Tom Schneider

Meet Kilbourn-Kadish Park

The Brewers Community Foundation Public Space Award Finalist is a community driven success.

Milwaukee Kitchen Cabinet to Host Fourth Annual “3 Days of Christmas” Holiday Initiative

Local restaurateurs kick off three-day holiday initiative with support from local businesses and legislators

Beyond the Book Bag Carnival this Friday at 4pm

Since this is a back to school celebration, the first 500 attendees will receive a free book bag.

Daughter of Famed Muralist Continues Tradition

Rozalia Hernandez-Singh, daughter of Reynaldo Herandez, creating murals at COA Riverwest Center.

Police Response Slow For Non-Violent Crimes

MPD response time averages 40 minutes for non-violent crimes, 68 minutes for auto theft.

Let Us Now Praise Riverwest 24

Annual race is 10 years old and still growing.

North Side Area’s Crime Declines 30%

Residents’ efforts, community policing helped transform Amani neighborhood.

A Life of Fighting Poverty

Sr. Patricia Rogers grew up poor in Arkansas, now runs Dominican Center, helping North Side residents.

Seeking The Truth About Zipcode 53206

International group's “portal” will trigger stories, conversations in city’s poorest area.

Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDI) Announces 2016 Winners Improving Milwaukee Neighborhoods

Amani Neighborhood Soars with Recognitions in Three Award Categories

The Return of Holton Youth Center

After closing for four months, youth center in Riverwest returns, in partnership with COA.

Contribution to Tom Barrett of $400

Moody Park Enhances Amani Neighborhood

$2 million renovation of park is among several changes helping north side neighborhood.

Moody Park Finally Reopens

$2 million spent on north side park builds new community center, basketball courts and a splash pad.

COA Youth & Family Centers Awarded $15,000 Let’s Play Construction Grant From Dr Pepper Snapple and National Non-Profit KaBOOM!

The grant is part of Let’s Play, a community partnership led by Dr Pepper Snapple to get kids and families active nationwide.

Greg & Linda Marcus, Dr. Lucille Rosenberg to be Honored as COA Yourth & Family Centers’ Parents of the Year

Each year at this event, COA recognizes two Milwaukee couples for their outstanding leadership in the community and their commitment to family.

Moody Park to Open in Late August

Officials promise revamped Calvin Moody Park will open August 20th.

Program Helps Many Teens Get Driver’s License

COA gives scholarships for hundreds of city kids to get their license; $300 cost is otherwise unaffordable.

Mayor Barrett’s 2015 State of the City Address

Monday, March 9th, 2015 - Alverno College

Crime Drops 32% in North Side Neighborhood

"Comprehensive community effort" credited for two-year crime decline in Amani neighborhood.

Revamped Park Will Upgrade North Side

Improvements in Moody Park will improve quality of life in Amani neighborhood.

The Settlement Houses of Milwaukee

Eight neighborhood centers in the city are based on the approach of Jane Addams' famed Hull House.

Greater Milwaukee Committee to Move to Water Accelerator

All the news on the GMC's new home, as well as odds and ends around the East Side and beyond (plus a bicycle tour).

Skyline Music Opens

A good crowd, good band, and great views of the city at the opening event of the series.

New Inner City Medical Clinic Planned

Clinic at 23rd and Burleigh would serve poor families who lack access to medical care.

The Moody Blues

With the closing of Moody Pool, the city's North Side now has half the number of public pools as the South Side.

From the ground up

The COA renews a Riverwest park with a grand view of Downtown and the Milwaukee River and expands its Skyline Music Festival.

Plale Recall Drive Begins

Can a group of south side political activists pull themselves together enough to acquire 13,212 signatures to force a recall election against Sen. Jeff Plale? Rep. Jon Richards said he doubts it. “This thing is going nowhere,” says Rep. Josh Zepnick. “These people are so lazy! They’ve taken out a newspaper ad asking people to come by and sign a recall petition. Who is going to do that?” True enough. To win an election, you’ve got to knock on doors, post signs in windows and do all kinds of grass-rooted activities. There is scant evidence of this in the Plale recall attempt, and absolutely no evidence of it in the northern fringes of Plale’s district, including Brady Street and the East Side. That hasn’t stopped Plale from printing up thousands of football schedules that he is handing out at every turn. The South Milwaukeean made the journey to St. Rita’s Church last week to attend the Brady Street Association monthly meeting where he was asked about the recall. “They’ve got until September 7th to get the signatures to recall me,” Plale told the audience. When told there seemed to be no effort on the East Side to circulate petitions, Plale said, “well, these people wouldn’t know how to find Brady Street.” Plale was also in the Brady Street area for what the neighborhood hopes is an annual Artisinal Food Festival. The gig was held Sunday, July 25th, and Plale was there along with his schedules. The recall effort against him stemmed from his crucial vote to uphold Governor Doyle’s veto of a republican-sponsored measure to limit property tax increases. Plale says the upcoming plans to sponsor a constitutional amendment known as the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights, (TABOR) is similarly flawed, and a potential recipe for disaster. He cites Colorado, a state that has enacted similar provisions into its laws and is now in the midst of its worst fiscal crisis ever. Amendment on the Run The legislature republicans spent the last unedifying session promoting the agenda of Gays, Guns and Gambling. The Madison gang came up with loads of goofy legislation, none of which could sustain a veto by the governor. Leave it to this group to be able to reconvene and pass a constitutional amendment, no less, in just one week. This was the decision of Sen. Mary Panzer, the republican leader who had earlier been criticized for not rushing a Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights law through the Solomonic deliberations of the nation’s most august lawmakers. But, as soon as she faced a primary challenge from Rep.Glenn Grothman, an ambitious fellow republican who covets her senate seat, Panzer decided to schedule a vote for this week. Then, the legislature can go home and come back next year to vote again. Then, finally, the matter will be put to public vote in a referendum, if it is still alive. But, if the legislature does not act by August 5th, the whole procedure would have to be repeated in yet one […]

“Groundbreaking” for Bridge

It’s not really a groundbreaking without a shovel, so Cecelia Gilbert of the Department of Public Works brought five well-used, albeit ceremonial, spades to the Thursday 27 May event celebrating the beginning of construction of the Holton Marsupial Bridge. Obliging dignitaries, sensing a photo-op, grabbed the shovels and pantomimed digging them into the asphalt pavement below the Holton Viaduct. The ceremony was scheduled to accommodate Mayor Tom Barrett, who was present at the event before racing off to his daughter’s piano recital. Other guests included Ald. Michael S. D’Amato, Ald. Michael I. McGee, Jr., Supervisors Gerry Broderick and James White, and former State Senator Brian Burke. Julilly Kohler served as master of ceremonies for the event, and she kept her remarks sparing, yet managed to name all of the many individuals who have helped to make her dream a reality. This included “the former congressman from the fifth district,” as Brian Burke called his old elementary school chum, Tom Barrett, who, as Mayor was able to yield the ceremonial shovel on a public works project for the first time. Architects James Dallman and his wife Grace La were also on hand as were Mathew P. Tharaniyil, P.E. and Yakov N. Nenaydykh, another P.E. They are, respectively the president and the vice president of Bloom Consultants, the engineers of the project to span the Holton Viaduct with the suspended “marsupial’ bridge – a bicycle and pedestrian path that will provide grade-level access between the Brady Street neighborhood and the Lakefront Brewery and its surrounding Beer Line “B” neighborhood. Missing from the event was Frank Busalacchi, the Wisconsin Secretary of Transportation or any representative of Lunda Construction, the Black River Falls outfit that won the bid to construct the bridge. Lunda appears to be a publicity-averse organization. The firm has expressed a reservation about having webcams at the construction site, saying they might reveal some “trade secrets” of the mysterious, arcane art of bridge building. Good heavens! It’s a bridge, not a plutonium refinery. Also missing from the event was Whitney Gould, although you wouldn’t have known it from the article she managed to write about it for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the next morning. She reported, correctly, that the Mayor was there, in an otherwise generic story composed of previously reported items. Sonya Jongsma-Knauss and Vince Bushell of the Riverwest Currents were there. The sole representative of the electronic media was Channel 58. Afterwards, the crowd of 100 or so headed up to the Lakefront Brewery Palm Garden where owner Russ Klisch turned on the taps. Earlier that day, a stressed Russ was trying to get his new bottling machine to behave. Even so, it still chewed up a few bottles as it went through its shakedown cruise. Sales manager Paul Moebius said things are going well at the brewery – maybe too well. “We’re running out of beer!” he said. Last year’s sales were 5,000 barrels, and this year the brewery could hit 7,000 barrels. This is better than 2 […]

Changes at the Election Commission

Lautenschlager’s Fast Ones – Past Speeding Tickets Raise Residency Issues

Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager exploits a legal loophole.