Catch 22 offers sports, upscale comfort food and 22-cent beers

Soup’s On has closed

The Bertelson Building

Upper 90 Sports Pub opening near Bradley Center

Cafe Brucke blossoming into Allium

Café Benelux opening in four weeks

Café Benelux, 346 N. Broadway, announced yesterday that it’s opening in “four weeks,” putting the opening day in the week of June 5. The target date is June 7. Want a look inside the coming soon Café Benelux? Check out the café, restaurant and market’sFacebook page for “under construction” photos. 360 Degrees, LLC is doing much of inside work. Owned by the Lowlands Group (Café Hollander, Trocadero, Café Centraal), we first told youabout Café Benelux last August. Café Benelux will feature roof top seating and a European-style market, in addition to its café, restaurant and bar options.

Steven Kraeger, Jason Haas seek vacant County Board seat

Like other political contests to be decided April 5, the race to replace Chris Larson on the Milwaukee County Board seems to have been invigorated by the furious budget-repair battle in Madison. Larson was one of 14 Democratic state senators who left the state and stayed in Illinois to avoid voting on the bill that eliminated most collective bargaining for public unions. He won his seat in the Senate in November. After a three-way primary in February, Steven Kraeger and Jason Haas are facing off for the remainder of Larson’s term, which ends in 2012. Kraeger, who owns a trucking company and describes himself as a conservative, won 49% of the vote in February. Since then he’s poured more than $50,850 of his own money into his campaign treasury. “I thought it might be necessary,” he said, adding that he wants to win. Haas lent his campaign $5,250 and said he’s relying on friends and doing lots of doors to win. “My opponent, meanwhile, has chosen to rely on his personal funds and recycled ideas,” Haas said. “This election will be won by listening to the voters at their doorsteps and presenting them with real solutions for Milwaukee County.” Both Kraeger and Haas have run for this same seat before. And both said they believe voters are more energized now. But Kraeger said he’s made it a point not to use the terms Democratic or Republican labels in the south-side County Board race because it’s nonpartisan. Still, he said, he supports Republican Gov. Scott Walker‘s budget-repair measure, which eliminate most collective bargaining with public employee unions and requires most public employees to pay more for medical benefits and pensions. And he disapproves of Larson’s leaving the state. “In my opinion, I don’t believe Chris did the right thing by leaving the state, and I couldn’t do it under the same circumstances,” Kraeger said. Haas sees it differently. “Strategically, I see why they (the senators) left the state,” he said. Larson backs Haas. The firestorm in Madison has led to more voters paying attention to this election, Haas said. “I have seen a difference at the doors,” he said. “Before the primary, people were not very aware that an election was coming up. Now, people are activated and energized. And a lot are very angry about the budget-repair bill and they’re happy to hear that I’m not a fan.” Haas has the endorsement of a number of unions, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Both candidates said they’re concerned about the future of the county’s finances, its parks and transportation issues. For Kraeger, the Hoan Bridge remains a priority. “We’re in the process of resurfacing the bridge at a cost of $7.1 million, but the real answer is to rebuild the bridge because it’s so important to our economy to get it fixed for the next 50 years,” he said. Kraeger said he’s also concerned about sewage dumping by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District in heavy rains and […]

More fireworks from the life of county exec candidate Abele

There are, of course, the rules that most of us have to abide by. And then there are the rules that millionaire philanthropist Chris Abelefollows. Glendale records show Abele, one of two candidates for Milwaukee County executive, took more than seven years to show up in Municipal Court and resolve a first-offense operating while intoxicated offense. “It was a stupid, stupid mistake and I regret it,” Abele told reporters Thursday after an hourlong candidate question and answer session with the Milwaukee Press Club. “If I could go back and change it, I would. But I can’t. What I can do is learn from it.” But did he? It doesn’t appear so. A Milwaukee Municipal Court judge hit Abele with a warrant in late 2006 for failing to appear at an arraignment hearing after he was ticketed for discharging fireworks in the city. Specifically, Abele was accused of tossing a lighted firework over his fence at local attorney Michael Hupy, according to the police citation. Hupy had come over to Abele’s $2.6 million home on N. Lake Drive on July 15, 2006, to complain that Abele was talking loudly and shooting off fireworks late in the evening. “I interviewed Abele, who stated that he indeed threw the lit firework over the fence as a joke,” wrote Officer Paul Martinez. “Abele stated that he has had numerous problems in the past with Hupy but was willing to apologize.” Abele eventually pleaded no contest and was fined. $175. He was 39 at the time. A spokesman for Abele’s opponent, state Rep. Jeff Stone, said there are two images of Abele that are emerging, the one of the candidate running for county exec and the one appearing in various news reports. “Who’s running for county exec – Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?” said Vi Hammelman, Stone’s campaign manager. “Will the real Chris Abele please stand up?” Abele, a Milwaukee Democrat, and Stone, a Republican from Greendale, square off on April 5 for the right to complete the final year of Gov. Scott Walker‘s term in the technically nonpartisan job. No Quarter reported this year that Abele, who runs the family’s charitable foundation, Argosy, has not paid federal or state income taxes in years. He has noted that he had no tax liability – in part because of his substantial charitable giving. He also pointed out that he pays a large annual property tax bill. Also, he has racked up nearly 100 parking tickets in Milwaukee since January 2007. He paid more than $2,100 in fines as a result. In the drunken driving case, Abele was arrested in Glendale in July 1996 for driving while under the influence. Milwaukee police began pursuing Abele’s green, two-door Mazda after he was clocked driving 65 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone. After a short chase, Abele finally pulled over at the intersection of N. Port Washington Road and W. Silver Spring Drive. The report – obtained this week by the Journal Sentinel via an open records […]

Kraeger, Haas advance to general election in Milwaukee County Board’s 14th District

Steven Kraeger, who owns a trucking company and described himself as a conservative, finished first in the three-person race in Tuesday’s primary for a chance to replace Chris Larson on the County Board. Jason Haas, a stay-at-home dad who describes himself as a liberal, finished second in the 14th District and will be on the April 5 general election ballot with Kraeger. Gregory Dickinson, an appliance salesman who said he’s an independent centrist, finished third. Larson was elected to the state Senate in November.

Joseph Rochford Lubar Obituray

On North Shore, politics is all in the family

Come April, there’ll likely be not one, but two North Shore village presidents from the Dickman family. Julie Siegel, who’s running unopposed for village president in Whitefish Bay, is the daughter of Samuel D. Dickman, who’s running unopposed in Bayside. Siegel’s been a member of the Whitefish Bay Village Board for three years; Dickman’s been president in Bayside for 15. Siegel, a social worker at Froedtert Hospital, says she got into politics because of the example of her parents when she was growing up in Shorewood. Her mom, Peggy Dickman, served 12 years on the Shorewood School Board, and her dad was on the Village Board there for a couple of years. Her mother backed up that story. “We were involved in just about every election in Shorewood, and we got the kids involved with us,” said Peggy Dickman. “Every night at the dinner table in the spring, we talked about politics. We thought it was a good lesson in service and being involved.” Sam Dickman got into politics in Bayside after the couple moved there when their kids were grown. Siegel and her father aren’t the only family members in public service on the North Shore. Her brother Max Dickman is on Bayside’s Board of Zoning Appeals, and her brother Samuel M. Dickman is on the Shorewood Plan Commission. The two Sam Dickmans run the Dickman Co., a commercial real estate firm in downtown Milwaukee. Siegel says as village president in Whitefish Bay she’ll focus on “three really important things” going on in the suburb. The first is the search for a replacement for Village Manager Jim Grassman, who just retired; the second is figuring out fixes to the village’s storm and sanitary sewer system, in response to flooding and basement backups in the suburb last summer; and the third is “trying to figure out how to keep the budget intact” in the midst of that effort. In addition, “Several residents asked for better and increased communication,” she said, adding that the next village manager should probably produce a newsletter like the ones put out in Shorewood and Bayside. Siegel will replace Village President Katie Pritchard, who’s stepping down after three terms. It’s not known yet how much company Siegel will have on the Whitefish Bay Village Board. She and one-term board member Tom Fehring both filed notice they wouldn’t run for Village Board, and nobody filed to replace them. The dearth of candidates comes after widespread anger toward village government from flooding and sewer backups that hit much of northern Milwaukee County. Matt Schuenke, interim village manager who has replaced retiring Jim Grassman, said the two seats wouldn’t be declared empty until after the election. Write-in candidates could possibly fill the seats, he said. If they’re still open then, he said, the board could either decide to operate two members short, it could appoint members to fill the seats or it could schedule a special election. “We’ll need to see what our options are,” he said.

While some condo buildings falter, Flatiron keeps selling units