Editor's Note: This column was written from Kelly's perspective. I was born in Southern Ohio and attended public school there through the first grade, where I was at the top of my class—I could trace words beautifully, I could add and subtract single digit numbers, and I knew all of the three-letter sight words on the flashcards! I may have been somewhat challenged when it came to telling the time or tying my shoes, but I was most definitely an ace student.  Then our family moved to Whitefish Bay, where I began second grade during the second semester at Richards Elementary School.  To my …

It’s been over two decades since Nicolet Union High School went to the public and asked for help.  It’s taken a recession, declining enrollment, and a state funding formula that penalizes our district—instead of rewarding our educational excellence and fiscal responsibility—that has brought us to this point.  Painful cuts in staff and curriculum have already occurred and will only go much deeper if this referendum is not passed.   Nicolet is a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence and the teachers are some of the best in the state, if not the country. The majority of educators at Nicolet hold …

From Katie's perspective: Like Kelly, my mother believed in teaching children the value of participating in civic life as soon as they’re old enough to be toted around to political meetings and ride along on canvasses. One of my earliest memories is being strolled from door to door as my mother, who was a precinct captain for the local Democratic Party in Fairfax, VA., worked our neighborhood to get out the vote. One of my other early memories is watching her dance with joy on our coffee table the night a local politician, known to me only as the man she wouldn’t vote for if he was running …

Hey, Pizza Man Restaurant—Fox Point and Bayside Have Room for You! Last week marked the one-year anniversary of the tragic fire that destroyed the Pizza Man Restaurant in Shorewood.  Since then, devoted fans have mourned the loss of this legendary pizza joint (and the outstanding wine cellar it boasted) and have spent the last year waiting for its resurrection. Insiders are betting that the new location won’t be far from the original one on the corner of North Avenue and Oakland Avenue. But why not relocate to Fox Point or Bayside? Excellent retail space is available at both River Point and …

Two years ago, Bayside families began receiving notices that their above-ground, Intex-style pools were not in compliance with a new village ordinance set forth in Sec. 14-183 of the Village of Bayside Municipal Code. Thanks to this ordinance, pool-owners are now required to empty and take down their pool every night, despite the fact that even the smaller pools can be as much as three feet deep and 10-feet in diameter, and are equipped with pumps and other attachments that require a considerable amount of time and effort to assemble. Village residents with pools were informed that they must …

Late in the afternoon on Nov. 1, 2004, I called Representative Sheldon Wasserman’s Treasurer and Volunteer Coordinator, Kelly Herda, to apologize. My son Henry, 12, and I had signed up to drop campaign literature throughout large swaths of Whitefish Bay, and we’d managed to finish about half of it over the weekend. But we’d spent the day in bone-chilling weather at a Kerry campaign rally, and Henry was coming down with a cold. It was getting dark and the weather was only getting worse—surely Kelly would understand if we called it a day. What difference could dropping a few more lit pieces …