Please read if planning on coming to Milwaukee

[VRodDrew]

I don't know if this was deliberate or not, but the City of Milwaukee has decided now is a good time to dig up about half the downtown area for major street and freeway reconstruction.

Especially hard hit is the area around the north end of Water Street. This is bad, because it is the heart of the city's "bar and entertainment" district. Not only are many surface streets blocked off, but freeway access to and from the downtown area is severely limited - they managed to completely remove the best freeway spur for those visiting the north part of the downtown area. Also, some of the best surface parking lots serving the Water Street area are virtually inaccessible to motorcycles - i.e. you have to bump over 6" curbs, and cross gravel strewn gullies to get to them. There is some street parking, but I'd imagine with half a million bikes in town, they'd be hard to find.

Other critical freeway and an off ramps are also closed, and there seems little chance they will be reopened in the next six weeks. Check your route before you take them, because many of them are very poorly marked, and the alleged "detours" are pretty much guaranteed to get newcomers lost. I'll keep you posted on this.

There are other parts of the city that aren't so hard hit. The south part of the city - known as "Walkers Point" seems to be in good shape. But for the most part, I'd advise against a plan that involves heavy visiting of the downtown area.

[wyodude]

Government in Action at its best

[dynarider96]

Thats whats great about being a local, we know all the shortcuts around that crap.

[jlbait]

Thanks for the warning!

[Lightnin]

Good warning though....i expected it. It's summer and orange barrels are a fixture in the summer in the midwest. Somehow I had a feeling the state DOT will do what they could to fuk with the event.

[VRodDrew]

I've heard from a couple of sources that the City is mad at Harley because the MoCo backed out of using a building in the area for their proposed Museum (it turned out that, because of extensive environmental cleanup required, it would have cost three times what Harley planned to use the building).

[dynarider96]

Originally posted by VRodDrew
I've heard from a couple of sources that the City is mad at Harley because the MoCo backed out of using a building in the area for their proposed Museum (it turned out that, because of extensive environmental cleanup required, it would have cost three times what Harley planned to use the building).

There may be some truth to that. Harleys original plans called for the museum & restaurant to be completed this year. Well they stalled & screwed around so much it wasnt funny. Then they told the city that the small extension of the expressway was basically cutting off their proposed location from the rest of downtown. This expressway wasnt really used all that much & didnt really serve a whole lot of use anyways so the city decided to tear it down. Now we have a hug pile of broken concrete & many millions of $$$ spent on removal & then Harley backs out.

Now they claim to be still interested & committed to the idea, but it was simply the cost involved in the renovation & upgrading of the proposed building that put a halt to things. Kinda sucks that you can have a Harley cafe in Vegas or New York, but in the city that they call home we have nothing. A museum would be a huge hit & I dont really know what the holdup is now.

[tomv]

Originally posted by VRodDrew
I've heard from a couple of sources that the City is mad at Harley because the MoCo backed out of using a building in the area for their proposed Museum

mad or not it isnt likely that the city would plan millions of dollars worth of road construction to spite the moco and kill off untold amounts of local business dollars in an area out of spite. probably just another case of sh!t happens and we're gonna be cralin around in it.
has anyone checked into proposed completion dates or possible improved accessibility during the event?
as far as being surprized goes we have a saying here that youve probably heard before. we have 2 seasons...winter and construction.

[VRodDrew]

I doubt seriously that the City did it for spite, but there sure doesn't seem to be much thought going into what goes on down there.

For those of you from out of state, Milwaukee's current mayor is leaving office under a Monica Lewinski-like cloud brought about by a sexual harassment suit. He has had a lot of high-flown ideas about the "new urbanism" etc. Basically this means he wanted to put in a light rail system, and was trying to encourage manufacturing companies to return to the central city area. For a variety of very good reasons, none of these were going to work. They can't even create an economically viable shopping mall in the downtown area; and the unemployment rate among African American men is a staggering 60% in the city. While this was going on they managed to spend half a billion dollars of taxpayer money building a ballpark where the grass doesn't grow, the team never wins, and the fans stay away in droves.

Milwaukee also has a cretin of a Police Chief who is suing the city for racial discrimination, pursues a "broken window" theory of law enforcement that has thrown harmless suburbanites in jail for trying to give away their basketball tickets, and has spent millions of dollars and thousands of man hours in a "warrantless search" program that has managed to turn up 12 firearms in six months. Oh, and we also had a County government that managed to award themselves millions of dollars (each) in pension bonuses at a time when property taxes are sky high and we have record deficits. They also spent another cool half billion building a Convention Center that has so far attracted mainly teachers and sci-fi geeks to hold their annual boondoggles there. Nothing against teachers, but they aren't exactly the sort of free-spending expense account weasels that keep the city's bars and restaurants profitable.

Throw in an another couple of billion for a "deep tunnel" water treatment system that has resulted in closed beaches, thousands sickened by e-coli poisoning, and a lakefront that frequently smells like the enlisted latrine of the Hammurabi division the morning after goat-kebab night; and you begin to understand why my opinion of Milwaukee's elected officals is not that great.

What has worked reaonably well is that there has been a lot of new condo and loft development near the downtown area, and over the last ten years the Water Street area has become somewhat of a hub for entertainment. Milwaukee also has been the recipient (private donations)of a fabulous addition to the Art Center (the Harley Exhibition will be there during the Celebration). Milwaukee also has been fortunate that a number of companies (Harley, NorthWestern Mutual, MGIC, and a few others) have been doing fairly well. The City did approach Harley about holding a Celebration every year, but Harley wisely resisted the call. Every five years seems about right.

[BobT]

That actually helps H-D. That makes the Summerfest grounds the place to be. No construction,ample parking, Just off the lake. No downtown detours. Come to the lakefront ! I can see it now.

[oldhippie]

What's the big deal?

Construction and corruption they go hand in hand everywhere.

[tomv]

were you just describing my city or yours?

[oldhippie]

All cities. I have worked for and around municipal government for 28 years. No matter how small or how large they just can't seen to get it right!!!