MILWAUKEE – It is an art piece meant for community interaction while highlighting the impact of reckless driving. But new questions are being raised about its cost.

“Oh honey, uh no, it’s too much,” said Margaret Sanders, a Milwaukee resident.

A Ford Ranger dressed in construction cones to highlight the dangers of reckless driving is certainly starting a conversation. 

“Maybe we are not able to affect the change of people doing the reckless driving. But we can make sure that the woman who has three kids and lives on 36th and Capitol can get home tonight,” said Sarah Davitt, Milwaukee Public Artist in Residence. 

It is called The Moving City – a mobile art piece that cost Milwaukee $88,000.

“The Mobile City,” tool to raise awareness about reckless driving in Milwaukee

“That’s just, woo, too much money. Too, too much,” Sanders said. 

“I think it looks really cool, but it really does nothing to resolve the problem; the reckless driving,” said Max, a Milwaukee resident. 

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At least one Milwaukee alderman agrees with that resident. 

“I’m just here to say it’s an irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars. $88,000 for something that’s temporary,” said Ald. Lamont Westmoreland. 

The project was launched from the Milwaukee Arts Board. However, Alderman Westmoreland questions the investment considering the city’s current financial challenges. 

“A lot of the funds that were used were unused funds. So then it raised the question, are they getting too much money in the budget?” Westmoreland said. “Another thing that I’m looking at doing is changing an ordinance which something like this would have to come before the council.”

FOX6 News reached out to the city’s arts board. In a written statement, Vice Chair Polly Morris said the art car is “one of the biggest wins of the program.” Morris said the city will take the truck to events for years to come. 

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FOX6 News also reached out to Alderwoman Milele Coggs, chair of the Arts Board, multiple times. We have not heard back.

September is here, meaning meteorological summer is officially over.

But, before we welcome cooler weather, colorful leaves and pumpkin spice, let’s recap this summer’s weather.

Summer in Milwaukee had average temperatures slightly above normal, with multiple periods of record-setting, well-above-normal temps driving up the overall average, the Milwaukee-Sullivan National Weather Service reported.

According to the NWS, this summer ― defined by the weather service as June 1 through Aug. 31 ― was Milwaukee’s 19th-warmest, per Weather Service data dating to the 1870s.

The summer’s three-month average temperature of 71.8 degrees was 0.7 degrees warmer than the 30-year climate normal. Milwaukee’s warmest summer ever was in 2012, when the three-month average temperature was 74.1 degrees. Five of the 10 warmest summers in the city’s history have occurred since 2010, according to NWS data.

How warm was summer 2024 in Milwaukee?

Though the summer’s average temperature wasn’t too far off normal, multiple periods of extreme heat set daily temperature records for Milwaukee.

The summer’s hottest recorded temperature in the city was 94 degrees, on June 17 and 18 and again on Aug. 26 and 27. This set Milwaukee’s June 17 record high and came close to the city’s Aug. 26 record high of 96 degrees, set in 1953.

Milwaukee also had three record-warm low temperatures this summer: 78 degrees on June 18 and Aug. 26 and 75 degrees on Aug. 27. Due to heat indices around 100 degrees, a heat advisory was issued in Milwaukee County on Aug. 26, and an excessive heat warning was in effect the next day.

June 2024 was Milwaukee’s eighth-warmest June on record, according to NWS data. The month’s average recorded temperature of 70.4 degrees was nearly 3 degrees warmer than the city’s 30-year normal. Meanwhile, this summer was only the 46th-warmest July on record, with average temps actually 0.8 below normal. According to an NWS Facebook post, this August had an average temp of 72.3 degrees, identical to the 30-year normal.

What does Milwaukee’s warm summer mean for this fall and winter?

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s long-range forecast, Wisconsin is expected to see above-normal temperatures this fall, with chances highest in the far-southeastern portion of the state, including the Milwaukee area.

By winter, a naturally occurring weather phenomenon known as La Niña is expected to bring a colder and snowier-than-normal winter to the northern U.S. La Niña is caused by the cooling of water temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean to below average for several months.

According to the NOAA, these cold waters in the Pacific push the polar jet stream northward. This often brings drought to the southern U.S. and heavy rains in the northwest and Canada. La Niña tends to produce colder winter temperatures in the northern U.S. and warmer temps in the south. It can also generate a more active hurricane season.

NOAA issued a La Niña watch in mid-June, predicting La Niña conditions to emerge between September and November and persist through the winter.

Last winter, Milwaukee and Wisconsin strongly experienced the effects of El Niño, the opposite of La Niña. During an El Niño year, warmer-than-average temperatures in the Pacific bring warmer, drier winter conditions to the northern U.S. Numerous local weather experts and meteorologists told the Journal Sentinel that El Niño was the main culprit behind Wisconsin’s record-setting warm winter.

More: This has been one of Milwaukee’s warmest and wettest summers. Here’s why

This game was epic beyond belief. And I had to miss it. I feel robbed.

But going into it I had very little inspiration to even bother watching the game. It’s been this way with this 2024 Cardinals team. At times it feels worth investing in, at times it doesn’t. It’s basically a coin toss. And when others are demonstrably better at this game this year, it becomes less and less important to tune in.

Well this was one for the ages, a pitcher’s duel for nine. And until it wasn’t. Luckily the cardinals came out on top of this arms race.

Helsley, Liberatore, and Goldschmidt were all heavy lifters for the Cardinals and willpowered their way to victory.

Paul Goldschmidt going three for five with a home run and three RBI. Burleson, Arenado, and Siani also chipped in. I think we would all like to see Siani as starting center fielder at this point. At least today anyway.

This game was 1-1 into extras and then 2-2 after 11. What a game! The Cardinals went ahead with a Goldschmidt hit but the game remained tied until the twelfth when the cardinals went ahead for the last time on a Siani single! Amazing.

The Cardinals won game two 7-4 in extras and will try to take the series at 6:40pm.