Category Archives: Uncategorized

This from the South Milwaukee city website …

Attention:  Many residents have not been placing their recycling carts at the proper place for collection prior to 7:00 a.m. as required.  To ensure pick up of recyclables, please make sure to place your recycling cart at the appropriate place for collection after 7:00 p.m. on the evening before collection, and before 7:00 a.m. on the day of collection.  If you have any questions, please contact the Street Department at 768-8075.

I must admit I’ve been an occasional offender.

A hearty and well-deserved congratulations to South Milwaukee City Adminstrator Tami Mayzik, who has been named one of The Business Journal of Milwaukee’s 40 Under 40 Award recipients.

You can learn more about the award and see a list of the other honorees here.

Look for a profile of Tami in an upcoming edition of The Business Journal, and she and the other 39 will be honored at a reception April 12 at The Pfister.

Tami (who is 35) richly deserves this honor for her commitment to keeping the wheels of South Milwaukee government running remarkably smoothly — and her strong leadership during tough times, from the 2009 budget process to this month’s water emergency. This city is truly blessed to have her.

Well done!

Bucyrus International reported mixed quarterly results on Thursday.

Fourth-quarter 2009 sales were down, but profits were up for the mining equipment manufacturer that is so vital to our city.

For all of 2009, both profits and sales increased, as Bucyrus earned $312.7 million last year, the company reported, even as “all product lines were negatively impacted in 2009 as a result of current global economic conditions.”

Also of note from the release:

Capital expenditures for 2009 were $54.6 million, which included $13.4 million related to the expansion and additional renovation of Bucyrus’ South Milwaukee facilities. Bucyrus’ capital expenditures for 2010 are expected to be between $60 million and $70 million, which does not include its pending Terex Mining acquisition.

You can read the full earnings release here, and click here to see a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story.

In what is shaping up to be a fascinating race for mayor in Cudahy, newcomer Tony Day and incumbent Ryan McCue will advance to the general election on April 6. It’s far from great news for McCue, however. He finished second in Tuesday’s primary, and it wasn’t really that close.

Embattled incumbent Cudahy Municipal Court Judge John Zodrow also finished a distant second in his primary.

You can see the Journal Sentinel story here.

There were no primary races in South Milwaukee today. The three contested races on the April 6 ballot in South Milwaukee are mayor (incumbent Tom Zepecki vs. former Alderman Richard Raduenz), clerk (incumbent Kathleen Lisowski vs. Alderman Jim Shelenske) and School Board.

I’ll keep you posted on these local races as they draw nearer.

It came together quickly … and it easily exceeded expectations.

Fresh Water Days drew patrons out to South Milwaukee restaurants and bars in big numbers last Thursday and Friday.

Want proof? Consider that more than 1,600 people entered to win the more than $600 in gift certificates given out as part of the promotion, prizes that ranged from free drinks to South Milwaukee Downtown Market gift certificates to tickets to a South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center performance.

Third District Alderman Jim Shelenske and I drew the winners on Monday. Visit SouthMilwaukee.org to see if you won.

Again, thanks to everyone who took part. I was proud to be a part of this.

It’s a light agenda for Tuesday’s South Milwaukee Common Council meeting.

Here’s a quick preview:

• The council will likely accept a Department of Homeland Security FEMA port security grant for $82,163 for the purchase of a replacement rescue boat for the South Milwaukee Fire Department. The grant requires a 25 percent, or $27,387, match. To help make up the difference, we are asking the St. Francis, Cudahy and Oak Creek fire departments to make a one-time investment of $6,800 each. The boat will be used to respond to emergencies off all of the communities’ shorelines, to assist the U.S. Coast Guard in search and resue sorties and to tow boats back to the docks of Bender Park and the South Milwaukee Yacht Club.
• The Council will also consider a liquor license for Giuseppi’s Cucina & Pizzeria, 1117 Marquette Avenue. I’ll keep you posted as to when this new restaurant will open.
• We’ll also be discussing noise complaints made about the Appleton Electric foundry on 5th Avenue.

You can see the full agenda here. I hope to see you at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 2424 15th Avenue.

Here are some more South Milwaukee headlines of note:

• State Dogs Take Stage at Westminster
• Fingerprint Scan Proposed to Fight Child-Care Fraud
• She Said YES! Reader-Submitted Proposal Stories: Check out the “Rumble Ride” entry.

Thank you to everyone who grabbed a bite — or a drink — at a South Milwaukee restaurant or bar as part of Fresh Water Days on Thursday and Friday.

My family and I stopped for a fish fry at Paisano’s on Friday, and the place was packed, with Mayor Tom Zepecki, School Board President and Pat Bordak and School Board member Brett Briesemeister among the other diners.

It was great to see … great to see South Milwaukeeans stepping up to support local businesses … great to see city residents rallying around a good cause … great to see us turn a negative like last week’s water emergency into a positive.

Now here’s a thought: Let’s do it again next year.

Of course, we probably don’t want to “commemorate” the Great Water Main Break of 2010 in any formal way. Moving on is probably a good thing.

But it would be nice to have some sort of annual “Dine Out South Milwaukee” event, where we encourage area residents to eat out locally.

I’d welcome any ideas you might have along those lines. Let me know how we can keep a good thing like Fresh Water Days going. Post your comments below.

South Milwaukee’s Fresh Water Days continues, and I want to thank everyone who dined out or grabbed a drink at a South Milwaukee restaurant or bar Thursday. We heard from several establishments that business was great.

Let’s keep it up on Friday!

And if you’re looking for a good fish fry, might I suggest one of my personal South Milwaukee favorites:

• Brew Town Pub, 1902 17th Avenue: Try the Serbian fish fry. Yum!
• Creative Catering, 1645 Rawson Avenue
• Bickler’s Coachlight Inn, 500 Madison Avenue
• Hickory Inn, 2703 South Chicago Avenue

Of course, there are plenty of others to choose from, and, no matter what restaurant you choose, remember that you’re doing your part to support South Milwaukee business.

I’d also like to thank local media outlets for spreading the word. Channels 4, 6, 12 and 58 all sent crews out Thursday. Check out the Fox 6 story and video here.

Fresh Water Days are here, and our bars and restaurants need your help.

Pleasem make it a point to dine out or grab a drink Thursday or Friday at one of the approximately 60 bars and restaurants in South Milwaukee that were hit hard by last week’s water emergency.

To give you extra incentive to do so, many of these establishments are offering Fresh Water Days specials. And you can enter at participating bars and restaurants to win more than $500 in gift certificates to the South Milwaukee Downtown Market, South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center and a number of South Milwaukee bars and restaurants.

Learn more in this updated press release, and be sure to check out www.southmilwaukee.org for a complete list of participating locations and gift certificates up for grabs.

I am proud to help lead this effort … and do my part to help area businesses during this tough time. I hope you feel that same commitment.

So please spread the word. Tell your friends and neighbors to dine out Thursday or Friday, or both. Blog about it. Tweet. Facebook it. Let’s make a difference!

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.