We got into a little back-and-forth recently with Pete Kennedy, a former Waukesha Freeman editor, who wrote a column for that newpaper which began and ended by saying, "Milwaukee sucks."

My response, in a slightly different version, appeared in the Freeman a week later.

Now comes Waukesha Mayor Larry Nelson, a good guy (and even a Democrat) to defend his fair city.

You can read his entire column below.

He makes some good points about the interdependence of Milwaukee and its surrounding counties, and of the need for cooperation.

But he's in denial if he thinks Waukesha isn't a suburb, or that it would be a free-standing city of 70,000 if it weren't for its proximity to Milwaukee.

Unlike Kennedy, I didn't say Waukesha sucks, simply that it is dependent on Milwaukee, which offers far more social, cultural, and economic advantages than a city little more than 10% its size.