A dog with a bone- more footage from the RNC

A Closer Look at The BreakWater Condominiums

The BreakWater Condominiums development consists of 101 condominiums in a 20-story tower.

Magazine nerd alerts

I already told you about the tour we’re giving with Next American City, which is a rite of magazine nerd passage in a class of its very own. But the fun doesn’t begin and end with NAC. Far from it! Tonight at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Jed Perl, art critic at The New Republic, will speak on his new book, Antoine’s Alphabet, about painter Antoine Watteau. I’ve never heard of Antoine Watteau, but I’m sure Jed Perl will make Antoine Watteau sound compelling, mysterious and glamorous, and will prompt legions of attendees to buy the book. Writers — and their press teams — are smart. Then, next weekend at Harry W. Schwartz, Eli Horowitz, editor of McSweeney’s, gives a reading with Deb Olin Unferth, who wrote this one great story: She’s promoting her new book Vacation, which is the only book I’ve ever seen with a trailer. In non-magazine nerdity, this weekend is also the Milwaukee River Challenge, which is nice because I like hanging out on bridges over rivers, especially when it’s chilly; it always feels very cosmopolitan to me. Even though this weekend is supposed to be sunny with highs in the high 70s. What? And art nerds might do well for themselves and attend Art in Flux, which features printmaking … with steamrollers. STEAMROLLERS. I’m looking forward to a flurry of geek-fabulous activity in October, too, what with Gallery Night, Milwaukee Film’s premiere event The Milwaukee Show, Run Up to the Runway, the Milwaukee Book Festival and David Byrne, so stay tuned for updates of this nature throughout the month. Along with, you know, bloggin’.

Wineke and Priebus are all winks and jabs

Mike Gousha moderated a good-natured smackdown yesterday at Marquette University between Wisconsin’s political party chairmen, Republican Reince Priebus and Democrat Joe Wineke. The two partisan opponents were all smiles and slaps on the back as they reached into their bags of bon mots to attack each other’s candidates. Gousha once again proved to be superb in this role. At first, it seemed odd that Gousha positioned himself at the end, rather than in the middle, of the two, but it proved effective. Wineke and Priebus seemed genuinely friendly but when either one scored a point or threw a low blow you could almost feel the other wince. Both resorted to the usual talking points while analyzing the polls and the challenges Barack Obama and John McCain face winning Wisconsin. Probably the most substantive discussion focused on Attorney General J. D. Van Hollen’s attempt to force the state Government Accountability Board to check all voter registrations going back to January, 2006. Priebus insisted that Van Hollen was simply fulfilling his duty by calling on the GAB to enforce the federal election law while Wineke charged that Van Hollen, who serves as McCain’s campaign chairman for Wisconsin, was just carrying water for his candidate. But the zingers really started to fly when Gousha brought up Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Priebus called her a “rock star” that has energized the Republican base. Wineke pointed out that the “rock star” reference sounded like Priebus was calling Palin a celebrity, a term the McCain campaign has used to denigrate Obama. When Wineke poked fun at Palin’s assertion that her ability to see Russia from Alaska amounted to foreign policy experience, Priebus insisted that questions about Palin amounted to sexism. Perhaps the most controversial remarks of the forum came when someone in the audience questioned how Wineke could suggest that the Fox Valley was up for grabs when it is so predominately Catholic. Wineke insisted that the Catholic vote has never been “monolithic” and that Democrats felt very comfortable contesting the region. Priebus questioned how Catholics would feel about Obama’s support for “partial birth abortions” and Wineke responded that neither party was consistent with Catholic Church teachings on abortion and the death penalty. Very little was said about the economy which perhaps was for the best since neither Wineke or Priebus are qualified as economists. But it was telling that while Wineke challenged McCain’s assertion that he would strengthen regulations since his record is as a deregulator, Priebus insisted that the threat of world terrorism was the real crisis that would lead voters to support McCain. There are still six weeks to go but Republicans may be in trouble if they need to run away from the issue of the economy.

Mad for Donald Man

I’m in love with Mad Men. It’s my era, the age of nipped in waists, crinoline petticoats and Merry Widow waist-cinchers, and well, yes, rubber girdles that steamed up at the drive-in movies. These were actually pure rubber and they came packaged in long tubes of silver and (I think) pink. Getting out of them was akin to wrestling with a window shade that wouldn’t roll up properly. If you lost control, you could strangle in the thing. Fashions aside, I don’t recall ever having sex in an office, though I too slaved as a secretary, accounts payable person, and switchboard operator. It wasn’t easy walking to work in high heels, pounding forward in the Missouri heat (ice in winter), up the concrete hill, dressed to kill. My job in accounts payable (for a major corporation specializing in baked goods), meant I often opened letters of complaint from persons who found a rat turd or a fingernail, or worse, in their particular slice of bread from the ovens of Patterson Bakeries. My switchboard job involved riding the bus from Detroit to the burbs of all-Polish Hamtramck, where I smiled sweetly for my car dealership boss at Shore Chevrolet. He personified jerkiness, though I never actually saw him having sex in the office, and he didn’t drink, at least not so you’d notice. In those dim days, I paid a babysitter 50 cents per hour to take care of my little girl. The sitter rode the bus in from the dismal bowels of distressed Detroit. Always on time, she never missed a day of sitting, and even dusted my small apartment window sills which were eternally black from the stuff Detroit belched forth. Later on, I lived in a bona-fide housing project where the trashy neighbors let their kid crap on my doorstep, and threatened to slit my throat if I objected. Believe me, I couldn’t make this stuff up. My life back then, except for two shirt-waist dresses that I alternated wearing, wasn’t at all like the fashionable lives of the denizens of Mad Men. Where the guys in this television fluff find enough energy to be constantly performing in the sack, and/or pouring endless streams of booze into crystal glasses, is beyond me. But I love the cast, one and all. The bitchy red-headed head-secretary, Peggy the Catholic mouse and her frumpy family, and all the others sashaying about in tight skirts and tighter sweaters. The retro sets are amazing, almost like I remember things, except for the over-the-top sex and what seems like a bunch of people forever sworn to drink till they drop. In one recent segment, there was actual attention paid to ART, specifically a Mark Rothko painting hanging in the office of the aging boss, who is some kind of great actor. The Milwaukee Art Museum has a Rothko, just in case you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Friday Photos Friday, 19. September 2008

Transpak 235 E. Pittsburgh Ave Transpak 235 E. Pittsburgh Ave Breakwater Condos The North End The Edge

Development Continues in the Third Ward

At the corner of N. Jackson St. and E. Menomonee St. the construction fences have gone up and preliminary work has started on the Jackson Square Apartments. The five-story Jackson Square Apartments project with have approximately 80-units, and 9,000 square feet of retail space.

Crony Capitalism, Crony Government

While the news from Wall Street ain’t so hot, I’ll tell you what I wish I had stock in. I’m bullish on The Comedy Channel. The last week has been a windfall for Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and their writers on the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Just hilarious! But what’s not so funny is watching John McCain fine tune his populist message of outrage at Wall Street. His sudden determination to ride in on a white horse and challenge corporate excesses defies belief. His record of opposition to regulation and even his recent campaign rhetoric suggest that he has no interest in reining in greedy and irresponsible business practices. The mixed messages from McCain matched perfectly with the “No to bailout one day, Yes to bailout the next” Bush administration policy which is actually confusing Wall Street and leading financial experts to plead for consistency. Without rules to govern them, the capital markets are likely to go even crazier. The “case by case” strategy of the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve is like a massive game of Russian Roulette. The two things that seem to be protecting Wall Street from some of the horrible consequences of 1929 are the availablility of Prozac (and other SSRIs) and the inability of traders to open the windows in their high rise offices! But that’s not all. Sarah Palin’s record of putting friends in high places and funding pet projects in Alaska is so egregious that it’s hard to believe she will continue providing a boost to McCain much longer. Take a look at this report by Timothy Egan on The New York Times website. Haven’t we had enough of Halliburton, Michael Brown and this kind of cronyism in government?

Roll call

Next American City, a national magazine dedicated to making cities better, docked in Milwaukee this week as part of a four-day spree through our fair city and what’s ticking these days. The centerpiece of their visit? A rad, adrenaline-fueled no-holds-barred 24-hour tour of the city. All of it! The docket of guides is incredible. Alex Runner of City Hall, Jeramey Jannene of Urban Milwaukee, Juli Kaufmann of green building co Pragmatic Construction, Next American City’s own Dave Steele and … here’s the clincher … me! Along with VITAL Editor-in-chief Jon Anne Willow and my favorite person alive, Matthew John Wild. We’re the party bus, for sure. I always wanted this in Detroit, and in fact have been known to offer to take anyone and everyone I meet with the slightest interest back home to the Motor City with me for a romp through the decayed colossus of a city I love: the stately abandoned structures, the bridge to Canada, the dirty bar rooms, the dance parties, late night bike rides by the riverfront, my dad’s corned beef plant. And now I have the opportunity to show you exactly what it is about Milwaukee that has stolen my heart and kept it close for two years. It’s a dream come true. Meet Jon Anne, Matt and me at Chimney Park in the Menomonee Valley at 6:00 pm (sharp!) for an outdoor performance by Wild Space Dance Company, preceded by a lecture from the one-and-only John Gurda. Afterward the sky’s the limit. I can’t tell you what’s on the docket because that’s up to whomever shows up (read: you) — we’re diplomatic like that — but I guarantee a good old-fashioned good time. Likely destinations: Art’s Concertina Bar, Koz’s Mini Bowl, Polish Falcons, Landmark Lanes, Barnacle Buds, At Random and the Press Club’s Newsroom Pub. Our shift ends at 2 am at Wolski’s, but the fun continues straight through until 10 am on Sunday morning with a third shift factory tour at P&H Mining, frisbee by the lakefront and late-night eats. How will I know how to find you, you ask? Dial the Next American City hotline at 414-305-5242 for the 411 on our approximate location. Or you could check in on our Twitter page where we’ll be posting up-to-the-minute updates about all of our antics. Still not sure what all of this means for you? Neither am I, but you can read up on previous 24:HRS excursions in New Orleans and Philadelphia for a better sense of what goes on when you send a bunch of magazine staffers to a strange and lonesome place. Jon Anne says she thinks it will be like SubVersions: On Assignment, only hip and new-urban, not desolate and desperate. Speaking of which, have you watched the Des Moines videos yet? They are wonderful, and feature both Lunchables and Sarah Palin’s disembodied head: More updates on the 24-hour tour as they develop. Until then, stay sane, and get your party shoes polished. You’ve got a long weekend […]

Commission Approves Expansion of BID 21

In stark contrast to the previous City Plan Commission meeting, this meeting featured no heated debates but it did see the approval of two resolutions aimed at improving downtown Milwaukee. Resolution 080617 proposed the expansion of Business Improvement District (“BID”) 21.  This expansion has been in the works for the past four years and went through a lengthy process of approval within the BID membership.  The expansion includes Schlitz Park, The Brewery, Manpower, East Point, the Park East and two other tax exempt areas.  Although these properties currently don’t represent a large addition to the BID tax base, these additions were made looking to the future.  Additionally, Beth Nichols, the executive director BID 21, explained that in order to bring more retail options to downtown Milwaukee the BID has recently hired a retail strategist and will be adding a retail coordinator soon.  This resolution was approved and will now go before the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee. Resolution 080515 proposed creating the first Neighborhood Improvement District in Wisconsin.  It was explained that the key difference between a Business Improvement District and a Neighborhood Improvement District (“NID”) is that the NID can include residential properties with eight units or more whereas a BID can’t include residential properties.  This NID would include The Brewery neighborhood and would pay for, the upkeep of pocket parks, streetscaping, alleys, the Pabst sign, and storm-water management facilities.  This resolution was approved and will now go before the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.

More Than We Remember #2

Obama’s Straight Talk

We look to our leaders for substantive answers to the challenges of our time and we also look to our leaders for inspiration and confidence in the future. Barack Obama has been delivering on both of these criteria since he first declared his candidacy back in the winter of 2007. His speeches are rich in specifics and the protests by his opponents that he lacks detail can only appeal to people who have never listened to him. His ability to connect with his audiences while also discussing economics, health care, and foreign policy is really his defining appeal. John McCain has turned his campaign over to the people who know how to manipulate public opinion with lies and smears. They did it on George W. Bush’s behalf and defeated McCain in 2000. Democrats and Independents, many of whom liked and respected the Straight Talking McCain of 2000, are distraught over the cynical Atwater-Rove-Schmidt-style gameplan that has proven to be so successful. We’re in the home stretch of this campaign and Obama needs to continue delivering his message of Real Change and contrasting it with the flip flopping, deceptive words of his opponent. Obama demonstrates that he knows what he must do with a newly released two minute video that you will hopefully be seeing all over the airwaves, particularly in swing states like up-for-grabs Wisconsin. By contrast, McCain has jettisoned his brand of Straight Talking Maverick and embraced the dishonorable tactics that he has been a victim of in the past. McCain ought to know that when you lie down with pigs you only get muddy.