Admittedly, I don't get to the lakefront like I used to, but I drive along Lincoln Memorial Drive pretty much daily and a few times a year I make a turn into Veteran's Park.
On my way to the Milwaukee Art Museum yesterday I decided to take a quick detour through Veteran's Park, just to see if I've been missing anything and I was amazed by all the cars parked along the park drive.
Is there something I'm missing, I asked myself? I don't see kites in the air, so no kite festival. I don't hear live music, so no free lunchtime concert. And, anyway, it's mid afternoon on a weekday.
Then I noticed the UWM bus stop signs and I got it. Now, not only is the McKinley Marina parking lot a UWM lot, which is fine by me (it's a parking lot, and a typically empty one), much of Veteran's Park appears to be one, too. Even some of the grassy areas of the park have become UWM parking!
I went to UWM and I continued to go to the campus long after graduation, so I understand that parking is tight. And I get that we need to accommodate our future leaders; no argument there. But, man, the cars on the grass, especially, seem bad, especially considering how under attack our parks already are due to budget cuts.
Didn't Jeremiah Curtin walk to UWM every day from Whitnall Park or something?! C'mon kids, get a bike, or buy a bus pass. Why, when I was a kid...
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.
