It remains to be seen if new Harley-Davidson CEO Arthur Starrs, who took the helm in October, can turn around the company’s sales decline. Some wonder how the former leader of Topgolf, which has had plenty of its own problems, can revitalize a motorcycle company.

But Starrs has already made several big changes at Harley, including some with a significant impact on Milwaukee.

Perhaps most significant is Starrs’ move to have employees return to the company’s corporate headquarters on the city’s west side. Starting this month, corporate office employees who live within 50 miles of the Harley headquarters are required to work in the office at least three days a week. That will increase to four days a week in September.

Harley essentially abandoned its corporate headquarters during the pandemic, making it a company that was only technically based in Milwaukee, despite its status as one of the city’s most iconic businesses.

Previous CEO Jochen Zeitz didn’t think it was important for the company’s employees to be in the office, and Zeitz himself seemed to spend little time in Milwaukee and maintained a home in New Mexico.

With its headquarters unused, Harley converted a large parking lot there into a beautiful park. Nice, but that doesn’t make up for the void created by the loss of a corporate headquarters and its employees.

There’s considerable debate about the value of having employees working and collaborating together in an office versus the freedom of letting employees work from home. But last year a major Harley investor said the company’s culture had declined, expressing alarm about the extent of its work-from-home policy and called for Zeitz’s removal, saying the company was poorly served by “absentee leadership.”

Hopefully Starrs’ approach to bring employees back to the Harley HQ provides a big boost to the company, and the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Harley is making a smart move for its Homecoming festival, reverting to major milestone celebrations every five years rather than an annual event, as it had been recently. The anniversary events have been huge in Milwaukee, drawing massive numbers of Harley riders from all over the country.

Initially the idea of making it an annual event was enticing, making Milwaukee like Sturgis, South Dakota, hosting a gigantic Harley event every year. But the annual event never took off in Milwaukee. The number of visitors around town was noticeably smaller and big crowds for concerts at the lakefront were largely made up of locals.

Another good move is Harley’s return as a Summerfest sponsor. The company will sponsor 4th of July celebrations at Summerfest, including a fireworks show, which were canceled in recent years due to lack of sponsorship.

We’ll see if Starrs can get Harley heading in the right direction, but his influence is already being felt in Milwaukee in a positive way.