BITS AND PIECES

Dear Reader –

This has been a topsy-turvy weather weekend, and many of us have had family obligations. I have survived both the weather and the family obligations, and hope to get a good head of steam going here at milwaukeeworld.

I thought I might figuratively clear my desk in the hopes it might lead to a literal clearing of my desk, which is a hard, level surface located somewhere below all of the stuff I refer to when I write these billets doux to you.

--Michael Horne

COUNTY WRITES BAD LEASE

Firstly, here is a certified example of our county government at work. There is a restaurant at Lawrence J. Timmerman Airport named El Greco. The restaurant’s owners have asked Milwaukee County , the landlord to rent 8,510 of airport land to the firm for the purpose of expanding its parking facilities.

The county agreed to rent the land at a rate of 23.55 cents per square foot per annum for a period of ten years, with five ten year options. Let us imagine a world of the future, where in 2066 the lease of a parking lot at Timmerman Field will finally lapse. Do we really imagine Timmerman will last that long? And where is that long-promised county-funded study of Timmerman’s future. (I’ve written about it in the past.)

The Timmerman / El Greco story gets weird when you read the County Board’s resolution in support of the lease. It says, “Rental for the 8,510 square feet of land on which the hangar is located shall be at 23.55 cents per square foot per annum.”

Hangar? Who said anything about a hangar?

Since the county is well known for slipping bits of nonsense into its resolutions, (just ask Tom Ament and hiscronies), I called for the “what gives” and learned from Brian Dranzik, a county board research analyst that the word “hangar” was apparently lifted from some boilerplate legal terminology. The word “parking” should have been substituted.

Milwaukeeworld is delighted to point out the error.

--Michael Horne

SHEPHERD EXPRESS CHANGE

The new Shepherd Express is out, and as milwaukeeworld told you last week, Doug Hissom is no longer associated with the formerly alternative publication. The title of “Senior Investigative” writer-reporter, which he held is, quite understandably vacant. Louis Fortis remains the Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, with David Luhrssen retaining the number two spot as Arts & Entertainment Editor. … Shepherd Express Contributing Editor / Dining, Jeff Beutner, who is among the very most traveled people in the city, returned Sunday from a three week journey to Bali, Hong Kong and Los Angeles, checking up on some of his favorite haunts.

-- Michael Horne

GIOVANNI’S UPDATE

You learned about the closing of Giovanni’s Restaurant here last week, and so did the producers of Channel 4’s newscasts. The NBC affiliate did a piece Friday about the closing of the restaurant, and milwaukeeworld asked anchor Carole Meekins if she would link to the story on this website to the station’s website as a courtesy. (God forbid television news programs would actually credit the source of their “news” in their stories).

Carole said her producers told her , “no.” “It is the policy of the Journal Communications affiliate to only link to other news sources when station personnel are unable to independently verify the news stories,” she told me.

She admitted the show’s producer first became aware of the story of Giovanni’s closing from visiting this site. But linking to the story – out of the question!

Perhaps I could base a week’s worth of reporting on television news stories, independently confirm them, and post them on this site. But then, who would want to read it?

--Michael Horne

TIM CARPENTER UPDATE

You learned here last week that Sen. Timothy Carpenter was busted in Racine County by the State Patrol for “Reckless Driving – Endangering Safety.” Carpenter still has not responded to requests for comment on the incident. He entered a “written not guilty plea” and is set to see the judge on Friday, April 21^st. Milwaukeeworld still awaits response from the State Patrol for its request for copies of the citation issued to Carpenter for this misadventure, which has not yet appeared in the press. The Madison-based website www.wispolitics.com did pick up on the story, driving many hundreds of readers, many of them state employees, to this site. The link is appreciated.

--Michael Horne

A BRIT IN OUR MIDST

GREENSTREET PROFILE REVEALS WIT

OF COLLEGE DEAN / CITY PLANNER

“Eyes on the horizon all the time. Think big. Think 40 years down the road. That’s why I look vacant most of the time.”

--Dr. Bob Greenstreet, Dean School of Architecture and Urban Planning, UW-M;

City Planner, City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as quoted in the April 2006 Wisconsin Builder.

The Wisconsin Builder Magazine is on the shelves – well, not really, since the publication is distributed bundled up with The Daily Reporter Newspaper – but anyway, the April edition is available by linking above where you can read a most candid, entertaining and revealing portrait of Dr. Robert Greenstreet, the London-born, self-described slacker who took a talent for loafing and idling and somehow parlayed it into one – or make that two – of the most important development positions in the city. The portrait was written by Sean Ryan who asked Greenstreet a number of questions about his background and his philosophy. Greenstreet is hilarious. Wait until you see who his favorite “fictional” character is; find out what he does every morning at 7 a.m. and learn what he thinks about fast food in this entertaining and revealing portrait.

--Michael Horne

MUELLER COMMUNICATIONS MOVES

H. Carl Mueller and his partners at Mueller Communications have moved to new digs in a 7,000 square foot building at 1749 N. Prospect Avenue, at the corner of E. Royall Place, and just across the street from the Charles Allis Museum. Mueller and his pals did much of the heavy lifting themselves, including during the weekend. He says he could still use a number of fireplace mantles for the building, since the original ones have been lost to the mists of time. The building recently held attorneys’ offices. Before that it was headquarters for an advertising firm, and before that it was an osteopathic hospital. The building dates to 1876; it has been considerably altered over the years. Mueller moves to the Brady Street neighborhood site from a location in the P&V Atlas facility at 700 W. Virginia Avenue.

--Michael Horne