Pabst Park Neighborhood Friends,

Have you had a chance yet to enjoy the new restaurant on North Ave, Juniper 61? Would YOU like to be a part of helping bring more great businesses like this to North Avenue? The North Avenue Neighborhood Alliance which was instrumental in bringing Juniper 61 to Tosa is looking for neighbors to be a part of their Planning Task Force. The goal is to have at least 3 Pabst Park residents on the task force, so far we have one pair of interested neighbors from 67th street. If you have a desire to make a difference in East Tosa, please consider joining the task force via their website, http://easttosa.org/

If you would like to be removed from the PPNA email update list please contact me at tamaracrouch@pabstpark.com or 475.6345. Thanks much for your continued support,Tammy CrouchPPNA President

From Meg Miller and the North Avenue Neighborhood Alliance:

We need Pabst Park residents to help spend $40K!

The North Avenue Neighborhood Alliance (The Alliance) was awarded a $40K Block Grant to fund the development of a comprehensive, long-term master plan and corresponding tactics for implementation to support economic sustainability on North Avenue from 60th-76th Street. For a copy of the grant proposal, please visit http://easttosa.org/ The Alliance collaborated with East Town Business and Merchant’s Association, Inglewood Heights Neighborhood Association, Old Hillcrest Neighborhood Association, Pabst Park Neighborhood Association, Tosa East Town Neighborhood Association and Washington Highlands Neighborhood Association to develop and submit the grant.

In order to ensure our voice is heard, the board of the PPNA is seeking civic-minded residents from our neighborhood to represent us on the Planning Task Force.

What is the role of the planning task force?
The task force is charged with development and distribution of a planning proposal. The Task Force will then follow up with reviewing submitted proposals and decide to whom the proposal should be awarded. Representatives should be open to sharing progress of the task force and soliciting feedback from residents via association newsletters and/or listservs.

The task force will be facilitated by Wauwatosa resident Kevin Hardman. Kevin works to create economically sustainable, vibrant and diverse communities. As the President of Clonmel Partners, L.L.C. Kevin provides consulting services to towns and cities, planning and architectural firms, and developers to help them create walk able, viable, urban places. Clonmel also works with small businesses to help them maximize their entrepreneurial assets. Kevin is a frequent speaker and panelist at urban-development forums. He is a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, an organization that promotes the urban form. He is also on the board of directors of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin and the Village of Wauwatosa Business Improvement District (BID). Kevin holds a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

What kind of time commitment will be required?
The Alliance had set aside 16 hours for task force meetings, proposal review, etc. between mid to late January and late August.

Interested?
Please submit your name under “Interested in the Planning Task Force” at http://easttosa.org/. Be sure to note what times/days of the week work best for you. Once all interested parties have submitted their information, we will determine the meeting time based on what works best for most. We will then set the meeting dates and time and communicate this to those who expressed interest.

This is a great opportunity to help steer the direction of North Avenue in East Town to be vibrant and sustainable!

Pabst Park Neighborhood Friends,

Below is information from the Washington School Ice Rink coordinator, Lynn O’Brien, about the opening of the ice rink for this season. If you wish to make a donation to help with maintenance of the ice rink or benches for the ice rink, please send funds to Washington School, marked for the Ice Rink. I will pass along any info in the coming weeks about skating open houses, which usually include opportunities to purchase hot cocoa and snacks to support the rink.
If you would like to be removed from the PPNA email update list please contact me at tamaracrouch@pabstpark.com or 475.6345. Thanks much for your continued support,Tammy CrouchPPNA President

January 5th, 2009
Dear Friends in Pabst Park,

We have begun flooding the neighborhood ice rink at Washington School and are hoping to be up and running by the end of the week if the weather cooperates! Thanks to your generous support we are in our third season of the rink and going strong. In preparation for the start of another season, here is some information that may help to make this season as safe and fun as possible.
· Please do not begin using the ice until the safety tape has been removed and the rink is finished. It will take several days to create enough layers of ice for regular use and if we begin to skate too early, it will ruin the surface. Thanks.
· Once the rink is open, it is free to the public and may be used anytime. There is no adult supervision for the general public and we advise parents to both supervise and encourage safe and sportsmanlike behavior on the ice at all times.
· Open, free-style skating will be allowed during the day hours and we ask that no hockey play take place before 5pm to accommodate younger skaters and families.
· After 5pm, if the rink is not occupied by free-style skaters, older children and adults are welcome to play hockey. If there are free-style skaters on the ice, please wait until they leave before you use your equipment.

We continue to accept contributions to cover the costs of the rink and are looking for a way to provide a couple of benches for kids to use to sit on while putting on their skates. If any of you can offer any ideas about how we might acquire those we would be very grateful.

We are grateful to your neighborhood for your financial and enthusiastic support of the rink and welcome your questions and concerns. Feel free to direct those to either Mr. Bonds, principal at Washington Elementary School 2166 North 68th Street or Lynn O’Brien, neighborhood parent, 771-4586.

Thanks and we’ll see you on the ice!
Sincerely,
Lynn O’Brien

The Washington School Ice Skating Rink is almost ready! A family skate day is planned for Sunday February 11th

Hot drinks and goodies will be available for purchase. Bring blankets and lawn chairs if desired.

Organizers are still accepting donations for the costs incurred by installing outdoor water access for a fire hose to flood the rink. Costs were much higher than the PTA donation to the project and any community/neighborhood donations would help in paying off the remaining balance of the project. Any donations can be made payable to Washington School with “ice rink” written in the memo line and mailed to 2166 North 68th Street Tosa 53213. Lynn O’Brien, coordinator of the project is also looking for used park benches for the rink also. If you can help with the benches or have any specific questions regarding the rink, please email me at tamaracrouch@pabstpark.com and I will get you Lynn’s contact info.

This is a “Community Ice Rink” which can be used by all. Please keep in mind that the children who attend Washington will be using the rink before and after school as well as over the lunch hour recess time(11:30am-12:15pm). Here are the guidelines sent to us from Lynn O’Brien:

Guidelines for before or after school skating:

This is a community ice rink and will require community support and supervision to create a safe and cooperative skating environment. We have discussed with Washington parents and staff, as well as parents over at McKinley school where they have had a rink for a couple of years, and here are some of the guidelines we are suggesting that will help to accomplish this goal.
· Skaters are welcome both before and after school. However, there will be no staff supervision on the rink at these times. Skating is done at your own risk during these times and parents are advised to both supervise and encourage safe and sportsmanlike behavior on and off the ice.
· Open, free-style skating will be allowed before school and after school (until 5pm) to accommodate school students, younger children and families. We are asking that no hockey sticks or pucks be used on the ice during these times.
· After 5pm, if the rink is not occupied by free-style skaters, skaters are welcome to play hockey. If there are free-style skaters on the ice, please wait until they leave before you use your equipment. (There is good reason why hockey players wear heavy pads and helmets, it is a dangerous sport. We do not want to put non-hockey skaters at any risk.)
We are told that at McKinley, it has been the parents and the neighborhood members who have stepped up to both informally supervise the ice as well as encourage the kids in sportsmanlike etiquette. This rink provides a perfect opportunity for all of us to model and teach our children the rules for sharing a community asset like this rink. Please help us in that effort.