Eyes on Milwaukee
Bay View’s White House Officially Historic
City's Historic Preservation Commission gives tavern a temporary historic designation.
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City's Historic Preservation Commission gives tavern a temporary historic designation. Back to the full article.
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Powerplay by the Alderman because the new owners didn’t “touch base” with him when they bought the building. Yes, it’s a historic building, but that didn’t seem to matter much when the old owners who were consistent contributors to TZ’s campaign decided to slap vinyl up on it. I’m curious if John Ebersol is taking direction from the Alderman now.
I just find it appalling that people – both neighbors and the Alderman- who have no financial obligations related to the building, and who would not be financially responsible for it going forward can step in and compel a designation like this. “Historic designation” means that the own cannot do any rehabilitation to the building unless it is to historic standards, including the cost of using materials from the era in question. Depending on the age of the building, the costs could be staggering. This is incredibly unfair and a huge overstep of local government. Such a designation shouldn’t be granted unless the OWNER, the person financially responsible, wants it.
And yes, I, too, find it fishy that Zielinski has been Alderman since 2004, and has been beating the Bay View drum the whole while, but first now wants to save this building as “historic.” Come on!!
From Tony Zielinksi’s response on one of the many FB posts on this topic ..”the prospective owner should have talked with me before they purchased the property.” They didn’t get his blessing, so TZ steps in and uses HPC to do his dirty work. Should the White House be designated historic? Probably, but the timing on all of this is strange.