2009 was a horrible year.

The economy threw many people out of work and many of those that continued to work were underemployed and of course the stock market tanked.

A spate of deaths among family and friends in late 2008 was carried forward with the loss of my Grandfather in 2009. On top of that, this site was hacked and it took a huge effort to get things back and running smoothly and safely.

I held out hope for a public option for healthcare but that didn’t happen. Milwaukee County government, under the glazed eyed Scott Walker, saw the loss of more services and raised their debt load even more to pay for ongoing operating expenses. All this despite winning a sizable sum in a lawsuit which, ironically, was only won because County leaders (who Walker demonized in his successful effort to win his seat in 2001) were given misleading information which led to a costly mistake.

Anti-reform advocates came together to fight against a plan to turn MPS governance over to the City of Milwaukee, despite the fact that MPS, under the not-so-watchful eye of a part-time school board, has had failing marks for years. Of course when businesses locate to a community they look to the Mayor to find out what is going on with a city and speculate on whether they wil have an adequately educated workforce. Since MPS Board members don’t have to deal with those issues, and they can’t anyway because they have to work full-time jobs to support their own families, the problems are kept from them, as is the blame for a failing system.

In Brown Deer, Village officials lacked vision and understanding of diversity approved another senior housing complex at he exclusion of working families and children. With the trend of seniors organizing to oppose nearly every school referrendum on the ballot, this may well tip the balance from a family friendly community to an educational black hole.

Unemployment stands at just over 10% (worse for minorities), many people have lost their homes to forclosure due to the fact that lending and investments have been largely deregulated by Republicans in the last 30 years and of course the swine flu outbreak (H1N1 if you want a more sterilized way of putting it).

If there was a silver lining, it was the folks down at City Hall in Milwaukee. Despite having investments which hurt the pension plan investments for all governments, Mayor Tom Barrett and the City Council passed a budget that funded the plan for retirees by 99% and didn’t borrow money to do it. They cut back in many areas but still managed to keep the costs down to the rate of inflation. On top of that, Barrett hasn’t given up on the plan to turn MPS over to the City and now has both the Governor and key State Senators on his side. Fortunately Barrett has chosen to run for Governor, unfortunately so has Walker. The outcome of that race will help to decide whether 2010 will suck also or whether it will bring hope for a new and responsible 2011.

On a personal and more positive note, I just became a Godfather for a wonderful little niece of mine named Anna.

So there’s still hope for 2010.