Don Behm

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A few dozen Pokémon Go players and property owners near Lake Park debated the merits of the game at a public hearing Tuesday at the Milwaukee County Courthouse while finding no common ground on how to manage daily throngs of mobile phone users searching for the game's pocket monsters and trampling the lawn.

Niantic Inc., the San Francisco-based company that developed the game, "created the problem in a small area of Lake Park," said County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman

"The county should sue the corporation for running an event in the park without a permit," Wasserman said after the hearing. He said he would be asking the County Board's judiciary committee to approve a lawsuit seeking "a cease and desist order" against the company.

Several hundred players have been cited for not heeding the park's closing hours and other violations of county and city ordinances since the mobile online phenomenon arrived at Lake Park in June, interim county attorney Colleen Foley said Tuesday at the hearing held by the County Board's parks committee. Vendors without county permits who show up to serve the daily crowds also have received citations, Foley said.

Parks officials have described Lake Park as one of the most active Pokémon Go sites in the Midwest.

Parks permit required for Pokemon placement

Grace Moon of Milwaukee said Tuesday that criticism of the players is an attempt to restrict access to the park. She described the walking required to play the game as "a win for public health."

Wasserman proposed an all-night Pokémon Go festival at Veterans Park or some other lakefront county park with bathrooms and parking as one way to lure players of the popular game away from Lake Park.

Wasserman represents the neighborhood around the park where residents are urging county officials to better control the large crowds of several hundred players a day.

"We need some type of relief," Wasserman said.

Carly Wilson, constituent services coordinator for County Executive Chris Abele, said developers of the game inserted pocket monsters at Veterans Park but that location is not as popular as Lake Park.

William Slaughter, a resident of N. Terrace Ave. near the park, said the county has "an obligation to be a good neighbor." He described the daily surge of players as "an unauthorized occupation of Lake Park" by a corporation, Niantic Inc.

He reminded county officials that they already regulate many uses of parks, from picnics at shelters, to sports and charitable fundraisers, as well as wedding photographers.

Speaking of Pokémon Go, Slaughter said: "You have the power to compel the company to move it somewhere else."

Parks Director John Dargle in August sent a letter to Niantic with a demand that the company obtain geocaching permits for each Pokémon character location with the county parks. The permit would require the company to monitor each location at least four times a year for damage caused by players.

The company has not responded to the letter.

Dargle has acknowledged that the game introduced thousands of people to the parks for a positive recreational experience.

But there have been negative consequences, too, he said.. He listed them in a memo to Supervisor Jason Haas, chairman of the parks committee: traffic congestion; parking problems along Wahl Ave.; littering; damaged turf; lack of restrooms; and risk of damage to natural areas.