NEW YORK -- We hear a lot about brain drain in Milwaukee, but sometimes we need to thank other towns for giving our prodigal sons and daughters valuable experience that they can bring home to put to good use in Milwaukee.
Although Andrew Steininger isn't coming home just yet, he lives in New York City and is learning how cities work in America's biggest city. His experience in the office of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will likely serve us all, because Steininger hopes someday to return home to Brew City.
We sat down with Steininger at New York's premier Packers bar -- Kettle of Fish on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village -- and asked him about the road to New York, what he's doing there and how it helps him see Milwaukee with fresh eyes.
OnMilwaukee.com (OMC): So, why don't you tell me about why you came to New York? Did you come out here for the job, or were you here before you got the job?
Andrew Steininger: It's kind of a roundabout story. I ended up in Connecticut taking ... it was a really weird named program called "Hoods in the Woods."
OMC: You came straight out of school?
AS: Yep, straight out of college.
OMC: Where did you go?
AS: University of Wisconsin -- Madison. So, I was in Madison, and I ended up in this program where we took kids, these really affluent kids from Connecticut schools, mixed with kids that were on like scholarships, and week took them on like rock climbing trips all over New England. So I was cruising' around New England for about three or four months, and we'd have about two days off every other weekend. So I'd come down here.
The first time I came down here, I ended up in Brooklyn right over on President and 7th Avenue, and I was just like, "this has got to be the most beautiful place in the world," so fell in love with that area. Then I ended up signing up with Americorps Vista, which is like a college recruiting thing for Americorps. Sort of like an internal Peace Corps, I guess.
OMC: The program that brought you to Connecticut ... how did you get that?
AS: That was something out of college when I didn't even know what I wanted to do.
OMC: And it was a job, a paid job.
AS: It was a paying job, thank God. The Americorps Vista one was interesting. It was probably mostly law firms that just hired me to recruit private attorneys to represent people who needed civil legal services.
OMC: Almost like a legal aid?
AS: Yeah. For civil cases, though, not criminal cases. So, that's what I ended up coming down here (to New York) for.
OMC: What did you study in school?
AS: Economics. BS in Economics, so I got recruited through their program and ended up out here. It's absolutely amazing -- all of Americorps. They keep you on salary, and I think they paid me $800 a month to live in New York.
OMC: How do you live in New York on $800 a month?
AS: Not easily. They send you to the food stamp office, they hook you up with a free Metro (transit) card - monthly Metro card, and you're supposed to live like the people that you're supposed to be serving.
OMC: It's code for ...
AS: Yeah, exactly, we're broke. So we ended up living in Bushwick and the Greenpoint area. That's where I ended up living for a year.
OMC: Not quite 7th and President.
AS: No! Still not 7th and President (in Park Slope). But through that program, I ended up -- I spent a year. it was a year-long program, and then after that I ended up at Volunteers of America, which is a homeless service providing agency. I ended up doing corporate fundraising, which was a trip. Then after that, I ended up at the Borough President's office.
OMC: Now how did you get in there?
AS: That's funny. I was volunteering on the side. I had my job at Volunteers of America, which was a nice paying, salaried job with benefits, everything, but then ended up at the Borough President's office. I was talking to them one day, because we usually donate toys to their toy drive.
OMC: So, you already knew them.
AS: Yeah, I'd already hand out toys to the kids at Christmas time. It's a, you know, photo op. So I was like, "hey listen, I'm a Brooklyn resident and I really want to help out, whatever you need." And she was like, "Well, we could use someone helping out on Friday mornings, at this constituent service department."
OMC: Taking complaints?
AS: Basically. I solve people's problems. I was writing technical manuals for them and more like "behind the scenes" work. After a year of doing that ... I was like, "I need to get out of here." So they were like, "Hey listen, we're hiring." So I ended up hooking up with Marty's (Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz) outfit.
OMC: What was your day like?
AS: It's a funky day. Basically, it's solving people's problems. People do have a lot to tell you all the time. It's amazing. Primarily, the stuff that I work on is transportation related. It's sort of my specialty.
But then, I also represent the borough through the Office of Emergency Management Citizen Core. The city has ... I guess they'd call it a FEMA or Homeland Security, but it's a city agency. They have what's called a Citizen Corps, which kind of like, I guess, disseminates information to various citizen groups like churches, mosques, schools, community groups, whatever. I'm part of that system of spreading awareness about terrorist attacks, floods, who knows what.
And then, secondly, I'm also doing work with an immigration rights collaborative effort with CUNY, so on Thursday we're staffing a place where people can come, no questions asked. Free immigration services. Everything you could possibly need.
OMC: So like, first papers (for citizenship).
AS: Papers, passport, whatever. Who knows what it could be. So, there are three jobs, basically. So, it's funky. It's cool, but it's kind of what Borough Hall's like, where everyone's doing 10 different things, and it's all amazing work. Plus my commute's only 10 minutes.
OMC: You just got promoted didn't you?
AS: My fancy new title (is) Capital Budget and Economic Development Associate. I spend approximately $50-100 million each year and sit on the boards of business improvement districts, work with the chambers of commerce and economic development corporations in New York City (and) Brooklyn.
OMC: Congratulations! Where are you living?
AS: Prospect Heights, now. I'm moving up in the world. I went Greenpoint Bushwick, South Slope, Greenwood Heights. North Crown Heights and now Prospect Heights.
OMC: Do you ever think about coming back to Milwaukee?
AS: You know, it's funny, because a guy I met here in this bar, his name is Nick Kovak. I took over his apartment. He was the editor for The Brooklyn Star, and he was here a long time. He's originally from Belleview and Downer. His house, you may actually have seen this, it's kind of a famous little story now. You know the development that's going on down on Downer Avenue?
OMC: Yeah. Is that the house that's next to the parking lot?
AS: You got it. With the oak tree, and the candy wagon? That's their place. So they're moving back, because he was inspired by local politics, or whatever, and he's always had his eye on the area, and he moved back. (Kovak is a candidate for Michael D'Amato's aldermanic seat).
So, he's back there and I think it's kind of... Because I'm living with a guy now from Milwaukee, too, and I think that we all have a similar thing... I think that one day we'll head back. And I would definitely move back.
OMC: So, you'll come back and run for mayor?
AS: That's the idea, yeah, right.
AS: I try. It's hard, but you know, Midwest has good flights. They have decent flights, so I try to get back. But we tend to, since my brother lives in Boston, we all try to migrate south. But I do get back, probably two times a year. I was there Mother's Day, last year, and I was there during August sometime as well. So, I get there during the summer. It's nice, you know. It's nice to get back home.
OMC: It sounds like you keep up with politics there a little bit. Do you watch what's going on?
AS: Yeah, every day. I have JS Online in my favorites. So is OnMilwaukee.com, of course, and the Business Journal. So I keep an eye on things that way. The one thing I'm always most interested in is all of the Park East development, really. It just like, so amazing. ... So much is going on.
OMC: What do you think of the city when you come back?
AS: It's remarkable. That's the thing, I'm always blown away because of the physical changes. I remember I had a friend who was...
OMC: How long have you been gone now?
AS: I've been gone, I haven't lived in Milwaukee ... I lived in Milwaukee for one month, two months in 2003. It was temporary. I came back from Connecticut just to get my stuff, and tie up loose ends back in the city.
OMC: So about five years.
AS: Yeah, and admittedly, it would be almost 10 years now.
OMC: But presumably when you were in Madison, you were going back pretty often.
AS: Yeah, I was going back. I mean, officially, since I left, it's been ... 2003. You know, but when you go back, you see, it's one of those things. I don't know if you can tell if you're in the city or out of the city, but when I go back, I see physical change. Like going down Commerce Street, and those areas around North Avenue, and the Marsupial Bridge and all that stuff, and by the Park East, I know they did a lot. And then you think about what's going to happen to The Pabst, and all that stuff around The North End . When I come back, it's like well, there's another building. They just built the Kern Center, wow.
And then when I head down the way -- even more freaky -- because I never spent that much time there to begin with. But, when I was younger, we just never made it down there, is the Third Ward. A lot of those things like MIAD and all of those things like that. It's amazing.
OMC: That looks completely different. It looks nothing like it did five years ago.
AS: It's a new city, and it's so cool because it makes sense. I mean you have a river, a beautiful ... you have three rivers, running through the city. It's a beautiful city, geographically, it's beautiful. It has so much potential, and you see the physical alterations and it's blown up, it really has. And you think about those luxury condo towers, like Prospect and Kilbourn, or University and Kilbourn? My folks were telling me about how quick those units sold out and they had to add floors. I mean, who would of thought in Milwaukee you'd get a $1 million condo to sell.
OMC: Two of them, right next to each other!
AS: Yeah, I know, right?
OMC: It's incredible.
AS: And even now, like today, I read, because there's always one that my folks walk down to, because they always walk down in that area. They're building, but then they just announced today there's a new one going to build a new one. More or less right across the street. Who would've thought that this stuff would've happened? You wouldn't think about it, and that's the thing.
OMC: It doesn't seem to be slowing down. Every year people say, "When is this going to stop?" And it doesn't seem to show any sign of stopping.
AS: Which is interesting, because you know you look at Milwaukee's such a funky city, and you have this intense, Downtown boom, but it's not really spreading yet.
OMC: It's spreading as far as Walker's Point, but it's not really. I live on the West Side, near Tosa, and that looks the same as it always does. No difference there. You can't tell anything from there.
AS: I think you really do need a little Downtown revitalization before a city gets its footing back. The nice thing to see, what I'm always most impressed with, is the economic condition with like, the Milwaukee 7, the Greater Milwaukee Community, all of that stuff. The problem with Milwaukee is that you felt like it didn't have a presented economic front, or whatever.
OMC: It's really amazing to see then the explosion that's going and it's something that happened here, too. We were in New York in the ‘70s and the city was just dead. It was worse than that. There was no money. My grade school was renting space to a yeshiva. Now places in old Dumbo warehouses have gone from empty to $500,000 to $1.2 million in just a couple years.
AS: It's scary.
OMC: I don't know how people live here any more.
AS: I don't know.
OMC: Luckily, you can still afford to live in Milwaukee.
AS: Still affordable. Everything's still okay, you know? It's nice. Even today, there's this guy who's been complaining about this vacant lot under the Broadway Junction. He's like, "This place is like a dump. There's homeless people living there." So I went up to check on the property taxes for this, and it was assessed four years ago for $33,000.
OMC: For the land, because obviously there's nothing on it.
AS: Just for the land. There's nothing, just a fence. That's it. It privately owned. A fence, basically. This year, the tentative estimate was a quarter of a million dollars. For a vacant piece of property that's covered in filth, underneath Broadway Junction, which isn't exactly the nicest area. Look at Brooklyn, now. It's unaffordable.
OMC: So, how do people do it?
AS: I don't know, you're talking to the wrong guy! I'm not doing it. I have a lot of credit card debt.
OMC: You sound like everyone I know here.
AS: Yeah, exactly, we're all in the same boat.
OMC: That's a good reason to come back for a while. Pay off the credit card debt.
AS: Completely, yeah!
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
