Milwaukee

From the Article:

The University Club of Milwaukee is permanently closing its city club due to financial challenges and plans to sell the downtown Milwaukee building. It will focus on its country club moving forward.

The closure is effective Tuesday, University Club board president Jim Caragher told members in a letter sent Tuesday afternoon and obtained by the Milwaukee Business Journal. As reasons for the closure, he cited member attrition, deferred maintenance, fine-dining competition, and cultural division within the club since the 2017 merger between the University Club and Tripoli Country Club.

"The board contemplated and exhausted all reasonable alternative scenarios to improve the club’s financial position and determined that closure and sale of the downtown facility was the only responsible option," Caragher wrote. "We have been forced to accept the fact that our recovery plan would likely take too long to unfold and require too many resources, making the timeline unviable in light of the financial pressures we face."

Employees of the city club were made aware of the closure Tuesday and will all receive severance, Caragher wrote. Those who have health coverage will be covered through Jan. 31.

From the Article:

The Riverwest Co-op, located at the corner of Clarke and Fratney in Milwaukee, is at risk of closing. The volunteer-run grocery store and café has been open for over 22 years.

They are asking for urgent help with saving the co-op. This, as they are just weeks away from having to close their doors unless they can get additional funding. In an effort to help, they are asking the public to consider shopping there – and they have also created a GoFundMe Page.

"I don’t think there’s any place like the Riverwest Food Co-op in all of Milwaukee or the surrounding area. It’s really like your local corner-store, with a conscience," said Jill Capicchioni, Riverwest Co-op treasurer.

The Riverwest Co-op prides itself on selling local items – like apples from Waukesha County and pickles from Brown Deer. Additionally, there are many options for vegans.

From the Article:

Figuring out sales taxes is about to get a lot more complicated.

For the past three years, the Milwaukee region has had three easy-to-remember sales tax rates: 5% on all taxable purchases in Waukesha County, 5.5% on most other taxable purchases in the four-county area and 6% on restaurant food, candy and beverages in Milwaukee County.

But on Jan. 1, the number of tax rates will double, to six, with the highest at 8.4%. Under a new state law, Milwaukee will impose its first-ever city sales tax and Milwaukee County will raise its sales tax, to avoid the budgetary catastrophe known as a “fiscal cliff.”

From the Article:

President Joe Biden will be visiting Milwaukee next Wednesday, the White House announced Thursday.

Biden will be in town to "discuss how Bidenomics and his Investing in America agenda are leading to a small business boom, lowering costs for hardworking families, and building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up," according to the White House.

There's no word yet on where Biden will appear or what time of day he will be appearing. This story will be updated when we learn more details.

From the Article:

A proposal to redevelop the admissions gate at the Milwaukee County Zoo received support Thursday from a committee of the Milwaukee County Board.

County government is on track to finish 2023 with a $36.6 million budget surplus, according to the latest projection from the Office of the Comptroller. Sup. Shawn Rolland authored legislation that would use $1,737,050 from the surplus to reconfigure the entrance at the Milwaukee County Zoo.

The zoo entrance project was previously vetted and approved by an ad-hoc county committee that reviews infrastructure projects, but funding did not make it into the 2024 budget.

“To me, there’s like four words, it’s about revenue, experience, safety and traffic,” Rolland said of the project.

The zoo’s parking lots are located behind the admission kiosks, which can cause large traffic backups at the entrance. Cars are regularly lined up along W. Bluemound Road all the way to the nearby freeway on-ramps, Rolland said. In addition, the long wait to get into the parking lot can cause cars to drive away rather than continue to wait.

Rolland said he was stuck in a long traffic jam with his family on his way to the Wild Lights event. “I saw others decide to park across the street and then try to run across Bluemound — which is like almost like trying to run across a race track — with little kids,” he said.

The plan is to move the location of the admission kiosks closer to the actual entrance to the zoo, allowing patrons to park before getting in line to pay admission.

“This is an opportunity to drive revenue to the zoo, improve the zoo experience, improve safety for the folks who visit the zoo and improve a traffic issue,” he said.

Zoo Director Amos Morris said he is “fully supportive” of the project. “I think not only will it help the zoo or help the community that surrounds the zoo,” he said.

Morris said the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has plans to resurface Bluemound Road, and that this will make the traffic situation near the entrance worse. “So it’d be nice to get ahead of that,” he said.

The Committee on Finance voted unanimously in favor of the project. It goes to the full board for final approval on Dec. 21.

I'm sure everyone is aware of the Walnut Street reconstruction between 20th Street and 12th Street that added protected bike lanes. Well, the city quietly just did another project, this time from 12th to Vel Phillips, that extends the protected bike lanes using concrete barriers! I updated CyclOSM to show it, but it might take a bit for the map to visually update.

Looks like they’re removing the yellow scaffolding.. all that appears to remain is the roof of the mechanical penthouse.

From the Article:

The Universities of Wisconsin’s Board of Regents rejected a compromise with Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in a special meeting Saturday.

The deal, brokered by university leaders and released on Friday, would have seen legislators release pay raises for about 34,000 university system employees that have been in limbo for months in exchange for cutting diversity, equity, and inclusion positions and other measures.

Members of the boards made speeches in favor of diversity programming and warned that accepting the deal would only lead to future concessions to lawmakers. It is rare for the board to reject a proposal that has been put up for a vote.

“It’s divisive, it’s polarizing and will ultimately lead to even more negative effects on the university system for decades to come. Let’s go back to the table,” said Regent Angela Adams. “Our brand reputation also has value. And so I’ve reached the conclusion that it is shortsighted to accept such an indecent proposal.”

During the debate, Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman said the university system is committed to closing gaps in retention and graduation rates among underrepresented students.

“At the same time, we have to look at diversity as a broader concept, and we have to be inclusive and belonging to all students,” Rothman said. “Certainly underrepresented students from underrepresented groups, but also students of different ideological and religious space, veterans, disabled students, first generation students and the like. That is all part and parcel of who we are at the Universities of Wisconsin as we live our core values of diversity and inclusion.”

The deal Rothman brokered with Vos would have created an administrative chair position to focus on “conservative political thought, classical economic theory, or classical liberalism.” It also would have ended a program aimed at recruiting faculty of color.

Ashok Rai was one of the regents who spoke in favor of the plan. He said he first came to UW-Milwaukee in 1990, shortly before the start of the Gulf War.

“I was called names that I had never imagined being called before,” he said. “Diversity means a lot to me. Equity means a lot to me.”

Rai said he trusted Rothman and UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin to negotiate what is in the best interest of the universities.

Nine members of the board voted against the plan, while eight voted in favor.

From the Article:

With repairs to the Kletzsch Park Dam and construction of a fish passage almost complete, a Milwaukee County Supervisor is moving to develop an overlook and portage around the historic dam.

Sup. Liz Sumner, whose county board district includes Kletzsch Park, sponsored a resolution to allocate approximately $309,000 to develop a scenic overlook at the dam. The overlook will provide a place for canoers and kayakers to portage, keeping them out of the fish passage on the east side of the river, and it will improve access to the river and the dam for visitors with disabilities, Sumner’s resolution states.

The board will vote on the legislation this month.

Repairs to the Kletzsch Park Dam and the construction of a fish passage are almost complete. The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) took the project over in 2021, through an agreement with the county, to get the project underway and remove one of the last remaining barriers to fish passage on the Milwaukee River.

The county began work on the Kletzsch dam project after the Department of Natural Resources cited the county in 2010 and 2016, ordering repairs to the dam.

When Milwaukee County Parks brought the project before the board in 2020, it faced significant opposition from county residents and failed to gain board support. Opposition centered around the county’s plan to build the fish passage on the west side of the river, which would have necessitated the removal of some old-growth trees. To build the passage on the east side of the river, the county would have had to acquire property and it did not have the funding.

A year later, MMSD stepped in and offered to take the project on and bankroll the acquisition of properties on the east side of the river.

“They had the unique opportunity and statutory authority, as well as access to additional funding opportunities that Milwaukee County Parks would not have,” Parks Director Guy Smith said in 2021.

The Kletsch Dam project is part of a larger effort to delist the Milwaukee estuary as an Area of Concern. The designation as an AOC was given to the Milwaukee estuary by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1987. The estuary is made up by the confluence of Milwaukee’s three major rivers: Menomonee, Kinnickinnic and Milwaukee. The designation is given to waterways and bodies of water connected to the Great Lakes that are seriously degraded.

“The Kletzsch Dam fish passage and abutment repair is such an important project for the Area of Concern, but also for Milwaukee County Parks and for the region,” Kevin Shafer, executive director of MMSD said in 2021.

The Kltezsch Dam project is aimed at a critical piece of AOC work: restoring fish passage for native species like Northern Pike and Sturgeon. Opening up the passage will restore natural habitats for the fish and improve the natural reproduction and spawning of the species.

Under the agreement with MMSD, the county will retain ownership of the dam and the passage and will be responsible for long-term maintenance.

The sewerage district is nearly finished with the dam rehab and passage construction, according to an MMSD project page. The fish passage will be completed this month and water will begin flowing through the channel.

Once finished, according to MMSD, fish in Lake Michigan will be able to travel upstream to “areas encompassing 25 miles of river, 29 miles of tributary streams, and 2,400 acres of wetlands – reconnecting river habitats and allowing the fish to migrate throughout the region.”

From the Article:

Milwaukee County Transportation officials are hoping the second bus rapid transit (BRT) project they’re planning will be ready for federal funding by the end of 2024, and that the service will be up and running by 2028.

The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) has begun planning a new, 18-mile bus rapid transit service that will run north and south primarily along 27th Street. The route for the proposed BRT service was unveiled in 2022 and, going north to south, runs from Bayshore Town Center in Glendale to the Ikea store in Franklin.

MCTS officials and their consultants from the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and the engineering consultant HNTB have completed some of the critical early steps to getting a large transit project ready for federal funding.

Officials are working closely with the Federal Transit Administration, the federal agency that would award grant funding for the project, said Carolyn Seboe, a project manager with HNTB, county board committee meeting Tuesday. The project is currently in the middle of an environmental review, and design work, including traffic modeling, has already begun, Seboe told the board’s Committee on Transportation and Transit.

The plan is to apply for federal funding, most likely a Small Starts grant, by the end of 2024, said David Locher, MCTS enhanced transit manager.

“We want to have shovels in the ground in 2026 and then pick up our first passenger in 2028,” Locher said.

The county used a Small Starts grant to fund 80% of the project cost for the Connect 1, with a 20% local match. MCTS is expecting such a funding split again, and some of the money that has already been spent on planning can count toward the local match, Locher said.
The transit system has already held 23 local stakeholder meetings and participated in 14 community events through its marketing consultant, Abrazo Marketing. And MCTS is planning to begin holding public hearings in late January or early February 2024.

The new BRT service would be twice as long as the Connect 1 bus rapid transit service that launched in June, with 64 stations serving 32 stops compared to the 33 stations along the Connect 1. The new service would offer a connection to 55% of MCTS bus routes and would intersect with Connect 1 at the intersection of N. 27th Street and W. Wisconsin Avenue.

The new BRT service, as designed, “radiates from an epicenter at 27th and Wisconsin, to really make that kind of the new tentpole of the Milwaukee County Transit System,” Locher said.

The planned route would service 51,000 jobs and 116,000 county residences across five municipalities, according to an analysis by SEWRPC, which also found that 27% of residents along the route live in poverty and one in five households do not have a car.
The Connect 1 serves as the “proof of concept,” Locher said. Even before it became public, MCTS officials have long considered the 27th Street corridor ripe for a transit enhancement. An overarching goal of the project is to reduce end to end travel by approximately 10 to 15 minutes and increase bus frequency from one bus every 15 minutes to one every 10 minutes. Additionally, the transit service will include new transit technologies and dedicated bus lanes that distinguish it from other regular fixed bus routes.

MCTS plans to use the lessons from Connect 1 and improve upon the service for the BRT route through the 27th Street corridor, Locher said.