By Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer Published Oct 28, 2022 at 10:25 AM

This morning, County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman told me that he will announce the reopening this weekend of the 1905 Alfred Clas-designed Lake Park pedestrian bridge over Ravine Road today in his district newsletter.

But park users may have noticed that it was already open by yesterday, as evidenced in the photo above, posted to Facebook's East Side Neighborhood group by Daniel Osborne.

Wasserman adds that Ravine Road remains closed for the time being, but, "Everyone who visits Lake Park will once again be able to cross the bridge and enjoy its spectacular beauty."

As I wrote in a recent update, the pedestrian bridge and Ravine Road below it were closed in 2014 after inspectors discovered cracks in the concrete span and soil erosion around the bridge’s supports. The bridge was later reopened to foot traffic, it was then fenced off again in 2016 while the County looked at options, including repairing and replacing the bridge.

In September 2020 the City of Milwaukee’s Historic Preservation Commission approved plans to restore the 1905 Alfred Clas-designed span, and work began in 2021 thanks to a $2 million state grant.

Wasserman says there will be an official grand opening to come.

"My office, the County Parks Department and Lake Park Friends are putting together a big reopening ceremony that will be held on Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. and will include a ribbon cutting, speeches, entertainment and delicious catering provided by Lake Park Bistro."

Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.

He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.

With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.

He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.

In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.

He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.