Today, Mayor Tom Barrett, Common Council members and several business and community leaders gathered to unveil extension plans for the streetcar.
The announcement, hosted at Gee's Clippers, 2200 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., in Bronzeville, included information about proposed new routes for The Hop streetcar, which began service on its first line in November.
Most of the track has already been laid for the second line, which is planned to pass through the proposed Couture tower development on Lincoln Memorial Drive and was expected to open by the end of 2020. However, its future is intertwined with that of the Couture, for which ground has not yet been broken.
News reports earlier this year announced that the City will foot the bill itself for an extension of The Hop from its shed on 5th and Clybourn up to the Wisconsin Center convention center on Wisconsin Avenue and Vel R. Phillips Avenue in time for the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Today, Barrett announced that he's pushing for extensions up past the Fiserv Forum into Bronzeville, up to King Drive and North Avenue and another south on Milwaukee Street through the Third Ward and into the northern part of Walker's Point.
You can see details on the planned expansion and funding possibilities below.
Discussion of extensions into Bronzeville and Walker's Point has been underway since at least 2017. You can see the visuals of this plan below.
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.
