MILWAUKEE – Today the County Board adopted a resolution by Supervisor Sheldon A. Wasserman to fund the design and construction of repairs to McKinley Beach. The resolution was co-sponsored by Supervisors Steve F. Taylor, Shawn Rolland, and Willie Johnson Jr.
“This is long overdue, but the board has finally acted, and repairs are coming to McKinley Beach,” said Supervisor Wasserman. “We know this beach is a beloved part of Milwaukee’s lakefront, and the sooner we restore safe swimming conditions, the sooner we can reopen the beach to the public. It is absolutely our responsibility as a County Board to ensure the safety of beachgoers. Today, we are taking action to fulfill that responsibility and I am proud to have led this effort.”
The resolution now heads to the desk of County Executive David Crowley. Once signed, the county will work to secure a vendor to design and construct the beach repairs. Wasserman’s resolution expedites the timeline for beach repair by more than a year, which could allow McKinley Beach to be reopened sometime towards the end of 2023.
Absent County Board action, repairs to the beach would not have been completed until late-2024 and the beach would not have reopened until the 2025 season.
McKinley Beach has been a site of multiple drownings and near drownings over the past few years before the county closed the beach in 2021.
The initial delay in repairing McKinley Beach is largely a result of Milwaukee County’s ongoing structural deficit, which derives from multiple decades of shrinking shared revenue payments and an inability to diversify the county’s revenue sources. More information on efforts to secure a Fair Deal for Milwaukee County can be found here.
The resolution succeeds an analysis by consultants of potential solutions to reestablish safe beach conditions.
