MILWAUKEE- Some bar and restaurant owners in downtown Milwaukee say they want the Milwaukee Bucks franchise to be held more accountable for the violence that broke out Friday night in which 21 people were shot.
“I feel like we’re just left with whatever the Bucks want to do,” Old German Beer Hall owner Hans Weissgerber III tells Wisconsin’s Morning News. “I don’t feel involved in it (what goes on there), we see the schedule, we see what’s going to be happening there.”
“The Bucks have largely washed their hands of this thing by saying this didn’t happen in the Deer District, it happened around the Deer District,” he added. “That’s not the standard that we as bar owners are held to. If something happens in our neighborhood we are blamed for it even if we keep those people outside of our bar.”
Weissgerber spoke with WTMJ on the heels of a press conference in which Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Police Chief Jeffrey Norman recommitted to enforcing a curfew for minors. The curfew states that anybody under 17, without parental guidance, be off the streets and out of public spaces by 10pm on weeknights and 11p on weekends.
The City also announced plans to relocate food trucks that park along Water Street and Old World 3rd in an effort to cut down on loitering. Weissberger says loitering has only recently become an issue.
“The loitering issue on Old World 3rd Street has generally only been a major issue during these watch parties,” Weissgerber said. “By having a free event that then has a limited occupancy at some point you’re giving people a license to loiter.”
He offered a few suggestions as to how he thinks the violence issues in Milwaukee can be, at least partially, solved. Weissgerber says he would like the Bucks to tack on an attendance fee or mandate some time of registration for attendees at playoff watch parties.
The Bucks did cancel their watch party that was scheduled for Sunday afternoon and team President Peter Feigin told our news partners at the Milwaukee Business Journal that the team will be working with the City and County to develop new public safety plans for their events.
Despite being down on the Bucks and the role he believes they played in the violence Friday night, Weissgerber says he believes the team & the Deer District has had a positive influence on the city.
“We’ve got some star players like Giannis & Jrue Holiday that have made Milwaukee their home and our out in our community and that’s great and it moves in the directions of solutions.”
