In a letter addressed to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Common Council President Willie Hines, the licensing division of the City Clerk's office, Department of City Development commissioner Rocky Marcoux and 14 city aldermen, the Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee Admirals and Marquette University voiced their object to a proposal to lease a space on 4th Street to a gentleman's club.
Here is the letter, in full:
As the primary tenants of the BMO Harris Bradley Center, we strongly object to the proposal to lease city-owned space located at 4th and Highland to the operators of a gentleman's club. They have applied for a license to permit "Adult Entertainment/Strippers/Erotic Dance" at that location.
Without a doubt the presence of a strip club will change the way our neighborhood is perceived and hurt our business.
As a year round entertainment venue in downtown Milwaukee, the BMO Harris Bradley Center is host to nearly 200 events and 1.5 million visitors each year. We do everything we can to attract our customers, many of them families with children, to downtown Milwaukee.
The main drop off site for our facility is located directly across from the proposed site in question. Many of our customers park nearby or live close enough to walk, and therefore would be involuntarily subjected to having to deal with a strip club's existence when they visit our home.
The very structure in which the strip club is proposed to be located serves as one of two primary parking structures for our events. Given the proximity to the BMO Harris Bradley Center of where the operators are attempting to place their club, we are deeply concerned about the impact such a location would have on our customers, sponsors and employees.
While we understand their desire to operate their business and the City's need to respond, we feel the City should do everything it can to create a safer, more inviting family-friendly district near the BMO Harris Bradley Center and not erode the strong sense of community and standing invitation we share with our fans, by even considering leasing a city owned space for this use.
That is why we are calling upon our city leaders to hear our concerns and take reasonable action that does not result in a strip club becoming part of the extended perimeter of our facility.
