New Berlin Citizens for Responsible Government

A public service of NBCRG

I am writing you in regards to the blog entry of Linda Richter regarding Jerry Mellone. I do not want to respond directly to her regarding her entry because I do not want to give her any reason to write more lies about me. I went to New Berlin City Hall today and talked to the city clerk regarding this blog entry stating that I led a group that was trying to evade paying taxes to New Berlin.

She assured me that New Berlin has no part in these allegations and that I have been an excellent taxpayer since the late 1970’s. She stated she did not know this was being said and there is no truth to these allegations.

The reference Paul Gallagher’s website makes is as I was the president of the Lincoln Ave. Condo Assoc. I questioned the formula used in assessing charges when sewer and water was brought into our building. New Berlin set up a mediator at the court house in order to answer these questions for all of the properties involved in this sewer/water project.

My building is a corner lot with the sewer on the Lincoln Ave. frontage. New Berlin brought the water line on Liberty and required us to run a lateral for an extra 200 feet. This cost involved many thousands of dollars extra. I requested New Berlin pay for the extra sewer lateral. My request was denied. Our 8 unit condominium cost for hooking up to the new sewer and water was over $150,000. We have a total of 19 toilets. You do the math. I would think anyone would question this, if put in this position.

Other comments from this blog asked why I listed my New Berlin address. It’s because we have owned this property since 1987 and we were asked to give our input by New Berlin regarding this widening project. We attended the Public Information Meeting and I also contacted my alderman to represent my opinion on this project.

As far as the reference to an “agenda”, I represent the sixth district in Brookfield. There are over 75 properties threatened by eminent domain as a result of Brookfield’s project. Many of these taxpayers will lose their front yards. I felt it was important to alert New Berlin regarding this project since it involved millions of dollars and would also affect residents living on Calhoun in New Berlin.

I noted, in the Journal article, New Berlin took into account a future interchange at Calhoun in Brookfield adding to the traffic on this road. I contacted many people at WisDOT including Secretary Busalacchi and all of them say an interchange at this location will not happen for many years, if ever.

I called the New Berlin Now manager in order to question this blog entry and he left a message stating their bloggers can say anything they want. He has no control over them. I understand we have freedom of speech in this country, however before you accuse some one, you should make an attempt to get the story right.

Thank you for conveying my ideas on your blog.

Jerry Mellone
Brookfield Alderman
Sixth District