storyhill.net, Nov. 13, 2006

Commitee deals blow to proposal for ticket-writing aldermen

Nov. 13 -- A proposal to seek ticket-writing power for aldermen sputtered last week when a Common Council committee recommended that the matter be placed on file.

The vote was 4-1.

“I think there’s too much opportunity for abuse by some individual members (of the council),” said Ald. Michael Murphy, who said he was not referring to current council members. “The potential exists where we become maybe more vigilant for certain people versus others.”

Ald. Michael McGee Jr., though, said giving aldermen the power to enforce city ordinances could better serve constituents. He emphasized he was not asking for seeking aldermanic authority to arrest people.

."Just some of the every day activities that we partake in," he told the Judiciary and Legislation Commitee. "We get a lot of calls from our constituents – they expect us not necessarily to have police powers, but to address drug houses, to address some of the serious public safety issues, but even some of the smaller nuances of public safety. For instances, if you go into a store and you see one of the store owners selling single cigarettes, for instance, to a juvenile, we have to go through the arduous task of calling the Police Department, and then they would have to have factual evidence...We are sworn public officials, we have seen it with our eyes."

McGee's proposal calls for the introduction of state legislation that would allow Milwaukee to grant to aldermen the right to enforce certain, unspecified ordinances.

McGee told the committee he left the specifics open to negotiation, and that he wanted aldermen to discuss the matter.

Ald. Ashanti Hamilton supported the proposal. Constituents often contact aldermen instead of police, he said.

"It can be situations like block parties, it can be just kids hanging out in the street," Hamilton said. "To actually be able to respond to certain situations and actually get things done without overpowering the police and without overwhelming them with – a lot of it is not – it’s not public safety issues, it’s quality of life issues."

“Whenever power like this is given to anybody, the potential for abuse is always there,” he added. Aldermen and police already have the ability to abuse power, Hamilton said.

Ald. Michael D'Amato said he is sometime frustrated by the way people abuse neighborhoods where they live.

“It would be tempting to have this power and issue these citations,” he said. He said, though, that “We almost protect ourselves from ourselves” by having others write the tickets."

Aldermen have opponents and constituents who support other candidates, he said.

“Even the best of us look at things biasedly, given the game that we’re in,” he said.

Civil service employees who often write up ordinance violations do not face those pressures, he said.