South Milwaukee Blog

This is a terrific event for a great cause I hope to see you there!

More details here. From the press release …

The South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center (SMPAC) announces its 11th annual fundraiser, Soirée: A Party for a Purpose, on Saturday, March 24 at 7 pm.  The South Milwaukee Performing Arts Council is hosting the event, which is sponsored by Classic Cargo International. “The word Soirée literally means a party for a purpose,” says Cyndi Kieck, president of the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Council.  “Our purpose is to bring people together in celebration of the arts and raise the funds necessary to provide programming that makes a positive impact in education, recreation and the vibrancy of our community.”

The Soirée will feature live musical entertainment from Tom Sorce Group with special guests Janet Planet and Warren Wiegratz, live and silent auctions featuring Wisconsin trip packages, Milwaukee-area arts and entertainment destinations, artwork, a wine pull, hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. This year’s venue is the South Milwaukee Knights of Columbus located at 732 Badger Avenue in South Milwaukee. Festivities will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $75/pair and $40 for a single and may be purchased at www.southmilwaukeepac.org or at the door. Reservations are recommended. All proceeds support South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center’s mission of providing affordable creative, innovative and diverse performing arts and lifelong learning opportunities to people of all ages.

Last year, funds raised by Soiree attendees helped more than 1,000 students participate in residencies, workshops or our growing Summer Youth Theatre Program. Funds also helped support the rental of wireless microphones for our high school In the Heights musical cast.

“Performing arts have the power to educate, inspire, lift spirits and even change lives. We see these things happening for people of all ages at SMPAC, and it’s why the performing arts play a vital role in the community.” says Rachel Sorce, SMPAC’s Executive Director.  Most not-for-profit arts organizations like South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center rely on charitable contributions for a substantial portion of their programming or operations.

Headlines from Tuesday’s primary election …

• The South Shore will have a new Milwaukee County Board supervisor, as South Milwaukee resident James Davies scored a big victory in the three-man race, followed by challenger Steven Shea and incumbent David Sartori. Davies tallied 45 percent of the vote in District 8 to 29 percent for Shea and 26 percent for Sartori. In South Milwaukee, Davies had 45 percent to 21 percent each for Shea and Sartori.
• In the First District aldermanic race, challenger Brett Breisemeister scored 419 votes, or 27.8 percent, to 304 votes for incumbent Craig Maass. Incumbent Frank Van Dusen had 119 votes, and challenger James Leavens had 110. Frank Mill Pond Gratke and Andrew Buckner do not advance to the April 3 general election.
• In the Supreme Court race, Michael Screnock tallied 46.1 percent of the vote in South Milwaukee to 38.6 percent for Rebecca Dallet to 13.8 percent for Tim Burns. The result was similar statewide.

Turnout was high in South Milwaukee, with 23.9 of registered voters heading to the polls. Turnout was nearly 30 percent in the First District.

Check out full local results here.

Congratulations to all of those advancing to the April 3 general election!

Some really good news today via ESPN NBA writer Adrian Wojnarowski …

It sounds like he is South Milwaukee’s first NBA player since Kurt Nimphuis played eight seasons in the pros after leading the Rockets to the 1976 state title and earning All-American honors at Arizona State.

And they play the Bucks in Milwaukee on March 2!

From the NOW article on this …

Today is primary election day, and I ask everyone to get to the polls, do their duty as citizens and vote.

• Here is a sample ballot for the spring primary for those in District 1, where there are six aldermanic candidates running for four spots on the April 3 ballot, in addition to a contested race for Milwaukee County Board and State Supreme Court.
• Here is a sample ballot for Districts 2-4, where the only contested races are for County Board and Supreme Court.

Check out these South Shore headlines …

• South Milwaukee Students Reach Out to Florida High School After Shooting (TMJ4)
• South Milwaukee Set to Spend up to $1.6 Million on Three Blocks of Downtown Sidewalk and Streetscaping (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• State Office Building in Downtown Milwaukee to be Sold (BizTimes)
• Workers Restart Their Careers in a Market Where Jobs, Pay Are Often in Flux (Journal Sentinel)
• South Milwaukee Man Accused of Threatening Delivery Driver (Fox 6)
• Board Game Barrister Owner Eyes Gaming Tavern, Restaurant (Business Journal)
• Oak Creek Student in Custody Following Threat (NOW)
• Oak Creek High School Becomes Latest to Approve Mandatory Drug Testing (NOW)
• Cudahy Residents Question Reasoning for Proposed $350K Salt Storage Facility; City Officials Apologize to Crowd (NOW)
• St. Francis Mayor Recall Set for March 13 (NOW)

I’m excited to see our new police chief is continuing with these community- and relationship-building events. See you at Dunkin’ Donuts!

Here is the Facebook event listing.

Ribbon cutting at one of my favorite local businesses, Serendipitous Designs & Gifts, 907 Milwaukee Ave.

Congratulations, Jamie, one of the many young entrepreneurs who have chosen to grow in South Milwaukee. We also have a growing list of women-owned businesses in town, and I love it.

Stop by and check out the work of more than 70 local artists at her beautiful shop.

Learn more on Facebook.

2/13 Update: Plan is dead. Thanks to everyone who spoke up on this issue. Your voices were heard. And good call, County Executive Abele. Now let’s get to work solving the bigger problem of parks funding, together.

I’ve been asked a lot about this lately: Where do I stand on paying to park in parks?

The short answer: I oppose it, and have made that view known.

The longer answer: While I oppose it, I hate it when people say “no” to things without offering their own solution to the underlying problem — the problem in this case being inadequate funding for parks and the need for more parks revenue.

So I suggest we stop talking about parking fees, take a step back as a Milwaukee County community, and figure this out. Together.

With that in mind, the South Milwaukee Common Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing charging for parking in parks last week. As you can read, the city objects for two primary reasons: its potential to limit access to the parks, and the potential for detrimental impacts on neighborhoods surrounding the parks.

We join with many others in opposing this.

But the resolution adds …

And, recognizing that there are ongoing issues with funding of county parks, we further ask that county leaders consider convening a task force of key stakeholders to discuss and recommend solutions to enhance park revenues that do no limit access or negatively impact the communities in which county parks reside – solutions that should not include parking fees.

In other words, saying no to parking fees for parks is not enough. It does nothing to address the larger issue. Let’s do that.

In communicating with county leaders on this issue in recent weeks, I asked them to consider creating a task force to spend some time exploring alternative revenue sources. I repeated that call when this topic was addressed at today’s Intergovernmental Cooperation Council meeting, the monthly gathering of the county’s 19 mayors, village presidents, and the Milwaukee County executive. At that meeting, upwards of a dozen potential funding ideas were floated in just a 30-minute conversation on this issue. And that’s just the start.

Our parks need money outside of the property tax levy. That is clear. Parking fees are not the right solution.

Let’s get smart, passionate people together to find those solutions.

From the South Milwaukee Police Department …

On the Sunday February 11, 2018 at about 9:56pm the South Milwaukee Police Department received a 911 call from the Little Caesars Restaurant located at 3109 S. Chicago Avenue reporting that they had just been robbed. The suspect depicted below is described as a white male, approximately 5’09”, medium build, wearing a dark colored jacket with hood up, black nylon pants with a wide white stripe on the legs, possibly black or gray athletic shoes. The suspect covered his face with unknown cloth material. The suspect displayed a smaller handgun, grabbed the clerk by the arm, demanded money and fled in an unknown direction. We are investigating the possibility that this suspect could also be responsible for the robbery of the Sunrise Restaurant at 2418 10th Avenue, on January 24, 2018. The SMPD is reaching out to the public for their assistance in helping to identify the person responsible for this incident and are encouraged to contact the South Milwaukee Police Department at 414-768-8060 with any information.

I hear a lot from local leaders who are jealous of what we have in Milwaukee Avenue — a traditional Main Street in a time where more and more people are discovering the benefits of shopping local and shopping small.

That said, that Main Street is in sore need of a facelift. And it’s getting one.

The South Milwaukee Common Council recently backed two measures that will make this effort a reality in 2018. First, the council in January voted 7-1 to spend more than $65,000 with GRAEF consulting for design services on Milwaukee Avenue streetscaping enhancements between Ninth and 12th Avenues, fleshing out a master streetscape plan approved by the council in December of 2016. In addition, $1.2 million for streetscaping was included in the 2018-19 capital project plan, passed 6-1 last week.

This puts us on a path to begin work in August (after Evening on the Avenue) and have it completed by the time the snow flies.

This will be a complete redo from front of store to curb in those three blocks, bringing new lighting, sidewalk, plantings, trees, benches, bike racks and more.

It’s long overdue. It’s hard for even the most ardent opponent of this to say the avenue doesn’t look tired. It’s almost barren of decorative streetscaping currently, despite the hard work of the Beautification Committee, Street Department and others, who have creatively maximized what is there in recent years.

It’s also old infrastructure. The lighting and wiring are more than 60 years old, and simply don’t work in long stretches, and the sidewalk is crumbling. Trees are dead.

In other words, the time has come for this investment, and I’m excited to see it become a reality, the latest example of us bringing to life the comprehensive and downtown redevelopment plan we passed in 2016.

Have a plan, work the plan. This is a key part of working that plan.

Of course, not everyone agrees with this investment, and I get it. We have a lot of funding priorities in this city, and some argue this should wait.

I say, we’ve waited long enough. Let’s make this investment now, making a very visible and lasting public commitment as we continue to build the foundation for long-term growth in our downtown. It’s a top priority for me as mayor.

There will be opportunity for the public to weigh in on this in coming months, especially the business owners downtown. Stay tuned for more information on those opportunities.

Details from Troy and the team at MEARS Auctions, probably the coolest place in South Milwaukee few have seen, and a spectacular reuse of a former church property …

On Monday, February 19th, 2018, we will be hosting an opening house at the MEARS Museum located at 1234 Manitoba Ave., South Milwaukee, WI. The event is open to any and all interested parties. Guests can tour the MEARS Sports museum, see a very special limited run Pop Culture memorabilia display, and enjoy free pizza, snacks, and refreshments. The event runs from 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM CST and is open to all interested parties. During the evening, we want to accomplish the following goals:

From the Da Crusher Statue Facebook page …

BIG NEWS: Molthen-Bell & Son Funeral Home, a South Milwaukee staple for over 100 years, has agreed to contribute $10,000.00 to the statue fund! We are 75% there, folks! Let’s celebrate at Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall tonight!!!!!!

Here is the Go Fund Me page, as the campaign has now raised more than $30,000, almost all of it in the past two weeks. Amazing. (The Molthen-Bell commitment doesn’t show up on the site yet.)

More details on the Kochanski’s event here. See you there!

Check out these South Milwaukee headlines …

• Da Crusher is Crushing it: Crusher Countdown Halfway to Goal (NOW)
• Bucyrus Foundation Awards $200K Grant to South Milwaukee (NOW)
• South Milwaukee Craft Brewery, Apartments Project Dropped, but Grant Will Fund Other Downtown Efforts (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• Man Arrested After Standoff Involving Rifle, Body Armor (Fox 6)
• Snow Doesn’t Stop Folks from Enjoying South Milwaukee Winter Market (Fox 6)
• Sister Roserita Kimmel Spent Many Years in Service of Others (Racine County Eye)
• Cudahy Sweeps Border Battle with South Milwaukee (Journal Sentinel)

And NOW has published a new police report.

From the South Milwaukee Police Department …

On the evening of February 6, 2018, the South Milwaukee Police Department was notified of a man walking the hallways at 2825 South Chicago Avenue, while holding and pointing a rifle while wearing body armor and a helmet. Upon police arrival, the 62 year old man had barricaded himself in his apartment.  He claimed to be armed with several guns and wearing body armor. The South Shore Joint Tactical Unit responded to the scene.  After talking to the subject on the phone, he eventually surrendered to police and was taken into custody without incident. No persons were harmed during this incident.  This case continues to be investigated and will be referred the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office in the near future for possible charges.