Milwaukee’s finest corporate citizen, the Forest County Potawatomi Community, has again risen to the occasion and led the way in its continuing effort to make Milwaukee one of America’s greatest cities. In addition to the millions of dollars the Potawatomi have provided to nonprofit organizations in their efforts to build up our city, they have just pledged $10 million to the Milwaukee Streetcar project and agreed to pay for free street car rides for everyone for the first year.
In addition to the millions of dollars that the Potawatomi have already invested in their Milwaukee Casino, hotel and entertainment venues (creating nearly 3,000 jobs), they are planning a major expansion over the next year by building a second hotel. Milwaukee is Wisconsin’s most visited entertainment destination in part because of the Potawatomi’s casino and great music and entertainment venues.
We applaud the Potawatomi for being the first to step up on this major project for Milwaukee because, as with any new and innovative project, there are unfortunately always the naysayers. Leading the naysayers are some very negative, opportunistic aldermen who continue to attack the street car project either because they truly don’t understand that great cities need various amenities like the street car and other cultural institutions, or they just want to pander to the worst of their constituency, their angry Trump voter base.
Fortunately, there are forward-looking corporate leaders like the Potawatomi who understand the importance of additions to Milwaukee like the street car. Going forward, we expect to see other forward-looking corporate citizens also get behind the street car.
We applaud the Potawatomi and all of the future sponsors of the street car and other Milwaukee amenities.
