If only the crime rate would decrease, Oakland Avenue would be great!!

It's getting old quick.

David Tatarowicz, the Shepard article quotes you saying that "the village has its priorities all wrong" when it comes to the North Oakland Ave development. Seeing that you are a long time active member of the community and have owned both commercial and residential property in the village and operated a small business in the village, what makes you make that statement? What do you feel the vilages priorities should be? What would be a better way to increase the tax base while branding the community as a desireable place to live? I am a recent college grad who purchased a single family home in the Kensington area, choosing to take on the Shorewood tax burden because of its housing price stability, beautiful parks, and the community culture accentuated by the sidewalk businesses on Oakland Ave. It's hard for me to see how bringing people with money in their pockets out on the sidewalks while increasing the village tax base is a priority failure.

I don't often agree with David, but as someone who lives in that Oakland/Kensington area, and knows and communicates with my neighbors, he is on the money in saying people that live in and around that development are not happy with it. Traffic is terrible, and while this article states that Camp and Village Pub draw an older, quieter crowd, Three Lions draws the Brady/Water st crowd who are loud and disrespectful, and the Pub owners could care less that there's 30 people screaming on their patio at 2am. The whole area is too congested and we will be moving away as soon as possible.

While I don't consider myself to be a big 'nightlife' person, I do like the idea of having local bars that I can walk to instead of driving.

Not sure if I agree that Camp draws an 'older, quieter crowd'. The couple of times I have been in there, it was very loud (music) and seemed to attract a wide range of ages.

@Shorewood Gen Y I agree with you on increasing the tax base in Shorewood. I just disagree that bars are the best way to do so. On Oakland Avenue in Shorewood, there was the Sommelier which closed, the predecessor to the Oakcrest which closed, the first alcohol incarnation of Thirst and Vine and I believe 2 or 3 more incarnations in that same location that all closed. The Village Inn closed before the British one that caught fire. In Whitefish Bay, we have seen the same kind of turnover, and Aliota's just reopened after closing.

Bars and restaurants normally have a limited shelf life, during which they are very popular, but then need to constantly reinvent themselves to find a new audience.

A place like the Village Pub is an exception first of all because of lack of competition for a long time, and also that they have built a community base with various softball leagues and other groups attending.

I am not against commercial development, per se, but for the Village to spend so much money on bars and restaurants is a very risky proposition.

Shorewood must have some commercial business which people want near where they live. But bars and restaurants are not the most stable of businesses, and when adding the parking and noise factors -- they are less appealing.

The biggest mis-conception is that commercial property is somehow better tax revenue than residential property, which is not true, They are both based upon market value only ! (continued)

Has anyone's real estate taxes gone down with the additional tax base of these new developments? I haven't seen any decreases.

One big obstacle to new young families moving in are the outrageous taxes and high home prices (for what you get). If Shorewood loses it's edge in schooling there will be no benefit for any families to locate here. It's all about the schools for most of those with children.

The bar thing is a touchy one. There's a reason why families pick Shorewood over the east side to live. From what I can see, almost all of these bars are located in buildings that previously existed and were paying real estate taxes regardless. It's not like the tax base has been expanded by the addition of them.

On another note, if you've decided to live on or a block away from Oakland, you must realize that it is a business district with business activity whatever it may be. It isn't the quietest area of the village.

How about an after bar restaurant to support all these bars? There's an idea for someone! Open until 4am?? Party on !!

If our federal gov't is any example, the more they take in the more they spend and get ourselves deeper in DEBT ..

The day I see Shorewood's taxes go down, I'll meet all of you over at the Village Pub and I'm buying !!

As a member of Three Lions Pub we are in a catch 22 situation here and the friends and locals who know us all know that:
We are absolutely committed to the area and the neighbors of Shorewood which we love and have done since the age of 18 when we moved here. We love this area so much we invested our own money, with no grants or city funding. We take pride in being truly integrated into the community and happily sponsor a number of local teams, make considerable donations to local schools, community boards, and charities. We were voted the "Most Family Friendly Restaurant on the North Shore" thanks to all you wonderful Patch readers. We love that our regulars truly represent the community demographics. And thanks to all your support you have allowed us to employ 29 staff and generate more tax revenue for the area. We will continue to ensure that we have staff by the door for every closing thanking people to be quiet as they leave. If any neighbors do have any concerns please please dont hesitate to contact us directly 414-763-6992, as we sincerely do care for our neighbors and the surrounding community. We also find a phone call to be much more efficient than a websites message board for communication.

Overall, more stores, bars, restaurants, etc .. Are good for a vibrant community. In the big scope of things, it's not like Shorewood even has a large number of bars.

My only criticism is, don't use taxpayer money to subsidize any of these places. I sure do miss the co-op book store!

It’s been mentioned a couple times here that the village has spent so much on these bars and restaurants. Does anyone know how much the village has spent specifically on restobars? There are comments reminding us of the high failure rate and negative externalities of restobars, but no propositions for other business that would fair better than the successful endeavors referenced in this article.
As a 20-something dual-income-no-kids-yet family looking to purchase a single family home in 2012, we had the choice to live anywhere in the greater MKE area. For the same price in another suburb we could have bought a newer and larger home on a larger plot of land, still with friendly neighbors, respectable schools and public safety. But we wouldn’t be able to commute swiftly to and from downtown during rush hour. Walk to a dog park, river park, beach, and restobar. And the homes would have less character. Shorewood is a one of a kind place.
The village has stable residential housing demand and a population of citizens who are educated, hard working, and care deeply about the community. Based on the village’s spending as a percentage of total property tax revenue, it’s clear that education, public safety, and its parks are top priorities. A few successful restobars make this place better, and this young family is happy to see the developments on Oakland enhance the vibrancy of Shorewood.

NaiveOne honestly ur name is perfect, because your Naive.... Honestly nothing happens in Shorewood let's get realistic here... If you look at the official 2011 budget for shorewood we have 19 count them 19 just normal police officers of which 13 of them are making over 110,000 a year with benefits, THAT IS RIDICULOUS. I would much rather drop maybe 9 of these police officers since we will still have a police chief, 2 LTs, 2 detectives, and 4 Stgs. So lets take a look at this equation we will still have a force of 19 with 9 officers 4 Stgs 2 dets and 2 LTs to cover a total area of 1.5sq miles....... I would much rather have this tax money going to the school for our kids! They make enough revenue off parking tickets and the lots plus if u look at the crime statistics from recent years yeah it's decreased but it was never really high, even compared to a suburban area as new Berlin.

Mike as I said I would truly love to talk to you face to face to fix your issues. Please contact me directly if you would like to solve any problems and we will do whatever we can to make this better. 414-763-6992. Lets meet Monday or Tuesday next week. David