Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee

Reprise: East Side Reflections

In light of Tuesday's Aldermanic elections, it seems fitting to rerun this article now.  It had its origin in a letter to Ald. Michael D'Amato that I started but never finished (fancy that!).

For such a left-leaning area, it's hard to imagine a neighborhood with an uglier carbon footprint than Milwaukee's East Side.  Especially now that the academic year has begun, a parade of diesel-spouting buses—most half-empty—brings in students and faculty from outlying areas and shuttles them out again.  Day and night, almost as many Jimmy John's delivery cars (invariably beaters) screech up and down the streets, presumably bearing one overpriced sandwich each.  Why?  One possible answer: students have to park blocks away from where they live, so better to pay extra than to lose an hour making a food run. 

Here's what I propose: tear it all down and start over again.  Failing that, here are two things I believe desperately need to happen:

Reprise: Gas Prices and Specialty Coffee

Note: This was one of my very first posts, and may be worth a second look—for me, too.  It's kind of the thesis of this whole blog.  I'll be building on it within the next few days.

I will probably be purchasing Starbucks and/or Caribou stock in the near future. I signed up for Suze Orman's Save Yourself program--which is actually tied in with her book Women & Money, but there is nothing stopping men from signing up.  Though I don't think this will be a big money-maker, it seems only fitting for my first stock purchase to be that of a specialty coffee company. 

If I do opt for SBUX, I'll be hopelessly late to the party--and there's little reason for bullishness about any other coffee chain stock.  Here's why: gas prices.  When I researched Starbucks and Caribou stock, I noticed that they have actually followed a similar pattern over the past year.  Here's what the one-year graph looks like:

 

Now, here's what gas prices in my hometown of Milwaukee have looked like over the same time range:

Notice anything?  Both stocks took a dive in August, 2006--which is exactly when gas prices peaked that summer.  Furthermore, both have been trending way down this year while gas does the opposite.  Anecdotal evidence on message boards frequented by SBUX employees suggests that patrons are ordering smaller-sized drinks this summer, now that gas has gone up again.

Reprise: OnMilwaukee.com Article

Some of you may have found this blog by way of this OnMilwaukee.com article posted one month ago.  Since we've found many friends and readers since then, I thought I'd point out the article on its "anniversary" date to give those who are interested a chance to find out a little bit more about where I'm coming from.