West Side Stories

I don’t know about you, but I have reached the burnout stage of this election. If I never hear another commercial with the tagline: “I’m _______ and I approve this message,” then life would be pretty good.

There’s an excellent chance that I’m preaching to the choir here, right? And yet, somewhere, in some “war room,” there’s a strategist saying: “We need to make more robo calls!”

Is your answering machine filled with messages from both presidential campaigns? Ours would be except that the brilliant invention known as Caller ID has allowed me to intercept these calls and hang up on them before they get started.

Seriously, who is answering the calls that come from this phone number: 000-000-0000? And my favorite is when that number is paired with the name “O” above it. “Look honey! Oprah’s calling!”

I’m not sure who either campaign thinks they are reaching, but it’s nobody who has paid taxes in this decade. Maybe there’s some poor unsuspecting old school fellow (still watching TV with an analog signal no doubt) who picks up his rotary dial phone and is flattered that John McCain or Barack Obama took time from their campaign to call him.

Just because it’s so popular, we’ll call this guy Joe. Do you think at the end of that call, Joe tries to speak to the candidates and is offended that they ignore his questions and hang up on him? No, I don’t either. Joe doesn’t exist and you can’t help but wonder how much both campaigns would save themselves in dollars and us in annoyance if they suspended that campaign tactic.

Honestly, neither candidate will sway me with their attack ads, their scary mailers (which go right into my handy recycling bin) or their incessant calls. Unlike some of my friends and relatives, I’m not reading the endless stream of rumors about both candidates. I’m not parked in front of my TV watching The Situation Room. I’m on Facebook but I did not “become a fan” of either candidate. At cocktail parties I avoid any and all political discussions.

Yes, that’s right. THIS voter has gone rogue. I’m unreachable and I’m thinking for myself. You can try to throw your mud and your accusations and your frightening worst-case scenarios at me but it’s not going to stick. Somehow, some way, without any help from the mainstream or underground or digital media, I’m going to try and make a thoughtful, intelligent choice.

And then on November 4^th, I’m going to stand in line with my neighbors and do the most amazing thing. I’m going to vote. Join me, won’t you?

I need to vent. This is driving me NUTS. I think I’ve blogged about this at least once, no, actually twice! I would like to propose that we take back Halloween and put it back on October 31^st!

On the front page of WauwatosaNow.com, you will see this notice:

 This year, Halloween is on a Friday. What would be the harm in having citywide trick-or-treat from 5-8 pm on that day? Most neighborhood associations are doing it on Friday. Kids don’t have to worry about being out on a school night. Parents don’t either, for that matter.

I don’t know about everyone in Wauwatosa, but I have virtually NO trick-or-treaters during the Citywide session. I can understand doing the business trick-or-treat ahead of time, but can’t we just have all trick-or-treating on Halloween?!

In this day and age of “less is more,” seems like we should be looking at ways of spending fewer dollars on things like candy and costumes. With the potential for THREE Halloween celebrations in Tosa, that is difficult to do.

What do you think, readers? Are you confused by the multiple trick-or-treating dates? Do you just wish Halloween was on October 31^st?

What’s the secret to a successful mall? It’s simple – change or die.

When I first moved to Milwaukee, my husband and I lived just off of Brown Deer Road near Northridge Mall. Back then, 25 years ago, Northridge was THE mall. Everything in and around Northridge was thriving. We’d spend hours wandering the aisles of Northridge, window-shopping and just hanging out.

Because my first job was near Wauwatosa, we bought our first house in Milwaukee on the edge of Tosa. It was a tiny little starter home and on sunny days we’d take walks and gaze across Center Street and dream of the day we’d be able to afford a Tosa home. Eventually, our dream came true and we became true Tosans. And our new mall became Mayfair.

Back in the early ‘80s, Mayfair seemed like the quirkiest mall to me. There was an ice rink in the middle of it! How cool/weird is that?! It didn’t take long before I grew attached to Mayfair. We’d go to movies in the odd little theater in the East parking lot. We’d grab lunch at the cute little café in Marshall Field & Company.

I vividly remember a day in early 1986, standing and watching ice skaters while upstairs in the office building, my doctor was processing my first pregnancy test. That same year, they started making huge changes at Mayfair. They took out the ice rink and started building a second floor. I remember wandering the halls of Mayfair, in an around scaffolding, while I made my way to the Chocolate Factory for lunch. (Prior to the arrival of the food court.)

For many, many years, it seemed like Mayfair was on a steady diet of change. New retailers came and went. Our children have fond memories of the opening of The Disney Store on the first floor of Mayfair. They’d spend HOURS gazing at and sometimes climbing around the tower of stuffed animals in the back of the store. (That is when they weren’t begging for a new toy.) When we could lure the kids out of The Disney Store, my husband and I would drag them over to Scribner’s, where we’d buy books that came with ever-useful blue bookmarks.

To us, it almost seemed like Mayfair grew as our kids grew. When they were at just the right age to become regular movie-goers, the 18-screen theater opened. We were there on that opening weekend when they offered free movies (albeit older films) to show off the new screens. Back then, there was a dinner theater in the General Cinema Theater (now AMC) as well as birthday parties for kids.

Once the theater opened up, the mall began to group stores in the upper level based on demographics. On one end, they put Build-A-Bear and Gap Kids, on the other end, Spencer Gifts and American Eagle.

Soon there was a huge growth spurt that included Crate & Barrel, PF Changs, Maggiano’s and Cheesecake Factory. For several years, we came to expect something new every season.

Mayfair became THE mall in the Milwaukee area, while malls like Northridge, Southridge and Bayshore either folded or barely survived. Unfortunately, with success come challenges and Mayfair had its share of incidents and crime issues. But again, the mall responded in 2007 by instituting the Parental Guidance policy which seems to have been very successful.

With the exception of McCormick & Schmick’s restaurant and a few random retailers, Mayfair has been pretty quiet in the past year or so. Meanwhile, Bayshore and Brookfield Square have spent major dollars to attract shoppers to other sides of town.

Only time will tell if Mayfair and other malls will withstand the shaky economic times that have pinched everyone’s wallets. For 50 years, Mayfair has evolved and flourished. Now it’s up to us to decide if Wauwatosa’s largest taxpayer will be around for another 50 years. As Wauwatosa residents, we have a vested interest in Mayfair Mall.

So what do you think? Do you have any “Mayfair Memories” that you’d like to share? Do you like Mayfair or avoid it like the plague? What changes, if any, would you like to see at Mayfair?

Man, what a bummer. We Wisconsinites have just experienced the ultimate trifecta of sports downers – losses by the Badgers, Packers and, of course, the playoff loss by the Brewers. And, to add insult to injury, our local marathon was won by a guy from Illinois. Nothing like kicking us while we’re down.

Here in our household, we had the good (or bad) fortune to experience two of these maudlin moments – I was at the Brewer game Sunday with a friend and my husband was at the Packer game. Thanks to the wonders of text messaging, we were able to have a digital conversation that went something like this:

Me: Suppan just gave up a three-run homer in the third.

Him: The Packers can’t stop the Falcons.

Me: We’re losing 5-0.

Him: We’re losing 27-17.

Me:  It’s over here.

Him: Done here too.

Sigh. No joy in Mudville…or Milwaukee or Green Bay or Madison.

But I hate being a glass half-empty kind of girl. I need a positive thought or two upon which I can hang my hat. So here goes. My feeble attempt to blow sunshine into a room out of which all the happiness has been removed. My top ten reasons to still be happy about Wisconsin sports:

10. Ryan Braun is signed to a long-term contract.

9. The Bucks are still undefeated.

8. 186 Days till Opening Day.

7. The Brewers open at home against the Cubs, meaning there’s a good chance that for once, Miller Park will not be “Wrigley North.”

6. If you don’t have season tickets, this is an excellent time to get seats at a Packer game.

5. We won’t have that dilemma about whether to watch playoff baseball or our favorite TV shows.

4. Unlike other states, our legislators aren’t arguing the pros and cons of building a new stadium. Oh wait. I forgot about the Bradley Center.

3. It would be a stretch, but the Packers could still match last season’s record.

2. There’s no wait for tables at TGI Friday’s at Miller Park.

1. The Brewers won one more playoff games than the Cubs who were SWEPT. Ahhh….

What about you? What are you looking forward to in local sports?