HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY

A PRESIDENT WHO KNOWS HOW IT IS TO LIVE AS WE DO HERE

By Michael Horne

[The following item was written for the February, 2009 edition of the Brady Street News. However, it is a message of hope for all those city dwellers who have longed for one of their own to inhabit the White House. Happy Presidents Day, one and all!--Ed.]

For the first time in history we have elected a president who has a bus stop at the front door of his house. The Barack Obama home at 5046 S. Greenwood Avenue in Chicago would not be out of place in the grander sections of our East Side, say, Water Tower Park or Summit and Terrace Avenues. Like Brady Street and the East Side, Hyde Park, Chicago lies on the shores of Lake Michigan. It's a neighborhood, and it is Obama's refuge. "This is my Kennebunkport," Obama told reporters over Valentine's weekend, which he spent with his family at home for the first time since taking office.

A reporter from the Toronto Star, dispatched to the Windy City in November to give his impression of "Mr. Obama's Neighbourhood," wrote, "residents of stately homes like Obama's often live cheek by jowl with folks in low-rise apartment blocks and condos in various states of repair. ... Until recently, Obama shopped at neighbourhood stores including the local food co-op."

Although this is a familiar lifestyle for us, it is a radical departure from the norm for chief executives. It's nice to have a president with some clue of what it is to live as we do here. Think about it.

• George W. Bush? Strictly country club suburban.
• Bill Clinton? He lived on the outskirts of Little Rock (Pop. 184,000).
• George H. W. Bush? (See "George W. Bush," above).
• Ronald Reagan? Bel Air, California -- a "faux-gated community of single family homes on pretzel-shaped streets," with nary a bus in sight.
• Jimmy Carter? Plains, Georgia, 'nuff said.
• Gerald Ford? A "typical suburban residence" in Alexandria, Virginia, plus a condo in Vail.
• Richard M. Nixon? He tried to move into a co-op in Manhattan, and they wouldn't let him in, settling finally in a gated community in New Jersey.

You'd have to go back to the Roosevelts and Kennedy (New York City, Washington, D.C.) to find an urban president, but all three had numerous residences, and were jockeyed around in limousines -- strictly private transit. I think you get the picture.
The point is, cities have not been treated fairly by the federal government, which seemed intent on favoring development of unsustainable, unwalkable, unlivable, suburbs. These policies have frightened people away from neighborhoods like ours for generations. We know better, and now we have a president who does, too.

THE LAST EAST SIDE MAYOR

My best faux pas of 2008 happened late in the year. Bruce Murphy, the editor of Milwaukee Magazine, was talking politics with an elected official one day, expressing his opinion that Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker had a good shot at becoming the next Republican candidate for governor.
Without even going into the merits of the case, I dismissed it out of hand, like a Federal judge ruling on a frivolous lawsuit.
"Nonsense," I said. "Milwaukeeans don't become governor."
The politician voiced his assent. "Don't I know! I tried it myself." He was Tom Barrett, mayor of Milwaukee, who was elected to that job after a failed attempt to become the Democratic candidate for governor.
That got me to thinking, "when was the last time an East Sider became mayor?"

Again, I went through a list.

• Barrett? West Side lifer.
  
• Norquist? South Side.
  
• Maier? Close -- he lived on the southeast corner of N. Booth St. and E. North Ave. for a spell, before selling the house to Vel Phillips.
  
• Zeidler (Frank)? Second and Locust.
  
• Bohn? South Side.
  
• Zeidler (Carl)? West Side.
  
• Hoan? West Side.

Why you'd have to go all the way back to Gerhard A. Bading (1912-1916) to find the last time a mayor lived in the blessed land that lies between Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River. Bading lived on Farwell Avenue, not far from his predecessors and fellow east siders David Rose and George Peck.
Peck served as mayor for a couple of months in 1890, resigning to become Wisconsin's governor, the only Milwaukee Mayor ever elected to that position. Peck's Row, his lovely townhouse site on Farwell Avenue, is one of the Brady Street neighborhood's gems today, restored after a couple of generations of neglect.

While we're on this little history lesson, the last Milwaukeean to serve as governor was Martin Schreiber, who was elevated to the position when Pat Lucey was appointed ambassador to Mexico by Jimmy Carter in 1977. Before him the last Milwaukeean elected to the post was Julius Peter Heil in 1939. Milwaukee also gave us Governor Fred Zimmerman in 1927, (ah! The golden Zimmerman Era) and a couple other footnote governors in the distant past, including Arthur MacArthur, who served as acting governor for four days in 1856 while the results of a disputed election were sorted out. Even Leonard Farwell, who gave our southbound avenue its name, moved to Madison from here before becoming Wisconsin's second governor.
In fact, only three governors were born here -- Zimmerman, Schreiber, Lee Sherman Dreyfus. By contrast, seven Wisconsin governors were born in New York state, and five were born in Europe, including the German Heil. Since his term, however, all governors were born in Wisconsin. But Milwaukeeans don't become governor, and East Siders don't become mayor.
--Michael Horne