High Rise Fight: Two city commissions will hold a rare joint public hearing to consider building a 26-story high-rise condo structure along the lakefront.

New Land Enterprises wants to put 35 condo units, valued at $1 million apiece, next to the historic Goll House at 1550 N. Prospect Ave. The Historic Preservation Commission and the City Plan Commission will consider the request Monday.

The Historic Preservation Commission comes into play since the city declared the Goll House a historic landmark in 2002. The Goll House was built in 1898 by Ferry & Clas, designers of the Milwaukee Public Library, the Pabst Mansion and St. John's Cathedral, among other local landmarks.

In 2005, New Land bought the building, which is currently used as office space. The proposed high-rise would be built on land behind the mansion and extend eastward to within 10 feet of the property line at the base of the bluff, adjacent to the Oak Leaf Trail bike path.

Developers plan to use the mansion as the lobby for the building, a glass and steel tower. It would also have a party room for residents. Neighboring condo owners are legitimately upset with the project and have hired their own public relations firm to push their point.

"The alternative (to development) ... is stagnation," argues the developers' prospectus to the Plan Commission, adding that the Goll House's current use as office space isn't making them enough money.

New Land is one of the East Side's most active developers and has recently been quite buying former city-owned parking lots and putting up apartments and condos. The firm had to give up control of its Kilbourn Tower project after one of the partners got in trouble with the federal government over aid payments.

Partner Boris Gokham pleaded guilty in 2004 to one felony count in federal court after he set up a home health care company that collected more than a million dollars for services never rendered. He got one year probation and had to pay $12,050. Other developers took over the Kilbourn project and finished it, but sales in that structure are not as strong as in its neighbor, the University Club Tower.

The new building would add another exclamation point to the burgeoning number of high rises on Prospect Avenue, including the Lafeyette Tower and the Break Water Condominiums.

More than a Powdered Nose: State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) took time from her heated re-election battle with state Rep. Sheldon Wasserman (D-Milwaukee) to take a swipe at Barack Obama and a recent comment he made mocking John McCain's and Sarah Palin's vow to reform the nation's Capitol.

"You can put lipstick on a pig," Obama said. "It's still a pig. ... You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."

"As a mother and working woman, I am offended by the sexist remarks made by Barack Obama comparing Governor Sarah Palin to a pig wearing lipstick. ... It's shameful that Obama and the Democrat smear machine would destroy and belittle a qualified woman so they can win an election, while sacrificing decades of achievements of working women in America," Darling stated. She is a former teacher and marketing director.