Unfortunately, it has been brought to our attention that some individuals have chosen to use the announcement as a means of lodging complaints and personal attacks against me as a parent and professional based on allegations that are not only baseless and without merit, but also a gross misinterpretation of facts.

As I am certain these individuals have brought to your attention, there are allegations associated with events that are found on Wisconsin CCAP in my name. The events that are included within CCAP records related to the time where I purchased the home where the café will be housed as an in-rem, tax-based foreclosure back in 2012. The property was well known to my family as it formerly housed my grandparents store, but had been abandoned and in need of serious rehab work to bring it back to its former glory. The City of Milwaukee sold it to me as a "single family dwelling" when in fact, after the closing and purchase was completed, I found that the city had failed to disclose that it was instead a "commercial, mixed-use" property.

The scope of work and scope of project initially thought to have been under $40,000.00 or less ended up turning into what has amounted to over $100.000.00 in extensive rehab costs over the last 4 years. Instead of bringing legal action against the City of Milwaukee for misrepresentation of the sale, the city agreed to pay for all rehab permit costs, taxes for 3 years from 2013-2016, and allow my ex wife and I to not be burdened with the additional permit costs of converting the property back to a single family dwelling. However, due to the city reneging on their agreement, we are now forced to bring a Notice of Claim against the city for misrepresentation in order to recover the costs we have incurred. We currently have retained the services of a prominent law firm in Green Bay, WI to represent our interests in this matter.

The CCAP issues stemmed from building contractors that the city provided is information with for the scope of work, but ended up being delayed due to permit issues and approvals the city themselves caused delays and disruptions for. Also, we originally had the property listed for commercial purposes to be leased, and an individual by the name of "Ms. Dorn" had approached us to lease the space for conversion to a hair salon, all because her former building was under foreclosure. Instead of Ms. Dorn performing on the agreement, she chose to leave us at mid-planning point with build-out and breached our agreement. We chose not to pursue but she chose to pursue a small claims action for her $900.00 security deposit, which we were never aware of and became a default judgment, even though we had returned the security deposit back to her in cash.

Any other allegations, while unfortunate, are simply allegations. These allegations have neither been proven, nor have merit, and I have spent the last year and a half honorably defending myself through the proper judicial process. I as a parent and professional cannot speak to the smear campaign against me here in Milwaukee but it should not be used to diminish the importance or the efforts Nicole and I are doing for our community. There are always two sides to a story, and I have chosen over these last few years to simply remain silent about them until a time where my side can be expressed in the proper way. I would encourage you to not be swayed by allegations and disgruntled individuals, and to meet my ex wife and I first and then reach your own conclusions. We are like any other set of parents, imperfect in our own unique way, but certainly not "criminals, fraudsters, cheats, or thieves" as these individuals who have nothing better to do than to use our initiatives as a means to further their attempts to smear our good names wish to do.

I always tell our children that it speaks more to someone's character that they speak ill of someone than the individual who may feel the need to defend themselves from these types of folks. Nicole and I are neither hiding from our community, nor the allegations against me, however they hold no place in our world as far as our café, its importance and significance, or our efforts. We have received an enormous amount of support and beautiful words of encouragement, more so than the negative posts and whatever else has reached you by way of email or personal opinions for the negative.

Many blessings,

- Nic