Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee food trucks will have to close earlier starting next month; here’s why
MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee food trucks will soon close earlier than they have been after the Common Council unanimously approved a plan this week to restrict late-night operating hours.
Local perspective:
Common Council members said the change came in response to safety concerns. The new rule, which takes effect on May 9, will require food trucks in the downtown area to close by 10 p.m. In other food truck zones, it’s now 11 p.m.
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The previous closing time for food trucks in the city was 1 a.m.
Food truck parked on Water Street
‘This is not fair’
What they’re saying:
On Saturday, the smell of burgers, brats and tacos lingered around the food trucks as busy cooks prepared tasty bites for hungry customers on Water Street.
“Everyone knows us here. A lot of support from students, from the community in this area,” said Abdallah Ismail, who owns the Fatty Patty food truck.
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Ismail said their peak hour is 10 p.m. Soon, they won’t be allowed to stay open at that time.
“If we close at 10, we lose everything,” said Ismail. “We have to close. That’s it. There’s no work anymore.”
Ismail said he and other food truck owners learned about the new rule from the news. He also said the city had reached out to them the first time they created restrictions for food trucks and outlined acceptable operating hours.
Abdallah Ismail, owner of Fatty Patty food truck
“This is not a fair decision, and at least they have to talk to us,” he said. “I’m a legit legal business – that I pay tax, that I have my permits, that I obey to all rules that the city has – so they should at least respect us.”
For now, the businesses parked along Water Street said they hope they can find a solution with Common Council members that works for everyone.
“I hope that they’re going to listen to us. If not, we want to see how we can solve it,” said Ismail.
In a statement, Ald. Robert Bauman said:
“The city and council followed all required procedures regarding posting and publishing notice of this legislation. Same process for all files that come before the council.
“There was a public hearing on this file before the Public Safety and Health Committee. There was public testimony in favor and against the file.
“The file passed the council unanimously and I understand it has been signed by the mayor.
“We are doing everything we can to quell the violence and disorder that has plagued the downtown entertainment districts. MPD and other stakeholders testified that food trucks were a contributing factor to this violence and disorder.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include Bauman’s statement.
The Source: FOX6 News reviewed the Common Council’s meeting and spoke to people on Water Street.
7 Brew to open three Milwaukee-area stands
7 Brew is expanding with three new coffee stands in the Milwaukee area, offering energy drinks, smoothies, and unique coffee options.
The rapidly growing coffee chain 7 Brew has opened a new location in Milwaukee, bringing the drive-thru beverage brand its first — but not last — spot in the city.
On Thursday, April 23, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the location, at 350 W. Layton Ave.
The business will celebrate its opening with a “Swag Day” T-shirt giveaway for customers who purchase a large drink on Saturday, May 2.
“Milwaukee is such a vibrant and welcoming city, and we couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it,” said Tommy Pennington, a local 7 Brew franchisee.
Other 7-Brew locations will open later this spring or summer at 3702 S. 27th St. in Milwaukee and 5265 N. Port Washington Road in Glendale. They’ll join 13 current Wisconsin locations, including in Brookfield and West Bend.
Founded in 2017, the company offers coffee, energy drinks, smoothies, sodas and teas on the menus at each location.
By 2023, 7 Brew opened more than 100 stands and, by 2025, the number of locations increased to 500.
Milwaukee Wave coach Marcio Leite on goalkeeper Jerry Perez’s offense
Milwaukee Wave Marcio Leite tells the origin story of the rookie goalkeepr who has become a serious scoring threat in the MASL.
After rallying to win its first two series in the MASL playoffs following losses in Game 1, the Milwaukee Wave will have an opportunity to do it one more time.
This time the championship is on the line.
The Wave scored seven unanswered goals – albeit three of them into an untended net in the final 78 seconds – in beating the short-handed San Diego Sockers 7-2 on April 24 at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California.
Midfielder Alex Sanchez scored what proved to be the winning goal midway through the third quarter when he booted the ball over the Sockers wall on a restart from the top of arc.
“I think just a change in attitude and mentality,” Wave goalkeeper Jerry Perez said in a television interview regarding the difference in Game 2 compared to the 5-4 loss in the series opener. “Them coming to our home and just taking over at our place, we wanted to do the same coming to theirs.
“The fans also, amazing atmosphere. That’s what a final’s all about.”
In advancing past the Empire Strykers and Baltimore Blast, the Wave had to win a 15-minute knockout game at home, but this time it is on the road and will have to prevail over a full 60 minutes April 27 on San Diego’s blue turf.
For Game 3, San Diego will get back three players who were out for disciplinary actions related to incidents two nights earlier in Milwaukee.
Sockers captain Cesar Cerda was given a red card after the game, resulting in an automatic one-game suspension, for kicking Wave defender Tony Walls in the groin. Midfielder Luiz Morales and forward Jesus Pacheco were suspended for their involvement in a clash with spectators at the UWM Panther Arena that followed Cerda’s kick and subsequent shoving between the teams. Additionally, Stefan Mijatovic was kicked out of the league for his role in the postgame skirmish with specators.
While the Wave escaped Game 1 with no players being punished, it did suffer a significant setback in warmups when Oscar Flores, the league’s newcomer of the year and Milwaukee’s playoff point-scoring leader, went down with a quadriceps injury.
The Sockers got goals from two unlikely sources, defenders Ben Ramin and Sean Callahan, in the second quarter. Ramin’s goal was his first of the season and Callahan’s his fifth.
But two of the Wave’s most familiar names knotted the score in a span of 30 seconds straddling halftime. Forty-two-year-old forward Ian Bennett took a cross off the wall and buried it with 20 seconds left in the first half, and 39-year-old Max Ferdinand scored a run down the right side just 10 seconds after the second-half kickoff.
Sanchez’s winner came 9:34 into the third quarter on a ball neatly tucked into the upper right corner. Wave rookie forward Lucas Nesthaus, a Pewaukee native who played for Marquette University in the fall, added insurance at 6:17 of the fourth on a breakaway with a bicycle kick assist from Cesar Correa.
Perez got plenty of help from the posts and crossbar in keeping San Diego off the board.
Then Javier Steinwascher scored a long roller after the Sockers had pulled Chris Toth for a sixth attacker, and Correa connected twice into the empty net.
The Wave will be chasing its eight title after most recently winning the MASL’s Ron Newman Cup in 2019. San Diego is trying to win it 17th championship across various indoor leagues, its third in the MASL and its first since 2022.
Take a tour of Milwaukee’s deep tunnel
Take a tour of Milwaukee’s deep tunnel. It was designed to capture and hold excess runoff and sewer water, thereby mitigating flooding.
About 2.7 billion gallons of untreated wastewater was discharged into local waterways and Lake Michigan, according to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
Last week’s torrents of rain pushed Milwaukee into its rainiest April on record. Upwards of 6.69 inches of rain fell in the Milwaukee area from April 12 to 16, according to the sewerage district’s rain gauges. Flood warnings remain more than a week later in a dozen counties.
The systemwide combined sewer overflow, initiated at 8:24 p.m. on Apr. 14, lasted about 114 hours. The wet weather also resulted in several sanitary sewer overflows in the sewerage district’s isolated-sewer system.
In a combined system, a single pipe carries both untreated wastewater and stormwater. It makes up 6% of the sewerage district’s service area, and is located entirely within the city of Milwaukee and the Village of Shorewood. In an isolated-system, sewage and stormwater flow through different pipes.
In both cases, an overflow can mean elevated bacteria from untreated wastewater in local waterways.
The estimated total volume was of the sanitary sewer overflows was 11.6 million gallons, impacting West Allis, Milwaukee, Bayside and River Hills. Specifically, these overflows occurred at:
- W. Grant Street and S. 77th Street in West Allis;
- S. 43rd Street and W. Lincoln Avenue in Milwaukee;
- S. 74th Street and West Oklahoma Avenue in Milwaukee;
- N. Broadmoor Road in Bayside;
- N. Lake Drive and East Ravine Lane in Bayside
- N. Range Line Road and Milwaukee River in River Hills; and
- N. River Road and W. Greentree Road in River Hills.
An in-plant spill also occurred at the Jones Island Water Reclamation facility as a result of the intense rainfall. However, the sewerage district said that Lake Michigan and local waterbodies were not impacted. Work on this spill is ongoing.
By federal law, the sewerage district is allowed six combined sewer overflows per year. Since 1994, it has captured and cleaned an average of 98.6% of wastewater.
Last year’s historic August flood event led to about 5.14 billion gallons of untreated wastewater being discharged into nearby waterways and Lake Michigan. It was the largest systemwide since the Deep Tunnel was built in 1993.
Since 1995, the sewerage district has invested more than $580 million in green infrastructure and flood management projects to improve the landscape’s ability to hold onto water, helping to avoid overflows.
Green infrastructure helps nature do its job by absorbing and storing rain and melting snow. It protects against flooding and excessive heat as well as improves air, soil and water quality, which can help the city better adapt to a changing climate.
Caitlin Looby covers the Great Lakes and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact: clooby@gannett.com. Follow her on social media @caitlooby.
Caitlin is an Outrider Fellow whose reporting also receives support from the Brico Fund, Fund for Lake Michigan, Barbara K. Frank, and individual contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
This fundraising effort is made possible through our partnership with Local Media Foundation, a verified 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (tax ID #36-4427750) and EnMotive Company, LLC, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co., Inc. USA TODAY Co., Inc. is the parent company of this publication.
The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is made possible through our partnership with Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association, and EnMotive, LLC, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co., Inc. USA TODAY Co., Inc. is the parent company of this publication.
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