South Milwaukee Blog

Just three more months to go …

The ongoing improvements to 15th Avenue between College and Rawson Avenues will be complete by August 30. That’s according to a letter sent to area property owners this week by City Engineer Kyle Vandercar.

Three phases are planned:

• May 20 to June 11: North of Oak Creek Parkway to College Avenue
• June 14 to July 11: Intersection of 15th Avenue and Oak Creek Parkway
• July 25 to August 30: North of Rawson to Oak Creek Parkway

Of course, the plans may change due to weather, change orders or other circumstances, but this is good news because it means work should be done in time for the start of the 2010-11 school year.

Keep in mind that connecting streets will be closed during construction phases, and traffic will need to use other routes. Please be patient during this time … and keep your eye on the prize (a great new road through the 4th District).

If you have any additional 15th Avenue construction questions, contact Chad Bigler at OTIE at 414-856-1345. You may also reach Kyle at 414-762-2222, ext. 136.

Here are some other items of note from the South Shore …

• Discussing School Funding with State Rep. Brett Davis
• City Won’t Use Eminent Domain to Acquire Farmland
• Rail Ideas Await Their Fate in Milwaukee
• KRM Opponents Question Cost, Ridership Figures
• Dog Park Construction Commences

So, I leave for a Memorial Day weekend vacation and apparently miss a lot …

As you all know by now, Bucyrus announced on Friday it has “completed the purchase of the former Midwest Airlines Corporate Center located at 6744 South Howell Avenue in Oak Creek, Wisconsin from Westminster Badger LLC.”

And, according to Bucyrus, “due to the continued growth of the company, Senior Management and other personnel will be moving to the new location making room for additional employees at its South Milwaukee facility.”

This sounds great, and in many ways it is. Hundreds of new jobs are coming to South Milwaukee due to the company’s expansion, and we should celebrate that, as I have regularly on this blog.

But is it all good news? I fear not.

My first question upon hearing the news on Friday is one that still remains: Will Bucyrus still be based in South Milwaukee?

This is not an insignificant question and should not be overlooked. Thousands of communities, large and small, across the country have large manufacturing plants, but we’re different. To people around the world, we’re the actual home of Bucyrus International, the world’s largest mining equipment manufacturer. It is based in South Milwaukee and has been for 117 years.

This is more than a name on a press release. It is a huge point of pride for us, something that no other city can boast.

I worry that will change … and Bucyrus will now be officially based in Oak Creek.

Media accounts differed as to whether or not that will be the case.

Read coverage in the Journal Sentinel, Business Journal and BizTimes.com. And here is the actual press release.

• The BizTimes.com account says clearly that Bucyrus “will move its corporate headquarters from South Milwaukee to the Oak Creek site.”
• The Business Journal is less clear on that fact, stating that Bucyrus “will move headquarters personnel from South Milwaukee to Midwest Airlines’ former headquarters space in Oak Creek” and “all of the company’s senior management staff, including (CEO Tim) Sullivan will move to the Oak Creek site.”
• The Journal Sentinel, apparently the only local media outlet to land an interview with Bucyrus CEO Tim Sullivan on Friday, is similarly unclear: “The former Midwest Airlines corporate center will have between 200 and 300 employees, including Bucyrus top management, but the company will continue to have 1,500 employees at its headquarters in South Milwaukee and stopped short of calling Oak Creek its new corporate home.”

In other words, I still don’t know the answer to my question.

This is an important distinction. I look forward to hearing the answer, although we may not know for sure until that first earnings release after the move to the former Midwest Airlines headquarters is complete.

Trust me, I will be looking very closely at the dateline: Will it say “South Milwaukee” or “Oak Creek”?

Jackie Ove, Public Health Administrator of the South Milwaukee Health Department, recently received the prestigious award of 2010 Health Officer of the Year.

Congratulations, Jackie! It’s a well-deserved honor.

Learn more on the front page of the city’s website.

The South Milwaukee Downtown Market is returning bigger and better in 2010.

The outdoor street market — billed as a “farmers’ market … and so much more” — will be held every Thursday starting June 3 on 11th Avenue, south of Milwaukee Avenue. Hours are 3 to 7:30 p.m. in June, July and August and 3 to 7 in September and October. The market concludes October 14.

We’ve made a number of upgrades for 2010 and have added some great new vendors, including those selling fresh meat, eggs, cheese and honey. We’ve also added more prepared food vendors, so why not do a little shopping and then stay for dinner?

Also, enjoy our expanded site, new seating area and entertainment options — including some great music.

Check out our press release for more information. Also learn more at our website, and be sure to add us as a friend on Facebook.

It’s truly been a pleaure to be a co-founder and active participant in this event, and I am so very excited to see it take off like it has. We hope to see you there this summer, and tell your friends!

Here are some other Journal Sentinel headlines of interest from around the South Shore …

• Agreement in Works with Former Cudahy Judge Over Case Backlog
• Waukesha Mayor Sets Water Meetings with Oak Creek, Racine
• Amateur Golf Overcomes Obstacles
• South Milwaukee Water Bills Expected to Spike

Thanks to everyone who joined us for this evening’s public information meeting on the Pennsylvania/Nicholson Avenue reconstruction project.

The crowd was larger than I anticipated, but maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised given the nature of the project. There was a good mix of Oak Creek and South Milwaukee residents, and most came with an open mind.

I hope everyone had a good chance to study the two four-lane options — divided and undivided — and had most, if not all, of their questions answered and concerns addressed. There will be additional chances to offer your feedback going forward, and I pledge to keep you posted on those.

I, too, continue to learn more and more about this project, and I appreciate all the feedback I’ve been given so far.

Do not hesitate to contact me about this going forward, and feel free to post comments below.

And don’t forget that there is still time to submit written comments. Comments are due June 11 to Foth Infrastructure & Environment, 2514 South 102nd Street, Suite 278, West Allis, WI 53227, Attn: Munzer Haidar, P.E.

A woman confessed to stabbing a man during an altercation inside one of the Alpine Meadows apartments Tuesday evening, police said.

The 51-year-old man suffered injuries to his arm, chest and leg and was taken to Froedtert Hospital for treatment. The 49-year-old woman was taken to the county jail, and charges could come later this week.

Learn more in the full press release. I’ll keep you posted when I get more details.

The 4th District is seeing its share of road improvements.

In 2010, it’s 15th Avenue. In 2012, it’s going to be Nicholson Avenue.

Now there’s one on the drawing board for 2011: College Avenue between Nicholson and Packard.

The roughly one-mile project — funded with federal stimulus money administered by Milwaukee County — includes pavement patching, signal improvements and pavement grinding, according to a public information meeting notice I saw today.

When completed, it will create a first-class road from Packard west to Howell Avenue. As I’m sure you know, extensive work on College around the airport is already underway and continues into 2011.

Want to learn more about the project? A public information meeting will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 2, at Cudahy City Hall. You may also contact Mike Malcolm, project manager for OMNNI Associates, at 920-830-6175 or via email at mike.malcolm@omnni.com.

Don’t forget about the upcoming public information meeting on the Pennsylvania/Nicholson Avenue reconstruction.

Stop by anytime between 5 and 7 p.m. at City Hall, 2424 15th Ave., to learn more about the project and the two most viable alternatives.

Check out my previous post on this topic here.

I hope to see you there and look forward to hearing what you have to say about the project.

The South Milwaukee Police Department has a couple events planned for the summer.

• The 10th annual DARE Golf Outing is at 8 a.m. on Monday, July 19 at Oakwood Golf Course. The four-person scramble event costs $65 person. Contact Officer McLean or Officer Kozlowski for more information and to sign up.
• The ninth annual South Milwaukee Community Night Out event is from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, August 12, at City Hall. This first-class event includes booths, games, food, entertainment and fireworks.

Learn more on the Community page on the SMPD website.

The South Milwaukee Water Utility has prepared a letter to residents who have questions and concerns about the 52 percent rate increase it is seeking with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.

Click here to see the document. From it:

If the PSC grants this increase, customers may see an increase of approximately $8.00 to $10.00 per month on their water bills. How the PSC arrives at applying the increase is to be determined, and the increase to individual customers will vary with water usage. …

It’s important to provide residents some background on how we got to this point. There are a number of reasons behind the rate increase, including:

• Mandated plant improvements;
• Declines in industrial water use; and
• Improved conservation efforts (low flow appliances, toilets, washing machines, shower heads) resulting in declining residential water use.

The plant upgrades were a significant contributor – but also a necessary one …

The down economy has only served to drive that increase higher. South Milwaukee began to feel the effects of the struggling economy just when the upgraded facilities were placed into operation, and we began to realize that many of our heavy water users (industry and manufacturing), as well as many smaller users, had cut back on water consumption. Today, water consumption is running approximately 20% less than projections. This, in turn, impacts Water Utility revenues.

The Water Utility is also encouraging residents who have questions, comments or concerns about the rate increase to call them at 768-8070.

As I wrote about last week, a large water rate increase is in the offing. Now we know the proposed size of that increase: 52%.

Learn more in this Journal Sentinel story.

I’ll have more to post on this in coming days. And feel free to post your comments below.

You can see my previous posts on this here and here.

City Engineer Kyle Vandercar had an excellent presentation about the planned Nicholson Avenue reconstruction project on Tuesday — a preview of the public information meeting planned for May 26.

• You can see a copy of the fact sheet shared at the meeting here.
• Click here to see the letter sent to area residents promoting the public information meeting.
• And here is a PDF of the official public information meeting notice.

I hope to see you at the meeting, planned for 5 to 7 p.m. next Wednesday at City Hall.

The meeting on Tuesday night provided me my first real glimpse at the options, and I like what I saw.

I go into this thinking some type of widening is necessary to address what I believe is an unsafe road that can no longer handle the amount of traffic that uses it every day. The two options on the table are both four lanes — one with a median, one without. There are pros and cons of both, and I’d like to hear what you think at the public information meeting … and learn more about the project myself.

South Milwaukee is joining other area communities to put our best foot forward with real estate professionals at the industry’s largest leasing event starting this Sunday in Las Vegas.

City Development Director Danielle Devlin is attending the International Council of Shopping Centers convention to promote our city-owned development parcels and other redevelopment opportunities in South Milwaukee.

It’s part of a larger effort to promote the area around Mitchell International Airport via the Airport Gateway Business Association.

Learn more in this Journal Sentinel story. From the story:

Representatives from Milwaukee and some of the suburbs that are members of the Airport Gateway Business Association are cooperating to staff a booth at the convention to promote the area within a 15-minute drive of the airport as a place to do business.

Efforts to promote urban airport complexes – dubbed aerotropolises – have been around for years at a number of cities across the U.S. The local effort focuses on cooperation among eight municipalities near the airport: Milwaukee, St. Francis, Cudahy, Oak Creek, South Milwaukee, Franklin, Greenfield and Greendale. Most of them will have at least one person at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention, said Tom Rave, executive vice president of the Airport Gateway group.

But they will not be promoting any particular retail venue, Rave said. With 15-minutes-from-the-airport as the defining criteria, the effort would include Milwaukee’s Third Ward as well as the downtown, where retail vacancies abound, particularly in the Shops of Grand Avenue. In Greendale, Southridge has lots of space looking for tenants at the south end of the mall.

I’m glad South Milwaukee is a part of this effort. I’ve said since my campaign that we need to do a better job of selling ourselves as a city, and this is a great way to do it. We have a great story to tell, and we’ll be telling it in the City of Lights.

Good selling, Danielle!