City Image Logo to be Unveiled Soon

The nonprofit Spirit of Milwaukee is undertaking an image rebranding for the community. The new logo will be unveiled during a three week launch period that was to have begun January 18th. The launch will be delayed some, according to Dean Amhaus, the executive director of the Milwaukee promotional group, funded in large part by WE Energies. Apparently details are numerous when it comes to introducing a community identification mark. “Things are gelling together, and should be done by the end of next week,” he said.

The idea is to put the new logo “eye-level in the community.” This will be done using a variety of strategies, according to Robyn Minsk, who joined the group after an association with Beth Nicols of the Milwaukee Downtown association. We will see the logo projected on buildings, decorating cookies and in other environments, large and small. Stickers with the logo will be provided to retailers downtown to affix to their bags. If all goes well, the logo will eventually supplant the Milwaukee Genuine American mark that many found to be heavy-handed.

Amhaus won’t say what form the logo will take but did note that “the usual cliché is to use a drawing of the skyline. Well, they all tend to look the same.”

Doyle Has Job for Lautenschlager

Back when then-Attorney General Jim Doyle was running for Governor he often and audibly complained, as he had for years, that the role of consumer protector in the State of Wisconsin should belong to the Department of Justice – his department.

In early 2001, both on the steps of the Capitol and in testimony before the Joint Finance Committee, Doyle said it was “unconstitutional” that Governors Thompson and McCallum had transferred responsibility for consumer protection from his office to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

“I hope some day we are going to have an agriculture department that is truly the Wisconsin department of agriculture, that has a mission to promote agriculture, not to worry about landlord tenant problems in downtown Milwaukee, or telemarketers calling out of Nevada,” Doyle said on May 28, 2001.

Well, Doyle is now governor and Peg Lautenschlager is now attorney general, so milwaukeeworld wondered if he still felt like transferring consumer protection issues to his chum, the attorney general.

According to gubernatorial spokesperson Melanie Fonder, “The governor’s position remains the same. A measure to return consumer affairs to the Department of Justice was included in the governor’s budget last time, but the legislature removed it.”

Alas, it was a republican-controlled legislature that stripped Doyle of his powers when he was attorney general, and it looks like a republican-controlled legislature would have no reason to return the consumer affairs responsibilities to an elected official like the attorney general.

“Right now everything is on the table regarding the budget,” Fonder said, when asked if the governor would plan to try again this session.

Blame DHS for Downtown Parking Woes

The Department of Homeland Security touches our everyday lives in ways that are not always immediately apparent.

It seems that the stately Henry W. Reuss Federal Building is a sufficiently tantalizing threat for terrorism that the department deemed it important to ban all parking around the building for security reasons.

Thus, 17 City of Milwaukee parking meters have been hooded and taken out of circulation, along with the revenue that would ordinarily have accrued to the city from these parking spots.

Does the city receive compensation from the Department of Homeland Security for this loss of revenue?

Milwaukeeworld asked Cecilia Gilbert of the Department of Public Works. “No, the city does not get any revenue from Homeland Security. That’s not how it works. They tell us ‘no parking,’ and that’s it.”

Thanks, Big Brother, for making Milwaukee a little (a very little) bit safer.

Everybody’s a Consultant: (Including Arthur Jones)

Former Police Chief Arthur Jones’s $11,000 monthly pension has provided him with enough money to set himself up in the consultancy business, a scary sign of the odd things that turn up during an improving economy.

Arthur Jones Consulting LLC, 6820 N. 112th Court has filed articles of incorporation with the state.

It boggles the mind to consider what the firm’s expertise might be. Jones’s lackadaisical ineffectualness cost the city the National Chiefs of Police convention, so he is probably not going to be a big player in the convention consultation business.

One could hardly imagine him in the role of a corporate morale consultant, and, based on his tenure as Chief of the Milwaukee Police Department, he hardly seems qualified to consult on operating a major metropolitan law enforcement agency. Anyway, you have been warned.

Council Approves Seized-Asset Grants for Police: $105,000 for Horsies!

The 2005 Asset Forfeiture plan has been approved by the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee, and here is a look at the $512,000 goody bag Chief Nannette H. Hegerty has scored for the Police Department.

Almost half the funds, or $250,000 will go to replace the department’s antiquated firearms training system, purchased in 1992. According to the department’s request, “firearm simulator technology has progressed since 1992, allowing officers more challenging judgmental shooting scenarios with branching capabilities.”

The money will also supplement capital funds approved in 2004, “because bids for the lead ventilation system necessary for the officer’s (sic) health and safety are coming in much higher than originally anticipated.”

Another $50,000 will be used for training, with emphasis on “narcotics detection and the investigation of drug-related activities.”

The 150 shotguns now deployed in squads will each get a “sling and extended magazine tube,” to provide enhanced officer and civilian safety.

The police will also receive $50,000 for cellular phones, since it would hardly do for an undercover narcotics officer to use a pay phone to buy drugs. Another $15,000 is budgeted for administrative fees, and $18,000 for a super search engine that “links together public records, publicly available records and proprietary records into a massive database that is a valuable investigative tool.”

The four-legged officers are not forgotten in the asset forfeiture budget. Ten thousand dollars will fund the food, medical care and boarding for three “drug-interdiction canines.”

Lest you think the chief is merely doing her humanitarian duty toward the hounds, please be advised that she has an ulterior motive:

“Without funding, the Department will be less effective in drug interdiction and subsequently less successful in its attempts to secure federally seized forfeiture funds.”

How’s that for refreshing candor?

The police also propose to use $105,000 to lease seven horses for the Mounted Patrol. This sum “includes all resources employed by the local stable.”

(Find out more – go to: http://legistar.milwaukee.gov/attachments/24326.doc )

MSOE to Expand Art Programs

The Milwaukee School of Engineering has a most remarkable collection of mostly paintings called “Man at Work.” The collection has been assembled by Dr. Eckhart G. Grohmann, a trustee and good friend of the school.

Last Friday Dr. Herman Viets, the President of MSOE announced that the collection will be considerably expanded as will its campus venues.

On Gallery Night, January 21st, the school will feature industrial landscapes from the collection, which will be on view at the Walter J. Schroeder Library, 500 E. Kilbourn Ave.

Dr. Viets also announced that the school is close to buying the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago – Milwaukee building, which has been vacant for a year at its E. State Street, corner of Broadway site.

The school will also widen its art education program, which will focus on introducing the collection to its own students and those of the surrounding area, particularly elementary and secondary schools.

Dr. Grohmann was not in Milwaukee for the event. “He’s out in Europe, and you know what he is doing there,” curator John Kopmeier told the crowd. “I’ll bet he will be returning with a canvas under his arm.”

Another canvas Dr. Grohmann might covet is a factory scene by early Milwaukee painter Richard Lorenz, to be offered at auction by the Schrager auction house.

Mayor Tom Barrett’s Public Appearances

Milwaukee.Public Appearances
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 7, 2005
Contact: Press Secretary Carlene Orig
(414) 286-8531

Media Alert

Milwaukee—The following is a schedule of Mayor Tom Barrett’s public appearances for January 9 – 14. Note: this schedule is subject to change.

Sunday, January 9
8:15 a.m.
WISN Channel 12 Tsunami Relief Telethon
Mayor Barrett will participate.

Monday, January 10
9:45 – 10:45 a.m.
Share the Dream
Central Library, 814 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Mayor Barrett will read to children in honor of Martin Luther King.
2:30 p.m.

Tax Fairness for Seniors News Conference
Assembly Parlor, Capitol Building, Madison
Mayor Barrett will participate.
7:45 – 9:00 p.m.

Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Association Local 215 Installation of Officers
Firefighters Union Hall, 5625 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Mayor Barrett will participate.
Tuesday, January 11
5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Milwaukee Arts Board Reception
Broadway Theater, 158 N. Broadway
Mayor Barrett will recognize Milwaukee Artists of the Year.
Wednesday, January 12
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Brown Bag Lunch with Business Improvement District #27
Burleigh Enterprise Center, 5312 W. Burleigh St.
Mayor Barrett will host community meeting.
7:00 – 8:00 p.m.

State of the State Address
Capitol Building, Madison
Mayor Barrett will attend.

Thursday, January 13
10:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Crossing Guard Appreciation
City Hall Rotunda, 200 E. Wells St.
Mayor Barrett will honor crossing guards for their hard word, dedication and keeping Milwaukee’s children safe.