Downtown Milwaukee restaurant owner Omar Shaikh envisioned overflowing crowds, packed dining rooms and a big payday when the Democratic National Convention came to town.
I strongly suspect that, much like the over-hyped benefits of hosting the Olympics, convention cities do not experience any lasting economic benefits, no matter what the people in the tourist/entertainment sector who are most likely to benefit from a week of lavish spending might like to claim.
Downtown Milwaukee restaurant owner Omar Shaikh envisioned overflowing crowds, packed emergency rooms and a big bump in hospitalizations after the Democratic National Convention came to town.
Fixed it for him.
Sure, the loss of expected income is a disappointment; but, is this really what he wants for his payday?
The convention was going to be Milwaukee’s big chance to remind the rest of America that it still exists.
https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5629167&page=1
I guess all the sex-workers are going to have to arrange Zoom-sex with the attendees.
Towns like Milwaukee land the political conventions because the bigger city convention bureaus make sure of it. Political business has small impact, big chaos, and skips town on its bills.
There was never going to be the bump the locals thought would happen.
I had the opportunity to be a national delegate. As a national delegate, I was told to budget $4,000 - $6,000 for the experience.
My state delegation (TN) was staying at the CHICAGO Airport Hilton, (at our expense) - no being intelligent and staying at a Motel 6 for delegates, because grifters gotta grift, republican or Democrat. We were not the only delegation staying in Chicago. For all I know, we could have been running a shadow convention in Chicago - I never could get an answer as to where the state “leadership” was staying.
We would have taken a charter bus from TN (that the delegates pay for) to the Chicago Airport Hilton. To get your daily credentials, you had to be at the Chicago Hilton for breakfast. No leaving the reservation on your own. We would then be bused to the convention (90 minutes). After the business was done for the day, we would be bused back to Chicago (90 minutes).
Milwaukee would have only seen us for lunch.
I never could get an answer to where the state “leadership” was staying. The goal appears to be Kabuki theater - the state “leadership” was hell-bent that any mingling with other states would be carefully controlled, if allowed at all - don’t want those pesky delegates making decisions or have any influence on the convention (or the Democratic Party, apparently).
The TN “leadership” had no plan going forward on how to influence the party, and apparently no interest in finding common cause on goals with other state delegations.
BTW, shit like this is precisely why I have a hard time trusting the Democratic Party leadership. The apparatchiks are comfortable win or lose, and they definitely don’t want the boat rocked.
Gosh, it’s almost as if this viral epidemic was not conducive to economic activity.
I didn’t get the impression that he blames dems for not having a normal convention, but maybe other articles say he does.
I see that DT has some rallies planned in Wisconsin for “Neener, neener” purposes. Is there a pool somewhere on which former republican prez candidates attend and die from these?
“Not enough.”
The influx of money would’ve been really nice, but Joe Biden as POTUS would be a much better present for Milwaukee and Wisconsin, thank you very much!
On Wisconsin!
John Gurda is spot-on. Milwaukee would have been an absolute delight. Fond memories of having twice lived there as an adult. A totally underrated city. No wishes here for spreading the disease, just disappointment for the loss to the community. At least the DNC had the foresight to cancel early their in-person conventioneering.
As somebody who grew up in Milwaukee and now lives in Chicago, I have a few problems with your comments.
To begin with Trumpence-demic traffic it is at most a 60 minute drive from O’Hare to downtown Milwaukee. I know because over the last 60 years I have done it about 1,000 times in not rush hour traffic and except for being a little boring, its not bad. That is with Milwaukee’s limited hotels, it makes sense for many people to stay on the Northwest Side of Chicago, a one hour’s drive from downtown Milwaukee.
But your comments on the State leadership, especially fear of talking to other delegates and thereby being influenced by other Democrats is similar to my own experiences.
What the article fails to mention is that Milwaukee has suffered under Republican Policies beginning with Ronald Reagan. Below is a false statement from the article.
“An Upper Midwest city that suffered during a decline in manufacturing that began in the late 1970s,”
Milwaukee did not start seeing a serious decline until 1981 with the election and policies of Ronald Reagan. In 1981 when Reagan took office 75% of Milwaukee citizens worked in manufacturing related jobs. In 1987 it was down to 25% or thanks to Reagan selling out manufacturing half of all Milwaukee had to change jobs and in most cases this meant taking a job with less pay.
I remember this well because in the summer of 1978 I had a summer job working for the Milwaukee Road. I did not want to leave the job as it paid very well but my mother, pulling out all the stops a mother can do to manipulate her kid, got me to go back to college and finish my degree. It was the best thing my mother ever did for me because when I graduated in 1981, all the friends I made working had lost their jobs as the Milwaukee Road like most other manufacturing had, thanks to Reagan, been moved elsewhere.
So your comment that the best thing for Milwaukee is a Biden presidency really nails it.
A gut punch is when someone swifter than you hits you in the abdomen, causing pain, perhaps knocking the wind out of you so you find breathing difficult, and maybe causing you to lose a fight and some self respect.
Not having a convention in your city so your restaurant doesn’t make money this year is one of those things happening to every other businessman in the country and you can still walk around with your head held up and maybe have a functioning economy next year.
see also: football stadiums built at public expense, yet little extra income is realized in the surrounding area.
I haven’t been back to Milwaukee in years, decades. What a beautiful shoreline! I remember when there were dead fish floating ashore and the lake smelled like crap. Glad they’ve cleaned it up.
I can’t say for certain what Democratic conventions are like, but I know from first-hand experience that in the cities where Republicans hold their conventions the working-class folks don’t even get any temporary benefits.
I was still going to college in 1980 and working as a cocktail waitress at the Westin Hotel in Detroit – the year the Republicans came to town to nominate Ronald Reagan. We were used to waiting on conventioneers from all sorts of industries. They’d arrive at the end of a long day, drink heavily and tip generously. Republicans also arrived late and drank heavily, but most of them barely tipped at all. And the volume of elephant accessories was gag-inducing! Ties with elephants, hats with elephants, necklaces with elephants, lapel pins, earrings, you name it … elephants! I can still picture the bartender with his hand on his zipper and the pockets of his trousers pulled out trying to coax the waitresses to come behind the bar. “C’mere, baby, lemme show you my trunk!” At the time, we thought it was hilarious. Today, the poor guy’d probably get fired for it. 
I have never driven from Chicago to Milwaukee - we were told that it was a 90 minute drive.
If Milwaukee doesn’t have the hotel space - it should have never been chosen as a site.
AFA our state “leadership”. We have lost TN because the “leadership” couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse. The TN party is structured as a “good ol’ boys” club. Everything is designed to isolate the state “leadership” from the rank and file rabble. There is no accountability at any level.