I’ll be spending most of my Saturday helping out at the South Milwaukee Spring Market, as more than 60 vendors gather at South Milwaukee High School for what promises to be a terrific event.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., so why not stop by, do some shopping, grab lunch from one of our prepared food vendors and listen to some live music in our new seating area?
Sounds like a good time to me …
Learn more from our press release, and please “like” us on our new Facebook page.
It looks like the “for sale” sign will stay in front of the former St. Adalbert’s for the time being.
New Day Church, which had approached the South Milwaukee Plan Commission with plans for the property, has backed out due to project funding issues, and a public hearing set for last week’s Plan Commission meeting was cancelled.
I’ll keep you posted when I hear more.
Meanwhile, a public hearing for a proposed Dunkin’ Donuts adjacent to Aldi on South Chicago Avenue has been rescheduled for the commission’s April meeting, at the request of the developer.
Filed under Development
Check out these South Shore headlines …
State Sen. Chris Larson has published a new Larson Report, and there is a new NOW police blotter, albeit minus South Milwaukee items.
Filed under Headlines
While it was a pretty quiet local election for South Milwaukee on Tuesday, it was anything but in Cudahy.
There, they have a new mayor, in a race decided by 38 votes, as well as two new aldermen (one in a race decided by 10 votes), and a new school board member. See the full results here.
And, in Oak Creek, one of the incumbent aldermen lost his seat too.
Filed under 2013 Elections
The Milwaukee Journal has a story on Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman’s remarks this week before an Illinois business group, where he called for relaxed immigration laws to make it easier to attract workers — this after Cat announced last week it was laying of up to 300 people at its South Milwaukee plant.
From the story:
Caterpillar has seen foreign workers it trained in the United States leave for overseas competitors because they couldn’t get visas to stay in this country, Oberhelman said. And companies worldwide are scrambling to find engineers and scientists.
“When we recruit engineers from the University of Illinois, Purdue, Texas A&M, Stanford or wherever, we want the brightest talent. I really don’t care if that person was born in Chicago or India or England. I want that talent working for Caterpillar, not one of those competitors around the world,” Oberhelman said, according to a transcript of the speech he delivered Monday.
Also, Fox 6 was in South Milwaukee this week taking a closer look at the potential impact of the looming layoffs, as contract talks begin. The verdict — much remains to be seen. I’ll keep you posted.
Filed under Caterpillar, Community, Local Business
It’s National Public Health Week, and let’s take some time to do something we should do more often: Celebrate our local Health Department.
From emergency management to well-baby follow-ups to immunizations to screenings to food inspection to communicable disease prevention, I’ve seen first-hand what these dedicated professionals do to keep our community safe and well. And it’s a lot.
They describe their impact in this press release. Check it out, and then take a few minutes to thank a community health professional this, and every, week. The services they provide are invaluable.
Filed under Health
South Milwaukee will have a new school board member.
Doug Perry, a longtime teacher in the Greenfield School District, picked up the most votes on Tuesday, tallying 1,481 (or 38.3%) to incumbent Terri Travia’s 1,296 (or 33.5%), according to unofficial returns from city clerk’s office. They will serve three-year terms. Perry replaces incumbent Joseph Weirich, who finished third with 1,072 votes, or 27.7%.
Other South Milwaukee election results …
Turnout was 22.3%.
See the complete local results here, and post your comments below!
Filed under 2013 Elections
Please do your democratic (small D) duty and vote today!
Of course, I ask for your vote in the Fourth District aldermanic race, and there are several contested races on the ballot as well …
And here are some details on the voting process …
Check back to South Milwaukee Blog for election results later tonight … and thanks for your continued support!
Filed under 2013 Elections
A security guard at the South Milwaukee Caterpillar plant is getting his due for helping solve an armed robbery in last fall — an honor from the Oak Creek Police Department.
Check out the Oak Creek Patch story here.
And congratulations to Josh Najda!
Filed under Caterpillar, Crime
Just a reminder …
A sure-to-be-interesting public information meeting on the restructuring of county government is set for Thursday at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center. Led by Pat Jursik and featuring state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo and others, it runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Learn more here … and see you there!
Costs go up every year. You see it in your household, and so do I. It’s the same for school districts … but state lawmakers haven’t allowed districts to raise more revenue in recent years to account for it.
Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget includes another $0 increase for the 2013-15 biennium.
The South Milwaukee School Board is taking a public stance against the proposal, approving a resolution urging Walker, members of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, state Rep. Mark Honadel and state Sen. Chris Larson to support a $200 adjustment in the per-pupil revenue limit for each of the next two years.
Check out the resolution here. And here is a presentation explaining the school district’s budget plight — and the potential real-world impacts of unfair revenue limits.
The document was presented at a “world cafe” public information meeting on Wednesday that I was glad to attend. It was a good conversation exploring many of the issues the school district is facing during these uncertain budget times.
I applaud the district for its work in educating the public on these issues … and not being afraid to collectively stand up for the best interests of South Milwaukee students.
Filed under Schools
The Business Journal has a follow-up piece on the looming Caterpillar layoffs, with comments from a Robert W. Baird analyst who is not surprised by the announcement.
Check out the story here. From it:
Caterpillar’s mining customers shrank their capital spending budgets this year, and many have even been spending below that lowered budget line, Dobre said.
“That, along with quite a bit of uncertainty for miners with regards to which projects they’re going to expand and continue versus the ones that they’re going to cancel, has created a near-term environment that is quite difficult for all mining (original equipment manufacturers),” Dobre said.
He pointed out that Caterpillar competitor Joy Global Inc. has faced these same challenges. The Milwaukee-based mining equipment maker has been going through a couple of rounds of restructuring, which you can read more about here.
Dobre told me he expects a “challenged” mining environment for the foreseeable future.
“But it remains to be seen as to whether or not incremental demand from slightly better growth in China is going to have a little bit of impact in lifting sales,” Dobre said.
Filed under Caterpillar, Local Business
An update from Ante Udovicic and the South Milwaukee School District …
Emily Zakrzewski, Class of 2007 (and daughter of Rawson’s very own Nancy Zakzewski)
Emily has landed a job with Wild Space as a professional dancer. Emily was in theater and poms in high school, and if you saw her perform before, her success is certainly not a surprise! Congratulations Emily!!
The show ran on March 15 & March 16.
http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/arts/wild-space-enjoys-a-chocolate-haze-tn93p8h-198492581.html
Michael Cotey – Class of 2004
Please follow the link below for a great Journal Sentinel review of Michael Cotey in another standout performance. Not a surprise if you have ever seen him perform. Cheka out the link, it’s a great picture of Michael!
Congratulations to Emily and Michael!
Filed under Schools
Update: This story from February (just came across it) quotes a senior Cat executive as being “bullish” on the future of his company’s mining operations. Let’s hope he’s right, and these layoffs are indeed temporary.
Bad news for South Milwaukee …
Check out coverage in the Business Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. From the Business Journal story …
Caterpillar Inc. told South Milwaukee employees Thursday morning that it plans to lay off 40 percent of its union work force there by June, or between 250 and 300 production workers, a local union official said. …
Fox 6 Milwaukee, The Business Journal’s TV partner, first reported the news.
Local United Steelworkers official Ross Winklbauer confirmed the company’s announcement to The Business Journal, after he spoke with Kevin Jaskie, president of USW Local 1343 and a Caterpillar employee.
The union represents about 810 workers at Caterpillar’s South Milwaukee plant. The Peoria, Ill.-based equipment manufacturer (NYSE: CAT) also has its global mining equipment unit based in Oak Creek.
The company is citing lower sales as the reason for the cuts, Winklbauer said. Caterpillar said this month that global retail sales of its machines dropped 13 percent in the three-month rolling period through February, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to MarketWatch.
But Winklbauer questioned the timing of the layoff announcement, with labor talks scheduled to begin Tuesday. The union’s contract expires at the end of April.
I’ll post more details when I get them.
And post your comments below!
Filed under Caterpillar, Local Business
WUWM has an update on the looming negotiations between the United Steel Workers and Caterpillar in South Milwaukee.
In less than a week, contract negotiations will begin at Caterpillar in South Milwaukee. The talks will be the first since the company took over former Bucyrus International in 2010.
Caterpillar is a major manufacturer of mining equipment.
About 800 members of the United Steel Workers make two different mining shovels at Caterpillar’s South Milwaukee plant.
Local 1343 spokesman Ross Winklbauer will be a member of its bargaining team. He says he’s hoping for “good faith” negotiations, because union workers have enabled Caterpillar to succeed.
“This is a multibillion dollar company that makes record profits, has been making record profits. We are hoping that when the company comes in, it’s with a fair contract,” Winklbauer says.
Read the full story here. And check out these South Shore headlines …
Also, NOW has published a new police blotter.
Filed under Headlines
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