Walker Administration Defends Vote Against RTA
The Milwaukee County Board Task Force on the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority Recommendations, chaired by Supervisor Patricia Jursik, met for the first time on Monday December 29th, 2008. Other members of the task force present at the meeting included Supervisor Chris Larson, Supervisor John Thomas (who arrived late), Thomas Kujawa (formerly of MCTS), and Lloyd Grant (attending on behalf of Ms. Anita Gulotta-Connelly). The goal of the task force is to present recommendations to the Transportation Committee, which will then be presented to the full Milwaukee County Board on February 5th, 2009.
Jan 5th, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
VITAL Source is NOT calling it quits
So Rick Romell, who I was told was one of the best business reporters in the newsroom over at the ailing Journal Sentinel, posted a news brief on their website this evening that was cause for concern in several areas: 1. It was embargoed until Monday – a BIG journalistic no-no 2. It was grossly inaccurate in both spirit and fact 3. This guy pulled my chain for 30 minutes on the phone doing an interview, then basically condensed a statement I’d sent the paper, editing for length by removing important pieces of the truth and substituting some sort of sloppy interpretative dance version of of the facts. I know I’m not supposed to be rude, being a comrade in arms in the so-called journalism brotherhood, but hey, he shot at me first. And if it was an accident, well, I’m still bleeding, so if I poke him in the eye it was self-defense. I’m so angry I could spit, and I let their deputy business editor know it. In fact, that’s a direct quote from my email to Jim Nelson. Jim asked that I not be too quick to judge Rick personally, as it could have been the copy desk who took his story and dramatically changed it. The specifics of who did what don’t matter to me; the fact remains that this is some seriously sloppy, potentially damaging “reporting.” So what’s really going on? Here it is, in plain English. Just the facts. I’m pasting the press release itself so you can decide whether we’re going out of business by evaluating the same information received by the professionals. And the media wonders why nobody believes a word they say… FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jon Anne Willow 414-372-5351 jwillow@vitalsourcemag.com January 5, 2009 VITAL Publications, LLC to cease printing VITAL Source Magazine; move will strengthen other business lines [MILWAUKEE, WI]—The majority partners in VITAL Publications, LLC, announced this morning that, effective with the current issue (January 2009), the company will no longer print local culture magazine VITAL Source. The company will continue to provide media distribution and creative services (including design, writing and copy editing) to Milwaukee businesses and non-profit organizations, and to operate its popular website, vitalsourcemag.com, which will relaunch in early February with a new focus and feature set to better meet the needs of its audience. Further information on the new site will be available soon. Though the magazine had a record year in 2008 and the company as a whole is expected to turn a profit for the first time since it was founded in late 2001, the recent sudden downturn in the economy has dramatically changed the magazine’s revenue forecast for 2009. According to the owners, the reduction in overhead realized by taking VITAL Source out of production will keep the company cash-positive and positioned to continue its growth trajectory. “This is what makes sense right now,” said Editor in Chief and co-Publisher Jon Anne Willow. “It breaks our hearts to think we won’t be […]
Jan 5th, 2009 by Jon Anne Willow
Our 2009 Top Ten Lists
It's time to look forward to what we can hope for and plan on in 2009.
Jan 5th, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
Weekly Bookmarks – Monday, 05. January 2009
17 years later, transit impasse drags on – JSOnline Bradley Center reports $2.1M net loss – The Business Journal of Milwaukee: Marquette moves on project despite donation lull Milwaukee could become Global Freshwater Capital : The Bay View Compass Senator slams city’s contracting preference
Jan 5th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Company To Supply KRM Train Sets Closes Doors
Colorado Railcar Manufacturing, the company slated to provide the train sets for the potential Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail line, has closed its doors due to a liquidity problem. The company was the only supplier of diesel multiple unit (DMU) trains that met FRA standards to operate on the same tracks as freight trains. So the battle over a recently released (and highly-flawed in our opinion) cost report might have to be tabled at this point.
Jan 2nd, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
NEW Global Issues column debuts this month!
One World, by former Slightly Crunchy Parent columnist Lucky Tomaszek, takes a look at global issues through a local lens and focuses on living in the world with as little damanging impact as possible and facing the challenges our families and communities face environmentally, economically and ethically. Check it out this month, let us know what you think and come back to this blog often for updates, information and resources for living consciously on our planet. -ed. BPA – you’re soaking in it About ten years ago, I started hearing quiet murmurs about Teflon pots and pans, Styrofoam cups, plastic dishes and disposable flatware. They were just rumors, really. Things mentioned quietly, in passing. At first I ignored it. Then I started asking a few questions. None of the people doing the whispering really seemed to know a lot about it – they had all just heard similar rumors and were passing it on. Finally, I got a short summary. There were a few theories being tossed around about the safety of consuming hot foods and beverages using any of these kitchen supplies. Maybe it wasn’t as safe as it seemed. A little online digging (in the very early days of the internet – pre-Google!) afforded me more parts of the rumors. The potential danger stemmed from the possibility that certain chemicals might be leached from the plastic by heat and absorbed by the macaroni and cheese or hot chai that was about to be ingested. This concept rocked my whole world. If this theory was true, there were so many things I had been doing for years that could be dangerous. It didn’t seem possible to me – everyone I knew used Teflon and plastic spoons and Styrofoam cups. No one seemed to be suffering any ill effects. There were no cases of cancer, no ongoing or mysterious illnesses. I tried to dismiss it. But the rumors persisted and I started noticing things. Like, how some of my plastic cups changed colors when I put hot cider in them, or how you could burn a hole clean through the layer of plastic wrap by overheating it in the microwave. I watched my food bubble up through those holes and realized it was entirely possible that whatever was in the plastic could be in my food. And though I didn’t know any of the science behind it, I knew that humans shouldn’t be eating plastic. Slowly, we started changing the way we did things around the house. No more foam dishes, very little plastic flatware. Hot food was served on regular old dishes, always. I ditched the coated pans, upgraded for cast iron one piece at a time. For the most part I did these things quietly. The whole concept was still so new, and I was well aware that it could all turn out to be a wave of hysteria that would be laughed at a decade later. At the same time, I wasn’t willing to risk it. So, […]
Jan 2nd, 2009 by Lucky Tomaszek
Friday Photos Friday, 02. January 2009
The North End 1824 E. Park Place The Edge Convent Hill Demolition Convent Hill Demolition
Jan 1st, 2009 by Dave Reid
Photos From the Top of the Downer Avenue Parking Garage
A view from atop the Downer Ave. Parking Garage
Jan 1st, 2009 by Dave Reid
Service, art and self-expression
In these troubled economic times, the news reports are full of dire predictions about the fate of non-profits of all types, from the organizations supported by United Way to arts organizations of all descriptions. The Baltimore Opera recently declared bankruptcy and the New York Metropolitan Opera has been having a tough year. Here at home, our own Milwaukee Shakespeare has closed its doors after funding bottomed out, and the Greater Milwaukee Committee says that its grant levels this year will be below those of last year. And these are just the most transparent examples of the tightening atmosphere. So it’s remarkable that the Shorewood Players Theatre’s upcoming production of The Women, written by Clare Boothe Luce, is also a fundraiser for Gilda’s Club of Southeastern Wisconsin, a cancer support organization serving communities all over the United States. Gilda’s Club is named for comedian and actor Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989. The club takes its name from a quip attributed to Radner: “Having cancer gave me a membership in an elite club I’d rather not be a part of.” The philosophy behind the club was developed by Radner, her husband Gene Wilder and Radner’s cancer psychotherapist, Joanna Bull. The support structure that the club is committed to providing is extremely important to surviving any type of cancer, for all involved. All of the club’s services and activities are free, so its survival absolutely depends on outside funding. Gilda’s Club of Southeastern Wisconsin is located in a storefront on Oakland Avenue in Shorewood and provides emotional support, educational programs and social activities for men, women and children facing cancer, as well as their families and loved ones. One of Gilda’s Club’s key philosophies is that this kind of support must take place in a warm, welcoming and non-institutional environment – somewhere away from the hospital. Appropriately, one of the central themes of The Women is the support that the main characters provide to each other. Through all the challenges that the women of Luce’s modern, cosmopolitan world face, they have each other as an antidote to the roles they must assume to the outside world. While many have criticized the play as depicting vain and shallow women with no sense of how privileged their lives are, the Shorewood Players under the direction of Carol Zippel, Windfall Theatre’s Artistic Director, find something very different in the story. Zippel’s vision is of our modern world and the challenges that it poses to all of us, seen from the viewpoint of women and told in spectacularly entertaining fashion. The entire ensemble is female, and no male characters appear on stage. Both film adaptations of the play (1939 and 2008) have gone so far as to only show pictures of women and to clear the street scenes of all men. Major productions of The Women attract A-list talent, from Norma Shear to Annette Bening and Jada Pinkett Smith. The show holds the record for longest-running non-musical show on Broadway and has […]
Jan 1st, 2009 by Ryan Findley
Keeping warm, Ukrainian style
Vasyl Lemberskyy Owner/Chef – Transfer Pizzeria Café 101 W. Mitchell St. 414-763-0438 • transfermke.com (photos by Melissa Merline) The economy may be suffering, but you’d never know it from the percolating patronage of a restaurant less than a year old: Transfer. Co-owner and, in his own words, “Chef Extraordinaire” Vasyl Lemberskyy grew up in Kiev, Ukraine when it was still a Soviet Socialist Republic. There, the economy left people so destitute that hunger was rampant, and the Chernobyl disaster occurred just a few hours away. Lemberskyy made pizza for 20 years in Ukraine and later studied with a Master chef in Italy. When he moved to the United States in 2001, he thought he’d sworn off restaurant work for good. “It’s hard work. I’m tired all the time, not enough time for my family or myself.” Nonetheless, he worked for Polonez and then opened several restaurants alone and with partners, among them Primavera and Fresche. At Transfer, the focus is on Lemberskyy-style pizza, pasta and paninis. He is not overly boastful about his cred as a pizza maker, especially considering his product: his crusts, all made daily by hand, are thin enough to be crispy with enough body to hold a luscious chewy center. The garlic pizza is lavished with a creamy sauce and cheese and slides down the throat without being greasy. You won’t find any Ukrainian dishes on Transfer’s menu, so you’ll have to try this hearty winter favorite in your own kitchen. Zrazy – Vasyl’s Favorite Ukrainian Dish Zrazy are small potato pancakes filled with meat and fried in fat. Zrazy are usually served with fried pork fat. 2 lbs potatoes 1 lb beef 2 large onions, chopped and fried 2 cups sunflower oil Salt to taste Grate half of the potatoes finely. Boil another half in skins. Peel off, grate and add to the uncooked potatoes, then blend and salt to taste. Boil meat, then grind in a food processor and combine with fried finely chopped onion. Shape small cakes and fill in with meat. Fry in oil until light brown. Serve at once. We want you! Submit your recipes for consideration to eatthis@vitalsourcemag.com. We might use them in a future edition of Eat This! Ulana Tyshynsky Ulana Tyshynsky, a fourth grade teacher at Forest Home Avenue School, proudly maintains the Ukrainian culture passed on by her immigrant parents. Cuisine is one of the things she values from her heritage. This bread is a holiday tradition but is also made though out the year. It’s best stored in plastic for several weeks to let the honey mellow before serving. A fun fact: many Ukrainians worship in the Eastern Orthodox tradition and celebrate Christmas on January 7. Medivnyk (Ukrainian honey loaf) ½ cup butter 1 cup dark honey 6 eggs, separated 1 cup powdered sugar 3 cups all-purpose flour ½ t ground cloves ½ t ground cinnamon 1 t baking soda 1 cup golden raisins (optional) 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) Melt honey and butter over […]
Jan 1st, 2009 by Cate Miller
Boards, committees and Bohl – oh my!
In this edition: BOZA gets a new chair, Alderman Bohl blows up and the mainstream media once again misses the mark. Big news! New BOZA head: Outside of city government, not many people know or care about the Board of Zoning Appeals, affectionately known by insiders as BOZA. (Pronounced with a long “o” and a short “a,” so it rhymes with “Rosa.”) But if you live in the City of Milwaukee, run a business here or watch the city government station on TV (Channel 25), you know how vitally important BOZA is to maintaining a good quality of life in Milwaukee. Whenever a daycare wants to open in a residential neighborhood, or someone wants to put up an extra-large billboard, or a corner store is up for renewal, the Board, made up of private citizens, votes on whether or not exceptions (i.e. “variances”) to land use restrictions should be granted. Typically, an alderman or his/her aide will go before BOZA and tell why he/she is for/against the variance. There is often a lot of good neighborhood testimony, too, and the hearings can go well into the night. This is local government at its finest, and the chairman – for more than a decade – has been well-respected tax attorney Craig Zetley. In November, Zetley announced his resignation. This announcement sent shockwaves throughout City Hall and beyond, but it was barely mentioned by most Milwaukee media outlets. The replacement is long-time BOZA member Catey Doyle, who also happens to be sister to Governor Jim Doyle. Catey, the staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society, is passionate about Milwaukee and a great person for a job that would be demanding for anyone. Tune in to Channel 25 on any Thursday night when BOZA is in session and see how she runs her meetings. The general expectation seems to be that Ms. Doyle will be extremely fair with aldermen and citizens alike, but maybe not has hard line as Mr. Zetley when it comes to the interpretation of city code. Doyle is known for being empathetic and understanding of special circumstances. Like church, but for liquor licenses: Speaking of running city meetings, there was quite a bit of commotion at the Licenses Committee hearing in early December. Alderman Jim Bohl, known for his integrity, sincerity and long-winded analogies, is chair of the committee that grants a variety of alcohol and other licenses. He took over that role for Ald. James Witkowiak in April, but it’s Bohl’s second turn at being the chair of Licenses. (He’s one of the most veteran aldermen, having represented the west side of Milwaukee for more than a decade.) During this particular hearing, Bohl blasted citizens in attendance for not turning off their cell phones. “This should be like church,” he said at one point, exhorting people to be respectful of the proceedings. He even kicked out one person whose cell phone continued to ring. Many observers thought Bohl crossed the line. The castigation of Milwaukee residents – many […]
Jan 1st, 2009 by Dan Corcoran
Milwaukee Filmmaker Speakeasy
Michael Sotille of Lemon Lounge @ Oakland and Locust … So I told Grandma I loved her and then Grandpa ambled onto the phone. We did the wife, dog, salon updates and I heard about the latest movies to sneak into at the budget cinema and how there will never be peace in Israel in his lifetime. I um-hmm along and the call (as always) ended with “Give Carly a big kiss and say hello to the boys in the back room.” Kissing the wife is no prob, but the boys in the back room? That’s kinda sick. I want a back room. We are on the top of Mt. 2009, so cut me some slack and allow me to gently dissect one of the challenges I experience as a fringe filmmaker and late-night screenwriter in Milwaukee. There is no spot. No filmmaker’s speakeasy. Bike messengers have the Swingin’ Door on Michigan to talk about short-billed hats and fixed gears; fat cat lawyers and judges pop over for lunch at Jake’s Deli on North to feel out pleas and city nominations. Filmmakers need that softly lit, sideways bar to hunch over and steal a look when the door creaks open to see if a comrade has entered. We need a place to drink in the anomalous delights of speaking the same, strange film language, a place to go to procrastinate, offer condolences for projects that die, do shots to films that spring to life, argue about this editor or that scene and just talk shit in general. A filmmaker’s back room if you will. Will you? I thought you would. So then, the mission is set! And I think I gots it: Lemon Lounge on Oakland. Owner/bartender Michael Sottile has been around the block of the independent film world. Since 1992, he has appeared in Reservoir Dogs, Speed, Outbreak and a few indie feature films starring opposite Julie Bowen (ER, Weeds, Lost, Boston Legal) and Traci Lords (amazing!). Sottile’s latest appearance is in Modus Operandi (directed by Frankie Latina; trailer on myspace.com/frankielatina), which was shot on Super 8mm in Milwaukee on a self-proclaimed budget of CHEAP. For those keeping score, that is some dirt-under-the-nails filmmaking. Walk into Lemon and shut the door quickly behind you, because chances are you’ll let out all the heat. The place is tiny, the size of a forgotten box office more than a bar, sitting in the shadows of the Miramar Theater on Oakland. Dimly lit with candles and white Christmas lights, Lemon comes on like a Brooklyn cellar bar or a Parisian lounge with its own Hemingway story. Hanging from the exposed brick walls are sentimental paintings, a few old film posters and a framed Rolling Stone’s Let It Bleed record. You can’t fuck with that. Bottom line: you get the feeling that this is a place where stories are told and business gets done. Lemon frequently hosts private screenings or showings of works-in-progress on their flat screen/DVD/stereo sound set up. In fact, walk-in, […]
Jan 1st, 2009 by Howie Goldklang
