Giving kids the key to the city

Most parents are nervous about handing over the car keys to their high-school-aged drivers, but last week Port Washington Mayor Ted Neitzke handed the key to the city to a group of Port High students and Principal Rachel Biertzer without a second thought.

Neitzke, a Port High alumnus who closes every meeting with “Go Pirates,” noted he awarded the key to the high school staff and students for their community leadership.

The school, he noted, has offered “opportunities for young men and women in high school to serve the community through volunteerism,” which not only instills a sense of community pride but also helps the students develop leadership skills “that will serve the community for generations.”

He talked, too, about coming to City Hall as a student during Youth in Government Day when the then-mayor would “point his little cigarette and say, ‘Remember, you benefit from this community so you owe it to this community to serve this community.’ I’ve never forgotten that.

“Go off and do amazing things and be a Pirate forever and don’t be afraid to come back here and reinvest in this community.”

Biertzer told aldermen that she was honored to accept the key with the students.

“It’s an honor to be the principal, but I’d rather be standing behind them because it’s really about the great kids we have. I have the humble honor to be with them every day,” she said, adding the staff is proud to “nurture the best resource in our town, the kids.”

The key to the city was one of four handed out by Neitzke during the Nov. 21 Common Council meeting during what the mayor said he hopes will become a new tradition in the community recognizing “the different people who do so much for our city.”

Neitzke declared November a month of gratitude, noting it opens with Veterans Day and concludes with Thanksgiving and, now, the presentation of the keys to the city.

Other keys were presented to:

• The Schowalter family, which has owned and operated Port Washington State Bank for 124 years, was presented a key for philanthropy.

“I’m not sure if there is another family or business that has given as much over the decades,” Neitzke said. “Almost everything that goes on in the City of Port Washington is touched by your philanthropy.”

It’s not just financial support that the Schowalters provide, Neitzke said, recalling Mark Schowalter’s years as a Big Brother to a young man named Henry.

Schowalter, vice chairman of the bank’s board of directors, is also involved in the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign and took the opportunity to lobby for volunteer bell ringers as he spoke to aldermen.

His brother Steve, the bank’s CEO, said that the family prefers to support the community behind the scenes but is honored to receive the award.

“We couldn’t do it without the help of 140 employees and staff,” he said, many of whom are Port residents. “We keep looking for ideas to give back.”

• The Fish Day organizing committee got a key because it “saved Port Washington’s favorite tradition,” Neitzke said, adding the committee demonstrated leadership and tenacity in the process.

“You not only saved a decades long tradition but innovated it, expanded it, and made it better,” Neitzke said, and in the process ensured the “tradition will endure.”

Andy Hill, one of the organizers, noted that it took hundreds of volunteers who came together to not just put on a festival but support the many civic groups that raise much of the money they give back to the community during the event.

“It is our goal to make Fish Day 2024 even better,” he said, adding volunteers are always needed.

• Port Main Street Inc., which Neitzke said was the nonprofit service organization of the year, noting its role in improving downtown, beautifying the area, supporting the arts and creating activities that draw the community and visitors to the central district.

“Kristina (Tadeo, executive director), your leadership in the last few years has really elevated our downtown, our main street” he said. “Your leadership, your team’s leadership, is something we really, really trust.”