by | November 13, 2010 · 5:28 pm

Celebrating Christmas in South Milwaukee

I’ve said this many times, but it bears repeating: South Milwaukee does Christmas right.

Two tree lightings, an underrated parade, the annual Olde Fashioned Christmas activities, the first-ever South Milwaukee Christmas Market … there is no shortage of ways to celebrate the season in our great city.

Here are just a few things to put on the calendar in coming days:

  • Heritage Place Park Tree Lighting: Get in the holiday spirit by joining tree lighting festivities on Saturday, Nov. 20, on the northwest corner of 10th and Milwaukee Avenues. Enjoy hot cocoa, cider and Santa Claus from 3 to 5 p.m.
  • Christmas Parade. The annual parade sponsored by the South Milwaukee Lions Clubs is planned for Saturday, Nov. 28, downtown. It begins at 12:30 p.m. at 12th and Milwaukee Avenues, snakes down Milwaukee and then south on 15th to City Hall. Stake out your spot and look for Santa!
  • Olde Fashioned Christmas: The city’s annual Christmas celebration begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28, at the Senior Center and City Council chambers at City Hall. Activities include crafts, Christmas movies and visits with Santa. A carol sing-along and the tree lighting ceremony begins at 5:30 p.m. Learn more in this flier.
  • South Milwaukee Christmas Market. The South Milwaukee Downtown Market hosts its first-ever Christmas Market from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Bucyrus Heritage Building. More than 40 arts, crafts, food and other vendors are expected. Look for more details soon on what is sure to be a new holiday staple in our city.

Do you have another local holiday tradition you want to promote? Post your comment below!

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by | November 11, 2010 · 11:32 pm

BoDeans Coming to SMPAC

South Milwaukee is blessed to have arts and entertainment options not typically available in cities our size. And it’s all due to the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center.

Case in point: The BoDeans. They’re coming to the SMPAC on Feb. 24.

Learn more in this Journal Sentinel story and on the SMPAC website. From it:

The BoDeans are one of Milwaukee’s most popular and enduring bands. With the release of their ninth studio album, Mr. Sad Clown, they will be touring some of Wisconsin’s most outstanding theaters, including the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center.

The show is specially designed for the intimate theaters they plan to visit and features founding members Kurt Neumann and Sam Llanas along with other band members. The band will be performing beautifully reworked classics from the BoDeans legendary catalog and songs from the new Mr. Sad Clown. Along side the music, the BoDeans will throw in a few stories to make this a truly memorable and special experience.

Of course, there are plenty of other events coming up before Feb. 24 at the SMPAC, including a Dec. 8 holiday concert by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchesta and the center’s 2010-2011 Performing Arts Series, which includes shows by Grammy-nominated blues artist John Hammond and local historian John Gurda.

And here is a list of past performances. It’s an impressive list — something all South Milwaukee residents should be thankful for and boastful of. I know I am.

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by | November 9, 2010 · 9:49 pm

Walmart Has Eyes on South Milwaukee

Update: Here is the Journal Sentinel story on this. And be sure to vote in the p0ll on the right-hand side of the page.

Walmart wants to come to South Milwaukee.

The world’s largest retailer is proposing to build a store on a 10-acre parcel at 222 N. Chicago Ave. — a more than $13 million project that would provide another local shopping option and potentially more than 120 jobs to area residents.

This would not be your typical Walmart — and not a SuperCenter.

At 115,000 square feet, it will be one of the first in the area to be built using the company’s smaller, neighborhood-focused retail concept, a more upscale version of your traditional Walmart featuring groceries, a pharmacy and general merchandise.

The store would be “tailored to the character of the neighborhood,” according to Gatlin Development, the project developer, and it will serve an approximately two-mile radius, rather than the chain’s typical 10-mile area. The development would also include an outlot to potentially be used for development of a national chain restaurant.

The South Milwaukee store would create approximately 120 jobs, about 60 percent full-time, according to Gatlin.

The store is part of Walmart’s aggressive growth in the region, which also apparently includes plans for a smaller grocery store on 76th Street in Greendale and the recent remodeling of the store on South 27th Street in Franklin, among others.

Of course, more details will emerge in the months ahead.

Tuesday night, the project got a boost when the City Council approved the sale of a 3.6-acre parcel of land between Davis and Carroll Avenues — part of our Tax Incremental Financing District #2 — for $500,000 to Gatlin, which also has under contract the other 6.5 adjacent acres being used for the project.

(Full disclosure: I was not at the meeting because I was out of town on business involving my day job at MillerCoors. I expect I would have voted yes.)

I am interested to know what you think about the project. The proposed development will be subject to public hearings and approvals before several city entities, including the Plan Commission, Community Development Authority and City Council, so there is plenty of time to have your voices be heard on this. I’ll keep you posted when those opportunities occur.

Of course, you can call me anytime, or post your comments below. I’ve also posted a poll question about this on the right-hand side of the page. I appreciate your feeback.

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by | November 9, 2010 · 9:48 am

South Milwaukee School Tax Levy Increases 5.1%

The school portion of your tax bill will likely go up next year.

The South Milwaukee School District has increased its 2010-11 tax levy 5.18%, from $13,836,711 to $14,546, 459. This is higher than the area average levy increase of 2.68%, according to this Journal Sentinel story.

Here is how it compares to other area communities:

  • Cudahy, up 1.69%
  • Oak Creek-Franklin, down 0.83%
  • St. Francis, up 9.9%
  • Milwaukee, down 0.79%

Click here for a graphic showing levy increases for all area school districts.

Of course, this deserves some context.

I’ve been lucky, and honored, to be a part of the school district’s ongoing long-range visioning and planning exercise involving more than 30 administrators, staff, students and other community members. As part of this, we’ve had a chance to take a deeper dive into the financials of the district — and clearly see the problems facing it and many other school districts in the state.

It starts with a broken state school funding system — one that is supposed to fund two-thirds of local education costs, but increasingly falls short of that — and is exacerbated by enrollment concerns, levy limits, state mandates, rising costs and other factors.

The end result? Cuts to staff, programs and curriculum are an annual reality for the district, and this year is no different. Simply, there is not much left to cut, and further cuts directly impact the quality of local education. So it’s hard to argue with a levy increase of 5.1%.

South Milwaukee needs, and deserves, a first-class school system. And I’m willing to pay for it.

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by | November 8, 2010 · 10:10 pm

South Milwaukee Fire Chief to Retire

Update: The City Council accepted Chief Behling’s letter of resignation at its meeting Tuesday night and approved his request for a residency exemption.

South Milwaukee Fire Chief Jay Behling will retire effective Jan. 31 after six years in the role.

The item is on the City Council agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, as well as his request for an exemption to the city’s residency requirements. Chief Behling wants to move outside of the city until he retires.

I wish Chief Behling the best.

While he certainly has not been without controversy, I have enjoyed getting to know Jay over the past 18 months and respect the job he has done in leading the department and our emergency management efforts. Our fire (and police) forces are first-class and, with budgets tight and resources limited, they truly know what it is like to do “more with less.”

I’ll keep you posted on the next steps here, including the search for a replacement. The Police and Fire Commission will do the actual hiring, and they are meeting on this issue Tuesday at City Hall. Here is the agenda.

I’d also like to know what you think about the news. Post your comments below.

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by | November 7, 2010 · 12:29 am

South Milwaukee’s Special Season Comes to an End

Update: Here is a photo gallery from the game.

In the end, Franklin was just too much.

The Sabres beat the South Milwaukee football team 45-27 on Saturday at Spaltholz Field, ending a season that saw the Rockets advance farther than they ever have in the WIAA playoffs.

South Milwaukee led 7-0 and 14-7 in the game, but Franklin scored 38 unanswered points starting in the second quarter, including a 76-yard fumble return for a touchdown late in the fourth to put it away.

Read the Journal Sentinel story here. Here is the box score.

Congratulations to the Rockets on a great season!

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by | November 7, 2010 · 12:27 am

Gold Medal for Local Author and Other Headlines of Local Interest

If you have young children in South Milwaukee, you may know of Janet Halfmann.

She’s a talented local children’s book author who has been a regular at the South Milwaukee Library, Downtown Market and other local activities.

She’s also an award-winner. Halfmann recently received a Moonbeam Award in the preschool picture book category for her book “Fur and Feathers.”

Learn more on Jerianne Hayslett’s South Milwaukee NOW blog and on the awards website.

And check out these other headlines of local interest:

Also check out County Supervisor Patricia Jursik’s November E-News newsletter here. It includes items on the budget, buses, parks, Hoan Bridge and South Milwaukee’s “pinkout.”

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by | November 5, 2010 · 9:55 pm

It’s Almost Game Time!

The Big Game starts at 5 p.m. Will you be there?

South Milwaukee hosts Franklin in round three of the WIAA Division 2 football playoffs on Saturday at Spaltholz Field, as the Rockets look to continue their deepest run into the playoffs in school history.

To do it, they’ll need an upset. Franklin is the top seed, and the Sabres have outscored their first two playoff opponents by a combined score of 83-32. South Milwaukee, meanwhile, has squeaked out its two victories, including an improbable comeback win over Pius XI last weekend.

Learn more about the game here. See a playoff bracket here.

Tickets are $4 at the gate. Go Rockets!

(I’ll post game results on Saturday night, so check back in case you can’t make it in person.)

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by | November 4, 2010 · 10:07 pm

Developing Story is Not a Pretty One in Cudahy

Not much surprises me anymore, but the email I received from Lara Fritts on Thursday did.

The message from the Cudahy economic development director had a simple, but pleading, subject line: “Please Help!”

Inside was a pretty amazing scenario. You can see the full email text here. I’ll give you a summary …

Lara is a full-time economic development director, and she has two part-time interns. Last week, the Cudahy Finance Committee approved a budget that cut the two interns. Then, at another meeting last night, the Finance Committee re-opened the Cudahy Economic Development Department budget — and proceeded to cut Lara’s hours to part time, and her salary to $40,000 per year. And this was done without Lara in attendance. (She was teaching a course at UW-Milwaukee.)

“The rationale provided,” Lara wrote in her email, “was there was more development that occurred with the previous part-time position.”

Wow. While Lara says this decision isn’t final — the reduction in hours and salary still must go before the Personnel Committee and the whole budget still must be approved by the council — the fact that it is even under consideration is surprising.

I realize times are tough for communities, and Cudahy is no exception. Neither is South Milwaukee.

But now is NOT the time to be cutting back on economic development. Now is the time to invest in that area. Just as it is in the private sector, you invest in your core during times of struggle so you can emerge even stronger on the other side. And I can’t think of a more core mission for local government than economic development.

That said, South Milwaukee does what it can in this area. We hold our own with one person (Danielle Devlin) working hard to lead our economic development efforts, oversee our TIF districts and manage our Parkcrest housing development. It’s not ideal. I’d actually like to see us move toward one full-time economic director down the road. It’s an investment that pays countless dividends for communities likes ours.

Cudahy is a great example of this. Our neighbor to the north is nothing short of a model for proactive economic development for small cities.

Consider some of the accomplishments of the city’s economic development team in the past year or so:

Those are just some of the things that immediately came to mind. There are more.

What happens to these and other similar initiatives if the proposed cuts become a reality? It remains to be seen.

After all, there is still time for Cudahy to do the right thing here. Investing in economic development is the right thing.

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by | November 3, 2010 · 7:43 pm

Celebrating John Galewski, Sam Oliden and the South Milwaukee Football Team

The Journal Sentinel has a great story today about the South Milwaukee football team, its improbable victory over Pius XI on Saturday and its historic run this season.

Check it out here. From it:

John Galewski never did see the officials signal “good.”

“I didn’t see them raise their arms,” the South Milwaukee football coach said. “A bunch of kids behind the goalpost were jumping up and down. . . . Then all mayhem broke loose. It was just a wild, wild thing.

“Football-wise, Saturday was the most incredible thing I had ever seen.”

What Galewski and everyone else at Wisconsin Lutheran College saw was a school-record 52-yard field goal by South Milwaukee senior Sam Oliden as time ran out for a come-from-behind, 26-23 victory over Milwaukee Pius in the second round of the Division 2 playoffs.

“I coach him in football and baseball, and he’s done a lot of wonderful things,” Galewski said. “It wasn’t like I was totally shocked he made it, but that’s a heck of a kick in the pros, much less from a high school kid.”

Don’t forget that South Milwaukee hosts Franklin at 5 p.m. this Saturday at Spaltholz Field in what has to be one the biggest football games in school history. Admission is $4. Here is a flyer.

Go Rockets!

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by | November 3, 2010 · 12:07 am

What Happened in South Milwaukee? Big Turnout, Strong Republican Lean

So, how did South Milwaukeeans vote on Tuesday?

For starters, strongly Republican. Scott Walker and Ron Johnson did well here in their gubernatorial and senatorial races, respectively, and Jess Ripp and Mark Honadel also polled strongly in our city. Even dark horse Dan Sebring outperformed in South Milwaukee.

Local residents also turned out in big numbers on Tuesday. Turnout of registered voters was 60.8 percent, with more than 8,000 residents hitting the polls. That’s a very large number for a non-presidential election.

Those were a couple facts gleaned from formal election results posted to the city’s website late Tuesday night. See the report here. (And thanks to City Clerk Jim Shelenske for getting these up so quickly.)

Among the local results:

  • Walker and Lt. Gov.-elect Rebecca Kleefisch tallied 4,156 votes, or 52.1 percent, to 3,759, or 47.1 percent, for Tom Barrett and Tom Nelson.
  • Johnson got 4,206 votes, or 52.4 percent, to Russ Feingold’s 3,379, or 46.6 percent.
  • Sebring did even better than Walker and Johnson in South Milwaukee, with 4,220 votes, or 54.7 percent, to Democrat Gwen Moore’s 3,361, or 43.5 percent. Moore easily won the overall 4th House District race.
  • Ripp narrowly beat Larson in South Milwaukee, 3,860 votes (50.8 percent) to 3,707 (48.8 percent). Larson, however, rolled to victory in his 7th Senate District race.
  • Honadel easily won locally, with 4,587 votes, or 59.2 percent, to 3,149, or 40.6 percent, for Tom Michalski, an Oak Creek alderman.

That’s a lot of numbers. But what does this all mean? What are your insights? Post your comment below.

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by | November 2, 2010 · 10:10 pm

Updated: Big Victories for Larson, Honadel

Democrat Chris Larson will replace Jeff Plale as state senator in the 7th District. And Republican Mark Honadel is returning to the Assembly.

The Journal Sentinel has declared Larson the winner over Republican Jess Ripp. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Larson had 56 percent of the vote to Ripp’s 44 percent — a bit smaller margin than he rode to victory over Plale in the September primary.

Here is the Journal Sentinel story.

Also, Honadel was rolling to victory in his race to represent his hometown in the 21st Assembly District. With 96 percent reporting, Honadel was leading Democrat Tom Michalski, an Oak Creek alderman, 63 percent to 38 percent.

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by | November 2, 2010 · 10:03 pm

Democrat Gwen Moore Declared Winner in Local U.S. House Race

Update: Moore, with more than 100,000 votes, was leading 67 percent to 31 percent with 99 percent of the precincts reporting. Here is the Journal Sentinel story.

Gwen Moore is heading back to Washington D.C. to represent South Milwaukee and the 4th House District.

As of 10 p.m., the Journal Sentinel was projecting Moore, a Democrat, will beat Republican Dan Sebring.

Moore was leading, 64 percent to 35 percent,with 60 percent of precincts reporting.

Here is a complete list of results from the Journal Sentinel. I’ll post South Milwaukee results in this race when I get them.

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by | November 2, 2010 · 9:45 pm

Election Updates: Check Back Soon for Local Results

So, is it Chris Larson or Jess Ripp? Mark Honadel or Tom Michalski? Gwen Moore or Dan Sebring? And how did Scott Walker, Tom Barrett, Ron Johnson and Russ Feingold do in South Milwaukee?

Check back later tonight for complete local election coverage … and post your comments below!

I’m also interested in who you voted for for governor. Vote in the poll on the right-hand side of this page.

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by | November 2, 2010 · 7:51 am

It’s Election Day … Vote!

Democrat or Republican, I hope all my blog readers get out and vote today.

Here are some particulars …

  • Who: Access a sample city ballot here. Not sure who you’ll pick? I’d encourage you to start with the Journal Sentinel’s PolitiFact section here. It’s a great source of truth during a time of year when truth can be elusive, and too often in the eye of the beholder.
  • When: Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
  • Where: The city has four polling locations, with all 4th District residents voting at Rawson Elementary School. The other locations are the South Milwaukee Library, City Hall and Lakeview Elementary. Click here to access a PDF map to see where you should vote.
  • Why: Because it’s your duty as a citizen of the greatest country in the world.

Learn more at the city’s election information page here.

See you at the polls!

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