As the Harbor District celebrates its 10th anniversary on Tuesday evening, June 10, local officials will also be on hand for a groundbreaking ceremony for the latest section of Riverwalk in the waterfront neighborhood.
The party runs from 5:30 until 9 p.m. on the patio at Komatsu, 401 E. Greenfield Ave., and including a program and dinner and beverage pairings. Tickets are required for that event and may be purchased here.
But at 6:15 p.m., Mayor Cavalier Johnson will lead a groundbreaking celebration for the more than half-mile segment of RiverWalk that runs south from Harbor View Plaza at the foot of Greenfield Avenue.
The segment is the largest new Riverwalk section and is expected to provide recreational, transportation and environmental benefits to nearby residents, employees of area businesses, and visitors to the Harbor District.
The goal, according to a city news release, is that it, “will showcase the successful coexistence of commerce, community space, and ecological restoration.”
The segment will be constructed in two phases.
The first phase, expected to be completed next summer, will build the actual Riverwalk, along with associated landscaping and seating.
The project was bid on in early 2025, and contracts have been awarded. Construction is expected to begin this summer.
Meanwhile, phase two will add a number of amenities, including a deck over the river, a performance stage, a restrooms building and The Node, which city officials say is, “an area that allows the public close proximity to the water while providing an aquatic habitat.”
Bidding and construction is expected to come after phase one.
The north segment of the project is 0.16 mile and the south portion another 0.41 mile, for a total of just over half a mile.
Designs for the plan emerged in 2022 and the project got a boost two years later with a $14.7 million federal grant and $128,000 from the State of Wisconsin’s Coastal Management Program.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
