South Milwaukee Blog

Pavement reconstruction work is scheduled to begin this week on 15th Avenue.

Work is being done in two phases, with phase one from College Avenue to Oak Creek Parkway. The second phase goes from Oak Creek Parkway south Rawson.

Learn more in this letter sent to area residents. From the note:

Emergency vehicles will have access to the area at all times. Local emergency services have been notified of the construction schedule and will route emergency vehicles accordingly. There will be no on-street parking in areas of active construction. The Milwaukee County Transit System has been notified and will be rerouting bus lines to accommodate construction. Please be advised that some driveways, sidewalks and crosswalks will be temporarily closed during construction.

I’ll keep you posted on this project as the summer progresses.

South Milwaukee has a new alderman.

The City Council on Monday night chose former Cudahy City Clerk-Treasurer Joe Bukowski as the new 3rd District alderman. He replaces Jim Shelenske, who was elected city clerk in April and resigned his seat on the council.

Six 3rd District residents applied for the job: Jon Spansail, Rich Raduenz, Tom Arend, Patrick Hintz, Rodney (Buck) Hillestad and Bukowski, who won the initial round of voting 5-1-1. Raduenz and Hillestad also received votes.

Bukowski, who has lived in the 3rd District for eight years, is no stranger to politics, and he easily had the most experience of the six candidates.

He was Cudahy clerk/controller/treasurer from 1990 to 1997, winning elections in 1992, 1994 and 1996 and serving as chairman of that city’s Community Development Authority and Fourth of July Committee. Bukowski was also involved in developing Cudahy’s tax incremental financing districts and economic development plan and managed major projects like the remodeling of City Hall.

Bukowski, who has a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, currently serves as vice president and branch manager for the Northwestern Mutual Credit Union in Franklin.

His community service experience is also extensive. Bukowski is active in Boy Scouts at Divine Mercy — where he is also on the FunFest Committee — and is the volunteer advisor and auditor to Cudahy’s Project Concern and Cudahy/St. Francis Interfaith. He also served for years on the Cudahy Historical Society and Cudahy Lions Club.

That experience was certainly a factor in him winning my vote. But I also liked what he had to say in response to a number of our interview questions. He was honest, forthright, and showed a sound vision for the city — one that he said includes the downtown opportunity brought by the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line and its planned South Milwaukee stop.

Service, he said, is a part of his life, and serving on the City Council will be an extension of that.

Bukowski will officially be sworn in at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. He will serve out the remainder of Shelenske’s term and face his first election next April. Please join me in welcoming him on board.

Carrying what had to be 50 pounds of gear, gulping air through an oxygen mask and dragging a hose down a pitch-black, smoke-filled stairway on the way to put out an actual fire in the next room, I quickly realized something.

I am not cut out to be a firefighter. And those that are — those that do this for a living — are true heroes.

I, and fellow 4th District of South Milwaukee Alderman David Bartoshevich, had a chance to experience this at FIRE OPS 101, a crash course for elected officials and members of the media hosted by the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin at the Madison Fire Department’s Fire and Safety Education Center on the Madison Area Technical College Truax campus.

It was a day I’ll never forget.

It started with a chance to practice our extrication skills — my chance to use the “jaws of life”  and a hydraulic “spreader” tool to literally take apart a junker car. Later, I got to practice ventilating a burning house by chopping and chainsawing a few holes in a roof. I gave CPR a try and watched some of my teammates perform a search and rescue operation. (Full disclosure: I begged off that assignment because of this nagging fear I have about crawling on my hands and knees in dark, confined spaces, wearing only an oxygen mask to breathe.)

That brings me to the burning home. It’s almost impossible for me to describe the feeling I had walking through that door and being greeted by the thick smoke and blackness … breathing thanks to a cannister of oxygen on your back … knowing that there were stairs in front of you that you couldn’t see …. four other people behind you feeding you hose … and a fire in an adjacent room that was waiting for you if you could feel your way through the dark.

After a stumble on the stairs … and losing my helmet due to the fall … I avoided the couch in the middle of the first room and slowly crawled into the second room … where the fire was burning. And there I waited, on my hands and knees, for the other team members to catch up to me. I then sprayed some water from the hose (to see what it felt like) and happily got the heck out of there.

Never before had I been so happy to see daylight. I about ripped off my oxygen mask and thanked God I would not have to do that again.

It was frightening and fascinating at the same time. It was also enlightening, much like the entire day was.

Making the day even richer was South Milwaukee firefighter Brian Bieganski, a member of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1633. He was terrific as our team leader, making sure we got the most out of the experience by answering any and all questions about the successes, and challenges, of the South Milwaukee Fire Department. His depth of knowledge was impressive. From the intricacies of structural design to sharing some of his real-world firefighting stories, Brian provided invaluable perspective.

IAFF Local 1633 firefighter Mike Landgraf was also an instructor at the event, joining dozens of firefighters from around the state in ensuring that newbies like me didn’t kill ourselves.

So, what did I learn from all of this? Of course, I learned how hard it is to be a firefighter — just how physically and mentally demanding that job can be.

More importantly, however, I learned just how complex the scene of a fire, car accident or other emergency can be, just how many simultaneous moving parts there are once a firefighting crew arrives. Hose crews. Ventilation. Search and rescue. Medical services. Everybody on that scene has a job, and each one is vitally important to ensuring that lives are saved.

It is a lesson I will take with me every time the City Council ponders the South Milwaukee Fire Department budget and its staffing needs … a lesson forever seared in my mind by those five minutes inside that burning building.

(Check out some other media coverage from the Capital Times and NBC 15 in Madison.)

In case you missed it, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s lead story on Wednesday was all about looming major water rate increases in Milwaukee and other communities.

South Milwaukee is not included in the article, but one is coming for us, too, as I wrote about in this post.

From the article:

Proposed water rate increases would threaten jobs, make the area less competitive, unfairly penalize suburbs and hurt consumers during a recession, according to corporate officials and customers objecting to proposals shared with Milwaukee aldermen Wednesday. Most customers – residential and business – face price increases of around 30%, but some suburbs are looking at more than 50%, in the rate schedule proposed by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. …

Jacking up the cost of doing business is a terrible strategy at a time of economic struggle, said Steve Baas, government affairs director for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.

“Our low water rates are one of the competitive advantages this region has, and a dramatic increase like this reduces our edge and sends a bad signal as we try to attract new companies,” he said Wednesday. “If you raise rates, you run the risk of further depressing economic activity, or giving incentive to more conservation, which further shrinks the pie and creates a need for even further rate increases. The only real solution is growth, expand the consumption base, have more people paying into the system.”

I can’t disagree. And you can see why this is such a complex issue, one with no easy solutions.

I’ll keep you posted on South Milwaukee’s upcoming rate increase.

Put Wednesday, May 26, on your calendar. That’s the date of the public information meeting on the planned expansion of Nicholson/Pennsylvania Avenue between College and Rawson Avenues.

It runs from 5 to 7 p.m. at City Hall, 2424 15th Avenue.

Learn more in the official notice here. From the notice:

The proposed project includes capacity expansion by reconstructing the existing 2-lane roadway to a 4-lane facility, with construction planned for 2012.  Federal and State funding provides approximately 80% of the estimated $4.5 million design and construction costs, with Oak Creek and South Milwaukee each funding 10%.

The informational meeting will be “open house” format, and is being held to provide preliminary design information, to discuss proposed improvements and alternatives, and to gather your comments and concerns on the proposed project.  The open house format meeting is flexible, so feel free to come and go as you desire.

I will have more information to post on this project — including more on the alternatives that you will see at the public information meeting — in the coming days. Stay tuned.

I look forward to seeing you at the meeting, but I’d also appreciate your feedback here. Post a comment below!

A tragic story out of Cudahy …

A man was struck and killed by a train, apparently by accident, on Ramsey Avenue just west of Packard.

Learn more in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story here.

Well, you can’t call South Milwaukee’s 3rd District politically inactive.

Six candidates — including former Alderman Richard Raduenz, former school board member Tom Arend and former Cudahy City Clerk Joseph Bukowski — want to replace Jim Shelenske as the district’s next alderman.

The number of interested candidates is a bit surprising to me given that this is the same district that fielded no competition for Jim or Lisa Pieper in the 2009 general election.

In fact, three of the city’s four districts had no competition for the incumbents last year. I was part of the only contested race.

You can see the full Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story here.

The City Council will interview the six candidates, all men, at a special meeting starting at 5:30 p.m. Monday. The chosen candidate will then serve out the remainder of Jim’s term, meaning he will be up for re-election next April.

South Milwaukee Police Chief Ann Wellens recognized a number of her officers and local residents for acts of heroism and selflessness at our most recent City Council meeting.

Click here and take a few minutes to read all of their stories.

My favorite? The three officers who rescued a woman from the icy waters of Lake Michigan one February night. Here is an excerpt from the PDF linked above: “Officers Marin and Rotter leaned over the edge of the bank while Officer Dews held them by the feet while Officers Marin and Rotter pulled the woman to safety.”

Amazing stuff … and just another example of the heroic work and dedication of our police and fire departments. Thanks for all you do and how you do it.

Joshua Wollinger, the South Milwaukee man charged with homicide in the stabbing death of Richard E. Ostrowski in April, was bound over for trial at his preliminary Milwaukee County Circuit Court hearing last Monday.

“Probable cause” was found in the case after testimony from several South Milwaukee Police Department officers and others.

You can see a description of the proceedings on the state’s CCAP system here.

Wollinger’s arraignment is set for May 19, where he’ll likely enter a plea. I’ll keep you posted.

For all my 3rd District readers out there, you have until Wednesday to apply to replace Jim Shelenske as 3rd District alderman in South Milwaukee.

You’ll recall that Shelenske had to give up his seat after he was elected City Clerk in April. The City Council will conduct interviews of all candidates at a special meeting on Monday, May 17.

Learn more in my previous post on this topic.

As I wrote about yesterday, the South Milwaukee Common Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of $968,000 in taxable general obligation promissory notes for water system improvements and expenses.

In plainer language, the city is borrowing the money from Tri-City National Bank to help the South Milwaukee Water Utility fund operations, upcoming bond payments and minor infrastructure needs. The utility will then pay the city back through revenues from utility users — you and me — allowing the city to repay the loan by 2013 … hopefully even sooner.

So, why the need for the cash infusion? A number of factors are at play here, but the two biggest drivers are an overall and continuing decline in water usage — including a major reduction by Bucyrus International, the city’s largest single water user — and costs associated with its recent plant upgrades.

And what does this mean for you?  Unfortunately, you can expect a large rate increase in coming months to help pay for the loan repayments and to make up for the utility’s declining revenues. I’ll keep you posted on that, once the increase goes to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for review.

While I wish the city, and the utility, weren’t in this position, we are. And we’re dealing with it as best we can … ensuring that our our water utility remains vibrant and a real South Milwaukee strength.

It was a busy Common Council meeting on Tuesday night, and here’s a quick rundown of what went down.

• The meeting started with an uplifting South Milwaukee Police Department awards ceremony, where Chief Ann Wellens honored officers and citizens for their work in combating crime and saving lives in our city. I’ll have more to post on these stories in coming days.
• The Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of $968,000 in taxable general obligation promissory notes for water system improvements and expenses. I plan on posting more on this on Thursday, so stay tuned.
• The Council also approved, 4-3, increases to several of its fees, including those for bartenders and amusement devices. I voted no on this because the resolution also included a requirement that bars and restaurants obtain a separate $100 annual permit for outdoor seating and beer gardens. I support the fee as it relates to beer gardens, which will essentially act as smoking areas for bars once the statewide smoking ban takes effect in July. This fee will cover the cost of inspecting these beer gardens and the added costs of patrolling them by our police department. Again, I am fine with this part of it. I voted “no” on the ordinance, however, because I disagree with putting the same fee on restaurant owners. Simply, I don’t want to make it more difficult for places like Azteca, Nona’s and the Madison Avenue Market to have cool outdoor dining this summer. And a $100 fee for essentially putting a few tables outside of their front doors is unnecessary — and not business-friendly.
• We approved a South Milwaukee Yacht Club project to add a new travel lift well. Learn more in my previous post on this topic.

We’re also discussing tightening our ordinances when it comes to check cashing businesses and portable storage containers. Stay tuned on that one.

And I’ll close with some good news. We also learned at the council meeting that Moody’s recently “recalibrated” all of its municipal ratings, resulting in new (and better) bond ratings for many communities. South Milwaukee is a major beneficiary of this. Without changing anything on our end, the city now has a Aa2 rating, two steps up from our already strong A1 rating and just two steps below a “best of the best” AAA rating.

The end result of this? We can borrow money at lower interest rates — about a half a percent lower in most cases, simply because of the recalibration.

Being in this position at all is a major testimony to the work of our city administrator, staff and department heads — working in conjunction with elected officials — to keep South Milwaukee fiscally strong and well positioned for the future. Thanks to everyone.

The South Milwaukee Yacht Club is getting a major lift — literally and figuratively — for its 60th anniversary.

The Common Council on Tuesday gave the g0-ahead to the organization to construct a travel lift well for the launch and haul-out of vessels, pursuant to the terms of the lease agreement with the city.

The more than $120,000 project will be a major boost for the club, which currently contracts out to a crane operator to put in and take out boats each season. According to a note from Commodore Tom Schulz: “Having the ability to perform this task in-house would greatly enhance the marketability of our organization and help maintain a sustainable operation for another 60 years.”

The lift well will truly set the club apart from from others in the area and make South Milwaukee a “harbor of refuge” between the South Shore and Racine, Tom said. It will also provide another revenue source for the club — $12,500 per year, in addition to eliminating the $9,500 cost paid to outside contractors to perform the lifting service — and lengthen the boating season for members.

“This brings us to a whole other level,” Tom told the Public Works and Public Property Committee.

The reason the Yacht Club needs city approval is that it leases the property from the city, with a series of five-year termination clauses. The next comes around in 2013. Learn more about the SMYC, and access its newsletter, at its website.

This Journal Sentinel story, quoting state Rep. Mark Honadel of South Milwaukee, is the first time I’ve actually seen someone say the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is indeed moving ahead with Drexel interchange at Interstate 94.

From the online article:

Honadel said a Wisconsin Department of Transportation official told him Wednesday that the department will soon begin the process of acquiring land that will be needed for the interchange, which would be built in 2012.

“I am just stoked up to no end because it’s going to be good for the region,” he said. “The potential is awesome.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Here are a few headlines you may be interested in …

• Another Retail Center OK’d Along Howell Avenue
• St. Francis Agenda Gets to the Point: ‘Ugly Fences’
• Oak Creek Library Might Buy Gear That Blocks Cell Phones
• Mitchell Sets a Single-Month Record for Passenger Traffic