Gemcitabine Hydrochloride and Cisplatin Before Surgery in Treating Patients With Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have histologically confirmed urothelial carcinoma of the bladder or urethra; patients with urothelial carcinoma of the prostatic urethra only may be included at primary investigator (PI) discretion; T-stage must be T2 to T4a; patients with radiographic N0 disease or N1 disease are eligible for the study; patients must not have radiographic evidence of metastatic disease; mixed histologies which are predominantly urothelial, such as with squamous or micropapillary differentiation, are allowed so long as there is no component of small cell histology; histology must be confirmed by a pathologist at an institution involved in this study * Patients must be candidates for radical cystectomy with the goal of cure * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1 * Leukocytes \>= 3,000/mcL * Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/mcL * Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL * Total bilirubin =\< institutional upper limit of normal (ULN) * Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)(serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT)(serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 X institutional ULN * Patients must have adequate renal function defined as creatinine clearance \>= 50 mL/min; for eligibility, creatinine clearance may be either calculated using the Cockcroft-Gault formula or measured with 24 hour urine collection; note that 24 hour urine collection is required at baseline, but does not have to be used …