Politics are at work, given the election season.  Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker blames the economy and is downplaying his decision to raise fares over the past several years, and transit advocates are saying that the drop is due to large fare increases and service cuts (fewer routes).

It’s a finger-pointing situation I really hate, so I decided to go straight to the data, presented for you here to make up your own mind.

First, here’s data associated with Walker’s argument: that the declining economy explains the downturn in ridership.

Stats geeks will want to know that the correlation is indeed significant and negative. But taking a closer look at the data makes me wonder if unemployment really drives less ridership. Take a closer look at the graph. There’s a pesky outlier on the bottom right hand side of the graph. That’s the 8.5% unemployment rate in 2009, and it’s most likely skewing the correlation.

Translation: while there might be a relationship, Walker’s overemphasizing the impact of the economy on bus ridership. More on this point later in the post…

Next, take a look at the relationship between fare prices and ridership. Here, we’re testing the assertion that fare increases and service cuts lead to drops in ridership.

As evident from the graph, the relationship between fares and ridership is significant and negative. That is, as fares go up, less people decide to ride.

While both the economy and fares have a statistically significant relationship with how many people decide to ride the bus (even in the regression models I ran), if I had to bet on either I’d bet on fares as the major factor in play here.

Why fares? It’s because when you look at the historical data, there’s a massive spike in ridership in 1979 and 1980 (see graph below).

Remember in 1979 the Iranian Revolution led to an energy crisis and recession – high gas prices, long lines at gas stations, cats and dogs living together, etc. If Walker’s argument is correct, then bus ridership in 1979-80 should have dropped precipitously. Instead, during hard times, people turned to public transportation.

Today, during hard times, people might be using transit more if County government reduced fares.

Of course, this doesn’t mean we should slash prices either. If we look again at the graph with fare prices (the middle graph), it shows that there is an ideal price at which to charge riders, around $0.75-$1 (the point at which ridership peaked). In theory, this price should maximize ridership, and bring in additional revenue to the transit system to cover costs.

Bottom line: Walker has evidence to back up his bad economy claim, but he shouldn’t be ignoring the fact that fare prices have a more important relationship with ridership totals. In other words, Walker’s budgeting decisions have led to less ridership.

Guest post by: John Kovari

John Kovari is a Ph.D. student in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the 2008-2009 Norman N. Gill Fellow at the Public Policy Forum.  Additionally, he has served as a legislative assistant to city of Milwaukee Alderman Michael Murphy.

Rendering along Thomas

Wednesday night the Greenwich Village Neighborhood Association held a meeting to discuss Mercy Housing Lakefront’s East Side apartment proposal.  Alderman Kovac started the meeting out explaining that “the process begins now,” but if this meeting was any indication then it was the end as this project was voted down by the neighborhood group.

Mercy Housing Lakefront attempted to explain that this is really workforce housing, not low-income housing.  Meaning that the vast majority of the units the household income levels could be as high as $45,000 a year.  Lisa Kuklinski, of Mercy Housing Lakefront, stated that, “this proposal is for workforce housing, not Section 8 housing, and that tax credit development “subsidizes the buildings, not the people.”  The building would have studio apartments starting at $325, and at the high-end three bedroom apartments which could rent for as much as $1,050 a month.  Of the 83 units only eight would target entry-level wage earners, essentially people making about $10 an-hour, eight would target retail managers-level wage earners, and 67 units could include experienced technicians at Columbia St. Mary, entry-level teachers, and entry-level police officers.

The building itself would have a masonry base, 2-story lobby on Farwell Ave., and would likely be LEED certified.  The building would contain 115 parking spots, 30 of which U.S. Bank will use during the day, and allow for public parking at night.  Further, the design would remove one curb-cut from the property, adding a couple additional on-street parking spots.  The building itself would top out at around 90 feet tall, somewhat taller than nearby medical office building at 70 feet.

Responding to questions regarding the impacts and benefits of the development David Lyon, regional director of housing development for Mercy Housing Lakefront, responded that the residents will be “living and spending their money” in the neighborhood.  He added that “we pay full boat property taxes,” and Lisa Kuklinski followed up with “where we are present, the neighborhood has improved.”  Additional, questions came up regarding the land sale process, the buildings height, parking, and traffic.

The group took an informal vote with the majority of the crowd voting against having the city continue on the path towards extending a purchase option.  The vote appears to have had the desired impact of stalling or halting the project as had the project been moving forward at this point it was to be on the agenda for the March 22nd City Plan Commission meeting.

Part of this evolution is actually a strong athletic program.  Regardless if the emphasis on athletics at institutions of higher learn is good or not, it’s true.  The public face of a university is its athletic program.  When people think Ohio State they think football.  When people think North Carolina they think basketball.  Although UWM won’t realistically ever reach those lofty levels, athletics play a role, so much so that some schools have increased enrollment after NCAA Tourney appearances.  Simply, a successful athletic program could lead to more national recognition, increased alumni giving, increased exposure potential students, and in the long run help raise enrollment.

A first, albeit small step, in building a strong athletic program would be to return men’s basketball to campus by building a new on campus arena.  The construction of a new arena would send a clear signal that the school is committed to athletics, and strengthen the bond between school and student.  Just the ability for students to walk to the game, attend pep rallys, and events on campus will create a better student experience and lead to higher involvement.

Certainly, there are potential issues, such as the availability of land, how to fund the construction, the real or perceived issue of the lack of parking, and the U.S. Cellular Arena becoming even less utilzed.  But a growing UWM is good for all of Milwaukee and building a new on campus arena would be one, small step that UWM could take to continue growing.

Rendering looking NW on Farwell

Mercy Housing Lakefront, Inc., intends to construct a 9-story apartment building with 75 apartments and eight townhouses on the existing 13,400 square-foot, city-owned surface parking lot at the corner of N. Farwell Ave. and Thomas St.  Additionally, it will have 85 garage spaces for residents and 30 garage spaces for use by US Bank and the public, which would replace most of the surface parking removed for this development.

The $12.7 million project will be financed in part through federal housing tax credits from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Administration (WHEDA).  The developer intends to reach an EBE participation level of 25% during construction of the project, and will  pursue LEED certification for the project.

Rendering along Thomas

It should be noted that this, is the first of a long process prior to the land sale and the City of Milwaukee has a extensive list of requirements prior to the final sale.  This list includes, DCD approval of final construction plans, evidence of financing, developer purchase of part of the US Bank parking lot, and the final building plans must be consistent with preliminary plans the developers submitted and conform to Detailed Planned Development zoning.  At this week’s Public Works Committee meeting, a file will be introduced that would authorize a purchase option on the city owned land contingent on these requirements.

Tom Daykin has more information.

Map of Vistas (click to enlarge)

Thou art thyself, though not Milwaukee. What’s Milwaukee? It is not block nor building, not park or plaza or any other part belonging to a city. Would a city by any other name have so much potential? So Milwaukee would, if not Milwaukee called, retain that dear structure which it owns without that title. What is in the name Milwaukee anyway? Fortuitously, the name is derived from the Algonquian word Millioke, which literally means “good/beautiful/pleasant land”.

There is a small, but key section of the city, which is of great importance to the city’s future. There are great buildings, public spaces and many vistas in this section of the city that deserve to be spoken about and areas that should be improved, that if composed correctly can create a proper pedestrian heart for Milwaukee. This area is shown on the map and centered on the river walk. The overall idea is to activate the riverwalk, and turn it into a linear public space similar to State Street in Madison or Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. In order to accomplish this it is necessary to do two things: attract people from all around the city to walk down to the river and to encourage people to walk up and down the riverwalk. Both of these objectives are accomplished by composing certain types of activity around the riverwalk into architecture that is integrated with and manifests itself out of the urban plan and the beautiful opportunities it presents.

Image 1

The vista looking north on Water Street that terminates into City Hall is an excellent example of this, shown as vista 1 on the map (image 1). The building use, the architecture and the urban plan all work together to make this an exceptional illustration of the word Millioke.

On the north end of the selected region, please note that these vistas are not listed in order of importance but from north to south (To see individual images please see the photo gallery bellow). The bend in the river is the natural convergence of several vistas. The proposed movie theater will work as a great “anchor” for the river walk and Water Street. However, it must be executed correctly as the bend in the river terminates six vistas: North Water looking south (Image 2), Knapp Street looking west (Image 3), McKinley Avenue heading east (freeway exit), North Edison heading north (Image 4) Water Street looking north and most importantly the river walk heading north (Image 5). It is important to success of a pedestrian core that strong visual elements are created to poetically terminate these sight lines as interesting visual elements encourage human activity.

Image 6

Moving south along the river, the eighth and ninth vistas are created by the fact that Highland Street does not line up across of the river. Looking west, the building that terminates vista eight is appropriate. However, the vista looking east, vista nine here, has no real visual termination (image 6). The structurally deficient parking garage along this sight line needs to be redeveloped soon and should address this vista and promote use of the pedestrian bridge in its design. This building will also connect Water Street with red arrow park and the Marcus Center for the Performing arts.

The tenth vista is heading east on State Street (image 7), the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts building does a wonderful job of terminating this vista, especially at night with the new LED lighting system.

The eleventh vista is heading west on State Street (image 8). From the east side of the river there is no visual marker attracting people to the river. A well designed mixed-use building constructed on the corner of 3rd and State, where there is currently a surface parking lot, would terminate this vista effectively and activate the river walk adjacent to Pere Marquette Park.

Image 9

Vista twelve (image 9) is also terminated very effectively with the Intercontinental Milwaukee Center. The unique building design works to attract people down Kilbourn Avenue from the County Courthouse to the river walk.

Viewing the Milwaukee County Courthouse from up on the hill on the east side of the river revels the opportunity to create a multiple or tiered vista. Traveling west there comes a point around Market Street that the courthouse is no longer visible and due to elevation the Milwaukee County Historical Society building is also not visible (image 10). The building is not tall enough to terminate the vista from the other side of the river, but its quality is great for Pere Marquette Park. An intermediate size monument could be used to complete the layered vista between the grand scale of the courthouse and the intimate scale of the Historical Society.

The fourteenth vista is terminated with an early twentieth century building called the Cawker Building. It sits on the northwest corner of the river walk and Wells Street (image 11). This building and activity does what is supposed to do for its location. It activates the river walk and terminates the vista looking west on Wells toward the river. Nothing fancy, but it works.

On Wells Street there is no termination of the vista looking east toward the river (image 12). So there is no visual element that will attract people from the Midwest Airlines Center to walk down to the river walk. The parking lot on the corner of Wells and Plankinton currently terminates this vista and lines the river walk. A well crafted building here could be a great addition to the city.

Image 13

Vista sixteen is Mason Street looking east and is terminated with early twentieth century buildings on the other side of the river. It is also flanked by the Daniel Burnham designed First National Bank building that enhance the character of this vista.

Vistas seventeen and eighteen are on Wisconsin Avenue looking east and west toward the river respectively (images 13 & 14). The post modern building does a nice job of greeting and attracting people heading east toward the river. Heading west on Wisconsin Avenue terminates in the classical revival Marshall Field’s building also designed by Daniel Burnham. This building could make a great backdrop for a monument to terminate this vista, the crane working hear almost lets you see how a strong contrast between a monument and the building can attractively terminate the vista.

The turning and shifting of the river creates many angles and perspectives to view buildings and monuments while walking up and down the river walk. The continuity of the picturesque setting is only broken up by surface parking lots and traffic speeding across the bridges. Sociologist studies indicate that human activity feeds off of other human activity. Creating a linear pedestrian friendly public space in the heart of the city will stimulate activity downtown bringing more people to live, work and play in downtown Milwaukee.

Guest post by: Matthew Trussoni

Matthew Trussoni, PhD, PE, RA is currently an Assistant Professor in and an alumnus of the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Architectural Engineering Department. After graduating MSOE he attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. where he completed a dual master’s degrees program in the School of Architecture in 2005 earning the degrees of Master of Architecture and Master of Urban Design. In 2009 he earned his Ph.D. in civil (structural) engineering in the Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Department. His professional experience has encompassed both architecture and engineering as he is a Registered Architect and Professional Engineer in the State of Florida.

It’s a non-starter for a variety of reasons.  This demolition would include at least four buildings with historic designation, some of which have received both local and national historic designation, but it isn’t as simple as to say that these buildings are historic and therefore shouldn ‘t be demolished.  Often hardship or deterioration is an unfortunate but acceptable reason for demolition, though in this case Next Generation Real Estate Inc. has been involved with these properties throughout much of their decline, so that hardship is at least partially self-inflicted.  Finally, the designation and history is an important factor, but it goes beyond that.  These buildings are part of the fabric of downtown Milwaukee.

Demolition of these buildings will remove an opportunity for Milwaukee to have another unique, vibrant, and urban street.  Just ten years ago the great buildings on Milwaukee St. sat nearly vacant, while today it has become one of Milwaukee’s great streets.  What would downtown look like had the buildings on Milwaukee St. been torn down?  Further from our memory, is that this almost happened to Brady St., and just what would the East Side be without Brady St.?  Thankfully, both Milwaukee St. and Brady St. were saved, and are now two of Milwaukee’s great streets.

Regardless of how this development plays out, the various scenarios don’t point to a positive outcome.  The worst case scenario is the project falls during apart during demolition leaving new surface parking lots or worse yet an empty pit, like the failed Terraces at River Bluff project at 1339 N Milwaukee St., right on the corner of Wisconsin Ave. and Broadway.  The best case scenario for this project brings a loss of history, uniqueness, and opportunity right in the heart of downtown Milwaukee.  Further, if this project were to move forward it might snap up the potential tenants that the Rainier Properties II LLC’s Park East office building proposal is attempting to sign.  This would be a significant loss for Milwaukee as the Park East proposal has a clear chance of catalyzing further development in the Park East, and fill in what is already vacant land, while adding new value to the city’s tax base instead of simply replacing what already exists.

Hopefully, Next Generation Real Estate Inc. will realize what they have, forget about these plans, and work with the city, much like Compass Properties did with the Historic First Wisconsin building, to obtain financial assistance so they can improve and rehab their existing buildings, bringing life back to Wisconsin Ave. and Broadway.

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.

Another site under consideration is the existing Great Lakes Water Institute on E. Greenfield Ave., but this site is actually the worst of both goals, branding and revitalization.  The area does need revitalization, but there just isn ‘t much of a neighborhood to revitalize as the site is fairly isolated.  Further, the existing Great Lakes Institute is in reality a former tile factory, not a first-class research facility.

While E. Greenfield Ave. is fairly isolated, the Reed Street Yards is located in the center of an area that has seen significant recent redevelopment efforts, and adding the School of Freshwater Sciences to the mix could build upon these efforts.  This area has a supply of office space, such as the recently redeveloped project at 234 W. Florida St., that could be utilized by start-up research firms.  The area also has affordable rental apartments for students and staff to live in.  In terms of collaboration MMSD’s headquarters is located adjacent to the site, and the city has already put forward a plan that would utilize TIF funding not just to build the needed infrastructure, but also includes financial incentives to help land the first water business.  The biggest concern, and possibly the show stopper for this site, is if the boat access is insufficient, but if that challenge can be surmounted this site could be successful.

As I said in a previous article “The re-development of the Reed Street Yards is the next piece of the puzzle to the revitalization of Walker’s Point,” and building the School of Freshwater Sciences here, not only makes sense, but could be what gets this effort rolling.

I believe that larger vision should revolve around the fresh coast image and more specifically water.  Many parts of this vision are still in flux, and there’s certainly no guarantee it will be successful, but creating a vision around water can be appealing to tourists, and be an economic driver for our region.  Water research, use, purification and availability will play a critical factor in economic development in the future and Milwaukee should capitalize on this opportunity.

To do this Milwaukee can’t simply convince people that it’s future revolves around water, it needs to prove it.  The city needs to act aggressively by creating policies, such as WAVE water rates, that can be used to recruit water related industry to Milwaukee.  Additionally, a variety of tax credits, TIF, and RACM bonding need to be available to assist in the recruitment of firms. To get the effort moving forward UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences needs to break ground this year, and Marquette’s water law program needs further exposure to attract more students.  Potentially, an annual Milwaukee Water Conference could be created that would bring in firms and researchers from around the world and expose them to what is happening in Milwaukee.  Finally, the city should create water features, albeit fountains or green features that involve water, as these would be visible reminders for tourists to see and connect with Milwaukee.

A city that seems to of, intentionally or not, followed this pattern is Portland, OR.  Portland didn’t just run a marketing campaign and overnight become Bike City USA.  They built bike infrastructure, held biking events, passed policy that supported biking in Portland, and continue to do so, all of which combined to create the brand.  It is only when action and investment fulfills a vision will a brand stick, so hopefully Milwaukee can look at how cities such as Portland have successfully transformed themselves and follow a similar plan to make Milwaukee the world water capital.

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