CUT FIBER CABLE STOPS NET SERVICE TO 3,000 DOWNTOWN

By Michael Horne

Thousandas of workers downtown, including those in City Hall, the Courthouse, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukeeworld.com and possibly even you were left without internet service yesterday, November 6th, 2007. The disruption, which affected 3,000 customers, was caused by a construction crew severing a fiber cable while excavating on N. Water St., about a half block south of E. Pleasant St, according to a Time Warner spokesperson who was quick to add "the crews were not ours." [The area is the site of construction activity, including the new Flatiron Building, which is nearly completed, and the old Pfister & Vogel Tannery, which is nearly demolished.] The outage occurred at about 11:15 a.m., with partial service restored by 2:30 p.m. All service was restored by 5:45 p.m., by which time most workers had split for the night. Curiously, the incident does not seem to have received any mention in the media, despite the fact that it inconvenienced workers of at least two significant news organizations, as noted above. However, the Journal Sentinel did announce today that it has successfully concluded its "voluntary separation program," in which about 6 per cent of its workforce, or 55 to 60 workers, will leave the company in exchange for cash considerations and a couple weeks of health insurance coverage. The parent firm of the newspaper will take a $3 million charge in the 4th quarter of this year, and expects savings of $3.9 to $4.3 million per year. The company accepted "nearly all" of the separation offers it received, publisher Elizabeth Brenner announced, arousing in us a sense of pity for the poor folks whose dream to depart was denied. The workers will leave the company about November 15th, and it will be interesting to see which reporters' bylines will start turning up in the oddest places -- maybe even here!

MORE DISASTERS
Numerous civic improvements including harp lights and street signs lie scattered at our feet in the aftermath of the recent heavy winds. On Wisconsin Avenue, a large decorative street identification sign that was recently erected at Wisconsin Avenue and the Riverwalk blew at least 70 feet from its perch, slicing through the air before landing at the street's intersection with N. Water St., always a site with high wind gusts. The sign clearly showed signs of fatigue on the aluminum bracket that had attached it to the pole. Aluminum does not flex well, or repeatedly, and the sign snapped off its mounting. Can you say design flaw? Today, as city crews are hoisting up the holiday decorations on the avenue, they are also removing the oversized signs, which will doubtless make navigation difficult for those unfamiliar with our streets downtown. Also, on N. Jefferson Street and along the Wisconsin Avenue Viaduct, harp lamps snapped to the ground, damaging parked cars. The apparent culprit: corrosion of the light standards, exacerbated by the decorative bulbous coverings mounted on their bases. The coverings have no structural integrity, and permitted the dangerous accumulation of debris, salt and moisture at the base of the actual poles, which they hid. The city has had crews opening and examining the remaining poles in the vicinity. Ald. Michael Murphy is incensed that these "improvements," all less than 10 years old, should have failed, and he is looking for options to recompense the city. In our pre-beautification days, our light poles and street signs might have been Socialist and utilitarian, but by golly, they didn't fly off in a stiff wind endangering life, limb and property.

IN OTHER NEWS
The Cedarburg Cultural Center will host a reception on Friday, November 9th, 2007 for the opening of "Dream Spaces: Nature and Beyond," featuring paintings by Charles James Kaiser, who recently retired from the art faculty at Mount Mary College after over three decades at the Catholic women's school.
Kaiser, 70, is the best Milwaukee artist you have never heard of, and his show is a rarity. He has painted incessantly since childhood, and his talents were early recognized, including by this writer, his second cousin, who thought it was quite exciting and inspiring to have an artist in the family. The late art critic James Auer compared Kaiser's skills as a drafttsman with those of the Renaissance masters. The new works, in oil, were composed at Kaiser's Whitefish Bay home, and at family properties in Sanibel Island, Florida and in Up North, Wisconsin. The show will run through January. ... Also in the art world, Barbie Blutstein and Jane Chernof have opened the Milwaukee Street Gallery at 717 N. Milwaukee St. Blutstein has been in the art business for 25 years, and is the daughter of the late collector Isabelle Polacheck. Clientele will include corporations and individuals who are interested in buying and selling their art. Consignments will be accepted. A cursory glance of the attractive shop includes a Guido Brink sculpture, some Howard Finster prints, some 1960s pop art and a variety of other goods.
--Michael Horne