Putting parking meters at lakefront attractions such as Bradford Beach, Vets Park, and McKinley Marina has drawn reaction akin to an affront to all things scenic.

County Executive Scott Walker is pitching parking meters as a way to helps cure his budget ills and seems to have a positive ear from a few County Board members.

He's also getting a harsh, albeit eloquent, response from others, especially Gerry Broderick and Marina Dimitrijevic, who plan to introduce a budget amendment killing the idea.

"Why would we tear up our most prized natural public asset just to make some spare change? I seriously don't know what's worse for Lake Michigan, invasive zebra mussels or the installation of parking meters," says Dimitrijevic. She adds that there hasn't been much communication from the county exec as to how much the whole parking scheme would cost to install and maintain.

Broderick notes that UW-Milwaukee has threatened to cancel its annual $100,000 payment to the county for its students to use the McKinley Marina parking lot for park-and-ride purposes.

"Everything in this year's county budget is sink or swim, and we don't need a Mythbusters episode to prove to everyone that parking meters can't swim," Dimitrijevic added.

More LUKE speak: Speaking of parking meters, perhaps it's time to revisit LUKE, the City of Milwaukee's attempt at putting in modern and convenient parking meters.

Two years ago we noted that the things did not work exactly as billed, being jammed and not communicating well with parking checkers' hand-held meter readers. The people in charge of that decision have since left the City.

It was announced this week that the meters were having trouble adapting to daylight savings time, which resulted in people getting tickets they didn't deserve. So again, innocent folks get victimized because of technological snafus. The City says people can call (414) 344-0840 if they think they've been wrongly ticketed.

When the LUKE deal was first announced in 2007, there were accusations that the bidding process was changed to eliminate the opportunity for a contractor to bid on the project supplying solar-powered meters.

Until now.  New LUKE meters popping up in the Third Ward are solar powered.

Obama coattails: Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines viewed President Barack Obama's trip as an endorsement for having the mayor take over running the Milwaukee Public Schools. We're not sure Obama knows that.

Hines sent out a press release Wednesday before Obama's visit saying he was going to be at the president's gig in Madison. Hines has called giving mayoral control over MPS as "the first step" in local education reform.

"People still have questions about how mayoral governance can benefit MPS teachers, administrators, and - most importantly - students, which is understandable," he says. "The fact that President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are in Wisconsin today shows a great deal of support for the initiative."

In an interview with the Associated Press earlier this week, Duncan echoed that sentiment, says Hines. "Mayoral control is not for everyone," he said, "but in big cities that have historically struggled with chronic underachievement, rallying the entire city behind the effort is important."

Grafton dam debated: The Milwaukee Riverkeeper environmental group is on a roll in getting in early on dam-related issues in the area. The latest spat is in Grafton, where village officials have to decide whether to wait for a decade and fix their city's Bridge Street Dam for $4 million and pay $100,000 a year in maintenance or tear the thing down for a $1 million now.

The state Department of Natural Resources lists the dam's condition as being a "significant" hazard and needs to build a new dam within 10 years.

"We believe that the ecological health restored by a free flowing river is of higher long term value than maintaining the current impoundment created by the dam," writes Riverkeeper Executive Director Cheryl Nenn in a position paper.

Nenn said the village could get part of a $4 million grant to pay for the tear-down. It could also use grant money to keep the dam and instead build a fishway around it.

Keeping with prior arguments against other dams, Nenn says the river experience would be heightened if people have the opportunity to paddle on the water or hike next to the river. The position paper says the health of the river would improve greatly with free-flowing stream, such as the city found when it took out the Lime Kiln Dam.

"It is our understanding, based on our knowledge of the river substrate and geomorphology of the river bed at this location, that removal of the dam could expose some very beautiful riffles (formed by bedrock shelves) that would be a great asset to the beauty of the Milwaukee River and the village. During higher flows, a waterfall in this section of river may also develop. Development of these riffles would allow for more whitewater kayaking and canoeing opportunities," she said.

A decision on the dam was delayed until next month after opponents to tearing it down announced they were circulating a petition to put the issue to a referendum. Opponents say the draw-down would affect long-standing property values of the people living along the impoundment and some Downtown business owners say the smaller river would render a river walk less attractive.

Opponents also trotted in a federal scientist that warned the Village Board that sea lamprey could move upstream if the dam were torn down, even though sea lampreys have never spawned in the river. They need 1,556 signatures within 20 days to have a referendum.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper is also in on the hot debate over what to do with the Kletszch Park dam. Similar arguments are ongoing in that debate, including whether or not to repair it or tear it down, and the effects it would have on property values.