The George Washington statue has returned to Wisconsin Avenue near the campus of Marquette University. The 133 year-old monument had been removed for restoration, which involved removing layers of black corrosion and the repair of splitting bronze. Attorney Claude Krawczyk currently serves as the president of The Westown Association, which raised funds for the restoration effort. In total, the restoration project cost more than $100,000 to complete. Attorney Krawczyk had a special interest in the project, explaining “I can remember seeing [the statue] when I was a kid, it’s been there all my life. I think it’s an important memory for Milwaukee … an important symbol.” Read full story here.

Attorney Claude Krawczyk has been named to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Herbert J. Mueller Society.
The recognition society acknowledges the efforts of professional advisers who are committed to their clients, philanthropy and the community. Krawczyk is one of 12 new members this year to the society, which now includes more than 300 professional advisers.

The society is named in memory of Herbert Mueller, a local estate planning attorney who, through his quiet efforts, helped shape the Foundation into the strong, stable and successful organization it is today. By the time of his death in 2001 at age 91, Mueller had worked with his clients to start more than a dozen Foundation funds with gifts totaling nearly $50 million.

For more than a century, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation has helped individuals, families and organizations realize their philanthropic goals and make a difference in the community, during their lifetimes and for future generations. The Foundation consists of more than 1,200 individual charitable funds, each created by donors to serve the charitable causes of their choice. The Foundation deploys both human and financial resources to address the most critical needs of the community and ensure the vitality of the region. Established in 1915, the Foundation was one of the first community foundations in the world and is now among the largest.

Claude J. Krawczyk, president of the Westown Association Board of Directors, was quoted in the BizTimes discussing the refurbishing of the George Washington statue on West Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee.

As a  life-long resident of Milwaukee, Claude has volunteered for over 30 years, serving as an active volunteer, officer and board member for a number of non-profit organizations including: Westown, the Downtown Neighbors Association, In Tandem Theatre, Milwaukee Christian Center, Walker’s Point Development Corporation, Jackson Park Neighborhood Association, St. Josaphat Basilica Foundation and others. Check out the full article here for more details on the project and its significance.

In addition to practicing real estate, banking and transactional law for more than 27 years with O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong and Laing, Claude Krawczyk has also volunteered hundreds of hours each year to various community organizations and efforts. Over the past several years, Claude has led two successful community projects, the restoration of the Kosciuszko monument on 9th and Lincoln in Milwaukee and the purchase, improvement and move by the Milwaukee Christian Center to a new building at 14th and National in Milwaukee.  Claude is now being honored by two different organizations for his work on both of these projects. On September 23, 2013, the South Side Business Club will name Claude its “Person of the Year” and on November 3, 2013, Claude will be honored by the Polish American Congress-Wisconsin, which has named Claude the 2013 recipient of the Congressman Clement J. Zablocki Civic Achievement Award.

Congratulations Claude!

To learn more about  the Kosciuszko monument project, see: http://www.rkmmilwaukee.org/ and to find out more about the Milwaukee Christian Center, see: http://www.mccwi.org/.

The Christian Center will purchase the 25,000 square foot building from the Latino Community Center.

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Attorney Claude Krawczyk was the guest speaker on the “Business Solutions” program hosted by Diane Chamness” on Saturday May 21, 2011 on WISN 1130 AM radio. Claude discussed basic intellectual property issues to include trademark and copyright registration, patents and trade secrets. In case you missed it live, click here to listen to the full broadcast.

This past week, the City of Milwaukee completed its annual revaluation of all homes and business properties for real estate tax assessment purposes and reported a 2.4% cumulative drop in property values from 2009 to 2010. Other communities may be announcing annual revaluations for tax assessment purposes over the next few weeks or months.

Whether you own a property in Milwaukee or anywhere else in Wisconsin, your local assessor is required to determine the fair market value of your home as of January 1st, for purposes of your 2010 property tax bill, which won’t be sent out until December. With the recent slump in the real estate market, most properties should now be valued at a lower amount in 2010 than in prior years. If your property tax assessment has not changed or has increased in the last few years, you have the right to object to the valuation and seek an adjustment, which could result in lower property taxes in December.

If you have any questions regarding the assessment process, feel free to contact Claude Krawczyk.

OCHD’s Real Estate and Construction Practice Group found recent success in obtaining a reversal from the Court of Appeals relative to a real property tax assessed by the Village of Menomonee Falls against an 80-plus unit apartment complex owned by a client.

In an opinion released on May 2, 2007, the Court of Appeals District II reversed the decision of the Circuit Court for Waukesha County holding, among other things, that the Board of Review for the Village of Menomonee Falls failed to exercise proper judgment and failed to accept evidence of valuation submitted by the property owner as the “best information” available. See Opinion of Court of Appeals.

For further information or a consultation regarding your legal rights to object to and/or appeal a real property assessment on your residential or commercial property, please contact either Claude J. Krawczyk or John R. Schreiber of OCHD’s Real Estate and Construction Practice Group.