Sunday, May 23, 2010

Nikiya Harris For County Supervisor


The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a fairly decent article up about the race for District 2 County Supervisor.

The race comes down to Nikiya Harris and Wallace White.

I have had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Harris on a number of occasions. She is very proactive on many of the issues and is ready to start putting Milwaukee County back on the right track.

While she might not have raised as much money as her opponent, that only reflects Mr. White's ties to the business community. But for what she doesn't have in money, she has more than made up with energy. She has been actively campaigning day in and day out, going out and knocking on doors and talking to people to see what is important to them. That is a refreshing change than our current county executive and his supporters who dismiss the concerns and needs of the people for their campaign donors.

As mentioned above, I've had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Harris on a number of occasions. I asked her about the three big topics of importance to the county right now; BHD, transit and the parks.

Regarding BHD, Ms. Harris points out that there just isn't enough staff or services to meet the needs of the community. She also said that a large part of the problem is the constant privatization of services, which ends up being more expensive and less effective than county workers.

Ms. Harris also told me that she strongly supports the dedicated sales tax to support the parks and the transit system. She correctly points out that a healthy transit system is needed for a healthy economy and that people need to get to their jobs if the economy is ever to improve.

Regarding the parks, she pointed out her career with the Urban Ecology Center and her understanding of how important it is to maintain our natural areas. She said she found it very sad and upsetting that people were using the parks as dumping grounds to get rid of all of their garbage.

She said that she would like to get people out to the parks more to revitalize their value and importance to the community, which in turn would help put more pressure on our elected leaders in Madison to start paying attention to the people and not the special interests. She said that she would work closely with the Park People to develop more friends of the parks groups in her district.

Ms. Harris has the support of many of the County Board Supervisors, most notably Chris Larson and Marina Dimitrijevic, two of the most active, progressive and popular members of the Board.

She also has the endorsement from the Milwaukee Courier, who wrote:

Nikiya is called to public service to stand up for the needs of the people of her district. She is a dedicated leader who will be a full-time representative in a way that is honest, dependable.

In April’s 11-way primary, Nikiya Harris worked hard to distinguish herself in a crowded field. Her strong grassroots campaign hit the doors, winning the primary with a dominating 27 percent of the total vote. Now, she’s gearing up for the general election and working even harder, pledging to support secure funding for public transit for job access, to make our parks safe and clean, and to be a full-time Supervisor.

With all due respect to Mr. White, I concur and would say that Ms. Harris would make an excellent Supervisor for District 2 and would be a voice on the Board that is desperately needed right now.

Nikiya Harris' website can be found here.

2 comments:

  1. I'm voting against Harris because she's ignored the law to leave her ads on my property - I have a no soliciting sign AND I've called & told her to stay away - and I think it's creepy that she had my name every time she came to the door. White (her opponent) has more relevent experience & training.

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  2. Candidates for elected office have a legal right to knock on your door regardless of your no soliciting sign.

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