Every Friday, Stuff We Missed looks to other Milwaukee publications (and beyond) for, well, stuff we missed throughout the week.
• As we patiently wait for The Hop’s December ridership numbers (prediction: they somehow won’t be as robust as summer ridership numbers), there’s some other good/mixed streetcar news to yell about. According to officials, rides on the endlessly controversial system will remain free through at least 2020. Fun! Also according to officials: someone else needs to step up and sponsor the thing. Huh!
The Milwaukee Business Journal reports:
Milwaukee officials publicly credited the first year of zero fares to the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino which signed a 12-year sponsorship for The Hop. The Potawatomi’s contract for the sponsorship specified it would receive that recognition through November.
Data provider Everstream picked up the free ride mantle for the month of December with its $90,000 streetcar sponsorship.
The city is using money from both of those contracts to pay for streetcar operations. The Potawatomi sponsorship contract generated about $781,000 for streetcar operations last year, and an equal amount this year. Everstream’s contract could contribute money to both 2019 and 2020 operations.
But more is needed to cover the total streetcar operations cost without tapping other city funds, such as money from parking operations and enforcement.
Meanwhile, the city’s plans to expand the 2.1-mile system remain on track for spring 2087. [Milwaukee Business Journal]
• Oscar-winning filmmaker John Ridley will write and direct a “music-centric” series for Showtime that will be set in Milwaukee. The still-untitled series, originally set in Detroit, is described as “an emotionally complex family story that spans generations and threatens the fabric of the community in present-day Milwaukee.” Ridley is the co-founder of Milwaukee’s No Studios. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Yeah. Can you feel it, baby? I can, too. Wisconsin’s second Wahlburger’s hamburger joint will open at 322 N. Broadway on January 21. The burger chain is the creation of chef Paul Wahlberg and his brothers Mark and Donnie. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• This Week In Pop-Up News #1: Cudahy’s City Lounge, 3455 E. Layton Ave., will do a Disney-themed pop-up thing January 24 through February 17. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• This Week In Pop-Up News #2: Milwaukee’s Hotel Madrid, 600 S. 6th St., will do a Bruce Lee-inspired pop-up thing January 10 through February 10. [OnMilwaukee]
• Angelo’s Piano Lounge, 1686 N. Van Buren St., is under new ownership, though nothing else has changed. The namesake of the 35-year-old bar, Angelo Martellano, retired in 2015 and died in 2016. [OnMilwaukee]
• The Wicked Hop, 345 N. Broadway, will bring back its “Wisco Inferno” Ice Bar on January 17. Just in time for Gallery Night! [OnMilwaukee]
• Divino Wine + Dine, 2315 N. Murray Ave., will close January 31. A new ownership group will open a new restaurant, Tavolino, at the East Side location in March. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• Black History Month begins in a few weeks, and Milwaukee Film has plenty of screenings and events to celebrate. [Milwaukee Film]
• Fun fact: Milwaukee County apparently has a real estate records system that converts digital documents into microfilm, sends them to New York City to be processed, has them sent back to Milwaukee, and then has them sent to Kansas “where the county rents shelf space in a vault in an old salt mine.” That costs about $20,000 to $25,000 a year, though changes in the zany system will save the County about $150,000 annually. [Milwaukee Business Journal]
• Late-night cookie joint Insomnia Cookies will open a third location at 1133 N. Old World Third St., near Fiserv Forum. The bakery has locations on the East Side and in Bay View. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• The Milwaukee Brewers extended manager Craig Counsell’s contract by three years. Counsell, who is awesome, is now set to remain the Brewers’ skipper at least through the 2023 season. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
• That laundromat next to Y-Not II, 700 E. Lyon St., has closed. R.I.P. [Urban Milwaukee]
• Have a great weekend, Milwaukee!