Embarrassed by alderman’s tactics

Thank you for placing the article “Zielinski Eyes AG Spot” on the last page of the July issue.

Running for that office is the type of chutzpa that calls for an examination of aldermanic privilege and calls for local campaign finance reform. I had great hopes for Alderman “Zorro” Zielinski when he was elected. His swift responses to truancy, graffiti, and noise problems leant credence to taking care of “little things” and having respect for his constituents.

While watching Channel 25 a few months ago I was appalled to hear how neighbors, testifying for or against beer license application by the owner of AK Food Mart (Lincoln and Howell avenues) were treated. Zielinski acted like a prosecuting attorney questioning suspects on trial!

The issue here is not about the beer license, but how residents were treated by this alderman. He insulted most of the low-income residents by ignoring their complaints of noise violations caused by motorcycle nights at Cafe Lulu. He asked one witness, who was pro-beer license, when he had his last beer! (Answer: last August at the State Fair.) He produced one opposed-beer-license witness who lived more than a mile away who claimed that Schwartz’s bookstore had to move because of the prostitution and drugs on its corner.

And in spite of the fact that the [AK Mart] owner has a fence around his property, Zielinski showed pictures supposedly showing plastic cartons stacked against the side of AK Mart’s building. These types of cartons can easily be seen against Groppi’s store which is not enclosed by a fence.

I am embarrassed for my alderman and for all the members of the Licensing Committee who sat silent through this debacle. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has published articles (March 22 and 30, 2009) indicating that Zielinski is one of the top alderman, with at least 27 donors contributing more than $375 each to his campaign compared to Alderman Murphy, who shows only two contributors in the same category.

These facts and his intimidating tactics may sit well with business and wealthy developers, but to us common folk, this gives the appearance of money influencing local politics.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “… whenever a man has cast a longing eye on (politics) a rottenness begins in his conduct.”

Zorro isn’t Zorro anymore, and not even close to an Attorney General.

J. Mazur

Bay View