Urban Milwaukee’s Upcoming Events & Meetings Calendar should help you keep up to date on important events effecting our neighborhoods, the City of Milwaukee, and our region. July 27, 2009 Special Finance & Personnel Committee Meeting July 27, 2009 9:00 am The Finance and Personnel Committee considers appropriations, finances, taxation, revenues, labor relations, personnel, pensions [...]

April 6, 2009 Community & Economic Development April 6, 2009 9:00 am The Community and Economic Development Committee hears matters relating to community development, block grants, job development, business improvement districts, city public relations, industrial land banks and revenue bonds, emerging business enterprises, recreation, cultural arts and the library system.The Community and Economic Development Committee [...]

The Milwaukee Opportunities for Restoring Employment ordinance was the primary reason behind this special meeting of the Community & Economic Development Committee.  The ordinance intends to increase the required percentage of City of Milwaukee residents hired to work on city projects and development projects receiving more than $1 million in TIF assistance.  Additionally it mandated [...]

Resolution, 081079, proposed the authorization of a $200,000 forgivable loan from the 2008 Development Fund to support expanded production capacity for two Super Steel Products Corp locations in Milwaukee. Although Super Steel Products Corp is in the process of closing a factory in Glenville, N.Y, it is positioned to benefit by expanded rail service in [...]

IT Gallery, the latest art gallery to open in Milwaukee, is situated on the corner of Ogden and Jackson in the 601 Lofts building. Started by the brother and sister team of Tom Pinkl and Shelly Hecht, IT Gallery features artifacts from Asia and West Africa that fit in an urban dweller’s residence.

Recently Nick Whitaker, from Streetfilms, visited Milwaukee and captured two lively examples of car-free events here in Milwaukee. These two events, both on Milwaukee’s East Side, were typical of a summer day in Milwaukee and showed off how we Milwaukeean’s enjoy our city.

The Hometown Gas Station on North Avenue has been almost completely demolished. The site is one of the proposed locations for the new UW-Milwaukee dorm. Owned by the Mandel Group, the site hasn’t functioned as a gas station for years. There was recently a public hearing on Mandel’s proposal for the site.

This meeting was the much anticipated combined City Plan Commission (“CPC”) and Historic Preservation Commission (“HPC”) meeting regarding New Land Enterprises’ development proposal for the Goll Mansion site. New Land Enterprises was looking for two separate approvals at this meeting to move the project forward. First a Certificate of Appropriateness (“COA”) from the Historic Preservation Commission and a change in zoning from RM-7 to Detailed Planned Development (“DPD”) from the City Plan Commission.

Yesterday, Dave Reid and myself were invited to the Brownfields Study Group 10th Anniversary Celebration. Now brownfield redevelopment is wonderful, and Milwaukee has some wonderful examples including the nationally-recognized Menomonee Valley, but we were a little distracted by the view from the event. The event was held on the 40th floor of the US Bank Center in the offices of Foley & Lardner.

At a time when Milwaukee County is cutting transit service and neglecting our parks, Supervisor Coggs is promoting a $3,600 pay raise for Milwaukee County Board members. This raise would be in the form of a $300 per month transportation allowance and although this new benefit would only cost Milwaukee County an additional $68,400 per year, just the mere requesting of these funds is troubling. It’s troubling because it shows a clear disconnect between Supervisor Coggs and the citizens of Milwaukee. While they are struggling to pay their mortgage and fill up their gas tanks it seems inappropriate for an elected official to be asking for a raise, especially a transportation allowance.