Milwaukee Ald. Bob Donovan is suggesting the state is illegally housing some sex offenders in his district. He says three men with histories of sex crimes are staying in an improperly permitted house on the near South Side.

Donovan says the state quietly dumped the men at 2407 W. Orchard St. several weeks ago without public notice. A city zoning change and occupancy permit are needed to allow the men to stay, Donovan said.

Donovan has railed against the governor's early release program and predicts that at least 65 percent of the 3,000 inmates released are going to move back to Milwaukee.

"The state officials who put these sex offenders in that house don't give a rat's ass about my constituents or the City of Milwaukee," Donovan said. "My gut tells me they (state corrections) are going to be doing this more and more as they flush these jailbirds out and back to the streets (as part of the early release program)."

Donovan has confirmed that the men are under state monitoring because of their past sex crimes. He's asked the Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) to take action to shut down the house if it is found that it is being used as a transitional living facility without an occupancy permit -- something typically issued only after neighbors are notified and following a public hearing in front of the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Recognition not all wet: Milwaukee Riverkeeper efforts to open up the Menomonee and Milwaukee rivers to more paddlers received some recognition in The New York Times this week. The Times highlighted the Milwaukee Urban Water Trail, which Milwaukee Riverkeeper created a five years ago.

"Urbanites can float along the office towers and breweries bordering the Milwaukee River, while naturalists can head for the Lincoln Park Fishing Pier and spot herons and egrets amid the marsh," wrote Jane Margolies in an article that appeared in The Times travel section on May 16 with the headline, "Seven Rivers Less Paddled."

"Thrill seekers, meanwhile, can shoot over the Estabrook Falls. And those curious about the old industrial waterfront can paddle the Menomonee River to the Burnham Canal to see late-19th-century wheat silos and a grain elevator."

Shooting the Estabrook Falls probably isn't the safest of water moves -- downright deadly at times -- but The Times' writer must have been overcome in all the excitement. For the record, there is an easy portage around the spillover dam.

Bringing home the bacon: When it comes to federal block grant money, aldermen get in line to try and take care of the community based organizations in their districts with handouts, since not only are they the catalysts for change in their districts, they also carry a considerable amount of political organizing acumen, as well. That's definitely the case of the Southside Organizing Committee, which covers Ald. Donovan's near South Side district.

Donovan successfully got a Common Council committee to take $20,000 in block grant money from an effort to revitalize the Bronzeville area near North Avenue and King Drive and give it to the SOC, a dominant player in his district. The SOC would use the $20,000 for its Operation Impact program, a crime reduction program which uses cameras, more police and other monitoring efforts.

It's the first time the program has been using city funds and was started by private funds from businesses in the area. The $20,000 cut in the Bronzeville funding reduces the project's spending from $297,584 to $272,584.

The city's block grant director Steven Mahan noted at a meeting that Bronzeville Ald. Milele Coggs had not been consulted about the switch but that the administration had no problems with it.

Train drain: Milwaukee's sparkling intermodal depot on St. Paul may be the gateway to our fair city, but Ald. Bob Bauman points out that it is also a leading deadbeat when it comes to paying property taxes.

The station was remodeled with public money but is operated by a private group, Intermodal Partners, LLC, which is principally controlled by Wilton Partners of Los Angeles. Wilton Partners leases the station to Greyhound and Amtrak. That company is linked to indicted Chicago businessman Tony Rezko, who was one of the people instrumental in Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich losing his job.

Intermodal Partners owes the city more than $328,000 in property taxes, says Bauman and he wants the city attorney to proceed with foreclosure action. He has always maintained that the building should be publicly operated.

"If we're successful (in a foreclosure action), Milwaukee will either get paid or become the operator of the Intermodal facility," he said.

East Side Overlay goes under: A controversial plan to enforce and create an historical preservation area on the Lower East Side will be quietly shelved. The East Village Overlay District, which was formed five years ago, created strict guidelines for how property owners could rehab and remodel their historic properties.

It pitted long-time income property owners, such as the Bondar family of Wolski's fame, against some of the newer money in the neighborhood, like that of Julilly Kohler, who built new condos in the area.

The Bondars and other property owners were outspoken in their opposition, resorting to yard signs of protest and the threat of running candidates against then-incumbent Ald. Mike D'Amato. The area is bordered by Warren Street on the east, Humboldt Avenue on the west, near Brady Street on the south and the river on the north. The City Plan Commission considers the issue next week.

Meanwhile, in other East Side zoning action, the city's Zoning Committee approved height restrictions and other limits to development along the Milwaukee River north of the North Avenue Dam to Silver Spring Drive.

Some developers aren't too keen on the idea of height limits, which are meant to maintain the scenic quality of the river valley, a rare respite of peace and tranquility in the big city. But backers see it as a chance to seize the opportunity to create a rare eco-corridor. An impetus that speeded up the preservation process was a new dorm building on the west side of the river by North Avenue that towers over the valley.

Under the plan:

• No building could be constructed bigger than a duplex within the primary environmental corridor.
• North of North Avenue, no building bigger than a duplex within a buffer zone 25 feet beyond the top of the bluff line, and only limited building could take place between 25 and 50 feet of the bluff line.
• 45-foot height restrictions would be in place up to 100 feet from the top of the bluff and 60-foot restrictions up to 150 feet.
• Design guidelines that encourage green practices and careful treatment of the river side of buildings.
• No cutting down of native non-invasive trees without a permit anywhere within the corridor.
• Stricter storm water requirements for any new construction near the corridor.

The plan goes to the Common Council next week.

Whipping on Walker: The guy leaves town and ends up getting vilified for a variety of issues while absent. While Milwaukee County Exec and gubernatorial wannabe Scott Walker is tooling around the region on a Harley with business cronies and politicos, his campaign for the statehouse is taking a few hits for flip-flopping and advertising embellishment.

A key flip last week was Walker changing his tune on the new Arizona immigration law that allows law enforcement to require people pulled over to provide proof of citizenship. That has led to cries over racial profiling. Walker at first said those were his concerns, too, but upon further review -- and after his Facebook site was inundated with howls of protest -- Walker said he would sign a similar bill if he were Wisconsin's next governor.

"I sympathize with the people of Arizona who are victimized by violence, crime and property damage as a result of illegal immigration," Walker said. "As governor of Wisconsin, I will sign legislation that strengthens our protection against illegal immigration and ensures that taxpayer funded benefits like Badger Care and drivers licenses are not available to those who are here illegally."

That brought a lashing from state Rep. Pedro Colon, the only Hispanic-American in the state Legislature.

"Now, it appears that the right-wing intolerant politics of the Republican Party prevail again. Once again, we see politics at play with immigration reform, but it does absolutely nothing to solve the real problem," Colon said.

Meanwhile, the liberal advocacy group, One Wisconsin Now, took issues with Walker's latest advertising activity. It put out a fact-check of its own.

Walker claim: "In 2002, a pension scandal rocked Milwaukee County. The guy who had the job before me tried to grab millions for himself and friends. We had enough. We took back our government."

OWN: In 2007, Walker acknowledged his failure to fix the pension problem when it was revealed that 350 workers stood to gain another $50 million in extra pension benefits. He was also caught breaking his promise requiring his staff to take less-lucrative pension benefits.

Walker claim: "In fact, the first thing I did was to give part of my salary back to the taxpayers -- $370,000 over eight years."

OWN: In 2007, Walker announced he was giving himself a $50,000 pay raise -- which will total $200,000 over his four-year term.

Walker claim: "I introduced eight budgets without raising the property tax levy from the previous year."

OWN: As county executive, Walker proposed budgets that would have increased spending by 35 percent, far ahead of the 21 percent proposed by Gov. Doyle over the same period. And the actual county property levy increased by 20 percent during Walker's tenure.

Walker claim: "We eliminated the waiting list for long-term care for our seniors."

OWN: Family Care, which manages county health services for seniors, ran severe deficits -- $2.3 million in 2003, growing to $12.2 million by 2004. Walker's solution was to outsource it, putting taxpayers on the hook to bail out the program for the full $12.2 million.

Walker is leading a group of more than 100 motorcycle riders on a 1,700-mile, six-day, five-state tour. The annual tour has also been annually criticized as the exec's way of campaigning for statewide office while on the county dime, since he purports that the tour is promoting Milwaukee County attractions.

The tour has some private sponsorship, as well, which should lead to concerns that the contributions might result in some conflict-of-interest down the road.

And you thought Miller Park cost a lot: Minnesota Vikings fans are starting to see the future cost of a new stadium for the purple bunch take shape.

Under a plan in the state legislature there, the $791 million stadium would be paid for by fans that go to games, a special sports lottery and by the team.

The Vikings would be asked to pay $222 million for construction, with another $527 million to be financed over 40 years with $31.9 million in annual proceeds from sports lottery tickets and taxes on hotels, jerseys and rental cars. Hotels would pay a 1.5 percent surtax, vendors a 6.875 percent tax on jerseys and car renters a 2.5 percent surtax.

Vikings fans would pay $42 million at the stadium through an admission tax and concession surtax. The team would sign a 40-year lease, pay cost overruns and cover remaining debt if the team were to leave town.