MILWAUKEE — It's been an active Wednesday in downtown with President Biden in the area. TMJ4 was outside the Pfister hotel when his motorcade drove through Jefferson Street and dropped the President off at the hotel for the night.
That means residents can expect closures and barricades to stay put around the perimeter until Biden leaves the city Thursday morning and for store owners within the area, that also means less business.
"It's been very quiet," Diane Wilson told TMJ4. "No cars, really no people."
Wilson is the owner of P'Dia Tailoring and says the empty streets are unusual for a Wednesday on Wisconsin Avenue where her store has been located for the past 14 years.
The president's visit blocked traffic for cars and only let people get to her store on foot.
"We didn't know what to anticipate," Wilson said of the closures. "We always thought everything would be further [toward the Pfister]."
This isn't the first time the store owner has seen a sitting president make their way through downtown. Wilson saw former President Barack Obama during his two trips to the city while he was in office.
"[Traffic] was just about this same, but this looks a little more intense than that was," she recalled.
That intensity in detours this time around slowed down business for her neighbors across the street, too.
Solomon Bekele owns the restaurant Alem Ethiopian Village and tells us cutting off the street to cars has affected the number of customers coming in for a meal.
Solomon Bekele owns the restaurant Alem Ethiopian Village and tells us cutting off the street to cars has affected the number of customers coming in for a meal.
"It's kind of slow, mostly foot traffic only, no regular traffic because people are parking too far," said Bekele. "And the president is staying overnight, too, so this is going to be like this for the whole evening, I think."
Bekele says, that while it's exciting to see a president stay so close to his shop, the security measures have isolated customers from businesses within the perimeter.
However, despite the slowdown, the owner says his doors will be open for business as usual.
"We are still open! We want people to come in, to walk over, park a little farther out, but walk over," Bekele laughed.
Both Wilson and Bekele say, that despite the slow business, having presidents come to town and put downtown Milwaukee on the map is great for the city.
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