Milwaukee's convention opportunity was lost in 2020. RNC may offer a better chance to shine

If the 2020 Democratic National Convention was Milwaukee's lost opportunity, the upcoming Republican National Convention perhaps finally offers a chance for the city to shine on a global stage.

The Milwaukee of 2024 is in many ways different than the one audiences would have seen four years ago, had the convention not withered to a mostly virtual event in the coronavirus pandemic.

In the years since, the city has doubled the size of its downtown convention center. The Baird Center is playing a big role in hosting the RNC.

The city also has added two high-end downtown hotels, with one next to Fiserv Forum ― the arena where former President Donald Trump is expected to accept the Republican Party's presidential nomination.

Milwaukee has a different mayor, Cavalier Johnson. He's eagerly welcomed the RNC despite being a Democrat, and helped create a new city sales tax that will reap the benefits of restaurant meals, bar tabs and other spending by an estimated 50,000 visitors.

Meanwhile, there have been other changes that are helping accommodate convention attendees and other visitors. Those include The Hop streetcar's new lakefront line; additional downtown venues, such as the Bradley Symphony Center, and the new Vel R. Phillips Plaza — a public space just south of the Baird Center.

The visitors those new spaces stand ready to host are arriving ahead of the RNC scheduled for July 15-18.

"This is a different city than what it was back then in 2020," Johnson said. "It's an improved city, and I think we'll just continue to improve so we can attract the next big thing to Milwaukee as well."

Still, some business owners aren't expecting a big boost from the RNC's estimated $200 million economic impact. And others are worried that protests could scare away restaurant and tavern patrons.

RNC offers renewed opportunity after pandemic disappointment

Johnson said he sees renewed promise in the RNC for businesses, workers and the city's image after the DNC's physical footprint shrunk so dramatically.

"A lot of businesses made investments looking for large crowds to come in," he said of 2020. "That didn't materialize. Now, we have the opportunity to draw 50,000 people to our community for that week, and that's going to be good for them."

Those crowds, he said, would benefit businesses but also workers in the service, hospitality and tourism industries.

And it's not only businesses getting a do-over, Johnson said.

He hoped the city, too, would finally get an opportunity to make a global impression through throngs of media that will broadcast from Milwaukee that week.

"This will be a four-day commercial showcasing the City of Milwaukee to people and businesses that I would imagine in large part never even thought to come here," he said.

Johnson said he did not think Milwaukee's reputation would be tarnished by Trump calling it a "horrible city" in a meeting with House Republicans about a month before the RNC. National and state Republicans offered a series of at times contradictory explanations for the context of the comment.

The mayor hopes the attention during the RNC will result in future major conventions — perhaps even drawing the DNC back to Milwaukee someday for a redo of their own.

The spotlight includes national news media doing reports on Milwaukee as the convention approaches, said Peggy Williams-Smith, president and chief executive officer of Visit Milwaukee, a publicly funded nonprofit group that promotes Milwaukee as a travel destination.

"These are stories that would not (otherwise) be told," she said.

Mayor Johnson has welcomed Republicans to Milwaukee

The push to land the Republican National Convention began under former Mayor Tom Barrett, but Johnson took up the mantle with gusto.

Johnson ascended from Common Council president to acting mayor in December 2021 before winning the remaining two years of Barrett's term just a few months later.

In the interim, Johnson came in person along with fellow Democrat Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley as Wisconsin Republicans pitched the city to top Republicans. Milwaukee, they told the Republican National Committee in early 2022, could provide a "turnkey" operation built on the know-how gained from planning for the 2020 DNC.

Just months after his election, Johnson held a public signing of the legislation approving a framework agreement to host the RNC. The ceremony in the City Hall Rotunda came hours after the council unanimously approved the plan that took the city one step closer to securing its second major presidential nominating convention in as many election cycles.

"We have reached an important stage in our work to win the Republican National Convention in 2024, and I am hopeful that Milwaukee will soon receive word from the Republicans that they have chosen to bring their national convention in 2024 right here to our city," he said, surrounded by event organizers and supporters.

Sixty days later, he was shaking hands with RNC officials at the JW Marriott in Chicago after they signed the official document selecting Milwaukee to host the 2024 Republican National Convention. Surrounding them was a large Milwaukee delegation.

Then, preparation began.

Milwaukee's new 2% sales tax allows city to gain from convention

As Milwaukee courted the RNC, leaders in this deeply Democratic city needed help from the Republican-controlled state Legislature to avoid calamity.

In 2022, the city faced a "fiscal cliff" in the impending years that threatened to decimate city services. Among the city's top asks of the Legislature was permission to enact a local sales tax and an increase in the money the state sends back to the city, known as shared revenue.

Johnson said a convention like the RNC presented an avenue to grow the economy and draw attention, development and jobs to Milwaukee. It was an added benefit amid the city's financial challenges, he said, that the convention looking closely at Wisconsin's largest city was from the same party as those who control the state Legislature.

The city's courting of the RNC may have shown leaders at the state Capitol that the Democratic mayor and city would welcome Republicans, he said.

A year after the city first backed the RNC framework agreement, the Common Council voted to enact a new 2% sales tax the city won as part of a local government funding bill at the state level.

The tax plus additional shared revenue will not solve the city's financial challenges — and neither the tax nor the bill itself were without controversy — but the additional funding did help avoid the cliff over which city officials had been peering.

The new tax went into effect on Jan. 1, just in time for a convention of a scale Milwaukee has never seen.

Unlike with the Democratic National Convention, the city is now poised to capitalize on visitors' spending during the RNC.

"We want people to come here and enjoy themselves and support our economy and the workers in our economy," Johnson said. "Now, when folks come here and they spend their money, now they're leaving some money behind to support those public services that we provide."

Economic impact estimated at $200 million

Visit Milwaukee compiled the $200 million economic impact estimate for the RNC.

The estimate encompasses spending on such things as hotels, restaurants, taverns, transportation and event rentals. It also includes $75 million from the federal government to pay for security.

Visit Milwaukee used a standard tourism industry economic impact calculator.

The inputs included estimates compiled for the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Other inputs included figures from the post-convention impact studies of the 2016 RNC in Cleveland; the estimated 16,000 hotel rooms (including 2,000 Madison-area rooms) needed for the 2024 RNC, and a conservative estimate of 45,000 visitors.

Visit Milwaukee's Williams-Smith has heard from some local business operators questioning whether the economic impact will be as big as forecast.

She said it "will absolutely happen."

One anecdote to support the estimate: contracted nightly hotel rates during the RNC are ranging from $250 to $899, Williams-Smith said.

Hotels are being booked in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Jefferson, Dane, Walworth, Racine and Kenosha counties, she said. Milwaukee-area restaurants and other taverns also will more business.

Still, Williams-Smith said, "Not every restaurant or event venue is going to be booked for four straight days."

A $200 million economic impact would be a big boost to the typical annual spending by visitors to the Milwaukee area.

In 2023, that estimated figure was $3.525 billion in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties.

Some business owners worry about protests

Meanwhile, some downtown restaurants and tavern owners asked city officials to not stage the protest zone at Pere Marquette Park, which is near the Old World Third Street entertainment area.

They were concerned demonstrations could spill out of the park and disrupt their businesses.

Business operators, such as 3rd Street Market Hall manager Omar Shaikh, wanted the protest zone placed in MacArthur Square — an area east of the Milwaukee County Courthouse that's isolated from the street grid.

"We just don't want people screaming at people going into businesses that are mom and pop operations and dependent on tourism," Shaikh said.

The park had also been rejected by Republicans and the most prominent group planning to protest the RNC, the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024 — albeit for different reasons.

Republicans got their way when the U.S. Secret Service and its partners decided to include Pere Marquette Park in the "hard" security zone that credentials are required to enter. The agency cited as its rationale the RNC's rental of the Milwaukee County Historical Society building on the park's southwest corner.

The two locations city officials ultimately chose as demonstration areas — Haymarket Square, 1253 N. King Dr., and Zeidler Union Square, 301 W. Michigan St. — were also opposed by the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024 and the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which in June sued the city over expected demonstration plans.

The coalition, in a statement, said it "remains steadfast in our struggle against the City’s repression of our First Amendment rights."

Expanded Baird Center will help showcase Milwaukee

The Baird Center's $456 million expansion, which debuted in May, will host national and international news outlets, and host parties during the convention.

Don't be surprised to see network TV news live shots from the expansion's Baird Sky View Terrace with Fiserv Forum and other prominent downtown buildings in the background.

"There's no better way to highlight the Baird expansion," Williams-Smith said. "That will get us noticed on a national and international scale when people are booking conventions."

And, while Williams-Smith knows not all the news stories coming from Milwaukee will be positive, she expects the good to outweigh the bad.

"I think this is a community that's come together," Williams-Smith said. "Once it's over, you're going to see Milwaukee is an amazing place to live, work, and, of course, visit."

Tom Daykin can be reached at [email protected]. Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected].

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: RNC offers shot for Milwaukee to shine--after 2020's lost opportunity