I’m kidding here, but I guess I didn’t know my own power. Less than two hours after I tweeted "Lots of obstacles around City Hall," we received a news release from City Hall with the headline "Alderman Wants City Hall Entrances, Sidewalks and Street Reopened."
Seems Downtown Ald. Robert J. Bauman will introduce a file next week asking for the immediate reopening of all City Hall entrances and sidewalks, as well as the northbound lanes of North Water Street, adjacent to City Hall.
Bauman, chair of the Common Council’s Public Works Committee, said today the closures -- spurred after a piece of terra cotta fell from the east side of the City Hall bell tower last Thursday are "totally unacceptable."
"Accessibility to City Hall for the public, emergency personnel and for city staff members is critical, and having only one open entrance (on North Market Street) is insufficient and unacceptable," he said, also noting that the closure of the East Wells Street entrance means handicapped access to the building has been eliminated.
The alderman said the Department of Public Works and the city should immediately remove temporary fencing erected to close the City Hall sidewalks along Water, Market and Wells Streets. He said protective scaffolding should then be installed for pedestrians, so the sidewalks and City Hall entrances on Wells and Water can be reopened.
It is tough to navigate around City Hall, especially with the new snow and continued construction at the Milwaukee Center. But, hey, it’s Downtown and with density and winter come challenges.
The snow and ice from the past few days, in my mind, have yielded the toughest driving and plowing challenges of the winter. It’s slippery out there, but crews are working hard and hopefully drivers are driving with caution.
Be careful out there, Milwaukee, and know that soon the barriers and snow will be gone. Think spring. Wait, then road construction season really begins. Oh well. Deal with it and have fun.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
