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While Bo Black was on every radio and television outlet during the 10-day run of Summerfest that ended Sunday promoting the festival and talking about how much she wants to remain a part of it, she was apparently quietly seeking a $1 million buyout of the remainder of her contract to run the popular festival.

Black, whose contract expires at the end of the year, is seeking a long-term buyout agreement that would include health care benefits, said a source close to the negotiations.

Stephen Kravit, a Milwaukee attorney representing Black, could not be reached for comment. Sources said Kravit met with attorneys representing the Summerfest Board over the past week, trying to hammer out a deal.

Prior to Summerfest, board members said they would wait until the festival was over to make a final decision on Black, which most political sources have predicted would be to not renew her contract.

A meeting had been scheduled in May to decide her fate, but was called off at the last minute by Summerfest Board Chairman Howard Schnoll.

A Summerfest Board meeting is expected to be held in the near future and a political source said Board members were “livid” with some of Black’s comments about the board and the personal attacks that had come from Black supporters, such as local radio talk show hosts Charlie Sykes, Jeff Wagner and Mark Belling.

“They’ve seen the tirade she’s been on and they also know that some of the information included in the attacks on the board is insider information,” the political source said. “They have had a knife stuck in their backs for the last 20 days and it may end up backfiring on Bo.”

The source said some of attacks have been “personal and viscous,” pointing to a Belling newspaper column that called Schnoll “an idiot.”

Black has been pursuing a new, five-year agreement to continue running the festival and publicly questioned the lack of action late last year. Her contract, with a $206,686 salary, expires at the end of 2003.

In her 20 years as executive director, Black has been a persistent promoter of a festival that has drawn more than 1 million people in 2001 and 2002. Attendance dropped to about 900,000 in 2003. Milwaukee mayoral candidate Thomas Barrett went on a cash hunt during the last few weeks of June, trying to show his financial strength when campaign financial reports are released in the next several weeks.

And several sources said he was very successful. Barrett's goal was to raise $75,000 during the week of June 23 and he easily beat that goal, raising $205,000 between June 18 and June 30.

“He was able to raise a ton of money,” a source close to his campaign said. “His announcement to run for mayor has opened up a lot of doors. People are very excited about his candidacy.”

Barrett is seeking to show a strong financial report to solidify his position as the frontrunner in the crowded race to replace Mayor John Norquist. His main opponents are expected to be Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr., and Common Council President Marvin Pratt. Other notable candidates include Milwaukee Alderman Thomas Nardelli and State Rep. Pedro Colon, a Milwaukee Democrat.

“I’ve been overwhelmed with the support I've received from every corner of the community since I announced my candidacy just a few weeks ago,” Barrett said in a July 8th statement. “I am dead serious about being the next mayor of Milwaukee and I will work day and night to do the things necessary to be successful in this campaign.”

Clarke still has not formally entered the race, but has been telling business executives that he intends to run. He is also lining up people to help run his campaign, including Milwaukee attorney Michael Whitcomb, former State Republican Party executive R.J. Johnson and Republican fundraiser David O'Neill.

“When he makes up his mind and jumps in the race, it is going to get very interesting,” the source said. “The gloves are going to come off for all the candidates and things are going to start to fly.” Following weeks of reports about the missteps involving the awarding of a $7 million food and beverage contract, the Wisconsin Center Board has setup a task force to develop a “code of conduct” for its members.

At a meeting in late June, Wisconsin Center Board Chairman Franklyn Gimbel appointed board member Stephen Marcus, a Milwaukee business executive, to lead a task force to develop the policy.

The code of conduct will be developed even though board members are likely covered by the State of Wisconsin Ethics Code as the District was created by the state Legislature. Many members, including Milwaukee Aldermen Marvin Pratt and Thomas Nardelli, along with Wauwatosa Mayor Theresa Estness, are also covered by their own municipal ethics’ codes.

Nardelli said Marcus has a code of conduct for his employees that work for The Marcus Corp., which he intended to use as a model.

“This is a lot more than just ethics,” Nardelli said. “It is also about speaking out of school to reporters. It is setting up process so we know who should be speaking on what subject and when we should refer reporters to others. We are an unpaid board and we just need to be mindful of these things.”

Board members and District staff have been in the news in recent weeks over the controversial handling of the food and beverage contract, which in the end was awarded to Levy Restaurants, a Chicago catering firm.

During the bidding process, it was learned that Richard Geyer, president of the Wisconsin Center, took a February 2003 trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to meet with executives of one of the firms, which was bidding on the contract.

The trip came just three days after the District’s Finance and Personnel Committee decided to issue a request for qualifications for the catering contract. Travel documents showed that Geyer also attended the National Hockey League’s All-Star game on the trip, which cost the District $738.67.

There were also other published reports that Nardelli and Gimbel had attended the 2002 Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., as a guest of the firm that had held the catering contract. After two years of delays due to an endangered snake, construction is set to begin in September on a $30 million development on West National Avenue in the City of New Berlin that will include a mix of office, housing, retail and a new $8.9 million municipal library.

The project, called the New Berlin City Center, is to be built on 30 acres on West National Avenue, just east of South Moorland Road. The area has seen a flurry of real estate activity in recent months as New Berlin city officials work to create a centralized commercial area in the center of the Waukesha County suburb.

“This is not going to be big box retail, it is going to service retail that will be used by the many residents that live in that area,” said New Berlin Mayor Telesfore Wysocki. “We’ve spent a lot of time planning these projects to ensure they are done right and benefit the city. This will become the major commercial area of the city.”

The centerpiece of that area will be the New Berlin City Center, a project that will include 45,000 square feet of retail and 25,000 square feet of office space adjacent to West National Avenue, along with 100 condominiums on the east side of the property and 80 units of senior housing on the west side of the parcel.

The $8 million senior housing project, which is being developed by General Capital Group, a Mequon real estate development firm, will also include 18 townhouses, said Sigurd Strautmanis, vice president of General Capital. The firm has a six-acre site under contract.

Steven Stewart, one of the project’s developers, said he will develop the retail and office space in about eight buildings, ranging in size from 4,000 square feet to 9,000 square feet, that will be adjacent to heavily traveled West National Avenue. He said he had reached tentative agreements with several national retailers to occupy the space, but he declined to identify them. He said he is also talking to banks and restaurants about locating in some of the other space.

Stewart said the project was delayed by two years after the discovery of the threatened Butler’s garter snake on the site by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources just one day before a public comment on the project was to close. The developers spent considerable time and money working with state officials on a plan to move the snakes, including hiring a snake expert from the Milwaukee Public Museum.

“It was a very frustrating experience,” Stewart said. “Let’s just say there are very interesting rules and regulations in this state for how to deal with a habitat for snakes. We spent two years and a lot of money dealing with this issue. It was a long and difficult ordeal.”