A homeowner in Waukesha for 20 years, Steve is president of the Waukesha Dog Parks Organization and enjoys motorcycling, fishing and staying on top of politics.
If we are going to promote downtown and wish to keep buses with enough passengers to quell a taxpayer uprising, lets consider something that other cities are trying.
When I tossed my hat into the ring to fill the vacancy of resigning alderman Steve Panozzo, all the candidates had to give a dissertation on why they wanted to be the alderman. What the council wanted to hear was a Miss America type of baseball and apple pie speech. I should have stopped there, but I'm known to have my own opinions and to speak them.
One of the things that I said that I'd like to see are the buses having bike racks so a person could take the bus to where ever, downtown perhaps, and take their bike along for transportation once there. Shortly after I was given my hat back. If anyone thought that the idea had merit, I've not heard so.
You see, I used to spend a good amount of time in downtown Milwaukee. I don't anymore. The last few times that I did, however, I wished that I could have had a bicycle to get around to where I wanted to go. A small number of towns have tried to furnish bicycles either by rental or providing them free but painting they yellow so anyone seen outside of the area would be obvious.
I'm thinking that Waukesha should consider something like this. Close off the streets between St. Paul and Wisconsin and Barstow to where Main meets Wisconsin. Make it pedestrian and bicyclist only, other than deliveries. Enlarge a crosswalk from the Bus terminal so bikes, wheelchairs and personal scooters can freely cross St. Paul.
That, my friends, could bring a lot of outside people with money in their wallets to check out a downtown with something different to offer! A side trip up to Frame Park or down the Fox River would be frosting on the visit.
What do you think?
