Joe Biden visit to Boys and Girls Club Milwaukee: President promotes streets project, stops at campaign headquarters

Announcing federal money for a streets project and stopping in at his Wisconsin campaign headquarters, President Joe Biden came to Milwaukee on Wednesday.

During his visit, he spoke at the Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club, at the corner of North Sixth Street and West Cherry Street, promoting a $36.6 million allocation for a project to convert a 2.6-mile section of Sixth Street to a "complete street."

It's part of a broader $3.3 billion initiative he announced that's intended to help "reconnect and rebuild communities" across that nation that were divided by transportation infrastructure in the past.

Here's a recap of Biden's stay in Milwaukee:

Biden leaves Milwaukee a little after noon Thursday, headed to Michigan

Biden left the Pfister Hotel around noon and headed to Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, where the plane began moving around 12:17 p.m. before it departed, according to pool reports.

At the campaign headquarters Wednesday afternoon, Biden met with a boy named Harry who wrote him a letter about what it was like to live with a stutter.

"I did, too, but don't let anybody tell you that you can't do anything," Biden said in a video posted to X. Local reporters weren't there to see the two meet.

The president also recorded radio interviews with the Black Information Network and WNOV 86.

President Joe Biden wraps up public events, spending night at Pfister Hotel

The president is spending the night in downtown Milwaukee, staying at the Pfister Hotel.

Biden arrived a little before 7 p.m. to stay overnight before departing for Saginaw, Michigan, Thursday morning.

Reporters from national media outlets who traveled to cover the president are also staying at the historic downtown hotel.

More: President Joe Biden is staying at Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel, a popular site for presidents

More: These MLB players said they have been haunted by Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel

After Boys & Girls Club speech, President Joe Biden speaks at his Wisconsin campaign headquarters

After the speech at the Boys & Girls Club, Biden stopped in at his Wisconsin campaign headquarters at 252 E. Highland Ave.

It's the first Milwaukee campaign base for a Democratic presidential nominee in at least 20 years.

At the headquarters, Biden spoke to supporters and highlighted over 40 other campaign offices in the state.

“Here in Milwaukee specifically, but Wisconsin generally and several other states, it’s going to get down to knocking on doors the old-fashioned way,” Biden said.

In part of his speech, Biden spoke briefly on immigration, saying “all of us are immigrants. Every one of us, except the Native Americans.”

Biden spoke to a supporter holding a sign asking for marijuana legalization and said no one should be jailed for possessing marijuana. Neither recreational nor medical marijuana is legal in Wisconsin.

President Joe Biden says street project is for 'future' of Boys & Girls Club children

At the Boys & Girls Club, Biden said the street project is for the "future" of the children who use the community center.

Biden lamented the effects of interstate infrastructure of decades ago, splitting predominantly Black neighborhoods where Biden grew up.

"The same thing happened here," Biden said of Milwaukee.

Biden said the "complete streets" project in Milwaukee should help build a neighborhood center that was negatively affected by high-volume roadway infrastructure.

"Imagine all those homes, those mom and pop stores, that could have been passed down (to other generations)," Biden said, referring to Black neighborhoods in Milwaukee.

More: What to know about the Sixth Street 'complete streets' project President Joe Biden plans to highlight in Milwaukee

Biden touted federal funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and Inflation Reduction Act, citing its job creation effects on underrepresented communities in Milwaukee.

"Everything we're doing is connecting people with opportunity, not disconnecting people from opportunity," Biden said.

Biden blasted Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson for voting against the Inflation Reduction Act.

He ended his speech after fewer than 20 minutes.

Protesters want President Joe Biden to push for Gaza ceasefire

Protesters gathered in Milwaukee's Red Arrow Park Wednesday afternoon to demand that Biden push more strongly for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Echoing movements in Michigan and Minnesota, they said they wouldn't vote for him in Wisconsin's April 2 primary as a demonstration of their outrage over the United States' handling of the Israel-Hamas war and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

"They will definitely lose this election if they don't listen to their constituents," said Janan Najeeb, president of the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition.

There are 40,000 Muslim voters in Wisconsin, and Biden won Wisconsin in 2020 by 20,000 votes, Najeeb said. She expected that progressives and young people would join in voting "uninstructed" on their primary ballots.

People who voted for Biden in the last election "have been asking for a ceasefire, and he has been ignoring them," Najeeb said. "People are dying of starvation and dehydration in Gaza and he is unmoved by that."

More: Outraged over Biden's handling of Gaza, protesters in Milwaukee pledge to withdraw support in primary

Local officials praise President Joe Biden's investment in Milwaukee roadways

Before Biden took the stage at the Boys & Girls Club, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore spoke, praising the investment in Milwaukee roadways.

“Good things are ahead for this city, good things are headed for this state, good things are ahead for this country,” Johnson said.

Moore tells the crowd that some say “Biden reminded them of Eisenhower if Eisenhower was a Democrat,” given Biden’s focus on infrastructure. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican, is known for creating the nation’s first interstate system.

Gov. Tony Evers spoke after Moore, who joked she was “‘Saturday Night Live’ famous.” Moore was portrayed in an SNL skit after she sat next to U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene at the State of the Union. Moore also called out MTG while giving her remarks.

Biden press secretary addresses Princess of Wales Kate Middleton's mysterious absence from public view

Biden spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Milwaukee that the Biden and his staff wish Princess of Wales Kate Middleton "a speedy recovery."

"She has asked for privacy, her family has asked for privacy and we’re certainly going to respect that,” Jean-Pierre said of the princess, according to pool reports.

President Joe Biden arrives in Milwaukee around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday

Biden arrived at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport on Air Force One around 2:30 p.m.

He was greeted by Evers, Crowley and Johnson.

Rep. Gwen Moore flies on Air Force One to Milwaukee with President Joe Biden

Biden was accompanied by Moore, who represents the state's Fourth Congressional District in Milwaukee.

Moore tweeted a photo from inside Air Force One. Democrats U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan were not in attendance.

President Joe Biden plans to spend the night in Milwaukee

Biden's stop in Milwaukee is the beginning of a two-day trip through Wisconsin and Michigan as he returns to the so-called Blue Wall that was crucial to his 2020 victory.

Biden plans to spend the night in Milwaukee as he makes official and campaign stops in the swing state's largest city — a community that traditionally supports Democrats but also where Biden has to build back enthusiasm if he wants to carry the state.

The trip comes a day after both Biden and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump clinched their respective parties' nominations following primary contests Tuesday — assuring a rematch of the 2020 election that rocked the nation.

Jean-Pierre told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday he plans to visit Wisconsin, a crucial swing state, regularly over the next several months.

"The president loves Milwaukee, he loves Wisconsin," Jean-Pierre said. "Obviously, we're going to be making a lot of trips, especially coming out of the State of the Union, to make that very clear about how he wants to build an economy from the bottom up, middle out, and not leave anyone behind."

Several-block area of downtown Milwaukee streets blocked off; closures expect to last into Thursday

A several-block area has been closed to traffic near Wisconsin Avenue and Milwaukee Street, around the Pfister Hotel, where Biden is staying tonight.

Nearby businesses have been informed that Biden will be in the downtown area and that road closures are expected until midday Thursday.

What to know about the Sixth Street 'complete streets' project President Joe Biden plans to highlight in Milwaukee

The money for Milwaukee is part of $3.3 billion awarded to 132 communities as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods grant program in fiscal year 2023.

Milwaukee's complete streets efforts seek to make streets safe and convenient to pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users and anyone else who wants to use them, regardless of age or ability.

The effort prioritizes:

• Pedestrian safety, followed by the next-most-vulnerable users.

• Street designs that encourage walking, biking and public transit use in a way that "considers the context of the surrounding community as well as the broader urban design needs of the city."

• Allowing "users of all ages and abilities to safely, comfortably and conveniently travel across and through the network."

You can read more about the Sixth Street plan in Alison Dirr's and Tom Daykin's story.

State GOP chairman rips President Joe Biden's 'abysmal record'

Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Brian Schimming this week blasted Biden's decision to tout the federal investment in the Sixth Street corridor.

“On Joe Biden’s watch, Wisconsin has lost 6,000 manufacturing jobs and 455 dairy farms in the last year. Instead of paying us a visit to brag about his abysmal record, the President should be offering working families an apology for Bidenomics," he said in a statement.

President Joe Biden came to Milwaukee in December, too

This is Biden's second visit to Milwaukee in the past three months. On Dec. 20, he spoke at the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce to announce new directives intended to support small businesses and highlight his administration's support for Black-owned businesses.

He also stopped in the Garden Homes neighborhood to visit Hero Plumbing owner Rashawn Spivey, who demonstrated his work in replacing lead pipes.

“This was a really nice neighborhood before the manufacturing left,” Spivey said, noting the loss of a high-rise corporation just blocks away.

Biden later highlighted the loss of manufacturing in his speech at the chamber and said "we're making sure Milwaukee is coming back, and all of Milwaukee is coming back."

Spivey was a guest at last week's State of the Union Address.

First lady Jill Biden was in Waukesha on March 3

It's been less than two weeks since another Biden — first lady Jill Biden — has been in Wisconsin.

Jill Biden was in Waukesha on March 3, speaking to a crowd of about 200 women voters about Democrats' message that abortion and health care access are at stake in the 2024 presidential election.

"We are the first generation ... in half a century to give our daughters a country with fewer rights than we all had," Jill Biden said. "Women put Joe Biden in the White House and women are going to do it again."

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: President Biden visit to Milwaukee promotes streets project