Protesters Take to the Streets Again, This Time Outside City Hall

At least 50 protesters gathered on Forest Home Avenue outside of City Hall on Tuesday afternoon in demonstration of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill and budget proposal.

They chanted things like “Hey, ho, Walker’s got to go,” “What’s outrageous? Corporate wages,” and “What’s disgusting? Union busting.”

, public employees, college students and others with a general disapproval of the governor’s recent initiatives.

“We’ve got a lot of different working folks here, a lot of Wisconsin citizens that are concerned with the what Gov. Walker and the Republican legislature are trying to do,” protester Dave Somerscales said. “A false argument is being created here, which is that we have some outrageous deficit and that middle class people, working people and poor people need to make a sacrifice.”

Somerscales said the protesters picked the visible intersection of Forest Home and Cold Spring Road because they feel their message is an important one.

“Lots of people have taken cuts in pay, lost their jobs, had their benefits reduced, including state employees, who have conceded and said, ‘OK, we’ll pay more in health insurance. We’ll pay more toward our pensions,’” Somerscales said. “I’d like to ask Gov. Walker, are you really on the side of Wisconsin folks, regular, working Wisconsin people?”

Among the protesters was Greenfield School Board member Rick Moze, who is concerned with the massive cuts school districts across the state are expected to endure should Walker’s budget be approved. Moze said the district would likely need to cut $800,000 in 2011-12 under Walker’s plan.

“The way things are going now at Greenfield, the district will be bankrupt in three or four years,” Moze said. “We just can’t keep going like that. … When I ran for school board, one of the things I ran on was all present children would have the same quality education that my children had, or better. I don’t think that’s going to happen the way things are going."