With all the media attention, all the talk of "police crackdowns" and the "reprioritizing of efforts" going into the downtown and Walker’s Point areas, it’s time the city take a look at another area that they’ve let deteriorate immensely over the last several years.
That area is the near west side, around what once used to be one of the most beautiful and thriving neighborhoods in the city: The Washington Heights. A neighborhood that says they’re "in the city and out of the ordinary" has become what is now all too common in forgotten portions of Milwaukee.
The meaningless slaying of Pam Roberts, bartender at Coop’s Tiny Tap on 55th and Vliet, should be a Starbucks double espresso served in a 7/11 Big Gulp-sized wakeup call for the areas local law enforcement that have been dropping the ball for years now.
Just ask all of the local baseball, softball, and kickball players who attempt to enjoy Wick Park in the summer, but dare not park or wander North of Vliet, due to the outrageous number of armed robberies, broken-into cars and general violence that greets them when they move a hair off the beaten path.
I understand that Pam Roberts may not be a ranking Miller Brewing executive, but does that mean that the clearly spreading violence in the area where her life was claimed is any less important?
Are the lives of the people from the area that she touched on a daily basis any less affected?
If the city doesn’t issue another such "crackdown" in the area, it would appear that’s the message they’re sending. If they need yet another wakeup call, maybe they can turn to the owner of Coop’s Tiny Tap, Amy Cooper, who has closed her bar permanently.
HELLO MILWAUKEE! Now you’re losing businesses in the areas which you’ve let spin out of control with crime and violence.
If the city, which operates a police station a mere seven blocks from where this incident took place, won’t do anything about the crime in this area now … I guess we’ll just have to wait until it creeps another 10 blocks west into Wauwatosa and the prestigious Washington Highlands, home to numerous high-ranking executives and upper echelon Milwaukeeans.
Maybe then, when the city again feels someone important has been taken, the rest of us can get some protection.
Andy Stanislaw is a resident of Wauwatosa. He is a software administrator for a local printing company is an amateur writer and blogger.
