Suburban freakout: bus shelters, ads would ruin Bluemound Rd.

[Updated, with photos, from 10:57 a.m.] Bus shelters are banned in Brookfield, the Waukesha County suburb bordering Milwaukee.

Some of the 'burbs look down on icky transit, including the light rail former Brookfield GOP State Rep. Scott Jensen helped kill, but seriously - - no shelters? 

In our weather? Imagine heading for work in the Polar Vortex or coming home from the mall or the day care in a deluge, or just standing out in the elements.

Remember that similar disrespect took place when Southridge Mall in Greendale at the Milwaukee border no longer wanted a bus stop close to its main entrance?

Do I read this correctly?

Nearly five months of study didn't satisfy all of the concerns of city of Brookfield aldermen. 

On a unanimous vote, a discussion of allowing bus shelters in Brookfield ended with the issue being postponed for the second time. 

In April, Clear Channel Outdoor came before the city requesting that the council make an exception to its rule against off-site advertising in order to pave the way for six bus shelters to be installed along Bluemound Road.

Bluemound Rd.?  Already replete with shops and businesses and strip malls and commercial signage, but does Brookfield view it more as a scenic byway that would be ruined with bus shelter ads:

"People living along North Avenue, Capitol Drive, Bluemound, Pilgrim, these are all major arterials," [Ald. Scott] Berg said.  

"There are stretches (in Milwaukee) that are housing areas that look a lot like what we see in some of the older areas of Brookfield. People in Milwaukee seem to have adjusted to (shelters with advertisements) just fine. Whether an identical development is inherently different because it's in Brookfield is an interesting judgment we're being asked to make." 

"I really think that we really need to look at this," [Ald. Lisa] Mellone responded. "This is Brookfield. This is not Milwaukee."

Ah, now we're getting to the heart of the matter.

Bus shelters are too Milwaukee, and in Brookfield, shelters and ads could spread from Bluemound Rd. to residential areas. In fact, shelters, with or without ads, just might attract more users, and is that the problem?

When I have time today I will head over to one of the awful bus shelters in Milwaukee and other suburbs so you can see the horror for yourselves:

This woman and her children have managed to walk unescorted past a bus shelter in suburban Whitefish Bay that is also perilously close to the high school and nice housing. Whew!

There are four bus shelters - - an outbreak - - at the intersection of Wauwatosa and North Avenues in suburban Wauwatosa. No visible damage to the bank, school, city hall and nursing home/medical complex on the corners, and the passersby seem OK. Whew! 

This shelter with advertising at the corner of North and Oakland Avenues in Milwaukee seems to have left the new housing and pedestrians there unscathed Whew!

Bayshore Town Center and these unsuspecting citizens in suburban Glendale seem to have survived this bus shelter on E. Silver Spring Dr. Whew!