Violence Taking Over the Fun on Water Street

Water Street is a well-known area home to many bars including Red Rock Saloon, Dukes On Water, McGillycuddy’s Bar and Grill, Brothers Bar and Grill, Harp, Trinity and much more. With the recent lift on restrictions following the strike of COVID-19 in 2020, you can find any of these bars back up and running with lines of anxious college students ready to get their drink on. However, violence on Water Street is resulting in outbreaks of fighting, drinking on the street, reckless driving, use of illegal drugs and shootings. Order needs to be restored, and businesses who barely survived the pandemic need this chance to get back up and running. We the board collectively agree that the city needs to step up and make changes to stop the ongoing and worsening violence on Water Street.

Within the past two weekends there have been four shootings on Water, one of them fatal.  Many people are calling the area “club water” after seas of people have been seen swarming the streets. Others have referred to the area as a “warzone.” Being students in college, we all understand the need to let loose and go out for a night of fun, but that fun is being consistently ruined by crowds of rambunctious people who aren’t even going into the bars. We have friends who won’t go to Water Street at all in fear of being shot and one friend who is traumatized from witnessing a man being shot and killed.  Not to mention the affect this violence is having on businesses. When fights break out, they happen directly in front of these bars. Not only does this turn potential customers away, but also creates a scary situation for employees and those inside the bars. Some bar owners have reported seeing people nearly beat to death right in front of their entrances. Because of the uncontrollable chaos, bar owners have discussed the possibility of closing their bars earlier, but this isn’t fair to businesses who are just trying to make money and any customers who are just trying to have a fun night. At the end of the day, they don’t have the power to put a stop to these scary situations, but the city does.

The city could order more police officers to the area. You can always expect to see cops on the street on Friday and Saturday nights. But majority of the time they are stationed on a median at Water and Juneau streets. This is not being proactive enough to stop violence that is happening on the entire length of the street. Having cops walk through all areas of Water to put a stop to illegal acts and violence could help out businesses and prevent the harassment of potential customers. This also brings in the point that police should enforce city ordinances like public drinking, open drug use, though less of a problem, and loitering after three in the morning. After three is bar close and usually when most of the violence tends to break out. If police take effective steps to properly capture the boards beliefs and enforce these rules, it could help send a message that order needs to be resorted. However, this step needs to be taken with precaution. With the ongoing acts of police brutality happening all over the country, enforcing rules more strictly could create problems in which the police start misusing their power and that is something we cannot let happen.

Another idea we propose is incorporating the use of metal detectors at the entrances of bars. Since the fatal and non-fatal shootings, it is clear that guns are a problem. While there is no way to prevent guns from being brought on the streets, where most of the violence happens, metal detectors could prevent them from being brought inside bars. A big area where violence tends to break out on the street is by the Food Trucks. These trucks station themselves just off of Water and wait till bar close when swarms of drunk and hungry kids come running their way. It was first proposed that the Food Trucks be removed altogether, but again that would be unfair to a business that did nothing wrong. Instead, we propose that the Food Trucks move onto Water so they are spread out and not stationed in one clustered area away from the cop’s view.

Water Street isn’t what is used to be and is no longer known for the fun it once was. Instead, businesses are being compromised, customers are being scared away and people are dying. We need to put a stop to the unnecessary and out-of-control violence happening in downtown Milwaukee. It is up to the city to put these solutions into action and help prevent future violence from happening.