Posted inUncategorized

Milwaukee Connector

Light rail is much more expensive to build and operate, while the guided tram system [chosen for the Milwaukee Connector project] offers the same convenience at half the cost…

Posted inTelling Our Stories

smalltown, USA

1951. I was in my fourteenth summer in smalltown, U.S.A. Somewhere in the future an H-Bomb would explode in The Pacific, George Jorgensen would morph to Christine, and Elizabeth would be crowned England’s queen. The wars Korean, Viet Nam, and Desert storm were yet to be fought. The Twin Towers, Mad Cow disease, and the beheading of a man named Berg were as yet unthought. Reagan was still among the living…

Posted inNeighbor Spotlight

The Drakes

Douglas and Thallis Drake have lived in Riverwest for more than 40 years. They know the nooks and crannies of the neighborhood, but when asked about their favorite Riverwest attraction, Thallis laughs and replies, “Our house!”

Posted inBusiness Spotlight

Patios!

It used to be that if you went to a bar in Riverwest, you would get one thing — a dank, stinky seasonless hole in the wall — and it was great. We just didn’t know any better. Then, a few years ago, a bartender at an unnamed establishment did a strange thing, opening a window on a hot July day. It caused a stir. Not to be outdone, however, was a rival establishment, whose crafty barista devised a strategy to prop open their front door. It was a solid hit to the opposition, the patrons loved it, and the Fresh Air War was on.

Posted inUncategorized

Spirit-Filled on Holton Street

When Christianity first leaked out of Palestine into the cities of the empire, it found its way not into architecturally beautiful temples but into tombs and places otherwise abandoned by respectable Romans.

Holton Street, like ancient Rome, is marked by churches inhabiting structures abandoned by theaters, funeral homes, and retail businesses. These are not cathedrals of stained glass, pipe organs, and soaring steeples, but churches with hand-painted signs announcing weekly orders of worship and altars lovingly cobbled together from the found and affordable. These churches do not have a full-time clergy, but pastors with day jobs…