Starting at 6 P.M. on St. Patrick’s Day everyone who rides MCTS rides for free.  The annual free rides are again sponsored by MillerCoors, who has been sponsoring the event locally since 1994.

If you drink, please think and don’t drive.

Kudos to MillerCoors, Milwaukee Irish Fest, and MCTS for continuing the excellent Miller Lite Free Rides partnership.

The residents of Waukesha County will love the Madison to Milwaukee high-speed rail line once it’s up and running, and not for any reason that readily jumps out at you.  Certainly residents of Waukesha County will likely use the train to get to Madison, but that’s not a big sell to the residents. Taking a train from Brookfield or Oconomowoc to the Madison Airport just isn’t all that appealing because of the distance. What is appealing though? First-class comfort from Milwaukee’s western suburbs to the heart of Chicago.

It’s all about Chicago, the capital of the Midwest. It always has been. The $823 million in federal funds isn’t about building a connection between Milwaukee and Madison, it’s about growing the link between those two cities and Chicago. There will be plenty of riders between Milwaukee and Madison, but viewing the line as simply a system for that is extremely misguided. Trains that originate in Madison will terminate in Chicago and vice versa.

What does that mean for residents of Waukesha County? A simple drive to a suburban rail station with free parking. Jump on a train with seats far more comfortable and spacious than what Midwest Airlines formerly offered. Pop open that laptop, hop on the wifi network, and enjoy a stress-free ride into The Loop in Chicago. Riders will be able to rack up billable hours, get caught up on email, read a book, or sleep. All options that are nearly impossible when driving. Get off the train and head to your destination in the heart of Chicago, by foot, cab, or another transit option.

Residents of Waukesha County have been able to accomplish this by driving to downtown Milwaukee and getting on the train at the Milwaukee Intermodal Station. That’s worked exceptionally well to-date, with ridership doubling on the Hiawatha over the past 10 years. The Madison high-speed line will extend the existing Hiawatha line through Waukesha County with a stop in Brookfield and Oconomowoc, making the trip shorter and more convenient, with increased service frequency. What’s not to like about a frequent, first-class train line with a stop close to your house with free parking?

If that’s not enough, the next planned extension to Minneapolis/St. Paul through Madison with potential stops in Wisconsin Dells, La Crosse, and Eau Claire will help increase the utility of the line.

Milwaukee has an unquestionably rich ethnic history that has been at the center of the cities identity ever since Juneau, Walker, and Kilbourn decided to merge their towns together in 1846.  There is a festival and slice of history for everyone in Milwaukee. In the past ten years something has changed in Milwaukee. Spain has emerged to have a number of ties to the city.

The first, and most iconic connection to Spain, is the Quadracci Pavilion expansion at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The building is affectionately known as “the Calatrava” after it’s designer, starchitect Santiago Calatrava. The Milwaukee Art Museum made a statement by selecting an architect not only from out of the state, but out of the country. The finished product was a beautiful building that has certainly become a showpiece for Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

Another connection came this summer after Governor Jim Doyle committed $47 million to purchase train cars from Madrid-based Talgo, a leader in the field of high-speed train set design. The train sets will be used on the Amtrak Hiawatha line from Chicago to Milwaukee (and one could guess will likely be used once the line is extended to Madison). The train sets weren’t the only thing received in the deal, as Talgo will locate a facility in the state for assembly and maintenance. We’ve opined on where we believe the facility should go, and we’ll see if Talgo agrees with an announcement expected soon.

The bold move by the state to agree to purchase the Talgo equipment in August certainly helped increase the odds that the Milwaukee to Madison line was selected for a $823-million high-speed rail development grant from the federal government. That move awards the state money to develop the line, including the purchase of train sets that will be made right here in Wisconsin by Talgo. It will be a great coup for Milwaukee if other high-speed rail corridors select Talgo for their train sets and those train sets can be assembled here, creating jobs and making Wisconsin a significant player in the high-speed rail arena.

The latest connection to Spain for Milwaukee is Monday’s announcement that Ingeteam will locate a manufacturing facility in the Menomonee Valley. The $15 million, 8.1 acre facility should be open by the end of 2010 and will manufacture wind-turbine generators. Milwaukee beat 80 other possible locations as the North American location for Ingeteam.

It’s important to note that none of the ties to Spain have weakened Milwaukee’s identify with other ethnic groups. Old World Third Street still has businesses that consider German history core to their identify, and patrons that will drink to that. Irish Fest, Polish Fest, and the Juneteenth Day Festival will still go off without a hitch. The Bucks will still regularly start five players from four different continents. Rest assured, Milwaukee’s title as “City of Festivals” is safe.

While it’s not like Milwaukee is seeing a wave of immigrants from Spain, it’s safe to think that Milwaukee is more well-regarded in Spain than the average American city. One has to assume Milwaukee is in a much better position going forward to attract increased Spanish investment, be it companies opening facilities or tourists.

So what’s next? What Spanish water company can Milwaukee lure to the Reed Street Yards?

This article was inspired by El Mariachi on SkyscraperCity

You’ve heard the sad story of Pizza Man, Cush, Black and White Cafe, and Grecian Delight, as well as the unfortunate residents that lost everything (fundraiser Thursday night). You’ve probably heard by now that there are some indications that the fire was started as an act of arson. What you probably haven’t given much thought to yet is what will occupy that iconic corner.

The building that housed Pizza Man was a unique mixed-use building.  It housed four retail stalls and ten residential units without any parking. It’s hard to imagine a new building being built with that ratio of residential units to retail stalls today, typically buildings today often contain a larger number of residential units. Also, as listening to any debate about any housing proposal in Milwaukee would tell you, buildings today don’t get built in Milwaukee without parking.

So what will replace Pizza Man? Unfortunately, all indications seem to point to something not as dense as the building that was previously there. This is a shame for a lot of reasons, but most importantly because it’s a setback for a neighborhood that’s improved rapidly in the past four years with the addition of Whole Foods (and offices above), Educator’s Credit Union, a small building housing three restaurants, the Kenilworth Apartments, Latitude Apartments (soon to be completed), the Downer Garage Redevelopment (in progress), and the Cambridge Commons (under construction). All of this development has happened on-top of the development of the new Columbia St. Mary’s hospital at the east end of the corridor. It’s a shame to lose a truly urban building in the middle of one of Milwaukee’s great urban neighborhoods.

The Money Problem

A bank will undoubtedly require parking as part of any mixed-use building, claiming that’s the only way to insure that the project will financially work.  Ironically, the previous building, which had no non-street parking, was one of the few buildings on the East Side that every retail stall was almost constantly occupied in. While the potential lenders demand for parking is probably justified in numerous places across the Milwaukee region, it’s been proven that you don’t need parking to operate a business (or four) at the corner of Oakland and North.

Redevelopment Options

There are a few easy and likely redevelopment scenarios for the iconic corner. A lot of the options are readily visible around North Avenue already.

One of those options is a building similar to the one that now houses Brueggers, Subway, and Ian’s Pizza (Prospect and North).  A one-story, all retail building. It could contain parking, and likely would as a result of zoning (the property is zoned LB2). This certainly isn’t the desired scenario, as it would likely mean surface parking and a reduction in housing in the area. Nor is the parking a set-in-stone inclusion, as a zoning variance could be obtained.

Another possible option is the construction of a bank branch similar to the new Educator’s Credit Union (Prospect and Ivanhoe). A two-story design that encompasses a first-floor drive-thru that is completely covered. This type of development isn’t perfect, but gives a slightly more urban feel than a surface parking at one end of the development.

A long-shot option is the construction of a project similar to Latitude Apartments with first-floor parking replacing any retail. This is unlikely because of zoning, and the traffic snarls curb cuts would cause at that busy intersection

Without a doubt, the worst case scenario for this site is the proposal for the development of a drive-thru restaurant, similar to the McDonald’s down the block.

Potential Work-Arounds

While there are certainly other creative financing solutions out there, two options come to mind to rebuild the corner in a true urban fashion. The first of which is for UWM to claim the site for a small residence hall. The second is for RACM to finance the redevelopment of a mixed-use building. It seems that likely without some amount of public financing, a building with less density is extremely likely.

Eight drafts, and a couple months later, the new regional transit authority plan for southeastern Wisconsin has been unveiled. Governor Jim Doyle introduced the new bill at a press conference at Bucyrus in South Milwaukee with Bucyrus President and CEO Tim Sullivan, Roundy’s CEO  and Chairman Bob Mariano, Northwestern Mutual CEO Ed Zore, AT&T Wisconsin President Scott VanderSanden, S.C. Johnson & Son Chairman and CEO J. Fisk Johnson, Johnson Controls Chairman, President and CEO Steve Roell, Greater Milwaukee Committee President Julia Taylor, and  Racine Mayor John Dickert.

This press conference was the unveiling of a plan originally announced on September 8th, 2009 by Governor Doyle at the Milwaukee Intermodal Station. This plan is the result of working with legislators following Doyle’s line-item veto of one of the regional transit authorities proposed in the state budget. Doyle was not satisfied with the changes made to regional transit authority proposal in his executive budget, and opted to veto the plan and go the route of introducing separate legislation.

For the sake of hopefully getting a good plan in place, going the “veto and separate legislation” route was a wise move on Doyle’s part. We’ve endorsed the idea before of a regional transit authority funded by a sales tax, and still stand by it as the right thing to do today.  The new plan is not nearly as aggressive as the old one, allowing Racine and Kenosha Counties to phase in over time. It does, however, provide desperately needed funding for Milwaukee County, contain language for an elimination of transit funding from the property tax (creating a tax trade-off instead of a new tax), and allow for development of the KRM Commuter Rail line to go forward which will better connect Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha, as well as Wisconsin and Illinois.

Despite what County Executive Scott Walker tells you, we think this is a good plan to get southeastern Wisconsin transit out of the death spiral it’s in. It’s also worth pointing out the irony of the knee-jerk reaction of some Republicans to dismiss this plan as a new tax, while the businesses and people they claim to represent are on-stage asking for it.

Other Coverage

• BizTimes: Andrew Weiland
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Larry Sandler
• Milwaukee County First: Chris Liebenthal
• The Journal Times: Stephanie Jones
• The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee
• The Daily Reporter

It’s time to look back at all the predictions we made for last year, and see how overly optimistic we were.  As it turns out, I don’t think we were that far off.  It was nice to read over this list and see how many things did happen in urban Milwaukee in 2009, as it seemed like a rather bleak year at times.

Last year at this time it would have been hard to imagine that two 20+ story buildings will soon be under construction in Milwaukee. Yet, The Moderne is preparing to break ground and St. John’s on the Lake is under construction.  Each took a form of government assistance to get started (St. John’s no-interest bonds, The Moderne received two municipal loans), but when each is finished they will begin paying property taxes.

Without further ado, here’s a breakdown of our predictions for 2009.  Comments on what actually happened are in red.

Top 10 Milwaukee Urbanist Wishes for 2009

1. UWM Expands Engineering School in downtown Milwaukee. Santa has yet to deliver.
2. The RTA receives funding in the Governor’s budget and the KRM project moves forward. Trying again this year.
3. The Mayor’s streetcar plan is selected as the preferred alternative and the project moves forward. – Things are looking good.  The $91.5 million was divided between the County and City, and the Mayor has pushed forward a plan for a streetcar starter system.
4. The proposed widening of I-94 is dropped by the DOT. Well that didn’t happen.
5. The City of Milwaukee enters into no water deals that would send water across the continental divide. At least for now, no deal has been made with Waukesha. All signs, however, point to the fact that a deal is likely, and that it will likely be a huge issue in 2010 for both cities. Will the terms of the deal favor Milwaukee, Waukesha, or both? Only time will tell.
6. The plans to replace the Hoan Bridge with a lower bridge that activates the land at the north and south ends of the bridge move forward. A lack of political will appears to have doomed any action here, even a simple study. And it’s a shame, because when you spend $200+ million, you should probably ask, could I do this differently? In the meantime, however, Patricia Jursik was entertaining with her witch hunt for anyone she thought might be trying to deprive her constituents of access to downtown.
7. The City of Milwaukee moves aggressively to convert more one-way streets to two-way streets in Downtown Milwaukee. East State Street is being converted to two-ways, but in a way that’s way more confusing than it needs to be. This appears to be a result of the Mayor caving to the wishes of MGIC.
8. The City of Milwaukee makes additional bike lane improvements and enhancements, including “cycle tracks.” Hasn’t happened yet.
9. Milwaukee County finally moves forward and installs bike racks on buses. Good news, it happened. And even today, in freezing cold Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I saw two bike racks being used. Finally MCTS was able to take advantage of federal funds that were available to pay for 95% of the project.  Predictably, County Executive Walker, no friend of buses or bicycles, called the entire thing “ridiculous”.
10. The City of Milwaukee utilizes market rate parking at meters throughout downtown Milwaukee. Rates went up, not in any way that truly works as a parking benefits district though.

Top 10 Development Projects We Would Like To See Move Forward in 2009

1. The Moderne – It’s happening, full-on construction is awaiting some utility work to be completed over the next few weeks.
2. The Catalyst – It’s not happening, nor will it likely ever be happening as it was originally proposed.
3. Pleasant Street Market – Hard to see this project happening when a high-end grocery store is announced across the river by New Land Enterprises and the Nehrings, who were to be the rumored anchor tenant.
4. Bradley Center redevelopment – No big news in 2009, other than the state (which technically owns the Bradley Center) awarded the facility $500,000/year over the next ten years for capital improvements. That money will apparently lead to a new scoreboard next year.
5. The Gallun Tannery redevelopment. – Nothing to report on here. There were rumors it was going to be sold, but nothing ever materialized from that.
6. Second Phase of The North End – It’s likely that sometime this year, the Mandel Group will bring a financing request similar to the Moderne or Bookends North to the Common Council. The Common Council and Mayor seemed to grease the skids with loans and loan guarantees for other projects that will make this project more likely to go forward in 2010.
7. The Transera (Goll Mansion redevelopment) – It has full Common Council approval, but there is no indication that construction will start on this Prospect Avenue tower anytime soon.
8. Second Phase of the Downer Avenue redevelopment – There was serious discussion of building a boutique hotel on the north end of commercial corridor on the site of the old Associated Bank (E Park Place and Downer Avenue), as the bank is now relocated into the parking garage. For reasons that aren’t totally clearly though, nothing materialized.
9. Riverboat Landing Condos – Not going to happen, the land is now for sale. At least there will be a brand new bridge next door. For $2,500,000 the land is yours, but don’t let the description fool you, the land isn’t on the East Side, and the bridge isn’t finished yet.
10. Second Phase of The Edge – No sign that the second phase of The Edge will happen anytime soon, as the first phase didn’t open until the spring of 2009. It would be surprising to see news on the second phase in 2010.

Top 10 Development Projects We Will Likely Be Following in 2009

1. Openings of numerous projects at The Brewery (former Pabst Brewery). Cardinal Stritch University, Zilber Park, The Brewery Parking Garage, Blue Ribbon Hall, Blue Ribbon Loft Apartments, Albion Group Architects, Inland Companies, AMB Development Group LLC. Open!
2. Openings at the South Water Works (former Transpak buildings). Open!
3. Construction of the UWM Hometown site dormitory. Under Construction (and ahead of schedule)
4. Construction of the Aloft Hotel. Just opened!
5. Construction of St. Johns on the Lake. Construction started recently.
6. Completion of 1824 E Park Place. Open!
7. Construction of New Land Enterprises’ Kenilworth and Farwell apartment building. No longer property of New Land, but still under construction on track for a 2010 opening.
8. Expansion of Marquette Engineering School on the edge of downtown Milwaukee. Under construction
9. Expansion of Cardinal Stritch into downtown Milwaukee (at The Brewery). One building open, potentially more to come.
10. Expansion of UWM Engineering School in Wauwatosa. They bought the land, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Megabus, the no-frills intercity bus company with an intriguing pricing scheme starting at $1, has revised their service schedule between Milwaukee and Chicago.  Unfortunately two trips have been eliminated in each direction.  One can only assume it’s because of the economy and that January through March has always been a down travel period for Megabus (something they compensate for by giving away 100,000 tickets).

Megabus buses loading and unloading in Chicago

It’s hard to fault Megabus for dropping the routes if they’re losing money.  The service survives without any direct public subsidy. To that end, Megabus has always been tuning service, whether it was dropping service to Pittsburgh and Louisville, adding service to Madison and Champaign, eliminating the entire West Coast operation, or installing wifi and power outlets on every bus. Sad as it is to see service cuts, the service appears to continue to thrive because of the constant eye placed on the bottom line.

Thankfully with the more-expensive, but quicker Amtrak Hiawatha in the mix there are still are numerous options to go from the Milwaukee Intermodal Station to Chicago Union Station.  The only true lacking in service options is a real late night train to be able to come back from events such as concerts, games, and festivals in either city.  Hopefully the KRM/Metra commuter rail service is one day able to bridge that gap.

Here’s to hoping that instead of getting reduced, service continues to improve between Milwaukee and Chicago. New Talgo passenger cars are on the way for Amtrak, and Megabus has wifi and power outlets on-board now. The technology is looking up, hopefully the service offerings follow.

Milwaukee to Chicago (runs that were eliminated highlighted in red)

• 6:30 AM (arrive 8:30)
• 8:30 AM (arrive 10:25)
• 1:00 PM (arrive 3:00)
• 2:30 PM (arrive 4:25)
• 7:00 PM (arrive 8:55)
• 9:45 PM (arrive 11:45)

Chicago to Milwaukee (runs that were eliminated highlighted in red)

• 7:00 AM (arrive 8:55)
• 9:30 AM (arrive 11:05)
• 11:30 AM (arrive 1:25)
• 3:00 PM (arrive 4:55)
• 5:30 PM (arrive 7:25)
• 9:30 PM (arrive 11:25)

Effective Megabus and Amtrak Schedule – Milwaukee to Chicago (as of December 1st, 2009)

• 6:15 AM (arrive 7:57) – Amtrak – Monday through Saturday
• 8:00 AM (arrive 9:29) – Amtrak
• 8:30 AM (arrive 10:25) – Megabus
• 11:00 AM (arrive 12:29) – Amtrak
• 1:00 PM (arrive 2:29) – Amtrak
• 1:00 PM (arrive 3:00) – Megabus
• 2:30 PM (arrive 4:25) – Megabus
• 3:00 PM (arrive 4:29) – Amtrak
• 5:45 PM (arrive 7:14) – Amtrak
• 7:35 PM (arrive (9:04) – Amtrak
• 9:45 PM (arrive 11:45) – Megabus

Effective Megabus and Amtrak Schedule – Chicago to Milwaukee (as of December 1st, 2009)

• 6:00 AM (arrive 7:29) – Amtrak – Monday through Saturday
• 7:00 AM (arrive 8:55) – Megabus
• 8:25 AM (arrive 9:54) – Amtrak
• 10:20 AM (arrive 11:49) – Amtrak
• 11:30 AM (arrive 1:25) – Megabus
• 1:05 PM (arrive 2:34) – Amtrak
• 3:00 PM (arrive 4:55) – Megabus
• 3:15 PM (arrive 4:44) – Amtrak
• 5:08 PM (arrive 6:45) – Amtrak
• 5:30 PM (arrive 7:25) – Megabus
• 8:05 PM (arrive 9:34) – Amtrak

This is what 250,000 Miller Lites look like.

In what serves as the unofficial start of winter in my book, MillerCoors (still weird to say) unveiled their annual holiday lights display last week.  This year’s display features 250,000 LED lights and as in years past, the music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

The holiday lights at MillerCoors are one of the small things that make Milwaukee a little brighter in the winter, and a great place to be.

If you want to stop by and see the lights yourself, the “Holiday Lites” show runs three days, each Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 5 – 8 p.m., starting December 3^rd and through Saturday, Dec. 19^th. Shows run every 20 minutes and are included as part of the free Milwaukee Brewery Tours.

Below is a message from Kerry Thomas of Transit Now, a leading champion of mass transit for the Milwaukee region.  There is a rally on Saturday in West Allis for transit funding for MCTS.  We’ll be there, and we hope to see you there. Milwaukee can’t afford to have MCTS in shambles. Milwaukee needs dedicated transit funding.

Last week at meetings of the Coalition for Advancing Transit and the Racine Transit Task Force we heard about the many accomplishments made for transit in 2009. We also heard about the new Regional Transit Authority (RTA) legislative bill. We learned about the urgency and importance of the immediate action of contacting legislators and building overwhelming visible support to move the RTA forward now. This RTA bill is our last chance for many years to get an RTA in place that will save bus systems, keep KRM Commuter Rail moving ahead, get people connected to jobs, create new jobs, and get our regional economy moving.  Without an RTA, our transit systems will continue to crumble, people will be cut off from jobs, and KRM Commuter Rail and other job-creating transit projects will be shelved. With out the RTA we could lose it all.

We also learned that our window of opportunity is short:

• Nov-Dec 2009: Draft RTA legislative bill is fine-tuned, and legislative sponsors gained. Public support MUST be visible and strong!
• January 2010: Legislative floor session begins. With enough support the RTA bill will be introduced;  an all-out effort is needed in terms of advocacy and public visibility.
• January 2010: Milwaukee and Kenosha begin instituting more transit fare increases and service cuts. Racine to follow in 2011. They need our support!
• April 2010: Legislative session ends, along with the last realistic chance to pass an RTA bill for years, and safeguard the economic health of SE WI for decades. We cannot miss this opportunity.

Come join us at the Rally for Transit, Jobs, & Economic Growth!

Let’s make our voices heard loud and clear, here and across the state! We can get an RTA and create new jobs and economic growth but our window of opportunity is VERY short.

Join us at the Transit Rally! It’s time to get the RTA moving forward!! We can’t afford to wait.

Saturday, December 5 at 1:00 PM
Veterans Memorial Park, National Avenue at 70th St. in West Allis, WI
On bus routes: 54, 76, and 18
Park on west side of Market Square parking lot (near Pick N Save), enter off National Avenue just west of 70th St.)

The RTA is urgently needed now
Dedicated funding for buses is needed now. We cannot afford to wait and watch our bus system crumble and KRM Commuter Rail get sidelined along with the jobs and economic growth it would bring.
- Our regional economic growth and economic competitiveness are paramount and depend on good regional transit and an RTA.

- Job connections and job creation must be a top priority and also rely on a vibrant regional transit network and an RTA. We need to invest in creating jobs!

- We must create the environment where the economy and jobs can grow: transit is a necessity and an RTA is needed to support a good regional transit network.

- Transit cuts are imminent and will hurt businesses, workers, and tax payers when people can’t get to work, school, shopping, healthcare. Transit dependent people rely on transit services as their lifeline. Unemployment and isolation hurts everyone. We must have adequate, dedicated transit funding now.

Black Friday is just around the corner, and we want in with the Wal-Mart’s and Best Buy’s of the world.  No we’re not opening a big box store at Pabst Farms, but we are unveiling a new feature on the site.  If you’re one of those inquisitive types that likes to read books (or even someone that just likes to own books to look smart), please consider buying a book from our list of recommended urbanist books.  A small amount from each sale goes to support Urban Milwaukee, and we promise to invest 100% of that money back into Milwaukee’s economy, likely at a tavern.

And if you’re feeling really generous, we still have Milwaukee Streetcar t-shirts for sale.

We promise to continually update the list, add a few specialized lists, review the latest books we’ve read, and bug you to buy stuff at least once every two months from now on.  You’re welcome!

Have a great Thanksgiving!