We have discussed many reasons on why the Milwaukee County Board should proceed with caution on the sale of the county grounds for the poorly 
thought through Innovation Park. The reasons include the simple fact that this is not the best financial or geographic location for the school, questions about whether UW-Milwaukee will be able to come up with the funding, and the rush job that it appears to be with no legal guarantees about protecting the Monarch Trail.
To highlight what a secretive, rush job that this is, I have learned that the only some of the environmentalists have received the most recent plans late on Friday, which is definitely not enough time to have everyone involved a chance to go over them, much less offer an opinion and/or suggestions. Remember, the County Board committees involved in this deal meet Monday and Tuesday mornings, so it is doubtful that anyone can even be there, much less offer any informed opinions since the information was distributed so late and incompletely.
Also, in Sunday morning’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, investigative reporter Dan Bice has a column about the Institute for Graphics and Imaging, which was supposed to be a worldwide hub for printing technology:
The Institute for Graphics and Imaging in Waukesha County should be teeming with activity.
It is centrally located on the bustling Waukesha County Technical College campus in Pewaukee.
The 19,000-square-foot facility is roomy and well-scrubbed.
Its classrooms, offices, lab and product demonstration room are stocked with the latest equipment and technology.
But on many days, the institute is quiet and nearly empty – almost as empty as the promises that this facility would become a worldwide training hub for the printing industry.
“Financial performance has not been what we hoped or anticipated it to be,” said Ron Dahl, executive director of the institute.
Not even close.
That sounds an awful lot like the promises UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago is making about this Innovation Park, and a lot like the warnings that the professors are giving regarding it.
Another problem with the proposed plans for the school is that the Monarch Trail has just become even more vital for the Monarch butterflies.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) just released their list of “10 to Watch in 2010”, which is a list of the species that they are some of the most threatened species of the world. Listed among the top 10 was the Monarch (emphasis ours):
Monarch Butterfly
Every year millions of delicate monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) migrate from North America to their winter habitat in Mexico. A well conserved and protected high-altitude pine and fir forest in Mexico is essential for the survival of the overwintering of monarchs, which has been recognized as an endangered biological phenomenon. The protection of its reproductive habitats in the United States and Canada is also crucial to saving this species migration, one of the most remarkable natural phenomena on the planet. World Wildlife Fund, in collaboration with the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, has designed an innovative conservation strategy to protect and restore the Monarch butterflies wintering habitat in Mexico, so butterflies are protected from extremes weather and other threats. WWF is also supporting local communities to establish trees nurseries that are reintroduced to the monarch butterfly reserve, creating at the same time new sources of income for the owners of the monarch forests.
The County Board needs to think long and hard before allowing the deal to go through as it currently is. They are risking taking another hit on taxpayers when the school flops because of the bad choice in locations, as well as international heat for allowing one of the rare stopping spots for the Monarchs during their migration.
If it is a matter of the County being so needy of the money, there are plenty of other options that could quickly raise that much money, and even more, if they were willing to. The County could sell many of its unused lots and buildings. The most logical choice would be to offer Froedtert and Children’s Hospitals to buy out of their leases and just buy the land outright. I am sure the two hospitals would jump at the chance.
At the very least, the County Board should table the sale until there is ample time to review and make any necessary corrections to the architects plans, as well as put in binding legal language to protect the valuable ecological wonder that is the Monarch Trail.