Cities in the Midwest will be competing for residents and tourists over the next century. Unfortunately, it will continue to be difficult for Milwaukee to compete with the likes of Chicago in terms of sheer volume. So Milwaukee needs to continue working to distinguish itself.

What is regionalism? Judging by the way it’s often used in Milwaukee, regionalism would appear to be the notion that new projects should be built further and further away from the City of Milwaukee to serve Waukesha County residents. Case in point? The planned engineering school expansion by UW-Milwaukee to be built in western Wauwatosa in what can only be described as “suburban style”. It’s also used as a way to reconcile the flight of businesses from the region’s urban center.

If the goal of regionalism is to create a stronger region, then moving items out of the urban core and building them in a car-only suburban style sprawled across Greater Milwaukee is a sure fire way to fall short.

Regardless of what neighborhood it is, the development of new apartments is a growing trend in Milwaukee. Currently there are two prominent projects vying for City of Milwaukee financial support in one form or another, the Bookends and The Moderne. Outside of the two proposed towers there are numerous other projects at various stages around urban Milwaukee.

On Friday, Mayor Barrett unveiled three streetcar routes under study to the attendees of UEDA’s Community Development Summit.

The Mayor walked through the three possible routes and numerous possible future extensions. He broke down how successful systems in cities such as Seattle, Portland, and Tacoma have started with routes similar in length to the proposed for the Milwaukee Streetcar system (2 to 3 miles).

To think, I was just about to put the UW-Tosa t-shirts up on the new Urban Milwaukee store, maybe I can hold off now? Apparently, UWM’s backing out of the fight to locate the School of Freshwater Sciences on the former Pieces of Eight restaurant site ruffled some feathers, and Michael Cudahy decided to return the favor by backing out of funding UWM’s proposed Wauwatosa location for the Engineering School.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Patrick McIlheran recently took a swing at my Hoan Bridge article, Hoan Bridge: Tear Down Another Freeway in Milwaukee?. While getting things wrong about the article, such as missing that I would maintain the highway as a spur out of the Marquette Interchange that would land east of the Milwaukee River, he did manage to get one point spot on.

“… it reduces the Lake Parkway into a conduit useful only for reaching downtown.”

The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Marquette University and Milwaukee School of Engineering announced that the universities are collaborating on seven energy technology research projects. These projects are being conducted as part of the Southeastern Wisconsin Energy Technology Research Center, which ties the universities together with local companies, such as Rockwell Automation and WE Energies, to conduct research in the area of energy technology. The initial projects involves green concepts and advanced technologies such as wind turbines, Li-Ion Batteries, CO2 recycling and sequestration via algae, and nanowire thermoelectric materials.

The debate over the reconstruction of the Hoan Bridge is one that has ignited controversy in Milwaukee for almost a full year now. Southsiders under the direction of Supervisor Patricia Jursik have united around the Save the Hoan Coalition. Meanwhile, Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman has presented a differing vision for the future of the Hoan with eight principles that should be followed in any reconstruction effort. There is an awful lot of confusion around the issue, and the manner in which WisDOT has handled it is far from their usual course. This article examines the potential source of the debate, and a potential outcome that is a win-win scenario for both the City of Milwaukee taxbase, and southside and suburban commuters.

Great cities have great street food. It is plays a role in the activation, the vibrancy, of the street life. The vendors themselves play a role in encouraging and supporting this vitality by becoming a part of the culture, and the community. The “Hot Dog Guy,” who has operated on the corner of Wisconsin Ave. and Water St. for many years, created a bit of a spectacle on the street, a line thirty people deep formed, he banged away preparing their food, and there was constant chatter on the street.

Normally we would greet you on Monday with an urban advocacy piece, but we were a little too busy enjoying all that urban Milwaukee had to offer this weekend. While normally just one of these events would pass as a big entertainment attraction across every other Wisconsin city, urban Milwaukee had at least eight organized and noteworthy events going on this weekend.