Author Archives: Erik Brooks

A message from City Clerk Jim Shelenske …

The City of South Milwaukee is in need of poll workers to assist in the election process and to keep our voting lines moving. Poll workers are paid temporary employees of the City of South Milwaukee. They commit to a two-year election cycle, and agree to be available for training sessions and up to a 13-hour work day on election dates at a polling location. Appointment as a poll worker does not ensure that you will be asked to work every election.

If you or someone you know may be interested, please share and fill out the application on our website.

It’s hard work, and a few long days, but rewarding — and critical to execution of our elections.

Please consider stepping up to help your community, and be part of democracy in action!

The results are in, and the winner was democracy.

Turnout for Tuesday’s election was terrific, as more than 63 percent of registered voters cast ballots in South Milwaukee.

Here are local results for top races …

• In the Republican presidential primary, Sen. Ted Cruz tallied 2,093 votes (55 percent) to Donald Trump’s 1,163 (30.5 percent). John Kasich had 441 votes (11.6 percent).
• In the Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders won with 1,901 votes (52 percent) to 1,712 for Hillary Clinton (46.8 percent).
• For Wisconsin Supreme Court, Rebecca Bradley beat JoAnne Kloppenburg — 3,701 votes (49.4 percent) to 3,194 (42.7 percent).
• For Milwaukee County executive, Chris Abele (4,091 votes; 54.6 percent) beat Sen. Chris Larson (2,834 votes; 37.9 percent) locally.
• David Sartori defeated Tony Bloom in the race to replace Pat Jursik, who is retiring from her District 8 seat on the Milwaukee County Board. Sartori tallied 2,665 votes (35.6 percent) to Bloom’s 2,584 (34.5 percent) in South Milwaukee.
• For South Milwaukee School Board, incumbents Terri Travia and Doug Perry defeated challenger Frank “Disco” Gratke.

I want to thank all of our election workers and the clerk’s staff for their efforts today — and thank all of the voters for stepping up.

It’s exciting to see turnout like this. It’s democracy in action.

2035 starts now.

For almost a year now, we’ve partnered with you and Graef Consulting in building our 2035 comprehensive and downtown plan update — the vital roadmap that will guide our economic development and redevelopment work for years to come.

I can’t wait to get started. But first things first: We want to know what you think.

From the feedback sessions at the farmers’ market and downtown trick-or-treating to the robust discussions by our city committees to your input at open meetings, residents’ voices have been an important part of this work since the beginning.

And you will have several opportunities to weigh in on the draft plan in coming weeks.

• First, you will see informational boards and other details at each of the polling places tomorrow.
• You can also review the plan online here, or in person at City Hall. Here is a link to the city’s Comprehensive Plan web page.
• Then, on April 21, we are holding an open house from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and a formal public hearing at 7 at City Hall. The South Milwaukee Common Council is expected to vote on the plan at its May 3 meeting.

Meanwhile, we will continue efforts to begin implementation immediately. We’ve been working on that for months, and we’ll share some exciting news soon.

A plan is only as good as the will to work it, and we will work this plan. Bring it on!

Check out these South Shore headlines …

• Oak Creek’s Major Lakefront Project Put on Hiatus (NOW)
• Power Restored to Most After Widespread Outage (WISN)
• Person with Gun Arrested Outside Oak Creek Restaurant (Fox 6)
• $900,000 in Grants Will Help Finance South Shore Park Improvements (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Also, NOW has published a new police blotter.

Stop by to hear from our local Assembly representative.