Monday, June 2, 2008

Tom Barrett and RiverSplash and a "Small Element"

Never fear. Mayor Tom Barrett has called a meeting.

And yes, he's angry.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said his office will meet this week with Ald. Bob Bauman, Police Department officials and RiverSplash organizers to discuss the Saturday night shooting incident at the downtown festival and what changes may be needed in the future.

"I'm always angry when I hear you've got a small element that can disrupt an otherwise great festival for people in Milwaukee," Barrett said this morning. "And that is exactly what happened here."

..."For the last 20 years, this has been a great festival downtown and for the entire community," said Barrett. "My hope and expectation will be it will continue to be a great festival."

He added: "My assurance is we'll do everything we can to have this festival and every other festival in this city safe and enjoyable."

"Small element."

Let's talk about the small element.

Let's be specific about this shadowy small element.

Let's not be vague.

Precisely, Mr. Mayor, who is this small element? Say it.

We know.

Unfortunately, Barrett and city officials seem intimidated by them. They seem afraid to call them out. The "small element" feeds off this fear.

Who caused the problems at RiverSplash?

We know.

6 comments:

Other Side said...

Come on, Mary. Go ahead and say who this small element was.

Be brave.

Mary said...

I'm looking for a display of bravery from Milwaukee's leaders.

I think this shooting could be the beginning of the end of the City of Festivals.

If Barrett has a spine, now would be the time to show it.

Jimi5150 said...

Belling talked about this on his show. He came right out and said it . . . the hip hop crowd. There's a good reason other festivals don't indulge it. Safety. It's too bad, and I hate to stereotype, but it's true. Summerfest tried it some years back. It failed. Miserably. Remember the gang assaults? I do. I was there.

It'd be one thing if this was an isolated incident that arose from nowhere. But from all descriptions, the area was ripe for just what happened. This "small element" was anything but. The mayor really needs to pop his head from his butt and grow a pair. I'm getting sick of Milwaukee's image being continuously tarnished.

Mary said...

The "small element" cannot be allowed to ruin the festivals in Milwaukee.

It's important for there to be adequate security. Moreover, festival organizers cannot provide entertainment that caters to members of the thug culture.

It's crazy to provide the sort of entertainment that attracts lawless, violent people.

Anonymous said...

It's clearly a combination of alcohol and hiphop gangs! Alcohol resulted in all the chaos. And, hiphop thugs know nothing better than shooting. I'm not really surprised.

Mary said...

It's not the alcohol. It's the thugs, though I agree that alcohol and gun-toting thugs are a dangerous mix.