Business Improvement District Board #5 (westown Area) - Regular Meeting

Development Committee. I'm the chairman, Alderman Russell Stanford the second. To my left in person is a older woman, Charlotte Moore. To my on the board is alderwoman Marina Dimitrevich and Alderman Mark Chambers. Alderman Jackson is excused today. We're gonna get started. Should be a quick one. Number 1251870. Appointment of Marcus Hogans as the health department commissioner designee to the emerging youth achievement advisory council. Mister Hoggins, please come up. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

How are you today? Pretty good. So you've had a couple of meetings with us. What's your experience and why would you like to continue?

I'm excited about what the committee, the council introduce yourself

for the record.

Marcus Hogans, health strategy director for Milwaukee Health Department.

Yes, sir.

Excited about what the council is looking forward to do supporting you for forming agencies. I've been in the youth space for a while. I have two children that grew up in Milwaukee that we're looking for activities to do. And so really leveraging that as an experience to support the board.

Excellent. How old are they?

How old are my children? Yeah. 22 and eight 17.

Okay.

Okay. Both graduating college and high school this year.

Congratulations. Congratulations. Proud and excellent father. Yeah. Alright. I'm like, do we have any questions from the committee?

No. Thank you so much for your service and I move approval.

Awesome. Awesome. Thank you mister and Alderman Moore moves for your approval. Here are no objections or order. Congratulations, man. Have a good I'll see you at the meeting.

Yep. Yes.

Alright. Number 2251874. Appointment of Roy Suarez Del Rio, the third to the July 4 commission. Mister Roy Suez, how are you?

I'm fine. Thanks for having me today.

Man, thank you for attending. Please let us know. Introduce yourself for the record and let us know about this July 4 commission.

My name is Roy Suarez Del Real the third. Currently the president of Wilson Park fourth of July parade. I sit on a number of different boards. I have two children, 15 and 12, and, just, looking to contribute the best way I can with the fourth of July committee. I see seen over the years that there's some things that we can maybe tighten up a little bit and make better for everybody, all the goers every year.

Fireworks this year?

Yes. But that's not something I planned.

So sorry. Said that. Alright. Well, thank you for your service. We appreciate you willing to be on this board. Let's if see we have any questions by the committee. Committee, if you have any questions? Hearing none, Aldo Woman Moore moves for your confirmation. Hearing no objections or order. We look to a great July 4 this year. Have a good one.

Wonderful. You too. Thank you very much.

Alright. Alright. Number 3251898. Appointment of David Knust Knuston to the business improvement district number twenty. David Knuston. You got

another shot

at the accident. So is the k silent or no?

No. It's a canoesen.

It's canoesen. Alright. Alright. Alright. So okay. Because sometimes when a k is in front of another consonant, it's it's it's quiet. It's

different way.

It's silent. Right.

Yeah. But yeah. Alright. Well, thank you for your attitude. Man, you had a positive attitude. David, this is an appointment for you. Let us know why you'd like to serve.

My wife and I have lived in the North And Farwell area around the East Side Business Improvement District for the last, I don't know, thirteen, fourteen years. Okay. Just been a real advocate for the area. I've been serving on the Economic Development Committee for the last year or two. Yeah. Just decided to get

a little

bit more involved.

Come on.

There's a lot of good things happening, some abilities around the Ennife And Hope Plaza project and looking forward to good things over that.

Well, we're looking forward to having you. Audra Moore, you have some questions for him? No. Alright. Alright. Any anybody on the board have any questions for David? David, hearing none, thank you for your willingness to serve. We look forward to great things over here in the 3rd Automatic District. Have you met the alderman?

Yes. I have.

Okay. Awesome. Awesome.

We'll be together tonight, think.

Okay. Okay. Well, Alderman Chambers moves for your confirmation hearing. Objection. So order. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Have a great day.

You too.

Okay. Number 4. 251914. Appointment of Beth Handel to the business improvement district number fifty one by the mayor. She may not be available. Beth, are you available? Alright, Beth. We all the way more moves to hold us at the call of the chair. Hearing no objections, so ordered. Number 525-1919, appointment of Brandon Strand to the business improvement district number fifty one. He also may not be avail the brand. Hey, Brandon.

Hello. How are you guys doing?

We're doing well. What about you?

Very good. Thank you for having me.

Yes. Thank you for attending. This is an appointment for you to the bid. Let us know why you would like serve or what you're to bring to the bid.

Yeah, you bet. So my name is Brandon Strand. I am the government affairs director for the Wabak Group. It's a family of construction companies based in Waukesha. Mhmm. But we do work in and around Milwaukee and throughout the state as well. And we have a property in the Harbor District. We've been good corporate citizens and good neighbors for the past twenty five years, so interested in serving on the bid to be a representative for our company and to make sure that we have a mixed use Harbor District that continues to thrive for the business community and also the citizens of Milwaukee.

Awesome. Awesome. Anything you would like to build over there? Well, we

have made a lot of improvements to our property, adjacent properties, streets and bridges. We're doing our fair share.

Excellent. Excellent. Do we have any questions by the committee? Hearing none, order woman Demetrivich moves for your confirmation. Hearing no objections to order. Thank you so much, Brian. Have a great day.

Thank you. You too.

Okay. Number 6251916, reappointment of John Rossetto to the business improvement edition number 51. Is John Rossetto available? Mister Rossetto is not available. He also may not be available according to this to to the notes. So order woman Moore moves to hold this at the call of the chair. Hearing no objection, so order number 7251917. Reappointment of Dave Stageman to the Business Improvement District North 51 by the mayor. Mister David Stageman, are you available?

Is he what did he say?

I didn't get an email

from him. How's his attendance?

He's a

great attendance. Oh, well, we don't know. So, David, if you come, we are here for you. Otherwise, alderwoman alderwoman Demetrevich moves to hold this at the call of the chair. Hearing no objection, so order. Number 825-1918, reappointment of Colleen Chaney Troynski to the business improvement district number fifty one by the mayor. Colleen, are you available? Colleen is also unavailable. Order woman Moore moves to hold us up the call of the chair. Hearing no objection, so order number 925195933.

And an ordinance relating to the appointment of the emerging youth achievement advisory council members and designees. Alderman Perez. I saw Perez in the hallway. Alderman Perez, come on up. Come on up. In the meantime, Alderman Chamber moves the hold. It's at the call of the chair. We'll give him a call. Hearing no objection, so order number 10251679. Resolution designating August 2026 as Bronzeville week in the city of Milwaukee. What? We have Deborah in the house looking bright and shiny. How you doing, my good friend?

I am well. How are you, I'm miss Stanford?

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. So what year is this for Bronzeville?

This

And what do we have planned this year? Absolutely. And everybody knows you, but please introduce yourself for a moment.

I am Deborah Moore, events outreach coordinator for the coming council.

Yes.

This will be the sixteenth. Wow. Brassville culture.

Congratulations to Otto Woman Cubs.

Yes. Yes. And most of you all have attended Brownsville at some point. The Brownsville Festival is a week long family friendly celebration. It's designed to highlight the cultural heritage and artistic talent of the Brownsville neighborhood. Yes. I have here for you all. If Carmen can pass this out, a copy of last year's schedule.

Mhmm.

And it shows just the magnitude of events that we provide during Bronzeville week. This year, Bronzeville week kicks off Saturday, August 1

Okay.

With the Harambe five k walk run.

Yes. Are you participating this year?

Unfortunately, not. What? You've already. I'll be working.

Thought you was doing it that that that when I went, you were

I tried, but, you know, my services are needed.

You're gonna have to talk

to the city clerk.

Come on.

You know we can do that.

I will do it if you join me. Okay.

Well, I'm definitely covered. I can't I missed last year, but I had fun the year before.

Wonderful. Wonderful.

Alright. Awesome.

We'll kick it off with the walk run on Saturday, and Sunday is the actual festival.

Wow.

And the festival has grown year after year. Last year, I think we had over 130 vendors. Uh-huh. The day consist of live entertainment, something for children, several vendors. I mean, it is such an amazing event. You've been, then you know. Right? Yes. Absolutely amazing. For you all this afternoon, I believe we have a video queued up that we wanna share with you from last year, some of the Brownsville days so we can get that going.

Let's do it.

We came up with the idea for Bronzeville Week because it's so centered on arts and culture, because there's so many great artists and creatives from the city of Milwaukee.

Short and sweet. Short and sweet.

But the week itself is just a spectacular week of events, right? Yes. So, we are encouraging the community, the city, and the city as a whole to come out and support Brownsville week.

Absolutely. We will do our best. All the one more, will you be going this year?

Absolutely. I go every year.

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Do we have any questions or comments by the committee? Hearing none, Alderman Chambers moves for adoption. Hearing no are ordered. Deb, always a pleasure to see you.

You as well. Thank you

so much. Give the Alderman our regards.

I certainly will. Appreciate you. Alright. Number

11251952. Resolution relating to establishing the fifth district movie night fund as an official city event and authorizing the acceptance and expenditure of contributions for this purpose. It is the good alderman here. I saw him also also in his office. Does he know his item is up? Come and shoot him a text or a call. Tell him we're gonna hold this until he gets here or if he gets here in time.

Right.

Order woman Moore moves the hold. It's at the call of the chair. There ain't no objection. So order 12. So 251900, communication from the Department of Administration, Community Development Grants Administration related to current fund balance and the status of previous appropriations. You know, I didn't even realize you were here for that, Mario. Order woman, Dimitroavich, did contact me and said she would need more time and like to hold this. Okay. Did you wanna provide some preliminary comments or just wait till the conversation?

No. We can wait till the conversation. I think I provided the the memo, but yeah. If there's other

questions for the memo. I'll I'll I'll review it tonight, and I know we got

a lot

of this plan.

Alderman Chambers. Yeah. I got a question on

this file. I was I was I I guess, what are what is the I guess, what's the purpose of the file?

The purpose of the file was to determine, locate, and see what money was available within the block grant office.

But wouldn't that be available when we know that information during reprogramming?

We would know that information during reprogramming, but the auto, we wanted an update as of as of today based on

available

funds that were in the office.

Okay. Sounds good to me.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we're gonna have a good conversation next next cycle. Okay. Am I is that right? Yes. Am I am I accurate on on that, Mario?

Well, it wasn't it didn't seem like the request was involved in reprogramming. Reprogramming, we won't have the data for for another thirty five thirty to forty five days.

No. It wasn't. But the request was about There

were some some specific funds that she had wanted information on.

Right. But I think Alderman Chambers was just talking about when reprogramming comes, we can discuss that. But that's separate. That's separate than this. Yeah. That's separate than this, Alderman Chambers, and and to to you, Mario. Yeah. So this was specific funds that she wanted to talk about. Okay. So we're gonna hold this till till she can be here and and hope it'll be next cycle. Alright. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. So order woman Moore moves to hold this at the call of the chair. Hearing no objection. So order number 13251865. This also will be held. Are you guys here for that?

I'm here.

So there would have been a request to hold this at the call of the chair. Do you know why? No. Do you know why, Carmen?

I'm not sure why.

Okay. 251865, communication from the Department of City Development relating to the 2025 annual report of neighborhood postal sales in accordance with the license agreement between the city of Milwaukee and historic Milwaukee Incorporated. See, do we wanna discuss this? I'm I'm open. I'm ready.

I'm gonna need you.

Yeah. Okay. So can you guys Armen Armen, what's going Did you wanna you got a second, or should we bring you back up?

It'll go fast.

So it'll be.

So bring you back up? Would you guys please wait while the good alderman has a foul? Yeah. Sometimes he's slow. I see him in the gym, but sometimes he has his treadmill on 2.1. So he did his 2.1 up the up the up the Three point o. Hey. Good afternoon, Alderman Westmore. With the six

inc line.

Alderman Moore moves to reconsider your file number 251952 resolution relating to establishing the fifth district movie night fund as an official event and authorizing acceptance and exponential of contributions for this purpose. Alderman Westmoreland, you have the floor.

That's a nice pocket square.

Thank you, man. Yeah. Thank you, man. Try to do my thing.

Yes, sir. Yes. No. This is just to accept funds for my second. It'll be annual event, movie night. And this year, we're partnering with the county. Nice. And the movie night will happen in conjunction with Milwaukee County's beer garden and live music Really? Over at Cooper Park. Okay. The date is I have the date, but I'm not telling you because it's not ready to be announced yet.

Yeah. Yeah.

So whoever's watching, stay tuned. Coming. Yeah. So I I just need that.

Movie at least?

Missus Doubtfire. Seriously?

Yeah. Who hasn't seen that though?

I mean, kids love that movie. You

know? That's true.

So, I I work with friends of Cooper Park and it was one of the movies that they had on their list. So we all voted, and that was what the people wanted. Last year, we did Remember the Titans. Excellent.

Yes. Excellent movie. Yes. One of my favorites.

Yes. So this is just too long.

Man, this is all like a good event. You have a good turnout?

It wasn't what I wanted last year. So, I mean, it's a starting point and and you build on that. Right. But so this is just a file to hold the funds from sponsors.

Excellent. Excellent. Any questions?

Awesome.

No questions. Alderman Chambers moves for adoption. Hearing no objections are ordered. Thank you, Alderman. Thank Take care. Thank you for your patience. Number 13, Alderman Chambers moves for reconsideration. 251865. Communication from the Department of City Development relating to the 2025 annual report of neighborhood postal sales in accordance with the license agreement between the city of Milwaukee and historic Milwaukee Incorporated. It looks like you guys have some treats for us. Is that for us?

Yes, it is.

Pass them down, please, and please introduce yourself for the record and you have the floor. Miss Davis, thank you for coming down today.

My name is Luke Olson, Department of City Development. I'm joined by Stacy Swadish, executive director of Historic Milwaukee.

Yes. Hello, everyone.

The communication filed before you is our annual report on Historic Milwaukee Incorporated sales of posters and other merchandise based on Milwaukee City of Neighborhoods poster series.

Okay.

Brief history. In early twenty fifteen, the city granted permission for the poster images to be used in the book Milwaukee City of Neighborhoods written by John Gerda and published by Historic Milwaukee. Historic Milwaukee also commissioned the poster's original artist, Jan Kotowicz, to create 11 additional neighborhood posters for the book. That same year, the Common Council approved a resolution transferring most of the remaining inventory of the original posters to Historic Milwaukee and granted limited nonexclusive rights to reprint the poster designs for an assortment of additional products. Proceeds from these sales support historic Milwaukee's educational programs and in exchange they provide a reasonable number of their posters and products for use by the city.

I believe that's what's in the bag this.

Let's see what we have. One more, what do we have?

This partnership continues to promote neighborhood pride and enhance the positive image of the city by informing the public about the historic and unique nature of each of its neighborhoods. Beautiful. So now I'm gonna hand it over to Stacy who will present the 2025 poster sales report along with additional information about historic Milwaukee including their extremely popular Doors Open program.

Thank you all. Thank you for having me.

Real quick, real quick, Luke. So you know the 15th District? Who knew the 15th District like this? He's quite well.

I have a cracker jack staff and they looked at your bios on the website. Yeah. And they assembled the note cards, magnets based on either the Aldermatic District you represent or in the case of city halls downtown or in some cases for Marina. We did a Marquette Avenues West because she went to Marquette and for Deandre and Mark, we did threw in a Bayview because they went to Bayview High.

This is awesome.

Thanks. So

So do we have T shirts?

No shirts. Those

are No. Not

Those have not been a thing since Did

you see Russ? We ended that. Oh, yes.

So

all 38 images are available for sale on our website in our store on the corner of Broadway in Michigan. That has all of them. The combo

one. Yes. I need to. Yes. Would

we profit

if we

if did we get good idea. Will we profit if we did a T shirt and hat business?

We tried that. With a third party vendor and the on the advice of the city attorney, we ended that partnership. It was with a separate vendor in West Dallas, but there were copyright issues.

So the council started a youth program for entrepreneurship. Mhmm. And they're developing t shirts in the office of African American affairs. I'm gonna connect you guys.

Yes.

And you give them all the district because one of the go one of the conversations

Feel free, but remember, there's 38 designs, and then you need about five sizes per shirt. So unless you do print on demand to get the inventory issue gets very

Well, I can quickly. Well, I'll start off with everyone. You just go with like Good luck. You know. Alright. But go ahead.

Alright. Last year as a

Oh, no. No. Just Sherman Park. You got the guys. Well, no.

You don't have a relationship to Summit Park, man?

Come on.

Oh, I definitely do. But Alright then. Got Havenwoods. We got Havenwoods. We got other places too.

Man, you got the Grice down the street, man. Let's do Summit Park. Alright. I'm sorry for that interruption. You guys go ahead.

That is okay. We're trying

to get our neighborhoods out here.

Sorry about that. Go ahead.

Our total revenue in 2025 as nonprofit was just about $619,000 So the sale from these items, dollars 7,795 represented about 1.2% of our total budget. As is our practice, other nonprofit neighborhood groups want to buy these things. We sell them to them at a very reduced cost. The nonprofit Bridge Builders last year purchased a North Milwaukee and Thurston Woods note cards and posters. I did attach a breakdown of each poster magnet and note card with the sales behind it for you to review.

And then one of our biggest events of which these proceeds help support is Doors Open. Doors Open is held the September every year. Last year was our fifteenth anniversary. We were very excited about that.

Excellent.

If you look at the front of this, the image on the bottom right are people peering down a manhole on Michigan Avenue. That is one of the most popular sites and doors open. That is it's near the We Energies building. That is one of the few remaining manholes in the city that's lined with Cream City bricks. They had a camera scope down and people could see what it looks like inside the manhole. So that really sums up how great doors open is. If you go through the report, you can see the top sites visited. Milwaukee City Hall, the top site visited. Really great. Other things all

What page are you on?

Three of the report.

Scroll. Yeah.

Other things all within the city as well, Villa Terrace, the art museum, the Burnham Block, UWM School of Freshwater Sciences, Karna Labs is in Franklin. They have a historic pipe organ in the factory where they ship the Carmex. But then the public library, the model railroad Club is in the 3rd Warder, Walkers Point, the Basilica and the Green Exchange Room. So this is really all about celebrating Milwaukee and different sites. If you go to the next page of the report.

When stores open again this year?

It's always the September.

September. Okay. Thank you.

We track these metrics. We do an online survey and we have paper surveys available at the sites. We love this one. 64% visited a neighborhood they were previously unfamiliar with and 72% plan to come back to that neighborhood in the future. I like to say there's a ripple effect to doors open even though the event is only two days or one week into It the has a lasting effect. People go out to a neighborhood. They might see a restaurant or a business. And if they don't want to patronize it in the moment, they make plans to come back. 82% said doors open makes them feel proud to be a Milwaukeean. And then if you look at visitor geography, the overwhelming percentage, 42% live within the city of Milwaukee.

Another 29% are within Milwaukee County. The age is a really nice breakout, all ages, families, young people getting into older people. And then income too is a really great variety. This event is free. It's inclusive.

It celebrates all of the city's neighborhoods. So we love to see that great income range there too. Last year to celebrate fifteen years, we did two special things. One was the manager of Doors Open, Grace Fear, created a scavenger hunt and they we had bell tower tickets and things were hidden in Red Arrow Park, the new Davidson Park on the West Side and Mitchell Park on the South Side. We thought these would take all day for them to find.

All the prizes were literally gone in five minutes. People were like lined up waiting. So the note to self is people in the city really like a scavenger hunt. We also did some collaborations with coffee and products to celebrate that. And this quote really sums up the doors open experience. I just love getting inside iconic spaces that I either was not able to experience before or wouldn't have an excuse before, truly part of the fabric of the Milwaukee Tapestry. And then this event wouldn't be possible without all the great sponsors which are on the back. Again, a lot of great Milwaukee City cut businesses and foundations. So, we're very grateful for their support. I.

So, that concludes my report for this year. Any questions?

Yes. Were there any new additions to doors open this year?

Grace Fear is soliciting and in the first round of invitations will go out in April.

We do have

a few things but we don't want to announce them to their all official and ready to

go. Okay.

But I think there will be a handful. I'll try to do rotating at about, you know, 10 to 20% new sites. So, there will be some great additions and one is aligned with the city of Milwaukee but again, I don't want to misspeak and state before it's locked down.

Now, restaurants, where do people eat during this day?

All over. Whatever happens to be adjacent or nearby.

Do have to be a participant or are people just going to wherever? Wherever. Is that something that's been ever been discussed where, hey, these restaurants are historical landmarks and are part of Doors Milwaukee. Come get something to eat.

Not in that way, but that's

Okay. A great Alright. And invitations are sent out for individuals that for companies or businesses

that Right. There's an interest form on our website. If any company or historic is interested in being a part of Doors Open, they can fill out the form on our website and then Grace will follow-up and be in touch with them.

Excellent. Excellent. Alderman Moore.

I had a quick question in regards to the income of visitors.

How do

you all capture that

information?

It's on the survey. We them. It's self reported.

Is it

an exit survey? It's an exit survey.

Got it.

So it's online and we email it out to the people. We have over 30,000 emails and an equal number of Facebook friends. And then we have hard paper copies that that people fill out and turn in and then we enter that data manually. But people are very candid and share lots of great feedback, good and but mostly really good about the event.

Yes. I definitely would love to make sure that we get communicated with the information for this year's Doors Open Milwaukee just so that we can at least include it in our on our e notified

We will definitely do that.

Socials just so that it helps to boost and increase attendance. Boost attendance for everyone. Yeah. I look forward to participating this year.

I agree 100%. Thank you, Auto Wimmer. This is great.

Thank you.

Last week in September. Right?

Mhmm. Fourth. Yep. September. Yes. And it's typically Saturday, Sunday. Yes. Yep.

Okay. It's two days.

Two days.

Alright. Alright. Luke, are you going to share?

I went this past year for my first time.

You just told me what safety is. What?

It was

a great one. I went to

the Karmex factory to see the pipe organ.

I went

to the basilica.

I to

the Yeah. The Franklin Reich Creek Orthodox Church. Okay. I went to the Model Railroad Club.

Oh, you had a good time.

Day of it. We're all over. But Yep. It was really cool, and it was packed at all the It

was Absolutely.

Excellent. Excellent. Okay. Okay. Well, you guys, thank you so much.

Thank you. You have a great day.

You too. You too. Alder Woman Moore moves for is this a confirmation? Is it to place this on file. Hearing no objection. So, Alder Carmen, you're doing a good job. Do we have any more business? Alderman Perez attached letters to the file. Number nine Oh,

that's what

we're the do. File

for review.

You put a letter.

You wanna you wanna do okay. I'm read Okay. Thank you. Yes. Alder Woman Moore moves to reconsider file two five one nine three three. Alderman Perez sent us a letter dated 03/11/2026 to honorable members of the community and economic development committee. Honorable members, I write regarding common council file number two five one nine three three, a simple but needed modification of the ordinance governing the emerging youth achievement advisory council. Exofficial members of plural bodies typically do not require council confirmation. This ordinance removes the confirmation requirement created by the initial enabling legislation for the council. This was in line with most other plural bodies.

Thank you for your consideration, alderman president Perez. I see no issues with this. Alderman Moore, any questions?

Not a question.

Pretty straightforward. Yep. Any comments, questions, or comments by the by the board? Anyone's Alderman, Alderman? Nope. Alright. Alderman Chambers moved for adoption. Passage. I'm sorry. Move for a passage. Hearing no objection, so ordered. Did you wanna speak today?

That was my

That was your item? Drafted in case there was any question. Okay. Thank you. It's pretty straightforward. Appreciate you coming anyway. And with that, today's meeting is adjourned. I wanna thank all who have come and who are on the board. Have an excellent day.