South Milwaukee Blog

Mark your calendars!

Check out these South Shore headlines …

• Health Department Warns Public After Extremely Small Ticks Removed from Children in South Milwaukee (Fox 6)
• 3 Adults, 6 Children Rescued After Boat Took on Water Following U.S. Bank Fireworks (Fox 6)
• IKEA Will Be Catalyst for More Development in Milwaukee’s South Suburbs, Oak Creek Mayor Says (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• Downtown Market Continues to be Discovered (NOW)
• South Shore Serves up Free Summer Lunches (NOW)

Also, NOW has published a new police blotter.

What a day!

We have done a lot to enhance our July 4th festivities in recent years — all without a single additional taxpayer dollar. That is due to our sponsors.

Thanks for stepping up! I’m looking at you, presenting sponsor Max A. Sass and Sons Funeral Homes, as well as TASC Services, South Milwaukee Ace, Nicholson Realty, Inc., Caterpillar Inc., Mara’s Sewing House, Sprecher Brewery, Beer Capitol Distributing, South Milwaukee Recreation Department and Milwaukee County Parks. And thanks to MJ Media for all the design and printing.

With their support, we were able to recognize the kids for their work on their bikes and costumes, offer games and bouncy houses, serve 1,100 hot dogs (up from 900 last year) and 1,000 cups of ice cream, deliver terrific live music throughout the day and finish with a fireworks show featuring the best finale I’ve seen at a parks event.

It was maybe the biggest crowd I’ve seen at our July 4th festivities since I’ve lived here, and I’m already can’t wait for 2018. Happy Fourth!

From the South Milwaukee Police Department …

Join the South Milwaukee Police Department for Coffee with a Cop. Come with topics to talk about, ask questions. or just stop by and say ‘Hi”.

We will be meeting at the Gazebo, located behind the Grobschmidt Senior Center.

Come and enjoy coffee and donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts.

Thanks to the SMPD for opening new lines of communication with residents!

A weekend of fun! Pro tip: Check out the famous Bukowski chicken on Sunday.

The South Milwaukee City Council passed an ordinance outlawing parking in front of mailboxes in June, and clarified the ordinance around street parking of trailers, boats and related vehicles.

Check out the updated mailbox and trailer parking ordinances on our new, searchable municipal ordinance database tool. Enter “mailbox” in the search box.

And please obey the law!

More details here …

Make it a part of your July 4th weekend plans!

Our Independence Day celebration continues to grow, and we’re giving you more reasons than ever to make an entire day of it at Grant Park.

If anything, stay for the music.

Thanks to sponsors like Max A. Sass & Son Funeral Home — our presenting sponsors for the event — we have been able to add two new terrific live music acts.

Here is the music lineup …

• 1-2:30 p.m.: Vocal music from South Milwaukee High School’s award-winning Delta V and The PopRockets.
• 3-5 p.m.: Moonlighter’s Orchestra … “a six-piece horn band playing popular/dance music from the last 30 years and rearranging them into great swinging jazz numbers.”
• 7 p.m. South Milwaukee Municipal Band concert

Check out the full schedule below, and join us on Tuesday!

This is disappointing news, but the right call based on predictive modeling that is used. Safety first.

Samples have been gathered for testing, with results expected back on Friday. Check this page and the South Milwaukee Health Department Facebook page for updates.

I’m told the beach is cleaner overall than it has been for years, and was recently removed from an impaired waters list. These closures are rare. So let’s hope this is short lived.

South Shore Beach is also closed. Check out more coverage from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Fox 6. And here is more on a “nowcast prediction.”

One more note: Ferch’s Beachside Grille is very open. Please make it a point to stop down and support this local business especially now that the beach is closed for a time.

How about a burger, custard, beer and live music on Friday night?

Another Garden Tour is in the books, and the Mayor’s Choice winners are …

• Grand Prize: The Webbs, 1013 Elm Avenue
• Honorable Mention: the Chodkowskis, 1402 Marion Avenue; the Zinkiewiczes, 1515 16th Avenue; and the Maloneys, 1710 Cherry Street.

Well done, all! It was my toughest choice yet. All participants were deserving of recognition. South Milwaukee is getting more beautiful by the day, and these homeowners — all of them on the tour, really — are leading the way.

And thanks to the South Milwaukee Historical Society and Garden Club for putting on such a terrific event. It gets bigger and better every year, and that’s a credit to the dozens of volunteers who make it happen.

I’m proud of the work we’ve done to continue to build on our July 4th activities, and this year promises to our biggest one yet. Check out the schedule below.

And thank to you to our sponsors! Without these businesses and organizations, this event would not be possible: Max A. Sass & Sons, TASC Services, Ace Hardware, Mara’s Sewing House, Caterpillar, Nicholson Realty, Sprecher Brewing, Beer Capitol, the South Milwaukee Rec Department and Milwaukee County Parks.

Check out these South Milwaukee headlines …

For starters, I have no interest in Chicago being renamed “South Milwaukee.”

• Character Counts — And These Six Schools Prove It (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• Odometer Adjustments Result in Suspension for South Milwaukee Auto Dealer (BizTimes)
• South Milwaukee Man Sentenced to 7 Years for Crash that Killed Two Cyclists in Muskego (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

And South Shore NOW has published a new police blotter.

Mark your calendars for July 1!

Note: The July 1 event is at South Milwaukee City Hall, 2424 15th Ave. 

Residents have spoken, and the message is clear: You value our first-class fire and police services.

In all, 1,351 residents responded our recent community-wide survey on public safety funding. Thank you to everyone who filled one out. This feedback will help the city decide how to address our budget challenges moving forward.

The survey results were presented at last night’s council meeting. The presentation is available on the city website.

Highlights from the presentation include:

• 88% of respondents indicated that maintaining the current level of emergency services is important to them and their families.
• Three-quarters of the respondents encouraged the city to explore additional funding options to maintain the current level of EMS services rather than reducing services to balance the budget.
• A majority of respondents support a referendum to increase local property taxes in order to maintain existing fire and emergency medical services and hire two additional police officers.

As I have posted previously, a continuing decline in outside funding for paramedic services – especially funding from Milwaukee County – has created a significant budget gap that continues to grow. The city must take action if it is to preserve locally provided paramedic services into the future. We have also identified a need for additional police officers to fulfill all of the department’s response and preventative responsibilities.

The question is, how do we accomplish that? That is where the survey comes in — making sure your voice is heard loud and clear as we plan for the future.

Again, thank you for stepping up.

Next steps: The common council will continue to evaluate the community’s feedback before making a final decision on whether or not to proceed with a referendum as part of the 2018 budget process. If a referendum is scheduled, it would likely be in early November. We will keep you posted.

My ask: Continue to educate yourself on these issues, and be heard. Your voices always matter.

As a reminder, the city developed an Assessment of Public Safety Funding Options to provide additional information on this issue.