Check out these headlines from around the South Shore and beyond …
Filed under Headlines
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has just posted a story updating Walmart’s plans for South Milwaukee.
Check it out here. From the story:
A Walmart development proposal hasn’t yet been filed with city officials. But Gatlin and Walmart are still working on their plans, says Danielle Devlin, South Milwaukee Community Development Authority executive director.
The project is complicated in part because the proposed site, 10 acres west of Chicago Ave., one block south of College Ave., will need an environmental cleanup, Devlin told me.
Gatlin and Walmart are conducting an environmental study of the site, which includes 3.5 acres owned by the city and 6.5 acres owned by Briohn Building Co. A development plan cannot be filed until the study is completed, with an environmental cleanup plan approved by the state Department of Natural Resources.
“We still expect things to move forward,” Devlin said.
In other words, the story is pretty much in line with what I’ve written about in the past few months. I’ll keep you posted as I learn more.
And here is an update from NOW on the Walmart proposed for Wauwatosa.
Filed under Local Business
Update: Check out the TMJ4 video here.
As you may recall, a few months ago I wrote about South Milwaukee’s Chris and Nick Fare and the inspiring story of their clothing line benefitting people with disabilities.
TMJ4 has just published a story about the brothers here.
It’s nice to see the Fares doing well, and I wish them nothing but the best. Their work in truly inspiring. You can learn more at their website: www.josephryanclothing.com.
Filed under Community
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an interesting story on a South Milwaukeean’s personal tie to the Civil War — and the renewed interest in the war 150 years after it began.
Check out the story here. From it:
The shadow box containing an old tintype photo and medal hung on the wall of Bill Doan’s family home for as long as he can remember.
The soldier who posed for the photo and what he did to earn the medal were unknown to Doan, of South Milwaukee, until a few years ago. That’s when Doan learned the medal wasn’t just any decoration for valor, it was a Medal of Honor that had been conferred on his ancestor by Abraham Lincoln a few days before the president was assassinated.
That set Doan on a quest to learn more and ultimately join a Wisconsin chapter of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
“It kind of went from something hanging on the wall to maybe I should be doing something with this,” said Doan, 58. “My belief is this is American history, and I think it should be shared.”
Do you have a family or other tie to the Civil War? I’d like to hear about it. Post your comments below!
Filed under Community
Another update: I spoke with our city administrator about this, and the immediate impact to South Milwaukee may be minimal because we have a recycling fund balance. The bigger concern for us is the proposed loss of recycling grant funding from the state in 2012 and beyond. I will keep you posted.
Update: Milwaukee’s mayor wants a legal opinion on this.
It looks like we will feel some of the state budget pain in South Milwaukee well before 2012.
Check out this story in the Journal Sentinel about looming reductions in state recycling funding for local communities — cuts that could be felt in coming weeks, rather than in 2012 as first thought. From it:
With Walker’s budget reductions, the DNR was required to cut slightly less than $27 million from its budget. Nearly half that amount came from recycling grants, which normally go to 1,018 communities by June 1, said Mary R. Teves, DNR director of financial assistance.
After sending out the email, “my phone has been ringing off the hook,” as local officials try to confirm that their funding would be cut, and to find out by how much, Teves said.
For Milwaukee, the reduction would slice aid by $1.3 million, from $3.4 million to $2.1 million, Mayor Tom Barrett said. The city has budgeted $10 million for recycling this year, but the state aid cut would not take effect until June 1, for a reduction of some 22% for the last seven months of the year, he said.
What will the impact to South Milwaukee be, and what will our options be? I’ll keep you posted.
Keep in mind that we are expecting more than $126,000 in grant funding from the state this year for recycling, so the impacts will be real.
Filed under 2011 Budget
What’s your vision for downtown South Milwaukee?
Share it on Saturday, April 16, as a group of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate students studying our downtown hold a planning charrette from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the South Milwaukee Public Library.
Learn more in this flier.
What is a charrette? It’s an intensive planning session where citizens collaborate on a vision for development. It provides a forum for ideas and offers the unique advantage of giving immediate feedback as the design is formulated. More importantly, everyone who participates is a mutual author of the plan.
At the upcoming event, stations will be set up to receive community input on topics such as:
The students will later compile the results and develop recommendations to help South Milwaukee achieve the vision identified during the charrette session.
Feel free to stop by anytime during the session and be a part of the plan. I hope to see you there!
Welcome to South Milwaukee Blog!
I’ve redesigned my 4th District blog site and changed the name (and URL) to reflect that this blog has all along been a source of news and information for not just my constituents but all residents of South Milwaukee and South Shore.
Other than that, you won’t see much of a change here. And I think that’s a good thing.
My mission also stays the same: to keep residents informed and drive a community dialog on the key issues of our day — and there sure are a lot of them.
With that, here are a few housekeeping points about South Milwaukee Blog.
Filed under Uncategorized
South Milwaukee is celebrating Earth Day a couple weeks late … but with the same commitment to cleaning up the community.
The South Milwaukee Earth Day event is planned for Saturday, April 30, from 9 a.m. to noon. Clean-up stations where you can pick up trash bags will be at the following locations:
Lunch will be served at the South Milwaukee Senior Center adjoining City Hall after the clean-up.
Bring your family, friends, groups or organizations to this great event, organized by fellow 4th District Alderman David Bartoshevich. I’ll be at the 16th and Rawson meeting point, looking to clean up Oak Creek with other area residents. Join me!
I’m a huge fan of the South Milwaukee Public Library because my kids are huge fans of the South Milwaukee Public Library.
To see the sparkle in their eyes and anticipation of “library day” — when they get to check out a few items every couple of weeks or so — is priceless and reminds me of when I was a kid.
The numbers show they are not alone. The library has released its 2010 annual report, and it shows that 11,948 South Milwaukee residents have library cards. Among the other 2010 statistics from the report:
At the end of 2010, the library collection consisted 147,280 items, including 113,022 books, 10,951 videos, 7,232 magazines, 5,807 electronic downloadable audio items and 5,579 compact discs.
Learn more on the library webpage here … and keep on supporting this terrific South Milwaukee jewel!
Filed under Community
Update: Unfortunately, we’re not alone among Wisconsin cities.
The city administrator and staff have put together a more detailed estimate of how the proposed state budget will impact South Milwaukee.
The estimated hit for 2012 should Gov. Scott Walker’s budget pass as is: $347,839 in red ink.
This includes the following projected general fund cuts:
In all, the total cuts to South Milwaukee general fund revenue from the state would be $516,931.
Of course, these cuts will be offset by savings through increased pension ($135,799 in net general fund savings in 2012) and health insurance ($33,293) contributions by employees — “tools” promised by Walker that, in the end, won’t do the job.
Of course, these are only estimates, and real impacts remain to be seen and probably won’t be known until the state budget is passed in coming months … and the ultimate fate of the so-called “budget repair bill” is determined.
There is also some hope that state lawmakers will actually listen to community leaders and try not to balance the budget in part on the backs of local taxpayers by slashing various state aids while concurrently disallowing property tax increases for many municipalities.
In other words, you can always hope that at least some of the well-reasoned changes proposed by the League of Wisconsin Municipalities are enacted. You can always hope that legislators who have so far scoffed at any sort of compromise will see the light.
There’s always hope, right? Maybe not.
Filed under Politics
Without a chief since earlier this year, the South Milwaukee Fire Department continues to quietly deliver the kind of first-class service that all city residents can be proud of.
The department’s captains, who are essentially the acting chiefs of the department these days, can certainly take their share of credit for that. And one in particular — Joseph Knitter — is doing especially great things.
Capt. Knitter recently completed National Fire Academy training and earned the designation of “Executive Fire Officer,” a status that has only been achieved by a very small group of firefighters throughout the nation.
The mayor and City Council formally recognized Knitter at its meeting Wednesday night.
To become and Executive Fire Officer, Knitter studied and performed research for four years and authored four applied research papers, all of which have been published by the U.S. Fire Administration.
Here is one of them from 2007 on the SMFD’s efforts at unveiling a competency assessment tool.
Learn more at South Milwaukee NOW.
Filed under Fire
Today is election day, and I humbly ask for your vote, as I seek to serve a second term as your alderman.
That said, no matter who you vote for, I hope you get to the polls today and do your civic duty.
Your vote always counts!
All four of the city’s polling locations are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, and all 4th District residents vote at Rawson Elementary School. Key races, of course, include those for Milwaukee County executive and state Supreme Court.
The race for 1st District alderman is also contested, as incumbent Mike Karbowski faces challengers Craig Maass and Mike Moeller.
Learn more on the city’s website. The Milwaukee County Election Commission also has voting information.
And check back here later tonight for local vote totals and perspective.
See you at the polls!
(You can check out my campaign website at www.brooks4alderman.com. And here is a copy of the document I have been using during my door-to-door campaigning this winter and spring.)
Filed under Politics
And here is the most recent police report roundup from NOW.
Filed under Headlines
South Milwaukee Blog 