On this Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and beyond, join me in shopping local!
There are plenty of options, which the City of South Milwaukee has rounded up nicely in a couple of promotional pieces (see below). And give a like to the Shop Local South Milwaukee Facebook page for regular updates on what is happening a local merchants. There have been more than a dozen updates in the last few days alone.
I’m happy to see this page now has over 800 likes. Thank you, Chris Haslam, for maintaining it.
I’m particularly intrigued by what’s happening at Omen this weekend. Krampus!
The Route 48 Freeway Flyer is being eliminated, and service on Route 52 will soon be “modified … due to very low ridership,” the Milwaukee County Transit System announced on Monday.
MCTS announces changes to service approved by Milwaukee County in the 2023 annual budget. These changes are due to a combination of several factors, including a projected 2025 transit funding gap and a COVID-19-induced transition to hybrid work schedules downtown which led to reduced ridership on Freeway Flyer routes.
According to a Milwaukee County Comptroller report released earlier this year, federal stimulus funds used by MCTS to maintain transit service will no longer by available in 2025. The result will be a need to increase funding to MCTS by approximately $30 million simply to maintain service. As such, MCTS has been directed to begin to reduce service to chip away at the future fiscal gap.In addition, MCTS, like many transit agencies across the country, faces a smaller bus operator workforce despite an ongoing approach to recruiting and retaining bus drivers.
MCTS shared the following service changes and when these changes occur.
Freeway Flyer Routes 40, 43, 44, 46, 48, and 49: These six routes, which have been suspended since January 2022, will be eliminated due to previously low levels of ridership. Many downtown employers have moved to hybrid work models due to COVID-19 and reduced the demand for this service. MCTS outlined these changes in a public hearing at the County Board’s Committee on Transportation and Transit earlier this year. NOTE: U-Bus Routes 40U, 44U, and 49U are not affected and will continue as scheduled.
Route 52: Service will be modified in March 2023 due to very low ridership. Additional information will be provided next year.
The developer briefed the city on this opportunity more than a year ago — and I’m excited to see this move forward.
Redevelopments like this are a foundation of South Milwaukee’s future.
For a landlocked city, this gives us our first opportunity at significant growth in decades, while also giving a “second chance” to an abandoned lakefront property that was home to manufacturing for generations.
The proposal from Fresh Coast Development could be constructed in multiple phases on just over 31 acres of brownfield at 315 Marion Ave. north of the city’s water treatment plant.
“A project cost estimate is still being calculated,” said Assistant City Administrator and Economic Development Director Patrick Brever. “TIF support is likely going to be targeted toward infrastructure needs for the site.”
South Milwaukee’s plan commission acknowledged there are still details to work out but on Nov. 8 voted unanimously to direct city staff to take initial steps to create Tax Incremental District 6 in 2023. In a TIF, property taxes from within the district are used to pay for public improvements and other costs. Once the debt is paid off and the district is retried, the added tax base flows into the general coffers of the city, school, county and other taxing entities. …
The single-family component includes 25 new homes along 5th Avenue with attached two-car garages accessed via a rear alley. Project documents show the placement of the single-family homes is to act as a buffer to the existing neighborhood to the west.
Brever said the final breakdown of one-, two- and three-bedroom units in each building has not yet been determined.
To the northeast is a clubhouse with community room, outdoor pool, fitness and business centers and a locker room. There is a lawn area set aside for outdoor activities with access to the public park overlooking Lake Michigan. Throughout the development are sidewalks and walking trails connected to the bluff and down to the lake.
Two playground areas are also included in the proposal at the north and south of the property and a fenced dog park along the northern border of the property east of the playground and west of the clubhouse.
As Thanksgiving approaches, the public is welcome at two community meals in the South Shore …
Thursday, November 17: Monthly Community Dinner, 5-6:30 p.m. at First Congregational United Church of Christ. This month’s meal is catered by Skyline Catering and served by local youth.
Wednesday, November 23: Community-Sponsored Thanksgiving Dinner, Oak Creek Community Center. Details
Thanks to both organizations for hosting these events — and to all of the volunteers helping make them a reality.
There are several opportunities for you to honor our veterans on Friday, Nov. 11.
First, the public is welcome as the South Milwaukee Veterans Council is holding a Veterans Day event at 11 a.m. inside the American Legion Post #27 hall, with a short ceremony followed by a luncheon served by AMVETS Post 4 AUX.
Residents are then encouraged to line 15th Avenue across from the middle and high schools for the annual Veterans Day parade starting at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Veterans in the parade will return to the high school for an inside ceremony and reception that is not open to the public.
Then it’sViva Vegas Night to benefit Stars & Stripes Honor Flight, 7-10 p.m. Knights of Columbus Hall. Details
Residents are encouraged to line 15th Avenue across from the middle and high schools for the annual Veterans Day parade starting at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Friday, November 11. Veterans in the parade will return to the high school for an inside ceremony and reception that is not open to the public.
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Radium Girls
Radium Girls, a performance by 12 student actors and a 30+member student crew will be on stage this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center. Radium Girls is based on a true story of factory workers who painted luminous watches with glowing radium paint and their efforts to expose their illnesses and get their day in court. “Called a ‘powerful’ and ‘engrossing’ drama by critics, Radium Girls offers a wry, unflinching look at the peculiarly American obsessions with health, wealth, and the commercialization of science.” Visit https://www.southmilwaukeepac.org/ for tickets.
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Concert Choir to Perform at SMPAC’s Performing Arts Series Show, GOOD NEWS on Nov. 18
Vedula is a Milwaukee-based Indian-American musician, producer, and educator who combines hip-hop and experimental electronic music with traditional folk influences from around the world.
His newest work, GOOD NEWS, is a multicultural celebration of joy and togetherness featuring singers, dancers and musicians performing original music and traditional rhythms from India, Panama, Puerto Rico and the Ivory Coast.
“Kiran spent just one period with my students in an improv session, and it was amazing! It really had students vulnerable and able to make amazing connections,” Music Teacher Aimee Swanson said.
Vedula is founder of Flutes at Dawn, a non-profit organization that provides high-quality education and mentorship through communication, cultural relevance, and shared positive experiences. “His life message and reflection time after our ‘jam/improv’ learning session was great,” Swanson said. “I could NEVER have provided this experience for students.”
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#SMWay in the Classroom
Check out the #SMWay in the Classroom Playlist on YouTube a new effort to peek inside classrooms in the school District. The two videos created so far give residents and idea what Drama students are working on, and a bit about the ProStart cooking class that’s hoping to compete at Walt Disney World in the spring.
I’m so excited to see progress accelerating on the rebirth of downtown South Milwaukee … and that the Bucyrus Foundation funds are being reinvested to accelerate and sustain growth.
In September 2021, the Bucyrus Foundation announced they would be making a generational, legacy-ensuring investment in the city it called home for nearly 120 years. A $10 million commitment was made to the City of South Milwaukee and the South Milwaukee School District over a 10-year period.
In May 2022, the City announced a partnership with Downtown Strategies for the creation of a fiveyear strategic plan for Downtown South Milwaukee to be funded by the Bucyrus Foundation.
At their meeting on November 1, 2022, the South Milwaukee Common Council approved the final plan and committed to implementing some of its policy recommendations. With Bucyrus Foundation funds, three grant programs intended to encourage commercial redevelopment, attract/retain businesses, and assist our nonprofit community will be created.
The Bucyrus Façade Improvement Grant encourages property and business owners to apply for matching grants up to $15,000 to make exterior building improvements to existing commercial storefronts.
The Bucyrus New Business Grant provides one-time assistance in the amount of $5,000 for new and existing businesses opening a new location or expanding operations in a vacant commercial space on Milwaukee Avenue between the 800 and 1300 blocks. Eligible grant expenses include commercial lease/mortgage payments, business operating expenses, and commercial building repair and tenant improvements.
The third program being established is called the Bucyrus Foundation Civic Grant. This program allows for nonprofit organizations to apply for up to $25,000 to address a community need, improve community support, solve a problem, or enrich the people of South Milwaukee.
Grant program information can now be found on the City of South Milwaukee’s website with funding available in 2023. The City’s Economic Development Office will start accepting applications in January.
Said Tim Sullivan, Bucyrus Foundation Chairman & former CEO of Bucyrus International, Inc.: “The Bucyrus Foundation is supportive of the City’s planning efforts and the findings identified by Downtown Strategies and City officials. We are pleased to know the Foundation’s investment will assist growing small businesses, worthy nonprofits, and be used to make physical improvements downtown.”
Said South Milwaukee Mayor Jim Shelenske: “With the Bucyrus Foundation’s support, a renaissance has truly begun in Downtown South Milwaukee. Thank you to the over 400 residents, visitors, and business owners who participated in our public survey process this summer. The future of the area is bright if we can all continue to work together.”
Per the plan’s recommendations, the Council also authorized adjustments to the City’s vacant property ordinance to incentivize property rehabilitation and occupancy. Additional approvals were granted for commercial façade design guidelines, a mural to be painted on the west wall of the South Milwaukee Human Concerns building at 1029 Milwaukee Avenue, and for the purchase of benches, trash and recycling bins, bike racks, and planters to be placed along Milwaukee Avenue and at the Bucyrus Commons.
Check your mailbox for the Autumn edition of “Bridges Magazine,” the newsletter partnership between the City of South Milwaukee and South Milwaukee School District.
Stories include items on the city’s 125th anniversary, profiles of new city staff, updates on Bucyrus Commons construction, honoring Medal of Honor recipient Gary Wetzel, and a business spotlight on American Legion Post #27.
School information includes more on the “Launching a Legacy” capital campaign, profiles of the new principal at Blakewood Elementary and new school resource officers, and an informative look at referendum debt.
In the morning hours of October 6, 2009, an intruder broke into the Milwaukee-area home of 19-year old Ashleigh Love, walked to her bedroom, and shot her to death while she was sleeping. More than 13 years have passed since she was killed, and the case is still cold. No suspects have been arrested. No justice has been served.
Love & Justice is an investigative documentary-style podcast that explores the cold case murder mystery of Wisconsin native Ashleigh Love.
In the aftermath of her death, Ashleigh’s parents, siblings, best friends, colleagues, and classmates come together in an attempt to share the full story and set the record straight. No stone is left unturned while dozens of theories are presented in an attempt to answer one simple question: Who Killed Ashleigh Love? Emmy Award Winner Kyle Olson hosts.
And here is more on Kyle, a true local success story who I was honored to work with on telling the South Milwaukee story, via film, prior to the pandemic. Congratulations, Kyle, and thanks for undertaking this important project.
Regarding: Inappropriate Electronic Use at South Milwaukee Middle School
On October 31, 2022, the South Milwaukee Police Department was called to investigate improper photographs taken at the South Milwaukee Middle School.
The South Milwaukee Police Department did investigate, and a SMMS student did admit to taking and distributing improper photographs.
The student has been referred to the Milwaukee Children’s Court Center on a number of possible charges, including Capturing Intimate Representations Without Consent and Possess/Distribute Intimate Representation Without Consent.
The South Milwaukee Middle School Administration has also taken disciplinary action.
It’s Da Crusher, of course! Shot the night of Crusherfest, as we unveiled this statue to the world. Do you have a photo you’d like to share on the blog? Send it along.
South Milwaukee Blog 