by Kathy Grykowski
As both a cop’s kid and the wife of a cop I welcomed the opportunity to read Cop’s Kid: A Milwaukee Memoir by Milwaukee native Mel Miskimen. Curious about what parallels I might find to my own experience, some were rather uncanny. Beyond the fact that our dads had been Milwaukee cops, we both had attended the late, great, all-girls Catholic high school, Saint Mary’s Academy on the south side….
by David Coles / photo by Andrew Stiff
The fish are biting again in our own backyard – the ever-improving Milwaukee River. Since the removal of dams at North Avenue and in West Bend in recent years, the river channel is narrower, the water temperature cooler, and the current more free-flowing. Though sewage dumping and other problems persist, there is much cause for optimism surrounding this precious resource. To a degree once unthinkable people and wildlife are returning to the river.
by David Coles – GUEST COMMENTARY
It boggles my mind to read complaints about rising rents in a community “still plagued by violent crime.” The alternative is consistently low or declining rents — symptoms of neighborhoods in economic stagnation or regression.
Most people I have asked say, “Oh, it’s been at least ten years.” Or they say, “The dam’s been out since the early nineties.” Or in some cases, “I think it came out in the late seventies.” By looking at the land on both sides of the Milwaukee River above the North Avenue bridge, it is hard to know that the dam was removed in 1997. Barely five years ago!
You must be logged in to post a comment.