Riverwest Border Disputes

Dear Riverwest Currents,

I’m upset that a newspaper whose mission statement is to “respect diversity” would publish an article as mean spirited, condescending and inaccurate as Dan Knauss’s “Where is Riverwest.” (January 2003, page 9.)

Given the fact the article appeared along side legitimately researched features, Knauss’s writing gives the impression of being editorial policy for the Currents. My reason for protesting, however, is due more to the following statements made in the article: Knauss snobbishly refers to the area north of Locust St as the “Riverwest suburbs, thought by some to be “unfashionably respectable.”

According to Knauss the only true Riverwest is the “bohemian authenticity zone” located in the central and Southern part of the neighborhood.

Not satisfied with being condescending to the Northern half of the neighborhood, he totally disenfranchises a good 1/5th of the Southern part by stating, “The most commonly heard description of Riverwest’s boundaries set the neighborhood between Holton and the River and NORTH (emphases mine) to Capitol.”

The bizarreness of Knauss’s observations are further highlighted within the same issue of the Riverwest Currents. In that issue there are two ads, three articles, and seven photos from the part of the neighborhood Knauss states don’t exist. Think of the amount of ink and paper the Riverwest Currents could save by not having to report on this “commonly thought” of non-existent part of the neighborhood.

The cruelest part of Knauss’s article is in reference to the people who now live in the 1800 block of Booth, Pierce and Fratney. Knauss writes “the condo developments along Commerce St and “Beerline B” seem to be part of a different neighborhood,” thus inferring that they should not be considered a part of Riverwest.

To Mr. Knauss all I have to say is that I have lived in Riverwest since he was in diapers, that I have had my fill of people talking about how the Blacks or Latinos or Hippies were “not part of the neighborhood” and shouldn’t be included. Mr. Knauss, your understanding of Riverwest boundaries are as narrow as your mind. Trent Lott has nothing on you.

Where is Riverwest? It is bordered on the West by Holton Street, the North by Capitol Drive, and the East by the Milwaukee River, period.

Sincerely yours,

James Klisch

Writer’s Response:

I’m sorry that James Klisch misunderstood “Where is Riverwest?” He did not see the intended irony in my aside to East Siders, which was also a light-hearted poke at our local “bohemian” culture.

I live north of Locust and was amused to discover that some residents refer to this area as our “suburbs.” In my experience this has been little more than a humorous game of mock territorial rivalry among neighbors.

This is just the kind of thing that makes a community interesting as long as it doesn’t lead to the harsh exclusivity that Mr. Klisch mistakenly thinks I support. Disturbing references made in years past to Holton St. as Riverwest’s “Mason-Dixon line” are suggestive of a segregationist mentality; the “Riverwest Suburbs” label is not even close.

I was merely reporting that “the most commonly heard description” of Riverwest’s southern boundary is North Ave. I do not agree with this view, but I do recognize it as a legitimate – and legitimately contested – opinion. Tom Daykin, who writes about Riverwest for the Journal Sentinel, calls it “an area bordered roughly by North Ave., Keefe Ave., the Milwaukee River and Holton St.”

I do think it is obvious that “the condo developments... seem to be part of a different neighborhood,” and I know at least one Beerline resident who agrees.

There is the geographic barrier of the steep slope and Kilbourn/Reservoir Park, as well as the different socioeconomic significance of high-end condominiums as opposed to century-old Polish flats.

On the other hand, Glenn Siettmann, Geographic Information Supervisor for the DCD, has informed me that “the Commerce St. condo developments (Beerline ‘B’) will not be defined as a distinct neighborhood. It will still be considered Riverwest.”

Beerline residents could, in time, form their own neighborhood identity, associate with Brewers Hill, or decide they are Riverwesters. I will be pleased if the latter road is the one that is taken. The Riverwest Neighborhood Association also formally defines Riverwest’s southern boundary in its by-laws as the Milwaukee River.

Dan Knauss

Riverwest Currents - Volume 2 - Issue 2 - February 2003