Milwaukee, WI

Foreclosures are in the news on a near-weekly business in Milwaukee. Lenders are foreclosing on mortgages at a record rate, due in no small part to the adjustable rate mortgages that were ubiquitous a few years ago. So many foreclosures means a glut of properties available at foreclosure sales, something which can be very tempting for investors or others just hoping to make a buck in the real estate market. Today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel featured a primer on foreclosures aimed at helping purchasers at sheriff’s sales make informed decisions when purchasing foreclosed properties.

The problem? The Journal Sentinel got nearly everything wrong.

A bank foreclosure can occur when mortgage payments are unpaid for six months in an owner-occupied home, or unpaid for three months for a rental property.

Not true. The bank can foreclose for a number of reasons, including missed payments or a failure to pay real estate taxes. There is no requirement that a lender wait for six missed payments before commencing a foreclosure action. However, after the entry of judgment in a foreclosure action, the owner has six months to refinance, sell the property, or work out a deal with their lender before the property can be sold at sheriff’s sale. That period is shortened to three months on non-owner occupied properties, such as rental properties.

At the sale, buyers must have 10% of the sale price - cashier’s check or cash - and proof that they can get a mortgage before their bids are accepted.

That’s just not true. There simply is no requirement that a buyer show proof they can get a mortgage.

Within a week or two of the sale, a judge must approve the sale before it becomes final. At any point before the judge approves the sale, the owner can stop the sale by paying the missed mortgage payments and costs.

Again, not true. The owner can redeem the property before the court approves the sale by paying the total amount of the mortgage - including costs of the foreclosure action. There is no requirement that a lender simply accept the missed mortgaged payments and costs, and many lenders won’t accept missed payments after a default.

Making money by purchasing foreclosed properties is a tempting prospect. In light of that, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s article full of misinformation is downright irresponsible. The errors are so glaring, so fundamental, that I expect corrections to be published shortly.

Foreclosure, mortgage

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Foreclosure, mortgage

We’ve had more snow this December than most years, and as though the shoveling, the slippery walks, and the lousy plowing weren’t enough, the Journal Sentinel has reported that 13,281 have been issued in the City thus far for snow-related parking violations.

Further, over 130 vehicles were towed over the weekend.

Each of these tickets and tows generates some revenue for the City. Perhaps some of that money can be spent on better plowing. While the initial hubbub over the City’s lousy plowing has died down, I can say personally that my street in Bay View only received a cursory brush by a plow, and a significant amount of snow and ice still remain.

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On this morning’s Kramp & Adler radio show on FM102.1 there was some discussion about the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel cutting a deal with all of the local Starbucks coffee shops to make the JS and the Journal-Sentinel’s free weekly paper, MKE, the only papers available at Starbucks. It looks like they were about half right.

It began with some ads running in MKE proclaiming that they were the exclusive provider of free papers at Starbucks. Not surprisingly, the Shepherd Express caught wind of this and took care of business. From this week’s Shepherd Express:

“Based on limited space in our newspaper racks, Milwaukee-area Starbucks stores will continue to carry the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and MKE newspapers. Individual Starbucks stores will continue to have the option to carry Shepherd Express newspapers based on available space. The decision as to whether a particular Starbucks carries the Shepherd will be at the discretion of each individual store manager.”

Good for you, Shepherd Express. Let’s hope the store managers know that they can carry the Shep.

Apparently a similar situation has been brewing in Portland, Oregon with the Wilamette Week.

And to editorialize a bit: Hey, Milwaukee. We are home of Alterra and Stone Creek Coffee. Why on earth are you even going to Starbucks?

Tuesday night, November 6, 2007 two Milwaukee police officers were shot near S. 14th St. and W. Greenfield Ave. These shooting were part of a series of shootings in Milwaukee Tuesday. Officers near S. 14th Street were conducting a drug investigation when shots were fired. The officers called for backup, and it was these responding officers that were fired on.

The victims were a 31-year-old officer a 26-year-old officer. Their names have not been released at this time. Their injuries are not believed to be life threatening, and only the 26 year old officer remains hospitalized at this time.

Shots were also fired near 12th and W. Madison, although it is uncertain whether the two shooting incidents are related. There is an ongoing investigation as to whether these shooting were gang-related.

Two bullet holes visible from Eddy’s Convenience Store.

Maybe this is a problem that plagues every big city, but doesn’t it seem like Milwaukee gets more than its fair share of bad cops? While no one can touch LAPD’s notoriety, Milwaukee certainly makes the headlines more than it should.

Today’s “bad cop” story involves a Sgt. Jason Mucha, and the allegations are downright frightening. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is investigating allegations that Sgt. Mucha beat suspects and planted drugs on them during arrests he made between 2003 and 2006. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel takes credit for playing a role in drawing attention to Mucha’s misconduct when it revealed that Milwaukee’s police department has no real way of tracking police misconduct claims. It turns out that Mucha had been accused of planting drugs or beating suspects in at least ten unrelated cases. That was enough to get an investigation rolling.

Jason Mucha’s Mugshot:

If the allegations are proven to be true, Mucha will be just another bad cop in a long line of bad cops in Milwaukee. It wasn’t that long ago that we were hearing about the group of rogue Milwaukee police officers who referred to themselves as the “Punishers,” after the comic book character with the same name. The Punishers had a reputation for brutalizing suspects, and appeared to play a role in the Frank Jude Jr. beating in 2004. In 2005, officer Steven Lelinski sexually assaulted a woman at her home and in front of her 18 month-old child. He was found guilty of second degree sexual assault after a jury trial earlier this year. These are just a few recent and particularly heinous examples, but there are many more.

It goes without saying that every incident of officer misconduct has a huge impact on the suspect or victim involved. But the misconduct goes well beyond those directly affected. What happens when the public perception of our police force falls so low that people see the police as little more than a band of thugs? What happens to their credibility in court? When does the public stop seeing this as just a few bad apples and begin thinking that the entire police force is a problem? Are we reaching approaching that point yet?

I love dumb criminal stories, and this one is so ridiculous that it sounds like something straight out of The Onion. But this isn’t satire, this is news straight from our northern neighbors in West Bend, Wisconsin.

On Sunday, October 28, 2007, Michael Rieger returned home from work to find a burglary in progress. He chased the intruder into the attached garage where Rieger grabbed him and held him in a bear hug while his wife dialed 911. The intruder struggled and Rieger’s grip slipped to the burglar’s legs. The burglar then wiggled himself free of his pants and shoes and ran.

Fortunately, those pants included enough items to identify the burglar as 18 year old Benjamin C. Hoppe, including a cell phone and a GPS system which may have been stolen from another home.

The pants also included, to quote the Journal Sentinel article, “a large quantity of fecal matter on the interior of the pants…on the threshold of the door, too. And on the porch.”

Apparently being caught scared the um, well, you know, out of him. What a crappy burglar.

Our justice system, flawed as it is, does a relatively decent job of keeping criminal behavior in check. But nothing, nothing in this world is as effective as good old-fashioned embarrassment and shame. And the publicity that Mr. Hoppe is receiving for his failed burglary attempt has to be a far bigger deterrent than any jail sentence.

So far, Mr. Hoppe has been charged with burglary, possession of a controlled substance, and receiving stolen property. His next court appearance will be on December 6, 2007. You can track the progress of his case on CCAP, Wisconsin’s Court Access program.

We’re no Florida, but we certainly get our share of weird news originating from this State.

A Town of Eagle man went on a binge at the Mukwanago Wal-Mart, drinking seven bottles of Jack Daniel’s Lynchburg Lemonade straight from the shelves in a span of about fifteen minutes. Although he initially denied the retail theft, Wal-Mart security cameras caught him on tape and he confessed. He later told police that he was a recovering alcoholic, and his actions that day broke a sixteen month dry spell. GMToday has the full story.

Seven drinks in fifteen minutes seems like an awful lot, but I’m a bit of an amateur when it comes to drinking. And who hasn’t wanted to crack open a cold one (or seven?) in Wal-Mart? I suspect it would greatly improve the overall shopping experience.

Freddie T. Dudley, an inmate at the Milwaukee County Community Correctional Center, has been charged with the murder of Douglas Mitchell on September 20, 2007. Dudley seemed to have a great alibi - he appeared to be in jail at the time of the murder. In reality, however, he has exposed a huge flaw - and giant danger - in the management of the facility’s work release program.

Dudley called in to the Correctional Center that day to advise that he was working late and would be checking back in after hours. He then had a friend sign him back in on the work release log, making it look like he returned to the Center earlier than he did.

Apparently, standard procedure allows an inmate to extend his work release hours with a simple telephone call. They are then required to bring in a letter from their employer after the fact.

But in this case, after the fact was too late - the crime had been committed.

In his confession, Dudley admitted that he did not even go to work that day. Instead he spent time at a hotel doing drugs. He and his friends then decided to rob Mitchell, and ultimately ended up shooting him. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has more details.

The Milwaukee Count Circuit Court Access program shows that Dudley has been charged with first degree reckless homicide and being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to court records, Dudley has a history of criminal behavior dating back to 1995.

Dudley described the practice of having his name forged in the work release log as “not uncommon.” Will that change now that this incredible flaw has been exposed? Work release is a serious matter - allowing criminals who are serving sentences to be on the streets for any reason is something that cannot be taken lightly for the very reasons that Dudley has illustrated.

Are we going to see some tighter restrictions on work release now? The coming weeks will be telling.

Milwaukee, prison, murder, crime

Driving along Wisconsin Ave. this morning, traffic slowed as the eyes of passerbys were struck by a wall of white shirts and posterboards circling the federal courthouse. As I approached, I made out written slogans like, “Honk if you support Gen. Vang Pao,” and “General Vang Pao is a hero, not a criminal.”

Car horns remained noticeably silent, although I suspect this is because most people outside of the US’s 500,000 Hmong inhabitants simply do not know who General Vang Pao is.

Vang Pao, born 1931, is a former Major General of the Royal Lao Army, and a respected leader in Hmong communities across the US. During the 1960s and 1970s, he led the Secret Army, an American-trained unit, against the North Vietnamese Army and Panther Lao until communists seized control of Laos in 1975. Since coming to the United States, Vang has been an influential force, fighting against human rights violations enacted by the current government of Laos.

As of June 4, 2007, Vang was arressted in California, along with nine others in various locations, on charges of “criminal conspiracy to acquire weapons for hostile activities in Laos.” According to prosecutors, Vang and his associates were attempting to obtain guns, explosives, and other weapons for an operation to send mercenaries to Vientiane, the Laotian capital.

It was only two months ago that controversy erupted in Madison over the naming of the new Vang Pao Elementary School. Although Vang has been awarded much praise for his military and communal leadership, he has frequently faced allegations of participating in the opium trade and other war crimes, including the unlawful execution of enemies and his own troops. Although these allegations have yet to be conclusively proven, they rightfully warranted re-examinations of the school’s name.

Whether you consider General Vang Pao a hero or a criminal, this could prove to be an important trial with regards to United States’ foreign policies, as well as our military’s history of providing training to non-US organizations.

According to a report on JSOnline.com, Villard Food and Liquor, at 5123 W. Villard Ave., was burglarized twice on Wednesday. During the first incident, a man pried open a plexiglass window to steal food an liquor, and for the second incident, lottery tickets.

The humorous flip-side to this story is that Milwaukee Police believe the two burglaries were performed by the same man, while wearing two different outfits. The man wore a red hoodie and jean shorts for the first trip, and green coat with dark pants for the next.

I can only wonder, was this his idea of an elaborate heist, or did he simply forget the lottery tickets on the first trip?

Remember the Park East project? Remember the mountains of crushed steel and bent rebar stretching from 43 to the East Side? I certainly do. Not only was the demolished highway the easiest way to drive home, but I had the unfortunate displeasure of working at a store smack dab in the epicenter of construction. Suffice to say, raises were not in the budget that year.

Over the past few years, both the East Side and downtown have grown by leaps and bounds. Go to where Humboldt meets the river, and the area is almost unrecognizable. Meanwhile, the Park East area sits quietly, patiently waiting for its numerous vacant lots to be filled. A few businesses and condos have slowly moved in, but it’s still far from being the busy downtown hub we were promised so many years ago.

Apparently I am not the only one to wonder what became of the Park East project. Last month, the Common Council made a 5-0 vote that forced Mayor Tom Barrett’s Department of City Development to examine proposals for financial assistance. I wish that I could say I am surprised, but it looks as though the examinations have done little but bring the Park East project to yet another frustrating standstill.

Barrett and city officials have agreed to give $8.8 million to begin housing and retail development for the North End. This is in addition to the $17 million already spent preparing the area for development. The cost for developer Richard Curto’s planned project is estimated to be $175 million. Even the downscaled version of the project would cost $41 million. Instead of diving in, the city has chosen to test the waters with minor developments first. Part of the problem to consider here is whether or not minor developments will be able to turn the profit needed to represent the area’s potential.

The main issue concerning city officials is whether or not the Park East area can be financially self-sustaining. Developers maintain that the opening of new hotels, residences, and businesses will provide more than enough sales and property taxes to offset the original costs. Still, the question remains as to whether other businesses, including those of the Grand Avenue Mall, can withstand the competition.

The sad truth is, many downtown businesses are already struggling to stay alive. I have seen this same scenario a decade earlier in Green Bay, at the site of Port Plaza Mall. The city largely ignored proposals to renovate the area, only to be left with a veritable ghost town shortly thereafter. Accept for a few popular nightclubs the downtown district is nearly vacant, and all the businesses have moved across the river to Ashwaubenon.

Cities are dynamic places that change over time. Just because an area is currently active, does not mean that it will be a few years from now. We have to admit that the downtown area is in drastic need of assistance, especially with the more accessible Bayshore Towne Center only ten minutes away. Continuing the Park East project could be just the solution to draw people in and remake the area into a bustling center of consumer activity.

A Cessna 550 Citation carrying six members of an organ procurement team from the University of Michigan crashed into Lake Michigan minutes after 4pm, Monday afternoon. The plane went down just east of McKinley Beach.

The team was bound for Ypsilanti, Michigan after procurring a donor organ in Milwaukee. Roughly 40 divers from the Coast Guard, Milwaukee Police, Fire, and Sheriff departments searched the waters tirelessly through the night for the plane’s wreckage and occupants.

Human remains have been located at the site, but sadly, there is little hope for finding survivors. U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Bruce Jones stated at a press conference, “We believe this to have been a non-survivable crash.”

The human remains have not yet been identified, but the University of Michigan has released the names of those aboard the plane.
- David Ashburn, M.D.
- Dennis Hoyes
- Richard Chenault II
- Richard Lepensee
- Martinus Spoor, M.D.
- Bill Serra

The identity of the organ recipient, as well as the donated organ, is being kept confidential by the University of Michigan Health System hospital. Although the consequences of this terrible tragedy certainly affect the patient, he/she is reportedly in stable condition in the hospital’s ICU.

Citizens finding debris are asked not to touch them, and to contact either the Coast Guard or Milwaukee Police Department.

Disgusting.

It’s the only word that seems to perfectly describe the tragic event that claimed the life of one person Monday night. At roughly 8:20 p.m., a 26 year old man was walking down N. 29th St. An SUV pulled up and as many as five assailants opened fire, but it wasn’t the young man’s life that was lost that night.

Shootings and drive-bys are nothing new to Milwaukee, especially for that particular neighborhood. In reality, they are almost regular occurrences, but reality hits so much harder when the only victim is a 4 year old girl named Jasmine Owens.

Mayor Tom Barrett said it best:

“A 4-year-old girl died last night. A 4-year-old girl was shot and killed last night in our city. … Some gutless thug decided he would solve his problem by shooting a 4-year-old girl. What a tough guy. He can brag about that to all of his buddies, that he took out a 4-year-old girl.”

What troubles me the most is not that these men set out to kill someone that night. It is the fact that they couldn’t be bothered to drive around the block one more time, or even wait until their target was another 10 steps forward. How anyone can hold so little value for the life of a child is utterly beyond my comprehension.

Some will say that Jasmine Owens was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. I dread to think that this type of violence has a right place or a right time.

Jasmine Owens