The Daily Reporter articles from June 2005

The Daily Reporter archives from June 2005

Biomedical Technology Alliance shops for site for research campus in Wisconsin.
June 1, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan Five southeastern Wisconsin universities comprising the Biomedical Technology Alliance are shopping for a site to build a shared biomedical research campus. "We're in the very, very early stages of doing that," said...

Wisconsin prevailing-wage plan: Will it prevail?
June 1, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell State lawmakers are attempting to block a labor-backed plan to reconfigure the state's annual prevailing-wage determinations. The Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules issued a bill last week that...

Menomonee Valley Partners releases set of green-building standards.
June 2, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan The Menomonee Valley Partners Monday released a homemade set of green-building standards to give future developers a guidebook for their projects. "We were very cognizant of not doing something that would be out...

Wisconsin considering permanent end to death tax.
June 2, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell State lawmakers are staring down death - and the federal government - with a proposal to permanently eliminate the Wisconsin estate tax. Congress and President Bush temporarily repealed the federal estate tax...

Wisconsin wetlands pilot program to begin.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell A rare instance of collaboration between conservationists and builders is setting the stage for faster wetland permits. The state Department of Natural Resources next week will begin a pilot program allowing land...

Milwaukee County Research Park still has commercial land available.
June 3, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee County Research Park Director of Development Guy Mascari is concerned about people saying he's out of land. Twice this year, first in January and again this week in The Daily Reporter, representatives from...

American Subcontractors Assn. wants WI Supreme Court to decide construction liability case.
June 6, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell A national subcontractors association is trying to persuade the state Supreme Court to hear a case that could have broad implications for construction contracts. On Wednesday, the American Subcontractors...

WI Legislature's Joint Finance Committee leaves state's building budget intact.
June 7, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell The state building program emerged relatively unscathed Friday from the Joint Finance Committee hearing room. During a week when the Legislature's budget-writing committee slashed spending for a wide assortment...

WI governor signs bill allowing towns to use tax-incremental financing for new projects.
June 7, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature have collaborated on a new law that could heal tensions over development border battles between towns and cities. On Monday, Doyle signed a law allowing towns to use...

Series of economic analyses and projections about Milwaukee's PabstCity project ignite debate.
June 8, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell The PabstCity project lost some of its luster this week. The project has become tangled in a series of economic analyses and market projections that contradict previous reports and assertions about the project's...

Milwaukee's Lindsay Heights neighborhood turns 10.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan The players that kicked off the Lindsay Heights neighborhood revitalization in Milwaukee a decade ago say the private sector has bought into the area. "We're selling homes for up to $200,000 in areas that were...

Milwaukee places restrictions on Tower Automotive site.
June 9, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee is planning to restrict certain types of development on Tower Automotive's site until it can work out a redevelopment plan with the company. "It constitutes putting a hold on certain uses that we think...

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker opposes increased sales tax.
June 10, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is opposing a County Board proposal to raise the sales tax by 0.5 percent to pay for the transit system. "He's not supportive of any additional or new tax increases," said Ed...

Metropolitan Milwaukee Assn. of Commerce defends its PabstCity report.
June 13, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan The Metropolitan Milwaukee Assoc-iation of Commerce is defending its PabstCity report, which said it would increase downtown spending, against new studies faulting project projections. "We felt we had to respond to...

Wisconsin sales-tax exemption all but dead.
June 14, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell The industry came up short last week in its bid to extend a sales-tax exemption to contractors that buy materials for nonprofit construction projects. Early Friday morning, when the Legislature's Joint Finance...

Lobbyists fighting July 1 ban on federal unsolicited business faxes.
June 14, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan There is still a chance that the federal rules blocking unsolicited business faxes won't come into effect July 1. The new Federal Communication Commission rules would make faxing advertisements illegal without first...

Condo, retail OK'd for Milwaukee's Park East property.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan A Milwaukee County Board committee Monday approved two Chicago developers' $40 million condominium and retail project for the county's first Park East parcel. RSC & Associates is teaming with Morgan Group Inc. to...

Milwaukee-based We Energies, Bechtel need new contract.
June 15, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell We Energies will have to renegotiate its contract with the builder of the proposed $2.15 billion coal-fueled power plants in Oak Creek. The state Supreme Court still must permit the Milwaukee utility to begin...

OSHA rewriting outdated rules on electrical power generation projects.
June 16, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is rewriting its outdated rules guarding workers on electrical power generation projects. The OSHA standards regulating construction of power transmission lines and...

Commentary: Future growth should be nurtured.
June 16, 2005... Byline: Mark Moroney In order for Wisconsin's economy to thrive, our cities and villages must be able to expand in order to accommodate residential and commercial growth. The majority of the population resides and works in cities and...

Wisconsin Supreme Court orders disputed project to start anew in Brown County Circuit Court.
June 17, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell The state Supreme Court on Wednesday sent Brown County and the village of Hobart back to the drawing board on a dispute over a $1.3 million project. After two lower courts split their verdicts between the two...

Vacant store targeted for new housing.
June 20, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan For four years, housing projects driven by the city and state have circled around an abandoned Sentry grocery store on Walnut Street in Milwaukee. Now, in response to calls from the area's new homeowners, the city is...

Are PabstCity Emerging Business Enterprise goals high enough?
June 21, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan Opponents of PabstCity are voicing new concerns that the $317 million construction project wouldn't include enough minority workers. Former Milwaukee Alderman Fred Gordon said he wants the city to gather more...

Lobby group reports results of their poll against additional off-reservation casinos in Wisconsin.
June 21, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell Nearly two-thirds of Wisconsin residents don't support construction of more off-reservation casinos, according to poll results released Monday. The survey found that 63 percent of respondents don't favor...

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development predicts construction jobs to increase.
June 22, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan State numbers predict Wisconsin's construction industry will gain 26,500 new jobs by 2012, which is about even with the national outlook. "Wisconsin has a little bit less construction generally than the United States...

Developer Mark R. Redmond dies at 51.
June 23, 2005... Byline: Paul Snyder Services will be held Friday at St. Anthony on the Lake, Pewaukee, for Mark D. Redmond, who died Monday after a 20-month battle with cancer. He was 51. Visitation will be held at St. Anthony on the Lake from 4 p.m....

Pabst Brewery's church to be preserved.
June 23, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan WisPark LLC Tuesday told the Milwaukee Common Council that it changed its plans and would preserve the Pabst Brewery's church building. The developers aiming to convert the brewery into the PabstCity office, retail...

Battle of the Budge continues over Wisconsin's state budget.
June 24, 2005... Byline: Paul Snyder Assembly Speaker John Gard made it clear Thursday that the financing battle over the new state budget should not be looked at as an issue of "roads vs. kids." Gard, R-Peshtigo, said he was willing to wage a...

Ban of union-organizing practice of salting proposed in U.S. House.
June 24, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell Federal lawmakers are reviving a bill to outlaw the union-organizing practice known as salting. On Tuesday, a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee fielded testimony on the Truth in Employment Act, a...

Milwaukee Alderman Davis backs downtown casino.
June 27, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee Alderman Joe Davis Friday said he supports the concept of the Potawatomi building a casino in downtown Milwaukee. "The location, if in fact it would be proposed, would increase revenue," Davis said. "It's...

Legislation in U.S. House to ban bid shopping on federal projects gains momentum.
June 28, 2005... Byline: Paul Snyder Legislation aiming to halt the practice of bid shopping on federal projects is gaining momentum in Washington. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., and seven co-sponsors introduced the Construction Quality Assurance Act of...

Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District to rebid $105 million project.
June 28, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is beginning to rebid its $105 million harbor siphon project after the bids came in over budget last year. The project will repair the aging interceptor sewers underneath...

Columbia St. Mary's unveils campus redevelopment.
June 29, 2005... Byline: Paul Snyder Columbia St. Mary's unveiled plans for the largest health care building project in Wisconsin Tuesday. The new $417 million Columbia St. Mary's Lake Drive Hospital will be located on 20 acres overlooking Lake...

WisDOT shuffles major projects lineup.
June 30, 2005... Byline: Paul Snyder The state Department of Transportation this week announced shifts in the timetables for 10 major highway projects. Six projects, worth an estimated $1.2 billion, will be accelerated. Five others, valued at $601...