[subscriber-milwaukeeworld] Fwd: mworld 050509

[Joseph T. Klein]

Begin forwarded message:

> Dear Reader –
>
> Here we are bounding through the lovely month of May, and the weather 
> is beginning to mildly cooperate. The recent needed rains should 
> encourage the gardeners among us, which is why you might consider 
> nominating yourself or a neighbor for the mayor’s landscape awards. 
> This year’s awards were given out at the ICC recently, and there is 
> more information about it in the Roundup.
>
> On the urban redevelopment front local tavern keeper and music 
> impresario Peter Jest says there’s trouble ahead for him, and by 
> extension for everybody else, if the Pabst City Project receives tax 
> money for the redevelopment of the former brewery. What concerns Jest 
> the most is the possibility of a House of Blues venue there. We 
> explore whether a world-class music and art venue would be out of 
> place in Milwaukee, where, after all, we already have a Shank Hall.
>
> We also explore how much money the City of Milwaukee spends each year 
> to buy advertisements in a newspaper with a tiny circulation. Over the 
> course of the year, it’s about $50 per subscriber. Is it worth it? 
> There are those in the assembly and senate who say “no.” Newspaper 
> publishers, on the other hand, have a different take on the subject.
>
> Then we reprint some polling data and points to ponder from the Scott 
> Walker for Governor campaign. According to Scott, things are looking 
> pretty good for Scott.
>
> Also, could we please find a better name for the proposed Lakeshore 
> State Park? Julilly Kohler says we ought to. Here her reasons why.
>
> Finally something juicy – everybody’s been tight-lipped about the 
> departure of U.S. Bank’s Wisconsin president Andrew E. Randall, who 
> lasted only about a year here. We mention a few things that might have 
> got him booted. But then, this is Milwaukee, after all.
>
> Jest Sings Blues
>
> Peter Jest, the owner of Shank Hall, is singing the blues, as he 
> always does when a new live entertainment venue is planned for 
> Milwaukee. In the past he has opposed the Milwaukee Theater, the Pabst 
> Theater, and now he has set his sights on the proposed House of Blues, 
> one of the venues planned for the Pabst City development.
>
> He says that the new facility would take the “profit” from Shank Hall, 
> since many bands that play at his bar would instead play at the House 
> of Blues.
>
> Jest says it is not right that Wispark receive city funds for the 
> development of Pabst City, but bases his argument solely on the House 
> of Blues, and not the other elements of the project.
>
> In his letter to the commissioners of the Redevelopment Authority of 
> the City of Milwaukee, and to the Common Council’s Zoning, 
> Neighborhoods and Development committee members, Jest compares the 
> city funding for Pabst with the city funding a Starbucks to replace an 
> Alterra coffee shop, or a Walgreen’s to replace a corner pharmacy. He 
> says, “this is exactly what they are talking about with the House of 
> Blues and it’s (sic) affect (sic) on Shank Hall and other venues.”
>
> There are others who feel that it is about time large national chains 
> like the House of Blues recognize that Milwaukee is a premiere party 
> town and that it is about time the residents of the area have a live 
> music venue that provides a world-class experience.
>
> I was in the House of Blues in New Orleans last month, prepared for a 
> visit to what I thought would be a chain nightclub, and expecting 
> maybe a signed B. B. King poster or a Buddy Guy guitar on the wall.
>
> I was unprepared for the magnitude of the experience. The House of 
> Blues was a sprawling enterprise with several entertainment zones, 
> including a large auditorium / dance floor. But there was also food, 
> open air spaces, and a dazzling collection of art.
>
> Upon further research, I learned that the House of Blues Foundation is 
> one of the nation’s largest collections of outsider art, overflowing 
> with works by such notables as MoseTolliver, Howard Finster and 
> Prophet Blackmon among others. I came for the music and food, and 
> stayed for the art.
>
> It may be too soon to judge if Jest did himself or his cause any 
> favors with his letter. For example, the following sentence would seem 
> moderately intemperate: “the mayor is naïve and oblivious to the facts 
> except that the Pabst City supporters helped get him elected and now 
> it is payback for them. He is our Mayor Quimby.”
>
> Well, for most people, such an insult to the mayor would sound 
> intemperate or worse. Coming out of Jest’s mouth, it seems almost 
> diplomatic.
>
> [See the letter below]
>
> May 9, 2005
>
> To: Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee
>
> Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development committee members
>
> Milwaukee media outlets
>
> From: Peter Jest
>
> Shank Hall
>
> Re: Follow up to comments at the May 6 meeting
>
> Dear Commissioners,
>
> Thank you for the opportunity to speak at the May 6 special meeting of 
> the Redevelopment Authority last week. Here is a brief review of my 
> objection to the Pabst City project getting any TIF money. I have also 
> included a few other thoughts and facts regarding how this would 
> affect the city in a negative way.
>
> Over 80% of the House of Blues Chicago acts already play Milwaukee. 
> Shank Hall would lose 3-4 shows out of the 20 shows we have a month to 
> House of Blues. This is our profit. In the previous 11 days 3 of the 
> last 9 shows at Shank Hall also played the House of Blues in Chicago.
>
> Shank Hall gets people out on the town. We do better with shows 
> Sunday-Thursday than Fridays and Saturdays. This is because the 
> touring acts come through on weekdays and hit Chicago on the weekend. 
> The restaurants and bars pick up a lot of pre- and post-show traffic 
> from our events. They really appreciate the business especially on 
> slower weekdays. This past April our performers and crew used over 100 
> hotel rooms in Milwaukee. This does not include fans that travel from 
> all over the state and out of state to see their favorite acts at 
> Shank Hall.
>
> Shank Hall opened in 1989. Over 35 live music bars and clubs have gone 
> out of business since then. It is a tough enough business without our 
> tax dollars being used to get the competition here. We have a 
> multi-racial staff and do multi-racial and multi-cultural shows. Just 
> in April we have had bands from Nigeria, Scotland and England. They 
> all love the intimacy and professionalism of Shank Hall. To many bands 
> their annual visit to Shank Hall is one of their favorite stops. We 
> would not have survived for almost 16 years if this were not true. 
> Music fans also love Shank Hall for the uniqueness it brings to the 
> city of Milwaukee. We should embrace our city’s uniqueness in our 
> special nightclubs, restaurants and businesses. The House of Blues 
> clubs are nice, but they are not Milwaukee and are not needed here.
>
> Giving an enormous amount of TIF money to the Wispark conglomerate 
> would put Shank Hall’s survival in jeopardy. Would the city really 
> want to give tax money so they could put a “Starbucks” in to hurt 
> Alterra or put in “Walgreen’s” to hurt the corner pharmacy? This is 
> exactly what they are talking about with the House of Blues and it’s 
> affect on Shank Hall and other venues.
>
> Please turn their request down for this TIF money or at least table it 
> for the summer. Please get some independent study done on the economic 
> impact on current business. Do not use the Wispark numbers from their 
> paid consultants. I could hire a consultant to say “the sun rises in 
> the west and sets in the east” as long as that was my position. They 
> are not telling the truth on the impact on current businesses. To say 
> the entertainment “pie” will grow is insane. Look at one recent 
> example of government-sponsored entertainment destroying a private 
> business. The Milwaukee Theatre was rushed through with the promise of 
> bigger shows and not hurting compettion. Their numbers are way off, 
> they paid exorbitant bonuses to acts to get their business and have 
> now run the Riverside Theatre tenants out of business. The mayor is 
> naïve and oblivious to the facts except that the Pabst City supporters 
> helped get him elected and now it is payback for them. He is our Mayor 
> Quimby. We need the aldermen and commissioners to do what is right for 
> the hard-working taxpaying business already here and turn down the TIF 
> request. The only people that will benefit from this project are the 
> developers and construction companies. They will make a fortune. 
> Please stop this for the future of our city.
>
> DAILY REPORTER REVENUE
>
> The little-known Daily Reporter, circulation about 2,000 copies, calls 
> itself “Wisconsin’s Construction, Law and Public Record Authority 
> since 1897,” and for better than a century it was nothing more than a 
> collection of legal notices. After its sale by the Woodmansee family 
> to Dolan Media Company, the paper hired a couple of reporters and 
> actually began to put real news into its pages. Still, the lion’s 
> share of the Daily Reporter revenue comes from the aforementioned 
> legal notices, which, by law in Wisconsin must be placed in a daily 
> publication of paid circulation.
>
> This latter provision has provided the Daily Reporter’s niche – it 
> charges $189 per year for a subscription, which qualifies it on the 
> “paid” part of the equation. But, since its press run is quite low, it 
> is able to offer lower-priced advertisements than, say the Journal 
> Sentinel, which clinches the contract for the paper. Other newspapers 
> throughout the state carry legal notices, and towns, cities and 
> villages are trying hard to limit the money they must spend on these 
> notices.
>
> Bills AB 257 and SB 126 would allow that summaries of legislative 
> action be permitted rather than full text messages. This alone could 
> save the governmental units many thousands of dollars per year.
>
> Bill AB 35 would go even further – permitting legal notices to simply 
> be posted on the internet.
>
> Of course, Wisconsin’s newspapers are against these proposals, since 
> the current system is the model of an advertising manager’s dream: if 
> the ad is mandatory, you don’t need to spend money to get it. And, the 
> more space an advertisement takes up with repetitive legal terms, the 
> better.
>
> So what kind of money is at stake here?
>
> Milwaukeeworld asked city comptroller W. Martin “Wally” Morics, CPA to 
> provide an accounting of the city’s expenditures for its legal notices 
> in the Daily Reporter.
>
> From January through March this year, or the first quarter, the City 
> spent $22,702.44 on advertisements in the little paper. For the year 
> 2004, the Daily Reporter charged $99,936.48 for the advertisements and 
> official notices bought by the city.
>
> The revenues from the county, which we have not yet requested, should 
> be considerably more.
>
> MAYOR’S LANDSCAPE AWARDS
>
> The sixth annual Mayor’s Landscape Awards were handed out at a low key 
> ceremony at the Italian Community Center on May 4^th . “City in 
> Bloom,” sponsored in part by Greening Milwaukee, issues two awards per 
> aldermanic district, plus a couple extras. Commercial, residential and 
> “creative” awards were given at the event, which is among the most 
> democratic activities in Milwaukee, ranging from the old African 
> American woman whose garden is an oasis in a blighted neighborhood, to 
> the retired South Side couple who can sure grow tomatoes, to the east 
> side gay couple who apparently do nothing all day but make their 
> garden fabulous.
>
> Stereotypes? You betcha, and they were all there at the party. Mayor 
> Barrett was his good-natured self, posing patiently for pictures with 
> all winners, singly and individually. The media did not attend the 
> event, which is a shame, since landscape is such an uplifting 
> phenomenon, and the show itself was not a particularly rousing one. 
> Perhaps it could be incorporated into a larger event – like a home 
> show, or landscape show – to better get the message across.
>
> Nominations are now being taken for next year’s landscape awards, to 
> be awarded in May 2006. You can nominate your own garden – or a 
> neighbor’s. Greening Milwaukee will notify nominees that “their garden 
> has been noticed.”
>
> For more information, go to www.greeningmilwaukee.org 
> <http://www.greeningmilwaukee.org/> .
>
> WALKER’S NEWS
>
> Scott Walker’s race for governor included the issuance of a poll 
> result this week to “Interested Observers” from John Hiller or Friends 
> of Scott Walker. According to a memorandum from the Tarrance Group, 
> which Hiller proudly notes is the employer of Brian Tringali, “Tommy 
> Thompson and George W. Bush’s pollster,” we learn that Walker leads 
> the pack for a republican primary ballot, with 39 per cent of the 
> vote. He was followed by Undecided with 36 per cent of the vote and 
> Mark Green with 25 per cent of the vote.
>
> Trigani says that governor Jim Doyle is “particularly vulnerable” in 
> the upcoming race. “Indeed, Doyle’s current standing is even worse 
> than the previous Governor’s position, who was defeated.”
>
> Trigani also implies that Walker will do well even among voters who 
> have never heard of him once they learn of his commitment to lower 
> property taxes. Thirty-four percent of the Republican electorate rate 
> property taxes as the biggest concern.
>
> Furthermore, “as Milwaukee County Executive, Walker’s name ID and 
> favorable rating is extremely high in the most expensive media market 
> in the state. This affords Scott Walker the opportunity to expend 
> resources elsewhere in the state, whereas any opponent must exhaust 
> resources in the Milwaukee media market.”
>
> Finally, the good news! We won’t have to listen to Walker campaign 
> ads! That joy will be reserved for others.
>
> We also learn from Walker’s campaign (“Lower Taxes. Higher 
> Standards.”) that if Doyle or Green lose the governor’s race, then 
> they’re out of a job. Not so Walker!
>
> “Scott will be in place to fight for the interests taxpayers (sic) 
> regardless of the outcome of the 2006 election. Scott’s term as County 
> Executive runs through spring of 2008. He has a long term commitment 
> to fight for the issues he cares passionately about.”
>
> LAKESHORE STATE PARK PLANS
>
> A Community Open House was held at the Italian Community Center on 
> Monday May 9^th to give the public the latest update on Lakeshore 
> State Park, hailed as “Milwaukee’s First State Park.” According to 
> Brian Burke, who was at the event, Julilly Kohler questioned the 
> generic name of the park, saying it does not take into account the 
> location as the original “Gathering Place by the Waters,” a place 
> where the Native Americans would come for sports, ceremonies and to 
> trade news and goods. The native word for this place is now called 
> “Milwaukee.” Kohler said she thought the park’s name could allude to 
> the history of the place, which created a bit of a buzz at the 
> meeting, since the name is rather generic. The best I can come up with 
> is “Council Grounds State Park.” Anyway, your suggestions are welcome, 
> so send them on, and milwaukeeworld will speed them on their way.
>
> MORE INTERESTING NEWS
>
> The Assembly Democrats met at Turner Hall recently, drawing such 
> luminaries as Fred Kessler, Barbara Toles, Jon Richards, Josh Zepnick, 
> Pedro Colon, Shirley Krug, Sebastian Raclaw, Leonard Sobczak, John 
> Finerty (Jr.), Linda Honold, Paul Nannis, Evan Zeppos and H. Carl 
> Mueller. In his comments, Richards slipped when he called the mayor 
> “Governor” Barrett, which I’m sure opened all sorts of wounds. … Real 
> Chili is opening an outlet in Madison, which will probably be a 
> success … Bella’s Fat Cat is opening its third location in Milwaukee. 
> This one will be in the 2900 block of N. Oakland Avenue. … Michael S. 
> Maistelman, a campaign finance and election attorney was recognized by 
> Campaigns and Elections magazine as a “Rising Star” for his work for 
> democratic candidates, particularly Thomas Nelson, the only democrat 
> to beat an incumbent republican in last year’s assembly races. … 
> Legacy Bank is suing SOL, Inc., the defunct shoe store on E. Brady 
> Street … Bosley’s on Brady has opened, bringing white-tablecloth 
> dining to the west side of that street in the space formerly occupied 
> by Konohana. … Why did U.S. Bank dump Wisconsin president Andrew E. 
> Randall? The company isn’t saying much, but Randall did come to 
> Milwaukee with a gruff take-no-prisoners air. He did leave a divorce 
> and an ex-wife behind in Ohio, where he had worked for the bank. He 
> did show up here in Milwaukee with a girlfriend, which may have raised 
> some eyebrows, since the pair were in the habit of enjoying $500 
> courtside seats at the Bucks games, pretty much right next to Terry 
> Porter. Shall we say that Mr. Randall was not as low-key as we would 
> prefer our bank executives here. Randall also jumped on many corporate 
> boards since he appeared on the scene, and he does not appear to have 
> left any of them. According to the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Vicky 
> Reddin, Randall remains on the MAM board. Let us not forget 
> Milwaukee’s unofficial, but very real motto:
>
> Milwaukee – You Can Run. But You Can’t Hide.