South Milwaukee Alderman Erik Brooks says that even though the Public Works & Public Property Committee adjourned its meeting last night without taking a vote authorizing the city engineer to develop a proposal for a study on the causes and possible remedies/mitigations, that won't keep things from moving forward.

"Vote or not," Brooks wrote in an email, "our city engineer is going to get the ball rolling on this and come back to the Public Works Committee with a cost for the study in short order."

City Administrator Tamara Mayzik confirmed that by phone this morning, saying that a vote isn't needed to proceed administratively for the city engineer to prepare a study proposal. So there will be no delay in moving forward.

Brooks said in his email that he is "fully expecting this issue will come back to the Public Works Committee in time for another meeting ahead of our next scheduled full council meeting on August 17."

I'm marking my calendar.

First, a big thanks to South MIlwaukee Alderman Erik Brooks. He was true to his word. I was among several people in the neighborhood who contacted him last weekend with a number of questions related to basements flooded and fouled with water and sewage backup from last Thursday's storms and torrential downpour. One was why did it happen -- again.

We were under the impression that a construction project on the east end of Parkway Drive after the April 2008 flood caused the flooding and sewage-backup problems along Parkway and around the corner on Hemlock Court would take care of the situation.

Alderman Brooks said he had similar questions and promised to start seeking answers on Monday, the next business day. He was going to make it a priority, he said. And he did. As chair of the Public Works & Public Property Committee, he added an agenda item related to the disaster to the committee's next meeting. That was tonight.

A bunch of us showed up. City engineer Kyle Vandercar made a presentation, which was followed by a good deal of back and forth among Vandercar, the aldermen and city administrator Tamara Mayzik about the areas of the city that were affected and speculation about why, with occasional interjections from a number of affected residents who were there. Eventually, the committee entertained a motion, which was seconded, to authorize Vandercar to develop a proposal for a study, which the committee will review and recommend to the Common Council.

Then members of the public were allowed to speak. There was, understandably, a good deal of  venting. People are angry and frustrated. A number said the same thing has happened over and over. One resident said the first time it occurred in his house was 1962.

They talked about the thousands of dollars they've lost in ruined furnishings, carpeting, flooring, drywall and paneling--even children's photos and keepsakes -- and in clean-up expenses. One woman alone suffered a $12,000 loss --that after suffering an $18,000 loss in the flood two-and-a-half years ago.

One woman mentioned the health implications.

A couple of folks said they want their property to be re-assessed because their houses are certainly worth less now and will sell for less should they try to sell, because they will have to disclose that the houses get sewage and water backup when it rains. And they think they should be paying taxes on the downgraded value of their houses.

Some residents who appeared to have been through this before wondered if the issue was just going to get tabled like it has in the past.

There were suggestions, such as possibly dredging Mill Pond and Oak Creek, both of which have filled up with silt and debris over the years. That was met with an euphamistic "that's not our job" shoulder shrug. Translation: That's the county's, not our jurisdiction.

Another resident asked if South Milwaukee gets runoff and drainage from the cities of Cudahy and Oak Creek. The answer was yes. That's all, just yes. Unsaid, it seemed to me, was another, not our jurisdiction.

It's true that last Thursday's rainfall was a record, or close to it.  The same might have been true in April 2008. Anomolies. Acts of nature. Doesn't happen all that often.

Even more unsettling, though, is a climatologist's prediction reported on WUWM-FM on Monday that these kinds of storms are likely to become annual events in southeast Wisconsin. So, does that mean that folks unfortunate enough to live in the houses that get flooded will have the joy of shoveling out  and replacing appliances and other belongings every summer? And that other houses that haven't been impacted yet, might eventually be?

As we left City Hall after the meeting, neighbor Ron Wieselman just shook his head. It's the same old, same old, he said. He'd written letters, sent emails, made phone calls and talked to city officials over the past coupe of years and gotten little to no response. He held out little hope that much will happen. The next letter he might write, he said, will be to the editor of the Journal Sentinel warning people not to move to South Milwaukee.

Another neighbor picked up that refrain. How about we all kick in a couple of bucks and take out a full-page ad in the paper, she said.

One thing's for sure. It's going to take the Public Works & Public Property Committee and, consequently, the Common Council a little longer than initially expected just to get approval to do a study, because the committee adjourned the meeting without voting on the motion. At least there was none that my husband or I heard.

An item concerning the disasterous floodingt/sewer backup in South Milwaukee homes in the wake of last week's storms has been added to the South Milwaukee Public Works & Public Property Committee's meeting tomorrow night (Tuesday, July 27). Below is the time, place and agenda for the meeting. Neighbors Bonnie and Ron Wieselman delivered 25 copies of this information to houses along Parkway Drive and Hemlock Court. A number of us plan to attend.

South Milwaukee Public Works & Public Property Committee meeting

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

6:00 p.m.

Council Chambers, 2424 15th Avenue, South Milwaukee, WI.

AGENDA:

1. Call to order/roll call.

2. Discussion/possible motion regarding John Tomaszewski’s request for review or

amendment to the Sanctuary Twindominiums development agreement relating to

trash collection.

3. Discussion/possible motion regarding a proposed Condominium Trash Collection

Policy.

4. Summary of July 22, 2010 storm event and discussion of action items to improve

capacity of sanitary sewer and storm sewer systems.

5. Adjourn.

Alderperson Erik Brooks

Chairperson

All Alderpersons Police Dept. Treasurer’s Office Administration

City Clerk Water Dept. WWTF Street Dept.

Fire Dept. Health Dept. Senior Center South Shore NOW

City Hall Library Engineering

PUBLIC NOTICE

PLEASE NOTE: There is the potential that a quorum of the Common Council may be present at this meeting. Upon reasonable notice, a good

faith effort will be made to accommodate the needs of disabled individuals through sign language, interpreters or other auxiliary aid at no cost to

the individual to participate in public meetings. Due to the difficulty in finding interpreters, requests should be made as far in advance as

possible, preferably a minimum of 48 hours. For additional information or to request this service, contact the South Milwaukee City Clerk at

762-2222, (FAX)762-3272, or write to the ADA Coordinator, City Hall, 2424 15th Avenue, South Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53172. The City of

South Milwaukee is TDD equipped and can be accessed by calling 768-8060. Prepared by K. Stritchko, July 26, 2010.

I don't often do this, but I'm going to make a recommendation. If you need some woodworking -- finishing unfinished or refinishing wood that needs refurbishing -- particularly floors -- Mark Tomaszewski, owner of Shelterworks, is a pro.

He did some work for us and the completed product was superb, all the muss was cleaned up -- and his rates are refreshingly reasonable.

Shelterworks is definitely on our list for a return to tackle more projects we want to have done.  

If you want to contact him, his email address is shelter.works@yahoo.com

Erik Brooks, alderman for South Milwaukee's 4th district which includes my neighborhood, was out Friday afternoon talking to folks on my street and Hemlock Court whose basements were flooded and contaminated by sewage from the previous day's storms.

"It was a mix of sadness, anger, resignation, exasperation, you name it," Brooks wrote in an email. "Hearing their stories showed me how important and serious this issue is, and why it will be a priority for me."

One of my neighbors feels like he's heard it all before.

Ron Weiselman says it wasn't as bad for his house as it was last time, but it was for others.

"We had water seepage and some sewer backup in our basement," he says. "Not a lot of sewerage this time, but some and seepage."

Two houses across the street got five or six inches, though, he added, and several on either side of those and on down the street were also impacted.

Ruined furnishing and carpeting is piled up at the curbs.

It sure looks like a reprise of a couple of years ago. So what's to be done?

"I have written a number of letters to city officials and talked to aldermen and the mayor and the city engineer," Ron says. "The (street/drain culvert construction) project at the end of Parkway only address flood water and did nothing for the sewerage backups."

Ron got a letter back from the city engineer "where he stated he felt we have a problem at the corner of Hemlock and Parkway Drive."

Well, duh!

"NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE!!" Ron says, not even trying to restrain his anger and frustraton. "They are using our homes as a "Deep Tunnel" for sewerage!!!"

So are there any other areas in South Milwaukee that have this problem, or is it just Parkway Drive and Hemlock Court?

If so, why and what can be done? 

Yes, the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia, looks like Old World Europe, but the residents look a lot like South Milwaukee neighbors. It's only when they speak and the language isn't English that I'm jarred back to realizing I'm not in a quaint fairytale theme park in the U.S.

The place and people are charming. Like Tirana, Albania, the streets and parks teem with young people, families and babies. Appearances of a comfortable lifestyle abound.

Yes, the country has economic problems, but less so than many other countries in Europe, and tensions between the courts/legal system and the media create problems. But where is that not the case? (That, in fact, is the reason I'm here -- on a court-media consulting project.)

Among the delights of Ljubljana is it's outdoor Saturday market. It's a left turn just across the first of The Three Bridges and in the shadow of the castle on the hill on the edge of town and consists of acres and acres of everything -- mountains of fresh produce, rainbows of fresh-cut flowers, tomato and other starter plants for  vegetable gardens, clothes -- including undergarments for men and women, shoes, belts, ladies hand- and shoulderbags, toys, sausages and other meats, cheeses, baked goods, fish and other types of seafood, beverages including the fantastic wines Slovenia is famous for -- at least locally, woven baskets, needleworked and tatted table linens, handicrafts, souvenirs -- and this time (I've been here twice before in the past six years) cavier.

This year as in years past a festival complete with children's theater performances, street musicians magic acts and balloons, filled the town square. On my last visit, I arrived on Dec. 5 so was delighted with a St. Nicholas Eve celebration in the square, which included a parade complete with red devils that jumped out into the crowd and 'frightened' the kids.

After I get home (still have Romania to go on this trip), I'm REALLY going to figure out how to post photos I've taken on this blog so you can see some of the wonderous sights.

Well, that was adventure.

By the time I’d finished breakfast, it looked like the rain predicted for today wasn’t going to materialize. The sky was cloudless and sunshine flooded the city. So instead of spending the day working as I had planned, given the weather forecast, I studied the handy little “Tirana in Your Pocket” booklet I had purchased the day before to see what I might want to do outside. The nice thing about my hotel location, lots of possibilities are within walking distance.

One, a Harley Davidson-theme bar called ‘Steelwings’, was a given.  “…easily located by the multitude of cool rides parked outside, this rocking bar full of leather-clad motorbike enthusiasts is decorated with all the usual Americana.  It’s a very friendly place and owners Tani and Dani stress that everyone is welcome.” How cool is that! Worlds away from Milwaukee, home of Harley Davidson, and here is—Harley Davidson! Hours listed for the bar, 8 a.m.-2 a.m. Didn’t say anything about being closed on Sundays.   Based on the booklet's street map, it looked likean easy 10-minute stroll going north from the hotel.

But I never got there.

That’s because I opted to try possibility two on my list first. Grand Park stretches to the south behind my hotel and borders Tirana Lake (or ‘artificial lake’ as Tiranians call it), which lays to the south of the park.

I had passed several parks on my walk yesterday to the city’s center and Shenkderbej Square dominated by a large black monument of a horse-mounted Gjergj Kastriotri Shenkderbej, “the only historical figure whom all Albanians agree was a national hero,” according to my pocket guide. About 600 years ago he created an independent Albania, and kept it so for 25 years until the Ottoman empire overran and occupied the country for 500 years.

Those parks, lush, lovely and full of people as they were, were pikers compared to Grand Park, which goes on forever. (Unfortunately, the pocket guide doesn’t description doesn’t include the size. It contains a zoo, however, a cemetery for British troops who were killed here fighting the Germans during WWII, and, I discovered the Woodrow Wilson Institute.

The park has a very wide – a good six to eight feet across, I’d say – wonderfully maintained cut-stone inlaid foot and bike path with a well-packed dirt track bordering its outer edge of the park. I’m not sure, but I think the dirt track was intended for runners, although pedestrians used it as much as the stone path. Smaller dirt trails threaded up from the main path into the park interior. The main parallel stone and dirt paths, however,  wound around the perimeter of the park – or so I thought. That turned out to be part of the adventure.  

Onl y the very northern edge of the park was included in the map in my booklet , but it looked like the trail that went into the park on the west side emerged from the park on the east side. Since the entire park wasn’t shown on the map, I had no idea how far I would have to walk, but, I reasoned, it couldn’t be all that long, right?

The sights along the way as I walked were interesting, heartwarming and uplifting. The multitude of young families – which duplicated what I saw on my walk yesterday—the proliferation of pregnant women and babies everywhere confirmed what the Albanian national soccer team player I sat beside on my flight Wednesday night from Munich to Tirana said about Albania being a young country.  From all appearances, it is also family-oriented, with most people having relatively comfortable lives and positive outlooks.

 Kids rode tricycles, small bikes with training wheels, Razor scooters. Almost to a child, they held, bounced and dribbled soccer balls of every size and color. They had sculpted toy balloons, wore princess costumes.  I even saw one little girl with gauzy, sparkly covered, pink trimmed butterfly wings strapped to her back and headband with matching  pink deely-bopper butterflies perched on her head.

Vendors selling the butterfly wings and headband sets, balloons, popcorn and cotton candy dotted the path here and again.

I walked on a road that bounded the west side of Tirana Lake with the lake on my left and on the right, among other sights, a large, extraordinarily colorful amusement park with gaily painted rides, including a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, trams and  mini-trains going full tilt.

Rounding a curve at what I thought was possibly about halfway around the park, people lounged on the grass near the lake’s edge and several men in Speedos braved what must have been pretty chilly water. One sat on a tree stump, his back to the sun and what looked like his underpants pulled down around his upper thighs, I assume so he wouldn’t have a tan line. (For what it’s worth, he had one leg positioned discretely to avoid offensive exposure to those on the park side.)

I walked on and on, the woods—filled with trees all with surprisingly and uniformly slender trunks as though all planted at about the same time and not all that long ago—on one side and the lake on the other. I rounded another curve to find a large gated compound with tall (six story) wedge-shaped Spartan-looking  buildings painted bright green and yellow. Totally out of character with the woodsy seclusion of the park. I saw a large sign at the far end of the wrought-iron fence that had the picture of a man on it. It looked for the world like our former U.S. president, Woodrow Wilson. And sure enough, it was. The legend on the sign indicated that it was the Wilson Institute of something in Albanian I couldn’t read.

I felt like I should soon be coming around to where the path exited the east side of the park and, although, it was a pretty curvy path, it seemed to have been turning consistently to the left, which was the way it should be going to emerge from the park. But no, that’s not what happened.

About 15 minutes past the Wilson Institute, the park-path ended and was joined by a road going off to the right. I could see the road curving around the lake to its other side—in the opposite direction I knew I needed to go. It was going on two hours since I’d left the hotel. I absolutely didn’t want to have to retrace my steps, but the only alternative I could think of would be to try one of the dirt trails that went into the park as a possible short cut.

That didn’t seem like a smart thing to do. I’ve gotten lost in foreign cities in my travels before, but I always carried a card with my hotel name and address on it so I could take a taxi back if need be. I had a brochure with me today from the Sheraton that had the hotel’s address. But there wasn’t any possibility that I would find a taxi in the middle of the woods. Nope the only good alternative was to go back the way I’d come. At least by walking faster, I could shorten the time it would take to walk back.

I was just past the Wilson Institute when I heard the first clap of thunder. Ho-boy. Well, at least I’d thought to bring my umbrella, just in case the weatherman turned out to be right. But I was wearing sandals, which I also wore to the hotel health club, so didn’t want them to get wet. So I walked faster.

Although sweat was rolling down my face and between my shoulder blades (it doesn’t take much for me to sweat, and the high 70s temperature made it flow fairly freely) I had two things going for me. One was a wonderfully cool breeze. The other was the path was mostly downhill. Interesting, because I hadn’t noticed it being uphill earlier.

More thunder rumbled off to the right and through the treetops.  I could begin to the sky in that direction darken.

I walked faster.

The familiar landmarks came much faster than I had hoped. I rounded the last curve and headed for the park exit, turned right at the street and headed for my hotel. The rain was holding off.

As I passed the Polytechnic University and Mother Teresa Square, site of the classic car rally a couple of days earlier, however, I realized I had read that a statue of Mother Teresa was supposedly located there.  (Not being raised Catholic, I had not known until this trip that Mother Teresa was Albanian.) I had seen no such statue on my earlier walks through that square, so, after casting an appraising eye at the sky, I stopped and examined every inch of the square and proximity. No statue. I shook my head in disbelief. Surely with so much other historical sites preserved and renovated, Albanians wouldn’t stand for a statue of arguably their most famous native to be removed, if indeed it had been, and not replace it.

I turned back toward my hotel and there I spotted what I thought must be the statue. Just the top of the head was visible from the sidewalk. It was up behind and to one side of the main building of Polytechnic University, which was built up on an elevation quite a bit higher than street level.

OK, rain or no, I was going to go up and take a picture of it. Which I did. I also wanted to take a picture of the inscription identifying it as Mother Teresa and possible dates or sculptor’s name. But I couldn’t. There wasn’t any. Nothing on any side of the base on which the statue stood.

Strange, I thought. OK, so she’s recognizable by sight alone for this generation and perhaps one or two hence. But how about for generations beyond that? Would she forever be recognizable and need no identifying inscription? I didn’t ponder for long.

I hoofed it on ‘home’ and am now sitting safe and dry in the hotel while its pouring rain outside.

One more interesting note. I’ve been keeping an eye on the National Soccer Stadium which I can see just outside my hotel window, in case, the national soccer team might have a game. It would be so fun to be able to spot the player I sat next to on the plane.

When  I got to my room, I saw a lot of activity outside the soccer stadium, including a crowd waving banner and flags at a bus that had pulled up to the stadium entrance. A few officials made it out to the center of the field before the skies opened up. Don’t know if they’ll get to play or not.

Oh, yeah, the Harley Davidson-theme bar, Steelwings? I think that’s going to have to wait until tomorrow.

I heard a band playing and thought perhaps something was going on at the soccer stadium I can see to the right from my hotel window. But no, only a couple of runners trotting around the track around the field. But I did hear a band, and it sounded like it was live, not recorded.

Then I saw it, coming down the main boulevard to the left that ended at the main building of the University here in Tirana. Although it wasn't a large band, it did have a motorcycle escort. And police were blocking access to the boulevard on the side street directly in front of my window.

I wondered if this might be an extension of the Socialist Party hunger strike that had ended the night I got here, or perhaps another phase of protests. The issue is last year's election which the Democratic Parter here narrowly won, thus contested by the nearest contender, the SP.  The SP wants the ballot boxes unsealed and the ballots recounted. the DP says the Constitution prohibits opening ballot boxes. (Unexplained to me is how the ballots were counted in the first place if the ballot boxes weren't opened. Or perhaps they were opened, the sealed after the count, with the contention being that it's unconstitutional to reopen them.

There did seem to be a gathering of some kind, but  it looked orderly and calm. I decided to go down for a look see. As I got closer to the crowd, I saw that people were clustered around -- classic and antique cars! They had been pulled up in rows for display. Soon a couple of men went to a podium set up on the steps to the University building. One of them started speaking in Albanian. Before long the other one began to speak in accented English -- I couldn't identify the accent.

He thanked everyone for coming and joining the celebration of this great event that was a year in the making. One, he hoped, that will be repeated every year from now on. He then said the cars would pull out and circle twice around a huge traffic circle in front of the University, then proceed to the hotel. (Turns out it wasn't the Sheraton where I'm staying.)

After the cars exited the square, I walked over to the traffic circle, curious about what it was. It looked like it might have been a fountain that wasn't working. I walked all the way around it. It obviously had contained water as it was lined with the kind of tiles used in some pools and fountains. But from the look of it, it hadn't been used for its intended purposd for a long time. It was stained and had clods of dirt in it. Grafitti had been scribbled on it here and there, tiles were broken and missing, among the trash someone had tossed an old shoe in it. What had happened, I wondered. No funds for maintenance and to keep the water flowing?

Suddenly, Grant Park popped into my mind. I thought about the ever-proliferating invasive garlic-mustard weed, the yellow-then gray-then brown carpet of dandelions going through its blooming-seeding-dying phases that is replacing the almost gone green carpet of grass, the fewer and fewer every year park benches and picnic tables, the vandalism that includes trees being cut down for absolutely no reason except that someone's decided he (almost surely a he or hes) can do it. 

I thought back to eight years ago when we moved to South Milwaukee and how lovely, inviting and fun Grant Park was and the very visible and steady deterioration since then. Was what I was seeing in Tirana Grant Park's future? Surely not, if it's up to the Friends of Grant Park, the Garlic Mustard Pickers and the many other park lovers and volunteers.

But surely it is, if it's up to the relentless and disasterous cutting of the county parks' budget. The tireless work and fundraising of volunteers can't do it alone. They need the help of everyone who benefits from the park. And everyone who lives in South Milwaukee benefit from Grant Park, whether they use any of its facilities or attend any of the events held there. It's called quality of life. The quality of all of our lives benefit from the park. Without it, or even with it in a decrepit  eyesore version that looks more like a city dump than a county park, we are all the poorer.

I'm in Albania. Native country of some of our South Milwaukee neighbors. Owners of the Madison Avenue Mediterranian Market on Madison Avenue are from Albania. So are owners of Lily's Cleaners just over the city line in the Piggy Wiggly shopping center.

None of them, however, have any connection to my visit to this country. I'm on a U.S. State Department-sponsored media-relations consulting project. It's been an interest trip so far. Missed my flight connection in Munich, which meant hanging out there for 11 hours.

The flight from there to Tirana, Albana's capital, was aboard a regional jet full of mostly Albanians. As we winged our way toward out destination, I was struck by all the noise. People talking. Lots of people talking. Talking loudly and with exuberance. And laughing. Although I was worn out and dozed a lot -- having left my house at 2 p.m. Tuesday and it was now nearing 11 p.m. Wednesday -- as we began our 'initial descent' into Tirana, I struck up a conversation with the young man sitting beside me.

He lived in the UK, but played on the Albanian national soccer team. He chuckled when I remarked about the animated talk among the other passengers -- seemed like all of them, including a woman seated in the row in front of us who,m I had seen before we boarded the plane in Munich, was obviously traveling alone. Yet, she was engaged in converation with her seat partner like they were old friends.

Yes, the soccer player said, He flew in and out of Albania all the time and that's the way the passengers always behaved. Albanians are like that, he said. It's a small country and people treat each other like neighbors, whether they actually know them or not.

That's one of the beauties of this country. I'm eager to discover some of the others.

Barbara Degermanjian and her twin sister, Mary, lived with their dog, Cindy, near my daughter in Grant Park. They were often outside either working in their yard or sitting on a bench behind their house, enjoying a sunny day. They waved at passersby and sometimes asked my daughter to stop by for coffee and to chat.

They looked so much alike, even in their advanced years, that I couldn't tell them apart. Small, wiry, shoulder-length white hair forever escaping their loosely bound pony tails.

Barbara was 84 when she passed from this life a week ago Sunday. Mary preceded her by two years. Their nephew, Greg Gavric, spoke at Barbara's funeral on Saturday.Though I didn’t attend, I understand he described a Barbara Degermanjian we -- my daughter and I – wish we had known.

We certainly knew her kindness, the positive outlook she brought to each day, and her independent spirit. But, Greg described her voracious appetite for learning and how her immersion in the classics --Voltaire, Sophocles, Milton, and a host of others on her bookshelf – made her extensively self taught.

Despite her sophisticated reading list, she had the heart of a rocker. Among the pictures displayed at her funeral were ticket stubs from concerts she had attended, and Greg brought smiles to many attending as he remembered her dancing on her chair at a concert just a couple years ago.

Perhaps the bridge she built from factory floor where she worked in earlier years to Faust and from her favorite musician John Waite to Johann Bach equipped her well for the variety of people she met.

Greg related an incident at a Bruce Springsteen concert they attended when he went to see why stepping outside for a smoke was taking her so long only to find his diminutive octogenarian aunt deep in conversation with a hulking tattooed biker.She was just as at home pondering philosophical questions with academics.

Greg described how the passion Barbara brought to life crystallized with her family and friends. Those attending her funeral Saturday likely knew what he meant when he said that when people were Barbara’s friends they were always Barbara’s friends. And he captured the ferocity with which she defended family in describing his 4’11” aunt protecting her own as the one thing that could make his 6’3” 215-pound frame quake with fear.

 My daughter thought of her as a force of nature and remembers her as 'fierce,' not in any pejorative sense, but as a way of describing how Barbara embraced life. Fiercely. It was a life my daughter said she wished she had learned more about before Barbara passed from it.

Rest in peace, Barbara Degermanjian.

(With help from my daughter.)

Here's an invitation: Please visit Chapen's art gallery @ www.chopart.net 

For the fourth week in a row, our next-door neighbor has cut our grass. Front and back yards. And edged. And swept up the clippings. He doesn't ask if we would like for him to cut it. He doesn't knock on the door first to let us know he's going to cut it. He just does it. That's because he knows my husband had major knee surgery on March 31. And because that's just the way our neighbor is. When it snows in the winter, more often than not, before we've even rolled out of bed, he's out there blowing off our driveway along with his own. And he does our neighbor's driveway across the street and his neighbor on the other side of his house. That's just the way he is.

Today, as he finished up our lawn, I went out to thank him. His response was a smile and a "Happy Mother's Day." That's our neighbor, Jerry. He knows what it is to be a neighbor.

Jerry is one of many reasons we can honestly tell people, "No!" when they ask if we were crazy by moving here eight years ago here from Southern California. No, we were not crazy. Jerry and our other great neighbors reaffirm that time and again. 

South Milwaukee neighbor and primo children's author Janet Halfmann is a headliner at South Milwaukee's Children's Book Week celebration, "Make a Splash with Books!" Janet, who has written more than 30 books for children, will read from her new fresh-off-the-press picture book, Little Black Ant on Park Street. Hooray! You go, Janet! Here are the event details as posted on the Children's Book Week website: 

Tuesday, May 11, 6 pm to 7:45 pm.

Stories, poetry, and artwork will fill the South Milwaukee Public Library the evening of Tuesday, May 11, to celebrate Children's Book Week. Two authors and an author-illustrator will be on hand to share their work with readers of all ages.

South Milwaukee author Janet Halfmann will read her new nonfiction picture book, Little Black Ant on Park Street.

JoAnn Early Macken, the author of the brand-new rhyming picture book, Waiting Out the Storm, will fill the evening with poetry.

Illustrator-author Bonnie Leick, whose art is sometimes described as "quirky and humorous," will share drawings from her many children's books.

In addition, there will be activities, prizes, refreshments, and the selling and signing of books.

"Make a Splash with Books" will run from 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. at the library at 1907 10th Ave, South Milwaukee. The free event is a collaboration between the library, South Milwaukee Public Schools, and the Wisconsin chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. For more information call the library at 414-768-8195.
 

South Milwaukee (WI) Public Library

Make a Splash with Books!

Oak Creek Common Council considers a resolution tonight to extend Lake Parkway to Racine County line . Here's a link to a story.

http://www.milwaukeenewsbuzz.com/?p=42268

Well, that was fun!

I scoped out South Milwaukee's Indoor  Spring Market yesterday -- along with what felt like most of my South Milwaukee neighbors!

My hubby, who's still recoverying from knee surgery so didn't go with me, asked what was there. It would be easier to list what wasn't there.

In addition to a number of local businesses, such as Donn Powers Jeweler, Sunrise Clothiers and Parkway Floral, vending tables were laden with all kinds of home crafts -- crocheted, quilted, hand-sewn work, beaded -- jewelery, handbags made from recycled phonograph album covers (Mozart or Manhattan Transfer, anyone?), pens crafted made by South Milwaukeeans George and Tina Krenzer who own The Write Turn (I bought a nifty pen made from a pine seed pod).

Ida Spack was there from Nona's Cafe, Bakery and Delicatessen with boxes and boxes of her scrumptious pasteries.

South Milwaukee's pre-eminent children's author Janet Halfmann (check out her website at www.janethalfmann.com and her most recent picture book "Little Black Ant on Park Street") was signing that and her many other books for a parade of young readers, pre-readers, parents and grandparents.

Folks from the Wild Flour Bakery brought loaves of all kinds of breads and a variety of cookies and muffins. (I managed to snag one of the last cranberry-walnut muffins -- yum!)

Azteca restaurant was offering free samples of chips and guacamole, and people were munching crepes made on the spot.

Vendors sold artwork -- orginal paintings and reproduced on notecards), plaques made from polished rocks and with dried arrangements, hand-crated candles, soap and goats milk (yep, at the same booth--I didn't check to see if both were for bathing), locally produced honey, dream catchers and (something I've never seen before) Japanese thread balls.

There was so much more. My apologies for not mentioning all. But there will be future opportunities. This Indoor Market, held in the Bucyrus Heritage Building, was a prelude to the summer Farmers Market at 11th and Milwaukee avenues, which will run June 3-Oct. 14, and be open from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. More information about the Market is at www.smdowntownmarket.org.

South Milwaukee Alderman/newly elected City Clerk Jim Shelenske sent the following message:

"Please Come down and the Indoor Spring Market on Satuday, April 10 inside the Heritage Building 1970 10th Avenue from 10:00 am tp 3:00 pm

Come for the market! Stay for the (Bcyrus) Museum!".

Event: South Milwaukee Spring Indoor Market - April 10
What: Flea Market
Start Time: Saturday, April 10 at 10:00am
End Time: Saturday, April 10 at 2:40pm
Where: Bucyrus Heritage Hall (across street from SM Library)

We lost our good friend and neighbor, Betty Meich, last week. It has been a difficult time for her since she lost her beloved husband Bob more than a year ago. She’s had more than her share of health issues. And, although, her daughter Kathy, son-in-law David and grandson Robert, who live not far away, have been devoted, caring and helpful in every way, her medical problems eventually became too great. We and her other neighbors will miss her as will her many friends and her loved ones, most especially Kathy, David and Robert.

We first met Betty and Bob at an open house we had a few months after we moved to South Milwaukee eight years ago. They brought us a lovely holly-decorated cheese plate and knife with a matching handle. We use it every Christmas and think of them.

Once when visiting us, Betty said a small alcove in the laundry room off the kitchen of our house that now contains a pantry had at one time been a bathroom. I could hardly believe it. The space was tiny. That might, however, explain the small vent fan in the ceiling we had wondered about.

Sometime later, perhaps a couple of years, we met a member of the family that had the house built and lived here for many years, who verified that the little space that's now a pantry had indeed been a bathroom—just a toilet, really—so he and his siblings could run in when they were playing outside and make a quick pit stop without having to track through the house. Smart. A sink was—and still is—next to the washing machine on the other side of the laundry room from where the "toilet closet" was located.

Betty and Bob's daughter Kathy grew up playing with the kids who grew up in our house. And they all played with the Spaltholz kids who grew up in a house across the street from Betty and Bob's house. One of the Spaltholz kids, Tom, is now married to our daughter. Interesting how circular some things can be. The old neighborhood, settled some 40-45 years ago by, among several others, the Meichs, Spaltholzes and original owners of our house, has seen a lot of change. With Betty's passing, the Spaltholzes are the only remaining of the original families.

So we won’t see Betty hanging her wash on the line on sunny days anymore, or call her from time to time to see how she’s doing. But she will stay in the hearts and minds of all of the neighbors--orginal and newcomer--who knew her. Peace be with you, Betty. We pray that all of your hopes and expectations have been realized.