By Doug Hissom Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Apr 09, 2010 at 3:03 PM Photography: Whitney Teska

Alterra Coffee's plan to use city-backed bonds to open a bakery in a former bank in Bay View wasn't exactly received with aplomb by a Common Council committee, but moved forward nonetheless.

Alterra, Milwaukee's premier locally-owned coffee brewer, is asking the city to back $7 million in bonds so it can receive a lower interest rate to help the company expand in four locations -- two in Milwaukee, one in Shorewood and one in Grafton.

The Bay View project would use about $4 million of that amount. Using the city-backed bonding would take about 3% off the interest rate Alterra would normally be responsible for.

Alterra owner Lincoln Fowler said the new operation would be a bakery to supply its outlets with fresh goods on a daily basis. He said the company has outgrown its Humboldt Boulevard facility in Riverwest-also built with aid from the city -- and wanted to look to Bay View for a new effort. It would create 25 jobs, he said. The building is the former Maritime Bank office, which was shuttered last year.

But the owners of Wild Flower Bakery across the street from the bank said they wanted assurances that the new operation would not become a retail outlet as has Alterra's other baking facilities. They also said the neighborhood did not receive enough notice or time to even get a neighborhood meeting together before the Community and Economic Development Committee heard the plan this week.

Wild Flour's Greg Mertens pointed out that the announcement was made on Good Friday and that the following Monday City Hall was closed so he couldn't get any more information on the project until just a week before the Council is expected to give its blessing. He said that essentially locks out the public from the debate.

"We're not sure this has been explored enough," he said, quickly adding that he's not concerned about competition. "We're not about sour grapes."

Others in the neighborhood have expressed concern about semi-truck traffic coming and going from the busy triangle area of Lincoln, Howell and Kinnickinnic streets.

Fowler responded that the city's Board of Zoning Appeals will be holding a public hearing on the plan and that the bonding authority was just a minor part of the process

"We didn't feel this was the opportune time for public input," he said. Alterra is not on the agenda of the April 15 BOZA meeting.

Ald. Tony Zielinski, who represents Bay View, also questioned the speed between the announcement and the fact the council had to decide on the bonds before BOZA gives its blessing.

"I don't think you can bypass transparency," he said.

Zielinski had said he would push to hold the Alterra decision, but then agreed to approve the measure if Fowler agreed to attend a community meeting next week. The Council will consider the bonds on Tuesday. Zielinski said if there was vehement opposition at the public meeting he would oppose the Bay View move on the Council floor.

"Time and time again we're told we're under the gun ... but my constituents want to address everybody's concerns."

"I never considered this to be a major event," Fowler said about the committee vote this week. After Fowler agreed to attend the meeting Monday at 6:30 at the Bay View Library, Zielinski moved to approve the bonds.

Party with the Socialists: A 100-year anniversary marking a major historic moment in Milwaukee history went by without being commemorated by any public ceremony-when the first Socialist was elected to run City Hall in Milwaukee. It was April 5, 1910 when Emil Seidel was elected mayor as a Socialist and he pledged to clean up a corrupt City Hall. Socialists also that day took majority control of the Common Council and the County Board. Ald. Nik Kovac took the time to issue a statement taking on the demonization that socialism has been the brunt of lately.

Milwaukee had a long and storied past 100 years with Socialists around. It elected the first Socialist to Congress in Victor Berger and put three mayors in at 200 E. Wells, including Frank Zeidler, considered by many to be one of the more far-sighted mayors the city ever had. He served until 1960.

"A century ago, the word Socialism raised eyebrows and suspicion. And if the rhetoric surrounding the health care debate in 2010 is any indication, that word still has the power to enrage and divide our chattering classes and voting blocs," Kovac said. "But words often confuse, and labels can distort the substance of policy.

"When I hear the word Socialism, my first thought is not of revolutions, wars, or bread lines. We in Milwaukee have our own history, and our own meaning of that word," he continued. "To us it means a half-century of good government. It means honest politicians and informed voters. It means beautiful parks, dignified housing for all, and well-run utilities free of corruption."

Linked in & out: The City of Milwaukee is clarifying who can and cannot be provided a link from its Web site.

City Hall finally wants to put its plan in stone, sort of, while maintaining the flexibility to do what it wants.

Web sites that would be considered for links from the city could include:

  • Official government institutions 
  • Accredited educational institutions
  • Arts, cultural, and similar organizations of general interest to citizens of our fair city
  • The Greater Milwaukee Visitor and Convention Bureau and other organizations that provide information to visitors
  • Sites that promote significant economic development in the city
  • Major festivals and professional sports teams in Milwaukee and the venues where their events are located
  • Internet mapping services
  • Free software downloads needed to access information on the city's web site
  • Sites that further the city's governmental purposes

Verboten sites, including the big one, porn, include:

  • Sites promoting illegal activities
  • For-profit commercial sites
  • Sites containing information that violates the city's affirmative action or equal opportunity policies
  • Candidate sites and sites supporting or opposing candidates for local, state or federal office
  • Sites advocating for a position on a local, state or federal issues
  • Individual or personal home pages

There are no third-party links on the city site right now and the city's Web guru will be making the call on what will appear. 

Doug Hissom Special to OnMilwaukee.com
Doug Hissom has covered local and state politics for 20 years. Over the course of that time he was publisher, editor, news editor, managing editor and senior writer at the Shepherd Express weekly paper in Milwaukee. He also covered education and environmental issues extensively. He ran the UWM Post in the mid-1980s, winning a Society of Professional Journalists award as best non-daily college newspaper.

An avid outdoors person he regularly takes extended paddling trips in the wilderness, preferring the hinterlands of northern Canada and Alaska. After a bet with a bunch of sailors, he paddled across Lake Michigan in a canoe.

He lives in Bay View.