Eyes on Milwaukee

Welcome to the ninth installment of Eyes on Milwaukee. This week I examine the coming changes to the Milwaukee Delegation, how another big city gets quite the luxury perk, the difference between the charter meetings of the City and County, Milwaukee’s new City Clerk, and more. Of course, I also include one last plug to check out our new store’s grand opening this weekend as part of Gallery Night and Day.

Urban Milwaukee Store Grand Opening and Gallery Night

If you’re looking for something to do Friday, April 20th, look no further. We’re having a grand opening party at Urban Milwaukee: The Store in conjunction with Gallery Night. Come join us at the store anytime between 10 a.m. and midnight. Take the “art tunnel” through the back of our store to Sublime between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. for happy hour drinks and appetizers.

Urban Milwaukee: The Store is located in the Colby-Abbot Building at 755 N. Milwaukee St and sells paintings, photography, t-shirts, postcards, books, and more, all of which showcase Milwaukee, and are made by Milwaukeeans. If you needed more convincing, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel art and architecture critic Mary Louse Schumacher also recommends you stop by the store.

Learn more about the store or RSVP on the Facebook event.

The Impending New Milwaukee Delegation

If you’ve been upset with the failure of the Milwaukee delegation to deliver dedicated funding for transit or reform for Milwaukee Public Schools, you will have a largely new slate to blame in the near future. Of the 23 member delegation, it’s entirely possible 7 or more seats will have new representatives. While many of those changed seats are going to be occupied by current delegation members, there will still be a substantial amount of new blood.A number of familiar faces are leaving their current office for one reason or another.

• Senator Spencer Coggs has moved his office to Milwaukee City Hall
• Representative David Cullen has relocated to the Milwaukee County Courthouse
• Representative Elizabeth Coggs will leave her seat to run for the Senate seat vacated by her cousin, Spencer Coggs. Coggs has only had her Assembly seat since 2010.
• Representative Tamara Grigbsy will not seek re-election as she recovers from an undisclosed form of cancer.
• Representative Tony Staskunas will not seek re-election as “… now is a good time for me to seek new challenges.”
• Representative Sandy Pasch will seek the Assembly seat of Elizabeth Coggs.

Also of note, Representative Jason Fields faces a re-election challenge from Mandela Barnes.

If you expected much of anything to change, however, don’t bet on it. There still is no sign that the delegation has any clear legislative priorities.

Free Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks Tickets for Common Council Members?

Imagine if the Milwaukee Common Council (or the Milwaukee State Legislature delegation) were given free tickets to every Brewers and Bucks home game. It seems inevitable that stories would emerge of politicians appearing drunk on the scoreboard, or south side politicians caught cheering for the Cubs. Who knows, we might even get better candidates for office if they knew free season tickets were part of the deal. In Washington DC though this is almost exactly what happens, although it’s much worse, and far more embarrassing (although DC local politics have a history of embarrassing moments).

In a move that only a corrupt politician could love, the Mayor and Council of the District of Columbia are given free tickets, including a luxury box, to every Washington Nationals home game and Verizon Center event (home of the NBA’s Washington Wizards). The notion that politicians get such a luxury benefit is a bit disgusting from a good government standpoint in the first place (we all know a politician could likely score a free ticket to a game without it being law), but the DC politicians have found a way to make it worse year after year it seems. In exchange for public financing for the construction of Nationals Ballpark and renovations to the Verizon Center, DC’s elected officials have found themselves in possession of one of the most stereotypical luxury goods, the stadium luxury box. The icing on the cake? Rather than quietly enjoy this arguable bribe (I’m sure they would argue they give many tickets to their constituents), they manage to squabble about it year after year.

Mark Belling would have an absolute field day if the Milwaukee Common Council cut library hours and finished the night taking in a Zack Greinke outing at Miller Park, at least until they invited him.

24 to 1 – County vs City Leadership Votes

The glaring disparities between how business is conducted by the City of Milwaukee Common Council versus the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors was on display this week as both bodies had their charter meetings following the spring elections. The cohesiveness of the members of the Milwaukee Common Council was shown Tuesday as they unanimously re-elected Alderman Willie Hines, Jr. to the role of Common Council President. On Monday, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors couldn’t even narrow the field to two, and ultimately required 24 rounds of voting to elect Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic as the  new Board Chairwoman.

When I tuned in to listen to the fun the County Board was having around round 15, Dimitrijevic, Jursik, and Lipscomb all had 5 votes, Johnson had 2, and Weishan had himself. It took nine ballots and two recesses to sort things out from there. When Johnson pulled out, he and Mayo both switched their votes to Dimitrijevic following a recess. Then, after a few more gridlocked votes with little progress, Lipscomb called for a recess. While I don’t know what happened during the recess, clearly it didn’t turn out the way Lipscomb planned. Upon returning from the recess all but one of Jursik’s votes flipped to Marina, and the Board had elected a new chair.

One is likely to point out that Hines is an incumbent, but requiring 20 plus votes to decide the matter is quickly becoming a pattern for the County Board. It took a whopping 45 votes to re-elect now retired Lee Holloway to the post of Board Chair in 2008. How this issue doesn’t get sorted out behind closed doors is a bit of a mystery.

Also of note is to the degree to which the City versus County make themselves accessible to those not able to attend in person. Whereas many City meetings are video broadcast on the web and on cable channel 25 (99 on AT&T Uverse), with minutes posted to Legistar shortly thereafter, County meetings rarely include video, and often include an extremely poor audio feed where many Supervisors fail to speak into their microphones and are literally inaudible. Making matters worse for County government access, my unscientific polling shows the County is much slower at posting meeting minutes. This includes the still unposted minutes from the charter meeting of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors held on Monday. While the County is overall moving in the right direction, they are still pathetically behind the City in this area. Hopefully the new Board Chair can turn things around with help from Supervisor Jason Haas (who does an excellent job live tweeting the meetings he is at).

See for yourself – Milwaukee County Legistar and City of Milwaukee Legistar.

New City Clerk

Milwaukee has a new City Clerk – Jim Owczarski. Owczarski was formerly the Deputy City Clerk. The City Clerk is appointed by the Common Council for a four year term. Previous City Clerk Ron Leonhardt retired following the completion of his last term.

Up in the air at this point is if Owczarski will be able to continue his live tweeting of meetings with his new role. He previously had done a superb job of keeping the public informed during meetings with a unique vantage point from the Clerk’s desk that overlooks the Common Council members.

Development News

A key Historic Third Ward lot changed hands this week. Developer Peter Renner (the BreakWater, Hansen’s Landing, etc, etc) sold a half-acre parking lot on Broadway and Chicago Street to Jackson Street Management, LLC for $1 million. Jackson Street Management is the team behind the under construction Marriott Hotel on Milwaukee Street. Odds are that when Jackson Street Management releases plans to build something on that parking lot it will be a whole lot less controversial than their Marriott project.

Joe Klein’s office building plans for 27th and Wisconsin are moving right along. Of interest is that Alderman Bauman dropped his opposition to the project following a few design changes that were made. Changes that the design team and Department of City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux said weren’t possible.

The BizTimes has more on the potential development of the Italian Community Center’s massive slice of Third Ward land.

The proposal to convert a six-story warehouse into an apartment building on Pierce Street has run into a financing snag.

Sean Ryan does a “Take 5″ with Cliff Crump. Crump manages the city’s growing portfolio of tax-foreclosed homes.

The Board of Zoning Appeals will hear Sciortino’s appeal to tear down an adjacent home to expand their bakery on Monday.

Brady Street’s most suburban shopping center won’t be getting any less urban. Alderman Nik Kovac has indicated that he has reached a settlement to prevent the proposed demolition of a house (1724 N Warren Ave.) behind the shopping center that was intended to be converted to a surface parking lot. Michael Horne has more.

Zilber Property Group bought a 712 stall parking garage from Wispark LLC, the real estate arm of WE Energies. The garage is on the north side of Michigan Ave between 4th and 5th Streets.

Openings and Closings

Arin Bert, a new Armenian restaurant located at 222 W Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee, is featured on OMC. Arin Bert was mentioned in a previous Eyes on Milwaukee column.

Ichiban, 2336 N Farwell Ave, has closed its doors. The owners of the shopping center where the business was located have purchased the assets and are trying to find a suitor to reopen the Japanese restaurant.

Impala Lounge opened at 701 E. Center Street. The tavern is owned by Wendy and George Mireles, who also own Cafe Corazon. The space was formerly home to River Horse.

Odd Duck is now open in Bay View. We had mentioned this cafe and bar’s impending opening in a previous article.

Tazinos Pizza & Salad Bistro will open at CityCenter at 735 in a space along the Milwaukee RiverWalk. The downtown location will be their first in the neighborhood and fourth location overall.

Two Bucks hopes to open in early May in the former Dog Bullocks space at 2321 N. Murray Ave.

VETransfer will relocate from the former Old Navy space in the Plankinton Arcade to the Blatz Wash House.

Photo of the Week

Veterans Memorial by John December

Milwaukee's Next Potential Mayor Willie Hines, Jr. stands in front of Former Mayor John Norquist

Welcome to the seventh installment of Eyes on Milwaukee. This week the focus is all on City of Milwaukee elected officials following yesterday’s election. I explore the likelihood that Willie Hines runs for Mayor, how the new Common Council will resemble the old Common Council, the wide disparity in vote totals between districts, Bob Donovan winning the war, the shocking number of votes Johnny Thomas got, and Spencer Coggs’ new job.

Willie Hines for Mayor

There’s no question that Common Council President Willie Hines, Jr. was considering a run for Mayor in 2010, predicated on the idea that Mayor Barrett would become Governor Barrett and Hines could win a special election. When Barrett lost in the general election, the talk of Hines throwing his hat in the ring for Mayor started to dry up, but not before Hines held a large, out-of-district fundraiser at Whiskey Bar on Jackson and Wells.

Now that Mayor Barrett has officially thrown his hat back into the ring (for the third time) to become Governor, it seems likely that we will hear rumors about “Hines for Mayor” again.

All of this is of course made all the more likely by the fact that Hines defeated challenger (and County Supervisor for less than one year) Eyon Biddle to retain his seat on the Milwaukee Common Council, and most likely his position as Council President.

A lot stands in the way of Hines becoming Mayor at this point, but it’s something worth following. First up? Barrett needs to lock up the Democrat’s nomination for Governor in the recall election.

Senator Spencer Coggs Wins Large Pay Increase, Shorter Commute, Likely Position for Life

Congratulations are in order for State Senator Spencer Coggs, the City of Milwaukee’s Treasurer Elect. Not only did the Democratic State Senator win a job that will net him a much shorter commute, he also now holds a job that pays $114,040, an amount he claims he was “shocked out of my socks” about. It is worth mentioning that the position of Treasurer was up for being converted from an elected position to an appointed one, less than a year ago, and to which the former top heads claimed would run fine without their presence.

Outgoing Treasurer Wayne Whittow had held the post since 1976 (and previously served in the Wisconsin State Assembly), and all signs point to Coggs now being able to hold the seat as long as he would like.

What Will Johnny Thomas’s Jury Look Like?

One surprise out of the election results last night was the number of votes Johnny Thomas pulled in for Milwaukee Comptroller. Despite being charged with a felony for accepting a bribe, suspending his campaign for Comptroller, and being stripped of his Milwaukee County Board committee appointments, first-term Supervisor Johnny Thomas still managed to bring in 34% of the votes (18,457)  in the Comptroller race yesterday.  Thomas, who accepted an envelope filled with $500 cash from another Milwaukee County employee at Dunkin’ Donuts new location on West Wisconsin Avenue in December. Had he won, Thomas could have assumed the office of City of Milwaukee Comptroller, and it appears that without this whole felony bribery thing lingering, he would have won in a landslide.

Thomas’s ability to draw more than 33% of the vote indicates one of the following possibilities is true, the influence of the media (of all mediums) is declining, there was a belief by a large number of voters that he’s innocent, or he has an usually high amount of name recognition for a first-time Supervisor.

Assuming the case goes to trial, it will be interesting if any of the potential jurors are excused for voting for Thomas in the Milwaukee Comptroller race.

Meet the new Common Council, largely the same as the old Common Council

If you’re grown comfortable over the past four years with the Milwaukee Common Council, you can likely rest easy about the next four. Voters re-elected 14 (out of 15) Common Council members, with the only change happening in Walker’s Point with incumbent James Witkowiak falling to Jose Perez.

Witkowiak, likely much to his own displeasure, has now established a pattern of winning two elections in a row, and then losing the third. Being first elected in 1992, re-elected in 1996, losing in 2000, being elected again in 2004, re-elected in 2008, and now falling short in the Common Council’s closest 2012 race.

Witkowiak chaired the powerful Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee during his past term (a post previously held by former Alderman Michael D’Amato, who represented the East Side and Riverwest), and his departure leaves open a fairly significant post in the Common Council hierarchy.

Being that it is rare for an Alderman to hold two chairmanships (last done by D’Amato likely as a result of Hines’ rise to President), who is the likely next Chair of ZND? All signs point to Alderman and Milwaukee Bucks season ticket holder Willie Wade. Wade is currently the Vice Chair of ZND, and also serves on the Community and Economic Development Committee.

Who are the other likely ZND chairs? The Common Council’s most senior Alderman Murphy (who trounced his opponent, Richard Geldon, by a 4-1 margin for the second time in a row) seems likely to stay put as Chair of the Finance and Personal Committee. The other likely candidate for the job, Alderman Bauman seems likely to maintain his Chairmanship of the Public Works Committee.

Jim Witkowiak’s departure leaves open one slot on the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee. Given that Council newcomers seem to often enough end up on Licenses Committee (and are therefore subject to its marathon hearings), it is likely that Perez will not end up on ZND at this point. My guess for the newest member of ZND goes to Alderman Nik Kovac, who is entering his second term on the Common Council and represents the East Side, Riverwest, and the north side of Downtown (an Aldermanic District that sees a significant number of proposals come before ZND).

As far as the Milwaukee Streetcar project goes, the project appears set to remain on track at the Common Council level. Jim Witkowiak was a supporter of the project and had voted in favor of the project in the past. It remains to be seen if Alderman-Elect Perez will continue that support, but he hadn’t campaigned against it.

Bob Donovan Wins the War

Alderman Robert Donovan held onto his seat on the Milwaukee Common Council by a wide margin following yesterday’s election. Donovan defeated challenger Ben Juarez by over 500 votes, registering 60.5% of the vote total (1,463). As discussed last week’s “War on Donovan” section, the Juarez campaign had increasingly focused on Donovan’s 20-year-old disorderly conduct ticket. Those in the district have spoken with their ballots, and it appears that issue alone isn’t enough for them to replace Bob Donovan.

District Disparity Evident in Common Council Races

Voter turnout in Milwaukee’s various Common Council districts is disturbingly varied. Looking only at the competitive Milwaukee Common Council races, the vote totals for each candidate were as follows.

• District 8 – Bob Donovan (1,463), Ben Juarez (955) – 2,418
• District 9 – Robert Puente (2,959), Ray Harmon (2,183) – 5,142
• District 11 – Joe Dudzik (4,614), Daniel Plumb (2,826) – 7,440
• District 13 – Terry Witkowski (3,905), Richard Pfeiffer (1,922) – 5,827
• District 12 – Jose Perez (1,290), James Witkowiak (1,204) – 2,494
• District 14 – Tony Zielinski (4,556), Jan Pierce (3,390) – 7,946
• District 15 – Willie Hines (2,587), Eyon Biddle (1,735) – 4,322

It is possible that the race could come down to Barrett versus Walker, and because of this the potential impacts on Milwaukee are significant.  If this happens the Milwaukee area is guaranteed to have one top level position albeit the Mayor’s office, or County Executive become vacated.  Clearly, the impacts of either of Barrett or Walker winning have dramatically different outcomes for Milwaukee.

Politically, the policies are well known, it’s clear that Walker would attempt to hold taxes down at almost any cost, likely pushing again for passing TABOR, and as experienced by residents of Milwaukee County by cutting services or in some cases neglecting services.  Holding taxes down is a commendable goal, unless it negatively impacts vital Milwaukee area services such as mass transit, the Milwaukee Public School System, and parks.  Finally, Walker has consistently opposed any sort of fixed rail system, and as he has in the past work in opposition to the KRM project and Milwaukee’s downtown streetcar.

Obviously, Barrett would bring and different set of policies to Madison, a set that would be open to expanding mass transit and building fixed rail, but a set that would in all likelihood raise taxes to cover the increasing cost of services.  Recently, Mayor Barrett showed his support for fixed rail by successfully lobbying Washington to split the $91.5 million worth of federal funds which had been designated to Milwaukee for the purpose of improving mass transit back in the 90′s, so that the money can finally be spent on developing a Milwaukee streetcar system.  On the taxes front property taxes have grown under Mayor Barrett’s helm, though not terribly fast, and fees have certainly risen.  Prior to the market crash the budgets had generally been tight but raising fees, and cutting staff had been the Barrett’s method of slowing the rate of increase in property taxes.

Clearly, rising taxes, and the importance of mass transit are two vital issues that could dramatically impact the future of Milwaukee.  But at the local level it’s far more interesting to speculate at the potential cast of characters that could attempt to replace either Mayor Barrett or County Executive Walker.

For the Mayors Office if Barrett were to win the Gubernatorial race.

• Former Alderman Michael D’Amato.  Recently former Alderman D’Amato has rounded out his resume by becoming involved in education efforts, and the M7 economic development initiative.  At one time he had flirted with running for Milwaukee County Executive, but choose to pass, this might be a better opportunity for his return to politics.
• Alderman Robert Bauman.  Alderman Bauman regularly takes an active role in citywide issues, such as mass transit, as such he might consider entering the race.
• Common Council President Willie Hines.  Council President Hines has broad appeal, and is often considered as a possible candidate, this could be his shot.
• Alderman Donovan.  Alderman Donovan is always working to be in the news, putting out a press release, holding a press conference, or taking a shot at Mayor Barrett, so it certainly appears as though he’d be interested in the office.
• Rep Pedro Colon. (D)  Despite his failure to win the race for Milwaukee City Attorney against incumbent Grant Langley, he may still have aspirations for City Hall.
• U.S. Rep Gwen Moore (D).  It wouldn’t be the first time a U.S. Rep from Milwaukee ran for Mayor, and it might be seen as a stepping stone to even higher office.

For County Executive if Walker were to win the Gubernatorial race.

• Milwaukee County Parks Director Sue Black.  Parks Director Black has done an fantastic job running the Milwaukee County Park System in the face of budget cuts and staff reductions.  She has consider running in the past, but the prospect of running against your boss probably ended any serious consideration.  With Walker out of the way she may consider it again.
• Sheriff David Clarke (I).  Despite continually running as an Independent Democrat, he is still popular among conservatives, and has always appeared interested in a political office.
• Rep. Jon Richards (D).  He has considered running for County Executive in the past, and with Walker out of the way this door might finally be open.
• Rep. Jeff Stone (R). Stone has experience managing his own business, has reached across the aisle on issues like transit lending his support to the RTA. His name is almost always mentioned when it comes to County Executive in the post-Walker era.
• Supervisor John Weishan Jr.  Supervisor Weishan is often in the middle of big issue and debates, not always winning them, but in the fight regardless.
• Supervisor Chris Larson.  As a freshman Supervisor this may be a long shot, but an opening like this don’t come along all too often and Supervisor Larson might have to consider running.
• Joe Klein (I).  Klein is an extremely long and quite frankly a silly shot, but he’s likely to run as he has twice before.

Who did we miss?

The release indicates positions we have advocated for before, including the need for the bridge to better interact with the city at its northern terminus at Clybourn and Lincoln Memorial Drive.

One should not hold out hope that the city gets everything it asks for though.  As evidence of how little influence they city may have in the issue, Mayor Barrett and Common Council President Hines were mere attendees at the Marquette Interchange ribbon cutting.  They stood among the crowd, while Governor Doyle and Transportation Secretary Busalacchi unveiled their $800 million interchange.  There might not be better symbolism for highway building than that.  The city can yell all it wants, but will the state listen?

When

Bridge reconstruction is expected to be completed in 2013.  The timeframe for such a redevelopment is relatively fast.

Where

The entire structure is in need of serious maintenance in the form of a redecking.  Running from the eastern half of Interstate 794 downtown to the south end of the bridge where it touches down in Bay View.

Who Uses It

The bridge serves primarily Bay View, St. Francis, and other southside residents looking to enter downtown and nearby neighborhoods.  It likewise provides access for individuals downtown looking to get to the airport.

Who Builds It

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will award and manage contracts for bridge reconstruction.  The City of Milwaukee is not the project manager by any means.

Cost

Simply rebuilding the bridge as is was estimated at $200 million, and some sort of rebuild is viewed as necessary for safety reasons.  A considerable amount of money is going to need to be spent, even just to maintain the status quo.

Bauman’s Proposed Principles

Alderman Bauman’s press release revealed a series of principles to be introduced to the full Common Council on July 7th.

• The bridge and its approaches must use the existing right-of-way and substantially the same footprint.
• The bridge’s approaches must remain elevated over all land uses currently beneath the approaches, including but not limited to the Port of Milwaukee, MMSD and the Maier festival park.
• Any moveable bridge spans must have sufficient clearance over the (average) water level to minimize bridge openings for non-commercial vessels.
• Bridge openings must be limited to non-peak traffic periods, except in emergencies.
• The bridge and its approaches must accommodate pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
• The bridge and its approaches must be limited to two travel lanes and one distress lane, bicycle lane and pedestrian sidewalk in each direction.
• The lake shore interchange must be eliminated and replaced by an at-grade intersection or roundabout in the approximate location of Clybourn Street and Lincoln Memorial Drive.
• All new or reconstructed structures must be designed with lighting and architectural elements developed in consultation with the City of Milwaukee.

Conclusion

It seems perfectly reasonable to assume that the completely elevated bridge could be rebuilt in a fashion much more respectful to the city, that doesn’t impair motorists’ ability to enter downtown.  Drivers looking to enter downtown might actually have a better experience being dropped to street-level faster (the street grid gives options) at the north end of the bridge.  Also, while much of the land over which the bridge crosses isn’t developable, the land at the north end of the bridge holds a lot of potential.  A bridge that better interacts with the city could pay dividends in the form of a healthier neighborhood and increased tax base.

Cost is something to consider, and dropping the bridge to an intersection at the north end would likely mean the loss of the Interstate designation and some amount of federal funding.  That isn’t a reason not to do a highway rebuild though, as the state has shown by spending $400 million rebuilding Highway 26 from Janesville to Watertown, which includes the addition of by-passes around towns smaller than the Bay View neighborhood.

Feingold recently boldly stated his support for protecting the Great Lakes

“These shippers should know that we’ll do what it takes to protect the Great Lakes, and nothing should be completely taken off the table.” Read more.

If one questions the strengths of Feingold’s convictions they need only to look at his adamant opposition to bills like FISA and the Patriot Act where he was labeled a “maverick” for standing virtually alone in protecting the rights of all of us in Wisconsin and the rest of the country.