...about stuff in the news this week.

--Waukesha Okays Frame Park Improvements for Northwoods League Baseball Team Over Local Objections

      I don't live in Waukesha, and I love baseball, so guess where I'm coming down on this one?      There's already a diamond at the park, one that's used by Carroll College and high school teams.     Sure, they'll add some lights and bleachers to bring the seating to 16 hundred, but we're not talking about dropping Miller Park into the middle of Frame, or even Borchardt Field.       And, there'll be just 34 games.     I'm sure those who live near it will notice a little more traffic, but probably no more than they do when Frame hosts the other regularly scheduled festivals and events it's the home of the rest of the summer.     This is cheap, clean family fun and a chance for some ballplayers to work their way up to a minor league opportunity.

      The one sound bite we ran from Tuesday night's meeting said it all for me: it came from a foe of the plan who said, in so many words, "The lights, the crowds, the noise--I just don't like it".      Yeah, seeing other people actually USING and park and HAVING FUN--can't have any of THAT going on in my neighborhood, can we?      We had the same thing happen in my neighborhood when the Friends of Boerner first proposed building a Visitors Center in Whitnall Park--a facility for teaching kids, that would serve as a local gardening resource, and also host social events (like wedding receptions in the middle of a park where hundreds of brides and grooms already come for post-nuptial pictures).       Some who live nearby would hear none of it--too much traffic, too much noise, park commercialization.       Huh?     

       I guess there are those who see our parks as giant, green buffers between them and their neighbors that should remain constantly dormant.      There are others, like yours truly, who think parks should actually be USED, in large part to justify their very existence.      Aren't they supposed to be "people places"?      This is not unlike folks who move next to an airport, then complain about all those pesky planes.

--Milwaukee Neighborhood to Harley Riders: Love The Rumble, Not The Roar

       You invite friends over for a backyard summer bash.     You promise them music and food.      You tell them they'll be the guests of honor.    And then, on their way to the beer tap, you tell them, "Shssssssssh!     Please keep it down!"     

      Signs are popping up in Milwaukee's Story Hill neighborhood in advance of next weekend's 105th Harley Celebration, asking motorcyclists to keep it quiet as they gather for the Parade of Heroes and other events that'll dot the town for a few days.      I'm thinking these must be the same people who keep the neighbor kid's ball when it bounces into their yard.

       Granted, these folks didn't have much of a say when Harley decided to stage the Parade in their part of town.    But c'mon--one day, every five years?        If it truly bothers you that much to have all those Dennis Hopper wannabes around riding their Iron, why not book a nice quiet weekend somewhere else?      I hear it's really quiet around Frame Park in Waukesha.

      By the way, do you really think a Harley rider, upon seeing a sign telling him or her to pipe down, isn't going to gun it for all it's worth?        It's about as rebellious as a lot of those folks get to be.

      Comments?     Criticisms?      Pithy observations?      Write me at mueller@620wtmj.com.