Planning for Resilient Cities
Speaker: Timothy Beatley, the Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities at the University of Virginia, This lecture will explore the meaning of resilience for cities and urban populations, the challenges faced ahead, and some of the important planning and policy strategies that will help cities become more resilient. Mr. Beatley will review key findings and recommendations of his recent book “Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change” (with Peter Newman and Heather Boyer), and will present promising examples of North American, European and Australian cities taking steps to move in the direction of resilience. This presentations will take place at the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP) from 7:00 – 8:30 pm in Room 170. SARUP is located at 2131 E. Hartford Avenue, Milwaukee, WI. This lecture will be registered with the APA for 1.0 CM Credits for AICP Members in attendance. The attached brochure contains further details, including a speaker biography and brief abstract. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at griepen4@uwm.edu. Brochure
Apr 19th, 2009 by Dave Reid
City Plan Commission Meeting
The City Plan Commission (CPC) is the City’s official planning body established under State statute and is responsible for master planning activities. The CPC advises the Common Council on a variety of land development issues including zoning map changes, revisions in the zoning ordinance, subdivision approvals, business improvement districts, street and alley vacations, public land disposition and acquisition, new streets and the approval of development plans in certain overlay districts. City Plan Commission (CPC) meetings start at 1:30 p.m. and are held in the First Floor Boardroom at the Department of City Development, 809 North Broadway, unless otherwise noted. Agenda
Apr 19th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Historic Preservation Commission Meeting
The Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) administers Milwaukee’s historic preservation ordinance, adopted in 1981, which provides certain kinds of legal protection for buildings or sites that have been declared historic by the Common Council. The HPC is responsible for designating historic landmarks and historic districts and for approving Certificates of Appropriateness (COAs) for permission to alter historic buildings. The HPC meets monthly on Mondays in City Hall, Room 301A, 200 E. Wells Street at 3:00 P.M. unless otherwise indicated. Agenda
Apr 19th, 2009 by Dave Reid
The Magic Flute at Florentine Opera
Magic Flute is one of Mozart's most heart-snatchingly beautiful operatic works, and the Florentine's company delivers a sparkling, joyful performance that is a delight from start to finish.
Apr 19th, 2009 by Amy Elliott
FREE SCREENING of Wilco Documentary ASHES OF AMERICAN FLAGS Mon 4/20
Monday 4/ 20 (holler): Free Wilco Movie @ Turner Hall (double holler): Pull up a chair and remenise on Wilco's sold out 2 day run at the Pabst at this amazing FREE SCREENING!!
Apr 18th, 2009 by Howie Goldklang
Way to go, Iowa!
Earlier this month, the Iowa Supreme Court voted unanimously to uphold a lower court decision to allow same-sex couples to marry. In less than two weeks, the state will begin to officially recognize unions between homosexual partners. It brings me great pride to see my home state make such a momentous (and surprising) decision. There will undoubtedly be the usual flurry of angry, religious fundamentalists and other party poopers, but one can only hope that those in power will stick to their guns. No matter what happens, the situation in Iowa is still a victory for supporters of basic human rights. That’s why I’ve put together a short play list of songs that apply to the gay-marriage debate, civil rights, and the wide range of emotions that accompany these issues. Arcade Fire – “My Body is a Cage” Feelings of repression are inescapable while listening to the closing track of 2007’s Funeral. Front man Win Butler may or may not have written the song to deal with issues of gay rights, but the sentiments expressed in “My Body is a Cage” have undeniably strong parallels to the topic. Canada’s Arcade Fire made a shockingly accurate prediction about a post-Prop 8 America and foresaw the despair of those “living in an age that calls darkness light.” Win’s crushing confession of “My body is a cage/ That keeps me from dancing with the one I love” is especially poignant. The statement is a perfect metaphor for the outrage of those who have ever been told who they can and can’t be with. Stevie Wonder – “Living for the City” A beloved former teacher once addressed my history class, saying, “Some day we’ll look back on the way the United States is handling same-sex marriage and feel as ashamed as we do about segregation.” This was a bold statement for a Catholic high school teacher in suburban Green Bay, and the lecture has stuck with me more so than almost any other from the course of my education. It’s hard to think of any wide scale injustices of the past, present or future without the synthy narrative of “Living for the City” coming to mind. Stevie Wonder tells a story of crushed innocence and lost hope through vivid imagery and a disturbing, surreal spoken-word interlude. While Wonder’s portrait of a broken and prejudiced society may seem like a distant memory, the overall theme is still (unfortunately) applicable to today’s human rights struggles. Big Star – “The Ballad of El Goodo” It’s all too easy to feel utterly hopeless when thinking about the ignorance and ass-backwards policies surrounding same-sex marriage legislation. Indignation can be a powerful tool in the fight to change the world around us, but it’s also necessary to hold on to at least a few shreds of optimism as well. Few songs capture the feeling of hope in the face of adversity better than Big Star’s “The Ballad of El Goodo.” The track teeters dangerously close to being defined as complete […]
Apr 17th, 2009 by Nick Schurk
Blooming, unscathed
I recently went through a time when it felt like the world was against me. There seemed to be obstacles at every corner. And a few wrong turns in general. It got to the point where conflicts at work, home and within myself were distracting me from the same. So I set out to find the cause. I pointed my finger over there. Complained a little over here. Had a couple beers. And waxed poetic against the great injustices in my life – including the people I felt were orchestrating them. Then I spent some time reviewing a mental filmstrip of recent occurrences . . . When did I break that mirror? How could a black cat cross my path without me noticing it? And why on earth (so to speak) does mercury always seem to be in retrograde? Then it hit me. If it wasn’t the universe throwing my life off orbit, maybe it was me. This realization didn’t happen over night or come to me in a dream. It came from a series of conversations with myself and others. And it caused me to both pause and take action. I remembered the retreat I went on last spring and how that week at Solitude Ridge had impacted me. While I was out there, I passed the time by writing, listening to music, listening to the silence and doing a lot of hiking. I cooked nutritious food and took lots of naps. I reconciled a few things and made peace with the things I couldn’t. It was all very “Closer to Fine” of me. One of the most important things I realized during that retreat was exactly how much I don’t have control over. For example, one night there was a terrible thunderstorm, which saturated the ground and even damaged a few small trees. But the next morning, wild flowers were blooming, unscathed. Being out there also allowed me to evaluate whether I was using the powers I do have to their fullest extent. I recalled a conversation with a dear friend a few years back. We were debating how much of life is predetermined and how much is not. I firmly stated that I believe in fate. And to my surprise, she said she didn’t. What? Who says that? Who disagrees with one of the most romantic sentiments ever invented? Hasn’t she seen “Serendipity”,“You’ve Got Mail” or “Lady and the Tramp”? But then she explained . . . If we trust everything to fate, we’re surrendering one of our most important human traits – free will. Yes, things happen to us. And sometimes they’re horrible. And no, I can’t explain them. But maybe that’s why it’s so important for us to exercise control over the things we actually can impact. There’s a book out there called Change the Way You See Everything. It’s a pretty short read with long-term advice about how focusing on what’s right goes a lot further than focusing on what’s wrong. This book, which was a gift from my boss, […]
Apr 17th, 2009 by Michelle Sieg
Friday Photos Friday, 17. April 2009
Streetcar Rail Reappearing in Milwaukee South Water Works Corcoran Lofts Corcoran Lofts Hometown Site
Apr 17th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Gallery Night & Day April 2009
There’s no pulling punches when Milwaukee Magazine editor Bruce Murphy writes his weekly “Murphy’s Law” column. A recent one gave a full and lucid explanation about the Janet Zweig saga, i.e., how ideas for that particular public sculpture evolved and where (more or less) the project is going, if anywhere. I laugh when writers “take ownership” of what they deem to be hot stories, and laugh even more when readers are laboriously reminded that a particular writer developed (you read it here first folks!) a particular story. Murphy was correct when he compared much of today’s journalism with kudzu growing rampant. All surface and no depth, with windbags, bozos (Murphy’s word) and other folks who like to see their name in print checking in! And now, wow! A star is born, courtesy of the Haggerty Museum, which put the eccentric works of Peter Bardy on display in Current Tendencies, running through June 14. Eccentricity isn’t a bad thing. In fact, we have several locals who fit that mold: Bob Watt and Jimmy Von Milwaukee are two, but they’ve been stars for years. Bardy shot himself dead last summer, leaving behind a west side home filled with items he’d fashioned from scavenged stuff, and voilà! The formerly unknown is now known. Is the Haggerty making a run to roust the rather exclusive territory carved out by the Kohler Museum in Sheboygan, the realm of Outsider Art? (But don’t call it that, because actually Outsiders are more Insiders these days.) The curator of the Haggerty exhibit, Lynn Shumow, came to Milwaukee from the vaunted Kohler. Every curator loves a good back story, and Bardy’s is apparently hers. But does that make it “art?” Stella thinks that of more import is the possibility of the green ash borer decimating the green ash grove on the north side of the Haggerty Museum itself. It’s frightening to imagine, but a group of In:Site artists (including Mike Brenner) are preparing to present plans on temporary art for the Park East land, long vacant and more or less a cause for concern. This may be an even bigger boondoggle than the Zweig flap and the Lincoln Park sculpture madness, whose flames were fanned by Pegi Taylor, noted for nay-saying everything and everyone but herself. Shameless self-promotion: Stella has a feature story (“Fleecing”) in the current issue of INFO magazine, about how American taxpayers are getting shorn. It looks pretty cool alongside all those hot shots of babes and studs. The taxpayer is wearing a barrel. And as the grandkid of a major rancher of sheep, she’s an expert on the subject. John Riepenhoff and a host of other young artists and Milwaukee-based gallerists are in Cologne, Germany for an exhibition. Painter Peter Barrickman’s work, installed in a booth, made the trip packed in a big suitcase which Riepenhoff lugged along to its final destination. Meanwhile, Green Gallery East and West remain open for action. My personal pick for this weekender, Gallery Night and Day, is a small […]
Apr 16th, 2009 by Stella Cretek
The Pavilion
“This is a play about time,” the Narrator of The Pavilion announces. And “time” here is both an intriguing theme an theatrical snag. The Pavilion is the latest entertainment offering of Next Act Theatre. Although the play has moments of genuine humor, literary beauty and acting prowess, overall, the production’s full-size sheet felt stretched out over a queen-size bed. The plot of The Pavilion is a simple one. It’s the summer of 2000 and Pine City, Minnesota is having it’s twenty year high school reunion. Peter has returned to his home town to win back the heart of Kari, his high school love. Twenty years ago Peter skipped out on Kari to go to college, her pregnancy the reason for his abrupt exit. Kari was left alone and bitter to deal with her impending child. Now Peter is back, using the highschool reunion to make amends with Kari and rectify his now conscionable stupidity. The Pavilion, the old dance hall location where the class reunion of 1980 takes place, is also a metaphor for the universal covering under which we all interact. For interconnectedness, how everything we do, from whom we choose to love to every thought we think, has an affect and effect on everyone and everything else in the universe. It’s a rich and interesting concept but one that’s presented here with blocks of ennui I found difficult to ignore. Angela Iannone (Narrator) watches over Mark Ulrich (Peter) and Mary MacDonald Kerr (Kari) The unique story element in The Pavilion is the inclusion of a Narrator character played by Angela Iannone. Narrator is an extremely modest character name for one who fulfills multitudinous theatrical elements. Iannone is an exceptionally apt protean performer. For in this small triumvirate cast she plays not only our cosmic force and commentator, but a myriad of other reunion attendees, both humorous and tragic, for Peter and Kari to interact with. The mutable actress changes body and voice like most of us change TV channels. Mark Ulrich plays Peter. In less capable acting hands Peter could come across with a certain false pretense. But Ulrich takes his time with the role and plays it simply. The highlight of his performance comes when he presents Peter’s monologue about how and when he first fell in love with Kari. There’s an earnest gentleness to his delivery that defies anyone with a brain to lose their attention. Mary MacDonald Kerr, virtuoso director of Next Act’s past production of Going to St. Ives, plays Kari. Kerr, with the honesty and openness of someone with nothing to lose, does the best she can with the unsympathetic role of a character who blames the universe for her current marital and childless dilemma, but unfortunately just comes across as annoyingly petulant. Director David Cecsarini puts his actors sufficiently, if tediously, through the emotional obstacle course of the plot. The blocking of the actors and the use of the performance space is well handled. Only once did I notice a clunky transition […]
Apr 16th, 2009 by Michael Madden
The Great Elvis Cake Experiment
A little while ago, after a jaunt down State Street in Madison just to see if it was what I remembered from my youth (the answer: yes and no. Remember Brady Street ten years ago? Yeah. Close your eyes, think about it, then open them while standing outside Hi Hat. Same feeling), I drove over to another section of town to look up an old friend who worked at the Harmony Bar and Grill. A few blocks away was a charming strip (think Downer Ave. without the new-found pretense) with a place called ‘the Blue Plate Diner’. It was a hopping joint, emulating a working-class eatery experience with higher prices. To give it credit, the Blue Plate ambience was exactly what it advertised – albeit with a slightly fancier menu fare. We have come to expect Denny’s or George Webb when it comes to the diner experience; it’s food without thought. So to receive a menu item of a known food and then find it slightly more gourmet was a bit alarming. After a sumptuous bratwurst platter, I was ready for dessert before driving home for two hours. It didn’t help matters that the brightly-lit cabinet was positioned right in front of my counter stool. After asking about the choices, I picked the obvious: the Elvis Cake. It was a tight four-layer banana cake with peanut-butter frosting between layers, cloaked in chocolate icing. The cake was artery-clogging, and for once it was a dessert I couldn’t finish. But when the manager asked me how it was, I told him it missed something: bacon. There’s been a sort of renaissance of sorts lately when it comes to bacon. The online “cool kids” fetishize the meaty strip into ridiculous heights of fancy (see: bacon bra, bacon dinosaur egg, bacon AK-47, pig wrapped in bacon, Jim Gaffigan’s routines, etc). Certain venues (see: the Comet Coffeehouse) and cooking sites (see: Epicurious) brought the use of bacon to a higher art form – away from the forbidden meat of religious and dietary scorn – into the fray as a major force of culinary delight. Bacon (or its cousin, prosciutto) can be wrapped around or inserted into melon, shrimp, water chestnuts, meatloaf, potato, and just about anything to make it smoky and salty. So why is it so commonly left out of the lore of Elvis Presley’s favorite sandwich? Even the postcards at Graceland assert his favorite sandwich is the grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich. You want the recipe? Here: slather butter on one side of two slices of bread. Slather one piece on opposite side with peanut butter, the other slice with mushy bananas. Join. Grill over medium-high heat in frying pan and carefully flip after less than two minutes to fry the other side. To make it perfect, add cooked bacon before joining slices. What we loved about Elvis’s eating habits is that they were so low culture. He was singing royalty that acted just like us. The most famous story involving a sandwich and the king involved the Fool’s Gold Loaf: while […]
Apr 16th, 2009 by Brian Jacobson
It’s only April, stay cool. (3-6)
Dear Ken, It’s been a tough start, but stay cool. Let the Fonz show you how – that’s what he’s here for. Forget that we’re still looking for that first series win after dropping four of six games at home against the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds. No need to fluster; it’s April. Here’s some free advice I think can help our Crew. About the starting rotation: Bloggers are calling for Jeff Suppan’s head after Monday’s debacle. I saw the look on your face after his third consecutive bases-loaded walk; I’m not surprised that you pushed Soup back in the rotation so he can work on throwing strikes without, you know, giving away ballgames to our archrivals. Yovani Gallardo suffered some growing pains when the Reds busted him for seven runs Tuesday. Shit happens, YoGa will be fine. Manny Parra and Braden Looper looked solid in their outings, and I’m liking the back half of the rotation. Now about those bats: Word on the street is Ryan Braun is nursing that intercostal strain from last year, which is why he’s off to a slow, homer-less start. You have seven other hitters to pick up the slack. Mike Cameron is on fire, the best we’ve seen him hit in Milwaukee. Corey Hart is looking better; thanks for passing along my advice about laying off those low-and-away breaking pitches. “Pretty” Rickie Weeks is showing some pop in his bat, but I’m not sure he belongs in the leadoff spot with his strikeout numbers. Try batting him in the six or seven spot, and put Kendall in the leadoff spot like you did in Oakland. Your bullpen is like a box of chocolates: They’ve only blown one lead, but maybe that’s because they haven’t inhereted very many leads yet. It’s early, but it scares me that Todd Coffey has the best-looking arm of the bunch. You must be looking forward to closer Trevor Hoffman’s return; I like Carlos Villanueva better in middle relief. Notes to pass along to the guys: Bill Hall: Slightly above average is all we need. Maintain. Dave Bush: Love the beard; it’s way badder than Corey’s. Bill Schroeder: If you see Trenni Kuznierek, tell her we miss her. Craig Counsell: Keep it gritty. That’s how we do in North Central Little League. Brian Anderson: I never made the “connection” between Wilco and Grateful Dead fans, thanks for pointing that out. I’m sure Jeff Tweedy appreciated it. That should do it, Ken. Stay positive, and be well on your upcoming eleven-game road trip. Best, Adam Lovinus
Apr 16th, 2009 by Adam Lovinus
