WEEKEND ROUNDUP

Dear Reader:

Thanks for dropping in as the promise of spring begins to fill the air. The recent rains have washed away all but the most heavily-shaded piles of snow in our city which is now bathed in a muddy wash. That minor inconvenience was hardly enough to stop the world from spinning or to keep Milwaukeeans cooped up any longer, so off to the streets it has been for many of us. You are welcome to join us as we tour a new condominium project months before it is built, and then it is off on our rounds where we keep running into politicians at every turn. A bit further down, we tell you that the scary Marilyn Karos pleaded guilty to yet another federal crime, this time in St. Louis. Also, along the way, our Madison correspondent Paul Snyder of the Capital City branch of The Daily Reporter newspaper writes about a politician who issued a press release begging farmers to stop spreading manure. Ah, yes, if only farmers would issue a press release asking politicians to do the same!

Thanks for dropping by, and do stay in touch. There are many ways to do so, including by telephone, e-mail, or by posting a comment on the stories below utilizing the “leave a comment” button at the end of many items.

Also, if there is anything you would like me to do to make my postings more “bloggy” and less fact- and observationally-based, please tell me so that I may better emulate my peers.

Very truly yours,

Michael Horne

Editor / Publisher

www.milwaukeeworld.com

1414 978-8039

horne@milwaukeeworld.com

735 West Wisconsin Avenue

Suite 1200

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53233-2413

UNBUILT BUILDING HOLDS GRAND OPENING PARTY

Neither rain nor muck could deter hundreds of Milwaukeeans from attending a “Private Grand Opening Party” for the Edge Condominiums, an unbuilt housing development to be located at 1890 N. Commerce St., just north of the Holton Viaduct.

Valet parkers were available to ferry visitors’ vehicles from a muddy lot to paved spaces underneath the bridge, while revelers entertained themselves in a tent constructed on the site of the proposed development, enjoying the music of Berkeley Fudge and his combo.

Inside a mobile trailer adjoining the tent, scores of real estate agents showed scores of other real estate agents models of the project and samples of available finishes and upgrades. The Edge is a joint venture of Brewery Works and Tandem Development. The property had long been used as a storage yard for the nearby Schlitz Park.

Among the attendees were such real estate luminaries as Molly Abrohams, Lynn Buckley and Nancy Beutner Meeks, fresh from an appearance in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Gary Grunau, the head of Brewery Works, mingled with the crowd, which dined on a variety of hot and cold appetizers from the Waterfront Deli. Among the treats were mounds of fruit, marinated asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, cocktail sandwiches and meatballs.

The beverage service was catered by Party Wizards, a new business owned by Mary Bennett. She wisely stocked beer from Lakefront Brewery next door, where she once worked. Uniformed staff bore trays of wine glasses to those who chose not to belly up to the bar.

The housing units for the four story-plus-penthouse building range in size from just under 1,000 square feet to just under 2,000 square feet, and are priced from under $200,000, rather a bit less than might be expected. I asked Grunau if the low prices were a factor of his having owned the land there forever. He said, “well, the prices are going up tomorrow.” [A thousand bucks is all it takes to reserve a unit.] Departing guests were treated to a goodie bag containing a high quality coffee mug and a cute little pair of binoculars capable of rendering images a full five per cent larger than they would appear to the naked eye.

The project will commence construction later this spring, provided sufficient pre-sales are made. It is expected to be completed in the autumn of 2007. For more information visit www.edgecondos.com

--Michael Horne

OUT OF THE WOODWORK

Candidates Appear Everywhere

This is a political year, and the candidates are crawling out of the woodwork and into our pocketbooks as the political races heat up.

One newcomer is Jeffrey B. Norman, J.D., a Milwaukee detective with the Criminal Investigation Bureau, who has announced his candidacy to replace Judge Jim Gramling on the City of Milwaukee Municipal Court Branch 3, where he has served since 1986. Milwaukee police officers are permitted to practice law on the side, provided they have degrees, and Norman got his from Marquette University in 2002. He took a break from the department to work for the District Attorney’s office, but jumped ship from that job when it proved not as challenging or rewarding as his police service. Right now Norman is making the rounds, including paying an aldermanic visit Monday when milwaukeeworld encountered him at City Hall while we were busy chewing the fat with Judge John Siefert of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 47, himself a former police officer who practiced law on the side (insurance stuff, he says) and later became a municipal judge. Small town!

If elected in next year’s spring elections, Norman would increase the African-American representation on the three-member court to 100 per cent. … John Budzinski, a national board member of the 300,000 member United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters, Steamfitters, Refrigeratorfitters and Sprinklerfitters, hosted a fundraiser Thursday evening at Pitch’s Lounge and Restaurant, 1801 N. Humboldt Av. for Sheriff candidate Vince Bobot. Thrifty Bobot says he will wait a couple of months before opening a campaign headquarters. It won’t be at the location of his mayoral race headquarters at 620 W. Wisconsin Av. which he said was difficult to heat and prone to all sorts of crazies popping in at all hours. That space is being turned into a coin laundry to serve downtown residents. … The 7^th district of the Wisconsin State Senate was redrawn following the decennial 2000 census to form a lakeside district that is two thirds south side and one third east side. The seat is held by Democrat Jeff Plale of South Milwaukee who faces a primary challenge by Donovan Riley, a former east sider who now resides in Bay View. Riley calls himself “a Democrat who will vote like one.” He held a fundraiser at the Cudahy Tower and Condominiums library, which was reserved for him by Barbara Stein, a politically-active resident of the building. Among the small band of supporters were Dennis Conta, Ald. Robert Bauman, County Supervisor Gerry Broderick, Kathleen Hart, Barbara Notestein, Sam Orlich, Geralyn Wendelberger, Leonard Zubrensky, Jack Murtaugh, Rep. Fred Kessler and his wife, Hon. Joan Kessler, of the Court of Appeals. The guests drank wine (red and white), water (bottled) and supped on appetizer trays provided by Beans and Barley. Commenting on Riley’s chances in the primary race, Bauman said, “I’d ask him how many doors he plans to knock on, because votes in this district come on a retail basis.”

Michael Horne

FROM BREW CITY TO CAPITAL CITY

“Of Liquid Manure Application, and Why it Doesn’t Make Me Want to Run Back East.”

By Paul Snyder

Well, it’s spring again (not technically, but it’s all I can tell myself to prevent total psychosomatic seasonal breakdown). You’d think this being my fifth consecutive winter in Wisconsin, I’d have gotten used to the cold days, winter drivers, and the 10 inches of snow that falls three weeks after it really should have.

But I haven’t.

Couple mounting tasks at the office with the fact that the (forever dragging) end of winter always puts me in a funk, and you’ll find explanation as to why word to Milwaukeeworld from Madison has been conspicuously absent as of late. But the good news that rain is on the way to wash this grey/brown snow away and the possibility that we just might crack the 50s on the thermometer by Friday has put me in rebirth mode.

And so, the habits of old are returning. I’m monitoring progress in Mesa for my beloved Cubs like a hawk and rediscovering discs I haven’t listened to in awhile – Jeff Buckley’s Grace being a particular constant in rotation lately. “Love, let me sleep tonight on your couch,” he sings in “So Real.” “And remember the smell of the fabric of your simple city dress.”

The smell of the fabric of your simple city dress… something I’ve since forgotten, no doubt. Born and raised a city boy – well, technically a suburban boy, but with no need at any point to thank God for being a country boy – there are certain agricultural processes, we’ll say, that remain strange and alien to me, even now being a resident of Dane County.

Don’t let the “second biggest city in the state” label misguide you – drive 10 minutes in any direction from Madison, and you’ll be on a farm. And as such, privy to breaking news in the morning like this:

Madison – Today, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk advised farmers and manure haulers not to apply liquid manure on cropland for the next 10 days. The weather forecast is predicting higher temperatures and possible thunderstorms that could result in the manure spread on the snow covered and frozen fields to run off.

Now I could’ve gone the satirical route with such a thing – comedians could have a field day with such a bulletin item, and if not that, certainly the fact that Dane County actually does have a Manure Spreading Task Force – but I was bit too dismayed at the thought that the warm weather I’ve been pining for since November could mean a healthy dose of poop seeping into the lakes, rivers and streams in the area. Can’t wait to don those swimming trunks…

Granted, it’s all a part of the agricultural process, I know that. But if you’re in your mid-20s the first time you’re made aware of a manure spreading warning, certain mental checklists seem to pop up about the application of liquid manure, when and why there are dangers to it, and how sick it is that I’m pondering all this in the first place. We’re now a mere three months away from the culmination of my first year as a Madison resident, and this kind of alert does make me think back to the last four manure warning-free years I spent in Milwaukee.

Those years where sunny days beckoned you outside, but the air’s aroma sent you back in. You know what I’m talking about – the collective stench of brewery-meets-tannery-meets-brewery-meets-those-smokestacks-south-of-the-interchange-and-oh-yeah-the-interchange-construction-too-meets-brewery. The smell of industry! It is repugnant when the wind’s coming in strong off the lake, isn’t it?

Case in point, three quarters of a year in and what have I learned? We’re not that different, Brew City and Capital City. Sometimes we both just stink.