The high profile Sydney Hih building and Downer Avenue redevelopment project were the main items on the agenda for this commission meeting.

The initial item regarded the proposed interim historic designation for the Sydney Hih building. The developer requested it to be held over and as it had been previously presented the developer had no immediate intention to demolish the building. Although Sandra McSweeney questioned how many times it could be held over and whether or not there was a limit, it was held again.

The highly contentious and overly litigated Downer Avenue parking garage came before the commission again. This time it was to request a change to the Certificate of Appropriateness (”COA”). The request was actually prompted by future tenant Associated Bank. The bank has taking issue with the lime green color that much of the building is slated to be stained. Specifically the request was to allow the developer to paint the scored panels white instead of the green stain. Although paint wasn’t the first choice for the building because some of it has already been stained the only option available is to paint it. Also discussed at length was if this change would impact the wall facing into the neighboring properties’ backyards. This request wasn’t addressing that side other than to stop it from being stained green. Throughout the discussion there were hints to the troubled history of the project as Sandra McSweeney claimed the color was part of the “muddy water” and Pat Balon said “we have several dangling issues regarding this project”. In the end it was approved with Sandra McSweeney abstaining from the vote.

The last item of interest was a slight change to the COA for another building that is part of the Downer Avenue redevelopment project. Of interest was that the first portions of the Mulkern Building to be redeveloped will be the two vacant storefronts and then will proceed as tenants depart the building. Because the requested change was minor it was approved quickly.

This Historic Preservation Commission (”HPC”) meeting included agenda items for the high profile projects, The Palomar, The Brewery and the Goll Mansion redevelopment.

Original plans for the Palomar project involved the redevelopment of the Sydney Hih building as part of a new Kimpton Hotel. Over time these plans have changed and now Gatehouse Capitol and Ruvin Development intend to demolish the buildings to a develop new a 22-story building.

Milwaukee resident, David Somerscales, nominated the Sydney Hih building for an interim historic designation that would last 180 days and would give time to determine if this building should be permanently protected. An extended presentation was giving connecting the building to a Dr. Nicholas Senn. Dr. Senn had been a fairly well known doctor who made many medical advances in the late 1800’s. This was relevant because one of the criteria for the nomination of a building is connection with a historical figure. Additionally it was presented that during the 1970’s it became the home to the counter culture, prompting Alderman Bauman to remark that it’s “almost an iconic building of the counter culture”.

There was some questioning regarding the motivations behind the people supporting this historic designation because of their potential ties to the union, UNITE HERE, which is currently negotiating with the developer to insure union workers are employed in the hotel once it is completed. This came to light as Alderman Bauman questioned the occupation of many speakers and he made his feelings clear stating that “I’m also concerned this is another example of the historic preservation process being abused”. Despite that belief and efforts by the development team to show how this building doesn’t qualify for protection, Alderman Bauman went on to say that “it may be moot what the motivation is” indicating his belief that the Sydney Hih building might be a good candidate for historic preservation regardless of motives. This item was held and will be brought back up and the next Historic Preservation Commission meeting.

The Brewery project was requesting a change in the material for a pedestrian walk way that runs along a pocket park and behind some buildings. Mike Mervis, assistant to Zilber Chairman Joseph Zilber, was proposing the project use a colored and scored concrete instead of the salvaged pavers as originally planned. Alderman Bauman was upset over this downgrading and suggested that if a trade-off is to be made that the park should be cut back on as once the sidewalks are paved it isn’t likely they’ll ever be redone with the pavers. Alderman Bauman went on to suggest that “the park can be enhanced incrementally over time”. The meeting became pretty heated when Mike Mervis fired back that “I’m not willing to cut the quality of the park”. It was suggested that the developer at least use the pavers along the park section and not all of the pathway which finally found agreement by both parties.

New Land Enterprises was scheduled to present minor changes to the parking structure of its proposed 26-story tower located behind the Goll Mansion. The changes included using a colored concrete behind the green-screen and adjusting the pattern of the green-screen to mimic that of windows to provide some articulation and so that during the winter the building would appear better than concrete block. Despite that these changes had been worked out with city staff, no action was taken on this item because the meeting had ended abruptly as there was no longer a quorum of commission members.

While it certainly sounds ridiculous, I think it’s a distinct possibility that Robert Ruvin could have prevented most, if not all of the trouble stemming from the Saturday night fiasco at RiverSplash on Old World Third Street and Water Street.

First let’s step back to the origination of the problem. What I witnessed on Friday night first hand (and what everything I read seems to agree happened Saturday) was that teenagers began to “cruise” (drive in loops, while hanging their heads out of the window, yelling, and all sorts of other stuff that the DMV would advise against) up and down Old World Third Street from Juneau Avenue to McKinley Avenue. They would frequently block these intersections and the whole area had a general sense of lawlessness to it (I biked through around midnight on Friday, I’ll vouch for the lawlessness).

The general lawlessness of cruising spilled over into the area near the intersection of Highland and Old World Third Street, where the person ended up getting shot in the foot. I witnessed this first hand Friday night, and all indications point to that same situation occurring Saturday night. The illegal activity (cruising is against the law in Milwaukee) outside of the festival, fueled insanity within the festival.

This behavior was further enabled by the vacant Park East land where the Sydney Hih building and Gipfel Brewery sit (and Ruvin is to develop upon). In fact on a night where parking is scarce, very few cars made use of the Park East land to park in, and the few that did were certainly illegal.

If Ruvin was able to start construction on that lot already, none of this probably would have happened. The north end of the festival would have been calmer because cruising wouldn’t have taken place near the festival because the lot would have been blocked off. Why wouldn’t cruising have taken place? The cruisers were using the largely empty lot to turn around.

Now don’t misinterpret my article as saying Ruvin was at fault for the fiasco, he is certainly not. But if Ruvin had fenced off the entire block (Milwaukee County may have to do this since he technically hasn’t executed his option to purchase), it would have made the corridor along Old World Third Street a little less friendly for cruising. It also might have encouraged law enforcement to stand at that end of the festival (even though it is technically outside the edge of the festival) and discourage and ticket cruisers.

It would be hard to convince Scott Walker and company to spend money when they’re not getting any in return though, so why not for the night turn it into a parking lot? Nearby parking garage owners wouldn’t be opposed to this, since they’re owned by the city. The city and county could earn some money to help pay for police officers for the event by charging for parking. Suburbanites in town for the festival would have paid for the convenience, they don’t seem to enjoy the concept of street parking.

RiverSplash will certainly continue next year. If I was in charge (paging Robert Bauman) I would do the following things.

1. Install lights above buildings to illuminate the streets (this is done in Madison during Halloween on State Street and makes it feel safer and more welcoming late at night). Cars usually provide this, but are clearly absent during RiverSplash.

2. Patrol the areas outside of RiverSplash, I felt that there were plenty of officers inside the festival, but not enough on the fringes.

3. Institute a bottle fee at bars so that drinkers pay a deposit and earn it back for their bottles. This should reduce garbage and eliminate the urge to turn bottles into frisbees and footballs. When I studied in Kassel, Germany they made good use of this policy during festivals and it seemed to keep garbage bins largely empty.

4. Look at traffic flows, especially around Highland Avenue Pedestrian Bridge. The area seems to clog up for fairly obvious reasons (it’s narrow and the street is vertically separated from the curb at one point ). See if any barriers can be put in place to encourage movement.

I look forward to attending RiverSplash next year and hopefully seeing the construction progress at Gatehouse Capitol and Ruvin Development’s Hotel Palomar.

The Sydney Hih Square development has gone through, many iterations, public debate of TIF financing, the shuffle of lead developers, but now has taken a small step forward. This sign of progress is seen in the launching of The Residences at Hotel Palomar website. The site’s launch is in part preparation for pre-sales and fully with the intent of creating a buzz. The site announces the opening of a sales center in April 2008 and with this launch it may make it possible to see a ground breaking yet this year.

The Residences at Hotel Palomar: http://www.milwaukeepalomar.com/