Republic Airways CEO Latest to Suffer From Foot in Mouth Syndrome
Republic Airlways CEO Bryan Bedford must have taken the same “foot in mouth” public communications class as his colleague over at Associated Bank.
“Milwaukee is not a destination market by price. I don’t care how cheap you make it, you don’t go there unless you have to,” Republic chief executive officer Bryan Bedford said at the Next Generation Equity Research Airlines Conference in New York City Dec. 9.
The comments drew laughter from the audience, but Milwaukee business and travel leaders didn’t find much humor in Bedford’s assessment.
Bedford also told analysts that Milwaukee-area travelers are willing to pay more to book a flight on Oak Creek-based Midwest Airlines, which Republic purchased in July for $31 million.
“We have 1.1 million frequent fliers in Milwaukee and they will pay a premium to fly on Midwest,” he said. “They love that cookie.” Milwaukee Biz Journal
I have to question what kind of cookies Mr. Bedford is eating if he’s claiming that there are 1.1 million frequent fliers of his airline in Milwaukee. Considering that there are about 1.5 million people in the entire metro Milwaukee area, I would doubt that 80% of them are frequent fliers of Midwest Airlines.
While he may feel it’s funny to mock a city and the people who live here, but it’s just part of the bigger reason that his airline is struggling in Milwaukee and elsewhere.
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I loved the old Midwest, and it was worth paying a bit more for, but considering Midwest just isn’t Midwest anymore, I’m sure many frequent flyers such as myself are now looking at Southwest as a cheaper option.
Might be be looking at data of frequent flyers on his airline who have a regular destination of MKE? Also, I know you guys get spillover from Chicago occasionally, but I wouldn’t think they’d be Midwest FFs.
You may want to ask yourself a question instead of get ticked at the messenger again. Maybe ask yourself, “why do people not want to come to Milwaukee”? Do you think there is some validity to his statement that “[people] don’t go there unless they have to”?
You getting mad at someone saying “Milwaukee is not a leisure destination” is like a Door County resident getting upset if someone would say, “Door County is not a business destination”.
I’m being serious here, what attraction does Milwaukee offer for tourism?
I can name a few:
Miller Park
State Fairgrounds
Basilica of St. Josaphat
Summerfest
Milwaukee Zoo
Milwaukee Museum
Miller Brewery tours
Taking all into account, what would people have to fly in for. Summerfest would be the only one on the list that people might come from afar. That is a limited time period, however.
See what I am saying? What am I missing?
As a former resident of Milwaukee and former Midwest employee I take great exception to Mr. Bedford’s arrogant and idiotic comments.
I find it ironic that he wants Midwest to be considered the “Hometown Airline” when he doesn’t even have a basic level of respect or understanding of the hometown itself. Never mind the fact that only a handful of the employees that built that airline are even employed there anymore. All that remains is a paint job and a bunch of small regional jets.
To cap it all off, he all but admitted that he thinks the people of Milwaukee and points beyond are suckers because they “love that cookie”. Let’s show him who the sucker is with our cash…. Fly AirTran, the real hometown airline.
@Otis: “arrogant and idiotic”. I’m glad you take exception to them. My question for you guys … how is he wrong? Please provide a rebuttal to his statement. How is Milwaukee a tourism haven? What attractions do people fly in for? What basic level of understanding of Milwaukee does he not have?
I’m genuinely curious.
You’re always there to stand up for the defensless CEOs who probably make more in a day than I do in a year. Without you who would stand up for them?
For the record, he didn’t say anything about leisure destination. He said “you don’t go there unless you have to” and that’s just a stupid thing to say especially for someone in the travel industry.
For the record, there are plenty of reasons people come to Milwaukee by the millions every year and you touched on a few of them. Good major sports teams, breweries, a world class art museum, an entire summer of festivals and on and on.
It doesn’t sound like you live here yourself yeah boy so I’m not surprised you are down on Milwaukee or haven’t taken the time to understand it for yourself.
But back to the point, what a dumb thing to say from a business leader. And I think you’re right on the mark Otis
@James – you are not addressing my point. I think you guys took exception without understanding the context of his talk. He is talking about airline travel and for what reasons people fly on planes to Milwaukee. Are you telling me people fly into Milwaukee for leisure? Or do you think that from a flight perspective, people are flying in for business most often.
No, I do not live in Milwaukee. Man, bro, you have issues. At what point did diss Milwaukee? I’m not down on it. I didn’t bag on Milwaukee at all. I asked you guys to provide some substance to your argument.
I do miss the cookies and wide seats, but especially in the new economic reality, who could afford the expense. Baggage fees being what they are, Southwest seems pretty competitive though. It’s sad that Milwaukee has become nearly bereft of corporate headquarters too. Those execs were always supporting some local event or another.
In any case, I’ve got to agree with many of the commenters. While we do hate to hear the reality, how exactly was he wrong? Why would someone who did not have business here come to Milwaukee?
I think it’s a fair question, and it deserves a fair answer if you want to deride the man for what he said.
I don’t know if there’s really an “argument” to be made. You asked a question about “why people should visit”, and I think me and a few others have answered it. There’s really not much more to argue or debate about regarding that question.
Millions of people do visit Milwaukee on an annual basis for the reasons listed above and things like the new Harley museum. We’ve pointed that out several times now and you’re still asking for a “fair answer” to the question.
Maybe I should ask the opposite question for you guys and people like Mr. Bedford. Why single Milwaukee out? Why would anyone visit Houston or Atlanta or Portland or Raleigh or St. Louis or Phoenix?
The answer is easy.. Just like Milwaukee, they’ve all got something that people to do and see and are visited by many people a year. Saying “You wouldn’t go to there if you didn’t have to” about any of those places would be just as stupid as when he said it about Milwaukee.
That’s my point.
“”I think me and a few others have answered it”"
Hm, I looked back at all the comments and the original post. The only thing I saw was Yeah Boy comment that “”Summerfest would be the only one on the list that people might come from afar.”". That hardly refutes Mr Bedford’s comment. I rather doubt that very many people fly in for Summerfest either.
Millions of people visit annually? Really? Millions? Where did you get that data from? What exactly are they visiting? There are zoos all over, many better than ours. State Fair? The Brewery? I rather doubt that too many families are planning a flight to Milwaukee this summer for the Miller tour and then off to the State Fair. You are grasping at straws in an effort to avoid the truth here. Milwaukke has become such a dead end that we can’t even get any conventions to come anymore… even the Gen Con gaming geeks moved on to greener pastures, and that was our biggest draw. If the answer you gave me was your best shot, than I am afraid that I must agree with the CEO on this one. You can’t even mount a reasonable doubt. Guilty as charged.
I will concede that lower air travel prices and cheaper parking at Mitchell field does draw air travelers. The airport is quite nice, even if the surroundings are a bit of a dump. I’m not seeing anything that shows those folks without business here doing any more than coming and going from the terminal without an additional local stop. We are NOT a destination.
Delude yourself into believing that Milwaukee is Houston or Atlanta if that makes you happy, but don’t give the guy guff for being honest.
Milwaukee is not a world class city like New York or Chicago or San Francisco. It’s not even a city people want to visit like Los Angeles, Boston or Washington D.C. Milwaukee is more like Seattle or Nashville or Kansas City, only with far worse winters and fewer attractions.
Wow, lots of negativity.
I think Milwaukee is a great place to live and visit, you guys disagree. Par for the course on this just like everything else.
For what it’s worth, Bedford apologized Friday for his boneheaded statement. Also, while I was at Red Arrow Park – one of those places that no one visits because we all live in such a craphole – yesterday skating with Emerson, we ran into a guy and his daughter who were here from Mississippi… wait for it… visiting!
We struck up a conversation while our daughters were skating and with this topic at the front of my mind I asked him what brought them to Milwaukee. They caught the Lakers vs. Bucks last week, drove up to Holy Hill Friday, toured the Harley museum, and were leaving on Sunday.
Obviously he missed the rational that some of the people who live here are presenting about this being a crappy place that no one visits.
Two things that would improve Milwaukee would be funding for parks and transit, according to the wishes of the Nov 2008 County voters. (We’re waiting on Madison for the three wise men to arrive at the Capitol.) However, in posting this I’m sure someone is going to mention that a sales tax increase is part of that two-fer deal, and, NO-they will say LOUDLY, I won’t accept a sales tax (even this one that swaps out a nice hunk of your property taxes). No!!
So we may want a nice destination city, but are we willing to make an investment to have one? Investment= you pay now for something better in the future? This is your basic capitalist deal, which we are all familiar with when we hire the roofer, but why is it torture to convince folks that the same dynamic works when the investment is made by all of us?
Ok, Bill and Dan. I see that you are right now, and the guy from Mississippi proved it completely. We should drop an additional 4.5% sales tax increase immediately. We would use it to build a massive multi-billion dollar light rail system linking simply everything… it’ll need to be really big to get all those millions of tourists moved to where they want to go.. Then, we increase property and income taxes by 10% across the board to fund any and all programs that our legislators think to be good for us, supplemented by an across the board 8-12% hike in every state fee and license registration. Add in another $0.45 a gallon for gasoline to be used to force residents to operate more green vehicles. A statewide ethanol mandate at 15% should follow, along with a massive windfall profits tax on any business or corporation making more than 8% profit. We finish it all off with an energy usage fee of 15% added to all Gas and electric bills to be used to build mandatory renewable energy to supply 80% of our needs. Each tax adds only a few pennies per day.
While this would still leave important programs woefully underfunded, it would bring new business pouring into the state. Right?? Right!
I say taxes, you say increase.
Taxes! Increase!
Taxes! Increase!
Taxes! Increase!
You love fiction, don’t you? But can you get your stuff published outside of a free blog comment page?
What’s wrong Bill. If some taxes are good, and all the programs are good, then why not just go all the way and turn Wisconsin into a high tax economic powerhouse like California or New York.
You guys keep saying that we need more funding… well do we? If taxes don’t scare away business, and the people are clamoring for more taxes, then why not just go ahead and have the WI Democrat Party propose this.
Nothing’s wrong, FG. You have a great idea for a novel. Run with it. Flesh it out with some character study. Ham it up for your audience so they know when you are telling a joke, and will laugh on cue as you barnstorm the nation with Bookstore Readings. Get grim and serious (furrowed brow) when you are lecturing “liberals” – that makes great exciting drama for your special audience who will buy your book for Christmas presents for their silly liberal relatives. I’m telling you you have the great idea of the decade; run with it.
FG may be writing fiction but you’re writing delusion.
Milwuakee is not a city of destination, that city is 90 miles to our south; all our spruced up parks and light rail isn’t going to change that fact. Let’s see, a winter weekend in Milwaukee or a winter weekend in Chicago—there’s a tough choice.
Milwaukee is a working class city with a 9 to 5 attitude, the only problem is the jobs are leaving the city. Light rail can’t stop that hemorhage, especially now that Chicago lost its Olympics bid. Wait, maybe tourists escaping winter will flock our parks.
Delusions.
@Bill: I’m not sure which fiction you are referring to? I’m simply agreeing to add all the taxes that you folks propose. Is there something wrong with that? You must support everyone of those things, don’t you? Someone will be helped by each tax and program…. for pennies a day. What is it that you disagree with? It’s all stuff that Democrats are proposing we do. Shouldn’t we go ahead and get it done? People are suffering, Bill… while you are making nonsensical bookstore arguments. Do you want more taxes and bigger government or don’t you? It’s a simple question.
FG, I don’t know why you want to construct me as something I am not. Which is why I suggest you try fiction. I guess it is the poverty of your mind. I’m in favor of the investment in transit. You may think that makes me a liberal -well, that’s your problem not mine. I am fiscally conservative. I have founded and run a business for over 30 years; it has a national reputation that is stellar and produces results. I, however, understand the “I” word – investment which seems to escape your idea of business and government; investment is essential for any enterprise to survive; even your household. A roof in time will save you thousands of dollars, but you might have to borrow to pay for it. You may if you wish believe that finance is only a checkbook, but there are four aspects to a budget that seem to escape your bravado. And each of these four enter the government solvency discussions every time there is a budget negotiation. You need to learn how the four budgets work, together or at odds, but HOW they work. The structural budget is the one you need to turn your attention to, not the checkbook budget. If we don’t solve the Structural budgets there will be no solution to the checkbook budget.
Yay! I chant that all the time! Good to see you finally understand.
Bedford is an idiot. I wish you guys could see the rambling internal memo he distributed to his employees shortly after purchasing Midwest and Frontier.
Do you guys have anything positive to say about anything? Really, I’m wondering. Per your narrative, Milwaukee is a giant sh**hole that all should run to escape. Sorry, guys, Milwaukee isn’t going to become that much more or less attractive whether taxes go up or down 10%.
There are actually some people, some of them with (lots) of money, who are positive about Milwaukee and its future. You can thank some of them for the Art Museum, Pier Wisconsin, the Harley-Davidson Museum, and lots of other things that you’re too PO’d to enjoy. But that people from out of town do come to see.
Oh, and make sure you all fly Frontier to support that guy!
Jill,
“Milwaukee is a giant sh**hole that all should run to escape.”
Can’t argue with the sentiment, although I think you overstate the case.
Besides Summerfest and occassionally the Brewers, why do people come to visit Milwaukee?
I used to work for an airport shuttle service. Other than Summerfest and business, there was not a lot of people coming to just vacation in Milwaukee. Milwaukee is not a vacation town. Maybe up North, they have some vacation places. People from Wisconsin were going out of town to take their vacations, places like Vegas, Texas, CA, FL and some othert places.
But yes, i do agree with Dan, there are no 1.1 million frequent fliers in Milwaukee or surrounding areas. Maybe for the entire Midwest, but not in the Milwaukee area.
A friend of mine has a national reputation in his field and connected for the final 30 years of his career with a well known school in Milwaukee. He lectures around the world in his field. He could have picked an appointment in any college or university in the world, given his reputation. He and his wife love Milwaukee. They call it one of America’s best kept secrets and continue to reside here after retirement. Much as I love Milwaukee, I’ve learned to live with a lot of complainers – folks who are not happy unless they are unhappy.
And I know a professor who is tenured at a local Jesuit university. He can’t wait to retire and leave both Milwaukee and the state.
Anecdotes prove nothing.
Prove? Well, sweeping statements prove nothing. And the negativity here abounds in sweeping statements. I know I can provide nothing to you, but my standards are higher: I want to prove something to myself. And when there is a break in the weather and some sun shines, we celebrate, as I celebrate my friends who have stayed.
“Happy in Milwaukee” is so politically incorrect. Just for a moment let us bask in the opinion of someone who is happy, and, Sure Enough, the Pouncers will arrive to remind us how important it is to be Unhappy. If you are not unhappy you are suffering from some delusion.
I am happy in Milwaukee because I am presented with a smorgasboard of activity and neighbors to improve the city that wish to help with making all this better: aquaculture, water stewardship, transit, light rail, schools, victory gardens, biomass, co-ops, community sustainable agriculture, media watchdogging…. I welcome the challenge; and I love my city, both. With age, one learns it’s important to leave something behind. I’d rather have a legacy in a city that needs me, than to move to a city where I could just run out the clock with the ball still in my hands.
“…but my standards are higher…”
Condescending liberal. Shocka!
Do you think fish farms, biomass and victory gardens are going to replace all those jobs that have fled the city in the past 40years?
So having high standards is now condescendingly liberal? Really? Again, here’s someone who says they are happy with Milwaukee and you can’t do anything but a seagull flyover and crap on their parade?
Weather aside, why do you stick around? I’m not beating the “if you don’t love it, then leave it” drum, just wondering why you haven’t made the move to NC yet. After all, the simple payback on your moving costs vs. tax savings must be about 8 months.
Absolutely, Yes. It’s called vision, as opposed to despair. But vision without work is dreaming. I enjoy WORKing on these goals; the projects put me together with the happiest and brightest of Milwaukee.
Mississippi has the lowest taxes – all you Unhappys head down there!
Jill,
I was thinking more of North Carolina. I already have family members and friends who live there. I think you’d be surprised; too many people here think the South is still stuck somewhere in 1961.
Yes, and yay, they have the new Boeing line. I’m still waiting to see if “just anyone” can make parts for a new carbon composite airplane. But not just anyone can be a biochemist or an engineer.
I personally know that “southern hospitality” is a nice concept, but like many nice concepts, not always practiced in reality. So I also know that southern hospitality would likely not extend to me, a kindly Yankee professional woman, and my progressive husband, who has a different last name.
So they may not be stuck in 1961 but they might still be stuck in 1988 or so. If that’s where they want to be, that’s fine, but me and my money will avoid the southeast quadrant of the US for the foreseeable future.
Jill,
In fact, I am moving to North Carolina. Our house will go on the market this Spring, hopefully it will sell within a reasonable time. Having spent time in New York, Wisconsin and North Carolina, I’ve concluded that the Tar Heel state is best for a retiree.
My sister and brother have lived in Wilmington, North Carolina since 1996 without encountering klansmen, lynch mobs or inbred hillbillies with 1988 sensibilities. My niece and her husband are building a house in the Wilmington area. A friend has lived in Charlotte since 1982 where he teaches at UNC Charlotte (yes, there are colleges in the South). He’s retiring next year and is staying put.
These people are all educated, native New Yorkers with a low tolerance for bigots and fools, yet they love their new southern home. Go figure.
With luck, sometime this spring or summer, I’ll be posting a farwell message on this blog.
Then I’ll jump in the General Lee and drive down to live with the rednecks, crackers and peckerwoods so dear to the minds of Yankee professionals.
We’ll miss Wisconsin, the people are friendly and the summers wonderful. But we won’t miss the endless winters (current temperature is 12 degrees) or the endless taxes.
North Carolina is not perfect but it’s less imperfect than Wisconsin.
Smitty, yes, you need to go somewhere you don’t sneer at other people’s choices. Sneering is no path to a rich, happy life. I have heard about the cosmopolitan aspect of certain sections of NC, but cosmo neighborhoods are here in Milwaukee, too. Riverwest, Bay View, Walkers Point, Hillside, King Drive, Brewers Hill – for examples.
By the way, tolerance for fools in my book is considered Class.
Bill,
“I have heard about the cosmopolitan aspect of certain sections of NC…”
Wow, you manage to be condescending and and pompous. Want to try for a trifecta?
P.S. I spent 35 years of my life in living and working in New York City, I know cosmopolitanism. Milwaukee has its delights but it’s not particularly cosmo.
not sure why that statement is condescending. Your view of me, I guess. Whatever
and no argument about the beauty of NYC’s attitude about the world, which I visit or try to every year. I do question romancing NC that seems to extrapolate from one neighborhood to the whole state. I totally doubt that and my sources are in accord. Good luck landing on the correct street. Your relatives and their experience are keys.
A close friend is planning to move there soon, selling her house and all. But she can bail back here whenever.
I would never invite someone to Wisconsin (as a whole), but to the mentioned neighborhoods, yes, very cosmopolitan, aware, and tuned in. You don’t have to live in NY to appreciate the beauty of dense, efficient city life. If you find it somewhere else, more power to you. I wouldn’t choose NC because I’m an activist and activists generally are quickly identified; given NC’s legal structure that’s a grim formula for happiness.
I’m sorry we did not have time to get better acquainted as there are things in Milwaukee that are replete with beauty and hope.
If I’m condescending, I apologize – I meant to distinguish my comments as one who is *proud* of what I’m working on. The word ‘work” is dispositive. I’m old enough to retire, but not ready to give up work, my happiness. The feeling of being well connected and empowered is not easily replaced. Much as I love NYC I know I would not find it there. It is a made city, and I still want to build a new city.
Cosmopolitan? Hardly. When we lived in Riverwest, and then near UWM, my wife and I found out how open-minded and cosmopolitan our liberal neighbors were when we put up a sign supporting President Bush on our lawn. Neighbors would no longer say hello or wave to us. The signs were often stolen, and one one particularly cosmopolitan night, someone vandalized our car with spray paint. Once a neighbor actually asked us why right wingers would choose to live on the East Side, and suggested we move. We no longer live on that side of town, having learned our lessons about what compassion means to the left. I’ll take southern hospitality any day. We often visit Kentucky, and no one there has ever given us a hard time about being Yankees… and we have never been robbed or vandalized either. We have enjoyed both of those cosmopolitan experiences on Milwaukee’s fashionable and intolerant East Side and at the hands of it’s “activists”. You and your fellow lefties have a long way to go when it comes to tolerance Bill. A long way to go.
Yes, TFG, the tolerance is just oozing out of you now, isn’t it.
Oh, and just because you got the “southern hospitality” doesn’t mean they didn’t give you a hard time about being Yankees. It just means they didn’t do it to your face.
Lawn signs are stolen, cars vandalized, why, just about any place in the city. You do seem to find a way to blame all your problems on your political adversaries. … I’m just saying…
For some reason that seems like an odd tact if you are looking to make the city better. You could blame it on hoodlums (which would be accurate), but I don’t know any lefties to who chase folks away. We’re the ones who put our names on issues and try to engage those who disagree, because we believe in the power of fact and the potential of discussion, and the weakness of insulting remarks.
If you cannot find something good in your neighborhood then maybe that neighbor was giving you sound advice, to find another neighborhood. No need to go through life unhappy with neighbors. Too much victim stuff in your tone of voice.
Live, be happy. Smile and crack jokes with people whom you think disagree with you. It totally works and will brighten your day..
Yeah, I was just remembering last night that my John Kerry sign was stolen in Washington Heights a few years ago. But I just put it up to stupid kids. Go figure.
Ah, yes. The imaginary southern intolerance. Very damning indeed.
I’m not trying to be tolerant… I’m telling you that what you call diverse is not. What you call a tolerant neighborhood is not. I imagine everyone at a Klan Picnic gets along famously, but that hardly means they are tolerant or diverse.
We now live on a far edge of the city and spend our time and money in the nearby Waukesha County suburbs. Our kids go to school there now as well. The community is much more diverse that the east side ever was, and much more open and friendly to different ideas. No one here has “engaged” me on the issues with any spray paint either. I must have missed all the kind and thoughtful argument after I put up a sign with a differing opinion…. the only one in my “diverse” neighborhood, I might add. The neighbors did do exactly what you say though Bill, they told us that if you don’t agree, then you can’t live here in peace and you should move… but they did it in a very tolerant way, I’m sure…just like you did.
I’m not implying I was a victim. My wife and I talked about it for a long time before we put up a pro-Bush sign. We knew that we had put up a target on our home, but it seemed more important to exercise our free speech than be silenced by fear. I did not expect paint on my car, but that was even more a lesson for us. We learned from it, we moved from our home of 20 years, and we found that the suburbs are just as nice as people say.
But if you’re a Klansman at a Klan picnic, you think that you are tolerant and diverse. Just like you think Waukesha is.
Waukesha, the place that doesn’t want light rail to make it easier for people from the city to get out there. Waukesha, the home of a former (tolerant, indeed) coworker who referred to anything east of Hwy 100 as “the core.” The place that wouldn’t send their kids to play soccer in Washington Park a few years ago.
Here’s my point. I sneer about Waukesha the same way you sneer about Riverwest. We’re the same on that one. We can both find examples to support our point. Which leads to my bigger point: no matter what the political philosophy, party, religion, or whatever, every group has good and bad people in it. Every profession has good and bad people in it. Every town has good and bad people in it.
At the end of the day, people are just human. Whether they are good or bad can’t be discerned by what philosophy they identify with.
You had your car spray painted. That sucks. To counter that, my 9-year-old was flipped off and had obscenities shouted at him while we peacefully protested the Iraq War. Does that make all conservatives bad people? No more than there was a leftist conspiracy to paint your car. I did not expect the swears and flipping off, but it seemed more important to exercise our free speech than be silenced by fear.
The lesson for us, unlike the one that you took away, was that some people are just wrongheaded jerks. I don’t think myself so important that it was personal, or that I am worthy to be singled out for a conspiracy.
There, now we’re even on that. Swears to a 9-year-old vs. spray painted car. My sign was stolen, so was yours. My sign was stolen in a “liberal” neighborhood, so was yours. The difference between us is the meaning we ascribe to these events. Am I naive? Maybe. Am I happy? You betcha.
And when someone is having a parade, I don’t feel compelled to rain on it. Let the happy, naive people try to make Milwaukee better What’s it to ya?
Correction, “sister and brother” should read “sister and brother-in-law”
WOW, after reading all 43 comments, it looks like things got a bit off track. First things first, Bedford is the CEO of a company that wants to expand or at least try and retain business here in Milwaukee, right? Then he goes and makes statements like “I don’t care how cheap you make it, you don’t go there unless you have to,”?!?!? Whether that is true or not, you just don’t say that in public. A statement like that tells me that Bedford is a moron, plain and simple, especially when you have the title “CEO” next to your name. He’s not a moron necessarily for thinking it, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that he’d say that about one of his main “hub” cities…..Bad business acumen, but par for the course lately with Midwest/Republic Group(s).
As for the statements made by Bedford and other comments on this post as it relates to Milwaukee as a destination, I’d say you’re just plain wrong! I’ve lived in Wisconsin for 40 out of my 41 years and I can honestly say that Milwaukee and to a greater extent, WI IS a destination. Not like Chicago, NY, LA, Miami, Las Vegas, etc, but make no mistake about it, people fly into Milwaukee for more than just Summerfest. Brewer games have been mentioned, Bucks games have been mentioned, even Holy Hill was brought up, but there’s soooo much more. I deal with suppliers ALL over the U.S. and when I talk to them about Milwaukee and Wisconsin, the comments I hear for them, make me proud to live here. One thing that has not been mentioned, that I believe is only going to grow as it relates to WI “tourism”, is our PGA quality golf courses. I know a fair amount of people that come from all locations around the states that fly into MKE to golf at Blackwolf Run, Erin Hills, and the two courses at Whistling Straits for long weekend vacations. After that, they head down to MKE for a Brewers game, maybe Summerfest or an ethnic festival. Those are just a few examples…. You want to come see your college team play in Madison? You’re more than likely going to fly into Milwaukee. You want to see your NFL team play in GB (the Shrine of NFL stadiums)? You’ll probably fly into Milwaukee. Oh, and yes some of those people that go to GB and Madison spend time in Milwaukee for many of the sights mentioned in previous comments (Harley Museum, Calatrava, etc).
Living here, as many of the commenter’s have mentioned, is difficult when it comes to taxes, and if you’ve read my comments before, I agree with that assessment. The difference is I definitely cannot agree with their opinions on the “destination” quality of life Milwaukee and Wisconsin offers the rest of the U.S. As I mentioned before we’re not NY or Las Vegas, never will be, probably don’t want to be; but I have been to MANY cities around the U.S. and I have a hard time saying we’re not significantly above average. Kansas City, St. Louis, Portland, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Houston?!?!? Milwaukee is as good or better in many respects…..
On a side note, I haven’t heard the CEO of NWA coming out and saying “DETROIT is not a destination market by price. I don’t care how cheap you make it, you don’t go there unless you have to,” and we all know how much of a pit that city is…..it’s the difference between basic business intelligence and bad business intelligence.