Hot town, summer in the city

It stays pretty quiet on the East Side. Okay, fine, there are a few idiots, such as my neighbors who are currently playing lite rock crap music just a little too loud for their stupid party which is annoying. But for the most part, each neighborhood exists peacefully, holding its semi-regular hippie block parties and everyone is happy.

Until the final week in June, when our peaceful lives are turned upside down and the East Side, downtown, and Third Ward neighborhoods are thrown into disarray. It's Summerfest time, and while the various government and business folk boast that it's the largest outdoor music festival in the country, they don't have to live with the crowds that flock into the city. Everyone's a culprit in this case: the suburbanites, who never come within the city line because there are reportedly black people who live there, and all black people carry guns and shoot them at cars; the rurals who come from towns over; the truly out-of-towners who come from out of state just to attend; and then the rest of the mix.

I don't think it's a coincidence, really, that on the day that Summerfest opened, I was almost run over twice in the span of eight hours while on my bike. That's really never happened before; one guy had no clue whatsoever that I was even there, and then a Dodge Neon full of trashy teenagers thinking they were bad-asses nearly rolled through a stop sign, only to cuss me out and call me a "bitch" because I deigned to be on the rode on a bike in the bike lane. Brady Street is backed up with traffic; even on a busy summer Saturday night, it's never that busy. People were looking for parking on the already cramped streets in order to take the bar shuttles down to the fairgrounds in order to drink our local beer, become belligerent, trash the area, and drive home.

Why am I so down on Summerfest? It's not so much that I'm down on the festival itself or think it should only allow Milwaukee residents in (because, let's face it: the likelihood that Milwaukeeans, let alone the East Siders, would pay $12 to go and hear a random smattering of bands only to have to pay $8 for beer is unlikely). The fact is, the outsiders come in, think they have fair run of the city since they're paying an exorbitant price to get wasted and listen to bands, and think they have a run of the place. They trash it, fill up the streets, and disrespect the locals, only to leave in a week and go back to their various dark caves. They don't have anything invested in being respectful, clean, and orderly; even if they act like a bunch of knuckle draggers, Summerfest will be on next year and they will be allowed to come back.

Ultimately, I don't like feeling as though I can't safely go out my door each day and bike safely around my city (yes, I called it "my city"). I don't care if you're an out-of-towner; it's when you start acting like an asshole that I put my foot down and say "Get the hell out, and stay out."

Let that be a warning to you outside agitators.