Two 20-story buildings proposed in East Town

New Land Enterprises is proposing to build two 20-story mixed-use buildings on properties near Kilbourn Ave and Van Buren St. Specifically, last year New Land Enterprises purchased the Edwardo’s Pizza property at 700 E. Kilbourn Ave. as well as the vacant lot across Kilbourn Ave. A portion of the lot across Kilbourn Ave. has been developed into Terrace Row Condominiums while the remain portion awaits this development to be utilized. Renderings of this project currently displayed on Workshop Architects’ website portray shorter buildings indicating the final design is still very much in flux. Although these renderings are still a work in progress they emphasize the projects potential to increase population density and rebuild the urban fabric. Articles Developer scoffs at condo competition Twin towers planned for downtown Milwaukee New Land planning downtown high rise (scroll down) The site location is pictured below via Google Maps Street View. View Larger Map

Call for entries!

Submission Guidelines: • Entrants may submit two original, unpublished pieces of short fiction (max. 3,000 words). • Entries will be judged by professional editors and educators not affiliated with VITAL Source. • Winner will have his or her entry published in the June print edition of VITAL Source Magazine and on our website. • Runners-up may have selected text from their story published in the print edition and up to their entire entry published on the VITAL Source website. Honorees will be asked to participate in a public reading event in June at a Harry W. Schwartz Bookstore, location TBD. Entries must be formatted as follows: • 8.5 x 11 page • 1” margins all the way around • Times New Roman 12 pt. type, single-spaced body text, 14 pt. title, left-justified • Double-return between paragraphs – no indents • Title and word count at top of page • Include contact information (author name, address, phone number, email address) and a brief biography (50 words maximum) on a separate sheet. Submitted entries will not be returned. Email electronic entries to: contest at vitalsourcemag dot com Mail hard copy entries to: VITAL Source Magazine Attn: Fiction Contest 133 W. Pittsburgh Ave. #409 Milwaukee, WI 53204 No calls, please.

Last chance to submit reels & clips for REEL MILWAUKEE! Deadline is 3/14!

REEL Milwaukee On Saturday March 22 from 9 to midnight, VITAL Source Magazine and The Social are throwing a party in conjunction with our March cover story on filmmaking in Wisconsin. As part of the evening’s festivities, we’re looking for Milwaukee filmmakers to submit videos to be included in a looping film montage at the party. There is NO fee. ALL video samples are due by March 14. NO EXCEPTIONS. There is no guarantee your film will be included, but early birds get more worms. It doesn’t need to be a complete film or your complete reel, but it does need to come from a completed work that either has or is likely to at some point soon be shown. Submission Guidelines *Include the title of the video and director(s) names of the video. *Include contact information: Name, phone, e-mail, street address. Please send media on a DVD, mini-DV tape, or VHS tape. If submitting a DVD make a “data disc” with a video file in one of the following formats. If you send a DVD that is “playable” in DVD players then the media needs to be ripped from the DVD and may not be usable for the video project. “”NO”” other tape formats will be accepted. Video formats: QuickTime Movie (.mov) *preferred Windows Media (.wmv) AVI (.avi) Image Sequence (animations) Note: Other video formats may work. Those listed above are the easiest to use. Here are other questions to consider. If you know the answers, please send them along. What is the frame size? (NTSC 4:3, HD 1440×1080, etc.) Is it anamorphic 16:9? What is the frame rate? (29.97, 23.98, etc.) What are the audio settings rate? (48 kHz, 44.1 kHz, etc.) Write the start time for the most important moment of the video. Send to: VITAL Source Attn: Video Collage 133 W. Pittsburgh Ave. #409 Milwaukee, WI 53204 Reply with questions. No deadline extensions, sorry. Hope to see you March 22!

Meet my dad

Maybe it was my visit to the cellar bar at Roots this week (where I’m told the chef is perfecting his own recipes for corned beef, rye bread and sauerkraut), or maybe it was my dad’s sheepish confession to me last weekend that he loves to Google his own name, but I was reminded recently that my dad – a corned beef producer and wholesaler whose secret recipes have made him famous among foodies nation-wide – has a video on YouTube. Meet my dad. And learn something about how corned beef is made, in the meantime. Think of it as an early St. Patrick’s Day offering. Those squeamish about raw beef brisket might not want to press play. My brother Sean and his wife Janel are having a baby girl, probably some time in the next week, so I’ve been talking to my family a lot more than usual as I call in daily for updates on Janel’s health, well-being and cervical dilation (she’s been at two centimeters for more than two weeks now). When I asked my dad if he was excited about grandchild number EIGHT, he said he would be, if Sean and Janel lived a little closer. This is funny, because they live less than an hour’s drive from my dad’s house. When I asked dad how he was going to feel when I had kids of my own, he said it didn’t matter because he’d be dead by then –which pretty much sums up my dad’s attitude about life. It’s a joyous sort of grumpiness that he abides by most of the time, and I love it about him, except when his grumpiness pisses me off. Finally, I’d like to contribute something to Matt’s weekend music report. While he was crying into his ice-cream over a Sonic the Hedgehog medley, I was at a tiki bar (Foundation) dancing like a maniac to the unbridled soul commotion of Iowa City’s Diplomats of Solid Sound. Then I saw The Chain open for Jail. Then I went home and slept like a baby. But wait! Sunday night continued to bring the noise! VITAL sponsored The Black Lips at Turner Hall, who brought along with them the fabulous Mr. Quintron. Mr. Quintron plays several interesting instruments he built himself, including a Hammon organ/Fender Rhodes synthesizer combo. His lovely wife Miss Pussycat shrieks along with him, plays the maracas and puts on puppet shows. After her production, a little cautionary tale about a hexing art gallery owner who turns one of her patrons into a marble statue, in which Santa Claus saves the day with an AK-47, The Black Lips – known in some circles for their really raucous antics – barely registered as more than four smart chords and some spitting. Jeff and I retired to a cabaret table near the back, which means we almost missed it when our friend Jared got up on the stage, spun around like an airplane, and then jumped right back off again, into […]

Whose Supreme Court Is It?

April 1st is shaping up as an important election day for Wisconsin, perhaps rivaling the presidential primary of February 19th. Locally, we have State Sen. Lena Taylor challenging Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. Walker was elected on a one-note platform of opposing new taxes and he has stuck to that mantra even as financial shortfalls and poor management have lead to cutbacks and fee increases in transit services and park programs. The Journal Sentinel has published exposes documenting gross lapses in the supervision of mental health patients resulting in some deaths and insufficient staffing of the county detention center leading to criminals escaping and committing heinous new crimes. Walker famously dismissed the announcement that regional leaders were creating the Milwaukee 7 initiative to improve the community’s profile as an attempt to “put lipstick on a pig.” Maybe it’s time for voters to elect someone who is more committed to making government work rather than making excuses for its failures. A number of city aldermanic and county supervisor seats are either open or being challenged. For example, Patrick Flaherty and Nic Kovac are engaged in a spirited race to fill Ald. Mike D’Amato’s open seat representing the city’s third district and, of course, imprisoned Alderman Michael McGee faces Milele Coggs. But perhaps no contest holds as much significance for the state of Wisconsin as the election to decide whether Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler should be returned to his seat. Once again the state’s largest business group, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, is preparing to spend millions of dollars in order to elect a justice more supportive of the state’s corporate interests. You may have already seen the attack ads run by the WMC and the Club for Growth, another pro-business organization. They resort to the time-honored tactic of charging Butler with being soft on criminals. The evidence? He voted along with a 4-3 majority to require a new trial for a convicted murderer since new analysis of DNA samples indicate it may not have been him. How could he! The truth is pretty transparent. Go to WMC’s web site and you see little mention of crime. Their stated priorities are “lower taxes, reduce regulation, and reform the legal system” and they go on to explain that government intervention and nuisance lawsuits interfere with an open business environment. Aren’t you glad they care about public safety? I mean they feature a quote from Milton Friedman, fer chrissakes! The Greater Wisconsin Committee, a liberal advocacy group isn’t taking this sitting down. They are running ads charging Butler’s opponent, Burnett County Circuit Judge Michael Gableman with buying his appointment from former Gov. Scott McCallum with campaign contributions. Check out the competing ads and judge for yourself. Gov. Jim Doyle appointed Butler to the Supreme Court following his 14 years of experience as a judge in Milwaukee. He has been endorsed by five major law enforcement organizations including the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, the Wisconsin Troopers’ Association and the Milwaukee Police Association, more than 200 […]

City Plan Commission Approves Empowerment Village

One item of note was the request for a changing in zoning from Industrial Heavy and Park to General Planned Development that had been held at the last City Plan Commission meeting. The approval of this resolution would be next step in allowing the Empowerment Village low income housing project to be built on a city owned lot near the Kinnickinnic River. It was held because local environmental groups had planned on utilizing the property for expanded green space and argued that the City of Milwaukee should work with the developer to find another vacant lot. After further review the Department of City Development (DCD) determined this was the best available city lot in that part of the city, that there significant time sensitive need for this type of housing project, and therefore recommended approval. Despite the recommendation Alderman Tony Zielinski continued his opposition to this project saying “the point is there are other options and I hope we don’t act on this”. The Commission took the advice of DCD and approved the resolution send it on the the Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee. The site location is pictured below via Google Maps Street View. View Larger Map

Keep Your Hands to Yourself and Eat Your Own Food!

An editorial in The New York Times today makes the strongest case yet that the tight race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should be good for the country as long as the candidates keep the focus on the issues. Unfortunately, both have demonstrated that they are willing to pander to voters and attack their opponent which risks alienating he public and screwing up their party’s chances in the November election. Who would have thought that this contest not only wouldn’t be decided by now but that it could actually continue on to the convention in Denver in August! New York Times columnist Gail Collins has some fun dissecting what happened in Ohio and Texas. Can you imagine a better metaphor for this competition than an elementary school cafeteria? Keep your hands to yourself and eat your own food!

The Film Wisconsin Clean-Up Bill

As Major Film Project Announces $20 Million Investment in Wisconsin, New Bill Circulates to Speed Development of the Industry Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton announced today that Senator Jeff Plale and Representative Pat Strachota circulated a bill to improve Wisconsin’s Film Production Tax Credit Services Program for co-sponsorship, and she asked the legislature to move it through the process with all due speed. “Today, Governor Doyle announced that NBC Universal will bring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Michael Mann – not to mention $20 million – to Wisconsin,” Lawton said. “I see this as the lead edge of the economic development and jobs coming in response to our film incentives. This bill will improve our potential to capture more film industry jobs for Wisconsin, and I urge the legislature to move it forward to solidify Wisconsin’s competitive position nationally.” The bipartisan bill would allow film production companies to transfer unused, nonrefundable credits to other taxpayers, such as other film production companies. It would also phase in residency requirements for eligibility of film production employees for tax credits as the talent infrastructure needed for productions fully develops in our state. Currently, Wisconsin’s incentives are a hybrid of refundable and non-refundable, nontransferable tax credits. States experiencing the greatest success in the industry enhance the value of their credits by making non-refundable credits transferable. The language of the bill allows for limited transfers and includes important safeguards to prevent fraud in transfers. Administration of the program will be funded by a fee paid by both parties in the transaction to the Departments of Revenue and Commerce. The bill’s chief sponsors are State Senator Jeff Plale (D-Milwaukee) and Representative Pat Strachota (R-West Bend). HOW YOU CAN HELP A hearing has been scheduled for AB 907 before the Assembly Committee for Jobs and the Economy. Please take a moment to complete the following action items by no later than Thursday, March 6, 10 am. The Legislature will adjourn sometime in the next two weeks and they will not reconvene for this type of work until 2009. Contact Assembly Speaker Michael Huebsch (R-West Salem) at: Rep.Huebsch@legis.wisconsin.gov. Ask Speaker Huebsch to support AB 907 and to schedule a floor vote this session, when it is voted out of committee. Register your support with the members of the Assembly Committee for Jobs and the Economy and thank Representative Patricia Strachota, the Committee’s Chairperson, for holding the hearing. Tell your legislator(s) why this bill is important to you as a member of the creative industries or to your business. Here are some talking points: The purpose of these incentives has always been to grow the film industry in Wisconsin. The incentives have already increased the film industry activity here and therefore the opportunity for existing Wisconsin businesses and the small, talented Wisconsin film industry workforce. Already at work on the new film Public Enemies are Wisconsin Set Designers, Location Managers, Art Department construction crew members, Art Department coordinators and Location Scouts. New films including Dust and The Violinist are in […]

Sleeping Beauty

Two feuding sisters. Two witches. Branwen the bright witch and Modron the dark bring a sibling duel to this entertaining fairytale of magical powers as this First Stage Children’s Theater production of Sleeping Beauty unfolds with engaging and innovative touches. From the fall of glittering fairy dust on children’s heads as they enter the theater, this performance sparkles. King Peredur and Queen Guinevere are childless, destined by Branwen to discover Briar Rose in scenic designer Rick Rassmusen’s enchanted forest. Branwen’s plan wanders astray when Modron finds the child first, refusing to listen to her sister’s pleas to leave the little girl for the King and Queen. In the heated exchange of conflicting spells, the Royal Couple uncovers the tiny baby and carries her off to the castle where she temporarily escapes Modron. Seeking revenge for losing this battle, Modron challenges her sister again at Briar Rose’s christening. With only one blessing remaining, the dark witch casts her evil curse of death for Briar Rose before reaching her 16th birthday. Branwen softens her sibling’s dire magic, but the cautious royals burn every spinning wheel on which the princess could prick her finger and die and confine her within the castle walls. As she grows, her loneliness deepens, even with the consolation of her imaginative playmate Gryff (half-man, half-dragon) – so every summer Owain, a prince from a far away Kingdom, comes to be her friend. Declared “utterly useless” by his father, Owain and Briar Rose struggle together as their friendship grows. Her belief in him allows the Prince to develop his hidden talents and eventually gives him the courage to overcome the 100-year sleeping spell that divides the witch sisters forever. Spinning this inspirational tale is a winning cast of both adult and child actors skillfully directed by Jeff Frank. Molly Glynn’s Modron, deliciously sinister, pairs nicely with Diane Robinson’s benevolent Branwen. The banter between Bo Johnson’s Peredur plays well to Jacque Troy’s Guinevere is delightfully humorous, and the “Briar Rose” children that performed on Friday were exceptionally convincing in their role. The comical additions of Benjamin Riegel’s Gryff and the Tylweth Teg forest fairies create entertaining characters that move the story forward. With this retelling, Sleeping Beauty sidesteps much of the make-believe to create the real that magic Owain learns lies within himself. As he is told: “A man’s heart is his mightiest weapon.” First Stage’s production ingeniously enhances the original fairytale by presenting the timeless virtues of friendship, love and courage into the realm of kept promises that all ages will certainly appreciate. When Gryff and Branwen encourage Owain in the end scene to again “listen to his heart,” this performance of Sleeping Beauty succeeds in awakening the personal magic lying expectantly inside every heart. VS First Stage Children’s Theater presents Sleeping Beauty through March 22 at the Todd Wehr Theater, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. For information call 414.273.7206 or visit First Stage online.

My cynicism is showing

Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee

City Hall 200 East Wells Street, Room 301-B Milwaukee, WI 53202 Agenda

Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee

City Hall 200 East Wells Street, Room 301-B Milwaukee, WI 53202 Agenda