Comments on: Public Weighs in on UWM’s Wauwatosa Expansion Plans

By: mike

mike — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:00:27 +0000

The UW system already provides more convenient alternatives for residents of Racine, including UWM, UW-Parkside, UW-Whitewater, and UW-Waukesha, which covers just about all the classes you could take at UW-Madison.

> God forbid someone actually utilize the many parking structures at UWM.

That doesn’t make UWM any easier to get to. I’m not going to go through this all over again. UWM has a large number of commuter students, and UWM believes they can get more. The current east side location of UWM is in the middle of a residential neighborhood, not near the freeway, and is land-locked. It sucks for commuters, there’s not much room for growth, and lots of surrounding residents (paying above avg taxes) aren’t thrilled about more students and more congestion in their backyard.

Adult education is a growing market, if you haven’t noticed all the advertising in the last 10 years. Adults tend to have full-time jobs, live in a house, have kids, and own a car. Their time is limited, and they’re not interested in lingering around campus after classes. The Milwaukee metro area is the largest concentration of adults in the state, UWM is the largest college in Milwaukee, yet they can’t effectively serve their market at their current location. Why is it so absurd then that UWM expand its campus to better serve commuter students? The current east side campus isn’t going away. If an undergrad student wants an experience where 95% of the students live on campus, there’s 12 other UW system 4-year schools they can attend.

By: Jesse Hagen

Jesse Hagen — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:17:01 +0000

Yes mike, the only two options available are live with walking distance or drive 30 miles. God forbid someone actually utilize the many parking structures at UWM.

What’s next, complain about your drive to UW-Madison from Racine, then demand they have classes closer?

By: mike

mike — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:24:03 +0000

You guys are so obnoxious. It’s not practical for everyone to move within walking distance of where they work. Aimee is a state taxpayer too, and has every right to support a campus that is more convenient for people who don’t want to live in 900sqft apartments with elitist snobs on the east side. God forbid UWM would expand its student population to include working adults who own cars.

By: Dave Reid

Dave Reid — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:12:05 +0000

@Jesse yup

By: Jesse Hagen

Jesse Hagen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:10:03 +0000

Word to the wise, don’t complain about your drive if you choose to live ~30 miles from where you work/go to school.

By: Aimee

Aimee — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:18:13 +0000

I attended a few graduate classes at UW-Milwaukee in the College of Engineering and work in downtown Milwaukee. I no longer attend classes there because it is extremely difficult for me to get there and park in time for evening classes after work – and makes for a really long day to head home to Genesee.

There is a very real population of people who work full-time for whom it would be much easier to attend a campus in Tosa. Some of these people have excellent real-life experience that would greatly benefit students who have done nothing but school their whole lives. I think it is very necessary to consider the option of the Tosa campus.

By: Brad

Brad — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:25:15 +0000

Mike, your comment from November 12th states:
Oh yes, *that* kind of vibrant. House parties where gang members show up to rob everyone,

Clearly you never went to UW-Milwaukee and know nothing about the campus life. I never heard of a party being robbed by gang members my entire time there and the east side in general is a safe area. I think that you should probably not talk about things that you know nothing about. It makes you sound ignorant.

By: Nick Aster

Nick Aster — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:59:11 +0000

Has anyone raised the subject of the Hartford Avenue School? It’s a great school, but perhaps it’s time to move it? IT’s the dead center of UWM, has a lot of space used by blacktop. Imagine if the school could be moved somethere and that land used for a couple of dorms, and a central gathering place like a small central park!

By: John

John — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:14:50 +0000

@Mike There is plenty of space in Milwaukee for UWM to grow, and not even necessarily in the east side. Just a short distance away exist capitol ave, UWM already has a park and ride and a warehouse over there. Why couldn’t UWM expand over there? There is nothing but empty warehouse around that area with a retail park mixed in. I truly believe that this should be the area UWM expands to, and a big plus is that its right off the interstate.

By: Dave Reid

Dave Reid — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:48:42 +0000

@MP Further I’d add it currently is the center, but UWM is actually, today, collaborating with MSOE and Marquette on real projects. That is something they should be growing.

By: Dave Reid

Dave Reid — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:47:51 +0000

@MP Your suggestion of being on the other side of the street would certainly improve the plan. Because as it stands now people will still have to drive from the proposed UWM (tosa) site to any collaboration with MCW or GE (like 1.5 miles despite being able to see it).

By: MP

MP — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:38:46 +0000

Sure, they’re talking about plopping a research facility on green space, but it’s adjacent to THE center of academic research in Southeastern Wisconsin (MCW + Children’s + Froedtert + Blood Center). MCW alone has hundreds of researchers, graduate students and post-docs right across the street. And given that they bring in something like $150 million per year in external research funding, UWM is right to get cozy with them. The new faculty want joint appointments and research space at MCW (http://www.jsonline.com/business/66731082.html). If their labs were on the existing campus, downtown or on the harbor, UWM could only hope that they drive out to the west side each day to cultivate those relationships.
So…now that plans have been downgraded from an entire campus and research park to just a few buildings, why not push for construction on the other side of Watertown Plank? Get a building that physically connects with the existing research labs so they can eat in the same cafeteria, share parking lots, have direct access to existing animal facilities, and more easily use big-budget equipment?