The South Milwaukee Veterans Council’s Memorial Day program is set for Monday, May 27, at the War Memorial.
Veterans will be marching from the American Legion Van Eimeren-Kolonka Post 27 on 10th and Monroe to the memorial starting around 10:30 a.m. The ceremony begins at 11 a.m.
This year, the ceremony will include dedication of the beautiful mural painted by artist Ruddy Cancel on Tony G’s Grant Park Garage. As you may recall, Ruddy passed away last year, shortly after completing the artwork.
Lunch will be served at the post following the ceremony; there will be a collection taken up to support the Cancel family at the event.
South Milwaukee’s War Memorial is located on North Chicago Avenue south of the entrance to Grant Park.
The South Milwaukee Fire Department has published its annual report. You can check out the full report here.
“Serving the community with commitment, concern and compassion.” I want to thank all of our firefighters and paramedics for their tireless work to deliver on that mission.
Here is Chief Knitter’s letter to the city council …
Ladies and Gentlemen:
On behalf of the dedicated members of the South Milwaukee Fire Department, it is with great pleasure that I present our 2018 Annual Report.
This report provides only a brief snapshot of the efforts put forth by the hard working members of your fire department who continue to provide the exceptional level of service they are known for with the limited resources on hand. The changing face of our community and the increasing demand for our services keeps us continuously challenging ourselves to find new and creative ways to serve the public. While we may not face the challenges of larger cities, most evening news broadcasts lead with stories that could easily call upon the services of our department and I am confident in saying that we are well-prepared to respond.
Of significance in 2018 is the celebration of our 125th Anniversary. Our department was formally organized in 1893 and is the oldest city department. To recognize this milestone, the department played host to a luncheon, tour, and short presentation on the history of the department for the South Milwaukee Historical Society. In addition, the department accepted a plaque from the Milwaukee County Historical Society recognizing this accomplishment.
Our overall call volume increased from 3188 calls for service in 2017 to 3481 calls for service in 2018, with the increase focused on Emergency Medical Service (EMS) responses, which account for nearly 87% of our call volume. We continue to see a shift in our demographics for EMS patients to an aging population with slightly over 56% of our patients being age 60 or above. This is in stark contrast to a statistic provided by a 2017 American Community Survey 5-year estimate that lists our population of residents over age 65 as 16.2%. Obviously, the “senior” apartment complexes (age 55 & over) and the nursing home and supervised / assisted living centers and the health concerns of their residents create a challenging demand on our system.
In closing, the South Milwaukee Fire Department will continue to answer the call 24/7/365 and maintain its high level of service delivery as we respond to the needs of the community as an all-hazard, all-risk department. Our focus will remain on community involvement, risk reduction, fire prevention, public education, and delivering timely, professional, effective, and efficient service. The members of the South Milwaukee Fire Department and I would like to thank Mayor Erik Brooks, the members of the Common Council and Police and Fire Commission, and our citizens for all their hard work and continued support.
The South Milwaukee Police Department has published its annual report, and it shows strong progress in a number of key areas.
Check out the report here. Among the headlines Chief Jessup shared at last week’s council meeting, where he presented the report …
Five year crime trends are very positive, with violent crime down 33 percent and property crime down 32 percent.
In 2018, there was a 12 percent reduction in crime, including a 18 percent decline in robberies, 35 percent reduction in burglaries and 12 percent drop in theft. Aggravated assaults were up from 15 incidents to 23 incidents; most were domestic violence cases.
Officers responded to more than 29,000 calls for service in 2018, up from about 26,000 in 2016.
Adult arrests increased from 452 in 2017 to 537 in 2018.
The department saw five retirements, including Chief Ann Wellens. We added five new officers, and three new clerks and dispatchers.
More than 1,600 citations were issued for speeding, OWI, and license and seat belt violations, although officers use discretion — half of all stops result in warnings.
The department also increased its focus on being a visible presence on the streets and in the neighborhoods. Officers performed almost 7,000 business checks in 2018, and did more than 1,110 “park and walks.”
That visibility will only increase, with increased bicycle patrols in 2019, including the partnership with Cheata Bikes.
Officers also continued to work closely with the schools, businesses and churches to conduct risk assessments and conduct active threat training. We partnered with the South Milwaukee School District to help the district obtain state funds for safety enhancements in all public schools. Other community efforts include the continuation of the DARE program, Shop with a Cop, Community Night Out, Stuff the Squad and Coffee with a Cop.
Here is the letter from Chief Jessup …
To the citizens of South Milwaukee, Mayor Erik Brooks, City Administrator Tami Mayzik, the South Milwaukee Common Council, the South Milwaukee Police & Fire Commission, and members of the South Milwaukee Police Department:
I am pleased to present to you the South Milwaukee Police Department Annual Report for 2018. While the report may look different from those of the past, I believe you will find that it continues to provide an accurate overview of the challenges and accomplishments, as well as the activities undertaken by our staff to enhance public safety in our community.
2018 began with a change in leadership at the top of the department as Chief Ann Wellens retired after more than 28 years of service. For the past 13 years she skillfully led the organization and made important changes in technology and training that kept the agency at the forefront of modern policing. I want to thank Ann for her service and wish her the best in her retirement. She leaves a legacy of progress and professionalism that will continue to pay dividends in future years and she will truly be missed.
Officer Dave Stratton and Officer Francis Rotter also retired during 2018 and we thank them for their commitment and service to the community over the past 26 years. I want to welcome Officers Garrett Rogers, Kevin Scheidt, Brennyn Sibley, Stephan Goratowski and Caitlin Schmidt to the department, as well as two new dispatchers, Elizabeth Williams and Connor Dews. They are proving to be fantastic additions to our staff of dedicated public servants.
Policing in a free society requires a partnership with the community and that partnership must be based on a mutually agreed-upon set of goals and values. We strive to make our city safer through a community-based policing strategy that is responsive to the needs of individuals and businesses while following a set of principles that fosters mutual respect. Above all else, we value the sanctity of life, hold ourselves accountable and follow the Constitution. These basic but important doctrines will continue to guide our actions as we work in partnership with the community to address ongoing and emerging issues. We thank you for your support and look forward to working with you to make South Milwaukee healthier and stronger.
The closure of the South Milwaukee Dairy Queen this weekend got me thinking about change — specifically, about how iconic community businesses and institutions come and go, and how properties find new life from the old.
“Time marches on,” someone reminded me this week.
My family and I will miss Dairy Queen, and based on feedback I’ve seen, we are far from alone. South Milwaukeeans grew up patronizing this restaurant, and made memories here. It was iconic in many ways, as was the Hartley family who owned it for more than 40 years.
I know closing the store was an agonizing decision for them, as Kathy Hartley-Lorisch shared in a letter to me last week (reprinted with her permission here.) Long story short, as explained to me: DQ was requiring a significant in the building that was simply too much to make.
I wish her nothing but the best, as another chapter in her life begins, and as another chapter in the life of that building ends.
The story of that
property actually began in the 1920s, when it was home to a Ray’s Service
Station, historian Nels Monson tells me, and it stayed a service station
for decades …
Thanks, Tony Bloom, for the photo.
Two generations, two entirely different uses. From gas pumps to Dilly Bars. Will a new chapter be written? We’ll see.
As we wait, the story continues to evolve with properties across the city,
from the former Bucyrus campus to small, independent businesses.
Last week, for example, I met with Humayun Khan, owner of Borak Entertainment — the next generation of the building at 1912 12th. He has already brought new life to the facility — including a fashion show tomorrow — and has exciting plans to make this a truly unique regional dance destination, one that has big potential for our downtown and city.
It will be the latest use of property with a really cool history. This was South Milwaukee’s first factory. Nels tells me it was owned by the Shutz Bros., who made extension tables there. Around 1908 it became Racine Fire Truck Co. until Bucyrus-Erie bought it around 1911. It became the Bucyrus Employee Club, then the South Milwaukee Community Center, then Papa Luigi’s.
Six generations, six unique uses. From tables
and fire trucks to Salsa. How will this next chapter be written? We’ll see.
Here is another one: the parking lot on 11 and Milwaukee. Soon to be home to
Da Crusher statue, it is home to community events throughout the summer, from
the Rotary Club’s Food Truck Sunday to the South Milwaukee Downtown Market to
Crusherfest.
For many years, this was Depot Park, a community gathering spot that housed the
city Christmas tree and a farmers’ market almost 100 years ago, before making
way for a Bucyrus parking lot. The city bought it in 2018, and we’re proud to
turn it back to the community.
Three generations, three
uses. From a Christmas tree to Da Crusher, and cucumbers.
One more example: the now-closed Scrappy’s BBQ. For decades this was Lloyd’s lunch, where I remember
getting ridiculously low-priced soup as recently as 2003. It closed, only to be
replaced by a Mediterranean grocery store and then Mike Hintz’s terrific
barbecue restaurant.
Three generations,
three uses. From lunch counter to burek to burnt ends.
By now, I hope you see where I am going with this … that this is nothing
new. This is how communities develop.
Does that make the closure of an institution like Dairy Queen any easier? No.
Do we root for this to happen? No way.
But I also know this: This story is playing out across South Milwaukee, across America for that matter: Sites finding second, third-, fourth and fifth-generation uses (sometimes more), often in ways no one could have ever imagined. And we must embrace it.
Decades ago, who would have thought a gas station would become an ice cream shop? Similarly, who would have thought a former hotel and then a drug store (which burned down in 1963) would become a martial arts studio (Sorce Martial Arts), or that a truck factory and tannery would be home to a Walmart, or that a former baseball field, later a shopping center, would become home to senior apartments (Marquette Manor)? Or that a former elementary school would become City Hall and a police station?
The list goes on and on and on.
So it goes for the former Bucyrus campus. Our city was born by the Mill
Pond, but grew up around this factory, which is headed for second-generation
reuse soon. What will come of it? Stay tuned.
We as a city must help shape this change when and where we can. We’re doing that with the Bucyrus campus, just as we’re actively working to breathe new life into properties across South Milwaukee. It’s work that brings some pain. Losing businesses like this hurts.
But I can still check out Ferch’s Beachside Grill at Grant Park Beach this summer – located where early resident John Fowle built a schooner and a scow 170 years ago, with the bath house coming in 1935 — or AM Ice Cream at 1232 Milwaukee Ave., itself a former tavern.
This is the new normal. Either we adapt, or we don’t. What we can’t do is
ignore it or fight against it, nor dwell on the disappointment.
The next generation is coming. And we’ll be ready. I just wish the Hartley family was a part of it.
As they leave, I thank them for their longstanding commitment to this city, and for the countless memories they helped make by being a part of it.
Good luck, Kathy. Your next Cotton Candy Blizzard is on me.
Thank you to everyone who attended Thursday’s National Day of Prayer event at City Hall, to all of those who offered prayers and to Pastor Robert Kieck, who organized the event. Here are the remarks I delivered …
“Just two days ago, in the conference room on the other side of this wall, sat an imam, along with leaders from the Catholic, ELCA Lutheran, United Methodist and Episcopal churches, as well as the United Church of Christ, Pastor Kieck and myself.
It
was the second breakfast meeting of this wonderfully diverse group of faith
leaders, focused on a common goal: Bringing
together our congregations to make them stronger, and uniting their members
around common problems, to deliver joint solutions.
This idea for a regular meeting of religious leaders got its
start with a conversation I had with Ann Fooks years ago at a National Day of
Prayer event years ago. She suggested this would be good for South Milwaukee,
and that much has become clear after our first two meetings.
Of course, there is power in simply jointly promoting community events like the Earth Day Cleanup and church-sponsored events like today’s event, Barks at St. Mark’s, festivals and more. But we’re going beyond that.
Already, pastoral leaders are talking about expanding the number
of community meals in the city … and adding a “Speak Out Against Hate” interfaith
event in South Milwaukee later this summer.
And we’re just getting started.
South Milwaukee’s incredible religious diversity is a strength,
and we celebrate that tonight and every night. We cherish that.
And it starts in simply talking to each other, demystifying what
is happening in that church down the block or the mosque across town. In doing
so, we realize we are more alike than different, and stronger together than
apart.
The seemingly never-ending violent attacks on religious
institutions brings this home to me. We need less hate and senseless violence
everywhere, and that includes South Milwaukee. We need more positive relationships and unity. We need more
love, to align with tonight’s theme.
To
the creator of humanity, the
sculptor of beauty, and the artist of diversity, your people are before you.
When you reached
down from the heavens to mold us from the earth, you created within us a
uniqueness and beauty that knows no bounds.
When you knelt
down to breath life into our lungs, you passed on your love for us that we
might share it with others.
With hate too
great a burden to bear, let us learn to embrace each other with love, welcome
the stranger with benevolent kindness, and turn an enemy into a friend.
As the creator
and artist of diversity, let us not shun your ways. Instead, let us reach out
to those who are different than us, demonstrating the love you have instilled
in your people.
For indeed we
are your people: black, brown, and white; Jew, Muslim, and Christian;
Republican, Democrat, and Independent; Gay, Straight, and Transgender.
And with so many
others, may we never forget that each of us carry your breath within our lungs.
We are your people; your beautiful, conflicted, wonderful, broken, and diverse
people.
Only you can
make us one, only you can take this large diverse world and bend the arc of the
moral universe to justice.
Therefore, we
submit ourselves to your will. We fall down at your feet asking forgiveness
from our intolerance and hate. Today, may we celebrate the diversity you
created in order to practice the love you have shown us.
In your sacred, beautiful, and diverse name, we pray, Amen.”
Jim, John McGivern and me at the farmers’ market in 2014.
I remember the conversation well.
It was in 2009, and I had barely announced I was running for alderman, when this guy I hardly knew came up to me at an event.
“Hey — do you want to start a farmers’ market?” he asked.
And that was my introduction to Jim Shelenske.
Of course, with Jim’s leadership and other committed volunteers, that idea came to life in the summer of 2009, and the rest is history (still being written in the market’s 11th season this year).
We say farewell to Jim on Friday, as he retires as city clerk and comptroller, a role he has had since 2010, after serving five years as a Third District alderman and 12 years on the Plan Commission.
He leaves an incredibly strong legacy of hard work, dedication, passion, creativity, innovation and commitment to community. His love for South Milwaukee in unmatched, and shows in all he does.
Jim wants to make this city a better place, and he acts on that in countless ways. From his official roles with the city to his work with the South Milwaukee Lions to just being a great man and selfless person, I have never seen a more involved community servant.
As an alderman, he took his responsibility as a representative seriously and was devoted to serving his constituents, and the city.
As clerk and comptroller, he has taken that role to new places, driving varied initiatives ranging from building new and improved communication platforms to leading the charge on a best-practice LED lighting rollout to improving how we vote to presenting a more user-friendly budget to expanding our Earth Day Cleanup — and countless other ways, big and small, in which he made the job uniquely his own. We are all better for it, and he will be missed.
But Jim is not going far. In many ways, he’s not going anywhere at all.
Knowing him as a colleague and friend, Jim will not rest (much) in his work to make South Milwaukee a better place. It’s not in his DNA.
In 2009, it was a farmers’ market. In 2010, it was Fresh Water Days, a crazy idea of his to turn the bursting of a water main and a citywide emergency into a way to help out local restaurants — an idea that worked.
There have been countless other examples since then.
But that’s Jim — someone always willing to try something new to improve the lives of South Milwaukeeans.
Good luck, Jim. Enjoy your retirement. Our city government, our city, is better for having you be a part of it. Today, we celebrate your contributions — and can’t wait to see what’s next.
2019 Opening Day of South Milwaukee Little Leagues 65th Season!
Come early for Team pictures, enjoy the Parade starting at noon, then enjoy our Opening Ceremonies. Make sure you stay for a full slate of games on all (3) Diamonds.
This is a full day of fun for the whole family, don’t forget to tell your friends! Don’t worry about being there all day, we have a great Concession Stand for all your lunch, dinner, and in-game snack needs.
Don’t miss this great event in South Milwaukee!
One of my favorite parts of this tradition is the parade. This year, it starts at noon in the Zion Lutheran parking lot on Ninth and Michigan and makes it way south toward Little League Park, 700 Mackinac Ave., a shorter route than in years past.
Thanks to all of the individuals and community organizations who stepped up to make our 2019 Earth Cleanup a success!
Our Street Department reports we collected about 10 cubic yards of trash, including 90 TVs at the self-deposit station. While these numbers were down — not surprisingly, due to the inclement weather — this event continues to make a real difference for our community. Well done!
Arbor Day was Friday, and there is a lot to celebrate when it comes tree planting in South Milwaukee. We’ve come a long way since 2014.
The headline: More than 800 trees have been planted in the city in approximately the past five years. That includes more than 550 Milwaukee County forestry officials say they have planted in and around Grant Park, and more than 250 the City of South Milwaukee has planted along our streets, with more to come this year. Add it up …
It starts with Our Adopt a Tree program. We planted 100 trees through this program in 2017 and 2018, and we have about 15 of the 50 allotted trees for 2019 still available. Learn more and reserve your tree here, but you must act by this Tuesday, April 30.
We’ve planted dozens more along major streets like 10th Avenue and Nicholson Avenue in the last few years, and dozens more are coming with the Milwaukee Avenue streetscaping upgrades.
And we’ve partnered with South Milwaukee elementary schools to plant about 20 trees as part of our annual Arbor Day celebration, where our Street Department teams educate fourth-graders about trees and their impact, plant a tree outside of our local schools and send home kids with saplings. We’re bringing the program to E.W. Luther, Lakeview and Blakewood this week.
Of course, these plantings come as our work continues to remove hundreds of dead and dying ash trees — with more work to do. The county also continues in their work to combat EAB.
But we’re on the right path when it comes to replanting, and I pledge to continue to make this a priority for years to come. We have to.
It’s Da Crusher, of course! Shot the night of Crusherfest, as we unveiled this statue to the world. Do you have a photo you’d like to share on the blog? Send it along.
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