The preparation of the Downtown Plan Update has involved various public input sessions, countless hours of community and stakeholder input, resident surveys, the involvement of the business community, and the work of city staff. The process is still ongoing and the presentation before the City Plan Commission for approval was the next step in the process.

The riverwalk segment for the proposed Beerline B Apartments will go before the Milwaukee City Plan Commission on August 23rd. General Capital Group is bringing the riverwalk segment forward for approval before the entire project. The 140-unit project, which recently was awarded $2,345,310 in WHEDA tax credits for 119 low-income units, will occupy the corner of Commerce St and Pleasant St.

Milwaukee’s first bicycle plan came out in 1993. Since that time the city has realized most of the plan’s major recommendations and has added over 115 miles of bicycle lanes and routes to the city. The new plan lays out a Vision for Milwaukee 2020. That would include adding over 170 miles of new on-street bike infrastructure and almost 7 miles of new paved trails.

This week the City of Milwaukee announced its new downtown plan. The plans were informed by holding multiple public input sessions, numerous stakeholder input meetings, as well as a citywide survey.

People have been looking for a magic bullet to fix Milwaukee’s education system, and although what I proposed here isn’t the broad sweeping change many are looking for, I do believe in making incremental changes, when possible, to improve individual processes. Currently, Milwaukee Public Schools (”MPS”) has at least 15 vacant school buildings, many that have sat unsold for years, and a broken process to handle these sales.

At the May 4th, 2010 meeting of the Common Council, Alderman Bauman brought forward an item that would allow the City of Milwaukee to enter into a contract with an expert consultant, Jeffery Boothe, for the purpose of facilitating the next steps of the Milwaukee Streetcar project.

The Milwaukee Common Council recently passed a resolution creating a branding task force for Milwaukee, and certainly there is a place for creating a brand for Milwaukee, but the key to creating this brand isn’t a marketing campaign, catch phrase or tag line. It is putting action and investment behind the vision, because part of building any brand, is in fact the product.

After today’s news, nationally 2010 might go down as the year of high-speed rail, but here in Milwaukee it just might be the year of the Park East. By looking at the economy and listening to all of the talk of doom and gloom one would think this isn’t very likely, but it sure seems that momentum is building in the Park East corridor.

At Monday’s City Plan Commission meeting, Wangard Parnters Inc. will be requesting an amendment to the Detailed Planned Development known as HighBridge Condominiums, with the intent of moving the project forward, now redesigned as apartments and renamed as Metro Place.

At the January 6th, 2010 Public Works Committee meeting the first step was taken towards creating a special water rate that could be given to businesses in return for job creation within the City of Milwaukee. Specifically, the committee approved an application to the Public Service Commission requesting a rate category be created to accommodate this request.