Turning back time

Getting old can be brutal.

Everything creaks, cracks, droops and groans. One ol’ gal in Milwaukee can relate. She’s turning 112, and her face is lined and weathered.

So she’s doing what anyone in the public light would do. She’s spending a ton of money on a facelift.

And she’s hired the best surgeons to do the job. They’re not exactly spring chickens either, clocking in at 114 years old, but she’s confident they’re still on top of their game.

And they better be because, boy, how times have changed. She can recall a day when such personal improvement cost just a fraction of what she’s paying now.

She’s not rich, so she’s turned to her family for help. Some give freely, knowing that she symbolizes every principle that her city was founded on. Others are grousing.

They wonder why someone so old would ask for so much.

The fact is, not everyone looks at Milwaukee’s City Hall with a sense of wonder and pride. They see an old, narrow building with crumbling terra-cotta, and they blanch at the $59,927,218 price tag to fix her.

Shock is a fair reaction to such a high cost, especially considering that the construction firm of Paul Reisen built the Henry C. Koch and Company-designed structure for almost exactly $59 million less. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, it took $945,311 to build City Hall, while the city threw in another $71,624 for fixtures and furniture.

That probably wouldn’t even cover the down payment on the $5.5 million in scaffolding wrapping the old building today, much less the actual work taking place. But such is the price of beauty.

Some buildings just aren’t worth the money or the effort. It seems that every month, there’s another round of public school projects getting shot down in referendums.

Taxpayers just don’t want to shell out the cash, and you can’t blame them. But for every misguided project, there’s another that’s worth every penny. This is one of them.

Milwaukee celebrated its City Hall project on Feb. 24, 1894, when it laid the cornerstone of the building. Imagine the sense of pride, ownership and even gemütlichkeit that those builders and the city felt that day.

And as this old building celebrates her 112th birthday with some much-needed improvement, you’ve got to wonder: Why would anyone feel any different today?