Shorewood Patch Week in Review

What do you do when you’re so close to the finish line and something trips you up? Three days before I was ready to move back to Milwaukee for my final semester of journalism classes at the Unversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I was told there was a chance I had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a form of cancer.

The village took the next step Monday in making the a reality. The Village Board approved a contract with the financial planning company, Ehlers and Associates, to help establish Tax Incremental Financing District No. 4 to finance improvements related to the proposed six-story, $32 million development on North Oakland Avenue.

Shorewood School District’s referendum passed Tuesday night with an overwhelming "yes" from voters. Final results showed 63 percent of voters supported the measure allowing the school district to borrow up to $13.645 million to refinance its Wisconsin Retirement System debt at a lower interest rate and fund a trust to pay for retiree benefits other than pensions. The final tally was 3,231-1,867.

Incumbent Michael Maher and newcomer Don Ford won the two seats on the Shorewood Village Board with an easy defeat of two other candidates. Maher led with 2,678 votes and Ford collected 2,033.

The Oak Leaf Trail bridge's concrete deck was poured Tuesday and is expected to be available by May 15, a construction official said Thursday. Construction workers are still installing railings, paving the path up to the bridge and finishing up other projects, said Trigg Knerr, who is overseeing the construction. Knerr said he hopes to open the bridge sooner than May 15.

A 23-year-old University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student died Sunday, a couple of days after he was taken to the hospital after he tumbled down 10 stairs after drinking heavily. Shorewood police said Patrick Martin was partying and drinking whiskey and beer with four other friends at a home on the 3500 block of North Frederick Avenue at 3 a.m. Friday, when the group heard Martin fall down some stairs leading to the basement.

The village revised its proposed comprehensive sewer plan Wednesday, effectively cutting costs and downsizing the approach to problematic sewers. with analyzing the village’s sewer plan and officials released a tweaked plan at a special sewer meeting. Each firm focused on one corner of the village, as officials seek a plan to battle basement backups like those experienced after torrential rainfall hit the area last July.

Once upon a time, in a land not too far away, lived a young woman who had nothing but a dream. She would tell all her small woodland creature friends that someday, one day her dreams would come true. Did she dream of a handsome prince in a glittery castle riding around atop a magical unicorn? Nope. She dreamt of opening up her own little gift shop stocked with the most curious of items.

After an spike in burglaries plagued the Shorewood area last winter, it appears the village now may have a problem on its hand with auto break-ins. In just more than a week, police have received reports of nine thefts from vehicles.