Oak Creek Again Prods County On 13th Street Reconstruction

It's getting tough to come up with new ways to describe the condition of 13th Street, as well as the desire to fix it.

So I'll leave it to Mayor Al Foeckler, who described it in this tongue-in-cheek way Tuesday:

"The worst street in the state of Wisconsin, and possibly the Midwest," Foeckler said.

Foeckler spoke shortly before the Oak Creek Common Council unanimously passed a resolution urging Milwaukee County to reconstruct or rehabilitate 13th Street from the county line to Rawson Avenue.

The last time the council made an "official" plea like this one was three years ago. At that time, plans to reconstruct the portion of 13th Street between College and Rawson were already under way. But the resolution likely helped in moving that project along and getting construction started, City Engineer Mike Simmons said.

"This is how we go about getting the county to do something, and hopefully they will act on it," Alderman Dan Bukiewicz said.

Bukiewicz and other aldermen say they constantly receive calls from residents about the road. Because it is County Highway V, it's out of their jurisdiction, though aldermen said they have tried to reach out to county officials for help.

So far, nothing has worked. County Supervisor Paul Cesarz has been (and has not returned multiple messages left by Oak Creek Patch). He was again criticized for his silence on the issue Tuesday night.

Cesarz is not seeking re-election this spring and the two candidates running to replace him — Oak Creek Alderman Ken Gehl and Franklin Alderman Steve Taylor — they would work to get construction plans moving forward.

But the biggest hold-up seems to be the simple fact that Milwaukee County is mired in its own financial issues, with controversial cuts to the Sheriff's Office among the measures taken to balance the 2012 budget.

That will likely mean Oak Creek picking up some of the cost. In the College-to-Rawson segment the city paid for 30 percent of the project, according to a report to council members.

However it gets paid for, the hope is that it can get going, and soon.

"A few weeks ago before my daughter was born, I put in a new car seat base," Foeckler said. "The first time I drove with it in the car we turned out of my subdivision right off of 13th Street, and it made this crazy noise. I thought, I'm going to have to get a new car seat. This thing isn't going to work.

"The second I got off of 13th Street it was silent. So that's Exhibit A for why this needs to get done."