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Meet the Mayor This Saturday
OK … so I lied about taking a few days off from blogging 🙂 See you Saturday!
Just a quick reminder that I’m hosting my next Meet the Mayor session this Saturday, March 26, at South Milwaukee’s newest tavern – The Tap Room.
Join me from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1301 Milwaukee Ave. and see what Ryan and his team have done with the place. It’s impressive.
Bring your questions, comments or concerns, check out some March Madness, and grab a beer and lunch while you’re there.
Thanks to the folks at The Tap Room for hosting!
And mark your calendars for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 23, when Revolution Hair Studio, 1017 Milwaukee Ave., is hosting my next Meet the Mayor session.
Filed under Events, South Milwaukee
Taking a Few Days Off from Blogging
Barring significant breaking news, I’ll be taking a few days off from the blog.
Thank you so much to all of my readers. I take open and honest communication seriously, and I am glad to offer this service.
The blog will return soon.
In the meantime, please like my mayoral Facebook page, where I more regularly post news updates and photos — often in real time, faster than I can write a blog post.
Talk to you soon!
Filed under South Milwaukee
Good Luck, Rocket Robotics!
I had a chance to meet Rocket Robotics, FIRST Team 3596, last week, and I left feeling so impressed with our next generation of engineers and the work they’re doing — as well as with the community and business partnership it takes to make their work possible.
The robotics team, in its sixth year at South Milwaukee High School, is 15-20 students strong and is led by Brian Niggemann, a Caterpillar engineer who volunteers countless hours of his time to mentor the team and prepare them for their annual competition. He is joined by three other Caterpillar employee volunteers who bring their engineering expertise and guidance to the kids you see pictured above.
Caterpillar is also a significant funder of the program, paying the team’s entry fee and also donating funds and equipment used in building the robots. In addition to Caterpillar, The Rotary Club of Mitchell Field stepped up with significant funding this year, as well as smaller contributions from Vito Clean, Alliance Manufacturing Group, and Styled Aesthetic.
But it really comes down to the kids and the passion they bring to this, which was clearly evident when I visited with them.
I wish them good luck at the FIRST Robotics Regional Competition, scheduled for this Friday and Saturday, March 25-26, at the Milwaukee Panther Arena downtown. Learn more about the competition here. It’s open to the public and free. Stop by and see these students in action, and I’m certain you’ll come away as impressed as I was.
Their robot is wrapped in plastic below. They didn’t want to risk me breaking it 🙂
Filed under Local Business, Schools, South Milwaukee
Spring Election: Absentee Voting Now Available
Absentee ballots can now be issued at City Hall ahead of the April 5 spring election and presidential primary.
Ballots can be completed at the clerk’s office until 5 p.m. on Friday, April 1. The last day to mail absentee ballots is Thursday, March 31.
Please Note: City Hall will be CLOSED on Friday, March 25, for Good Friday.
All voters are required to provide a photo ID at the election, as well as when requesting an absentee ballot (in-person and mailed absentee voting).
Filed under 2016 Elections, South Milwaukee
Welcome Home, Jackie Kashian
All joking aside, we have another native daughter to celebrate.
Jackie Kashian returns to South Milwaukee, her hometown, for “An Evening of Comedy” on Saturday at the Performing Arts Center. Tickets are still available. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story on her show …
Kashian will return to her hometown, which she called “adorable” and “sweetly funny,” to headline an evening of comedy Saturday at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center. That center is part of South Milwaukee High School; she lived near it growing up and graduated from there in 1983.
If comedians were assigned roles like saints, Kashian would be patron of the dorks, the nerds, the gamers and the pop-culture enthusiasts, thanks in large part to her long-running podcast, The Dork Forest, in which she interviews comedians and other folks about their obsessions. For newbies and proto-dorks, she recommended checking out an episode with Tacoma comic Jim Stewart Allen, who gave her a passionate hour of conversation about the real history involved in the game “The Oregon Trail.”
Kashian said she embraced her inner dork at age 8, when a brother gave her the book “Harriet the Spy.” Like Harriet, she began her own journal. “I would journal about every weird, obsessive thought I had,” she said.
Lest you think that’s too age-appropriate normal to count as dorky, Kashian notes she was further inspired by an episode of “M*A*S*H” that featured psychiatrist Sidney Freedman writing to Sigmund Freud. “I started writing to Sigmund Freud when I was 10 or 11,” she said. “I was going through puberty and I thought I was crazy.”
Welcome home!
Filed under Events, South Milwaukee, South Milwaukee PAC
Candidate Forum Set for March 24
Learn more about the candidates for Milwaukee County Board and Cudahy mayor.
Thanks to the South Shore Chamber of Commerce for holding this event, and to the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center for hosting it.
Filed under 2016 Elections, Cudahy, Milwaukee County, South Milwaukee
School District Plans Prescribed Prairie Burn
The South Milwaukee School District is planning a prescribed burn for the prairie grass around its high school and middle school campuses later this month.
Applied Ecological Services will do the burn, weather permitting, March 28-April 1.
Check out the school district letter here.
And here is more information on the schools’ prairie, and images from the previous burn (including a few shown in this post). This is a story about the benefits of prescribed burns.
Filed under Fire, Schools, South Milwaukee
Headlines: Car Chase Ends with Crash, Puppies Thrown Away and More
One person was hurt following an Oak Creek Police chase that ended in a crash Monday in South Milwaukee.
Check out CBS 58 coverage here, and these other headlines …
- Newborn Puppies Found in Trash Can in South Milwaukee (CBS 58)
- St. Francis Brewing Co. Made Nearly $230,000 at Humboldt Park Beer Garden in 2015 (BizTimes.com)
- Oak Creek Police: 25-Year-Old Man in Cudahy After “Shots Fired” Call Near 13th and College (Fox 6)
- Renowned Painter Patrick Farrell Was Self-Made Man, Self-Taught Artist (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Also, NOW has published a new police blotter.
Filed under South Milwaukee
Important Work Ahead: Kicking off the Watershed Plan
The work to restore the Oak Creek watershed begins now. April 12, to be exact.
That’s when the kickoff meeting for the Oak Creek Watershed Restoration Plan has been scheduled. It will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at South Milwaukee City Hall.
The public is welcome to attend the meeting — the first of at least six of these “stakeholder” meetings throughout this potential two two-and-a-half year process.
Your participation and input are welcomed to ensure this plan considers a range of perspectives, as the stakeholder group will assist Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission staff in development of the plan.
As I’ve written about numerous times, this is vital work for the long-term health of the watershed, and I’m proud to have helped drive it. According to SEWRPC …
The watershed restoration plan will provide a guide for addressing the water quality impairments that have been identified in the watershed, and it will include specific, targeted recommendations to address a set of focus issues related to conditions within the watershed.
The Oak Creek plan is designed to maximize funding opportunities for plan implementation by addressing the nine elements of a watershed-based plan as identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).
The following four major focus areas are being addressed by the watershed restoration plan:
- Water quality,
- Recreational access and use,
- Habitat conditions, and
- Targeted stormwater drainage and flooding issues.
In addition, the status of the Mill Pond and the associated dam located on Milwaukee County parkland within the City of South Milwaukee are being addressed considering their relationship to multiple focus issues.
SEWRPC has created a web page with more information on the project. Check it out.
Funding is coming from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Milwaukee County, the City of South Milwaukee and grant sources. In fact, the Fund for Lake Michigan announced just last week that it had awarded $25,000 for the effort.
So, lots of good momentum here. I can’t wait to get started. Nor can the watershed.
Filed under South Milwaukee
Sweet News for Downtown South Milwaukee
When it comes to the future of our downtown, to me, it’s all about sustainable small business. That’s why I’m so excited to share this sweet news …
Jen’s Sweet Treats is opening a second retail location at 907A Milwaukee Ave., starting May 1.
They will sell cupcakes, cookies, donuts, cakes, and other treats from the South Milwaukee store, while continuing to bake at their Cudahy location, 4745 S. Packard Ave.
This is a great addition to our city center, and joins Grillworks — the new restaurant opening at the former Grebe’s and Nona’s in April, I’m told — as two new local eating options.
Jennifer Clark opened Jen’s Sweet Treats, a family business in every since of the word, in 2014. A year later, the store was named the South Shore Chamber of Commerce’s Cudahy Business of the Year.
One reason why: its commitment to doing business the right way. The store gives back in so many ways, and you get a good sense of it from their Facebook page.
Here is a message from Jennifer …
We are excited to bring all that we do to South Milwaukee. We are looking forward to not only providing amazing sweet treats but continuing our “give back attitude” in our new neighborhood! South Milwaukee here we come!
And we’re excited to have you. Welcome to South Milwaukee!
Learn more on their website. The photos are from the store’s Facebook page.
Filed under Cudahy, Downtown, South Milwaukee
Traffic Alert: Marquette Avenue (Highway 32) Closure Looming
This will cause some headaches, to be sure.
The city has been informed that Marquette Avenue will be closed between 10th and 12th Avenues starting Wednesday, March 16, for a Union Pacific Railroad bridge rehabilitation project. The closure is estimated to last into May.
Traffic will be detoured on to 12th and Milwaukee Avenues during construction.
If this is your normal route of travel, please plan on an alternate route. This is obviously a major route through the city, and we thank you ahead of time for your patience.
I will keep you posted during this project.
Filed under Construction, South Milwaukee
Do Your Part! Earth Day Cleanup Set for April 30
A previous version of this post had the incorrect date. The event is April 30.
This event keeps getting bigger every year, and I love it. Organize your groups, round up your family and friends, and we will see you there!
Filed under Comprehensive Plan, Events, South Milwaukee
On Crossing Guards
You may have seen that the South Milwaukee City Council voted last week to enter into a contract with a firm to handle school crossing guard duties.
I agree with that decision.
In working with Twin City Security Inc., we are joining communities like Cudahy, West Allis, Wauwatosa, Waukesha and Shorewood who have decided that the best way to deliver this service is by partnering with a third-party firm to do it.
For South Milwaukee, it was a difficult choice, but the right one as we continue to look for more efficient ways to deliver our services.
There are seven school crossing guards in all, and, until the new contract, all were hired and managed by the South Milwaukee Police Department. The city funds four of them. The school pays the city back for the services of the other three. Going forward, Twin City will supply the guards, removing the burden of managing the program from the police department.
The SMPD has long managed to do more with less. The numbers don’t lie — on a per-resident basis, we have the smallest department in the area. And we must manage those resources closely, ensuring the department is delivering on its core responsibilities in every way possible. Managing the crossing guard program took away from that.
Day-to-day oversight of the program — from hiring to firing to payroll to dealing with absences and the like — has proven more and more time-consuming. The program literally has taken patrol officers of the street; at times, officers have had to man crossing guard stations to fill in for guards away from work. That is not acceptable to me.
No one is saying crossing guards are unimportant. However, when balanced with the other duties our police department performs, we feel this is the right move, especially with contracted program costs being similar to our internal costs.
I want to thank all of our guards for their service.
I know some have become local institutions, and we are honoring one of them — Helga Allen, stationed near E.W. Luther for many years — during our police awards ceremony at our May 17 council meeting.
All have also been offered a chance to apply at Twin City, and I hope they do.
Filed under City Council, City Services, Police, Schools, South Milwaukee
Headlines!
Check out these South Shore headlines …
- Cudahy Burger Joint: New Restaurant Where the Burger is King (Fox 6)
- Chick-fil-A to Open This Week in Oak Creek and Racine (CBS 58)
- Oak Creek Police Chase Ends in Crash (WISN)
- Fire Damages Home in Cudahy (WISN)
- REV Group Moving Headquarters to Milwaukee Center (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Filed under Headlines, South Milwaukee
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