South Milwaukee Blog

It’s the best week of the year to be a South Milwaukeean … see you around town!

From the Heritage Days website …

D.A.R.E. Golf Outing
Monday, July 23, 2018 at 8:00 a.m.
Oakwood Golf Course, 3600 W. Oakwood Road in Franklin
Support the South Milwaukee Police Department’s youth anti-drug efforts. A limited number of onsite entrants will be accepted, so feel free to show up and golf … and bring a foursome!

Ice Cream Social
Tuesday, July 24, 2018 – 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.
St. Luke’s United Church of Christ, 2200 18th Ave.
Enjoy hot dogs, sloppy Joe’s and, of course, ice cream — along with a South Milwaukee Municipal Band Concert at 7:00 p.m., and raffle.

Firehouse Spaghetti Dinner
Wednesday, July 25, 2018 – 4:30 to 8:00 p.m.
South Milwaukee Fire Department, 929 Marshall Court
Pasta, salad and garlic bread from Trattoria di carlo top the menu at this terrific annual tradition.

Evening on the Avenue
Thursday, July 26, 2018 – 4:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Downtown South Milwaukee
Celebrate our city center with our annual street festival feature, food, music, games, demonstrations and more.

South Milwaukee Farmers’ Market
Thursday, July 26, 2018 – 3:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Hours will be extended from 3pm to 8pm on that night to
accommodate the increase in shoppers and traffic.

2018 Car Cruise
Friday, July 27, 2018
16th & Rawson Avenues
Registration at 12th & Milwaukee – Stan’s Automotive
4:00 – 7:00 pm

2018 Lionsfest
Friday, July 27 – Sunday, July 29, 2018
16th & Rawson Avenues
Enjoy three days of music, food, rides, games and more!

Heritage Days Parade
Saturday, July 28, 2018 – 11:00 a.m.
Starts at 8th and Milwaukee to 16th North to Rawson Avenue
South Milwaukee’s biggest annual parade is bigger and better than ever for 2018.

The Great Duck Race
Saturday, July 28, 2018 – 2:00 p.m.
Milwaukee Avenue at 15th Avenue
Sponsor a duck or three as they float down Oak Creek toward prizes.

Exciting news from Growing South Milwaukee about their new location in the 1300 block of Milwaukee Ave. …

Thanks to Dennis at UW-Extension Community Gardens & Micro-Farms for turning the soil at our community garden yesterday! Our plan is to let this uprooted sod dry out, add compost, till one more time and be ready to plant late season crops by Mid August. We will put together a list of suggested crops and share soon!

Thank you to our wonderful gardeners for your patience. We can not wait to grow with you!

Moody’s has reaffirmed the city’s strong Aa2 bond rating, as part of its review of the recent $2.7 million refinancing of debt in tax incremental districts 1 and 2.

From the Moody’s press release …

The Aa2 rating reflects the city’s mature, landlocked tax base near the City of Milwaukee (A1 stable); healthy financial position; above average debt burden with rapid principal amortization; and moderate pension liabilities.

So, generally really good news, with some watchouts around risk factors like “deterioration in the city’s tax base and/or demographic profile, material declines in available reserves and liquidity and increases to the debt or pension burden” — common items for communities like ours from ratings agencies.

For more context, I asked Jeff Belongia, our longtime bond counsel from Hutchinson, Shockey, Erley & Co., for his thoughts at Tuesday’s council meeting.

He said we are a solid Aa2, two steps away from a top AAA rating, and cited our strong financial management practices, more-than-adequate cash reserves, and our “proactive” approach to revitalization of the city, especially the former Bucyrus campus, of which rating agencies have taken notice.

“You are in a really good position,” he said. “The city is doing a good job.”

From our city administrator, clerk and treasurer, to our common council, I thank all of the city staff and elected officials who have gotten us to this point, and I look forward to building on this strong financial foundation.

Exciting news today, as Chris Smith announced he has chosen an artist to construct Da Crusher statute planned for downtown.

And, better still, she has strong South Milwaukee ties. Congratulations, Beth Sahagian!

From the NOW story …

Vanguard Sculpture Services, owned by Beth Sahagian, signed a contract for construction on July 18. They were the choice out of four bids and GoFundMe organizer Chris Smith said Sahagian’s South Milwaukee roots played a role in the decision.

“I have no doubt because she’s from South Milwaukee that I think it was very clear to all of us that she recognized the importance of The Crusher to this city,” he said. “That is just something that really shone through in her bid.”

Sahagian, who went to school with Crusher’s children and nieces, chose artist Thomas Holleran, a Milwaukee native, to create the sculpture. She chose Holleran because he is “an outstanding figure sculpter that can capture the essence of a person.” She said she also wanted someone local so the family and all those involved could have access to the process.

“For me, this is just going to be a lot of fun,” Sahagian said. “Reconnecting with all these people I knew growing up, I’m looking forward to it, and the artist is just beside himself.”

Smith saw some of Holleran’s previous work and said “the level of detail is amazing.”

Holleran will first work on a clay miniature of the statue to present to Smith and The Crusher’s family for approval. Smith said he hopes the full-size statue will be completed by June 1. No location for the statue has been finalized, but city staff and Mayor Erik Brooks are in discussions of a few possible locations, according to Smith.

The full amount raised during the GoFundMe campaign will be utilized for the project, but no specific numbers were revealed.

“Vanguard is a renowned fine art foundry with over 20 years of experience,“ Smith said. “We appreciate Beth taking on this project at a discount because she recognizes the importance of it to the city of South Milwaukee.” … 

Vanguard Sculpture Services, 3374 W. Hopkins St. in Milwaukee, has worked with many different artists and she herself designed a number of sculptures along the Milwaukee Riverwalk. Additionally, the company had a hand in the Mary Tyler Moore statue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well.

Here is a great way to end Heritage Days …

Add this to your calendar, and celebrate the latest investment in downtown South Milwaukee, through public art.

From Jamie at Serendipitous Designs & Gifts …

Come celebrate the addition of our new mural by artist David Melvin! Light refreshments will be available, and look for tons of sales! Blues Addiction will be playing from 6-8 at this event! Great band- you won’t want to miss them!!

Your South Milwaukee Library needs new Friends!

Interested? Mark your calendars now and attend an informal gathering to help start an exciting, new Friends of the SML from 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 13, at the library, 1907 10th Ave.

Please consider stepping up to support and advocate for this community institution and its vital mission.

With the new Curb Appeal awards, the South Milwaukee Beautification Committee is looking to award South Milwaukee businesses, homeowners and civic organizations who devote extra effort to their property’s beautification, through landscaping and other street-facing efforts.

Judging criteria include utilization of color, appropriateness of architecture of the structure, originality, lawn upkeep, and decorative exterior structures. Properties also will be judged on the overall exterior appearance of their buildings.

Judging will be occur in early August, so get your nominations in!

We are accepting nominations on our Facebook page or on our online form.

Multiple entries are welcome.

More details on our city awards program here, including the new Rocketober awards this fall and the return of the Light Up South Milwaukee holiday lights awards.

Note: We decided to not hand out Patriotic Display awards, due to lack of entries. The Beautification Committee will discuss potential modifications to the program, or not continuing it, at its meeting on Monday night. 

We handed our Garden Tour “Best of Tour” award earlier this week.

As the sale of a large part of the former Bucyrus campus draws nearer, we continue to take real actions to enable redevelopment of the property, and other challenging parcels in and around our downtown.

The latest example: The South Milwaukee Common Council on Tuesday approved the boundaries and project plan for Tax Incremental District No. 5, and making TID 2 a “donor TID” to potentially provide early funding for the new downtown district.

From the Milwaukee Business Journal …

South Milwaukee elected officials approved a $5.7 million city funding plan to help a New York investor redevelop the campus that Caterpillar Inc. is vacating and to encourage other companies to revitalize surrounding properties.

The spending through a tax incremental financing, or TIF, district would promote an area in the heart of the community to businesses, rebuild infrastructure and potentially offer incentives to developers. Most of the properties where city officials want to encourage private investment are along Milwaukee and 10th avenues. 

The largest property in the redevelopment plan is 29 acres north of Milwaukee Avenue. That campus was the home of Bucyrus stretching back to the late 1800s. Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) has operated there since acquiring Bucyrus International Inc. in 2011, but the manufacturer announced it will be out by the end of this year. Those office and production operations are moving to land Caterpillar owns north of Rawson Avenue in South Milwaukee, and to other locations, including Tucson, Ariz.

Caterpillar’s move prompted planning by the city to support redevelopment of the approximately 750,000 square feet of office and industrial buildings on the former Bucyrus campus. During that effort, New York real estate investor Reich Brothers LLC emerged to buy the property. Reich Brothers has not detailed its plans.

“We’ve got to get this right, and we’ve got to be partners in getting this right,” said South Milwaukee Mayor Erik Brooks “It’s the heart of our city. Our city grew around this campus and around Milwaukee Avenue. It’s a top priority for me.”

The city TIF plan endorsed this week offers between $560,000 and $2.17 million to redevelop the Bucyrus campus. That includes $205,000 in grants the city has already raised, or would apply for.

Reich Brothers is expected to buy the South Milwaukee property this month. It currently belongs to One Liberty Partners Inc. of New York state, which has leased it to Caterpillar. … There’s also money in the TIF district for nearby properties that have redevelopment potential. Those include the former Bucyrus Erie employees club building on 12th Street, properties at 1010 and 1012 Milwaukee Avenue and properties on 10th Avenue.

The TIF plan was approved by the Common Council on Tuesday. Before becoming official, the TIF district requires final approvals during a July 24 meeting of a Joint Review Board comprised of representatives of other local taxing districts, including Milwaukee County and the South Milwaukee School District.

That TIF district would pay off the planned city spending with property taxes generated by new development in the area. The TIF plan predicts $24.1 million in new developments between 2019 and 2034.

More details in my previous post on this … and much more to come as start redeveloping the campus and continue our work on Milwaukee Avenue and beyond.

Check out these South Milwaukee headlines …

• Pedal Power: The Unique Motor Bicycles That Are Helping Local Law Enforcement (Fox 6)
• Boat Towed to South Milwaukee Yacht Club After Taking on Water on Lake Michigan (Fox 6)
• Man Who Fell Off Cliff in Cudahy Told Police he Fell Asleep Near the Edge (NOW)
• South Milwaukee School Referendum Would Help Troubled Students by Hiring Mental-Health Professionals (NOW)
• Man Stole Motorized Scooter From South Milwaukee Walmart to do Laundry in Cudahy (NOW)
• Prosecutors: Man Accused of Dropping Off Suspicious Package at Coast Guard Did Same Thing in February (Fox 6)

Also, the South Milwaukee Police Department has published its weekly crime summary on its Facebook page.

We owe it to our residents to invest in ways to do business more efficiently and effectively — and become easier to do business with.

That is why we are proud to unveil SM Works, a new communication platform that serves as a gateway to information about South Milwaukee, quickly connecting residents and others with city services and the people who provide them.

• You can access SM Works via an app available for download now on the Apple Store and Google Play.
• You can also access it online here (linked from the left column of the front page of the City of South Milwaukee website).

I especially encourage you to download the app, if you own a smartphone.

So, what does SM Works do?

The biggest early win for residents is the tool’s complaint reporting capabilities. The platform (especially through the app) allows residents to more easily share issues and concerns with the city, and to view, comment on, and vote to fix problems submitted by their neighbors.

The reporting feature allows users to submit a complaint with a few clicks, from snapping a photo of the problem (a pothole, for instance), confirming the GPS location on their phone, and adding a comment before hitting “submit.” They can then track the progress of their complaint, as city workers address it.

Citizens can also create their own “watch areas” to receive notifications about issues reported around town, enabling them to follow the progress of all service requests,  not just the ones they report.

The app also provides a one-click access to other city information and other resources. For example, it provides contact information, access to the municipal code and “frequently asked questions,” and a link to the city’s events and Facebook pages.

The app also allows to push information to those who sign up, something that could be especially useful in times of emergency, and in communicating issues like road construction updates and promoting events.

This is also a win inside City Hall.

SM Works provides staff and elected officials a more streamlined and efficient workflow in handling and tracking complaints and other issues raised by residents. Gone are the days of Post-it Notes, voicemails, emails and spreadsheets to track and respond to complaints — an often hodge-podge process that can delay response time and occasionally see complaints fall through the cracks. They will be replaced by an automated system that allows departments to instantaneously connect on issues to ensure the right people are responding to issues at the right time, and there is appropriate follow-up and resolution.

In other words, this should improve our customer service.

The system also gives us real-time data to track issue trends, helping us make more informed decisions in addressing problems big and small across the city.

SM Works is part of the SeeClickFix platform, which is used by more than 300 communities across the country to “build stronger communities through transparency, collaboration, and efficiency,” according to its website. “We provide simple yet powerful request and work management technology for local governments.”

I’m proud to say South Milwaukee is now one of them.

Congratulations to Brad McKendry, winner of the 2018 South Milwaukee Beautification Committee Garden Tour “Best of Tour” Award!

Members of the committee and South Milwaukee Historical Society recognized Brad at a ceremony Monday night in his beautiful garden at 612 Walnut Ave.

We also congratulated our Honorable Mention award winners — the Frederick garden at 1000 Emerson and the Griffith garden at 301 Lakeview Road — and all of the Tour participants for displaying some terrific gardens this year.

The proclamation I presented said it best …

2018 SOUTH MILWAUKEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY GARDEN TOUR

BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE “BEST OF TOUR” AWARD

WHEREAS, the South Milwaukee Historical Society held its 10^th annual Garden Tour & Art Fair on June 23, 2018, with five local homeowners showcasing their gardens;

WHEREAS, the event also featured an artisan fair, food, demonstrations and music at the South Milwaukee Historical Society; and

WHEREAS, the Garden Tour is a great way to celebrate South Milwaukee’s best outdoor spaces and support the South Milwaukee Historical Society; and

WHEREAS, each participant in the tour had truly outstanding gardens worthy of recognition;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that I, Mayor Erik Brooks, on behalf of the South Milwaukee Beautification Committee, do hereby award the Grand Prize award to Brad McKendry, 612 Walnut Street, whose English-style garden includes a gazebo, chalet, and koi ponds, and can be enjoyed while strolling along a flagstone path. The garden was initially designed by his late wife, Peggy, and is maintained as a tribute to her.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that I, Mayor Erik Brooks, the Beautification Committee and the entire South Milwaukee Common Council do hereby extend our congratulations to Brad McKendry on his beautiful garden display, thank all of the homeowners who were part of this year’s tour, and offer our sincere appreciation to all of the volunteers who made the 2018 event a success.

In addition to the proclamation, Brad received items from the Historical Society and more than $400 in collections for the Dementia Society of America, in honor of his late wife. What a special and beautiful tribute.

The South Milwaukee School District is getting $131,505 from the state for safety upgrades at its schools.

The funding — to be used in a variety of ways across the district — was announced on Monday, as part of the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s continued rollout of the School Safety Grant program. Attorney General Brad Schimel and the Department of Justice announced 52 grants in all, totaling more than $3.5 million.

South Milwaukee Police Chief William Jessup was part of the press conference, reflecting the strong support the police department has provided in both assessing the needs of each school and applying for the funds. This was a very effective partnership, and I’m glad we could help in securing this important grant.

From the school district …

Dr. Rita Olson, School Board President Carol Dufek and Police Chief Bill Jessup were on hand for the official signing of the award by the Department of Justice to the School District of South Milwaukee of $131,505 which will be used for school safety upgrades throughout the School District. The grant was developed in conjunction with the South Milwaukee Police Department and will strengthen our school safety and security.

In general the grant provides for the following:

• Shatter resistant film on glass panels
• Door key security upgrades
• Electronic door controls
• Limiting public access to our students throughout the school day
• External door replacement
• Increased signage
• Doors on all classrooms at Blakewood Elementary

The funding received from the State will address some upgrades, however there is more to be done as best practices in school safety and security evolves. The District is moving forward with the hire of a Security and Safety Program Manager and more investment is expected. The safety of our students is and will always be a top priority of the District.

From the state’s press release …

Grant dollars are divided into two categories: the Primary School Safety Grant and Advanced School Safety Grant. DOJ’s Primary School Safety Grants focus on baseline improvements to schools, including door locks and hardening school entryways. The Advanced School Safety Grants are awarded to schools that have met minimum security thresholds. In addition to making upgrades to school buildings, one of the School Safety Grant prerequisites is providing all full-time teachers, aides, counselors, and administrators with a minimum of three hours combined training in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and Trauma Informed Care/Trauma Sensitive Schools (TIC/TSS) before the end of the 2018-2019 school year; or demonstrate that staff has already received such training. …

Over the past three months, since 2017 Wisconsin Act 143 was signed into law, the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) has consulted with numerous stakeholders in the fields of education, security, law enforcement, and mental health. These specialists, listed at the end of this press release, worked with DOJ’s own security experts to develop how the School Safety Grant Initiative will create sustainable improvements in Wisconsin schools. 

“Our $100 million School Safety Plan is helping schools across Wisconsin become more secure,” said Governor Walker. “It is important we all continue to work together to make sure every teacher, parent, and student feels safe in our schools.”

Grant applicants are required to partner with law enforcement agencies to ensure that proposed expenditures, visitor protocols, and school safety plans will be effective and provide students with the safest learning environment possible.

From the South Milwaukee Engineering Department …

Water Main Break Road Closure: 10th Avenue – Marquette to Michigan Avenues

Service crews are out today fixing yesterday’s watermain break. Due to the extensive damage to the street and amount of repair needed, this area will be closed until further notice. (We will update when the intersection is back open for traffic.)

Please be sure to follow the detour signs posted.

Note: The photo in this post is from Sunday, July 8.

An update from the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission …

The SEWRPC staff have made good progress on the Plan report including drafting Chapter 1 (Introduction), Chapter 2 (Previous Studies, Projects, and Programs), and Chapter 3 (Characterization of the Watershed). 

For Chapter 2 we have summarized targeted and general recommendations relevant to the Oak Creek watershed from the regional water quality plan update (SEWRPC Planning Report No. 50).  Chapter 2 also summarizes other Milwaukee County, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, SEWRPC, and municipal studies, projects, and programs related to the Oak Creek watershed. 

Chapter 3 includes an overview of the land use, population, climate, geology, natural resources, and water resources in the watershed. Chapter 3 will provide a good baseline of historical changes and will lay the foundation for assessing the current conditions in the watershed (Chapter 4). 

Public stakeholders will have a chance to review all chapters as they are completed, starting later this year. I will keep you posted on those opportunities, and other chances for your voices to be heard as we shape the future of this watershed.

More details on the planning effort here.

From the South Milwaukee Police Department …

On Tuesday July 3, 2018, during the early morning hours, two suspects stole fishing and boating equipment from several boats at the South Milwaukee Yacht Club located at 101 Marshall Avenue. The below photo depicts the suspects who are described as two white males.  One suspect was wearing long pants and a baseball style cap.  The other man was wearing shorts, work boots and a baseball style hat.    

The SMPD is asking for help in identifying the people responsible for this incident and anyone with information is encouraged to contact the South Milwaukee Police Department at 414-768-8060.