One problem facing Brady Street property owners lately has been an escalation in the amount of graffiti in the area. Recently on the western end of Brady Street, the Pecoraro building and Bosley were tagged. The Pecoraro building was being painted at the time and the vandals were so bold as to use the painters’ scaffolding, so they could tag higher on the wall.

However there was some good news on the graffiti front as well. Teri Regano of Regano’s Roman Coin, whose building has been victimized by graffiti artists in the past, says MPD 5th District Officers Eric Draeger and Robakowski have been working on the case, and their hard work recently led to the arrest of some of the perpetrators. As Terri says, there is a trickle-down effect when these problems go unchecked. The criminals see that nothing is being done and the result is that they target the area even more. If you see someone spraying graffiti or vandalizing a building, please call the Milwaukee Police Department Graffiti Hotline at 286-8715.

A four-unit duplex in the 1100 block of East Hamilton, one block north of Brady Street, looks to be a total loss after a Christmas morning fire. The fire department responded quickly to rescue everyone, but could not save the building. One of the displaced residents of the building is Steve “Steve-O” Jennings, whom you may have seen performing frisbee tricks at Summerfest or biking around Brady Street with his dog running alongside.

According to Michael Horne of milwaukeeworld.com, Starbucks is looking at the laundromat site on the corner of Humboldt and Brady. That block has other vacancies, namely the old Tsunami Tattoo shop and the old Oxford Glass Studio.

Personally, I hope it doesn’t happen. A lot of people living in the area (like me) need laundromats more than we need a fourth coffee shop within a very small area, not to mention the direct competition with Anodyne just about a block away. I would hope there would be some resistance to such an idea.

The Astor Street Performing Arts Center continues its search for short films for the Mis-Directed Holiday Film Festival illustrating the commercialization of the holidays and to encourage filmmakers and songwriters to create short films and songs based on this theme. The competition wraps up with an award ceremony at The Times Cinema on March 25. Prizes of $200 will be awarded in various categories. For information, stop by or call Jim at Brady Street Pharmacy, 272-4384.

Speaking of the Astor Street Performing Arts Center, the Insurgent Theatre’s production of “Golden Apollo” continues through February 2 and 3. The play is about a 2000 year old woman who creates “the perfect man.” Tickets are $8, $6 for students.

Anomaly Design Shop hosted a grand opening celebration on Sunday January 21 with a party in their store at 814 E. Brady St. Carrie Kudronowicz, one of the shop’s owners, says the new store is doing well. Tamarack Community School, 1150 E. Brady St., is having an open house on Sunday, Jan. 27 from 1 to 4 pm. There will be tours and gingerbread-making. Learn more about Waldorf education.

For information contact Sarah Stokes at Tamarack, 277-0009

If you have a story idea for Brady Street Beat, call Tim at 374-7772.