County Says They're Not Trying to Shut Down Pokemon GO in County Parks

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele insists that Milwaukee is not trying to shut down Pokemon GO in county parks after it sent a letter to the game's developer - urging it to comply with county "virtual geocache" guidelines.

"... I was discouraged by recent reports that created some confusion around the County’s position on Pokémon GO," he said in a written statement this week. "We’ve enjoyed watching the Pokémon GO phenomenon take off in our County parks. Pokémon GO has brought thousands of new users into our parks at events like our Poke-nic in Mitchell Park and just by visiting Pokestops all throughout the County."

A Pokemon GO-filled clarification

The County Executive continued his statement, issuing a clarification on what he would like to see of the Poké Stop shuffle, chock full of puns and creative aphorisms from the popular game.

"I believe that the County’s PokéCoins should be spent investing in new amenities everyone can enjoy, expanding our Urban Parks Initiative, and upgrading more parks to be ADA accessible – not on additional park patrols and clean-up crews necessitated by a few bad Krabbies who won’t pick up their Muk. That’s why we’ve asked Niantic, the developer of Pokémon GO, to simply follow our documented permitting process for geocaching so that they can share in the responsibility of maintaining these spaces. It’s not a Mystic request; more than 400 local users have applied for and received these permits over the past eight years and we think large corporations should be held to the same standards."

Original Story - Aug. 23

Officials from the Milwaukee County Parks system are attempting to shut down the popular game Pokemon GO in Historic Lake Park.

In addition, the county is demanding that the creators of Pokemon GO remove all Pokemon GO sites from all county parks in order to comply with area ordinances and permitting.

The County has sent a letter to Niantic, the creators of Pokemon GO, demanding they shut down the game in Lake Park, and re-apply to put Pokestops and Gyms back in the park under the county's "Virtual Geocache" guidelines.

Historic Lake Park, located on Milwaukee's near north side just south of Shorewood, has become a Pokemon Go hotbed, with players flocking to the area. The county calls it one of the most active Pokemon Go areas in the entire midwest.

Its popularity, according to the county, has created a variety of issues, including:

• Daily traffic congestion
• parking issues
• littering
• compacted and damaged turn
• risks to sensitive flora and fauna habitats
• noncompliance with park system operation hours.

The Letter

"The Pokemon phenomenon has introduced hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals to our park system and has resulted in many new positive experiences...However there have been other unanticipated and negative consequences from Pokemon-related activities which have caused significant disruption within Lake Park and in adjacent neighborhoods., wrote Chris Abele, Milwaukee County Executive and John Dargle, Jr. Director of Parks Recreation and Culture.

Although the county is welcoming the creators of Pokemon Go to re-apply for their Pokemon GO sites, the county makes it clear that it's not necessarily a sure thing, and is subjecting the game's creators to physical monitoring requirements if they clear the approval process.

"As noted, should Niantic, Inc., be granted permission to place Pokemon GO sites within any Milwaukee County park, it will thereafter be responsible for regularly monitoring each cache (4 times per year is recommended) and reporting vandalism or deterioration of property."

Photo courtesy of Eduardo Woo via Flickr