'Going Home:' Bill Weir Rides Into Milwaukee, Wis.
Manufacturing city hit hard by recession reinvents itself.
Sept. 30, 2010 — -- When Bill Weir was a kid, the Harley Davidsons hummed, the breweries' brews flowed and the locally set TV show "Happy Days" was in prime time.
But much has changed in the city of Milwaukee, Wis., where over three decades, many people moved out of town along with jobs as several beer companies moved their headquarters to other states.
The latest blow came in April, as Harley Davidson threatened to move its factory operations out of the city. This time, the unions agreed to take a seven-year pay freeze to keep their "Milwaukee Iron" alive and strong.
"You know Harley has a tremendous connection to Milwaukee," said Matt Levatich, president of Harley Davidson. "Our headquarters still exist just down the street from where the three Davidson brothers and Bill Harley started the original factory shed. So that connection is obviously very deep and very strong."
Weir's parents divorced when he was a child. His father was an Army veteran, so he and his mother qualified for Veteren's Administration housing in a housing project called "Berryland."
Weir journeyed to his old neighborhood, where he was amazed to find it so nicely preserved. There, he met another single mother living in his family's old home.
The mother, Joan, left her manufacturing job for technical training and started a new business, "Cakes to Take." Weir was inspired by her entrepreneurial spirit, but the training and education resources at the core of the city are lacking.
Weir journeyed to his old elementary school, Carleton Elementary, where he was surprised to find boarded-up decay. In 1977, a five-week teacher's strike began a spiral to the bottom and the school system never recovered. More than 19 percent of families in Milwaukee live below the poverty level.
"I remember when I was a young kid in the mid '70s, a union card was your ticket to a good life," Weir said. "I mean, that was it. There were jobs, manufacturing jobs for all of my friends' dads. That's not the case anymore."
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