This photo is from the Grant Park Beach Facebook page.
Yes, there’s new life at the beach this summer, with four new volleyball courts now up and plans for the reopening of the concession stand, rentals and more. Volleyball leagues are forming now. Register here.
Stay tuned for more information — I promise, it’s really good stuff, for both Grant Park and the entire City of South Milwaukee.
Filed under Community, Milwaukee County, Parks, South Milwaukee
Here is a shot from Saturday’s Pullin’ o’ the Green event at the Grant Park clubhouse. Lots of fun, and some great Irish food and music.
Thanks to the Friends of Grant Park and all the important work they do in enhancing the experience at the county’s second-largest park. They are all volunteers, and we should thank them for their efforts.
Learn more about how to get involved at their website.
Filed under Community, Milwaukee County, Parks, South Milwaukee
South Shore Supervisor Pat Jursik has published a new Enews update, with items on the recently passed budget, the Mill Pond warming house and more. Check it out here.
Also, be sure to vote for South Milwaukee’s Emerald City Catering as “Best Caterer” on WISN’s A List. Do so here.
And here is a new NOW police blotter, including these items …
Filed under Headlines, Milwaukee County
Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik has published her latest E-Update, including this update on the Oak Creek watershed …
On October 17, the City of South Milwaukee hosted the group from Watershed Initiative Network (WIN); I thank Mayor Zepecki for hosting this meeting at city hall. While WIN largely discussed the Root River Watershed which does partially include areas within South Milwaukee, this discussion revealed what can take place regarding study and clean-up of a watershed area. Many active citizens also attended including the great volunteers from Friends of Grant Park and Friends of Mill Pond including former Alderman Mary Nelson, a tireless advocate for dredging the pond. This discussion highlighted the need for all neighbors living in a watershed to take responsibility for keeping our streams and lakes clean. Simple activities such as keeping yard waste from draining into storm waters or ensuring that oil or gasoline leaks from older cars do not foul our roadways which then get washed into the storm sewers and empty into the creek are examples. Before dredging of the Mill Pond can be done, we first need to address silt and toxicant washouts upstream. The county capital budget for 2015 does plan for a stream bank initiative for the Oak Creek. To realize the dream of the many citizens that signed the Petition for the Mill Pond restoration, all of the issues surrounding this watershed must be addressed.
I also attended this meeting and was happy to hear of plans for the WIN group to do a more detailed study on the Oak Creek watershed in coming years. I strongly support this effort — and look forward to better days for this watershed, including and especially the Mill Pond. I hope the city will help lead the way.
Filed under Milwaukee County
I asked South Shore Supervisor Pat Jursik for her thoughts on the county executive’s proposed budget, and I just received the following message. A big thank you to Supervisor Jursik for doing this — and continuing to keep her constituents informed on key issues. One note from her information: It looks like Grobschmidt Pool is not on the chopping block. For now.
The County Executives’s budget proposes a no tax levy increase budget. Since I agree that our local property taxes are too high and too many services are supported via property taxes, I always appreciate this starting point. Milwaukee County is still dealing with a 15 million dollar deficit this year and this will again be a budget that has limited ability to address many deferred issues of maintenance. Much of the deficit is caused by paying legacy (retirees) pension and health benefits, promises that were made dating back into the 1970s.
Since I sit on the Finance Committee, I will have a front seat to both the review and amendment of this proposed budget. Here are some of the issues that the Finance Committee will be facing in the 2014 budget:
Sheriff: This department experiences the greatest change. Like last year, the county executive is proposing that parks be patrolled by the local police with money awarded to local department. This will eliminate over 30 positions. Milwaukee gets the largest payment and our local cities would each see about $10,000. While I opposed this last year, I was disappointed in the actual hours our parks received from the Sheriff. Our local police departments still provide the primary response to the parks in the south shore. I will re-examine this in light of the realities of services provided. Several functions that were once under the Sheriff’s Dept. are being shifted to other departments. This includes Emergency Management, Training Academy, and House of Correction taking on some functions once administered in the Sheriff’s Dept. The House of Correction is now run by a Superintendent, Michael Haffeman. I toured the House in September and was impressed with the programs given the short turn around time provided.
Transit: The good news is no bus service reductions are proposed. I have had to fight many battles to keep bus service in South Milwaukee in past years. The main change is a $1.00 reduction in the fares for para-transit riders, disabled users. A mistake was made in preparing the budget and this actually causes the budged to be 1.5 million out of balance. The county executive is proposing use of contingency funds to make up this deficit, i.e. reduce the money he put into contingency and shift it to cover this mistake.
Parks: Even though the Parks Interim Director, John Dargle, stated in Parks Committee that Grobschkmidt Pool was to be closed, it is not shown in the proposed budget. The only closures detailed are the two indoor pools, Pulaski and Noyes. I will continue to watch this South Milwaukee amenity. There are no significant changes to our Parks Dept. except that the county executive is proposing the sale of O’Donnell Square to Northwestern Mutual. I am highly critical of placing this item in the budget. The county executive has not done his homework on this and has failed to address significant issues surrounding the users of O’Donnell. Northwestern Mutual is an outstanding corporate citizen, and this company should not be treated in this manner by the executive’s office. I want to make it clear going forward that any issues regarding this parking garage do not in any way reflect on this great company. My proposal is to completely remove the O’Donnell sale from this budget. Many stake holders must be considered in addressing lake front parking, Summerfest, Milwaukee Art Museum, War Memorial, Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, Coast Restaurant just to name a few without the regular park users and week day business users.
Behavioral Health: The county executive’s budget continues to plan the redesign of our mental health services. Significant new money is put into community services as a means of down-sizing the hospital enrollments. A new Crisis Service Coordinator is created to manage new initiatives. A Crisis Mobile Team is also new and will work directly with Police Officers on emergency commitments. A second clinic is created on the Southside to provide community care as an alternate to emergency detentions. I largely support the direction of these initiatives. This redesign will cause many job losses in the health fields and will prove to be an adjustment for many workers. This is always a difficult issue to deal with.
Capital Improvements: We will see some improvements to Layton Avenue including the intersection of Whitnall and also Pennsylvania. Kelly Center will get a new front door. There is some on going maintenance projects for parks and highways although no large projects for our district. There will be continued funding for Noise Abatement at the airport to cover some 700 affected properties,. The War Memorial will continue with major capital repairs and the Milwaukee Art Museum will embark on a new project to enhance the museum, these are the most exciting new projects. The projects were made possible by the new agreements that the board forged with these two institutions.
There are many other areas of the budget that have not been addressed in this short article but will be reviewed. The public hearing on the budget is November 4 at 4:00 p.m. at the War Memorial Center. I am always interested in hearing from constituents on these issues: 278-4231 or patricia.jursik@milwcnty.com
Filed under 2014 Budget, Milwaukee County
South Shore Supervisor Pat Jursik has published her October E-News newsletter, with updates on various issues facing the county and some good advice on the rollout of Affordable Care Act …
There is much confusion on the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act in addition to the histrionics taking place in D.C. including a government shut-down. I know this is a controversial topic, but I would like to suggest the following: First try to understand the new law. Here is a link to a very easy-to-watch video featuring the “You Toons” produced by the Kaiser Foundation which tries to explain the program without a heavy bias: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZkk6ueZt-U.
Second, since Wisconsin is one of the states that did not accepted the Medicaid extension that would have provided more coverage to low income families, the County Board and Executive responded by funding several programs. The programs are too complicated to fully address in this short article, but there is a service available with the additonal county funding. If you are a family that has received Badgercare, please call the social services hotline at 211. The county funded additonal staff to answer questions and to assist those who will not get the expanded insurance with a substitute program available to Wisconsin citizens.
For more information visit http://www.healthcare.gov, or call the 24/7 hotline at: 1-800-318-2596.
Filed under Milwaukee County
Update: Or is Grobschmidt Pool not on the chopping block? The updated Journal Sentinel story says it might not be. I’ll try and get to the bottom of this. From that story … “Abele said the indoor pools were aging, expensive to maintain and not heavily patronized. Interim Parks Director John Dargle said earlier the budget would include closing outdoor pools at Grobschmidt and Jackson parks. But those closings were not listed in Abele’s budget.”
It’s official — South Milwaukee’s Grobschmidt Pool is on the budget chopping block. Can it be saved?
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has more details on County Executive Chris Abele’s proposed budget. From the story …
County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic said the tax levy freeze needed to be evaluated in light of the county’s huge service needs, as well as substantial deferred maintenance on county buildings.
“There needs to be a balance” between the goals of providing necessary services and freezing taxes, she said. The board added $4 million to the tax levy over what Abele proposed for this year’s budget.
She called Abele’s plan to close both of the county’s indoor pools and replace them with a skate board park and splash pad “basically offensive.” Abele wants to shut down pools at Noyes and Pulaski parks, as well as outdoor pools at Grobschmidt and Jackson parks.
Abele said the indoor pools were aging, expensive to maintain and not heavily patronized. Dimitrijevic said the more than 50,000 residents using the indoor pools indicated they are well used and said she’d gotten numerous phone calls and emails of concern since Abele’s pool plan was first discussed last week.
Just as concerning for South Milwaukee and our police department — the proposal to put park patrols in the hands of local departments. In a city where more than 20 percent of our land is parks, that’s a big deal, especially when I have my doubts there will be proper funding for this mandate.
Abele also released more details of his public safety budget, including a $1.2 million program to have local police departments patrol county parks. The City of Milwaukee would get the lion’s share — about $1 million for patrolling the lakefront and other parks in the city. Off-duty cops would handle the patrols and get paid overtime, if the city agrees to the plan.
The same idea was rejected last year by the County Board and opposed by Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., who requested 100 new deputies for 2014.
I’ll keep you posted.
Filed under 2014 Budget, Milwaukee County
South Milwaukee’s Grobschmidt Pool is one of four Milwaukee County pools the new parks director is eyeing for closure in 2014, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Here is the story. From it …
Indoor pools at Noyes and Pulaski parks and outdoor pools at Jackson and Grobschmidt parks all have relatively high costs and low attendance, Dargle said.
A proposed pool closing plan would include reinvestment of savings for other amenities at those parks, Dargle said in an interview and comments before the County Board’s parks committee Tuesday.
He said costs greatly exceeded revenue at Noyes and Pulaski pools each year, in response to a question by Supervisor Khalif Rainey on whether Abele would propose their closure.
“We are losing some money at those” pools, Dargle said. “They are old pools.”
Noyes Pool is at 8235 W. Good Hope Road and Pulaski is at 2701 S. 16th St.
The two pools need a combined $4.2 million in repairs, the report said. That includes nearly $1 million in electrical work and more than $700,000 for heating and cooling system upgrades.
In the interview, Dargle added Jackson and Grobschmidt to the potential closure list. The Jackson Park pool is at 3500 W. Forest Home Ave. Grobschmidt pool is at 2600 16th Ave. in South Milwaukee.
An Abele spokesman said full details of his 2014 budget won’t be released until next week. Any potential changes with pools Abele may propose would be better described as offering supervisors “options to open amenities that get more use by the public” and cost less, said spokesman Brendan Conway.
This is really disappointing news and thankfully far from the final word. As this debate continues, please make your voice heard … and let’s work to save this community amenity.
As County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimtrijevic put it: “I don’t understand this philosophy of eliminating public amenities.”
Instead, let’s invest in them to make them viable. What a concept.
Filed under Community, Milwaukee County, Parks, South Milwaukee
And it includes an item on the Oak Creek watercourse …
Mayor Tom Zepecki, Don Bulley of the Friends of Mill Pond and I attended the Watershed Initiative Network (WIN) Root-Pike Watershed conference at Wingspread Conference Center on June 13, 2013. This conference discussed the study underway regarding the Root River Watershed. The City of South Milwaukee starting south of Grant Park and about the entire city east of the railroad tracks is included in the Root River Watershed study. Corrective action plans were discussed. This initiative is underway to improve the water quality of Lake Michigan and the shore line. The good news provided is that the Oak Creek Watershed will be their next project. No time was given but hopefully within the next few years. Money for this work is obtained from the Fund for Lake Michigan. The goal of the work is to identify priority areas for restoration.
Here is the full newsletter.
Filed under Milwaukee County
It’s a bit chilly these days, but it will be warm soon enough — and time to dive into Grobschmidt Pool behind South Milwaukee City Hall.
The pool opens Saturday, June 15, weather permitting. Hours are 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. seven days a week and 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.
Learn more here.
Filed under Milwaukee County, Parks
South Shore Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik has published her June newsletter.
Check it out here, including items on her Pedal in the Park event and her concerns over a couple recent actions by Sheriff David Clarke.
There is also an item in the newsletter about a new role for Pat’s former aide, Alexis Gassenhuber. Looming cuts in board staff funding means Pat won’t have a full-time aide going forward. Constituents will notice the difference — especially with the loss of Alexis, who was first-rate. I wish her well in her new role in the county clerk’s office.
Filed under Milwaukee County
Check out Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jurisk’s latest constituent newsletter here, including this item on her decision to not support the ouster of Board Chairwoman Marina Dimtrijevic …
A number of District 8 constituents have asked me to join five other supervisors in seeking removal of the County Board Chairwoman. I have also received a number of questions regarding the issue of negotiating with a non-certified union, which is not permitted under Act 10, the legislation that removed significant provisions of municipal employee bargaining rights. To respond, I have consistently stated and reiterate in this Open Letter to all of my constituents:
I believe that communications, conversations, discussions, interactions or, if you like, “negotiations” did take place between the County’s labor negotiator Fred Bau and AFSCME’s Rich Abelson. I believe these two gentlemen have both stated as much. I do not know who directed Mr. Bau to act as he did. The Finance Committee, the Board Chairwoman and County Executive each have the ability to direct Mr. Bau. I know the following are the facts:
I will continue to work within the realm of facts. I do not intend to react to political requests that are not factually based. For this reason, I will not join any group seeking to remove the Chairwoman based on hearsay or “he said, she said” conjectures or any other politically charged statement surrounding this issue. Please call or e-mail my office if you wish to discuss this further.
Filed under Milwaukee County
Update: Supervisor Jursik is one of the co-sponsors of Milwaukee County Supervisor Marina Dimtrijevic’s reform plan.
South Shore Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik has called for local, not state, action in restructuring county government in a strongly worded statement issued last week.
Check out the press release (including YouTube links to some of Pat’s comments from a committee meeting last week) here. From it:
The moneyed interests of the Greater Milwaukee Committee and Metropolitan Milwaukee Association Commerce are supporting this shift in the balance of powers. With a large majority of their members living outside of Milwaukee County, these wealthy elites are seeking to control local politics. Make no mistake, Representative Joseph Sanfelippo, who now represents a significant portion of Waukesha County – not just Milwaukee County – is seeking to undermine local representation. Not only my constituents, but all our citizens in Milwaukee County, are losing their local voice. …
About 200 District 8 citizens attended the Restructuring County Government event in South Milwaukee on April 4, 2013. I heard from the local people. Make no mistake, some restructuring will need to be done and I heard loud and clear that the board needs to trim its budget. But I want to work locally to make these adjustments, not with the self-appointed shadow government from outside our county.
The Assembly voted for a bill authored by Rep. Joe Sanfelippo last week and is expected to take a final vote on the matter in May. It’s unclear when the Senate will act, even as a group of county supervisors have come up with their own plan for restructuring.
I’ll keep you posted. Of course, I’d like to know what you think about all of this. Post your comments below.
Filed under Milwaukee County
An estimated 200 people attended Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik’s public information meeting on proposed Milwaukee County Board restructuring legislation — and I’m glad I was one of them.
I found the event informative, as it provided a deep dive on the Assembly and Senate bills calling for a referendum to reduce the role (and pay) of supervisors to part-time, reduce the board’s operating budget (i.e., staff) and transfer some powers to the county executive, among other changes.
The point-counterpoint debate between Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, the former supervisor and author of the Assembly bill, and Supervisor Theo Lipscomb Jr., who spoke out against most of the proposals in the legislation, was also lively and thought-provoking. And the question-and-answer/comment section added to the meeting as well.
I left the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center much more educated on this important issue — as did Pat, who pledged to take all that she heard into consideration in formulating her opinion on the issue of county board restructuring.
I credit Pat for once again showing her commitment to keeping constituents informed on key issues, and for taking a measured approach to her approach on this topic. I also thank the two panelists for the robust debate — and having the courage to sit in front of a room of 200 people and argue their case.
Both had reasonable and strong arguments for their positions, and I left feeling like the best solution — as it so often is — is somewhere in the middle … somewhere between the status quo and the sweeping changes proposed by Sanfelippo.
Of course, I’d like to know what you think. Here is the presentation from the meeting. Read it … and vote in my new poll!
Filed under Milwaukee County, State Budget, State Lawmakers
Is emerald ash borer in South Milwaukee?
This email from Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik — sent in response to a constituent concern about trees being cut down near Oak Creek Parkway recently — essentially confirms it is.
Here is the email …
I communicated with the Milwaukee County Parks Department about the tree removal north of South Milwaukee High School. This removal is indeed related to Emerald Ash Borer as your constituent surmised.
The forestry manager explained that the removal of the ash trees along 15th Avenue just south of Oak Creek Parkway is in response to a severe infestation by Emerald Ash Borer near 15th Avenue, city sidewalks and park paths. The same week, Milwaukee County Parks forestry removed several mature ash trees just west of Grobschmidt pool because they were also infested and could pose a threat to the pool, and walkway.
The forestry manager believes that we will see a rapid increase in the infestation, removal and requests for removal of Ash trees in South Milwaukee, Oak Creek, Franklin, and Cudahy. Forestry staff has confirmed infestations at several County Parks locations including Oak Creek Parkway, Grobschmidt Pool, Pulaski (Cudahy), Oakwood, the Sports complex and Southwood Glen.
Jursik also reported that South Milwaukee officials, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Milwaukee County Parks administration “have been proactively working together to identify and address infested ash trees.”
So that’s the problem on county land, and what the county is doing in response. What is the city doing?
As you may recall, the South Milwaukee City Council recently voted to match grant funding from the state to perform a GPS study of trees on city property and in the right of way, as well as develop options for fighting EAB.
It’s a start. At least we’ll get a better handle on the problem — and have the information we need as a council to make a decision on an EAB action plan. From the looks of things, we can’t start soon enough.
Filed under Milwaukee County, Oak Creek
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