Monthly Archives: February 2010

South Milwaukee has a first-class paramedic operation. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Our community, like others in Milwaukee County, relies on the county to fund part of the annual paramedic bill, and now there are concerns that funding will dry up. From a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article Monday:

Municipal leaders throughout Milwaukee County voiced fears Monday that they would soon be saddled with paying the full cost of paramedic services, either through restructuring county government or through county budget cuts. County Executive Scott Walker later sought to put those fears to rest, vowing to oppose any move that would leave cities and villages without paramedic funding.

“You’d better be prepared not to have the (paramedic funding) from the county,” Oak Creek Mayor Richard Bolender warned fellow mayors and village presidents at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council. “I think it’s just going to die. . . . I have a bad feeling about this.”

Bolender said he expected the cash-strapped county to cut off funding for the service within a year or two.

It’s a scary thought for communities like ours with already cash-strapped budgets. Without that funding, the future of paramedic programs is in jeopardy.

You can read the whole story here. It quotes South Milwaukee Mayor Tom Zepecki on the paramedic issue and notes his concerns with another touchy subject: a state proposal to shift property tax assessments from municipal and town governments to counties.

Now, it’s two candidates for two seats.

Nick Szablewski has declared his write-in candidacy for South Milwaukee School Board, joining incumbent Theresa C. Travia in the race for two seats.

You’ll recall that, unfortunately, Travia was the only declared candidate for some time after fellow incumbent Kristin Grenier-Drenzek decided not to run for re-election.

That guaranteed that a write-in candidate would be elected to the School Board. Szablewski is the first to enter the race … although I’m sure he won’t be the last.

You probably recognize Szablewski’s name. He has run unsuccessfully several times for the City Council and School Board.

The 38-year-old South Milwaukee High School graduate is a lifelong city resident. He has two daughters at South Milwaukee Middle School, the third generation in South Milwaukee schools.

He says “the state funding formula is a contributing factor to South Milwaukee’s school district budgetary problems.”

“Each year,” he writes, “the problem seems to get progressively worse.  We need to think outside of the box for new and different fundraiser’s for programs at the schools. One way might be to get local businesses to sponsor district sports teams, or sell advertising space on the school district web site, as other districts are considering to create some additional revenues.”

I am proud to be part of an effort started by Alderman Jim Shelenske to help businesses affected by Friday and Saturday’s water emergency.

The South Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce and South Milwaukee Downtown Market are teaming up to encourage area residents to patronize South Milwaukee bars and restaurants affected by the city’s water problems of the past two days.

The Chamber has declared Thursday and Friday, February 11 and 12, “Fresh Water Days” in South Milwaukee and is working with the Downtown Market to give people two big incentives to eat out or get a drink on those days.

• As part of the promotion, customers of South Milwaukee bars and restaurants showing a “Fresh Water Days” sign can take advantage of meal or drink specials made available only as part of the promotion.
• Also, the South Milwaukee Downtown Market – the city’s successful farmers’ market – is offering ten $20 gift cards for use at the market when it returns to 11^th and Milwaukee Avenues this summer. Only people eating or drinking at South Milwaukee bars and restaurants taking part in the “Fresh Water Days” promotion can win the gift certificates. Entries can be made at participating establishments.

You can read the whole press release here. Be sure to check Jim’s website at www.southmilwaukee.org throughout the week for a list of bars and restaurants taking part.

And we need your help, of course: Please dine out this Thursday or Friday in South Milwaukee … and ask others to do the same. Let’s step up and support local business!

Good news — testing has come back showing no contaminants, and South Milwaukee water is now considered safe to drink.

You can learn more on the city’s website here. Click here to see the press release.

From the release:

Residents of South Milwaukee are now able to consume the city tap water, the city announced on Saturday.

They may now drink the water, use the water to cook food, make infant formula, and bathe infants as they normally would.  All South Milwaukee food establishments and businesses may resume operations as usual.

Per the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, tests have come back negative for any bacteria, following the repair Friday night of the City’s primary water main, which had broken earlier in the day.

Please call the Health Department at 414-768-8055 for more information.

A few additional points about the water emergency:

• Dave Bartoshevich and I are doing our best to inform busineses, apartment complexes and other residents about the safe-water declaration, but we’d like your help in spreading the word. Please let your friends and neighbors know that the water is safe to consume.
• There were four additional, and much smaller, water main breaks throughout the city resulting from the work to restore the flow of water. That includes one on Juniper Circle in the 4th District. The others occurred at 15th and Sherman, 6th and Clarke and 9th and Lakeview. Those are all expected to be repaired sometime today or tonight. While they’re being fixed, residents in those areas may not have water, perhaps for a few hours. City water crews will inform affected residents prior to shutting off their water.
• I can’t thank our city administration, staff, and volunteers for their work of the past couple of days.  Health Department, Police Department, Public Works Department, Water Department — you name it, and our people really stepped up to ensure city residents got through this emergency as good as could be expected. A big thanks also to the the county emergency volunteers who poured in Friday to help with the water giveaway — and to those companies, organizations and communities who donated bottles and gallons of water.

And, finally, here’s one idea of the scope of what happened Friday. When the primary water main broke leading from the water plant, one million gallons of water drained from the city water tower over the next nearly four hours, nearly emptying it completely. Tapping into the Oak Creek water system helped refill the tower until we got our system back online.

Extending the Lake Parkway is now in the hands of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

The Milwaukee County Board unanimously passed a resolution Thursday calling for a SEWRPC study into extending 794 south to Ryan Road. It currently ends at Edgerton, funneling onto Pennsylvania Avenue before heading south to South Milwaukee.

Click here to read the full story from the Bay View Compass newspaper.

As I’ve said, I strong support this concept and give credit to County Supervisor Pat Jursik for pushing it. I hope it happens sooner rather than later, making for an even easier and more seamless connection between the South Shore and downtown Milwaukee.

Indeed, this is an economic development issue, pure and simple.

Several key road projects got a boost at Tuesday’s South Milwaukee Common Council meeting.

Of specific note for the 4th District, the council voted unanmiously to seek bids on repaving of the “stub” streets east and west of 15th Avenue (Pine, Chestnut, Cedar, Michigan and Marquette). I’ll keep you posted on what comes back, and if this work moves ahead.

The project is expected to be costly. Of course, if you’ve had the displeasure of having to drive on these roads, you know it’s probably money well spent. Yes, these streets are not high-traffic thoroughfares, but the time has come to fix these. Now.  

The council also unamiously approved the design and engineering contract for the planned widening of Pennsylvania/Nicholson from College to Rawson. Look for updates on this blog about public information meetings on this project this spring and summer.

The South Milwaukee Downtown Market also got a boost from the council, which approved funding for minor improvements to 11th Avenue between Milwaukee and Madison Avenues. This project will feature significant patching work to make the street smoother — and safer.

From the “baby steps are better than no steps at all” file …

The Milwaukee County Board will consider at its meeting Thursday a resolution requesting the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning partner with area communities to study extending the Lake Parkway south to Ryan Road or beyond.

Learn more in the February edition of County Supervisor Pat Jursik’s E-News newsletter. She also has updates on the Hoan Bridge and transit funding in this issue. You can also check out my previous post on this topic, and click here to see a one-page PDF showing a potential route for the extension of 794.

I’ll keep you posted as this progresses … even though it may be a decade or more before we see the road extended south. I hope it gets off the ground much sooner than that. This is a great project for the 4th District, South Milwaukee and the entire region.