fake students in order to pre- vent actual students from attending. Such lying is apparently condoned by Marquette's staff. Protests on college campuses are nothing new. In the classical liberal tradition, col- lege is a place for students to have their minds stretched, their beliefs questioned, and their prejudices challenged. Protesting for and against various causes and push- ing against authority is part of the American college tradition. But what is going on now on college campuses is some- thing different and vile. Instead of merely protesting or offering a different viewpoint, liberal fascists on campus are acting — often violently — to repress the speech of people with whom they disagree. That is not expression. That is oppression. In years past, college administrators and faculty were often the most ardent defend- ers of free speech and would take neces- sary actions to defend and protect others' right to free expression. Unfortunately, for too many colleges, those days have ended. Too often, we see college administrators and faculty either refusing to defend any- one except fellow leftists and, as in the case at Marquette, actively working to suppress anyone who would challenge leftist ortho- doxy. State Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, has introduced a bill titled the "Campus Free Speech Act" to attempt to force public college administrators to do what they should have been doing all along — defend free speech on their campuses. The bill would require the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents to develop and imple- ment a systemwide policy to defend the free expression of ideas. The policy must continue to allow protests, but would pun- ish students who repeatedly attempt to quash the free speech of others. In a perfect world, the Legislature would not need to step in and require the Board of Regents to take action to defend free speech. In a perfect world, UW officials at all levels would so honor and cherish the right to free speech that they would mar- shal every weapon at their disposal to pro- tect and defend people who are speaking their minds — however contrary to their own beliefs. But as we all know, the world is not perfect, and we must continue to push back the forces of oppression and fas- cism. Kremer's bill is a necessary step to protect free speech for everyone precisely in the place where diverse viewpoints should be celebrated. (Owen B. Robinson is a West Bend resi- dent whose column appears occasionally in The Milwaukee County Post. He can be reached at owen@bootsandsabers.com.) Protect free speech on college campuses Robinson A safe summer in Milwaukee is within reach Hamilton

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