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Community
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Written by KRISTYN HALBIG ZIEHM
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Wednesday, 01 June 2011 18:19 |
Requests from vendors, customers prompt organizers to start event a month earlier
Port Washington’s farmers market will begin Saturday — a month earlier than in previous years.
The earlier start was sought by both vendors and customers, said Sara Grover, executive director of Port Washington Main Street, which sponsors the market.
“For several years, we’ve been asked by many people to do it,” she said. “With the winter and spring (indoor) market this year, it seemed like a good time to do it.”
The 31st annual farmers market will again be held from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays in the 100 block of East Main Street. Live music will be played every three weeks or so, Grover said, and organizers are looking into the idea of offering cooking
demonstrations occasionally.
“If we can work that into the schedule, we’ll do it,” she said.
The earlier market will feature such diverse offerings as plants, vegetables, meats, cheeses and other products.
There won’t be as many vendors at the market initially as there are in summer, Grover said.
“It won’t be full right off the bat, but there will be a good showing,” she said.
Almost all the vendor spaces for the summertime market have already been spoken for, she added.
The earlier start will give the Port event a better presence in the area and feed off the city’s winter and spring indoor farmers markets, attracting the many people who have become accustomed to buying their produce and other items at the markets,
Grover said.
It will also allow Port’s market to better compete with other markets in the area that start earlier in the season, she said.
“I think it’ll be good for the businesses in town, too,” Grover said, noting many of the people who visit the market also stop at downtown shops.
“To have these few extra weeks for the businesses, especially the new businesses that are starting up, is a good thing.”
The Main Street Program is continuing to look for volunteer organizations, such as civic groups, Boy and Girl Scout troops and sports teams, to run the information tent during the season, Grover said.
Groups that run the tent are able to use the booth for their own fundraising while there, she noted.
For more information on the market or to obtain information about the running the information booth, call the Main Street office at 268-1132. |
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Community
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Written by Kristyn Halbig Ziehm
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Wednesday, 25 May 2011 17:42 |
Relocation of facility to former St. John’s Church will mark end of era in historic Pier Street building
After more than a year of debate and planning, the Port Washington Senior Center is prepared to move to its new quarters in the former St. John’s Church on Thursday, June 2.
“It’s getting hectic coming down to the actual move date,” center director Catherine Kiener said Tuesday. “We have boxes, we have empty boxes, we have them all over. The downstairs you wouldn’t recognize with everything packed.
“There are people who are anxious. There are people who are sad. It’s like leaving a house — you’re a little sad because of the memories, there’s a little trepidation, but it’s exciting too. ”
Architect Mike Ehrlich of Haag Müller, who is overseeing the renovations of the former church on Foster Street, said that installation of the elevator at the new center should be completed Friday. That, he said, is the last of the major items to be done there.
“It’s coming together quickly,” Ehrlich said. “If it weren’t for the elevator, the work would have been done long ago. There was a long wait for the elevator.”
That wait was compounded by the fact that the firm building the elevator initially shipped it without controls, Ehrlich said. The complete elevator finally arrived last Friday.
By Tuesday, there should probably just be a few punch-list items left to complete, Ehrlich said.
“I think the seniors are going to be happy there,” he said. “It’s going to be a great space. It fits right into the building — it looks like it’s part of the architecture.”
The city has hired Lakeside Movers to conduct the move at a cost of $3,045.
The move will likely take one day, Kiener said, adding that center programs, including the meal site, won’t be held on June 2.
“There’s just no way we can hold our programs that day,” she said. “We hate to cancel the meal program, but it has to be.”
She’s hoping to be able to go through the building with the center’s board and the volunteers who run the various programs on Tuesday so they can begin to familiarize themselves with the structure.
But until then, packing will continue, Kiener said.
As far back as last fall, seasonal and seldom used items were already being packed in preparation for the move, she noted.
But in the past couple weeks, the packing has proceeded in earnest. Groups such as the Lakeside Tea Society and Chicks With Sticks have been purging their supplies of unnecessary items and packing those they will need in their new home.
“We’re hoping for the best, that everything comes together smoothly,” Kiener said of the move. “We’re making progress.”
The move will cap an exciting week for the seniors, she said, noting the Senior Games kick off on Wednesday, June 1.
“It’ll be a little hectic,” Kiener said.
“We’ve already been fielding calls from people who aren’t as involved with the center asking, ‘Are you moved yet?’”
To help get the word out, she’s already prepared signs announcing the move to place in the windows of the current senior center at the corner of Pier and Wisconsin streets on Thursday.
“It’ll take some getting used to,” Kiener said. “We’ve been here a long time. But this will be a new adventure for us.”
After the seniors have settled into their new home, she said, they will plan an open house for the community and especially their new neighbors.
“We want them to realize we’re all neighbors, that we have one community in common,” she said. |
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Community
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Written by Kristyn Halbig Ziehm
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Wednesday, 18 May 2011 17:27 |
Move to former church not expected until June; parking plan sparks debate
The Port Washington Senior Center probably won’t move to its new location in the former St. John’s Church until after Memorial Day, City Administrator Mark Grams said Tuesday.
“We were hoping they (contractors) would be finished the middle of next week,” he told the Common Council. “They’re a little behind, so it looks like they won’t be able to move until June.”
Even as the city prepares for the move, debate continues around the issue of parking at the new senior center.
The city is considering changing some of the on-street parking to angle parking, something sought by the seniors, Grams said, and asked neighbors for their opinion on whether this should be done on Webster Street or Foster Street.
To accommodate this, some of the streets around the senior center would have to be made one-way, Grams said. Foster Street is likely to be the preferred option, he said, because Webster Street is narrower and less able to accommodate angle parking.
Several area residents told the council they are concerned about the possible changes.
“We’ve never had an accident, and I don’t know why there’s a safety concern at this point,” said Donald Knuth, 234 S. Webster St. “The parking has been adequate. We’re quite concerned about this.”
Chad Austin, who lives on Foster Street, told aldermen that they need to take not just the concerns of the seniors into account but also residents when deciding the issue.
The city’s Traffic Safety Committee is expected to make a recommendation on the matter when it meets at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 19.
It will be a little while before the senior center settles into its new home, officials were told.
The biggest thing yet to be done is installation of the elevator, Grams said, noting that the work is expected to take a week.
Ald. Mike Ehrlich said the elevator was supposed to be delivered on May 11, but was not.
“It got tied up,” he said. Crews are expected to work over the weekend on the senior center, and a final inspection has been tentatively scheduled for May 31.
Aldermen on Tuesday did an about-face and agreed to hire Lakeside Movers to relocate the senior center from its current site at 102 E. Pier St.
Two weeks ago, they approved a contract with Mr. Mover for the work, but City Administrator Mark Grams said he later discovered that this contract did not include reassembly of the center’s pool tables.
If the city wanted Mr. Mover to do this work, it would have cost an extra $525, bringing the firm’s cost for the move to $3,515, he said.
Lakeside Movers had bid $3,045 for the work, including assembly of the pool tables, Grams said.
The city is looking at the options for the sale of the current senior center once the facility is relocated, Grams said.
Randy Tetzlaff, the city’s director of planning and development, has been talking to people who have indicated an interest in buying the building, Grams said.
If enough people are interested, the city may set a minimum price and seek bids on the property, he said.
Most of those interested plan to use the building for commercial endeavors, primarily as office space, Grams said.
Tetzlaff said he’s knows of seven people who have expressed interest in the building, and three have shown concrete interest. |
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Community
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Written by Ozaukee Press
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Wednesday, 11 May 2011 17:39 |
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Fake marijuana — aka K2, Spice, Genie, Yucatan Fire, Blaze and any number of other names — is now illegal in the City of Port Washington.
With little comment last Wednesday, the Common Council unanimously approved an ordinance making it illegal to possess, sell or purchase the faux drug, which is often sold as incense.
“It seems to be the new trend right now,” City Administrator Mark Grams said of the faux drug. “Now, they won’t be able to buy it, smoke it or even have it in Port Washington.”
Port Washington joins communities such as Cedarburg, Waukesha and Eau Claire in outlawing the synthetic drug, which officials said has become more common in recent months.
Most recently, police officers confiscated 26 grams of fake marijuana from a group of seven teens, five of them 15-year-olds, while investigating a complaint.
Officers confiscated the substance but could not ticket the teens for possessing it because there is no law against it, officials said.
The new ordinance allows for the chemical to be confiscated and calls for a fine of between $100 and $500 for possession of fake marijuana and a fine of $500 to $1,000 for the sale, display, delivery or distribution of the substance. |
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