The second step "It's not my fault"

And Barrett would be partly correct. Although, as Mayor, he's still accountable. Here, we find a reason many are fleeing Milwaukee - the city and the county. County pensions and proposed fixes:

"The county's precarious finances, in part a product of the 2000-'01 pension deal, have forced consideration of widespread pool closings, large-scale privatization of county government jobs and service cuts in a variety of programs. A sales tax for parks and/or transit is also under discussion."