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That's why any plan to tax guests in Waukesha County hotels to help pay for downtown Milwaukee's Midwest Express Center had better include the county's involvement in a regional approach to attracting tourists and conventions. If that involvement doesn't happen, maybe someone should start planning a tea party along 124th St.

Fortunately, officials on both sides of the street are beginning to recognize the importance of Waukesha County to tourism -- and the importance of Milwaukee tourism to Waukesha County.

In August, Franklyn Gimbel, board chairman of the Wisconsin Center District, which owns and operates the Midwest Express Center, suggested that the room tax that funds the center be extended to Waukesha County hotels.

The suggestion makes sense if those hotels benefit from the additional convention business the center has brought to the region -- and there seems to be some question as to how much they benefit -- and if Waukesha County is brought into the discussion of how best to market the area to attract more visitors.

Hotels on Moorland Road are about 10 minutes by freeway from Miller Park, a few more minutes from the Summerfest grounds or the Milwaukee Art Museum and its new Calatrava addition and a couple fewer to the Milwaukee County Zoo. Downtown

Milwaukee is only 20 minutes from fishing on Pewaukee Lake or golfing at Naga-Waukee Golf Course and well under an hour from Old World Wisconsin.

All of those attractions are part of one package and should be advertised that way.

This week, the Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau took steps to include its Waukesha County counterparts in a regional marketing effort, an idea that County Executive Dan Finley has been pushing for a while, and to smooth feathers ruffled by Gimbel's suggestion.

That effort must be pursued beyond the nice noises the Milwaukee visitors made this week. It's about time Waukesha County got some real representation in efforts to attract more guests to the area.