Milwaukee, WI
DOT adds concrete barriers to Holt Avenue park-and-ride lot
MILWAUKEE — The Wisconsin Department of Transportation added a new step to stop people from living at local park-and-ride lots.
The DOT added concrete barriers at the Holt Avenue lot along I-94.
“I mean first of all you don’t want to be out here. Now you’re feeling like you’re being closed in,” Tracy Bennett said.
Bennett lived in her car at the park-and-ride. She and her husband had nowhere to turn after being evicted in May, but stumbled upon the parking lot in July.
“This isn’t a joyride. This isn’t something we expected, we planned on. It’s not life. It’s not,” Bennett explained.
For months, TMJ4’s Megan Lee has covered the encampments. However, these concrete barriers are new.
People living in the parking lot said the barriers went up a few weeks ago.
When Lee asked the DOT about the barriers, she got this response:
Over the past several months, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) has notified individuals living at park and ride lots of the need to vacate. During this time, over 65 individuals have worked with Milwaukee County Housing Services staff to find safer and more suitable housing. Efforts to connect remaining individuals with available resources continue to be ongoing, and WisDOT has reconfigured the Holt Avenue Park and Ride lot with concrete barriers and fencing to maintain the progress seen in decreasing abandoned vehicles, long-term parking violations, and litter at the lot. Partnering agencies will continue to monitor park and ride lots and evaluate further actions to return park and ride lots to their intended use.
Bennett is worried she will have nowhere to go. She said, “ya know next week they’ll come and push them a little bit farther, come and push them a little bit farther until there’s no place to go.”
Lee asked Bennett if there was a lack of affordable housing in Milwaukee.
“I do. Perfect example. Perfect example right here,” she said.
Bennett is working to get assistance to move into a more stable living situation.
“You can only ask some people so many times for money, for help, for food. You can only ask so many times,” she said.
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