MILWAUKEE – Brady St. may look a little different if the Brady Street Business Improvement District has their way.
The group is looking to eliminate driving to make Brady St. pedestrian-only after recent crime including the hit-and-run attack that killed a man walking across the street as well as the shooting that left 4 people injured.
According to a press release sent out, BID voted Wednesday to move forward with a study “to look at options” for pedestrianizing the street. Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Senator Jonathan Brostoff support the study.
I strolled down Brady St. Friday morning going from business to business trying to gauge their perspective on the idea. Many chose to remain anonymous but gave interesting thoughts. A good number of the managers/store clerks I spoke with feel pedestrianization would literally drive away customers.
An anonymous store manager says it would be a “disaster” if the street nixed cars “because where do people park?”
Another manager at a different business says the move would “cause chaos” and would “force people to alter their driving routes which is time consuming.”
A bar worker asks, “Why not just add speed bumps?”
On the other hand, a store clerk who asked to not be named says she loves the idea “because it’ll make this street safer.”
“This ain’t no joke,” she says. “People are getting shot and ran over over here; something has to change.”
Local resident Alexandra Freeland says she’s “excited” at the prospect of Brady altering its travel capabilities.
“The issues that we have are constant,” she says. “Everybody [is] driving around here crazy. They don’t care about the people walking this city.”
