The Milwaukee Post

January 2699, 2018 • Milwaukee County Post • 15 Milwaukee County transfers buildings to Milwaukee Art Museum MILWAUKEE — In an agreement signed last month with Milwaukee County, the Milwaukee Art Museum took ownership of several buildings that make up its lakefront campus, along with O'Donnell Park and the parking garage beneath it. The MAM will also assume responsibility for tens of millions of dollars in maintenance costs for the structures, while the county retains ownership of the land. County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb Sr. intro- duced the resolution transferring ownership of the O'Donnell Park structure and other buildings to the Milwaukee Art Museum in early 2016, after an effort to sell the O'Donnell parking garage and public park above it to Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance failed. "This agreement saves Milwaukee County an estimated $28 million in deferred maintenance and future costs, and will cut in half our annual subsidy for the Milwaukee Art Museum after 2023. This is a good deal for taxpayers and promotes the use and enjoyment of Milwaukee County's lakefront property for the benefit of the public," Lipscomb said The MAM will assume responsibility for maintenance of the Kahler building, including the recently constructed East Addition, portions of the Saarinen Building it occu- pies, and the O'Donnell Park garage, along with the 9-acre O'Donnell Park above the garage. The MAM also becomes the leaseholder of the Betty Brinn Children's museum and Coast restaurant, located in the Miller Pavilion within the park. The Milwaukee County War Memorial will assume responsibility for maintaining the portions of the Saarinen Building that it occupies. The Milwaukee Art Museum will gain new revenue from the O'Donnell Park garage, which is frequently used by museum patrons, and has promised to make significant improvements to the garage and the park space above it. St. Francis holiday lights winners announced ST. FRANCIS — The second annual Decorate and Celebrate Holiday Awards have been announced. Twenty-five awards are being given this year, including the St. Francis Veteran's Memorial Plaza, which is routinely decorated by Bill Moore of the Memorial Committee. The program kicked off the day of the St. Francis Christmas parade and ended Jan. 1. "These awardees made a difference for the 2017 holiday season and their time, effort and creativity are being rec- ognized," Mayor CoryAnn St. Marie- Carls said. Locations of 2017 awardees are: 1900 Cora Ave., 4110 Kirkwood Ave., 3755 Ahmedi Ave., 3775 Vermont Court, 3961 Alexander Ave., 2823 Bottsford Ave., 2139 LeRoy Ave., 2437 Bolivar Ave., 2517 Denton Ave., 2414 Whittaker Ave., 2827 Bottsford Ave., 4555 Vermont Court, 2518 Armor Ave., 2506 Armor Ave., 4388 Iowa Ave., 3247 Waterford Ave., 3525 Pennsylvania Ave., 3531 Pennsylvania Ave., 1714 St. Francis Ave., 3616 Kansas Ave., 3747 Rutland Ave., 2815 Koenig Ave., Lovely Salon, 3724 Kinnickinnic, and St. Francis Veteran's Memorial Plaza. Winners receive a commemorative ornament as well as a letter of proclamation of their award from the mayor. The award ornaments are being privately donated and sent by St. Marie-Carls and her family. Walking in Milwaukee survey input sought MILWAUKEE — The city's Department of Public Works is seeking input from the community about walking in Milwaukee for the city's first Pedestrian Plan. The survey deadline has been extended to Wednesday. The Milwaukee Pedestrian Plan is being developed by the DPW in partnership with Toole Design Group and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The overall goal is to make getting around the city safer, easier and more com- fortable for pedestrians, the DPW said. The team is studying pedestrian crashes, driving and walking behaviors, and city policies for improving safety and accessibility for pedestrians. The plan will include recommendations to make Milwaukee more pedestrian- friendly. Take the survey in English (https://tinyurl.com/MKE- Ped-Plan) or Español: (https://tinyurl.com/MKE-Ped-Plan- ESP). The DPW encourages sharing the links with friends, family and co-workers. Homeowners encouraged to check radon MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin health officials, as part of National Radon Action Month in January, are encouraging homeowners to check their home's radon levels because exposure to radioactive radon gas is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers nationwide. For information about radon in Wisconsin, visit www.lowradon.org. COMMUNITY Sewer: Contract dropped over 'inappropriate behavior,' 'hate symbols' One clause within the doc- ument, for example, reads, "American Sewer Services and its employees have demonstrated, through inap- propriate behavior and the display of hate symbols, a callous disregard for the val- ues of the city and the resi- dents of the diverse neigh- borhoods where these repairs and improvements are being made." As part of their motion, the aldermen unwound an existing $400,000 contract with American Sewer. Additionally, a bid submitted by the company for an addi- tional $400,000 of work was outright rejected. Public Works Commissioner Ghassan Korban, who last month was directed to review the city's contractual relationship with American Sewer, had recommended terminating the pair of agreements. The city has not severed all of its ties with American Sewer, however. Four exist- ing contracts with a com- bined value of about $100,000 remain in place. Korban said each of the four agreements is near completion. The city's contractual rela- tionship with American Sewer stretches back nearly four decades. Prior to last month's controversy, city officials said they had not fielded any complaints about the conduct of the contrac- tor's employees at job sites. Last month, in the immedi- ate aftermath of the contro- versy, American Sewer rep- resentatives issued a state- ment denouncing the pair of incidents. "We are in the process of updating our internal poli- cies so that we may stop any reoccurrence, as well as implementing a new weapons policy," the state- ment, in part, read. In another matter the council last week: ■ Approved a motion to begin an investigation into the Milwaukee Health Department's management of the city's lead abatement efforts. The ongoing issue has been controversial and gained renewed scrutiny this month as new allega- tions of misinformation arose. Commissioner Bevan Baker resigned from his leadership post within the Health Department. Council President Ashanti Hamilton said the process for the investigation is still being worked out. The coun- cil's Steering and Rules Committee has been tasked with overseeing the review process and recommended next steps. continued from Page 3 Please Call if you M O V E D ! at 414-744-6370 Leave a Message Name • Phone # Old Address & New Address & Apt. # or Lot # We Love Our Readers Thank You Milwaukee Co. Post Get updated on the latest local home remodeling and improvement news in Milwaukee/NARI Home Connection. Plus! Check out "before and after" photos of award-winning remodel jobs. Only in newsstand copies on February 9th. St. Marie-Carls

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