Milwaukee, WI
Deer District shows dire warnings about tearing down highways have fallen flat | Opinion
WisDOT is considering several options for I-794 that fall into three buckets: improve it, replace it or tear it down entirely.
Something about getting rid of interstate highways gets people talking
As the Wisconsin DOT evaluates options for repairing or razing I-794 downtown, it’s clear there is no shortage of strong feelings on its future.
There are a handful of topics you know will rile people up: abortion, gun control, and, if you live in Southeast Wisconsin, what to do with I-794.
If you’ve somehow managed to be in the dark on this debate, there is a question of what to do with the aging infrastructure of the I-794 lake interchange, which cuts through the heart of Milwaukee’s downtown. WisDOT is considering several options that fall into these three buckets: improve it, replace it or tear it down entirely.
Last week, a study was released to the public that gave a first look at where traffic would be diverted to if the mile stretch were to be torn down. While WisDOT has not made a decision yet, during a presentation last Tuesday, one of the project consultants noted that tearing down that mile stretch of 794 appears to be “the most feasible option”. If X/Twitter commentary and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Letters to the Editor on this topic are any indicators, tearing down the freeway will elate many while leaving plenty of people outraged.
But in order to gauge whether or not that outrage is justified, we should turn back the pages of Milwaukee history twenty years to the last time people were outraged about the removal of a mile stretch of road: Park East freeway.
One man, George Watts, was so angry about the potential of tearing it down that he first tried to recall Mayor John Norquist over it. When that didn’t work, he ran against Norquist and centered this issues in his campaign. In one of his letters to the editor to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he went so far to say that “taking away freeways like this would “give us the same despair that Third World countries have now.”
More perspectives on I-794 options:
7 reasons why: Removing I-794 would be a boon for downtown Milwaukee
Who wins from I-794 removal? Developers. Rest of us will be stuck in traffic.
Removing roads like I-794 can work: Just look at the Fiserv Forum.
794 removal would hurt Bay View. And revive the bridge to nowhere.
Looking around the Deer District today doesn’t quite paint the image of the despair of a developing country. In the four years I’ve lived in Milwaukee, I’m not sure I have gotten into a traffic jam once around the McKinley and Knapp intersection, except that one time Disney on Ice was at the Fiserv. It’s safe to say, no one misses the Park East Freeway.
As WisDOT continues to do their due diligence by developing alternative plans and producing more studies, they would be wise to also take history into account. This city has played almost this exact record before. As City of Milwaukee planner Peter Park has stated, historically, “every single time a freeway came down, a neighborhood got better and access got better.” For once, here’s hoping we let history repeat itself.
Kristin Brey is the “My Take” columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Police Department requested the public’s help to find 11-year-old Sir’Charles Bason, a critically missing boy who was last seen near Teutonia and Kiley at around 6:20 p.m. on Saturday, April 18.
Police described Bason as 4 feet, 5 inches tall with a slim build, brown eyes and black, low-cut hair. He was last seen wearing a gray jacket with green lines, dark-colored jeans, tan sandals and carrying gray Nike Jordan shoes.
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What you can do:
Anyone with information on Bason’s whereabouts is asked to call Milwaukee Police District 4 at 414-935-7242.
The Source: The Milwaukee Police Department released information.
MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee man, previously named one of Wisconsin’s Most Wanted, has been sentenced to prison for shooting and killing his cousin in 2020.
In court
What we know:
A Milwaukee County jury found 39-year-old Brandon Gladney guilty of first-degree reckless homicide and possession of a firm by a felon earlier this year.
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Judge Michelle Havas sentenced Gladney to 29 years in prison on Friday, April 17. He was granted credit for more than a year’s time served and further sentenced to 14 years of extended supervision.
Arrested in Arizona after years on the run, court records show Gladney has also been ordered to pay the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office more than $1,800 for extradition costs.
Homicide investigation
The backstory:
The shooting happened in May 2020. Investigators said Gladney was captured on video apparently arguing with the victim, his cousin, outside a Milwaukee convenience store near 21st and Meinecke.
“It’s all on video, and it’s devastating for that family,” the marshal on the case told FOX6 when Gladney was profiled on Wisconsin’s Most Wanted. “You have a family member that shot and killed another family member.”
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Prosecutors said Gladney walked away but then returned with a gun pointed directly at the victim and shot him. The victim died from his gunshot wounds at a nearby hospital. Multiple bullet casings were found at the scene.
Gladney went on the run for years. He was arrested in Arizona in January 2023, years after he was charged.
The Source: FOX6 News referenced information from the U.S. Marshals Service, Wisconsin Circuit Court and prior coverage.
Brice Turang slides to home plate to score during a game between the Miami Marlins and the Milwaukee Brewers on April 17. (Photo by Chris Arjoon/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MIAMI – Garrett Mitchell went 2 for 4 with three RBIs including a two-run double in the 10th inning and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Miami Marlins 7-5 on Friday night.
By the numbers:
Miami’s Calvin Faucher (1-2) entered a 4-all game in the 10th and walked Gary Sánchez with Brice Turang on second. Jake Bauers hit a single to load the bases.
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Luis Rengifo reached first on a throwing error by second baseman Xavier Edwards, allowing Turang to score. Mitchell followed with his double.
The Marlins scored one run in the bottom of the 10th when Jakob Marsee came home on Trevor Megill’s wild pitch. Megill settled in for his fourth save.
Coleman Crow, who made his debut on the mound for the Brewers, threw 77 pitches over 5 1/3 innings. He threw four strikeouts, gave up two earned runs and a walk.
The right-hander was 2-0 with a 4.07 ERA in two starts with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville. He missed part of the 2023 season and all of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
The Brewers scored three runs in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, Mitchell hit an RBI single, Bauers scored on a forceout at first and Rengifo scored on a throwing error by catcher Agustín Ramírez.
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Miami’s Otto Lopez hit a triple to center field in the fourth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Owen Caissie. Lopez hit a two-run homer in the sixth to pull Miami within 4-3 and Ramírez doubled in the eighth to tie the game at four.
Abner Uribe (1-0) earned his first win of the season, coming on in the ninth inning.
Marlins third baseman Graham Pauley left the game in the seventh inning with right oblique discomfort after spinning out of the way of a pitch.
What’s next:
The Brewers and Marlins continue their 3-game series on Saturday, with Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 4.36 ERA) taking the mound for Milwaukee and Sandy Alcantara (2-1, 2.67) for Miami.
The Source: The Associated Press provided this report.
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