Chicago City Exchange Sees Milwaukee Leaders Discuss Big Ideas in Windy City

County Executive David Crowley delivers speech on Amtrak Hiawatha. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

“This isn’t a Milwaukee thing, this isn’t a Madison thing, this is a Wisconsin thing and together we can get things done.”

That was Hoan Group founder Ian Abston‘s message, told at 79 mph on the Amtrak Hiawatha Service as a group of young and mid-career civic leaders barreled toward Chicago Wednesday.

Along the way, the approximately five dozen attendees in a reserved train car were treated to a roster of speakers that included County Executive David Crowley, Department of City Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump, Michael Best managing partner David Krutz, Wisconsin Department of Transportation deputy secretary Kristina Boardman, Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood director Kelly Armstrong, von Briesen & Roper attorney Megan Jerabek and Michael Best chief innovation and technology director Jason Schultz. Many of the speeches focused on the need to think regionally and establish a sense of trust to achieve common goals across partisan divides.

Graham Anderson, a manager at Milwaukee Tool, discussed the group’s success in advocating for the overhaul of a state childcare tax credit, avoiding a benefits cliff.

After disembarking at Chicago Union Station, the first event was held at event sponsor Michael Best’s 23rd-floor office overlooking the Chicago River. In an off-the-record discussion firm President Reince Priebus, the chair of the Milwaukee 2024 RNC Host Committee, and former congressman Steve Israel (D-New York).

Attendees came from Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay and Kenosha and included UWM vice chancellor Makda Fessahaye, entrepreneur Kyle Weatherly, real estate developer Tim Gokhman, CARW executive director Tracy Johnson, JCP Construction president James Phelps, JP Cullen exec Sean Cullen, 128th Air Refueling Wing leader Col. Charles Merkel, Madison tech executive Scott Resnick, developer Michael Emem and Brewers Community Foundation president Cecilia Gore. Hoan is an invitation-based membership organization.

After stopping at Michael Best, the group was shuttled to Maggie Daley Park for a panel discussion on parks, public-private partnerships and transportation moderated by Southeastern Wiscosnin Regional Planning Commission executive director Stephanie Hacker. Participants included WisDOT deputy secretary Boardman, Studio Gang principal of urbanism and civic impact Gia Biagi and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning executive director Erin Aleman.

Boardman said Wisconsin has a generational opportunity to improve its infrastructure due to an influx of federal funding. “Many of the projects we have wanted to do that have been sitting on the shelf are finally getting done,” said the deputy secretary.

She also discussed the potential to replace Interstate 794 with a boulevard, saying WisDOT will narrow its options to two later this year: likely a narrowed elevated freeway and a boulevard option. The Chicago representatives said a similar discussion was underway with the city’s DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

The Windy City representatives also discussed the need to engage the community in planning processes and ensure that public-private partnerships were designed to be ongoing rather than one-time capital infusions.

After the panel ended, Biagi led a tour of the park she helped develop and discussed components ranging from how to get nationally recognized firms to bid on requests for proposals to how the fencing was chosen.

The day ended with a social hour and dinner on the rooftop of a River North building.