Silk on Water announced Friday that it is temporarily closing its downtown Milwaukee location. For those that don’t know, it’s a gentleman’s club. The establishment didn’t close down due to a licensing fight or a slow week. They decided to take a stand for public safety. Shootings, gun violence, and disorder on Water Street and in entertainment district have reached the point where the owners decided they could no longer put employees and customers at that kind of risk without taking action. A bold move that I don’t think anyone saw coming.
A gentlemen’s club is not the institution anyone expects to deliver the sober assessment of the city’s nightlife. Yet here we are. Their statement was plain, but to the point. They can control what happens inside and immediately around their property. They cannot control what happens a few doors down, across the street, or on the walk to a parked car. So they closed, effective immediately, and said they will reassess in early November after looking at whether city officials and law enforcement have produced meaningful improvement.
“This is not about pointing fingers,” they said. It is about recognizing that what is being done today is not enough. They would rather lose revenue than have the next act of violence involve one of their employees or guests. That is a hard to argue with, no matter who is saying it.
Water Street has been carrying this problem for a while and it may be getting worse. Other spots have already gone dark. Duke’s on Water closed earlier this year. The Milwaukee Police Department is now planning to lease space in the old Duke’s building, just a couple of doors down from Silk, for a public safety use. That is not a complete answer by itself. A precinct corner and a closed club do not automatically fix a district. But a more visible police footprint on that exact block is the kind of practical step the club itself asked for: officers during peak hours, coordination with businesses, and real enforcement against illegal weapons and disorder.
Milwaukee officials have an opportunity to establish real control or risk the response looking like another round of statements and empty promises. Silk’s closure should be another wake up call. The question for the next two months is whether the area can get safe enough that a business with every reason to stay open no longer has to choose between the profits and the safety of the people walking through it.
