The East Side Commercial Historic District is a small chunk of East Town, just three blocks in an upside-down "L" shape bounded by Wisconsin Avenue to the north, Water Street to the west, Clybourn Street to the south, then zigging up to Michigan Street, then jutting east to Milwaukee and back up to Wisconsin.
But there's a lot of activity in this extremely old section of the city (Solomon Juneau's cabin was located within spitting distance of the northwest corner of the L): The Iron Block building is getting a makeover, the Hilton Gardens Inn is in the newly revamped Loyalty Building around the corner and a new Marriott hotel is under construction in the northeast corner of the district.
Hence, Historic Milwaukee's "From Controversy to Catalyst," a panel discussion on Thursday, Jan. 17 at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c., 1000 N. Water St., on the 17th floor.
There's a networking reception from 6 until 7, followed by the discussion with panelists Steve Schwartz, CEO of the First Hospitality Group with the Loyalty building; UWM Professor Matt Jarosz; Mark Demsky of Dental Associates and the Iron Block Building; Josh Jeffers, owner of the Mitchell Building; and Bruce Block, Co-Chair of Reinhart's Real Estate Practice, as the moderator.
According to Historic Milwaukee's announcement, attendees will hear, "behind the scenes stories about the buildings and people that shape Milwaukee's Downtown (and) an exciting conversation about the East Side Commercial Historic District's past, present and future, and hear from the stakeholders who are growing this important Milwaukee cornerstone."
The talk will touch on what exactly is an historic district and on how Milwaukee is leveraging historic assets in the promotion of the city.
This promises to be an engaging discussion about a Downtown hot zone and how what happens there might be replicated in other spots throughout the city.
Admission is $25 for non-members, $20 for HMI members. The panel only is $10 for non-members and $5 for members. Parking (for a fee) is available by entering the garage on Market Street, between State and Highland. You must RSVP for the event by calling (414) 277-7795 or going online.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
