“Neighborhood Project”: Sherman Park Wrap Up

Listen: 40,000 People. 10,000 Housing Units. North Avenue on the South Side, Capitol Drive on the North Side, from 60th Street east to 30th and 38th streets. Sherman Park. How does one tell the story of a massive residential neighborhood that stretches over the heart of Milwaukee? By population, it would be the 16th biggest city [...]

“Neighborhood Project”: Week Five, Block Cleanup in Sherman Park

Listen: After a long Milwaukee winter, the snow and ice melts away, revealing the forgotten landscape of Spring. Grass, flowers, leaves, petrichor, and all that trash people thought they could throw in the snow for some reason.

A few weeks ago, I woke up (relatively) early on a Saturday and biked to 40th and Burleigh for a [...]

“Neighborhood Project”: Week Four, A Church Gym Full Of Boys

Listen:  Deb Curtis’s main draw to the Sherman Park neighborhood was the Sherman Park Community Association. She needed to get involved and this organization was it. Really. Sound like an exceptional commitment? I thought so too. Check out this short clip:

So. Really. Once Deb was there, neighborhood organizing was sure to follow. Along with longtime residents and parishioners like [...]

“Neighborhood Project”: Week Three, Fighting Block Busting In Sherman Park

Listen: For one reason or another, “blockbusting” came up in a number of conversations we had with folks around Sherman Park. This term was new to me, but I could immediately tell that it played an important role in Sherman Park’s history. As I’ve come to learn, blockbusting, a form of racial segregation through property manipulation, [...]

“Neighborhood Project”: Week Two, A Morning At Sherman Perk

Listen: In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that we actually spent two mornings at Sherman Perk… but what mornings they were. We caught the steady stream of Sherman Park residents coming and going, some rushing to work or school, some taking time to listen to music and chat at the counter. Everybody seemed [...]

“Neighborhood Project”: Week Two, The Residents

Listen: I’ve had a hectic week running all over town, gathering material for Week Two of the 88Nine Neighborhood Project. This week’s topic — the folks who put the “neighbor” in “neighborhood,” that is, the residents of our four communities. The goal of our pieces is to communicate each neighborhood’s unique character and personality, in its [...]

“Neighborhood Project”: Sherman Park Audio Tour

Listen: Growing up, my best friend lived in Sherman Park so I thought I had a decent understanding of the area. As I found out during our tour of the neighborhood, I’d only glimpsed the tip of the iceberg. If Milwaukee is a city of neighborhoods, Sherman Park is a neighborhood of neighborhoods. Fred Curzan and Wendy [...]

“Neighborhood Project”: Week 1, Get To Know Four Milwaukee Neighborhoods

Listen: On a nearly daily basis, I hear somebody say, “I love Milwaukee.” But you know, sometimes it’s hard to find the right way to say “I love you.” Here at RadioMilwaukee, we are ready to show the city how much we care, to really sink our teeth into this Neighborhood Project. Jordan gave me a little [...]