Westmoreland: “Bad. I mean it’s a domino effect. One business leaves, other businesses could leave. That’s the last thing we want.”

He’s hoping policy changes and the new 2% sales tax increase, set to take effect in January, can help combat the destruction.

It’s not only businesses leaving the area, which makes people want to leave the area, but also increased costs for the entire community. There’s more costs for putting in extra “traffic calming measures”. There’s extra costs for repairs to damage caused by reckless drivers. There’s loss of life. There’s increased insurance rates if you own a car in Milwaukee.

He hopes the sales tax increase can also help add more police to the force to help hold people accountable.

Hopefully!

  • Bob@midwest.social
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    1 year ago

    You’re spot on. Police don’t stop bad stuff from u happening, they just show up after the fact and issue tickets. And no, tickets are not a deterrent for events that people don’t think through logically, they’re just a revenue scheme.

    Narrowing the road, narrowing the intersection, street parking, trees, and so on are are small things you can do to make drivers slow down naturally and increase the safety and pleasantness of an area. Honestly I have no idea what this area looks like, but even if extra police fixed the problem, they’re an ongoing cost, while infrastructure changes are a one-time cost.

    • mke_geek@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      If people keep damaging the infrastructure (for example 29 times knocking down metal signs on the bump outs) then yes, it’s an ongoing cost.

      • Bob@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        If people keep damaging the infrastructure, the infrastructure is designed wrong. Either it needs to be strengthened to withstand multiple impacts or a different change needs to happen so people stop hitting things they’re not supposed to.