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Even though Bo Black has not yet lost her job as executive director of Summerfest, she is already starting to look at options for a new career.

Black has met several times with Racine Alderman Jeff Coe to discuss job possibilities and opportunities in Racine, including possibly running Racine’s Festival Park and Memorial Hall, according to a July 13, 2003 column in the Racine Journal Times.

Black, whose contract expires at the end of the year, is expected to be let go by the Summerfest Board when her contract expires. She is currently negotiating with board attorneys, seeking a long-term buyout agreement that would include health care benefits, with a value of about $1 million, said a source close to the negotiations.

She has been pursuing a new, five-year agreement to continue running the festival and publicly questioned the lack of action late last year. She is paid $206,686 annually.

In the Racine Journal Times’ column, Coe said downtown Racine would be a place to put Black’s talents to good use. He said any discussions have been preliminary and he is not sure Racine could afford Black’s hefty price tag.

“She can see – kind of like an artist can see – how you could take the raw materials and make it all work,” he said. “But we truly have not gotten beyond that.” Speculation has increased in recent days that Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke is ready to throw his hat in the mayoral ring.

Clarke, who has been rumored for months to be entering the highly competitive race to replace Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, is said to be almost finished assembling his campaign team. The team would include Milwaukee attorney Michael Whitcomb, former State Republican Party executive R.J. Johnson and Republican fundraiser David O’Neill.

When he enters the race, Clarke will immediately become one of the frontrunners, along with former Congressman Thomas Barrett. Clarke has burst onto the political scene since he was appointed sheriff in 2002. He easily won election in 2002 and has become a darling of conservative talk radio.

With his emphatic statements on the need to reduce crime and the lack of leadership in the city, some political observers say Clarke embodies the leadership skills that the city needs.

“I am seriously considering running for mayor,” Clarke told WTMJ’s Charlie Sykes last week.
Since entering the race in June, Barrett has become the frontrunner as he raised $216,000 in the last few weeks of June.

The other prominent candidates in the crowded field are Common Council President Marvin Pratt, Milwaukee Alderman Thomas Nardelli, State Rep. Pedro Colon, a Milwaukee Democrat, and Milwaukee business executive Sandy Folaron, who became the first candidate to begin running television ads this past weekend. The airing last week by Channel 12 of video tapes of Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist’s deposition in the sexual harassment case filed against him by a former staff person has prompted another chapter in the on-going fued between Norquist and State Senator Gary George.

Channel 12 aired edited portion of the tapes, which were tough to watch, during three newscasts last week, even though they are from more than a year ago. The news station said it fought for a year in court with City Attorney Grant Langley, not Norquist, to get possession of the 30 hours of tape.

George, seeing an opportunity to attack his political foe, issued a statement ripping Norquist and calling for him to resign. In the statement, George, who is facing a recall election himself, praised the Channel 12 reports and said they made “it clear the need for Mayor John Norquist to step down now and not wait until December, 2003.”

Norquist announced several weeks ago that he would leave office at the end of 2003 to take a position with the Congress for New Urbanism. Common Council President Marvin Pratt will be acting mayor until the current term ends in April 2004.

“With over $200,000 in legal fees paid by taxpayers in the City of Milwaukee, along with threats against block grant recipients in exchange for sex, allegations of rape as yet unproven, and national embarrassment for our city, John Norquist's ability to function as mayor is greatly diminished,” George said in the statement.

“Council President Marvin Pratt is ready to takeover now, so why wait 5 months? The city needs so much; we need a leader.”

Norquist’s staff was quick to respond, ripping George for allegedly living in Grafton, even though he represents a central city Milwaukee neighborhood.

“Legislators from Milwaukee who live in glass houses in Grafton shouldn't throw stones,” said Steve Filmanowicz, Norquist’s communications director. A new ice cream shop could be headed to downtown Milwaukee in an effort to tap into the growing residential market in downtown.

Cold Stone Creamery, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., recently confirmed they were negotiating to locate a store as part of the development of PabstCity on the former Pabst Brewing Co. complex near North 6th Street and West Juneau Avenue. Wispark Corp., and Ferchill Development, a Cleveland development firm, are developing the project.

The company recently opened its first two stores in the Milwaukee area, at the Ruby Isle Shopping Center in Brookfield and the RiverPointe Shopping Center in Fox Point. New stores are slated to open in the next several weeks at Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, as part of a new shopping center near Highway 83 and Interstate 94 in the City of Delafield and near Highway 41 across from the Tinseltown Theater in Kenosha.

Additional stores are planned for Janesville, Appleton and two in Madison, including one on State Street, aimed at attracting hungry University of Wisconsin students. The company recently announced plans to award 10 new franchises in Wisconsin in 2003 and 2004.

In all, the company wants to have 30 stores in Wisconsin within the next five years. With more than 390 stores operating in 36 states and the Caribbean, Cold Stone Creamery plans to establish 1,000 stores by 2004. Its real estate team has already fully executed 169 leases in 2003, with another 70 leases currently in various stages of negotiation. It plans to open 300 stores in 2003 and another 450 stores in 2004.

The company is ready to take on Kopp’s Frozen Custard and Leon’s, the two well-known ice cream retailers that currently dominate the Milwaukee ice cream market.

“We want to have a major impact on Milwaukee and Wisconsin,” said Dale Johnson, a real estate representative for the company. “So far, our numbers are good in the Milwaukee area and as people get to know our name and try our product, we believe our numbers are only going to get better.

The operator of the popular Kopp’s Frozen Custard restaurants in Milwaukee, said there already are enough ice cream outlets in the Milwaukee area, with the growing Culver’s Restaurant chain, along with the smaller ice cream shops that have opened throughout the area.”

“I don’t know how much more room there is in this market,” said Bud Reinhart, general manager of the Kopp’s in Glendale and Greenfield. “It is getting to be a tougher market. There is no doubt that people in Milwaukee like their ice cream and custard, but there is always a limit.”