South Milwaukee Blog

Thank you to everyone who grabbed a bite — or a drink — at a South Milwaukee restaurant or bar as part of Fresh Water Days on Thursday and Friday.

My family and I stopped for a fish fry at Paisano’s on Friday, and the place was packed, with Mayor Tom Zepecki, School Board President and Pat Bordak and School Board member Brett Briesemeister among the other diners.

It was great to see … great to see South Milwaukeeans stepping up to support local businesses … great to see city residents rallying around a good cause … great to see us turn a negative like last week’s water emergency into a positive.

Now here’s a thought: Let’s do it again next year.

Of course, we probably don’t want to “commemorate” the Great Water Main Break of 2010 in any formal way. Moving on is probably a good thing.

But it would be nice to have some sort of annual “Dine Out South Milwaukee” event, where we encourage area residents to eat out locally.

I’d welcome any ideas you might have along those lines. Let me know how we can keep a good thing like Fresh Water Days going. Post your comments below.

South Milwaukee’s Fresh Water Days continues, and I want to thank everyone who dined out or grabbed a drink at a South Milwaukee restaurant or bar Thursday. We heard from several establishments that business was great.

Let’s keep it up on Friday!

And if you’re looking for a good fish fry, might I suggest one of my personal South Milwaukee favorites:

• Brew Town Pub, 1902 17th Avenue: Try the Serbian fish fry. Yum!
• Creative Catering, 1645 Rawson Avenue
• Bickler’s Coachlight Inn, 500 Madison Avenue
• Hickory Inn, 2703 South Chicago Avenue

Of course, there are plenty of others to choose from, and, no matter what restaurant you choose, remember that you’re doing your part to support South Milwaukee business.

I’d also like to thank local media outlets for spreading the word. Channels 4, 6, 12 and 58 all sent crews out Thursday. Check out the Fox 6 story and video here.

Fresh Water Days are here, and our bars and restaurants need your help.

Pleasem make it a point to dine out or grab a drink Thursday or Friday at one of the approximately 60 bars and restaurants in South Milwaukee that were hit hard by last week’s water emergency.

To give you extra incentive to do so, many of these establishments are offering Fresh Water Days specials. And you can enter at participating bars and restaurants to win more than $500 in gift certificates to the South Milwaukee Downtown Market, South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center and a number of South Milwaukee bars and restaurants.

Learn more in this updated press release, and be sure to check out www.southmilwaukee.org for a complete list of participating locations and gift certificates up for grabs.

I am proud to help lead this effort … and do my part to help area businesses during this tough time. I hope you feel that same commitment.

So please spread the word. Tell your friends and neighbors to dine out Thursday or Friday, or both. Blog about it. Tweet. Facebook it. Let’s make a difference!

South Milwaukee has a first-class paramedic operation. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Our community, like others in Milwaukee County, relies on the county to fund part of the annual paramedic bill, and now there are concerns that funding will dry up. From a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article Monday:

Municipal leaders throughout Milwaukee County voiced fears Monday that they would soon be saddled with paying the full cost of paramedic services, either through restructuring county government or through county budget cuts. County Executive Scott Walker later sought to put those fears to rest, vowing to oppose any move that would leave cities and villages without paramedic funding.

“You’d better be prepared not to have the (paramedic funding) from the county,” Oak Creek Mayor Richard Bolender warned fellow mayors and village presidents at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council. “I think it’s just going to die. . . . I have a bad feeling about this.”

Bolender said he expected the cash-strapped county to cut off funding for the service within a year or two.

It’s a scary thought for communities like ours with already cash-strapped budgets. Without that funding, the future of paramedic programs is in jeopardy.

You can read the whole story here. It quotes South Milwaukee Mayor Tom Zepecki on the paramedic issue and notes his concerns with another touchy subject: a state proposal to shift property tax assessments from municipal and town governments to counties.

Now, it’s two candidates for two seats.

Nick Szablewski has declared his write-in candidacy for South Milwaukee School Board, joining incumbent Theresa C. Travia in the race for two seats.

You’ll recall that, unfortunately, Travia was the only declared candidate for some time after fellow incumbent Kristin Grenier-Drenzek decided not to run for re-election.

That guaranteed that a write-in candidate would be elected to the School Board. Szablewski is the first to enter the race … although I’m sure he won’t be the last.

You probably recognize Szablewski’s name. He has run unsuccessfully several times for the City Council and School Board.

The 38-year-old South Milwaukee High School graduate is a lifelong city resident. He has two daughters at South Milwaukee Middle School, the third generation in South Milwaukee schools.

He says “the state funding formula is a contributing factor to South Milwaukee’s school district budgetary problems.”

“Each year,” he writes, “the problem seems to get progressively worse.  We need to think outside of the box for new and different fundraiser’s for programs at the schools. One way might be to get local businesses to sponsor district sports teams, or sell advertising space on the school district web site, as other districts are considering to create some additional revenues.”

I am proud to be part of an effort started by Alderman Jim Shelenske to help businesses affected by Friday and Saturday’s water emergency.

The South Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce and South Milwaukee Downtown Market are teaming up to encourage area residents to patronize South Milwaukee bars and restaurants affected by the city’s water problems of the past two days.

The Chamber has declared Thursday and Friday, February 11 and 12, “Fresh Water Days” in South Milwaukee and is working with the Downtown Market to give people two big incentives to eat out or get a drink on those days.

• As part of the promotion, customers of South Milwaukee bars and restaurants showing a “Fresh Water Days” sign can take advantage of meal or drink specials made available only as part of the promotion.
• Also, the South Milwaukee Downtown Market – the city’s successful farmers’ market – is offering ten $20 gift cards for use at the market when it returns to 11^th and Milwaukee Avenues this summer. Only people eating or drinking at South Milwaukee bars and restaurants taking part in the “Fresh Water Days” promotion can win the gift certificates. Entries can be made at participating establishments.

You can read the whole press release here. Be sure to check Jim’s website at www.southmilwaukee.org throughout the week for a list of bars and restaurants taking part.

And we need your help, of course: Please dine out this Thursday or Friday in South Milwaukee … and ask others to do the same. Let’s step up and support local business!

Good news — testing has come back showing no contaminants, and South Milwaukee water is now considered safe to drink.

You can learn more on the city’s website here. Click here to see the press release.

From the release:

Residents of South Milwaukee are now able to consume the city tap water, the city announced on Saturday.

They may now drink the water, use the water to cook food, make infant formula, and bathe infants as they normally would.  All South Milwaukee food establishments and businesses may resume operations as usual.

Per the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, tests have come back negative for any bacteria, following the repair Friday night of the City’s primary water main, which had broken earlier in the day.

Please call the Health Department at 414-768-8055 for more information.

A few additional points about the water emergency:

• Dave Bartoshevich and I are doing our best to inform busineses, apartment complexes and other residents about the safe-water declaration, but we’d like your help in spreading the word. Please let your friends and neighbors know that the water is safe to consume.
• There were four additional, and much smaller, water main breaks throughout the city resulting from the work to restore the flow of water. That includes one on Juniper Circle in the 4th District. The others occurred at 15th and Sherman, 6th and Clarke and 9th and Lakeview. Those are all expected to be repaired sometime today or tonight. While they’re being fixed, residents in those areas may not have water, perhaps for a few hours. City water crews will inform affected residents prior to shutting off their water.
• I can’t thank our city administration, staff, and volunteers for their work of the past couple of days.  Health Department, Police Department, Public Works Department, Water Department — you name it, and our people really stepped up to ensure city residents got through this emergency as good as could be expected. A big thanks also to the the county emergency volunteers who poured in Friday to help with the water giveaway — and to those companies, organizations and communities who donated bottles and gallons of water.

And, finally, here’s one idea of the scope of what happened Friday. When the primary water main broke leading from the water plant, one million gallons of water drained from the city water tower over the next nearly four hours, nearly emptying it completely. Tapping into the Oak Creek water system helped refill the tower until we got our system back online.

Extending the Lake Parkway is now in the hands of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

The Milwaukee County Board unanimously passed a resolution Thursday calling for a SEWRPC study into extending 794 south to Ryan Road. It currently ends at Edgerton, funneling onto Pennsylvania Avenue before heading south to South Milwaukee.

Click here to read the full story from the Bay View Compass newspaper.

As I’ve said, I strong support this concept and give credit to County Supervisor Pat Jursik for pushing it. I hope it happens sooner rather than later, making for an even easier and more seamless connection between the South Shore and downtown Milwaukee.

Indeed, this is an economic development issue, pure and simple.

Several key road projects got a boost at Tuesday’s South Milwaukee Common Council meeting.

Of specific note for the 4th District, the council voted unanmiously to seek bids on repaving of the “stub” streets east and west of 15th Avenue (Pine, Chestnut, Cedar, Michigan and Marquette). I’ll keep you posted on what comes back, and if this work moves ahead.

The project is expected to be costly. Of course, if you’ve had the displeasure of having to drive on these roads, you know it’s probably money well spent. Yes, these streets are not high-traffic thoroughfares, but the time has come to fix these. Now.  

The council also unamiously approved the design and engineering contract for the planned widening of Pennsylvania/Nicholson from College to Rawson. Look for updates on this blog about public information meetings on this project this spring and summer.

The South Milwaukee Downtown Market also got a boost from the council, which approved funding for minor improvements to 11th Avenue between Milwaukee and Madison Avenues. This project will feature significant patching work to make the street smoother — and safer.

From the “baby steps are better than no steps at all” file …

The Milwaukee County Board will consider at its meeting Thursday a resolution requesting the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning partner with area communities to study extending the Lake Parkway south to Ryan Road or beyond.

Learn more in the February edition of County Supervisor Pat Jursik’s E-News newsletter. She also has updates on the Hoan Bridge and transit funding in this issue. You can also check out my previous post on this topic, and click here to see a one-page PDF showing a potential route for the extension of 794.

I’ll keep you posted as this progresses … even though it may be a decade or more before we see the road extended south. I hope it gets off the ground much sooner than that. This is a great project for the 4th District, South Milwaukee and the entire region.

It’s a rather light agenda for Tuesday’s South Milwaukee Common Council meeting, but there are a few topics of note.

They include discussion and action on three public works projects, two of which directly impact the 4th District: 

• Approval of the design and engineering contract for the planned widening of Pennsylvania/Nicholson from College to Rawson;
• Approval for the city engineer to seek bids on repaving the “stub” streets off of 15th Avenue (Pine, Chestnut, Cedar, Michigan and Marquette);
• And discussion of other streets that need attention in 2010 — potentially including 11th Avenue, site of the South Milwaukee Downtown Market.

I’ll keep you updated on all of these, including the “stub” streets issue. These streets have needed work for years, and I’m hoping 2010 is finally the time it gets done. 

You can read the entire agenda here.

We’re making strong progress on two South Milwaukee, and 4^th District, road projects. We discussed the two jobs – the rehabilitation of 15^th Avenue and the widening of Pennsylvania/Nicholson, both from College Avenue south to Rawson – at Thursday night’s Public Works and Property meeting.

 Here’s where we stand …

15th Avenue

Bids will be open on February 23, and work on the rehab project is expected to begin in April, wrapping up in October.

The plans include the addition of six-foot medians at Cherry, Walnut and Beech Streets to emphasize school zone and pedestrian crossings, slow traffic and improve safety. For traffic control, left turns for those traveling north on 15^th to those streets will be prohibited from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 2 and 4 p.m. on regular school days.

The pavement will also be widened on the east side of 15^th from 150 feet south of Cherry to 200 feet north of Beech to accommodate the median and allow for a designated turn lane for the dropping off of South Milwaukee Middle School students.

 It also includes:

• Full concrete pavement replacement of travel lanes;
• Full replacement of the pavement and island at 15^th and College Avenue; and
• Spot replacement of deteriorated curb and gutter and parking lane pavement.

The project will be completed in five stages, with the area south of Cedar to south of Oak Creek Parkway – closest to the schools – planned for mid-June to September 1. Connecting local streets will be closed during the construction stages, and traffic will need to use other routes.

So expect minor delays, and some frustrations, but remember the bigger picture here … and keep thinking about the first-class roadway 15^th will be when it’s done.

Also remember who’s paying for it. It’s being primarily funded with federal stimulus money, with an anticipated city portion of $150,000. It’s a worthy investment.

Click here to see the letter we’re sending to area residents about the project.

Pennsylvania/Nicholson

This project is coming into much clearer focus, and I like what I see.

At the Public Works meeting, we authorized City Engineer Kyle Vandercar to enter into a three-party design engineering services contract between South Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and Foth Infrastructure & Environment for the project at a cost not to exceed $390,000. The full Common Council will vote on this at its Tuesday, February 2, meeting.

So, as we enter the design and engineering phase, here are some updates on the project:

• Construction is currently set for 2012.
• Preliminary engineering work will include design options for a public information meeting likely next May or June. I’ll keep you posted.
• Project construction costs are estimated at $4 million. South Milwaukee and Oak Creek would each pay $400,000, with the state picking up the rest.
• Total project costs for South Milwaukee are estimated at $640,000, including our share of design and other costs not covered by the state and right-of-way acquisition.
• The project will likely focus on two options – widening the road to four lanes or four lanes with a median. Other options are unlikely. That includes an approach favored by some: a three-lane option (two through lanes and a middle turn lane). The state is unlikely to approve such design because current and future traffic counts require a wider road, and studies have shown that such a design is unsafe.  

We are moving ahead with the project with or without involvement from the U.S. Postal Service, whose plans for the postal sorting facility at College and Nicholson are still on hold and may never get off the ground.

That means there won’t be a roundabout as part of the project.

The potential extension of 794 south to Ryan Road or beyond also probably won’t factor much into this project. At best, it seems like the Parkway extension won’t happen until 2025, or perhaps 2035, and I’d argue the work on Pennsylvania/Nicholson can’t wait.

Of course, I promise to keep you posted on both of these projects as they get closer.

In the meantime, I want to know what you think. Post your comments below.

As someone who seldom misses a meal — check out the photo on the front page of this blog for evidence — I am lucky to live in South Milwaukee.

The reason: Our city is full of great restaurants.

You can add another one to the list: Paisano’s. The restaurant opened earlier this month at 113 North Chicago Avenue.

Our party of six (me, my wife, in-laws and two children) had a first-class dining experience at Paisano’s for lunch on Sunday. Among my impressions:

• The new owners put a lot of money into the interior. It looks bright, clean and vibrant, inviting from the moment you walk in the door.  
• The service was fantastic. It almost seemed like the resturant was overstaffed with servers — always a good problem to have. And they were friendly, and responsive.
• And the food? It was quite good, from my spaghetti and meaballs to the French dip sandwich my wife ordered to the smothered chicken my mother-in-law enjoyed. The breakfast items the others in our group ordered were also tasty.
• The portions were huge, and the prices were very reasonable.

In other words, great atmosphere, service, food and value. Paisano’s is a winner.

With that in mind, I’d like hear what your favorite South Milwaukee restaurants are … and why. Post your comments below.

There’s a lot going on in Oak Creek these days, and it’s not all good news. Here’s a sampling of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel headlines from just the past few days.

• Oak Creek Council Fires City Administrator
• Oak Creek Coal Plant Ready to Roll
• Utility Aid Could give Oak Creek a $40 Million Opportunity

I’m especially intrigued to see the progress of the Oak Creek “Civic Center.” I’ll keep you posted on this.

South Milwaukee School District Superintendent David Ewald is retiring.

He will leave at the end of the school year after 11 years on the job. From the posting on the school district’s website:

In his letter to the School Board in which he sought his release into retirement, he describes himself as being blessed beyond all expectations to have spent his entire working life working side by side with some of the most remarkable people in the world in support of children and their families. 

He describes his experience within the community of South Milwaukee as a profoundly gratifying experience, noting that the city of South Milwaukee is truly a great place for families… a safe place of collaborative relationships, superb recreational opportunities, excellent neighborhood schools and parks. And all this just a stone’s throw from the big city benefits of the city of Milwaukee.

As the proud parent of a Rawson Elementary kindergartner, I can personally attest to the quality of the school district Ewald has helped build. Good luck, Dave.

Click here to see an Ewald bio.

I’ll keep you posted on the search for his replacement, which apparently will begin with a closed session meeting of the South Milwaukee School Board on Wednesday.