As a passionate Downtown resident, I feel the constant need to move the neighborhood forward by providing ideas, input and implementing change.
Today, I provide two simple ideas in the form of gripes that will make our Downtown even better.
Read and react, please.
You must yield to pedestrians
If the light is green, watch the cross walk before you turn right. I see this all the time in Downtown Milwaukee. Cars zoom though green stoplights with no regard to pedestrians who have a walk sign. For our Downtown to continue to grow, its streets need to be pedestrian focused and this starts with drivers who use caution and care. And, people -- this isn't just turns on green, it's about red lights too. Stop, look and then turn. Left- and right-turns at signalized intersections have been found to be three to six times more hazardous to pedestrians mainly because drivers fail to observe or yield the right of way to pedestrians. Let's decrease this statistic.
Wells St., it's time to end your one-way existence
The City is once again moving forward in an attempt to complete the job it started several years ago, changing Wells Street -- along its entire stretch -- to a two-way street.
I believe the city has an obligation to finish what it started (it changed Wells west of 6th to two-way years ago) and to follow the Downtown Master Plan that states, "as many streets as possible be converted to two- way streets."
I also believe that one-way traffic is bad for business, bad for the Bradley Center and M&I Bank (way too confusing) and limiting for the views of The Pabst Theater and the new, taxpayer-funded City Hall renovation. Not to mention that a one-way Wells Street also will drastically limit access to the Bronze Fonz. Two-way streets work for Downtowns. Milwaukee needs to embrace them. It's time for Wells to go two-way. Learn more about one-way vs. two-way streets in this video:
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
