AirTran versus local perceptions
By now it’s old news that AirTran upped its offer to Midwest stockholders 13 percent to $15 a share last week, or $389 million. The offer was again extended, this time to May 16, just in time for Midwest’s annual stockholders meeting May 23.

But Jim’s Watchdog post “AirTran Deal Not So Bad for Milwaukee” continues to generate a lot of discussion as we weigh the merits of AirTran’s proposals and Midwest’s growth plan. Also on the table: How committed to Milwaukee would AirTran be? How committed is Midwest really? What does real growth mean in the air travel industry? - and other questions.

More than anything, Milwaukee’s parochialism and often quaint perception of itself within the larger economy is a steady undercurrent to the AirTran question, and local media perpetuates this. The New York Times and AP, on the other hand, have given AirTran’s latest offer more merit than it has received in local media. Read the AP/New York Times story here.

Nationally it seems, AirTran’s takeover of Milwaukee’s “regional airline” is not considered so nefarious.

In comparison, here’s the link to coverage in the Journal Sentinel.

McGee wrap up and a look back
Only a few blocks of Riverwest are in the 6th Aldermanic District, but because the neighborhood is just across Holton Street from the eastern end of the 6th, Riverwesters took a strong interest in Ald. Michael McGee, Jr. In fact, Riverwest Currents, the monthly community newspaper, supported McGee against Marlene Johnson three years ago and has featured the alderman on its cover (in 2004, a couple of months before the barrage of headline-making McGee hijinks hit).

Scanning the blogosphere after the election, I found some commentary and a nice link to our analysis of the McGee recall attempt election night on http://riverwestneighborhood.org, a great looking website. Check it out.

That’s a take from east of the 6th. Here’s a post-election take from a nicely-designed website from west of the 6th, in Sherman Park, by business consultant James T. Harris, who mans the 7-9PM slot Sunday nights on TMJ – TMJ’s only black radio host that I’m aware of.

Most the criticism of McGee in the blogosphere and in media came from outside the district (I live and vote in it). Here at Watchdog, McGee has been an ongoing subject of blogs and commentary during his first term. We went back and forth over the recall, but even early on the alderman was a prime candidate for our “LackeyWatch.”

Here’s Jim on the snafu over McGee’s name.

“Faces of Rage” - thoughts on aldermen, vicious cops and male strippers.

Here we come to McGee’s defense in the fight against those “forces of darkness.”

The full McGee archive – 16 posts dating back to March 2005.

Enjoy!