Capitol West Neighborhood Association

Fall 2010 CWNA Newsletter--1

CWNA CELEBRATES THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY AT ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING ON OCTOBER  27th

Thirty years ago a group of concerned local people gathered together to create an organization that would be devloted to the interests of the neighborhoods in the West Side of Milwaukee. The organization was named the Capitol West Neighborhood Association.  They soon began to hold regular meetings, establish contact with City and County officials and try to help the CWNA area in every way possible.

Over the years, many of the original members have moved or passed away but new people have come on board, moved by the same concerns that motivated the original group.  A group of the original founders including Rev. Jim Gorman, Rev. Dale Radke and Fr. Dan Pakarske will be attending and will share some thought about the area and the organization after 30 years.

To celebrate CWNA's Thirtieth Birthday, we will have a birthday cake and refreshments for all to share and time for those attending to chat with the founders.  It will be a great opportunity to renew old acquaintances, reflect on the changes of the past thirty years and look toward the future as we progress into the 21st Century.

KEEP OUR COMMUNITY STRONG BLOCK PARTY --A SUCCESS!!

On Saturday, August 21, Keep Our Community Strong (KOCS) held a very successful Block Party at 4 locations - Lancaster School, Grantosa School, 81st Street School and 47th and Wright attended by a total of over 650 residents.

KOCS is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the building of community spirit in Milwaukee's west side neighborhoods.  Since safety and security is important to each neighborhood, KOCS supports Police Dist. #7's Block Watch Program and representatives of the Block Watch Council were present at each Block Party site to explain the Program and encourage neighbors to participate.

KOCS also encourages the idea of building strong neighborhood public schools which is the reason why most of the Block Paties were held on MPS school grounds. This encouraged neighbors to come and see what an asset their neighborhood school really is.

Because a good neighborhood needs sound neighborhood businesses several local businesses such as North Shore Bank, Educators Credit Union, Fox 6 News, Citgo, and Wells Fargo were sponsors of the KOCS Block Parties.

Since the City of Milwaukee provides many services to its residents to help them retain strong neighborhoods, representatives of many City Departments such as MMSD, Health Dept. and Dept. of Neighborhood Services were present to give out much needed information.

Of course, each site had games and prizes for kids plus free hamburgers, hot dogs and beverages.

CWNA strongly supports Keep Our Community Strong as it believes that these Block Parties certainly advance the goal of building a community of strong, united neighborhoods in Milwaukee's west side. CWNA hopes that all neighbors who are interested in supporting this goal will plan on attending and maybe even volunteering for next summer's KOCS Block Party in their neighborhood.

CWNA BEAUTIFICATION CONTEST

This year the Capitol West Neighborhood Association decided to give positive recognition to the neighbors in our area who spend lots of time and effort to make their yards beautiful by launching a Beautifcation Contest. The contest was open to all householders of single family and duplex dwellings in the CWNA area.  Nominees were chosed by teams of nominators who toured the area, street by street, in June, looking at yards and noting those which really stood out in relation to their immediate neighborhoods.  This produced a list of 60 nominees who were informed of their nomination and asked if they wished to participate in the contest. Nominees received a sign placed in their yard designating them as Mominees in the contest.

Late in August, teams of judges drove to each nominee's house and gave it a rating. The 20 nominees with the highest ratings were declared winners and were informed of their winning status. They got large Winner signs replacing the Nominee signs in their yards. Contest rules state that winners cannot complete in the contest for the next three years. Those who were Nominees are eligible to compete in the contest next year.

In addition to the signs, winners were give a Beautification Award as a dinner held to honor their efforts. This year's awards dinner was held on October 5, 2010 at Gene's Lantes and Lounge, 6315 W. Fond du Lac Avenue. Scott Baran, Landscape Architect for the City of Milwaukee who designed the new medians for the boulevards, was the guest speaker and presented the awards.

The winners resided throughout the Capitol West area. They included: Mr. & Mrs. Gene Brunner, 3859 N. 70th St, Mr. Roy Tally, 3606 N. 61t St, Mr. & Mrs. Moses Mitchell, 6829 W. Glendale Av, Mr. & Mrs. Ben Henderson, 4479 N. 66th St, Mr. & Mrs. Tommie Loving, 7200 W. Marion Av, Ms. Bernice Claypool, 4110 N. 74th St, Ms. Helga Both, 8019 W. Potomac Av, Ms. Debbie Drotzur, 9119 W. Herbert Ct, Mr. Jerry Lawonn, 4316 N. 82nd St, Ms. Susan Wery 4042 N 88th St., Mr. Tom Matic, 3285 N. Colonial Av, Ms. Deb Powers, 3322 N 93rd St, Mr. Robert Schmidt, 8425 W. Nash St, Mr. Randy Guyer, 3434 N. 81st St, Ms. Tammy Schneider, 3333 N. 77th St, Mr. Stephen Betts, 3247 N. 82nd St, Mr. Dave Strachota, 8504 W. Locust St, Ms. Maria Parks, 2773 N. 88th St, Mr. & Mrs. Norman Inide, 3051 N. 75th St, and Ms. Susan Becker and Mr. Stuart Thompson, 2835 N. Lefeber Av.

The Beautification Contest is another effort of teh Capitol West Neighborhood Association to help make our neighborhoods a good place to live by publically acknowledging the fine efforts of the people who live here. We hope more area residents will join in working with us to continue and possibly expand this contest in the future.