PUT THE CHURCHES ALONG THE CAR LINES.

That's the way things used to be.

That's Ogden Street at Astor on the near East Side of Milwaukee, with a Unitarian church on the corner, and a building with space for several businesses at street level and apartments above.  Under contemporary zoning rules, none of that would be possible, as both the church and the businesses would have to provide parking, and commercial and residential land uses strictly separated.  That apartment tower, with lake views on the side away from the camera, might be required to provide a parking structure either under the tower or next door.  There's an early twentieth century postcard of this church describing it as the First Baptist Church.

And yes, a streetcar does serve that neighborhood.

That's Milwaukee's downtown circulator streetcar, still offering free rides, and still controversial.

Pivot to the southwest, and there's another of those combined use buildings, not in the picture.  The wooded lot, now a garden for the Episcopal Church of St. Paul, was once the site of the First Baptist Church as I know it, my grandfather having served as moderator, built of gray stone and brick in much the same style as the Unitarian church.  That church burned in 1974.  Looming behind is the Lincoln Arts Academy, once Lincoln High School.  Lincoln High School closed in 1979.  It looked a lot bigger in the evening when there was a basketball game.  Lincoln had good teams back in the day.

A Coast Guard helicopter interrupts the reverie.

Is a day-sailer in trouble, outside the breakwater without a life-jacket?  Not on Wednesday.  The Republicans are holding their nomination convention in Milwaukee, and it's all hands on the land, on the water, and in the air.  I was not able to book a business class seat on the new Borealis to see the show.  Coach seats were available on the Hiawatha trains shuttling between Milwaukee and Chicago.  Recent reports on the performance of Borealis will be material for a future  post.  It's the kind of fine afternoon with low humidities and temperatures in the 70s and after the humidity and storms on Sunday and Monday, the convention goers were enjoying the day.  That is, until they had to queue for security.

Water Street at Wells, with City Hall immediately behind.  Foot traffic is permitted across the bridge, with proper clearance.  I did not venture across the bridge or check out the second set of barriers closing off the area open only to people holding proper credentials.  In the distance, the Germania Building lends the proper Mitteleuropaische atmosphere to the checkpoints.  Papers, please!

The good news is that the Newsroom Pub (wasn't that once west of the river by Journal Square?) and the Safe House (awning and flags along Front Street) are outside the secured areas.

There were a few delegates with credentials chilling outside the St. Kate The Arts Hotel (yes, that's its name) who I spoke briefly with.  They had never been to Milwaukee before, they liked what they saw, and the fine weather, and I suggested they consider a future trip, say for German Fest or the Harley events that are coming up after the convention. Behind the music hall these Trump supporters, also members of a South Korean advocacy organization, also hang out.  I did not check whether Usinger's sausage and Mader's restaurant were in a secure area or still available to the public.  The Fiserv Forum, where the main convention events take place, is pretty far north, that's its roof looming over the Turnverein and the stores on the west side of Third Street.

The Pere Marquette Park is one of two designated protest zones, at just after 4 pm it looked pretty quiet.  Yes, there were patrol boats from several agencies on the rivers.  I wonder if any bulk cement carriers were scheduled to go up the Menomonee River during the festivities.

I chose Wednesday because there was a beer garden set up in the Third Ward, operating under the rubric of "Beerpartisanship."  There were local craft breweries offering their wares: something to keep in mind with German Fest in a week.

I didn't see a lot of obviously political types, and almost no people wearing credentials.  On the other hand, all the local residents who walk their dogs each evening know each other, and who knows, the local running club might have stopped by later (I had a train to catch.)  A few of the residents were curious about what the place was like 50 years ago when the produce merchants still did business there, and I told stories about the Route 14 trackless trolley and being able to hear the fireworks when the pink church held its street festival.  That event lives on as Milwaukee's Festa Italiana.

A few good Austrian beers in me, though, and the train rides back to Elburn are for napping, not for a Performance and Practice report.  And yes, there was heavy security, including multiple varieties of search dogs, at all stations along the Hiawatha line.  Probably prudent not to do any railfanning from overpasses until the convention leaves Milwaukee.