At long last, the new downtown Milwaukee state park, an island in Lake Michigan, is opening to the public. It gets generally good reviews from Whitney Gould. [UPDATE: And from Jim Rowen, too.]

A couple of quibbles, however: It's already cost $17-million, and there no money to put in any benches? And it's porta-potties for a few years until a visitors center and rest rooms will be provided? Those omissions do not make it sound very visitor-friendly, especially for the aging and families with young kids.

A park with no trees and no shade?

No trash barrels?

Those problems are minor quibbles, and relatively easy to fix. But there's a bigger concern, too.

Gould says the park "[laid] the groundwork for resolution of a long-running battle with Summerfest over public access to that stretch of lakefront."