Downtown block parties are coming, use of bike racks on MCTS buses doubles year-over-year, explore the Historic Concordia neighborhood with HMI, UWM gets a zoning change, The Moderne is meeting hiring requirements, and kids can ride free on the Amtrak Hiawatha this summer.

The 11th installment of Eyes on Milwaukee focuses on transit, development, and new restaurants. The Downtown Transit Center’s redevelopment is inching closer to reality. The Milwaukee Museum Mile is a new marketing effort for some overlooked museums. Service reductions are coming to the Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha commuter bus service, and the Milwaukee City Clerk is still tweeting, thankfully.

If you care about transit in Milwaukee, or if you simply want the best view of the city available, come to the 40th floor of the US Bank Center next Monday night, April 16th from 5:30 until 8:00 for a cocktail hour and discussion on the future of transit in Milwaukee and how we move through the city.

Welcome to the fourth installment of Eyes on Milwaukee. This week we take a look at free bus rides for St. Patrick’s Day, the idea of applying Moneyball principles to project renderings, how Police Chief Flynn has apparently managed to cut in half the service calls originated from MCTS buses, the notion of a new union for UWM, and more.

The previously announced new express bus service from the Milwaukee County Transit System, MetroEXpress, has likely made its impending arrival to regular riders with signs posted on affected bus stops all over Milwaukee County. MCTS has just recently released the full list of stops for the MetroEXpress routes and other affected routes.

As the US economy continued it slow recovery from the Great Recession, Milwaukee was left with a couple of failed development projects to complete or redefine, a changing real estate market, the opportunity to make small infrastructure changes, and questions about the future of transit.

The Milwaukee County Transit System has unveiled a name for the new express service, and for the three new express routes. The express service will be known as MetroEXpress, and will begin service January 29th, 2012.

In 1992, Marquette proposed closing Wisconsin Avenue to vehicular traffic between North 11th and North 16th streets, as well as North 12th and North 13th streets between Wisconsin Avenue and Wells Street. Closing a section of Wisconsin Avenue was intended to make the campus safer and more attractive, and it certainly would have had a big impact on the university and city, but would it have been positive?

Due in large part to a reduction in state aid starting in 2012, the Milwaukee County Transit System had planned for a massive reduction in service. Thanks to some last minute creative planning by those at MCTS, the vast majority of those cuts are on track to be avoided thanks to the use of CMAQ funds. The CMAQ funds, allocated out of a competitive bidding process, will provide funding to institute “express service” for two years along a number of key corridors which will replace segments of a number of routes. A public meeting, hosted by Supervisors Marina Dimitrijevic, Jason Haas, and Patricia Jursik, on the proposed Bayshore – Airport Express service was recently held to present the service to the community and answer any questions on the upcoming questions.

There is no question that the connection between Milwaukee’s lakefront and downtown is underwhelming. Despite the fact that they meet at Lincoln Memorial Drive, there is no grand connection between the two, which is unfortunate as the intersection of Lincoln Memorial Drive and Michigan Street is a gateway to the city.