by | April 3, 2012 · 11:29 pm

South Milwaukee Republicans Back Romney

And it wasn’t even close.

South Milwaukee voters in the Republican primary supported Mitt Romney with 49.7% of the vote, topping Rick Santorum (34.9%) and Ron Paul (10%) locally, according to a summary of South Milwaukee results.

Statewide, Romney won easily, but by a smaller margin over Santorum.

For what it’s worth — and it’s hard to read tea leaves on this one given voting dynamics in a primary — President Barack Obama got 1,195 votes locally on Tuesday compared to 2,813 combined votes in the Republican primary.

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by | April 3, 2012 · 11:15 pm

Maass, Molus Keep School Board Seats

David Maas and Kathleen Molus have been re-elected to the South Milwaukee School Board.

Maass got 38.9% of the vote on Tuesday, with Molus pulling in 32.8%. Challenger Sophia Williams came in third (28.3%), according to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel results posted online. Both will serve three-year terms.

Stay tuned for additional local results soon …

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by | April 3, 2012 · 8:55 pm

Special Council Meeting Planned Wednesday

Just a reminder that a special City Council meeting is planned for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at City Hall.

The agenda is pretty light, with the awarding of two contracts for Davis Avenue — on and around the Walmart property — water main and concrete replacement the two biggest items.

See the agenda here.

Our next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday, April 17.

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by | April 3, 2012 · 6:00 am

Election Day Open Thread

It’s Election Day, and, whether it’s Republican, Democrat or neither, all I ask is that you do your civic duty and vote.

I’m opening this thread to take comments on the various local, regional and national races on the ballot.

Who got your vote on Tuesday? Who didn’t get your vote? Why?

I’d also like to know what you’re seeing out there. Long lines? Issues at the polling places? Been receiving a few too many robocalls the past few days?

Post your comments below (and please keep it constructive) …

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by | April 2, 2012 · 9:44 pm

Cudahy Iceport Update And Other Local Headlines

Could there be new life for Cudahy’s Iceport property?

Learn more in this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story. And here is coverage from The Business Journal.

And check out these other local headlines of interest …

Also, NOW has published a new South Shore police blotter, and state Sen. Chris Larson has published a new Larson Report, taking a comprehensive (albeit partisan) look back at the now-completed legislative session.

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by | April 2, 2012 · 2:41 pm

Controlled Burn Planned Near High School, Middle School April 7-15

Call me crazy, but I kind of like the prairie feel around the South Milwaukee high school and middle school campuses. I think it gives the properties a unique and more natural look.

Well, sometimes prairies demand controlled burns to rejuvenate and sustain healthy regrowth.

Such a burn is planned for April 7-15 — Spring Break week in South Milwaukee.

Learn more in this notice from the firm doing the burn … and be prepared for some smoke around the 4th District during that week.

Also note that our fire, police and health departments have been closely involved in the planning and execution of this. So I am confident it will be executed safely … with the end result being a better-looking school campus for the long term.

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by | April 1, 2012 · 1:12 pm

Quick Election Primer: Vote On Tuesday!

Tuesday is election day, so please do your duty as a citizen and vote.

Here’s a quick primer of what to expect:

  • Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m
  • Not sure where you vote? See a map here.
  • The only contested local race on the ballot is for South Milwaukee School Board. See candidate summaries here and vote in the poll on the right side of this page.
  • However, Mayor Tom Zepecki, seeking a fourth term, is going up against two declared write-in candidates: Michael Moeller and Todd Lorino. Moeller is also vying for the First District aldermanic seat currently held by Frank Van Dusen III.
  • You can see sample ballots on the city website here.
  • You don’t need to bring your photo ID to the polling place after all, thanks to a recent court ruling, but you will still need to sign the polling book before voting.

Also, be sure to check South Milwaukee Blog for election results later Tuesday night.

See you at the polls!

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by | April 1, 2012 · 1:10 pm

More On (2 Of) The 3 School Board Candidates

Three people are vying for two seats on the South Milwaukee School Board on Tuesday: incumbents David Maass and Kathleen Molus and challenger Sophia Williams.

Not sure who to support? I asked all three candidates for some information about themselves, their reasons for running and their thoughts on the some of the key issues. So far, Kathee Molus and Sophia Williams have responded.

Click on their names below to learn more …

I will post Maass’ information as soon as I get it.

Also, I’m interested to see who will receive your vote. Check out the new poll!

Also, Molus has a campaign website here.

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by | March 30, 2012 · 11:39 am

Direct Legislation Push Seeks Referendum On Capital Projects Costing $1M+

I first heard about this yesterday — and saw the flier — and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel now has a story on it: The group organized to fight the Walmart in South Milwaukee is seeking sigatures on direct legislation campaign.

The upshot, if enough signatures are collected and verified and this ultimately comes to pass: All capital spending projects costing $1 million or more would have to be approved by voters in a referendum.

(You’ll recall the city is poised to borrow $1.5 million to help fund cleanup costs at the proposed Walmart site on North Chicago Avenue — a vote that was postponed earlier this month with a “hold over” motion from two aldermen.)

Check out the Journal Sentinel story here.

I’d like to know what you think about this. Post your comments below.

I’ll share my thoughts in a future post.

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by | March 30, 2012 · 10:21 am

South Milwaukee Schools Provide Good Example Of Shared Services At Work

The South Shore’s Connects Learning Center — operated out of a building owned by the South Milwaukee School District but located in Cudahy — is being held up as an example of shared services that work.

Check out the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story on the Public Policy Forum study here. From it:

The South Milwaukee School District owns the building that houses Connects Learning Center, but it’s located in Cudahy. And it’s paid for and operated jointly by the South Milwaukee, Cudahy and Oak Creek-Franklin school districts for the benefit of students struggling to make the grade.

A fourth school district, Franklin, pays for the right to seats in the school.

“We needed some place that we could have students that were having a difficult time adjusting to the routine and structure of a regular school day go and do some credit recovery and still stay connected to their high school,” said Jim Heiden, superintendent of the Cudahy School District.

Connects Learning is an example of sharing resources that the Public Policy Forum highlights in a new report that says suburban school districts in Milwaukee County are missing out on many such opportunities to band together to offer some services more efficiently, particularly for such noninstructional support services as nursing, guidance, payroll, accounting, curriculum development and staff training.

“We’re just hoping the report will raise the visibility (of sharing support services) and districts can learn from other districts that have been doing this for a while and have done so successfully, so they’re not having to reinvent the wheel to start a successful agreement,” said Anneliese Dickman, research director of the Public Policy Forum.

Learn more about Connects here.

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by | March 29, 2012 · 8:21 pm

Republicans: Who Gets Your Vote Tuesday?

So, is it Mitt Romney? Or Rick Santorum? Newt Gingrich? Ron Paul?

For all of my Republican readers, for whom do you plan on casting your ballot on Tuesday?

Vote in the new poll on the right side of this page … and post your comments below!

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by | March 28, 2012 · 2:25 pm

Oh, Those Crazy Kids …

No comment on this one.

http://www.oakcreeknow.com/news/144643275.html

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by | March 28, 2012 · 1:30 pm

More On The Oak Creek Mayoral Race + Other Headlines

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Oak Creek NOW have more coverage of the intriguing Oak Creek mayoral race, as a sitting alderman goes up against a member of the Oak Creek-Franklin School Board on Tuesday.

And Oak Creek Patch has a great summary of all the races happening with our neighbor to the west and south.

There’s also going to be a new mayor in St. Francis come Tuesday night. The Journal Sentinel article has more on that race too.

And check out these local headlines of interest:

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by | March 27, 2012 · 10:17 pm

Sullivan Turns Focus To Worker Training

Former Bucyrus CEO Tim Sullivan has long championed worker training as a key issue for growing Wisconsin’s economy.

Now, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he is “drafting set of recommendations that will change how Wisconsin allocates hundreds of millions of dollars each year in federal job training funds and simultaneously reform the state’s education system.”

“It’s a big task with a lot of moving parts,” he told the newspaper.

Is it ever.

One key part of Sullivan’s work is taking a fresh look at high school curriculum, better matching student skills with companies’ needs — something that I know the South Milwaukee School District is already focused on as part of its long-range planning process. From the newspaper:

He cited a study by Georgetown University that found that Wisconsin will need an estimated 925,000 skilled workers by 2018 just to replace those on the verge of retiring or meet the creation of new jobs. At least 588,000 of those jobs will require a minimum of a two-year technical training degree.

But the state’s schools don’t produce those numbers – which is all the more troublesome in a state that leads the nation in per-capita manufacturing employment, Sullivan said. Starting in the 1980s, many high schools discontinued shop classes, industrial arts, and trade and technical schools. Educators, parents and students focused on curriculum that prepared students for four-year college degrees, even though a degree in the humanities will not land anyone a job on a production line, he said.

That will require a new approach to the way high schools structure their curriculum. It also means a renewed educational push in grade school to supply high schools with students that have basic math and reading skills.

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by | March 27, 2012 · 10:05 am

Panel Backs Lake Parkway Extension Plan

A Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission panel has formally backed a plan to extend the Lake Parkway from Edgerton Avenue to Highway 100.

Check out the story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and here is a press release from County Supervisor Pat Jursik.

Now, the hard work starts: securing the political will, and money, to actually get the $207 million roadway built. It probably won’t happen until at least 2022, and probably longer.

But at least it’s on the drawing board — and I thank County Supervisor Pat Jursik and others for leading the charge to get us this far.

I also credit the SEWRPC panel in using the passage of this plan as an opportunity to call for a more sustainable solution to transit funding. The Lake Parkway should be just one part of a comprehensive transportation plan for the region. Mass and bike transit must be others — giving commuters a variety of transportation options that involve not just cars.  

To quote Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and others, the Department of Transportation is too often the Department of Roads.

Absolutely, let’s build new roads, and fix old ones. But let’s also not neglect the other elements necessary for a strong, and diversified, approach to getting people from point A to point B.

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