Saying “no” to everything can have a cost to a community. Hales Corners is about to get a wake up call when Hales Corner Pool doesn’t open but it could have been worse.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Paul Cesarz rode in on a wave of the CRG inspired recall-mania in 2002 but has since mistakenly credited his win to a taxpayer revolt. Also believing he won due to a taxpayer revolt was Republican County Executive Scott Walker who chose to close Hales Corners pool this coming summer rather than pay to keep it open. Cesarz, who is is known to vote for everything that Walker wants, did not submit a budget amendment to save Hales Corners pool from closing its doors despite other Supervisors telling him that they support summer time public pool recreation and would support him if he wanted the pool to stay open. However, they would not submit the budget amendment under their name since it is Cesarz who represents Hales Corners.

But it gets worse for Cesarz’s district.

In the last budget, Walker tried to give the 300 acres of Bender Park to Oak Creek. Bender Park is in Cesarz district but it was other County Supervisors who removed the land giveaway since most of the board members continue to be in support of not selling off parkland and opening it up to developers.

Where was Cesarz? Once again, he was AWOL. Oak Creek wants to develop this land for condos. Real estate developers who have dumped money into Walker’s campaign want to trade 300 acres of old industrial areas for the mostly pristine Bender Park. “Imagine what that property is worth — 300 acres next to Lake Michigan that is free of contamination. It is easily a couple hundred million worth of development if you wanted it. It’s the slimiest real estate deal Walker has proposed lately” said County Supervisor John Weishan.

But where is Cesarz when it comes to his own district?

It should have been Cesarz who was looking after the needs of his district has been mostly AWOL when it comes to representation.

Cesarz’s district is under siege by Walker. In this past budget, County Board members put together a budget amendment for $300,000 to dredge the Bender Park boat launch. This isn’t just a cheap place for boaters to launch their boats — the Bender Park boat launch is designated by the Coast Guard as a safe harbor for boaters who are in distress due to dangerous weather conditions. This was to maintain the $10 million plus project. Once again, Cesarz was no where to be seen when it came to addressing this issue in his district.

It may be a year away, but voters in Franklin, Oak Creek and Hales Corners need to start paying attention to what their elected Supervisor is not only saying, but to what he’s not doing.