Listen: For our fourth week of the 2010 Neighborhood Project, we head due west of Lindsay Heights, just over the Milwaukee border to East Tosa. From 60th to 76th Street and Vliet to Center Street, East Tosa is a community full of families, lifelong neighborhood residents, and eclectic businesses. This week we'll be having a little fun, hearing how East Tosa blends the old with the new and the urban with the suburban. Of the 11 neighborhoods we will have covered in the first 2 years of the neighborhood project, East Tosa is the only to lie outside of the Milwaukee proper. Our inclusion of a suburban neighborhood was no mistake -- our signal and listenership stretch far outside of Milwaukee's borders, and accordingly, I take this as a mandate to touch on the diversity of our entire region. So, without further ado, I invite you to enjoy the voices of East Tosa.
In discussing East Tosa with resident (and a member of the 88Nine-approved Buskers) Mike Phillips, with a sparkle in his eye, mentioned the neighborhood's has a passion for occasion-less get-togethers, which are often spur of the moment and totally unplanned. Sounds like a ton of fun, but from the perspective of a person who tries to capture sound, the spontaneity posed a challenge. Fortunately for me, chance conspired in my favor -- Mike was able to hook me into a backyard barbecue at his house where a number of neighborhood friends gathered for food, conversation, and unbeknownst to them, some good ol' neighborhood reflection. In this first piece, we hear a collage of personal "coming to East Tosa" stories:
As was evidenced by the kids running around all over the place, the East Tosa community is chock full of family:
Interested in learning more about East Tosa? The best place to start is their neighborhood website . And perhaps even better, get out to the neighborhood and check it out yourself !
"Princesses and S'mores -- how they do in East Tosa."