Related Articles - Page 13
How Urban are Marquette, MIAD, MSOE, and UWM?
Milwaukee is lucky to have a number of higher education institutions in its most urban neighborhoods.
Nov 30th, 2010 by Jeramey Jannene
MSOE Proposes Parking Garage with Athletic Field in the Park East (Renderings)
Milwaukee School of Engineering is proposing the construction of a $30 million, 780-car parking garage, that would have an athletic field on the roof of the building. About 500 of the 780 parking spots would be leased to business and the general public, generating taxable revenue for MSOE.
Nov 10th, 2010 by Dave Reid
MSOE Students Present Design Ideas for the Marcus Center Garage Site
Despite work on the Marcus Center parking garage this past summer, there are still ambitious to redevelop the site in the near future. The repairs were done in an effort to keep the garage open until 2013, at which time a decision will be made to redevelop the site or be forced to do extension repairs.
Mar 23rd, 2010 by Dave Reid
Oops! No Money for UW-Tosa
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.
Sep 10th, 2009 by Dave Reid
UWM, Marquette, and MSOE Working Together
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.
Aug 27th, 2009 by Dave Reid
More “Great” Reasons for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to Expand in Wauwatosa
I recently gave up and said, "fine, let the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee expand in Wauwatosa."
Feb 19th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Fine, Let the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Expand in Wauwatosa
Back in March, 2008 I started an organization that worked to convince the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that expanding into Wauwatosa was the wrong choice for the university, the City of Milwaukee, and Southeast Wisconsin. T
Dec 30th, 2008 by Dave Reid
Gould Takes Journal Buyout, Rips Grohmann Museum One More Time
Whitney Gould took an early retirement buyout from Journal Communications a little over a month ago. Her send off column was titled “Retiring, not tiring of quality design.” Ever since moving to Milwaukee three years ago I’ve enjoyed her reporting on issues involving building design. My views began to disagree with hers when she started to question the restoration of the former check processing center on the corner of Broadway and State St into the Grohmann Museum, a museum dedicated to the showcasing of men (and women) at work throughout time, at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). I began to wonder if she cared that the new Grohmann Museum would finally build a book-end for the MSOE campus with the Kern Center, rehab an underused and unattractive building downtown, and build a transition piece from Milwaukee City Hall north to the Kern Center and Park East neighborhood. Add to that the fact that the financing was entirely provided by Eckhart Grohmann. In fact Robert & Patricia Kern and Eckhart Grohmann deserve nothing but admiration and applause for their commitment to producing well-rounded engineers in downtown Milwaukee. To be fair, Whitney Gould does address some of the these facts and does give a fair amount of praise to Grohmann for his contribution. I do disagree with her on a few things though. Her appraisal of the building as a cheap impersonation of the style of a bygone era is lacking in insight. One needs to only walk from City Hall, past the Grohmann Museum, and to the Kern Center to see the bridge the museum forms between the past and present architectural styles. Unlike many other bland glass buildings in many other cities, Grohmann and the architects at Uihlein Wilson created something distinctly Milwaukee and distinctly MSOE. The building meshes perfectly with the Kern Center both inside and out thanks to Uihlein Wilson designing both buildings, and forms a southern book end of the MSOE campus on Broadway to match the Kern Center’s north anchor position. MSOE should be praised for finally developing a physical identity, especially while both Marquette and UWM expand theirs in a much more public fashion. She, along with other members of the art community, also seem to take offense that no one that works at the museum has true art credentials. Speaking as someone who has been in the museum many times, the artwork is displayed just as it in any museum and curator John Kopmeier is just as qualified to discuss the content of the collection as anyone with an art degree. My final point of disagreement with Gould is over her obsession with the Nazi art work in the collection. She seems to hold this belief that the Nazi-attachment to the artwork is hidden from viewers, it’s not. It is not outwardly stated that “hey, this painting could contain Nazi slaves”, but if you ask someone they will tell you. They will also tell you that the paintings featuring Egyptians might contain slaves […]
Dec 22nd, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Chicago Leading The Way in Green Alleys
The city of Chicago, in its continual quest to be at the forefront of the implementation of green features, has launched the Green Alley Program. In a city with almost 2,000 miles of alleyways, this is a huge step. Nearly 50 alleys have already been built, with many more to come. The pavement allows water to drain into the water table instead of puddling and running to the sewer system. This obviously reduces the strain on the sewer systems, but there are other benefits to the program. The pavement reflects more heat, reducing the urban heat island affect that plagues urban areas in the summer. Dark-sky lighting fixtures are also installed that are not only more energy efficient, but eliminate the waste of light shining into the sky all night long. This keeps the alleys well-lit, while at the same reducing the light pollution that comes with life in a big city. Costs will continue to drop as more of the porous pavement is produced by cement companies and more of the dark-sky lighting fixtures are installed. The Chicago Green Alley Program properly bundles a series of efficiency and environmental improvements that are helping fuel a renewal in the quality of urban life. While programs like this go largely unnoticed now, down the road they’re going to be part of the decision process when you choose where you want to live (not the program itself, but the results). Cities that invest now are only adding to their bottom lines long-term, through both a probable reduction in costs and an increased tax base in neighbors that have the improvements. MSOE has a permeable pavement parking lot, which aside from being good for keeping water out of the sewer system keeps the surface of the lot a lot more dry during the rain and therefore a lot more pleasurable and safer to walk on (no puddles or slick spots). Permeable pavement is one of those things that the first time you see it in action, you wonder why it isn’t required in new buildings. It would be a true shame if Milwaukee does not adopt this same program in the next year or so, especially for a city that faces sewage discharges into Lake Michigan on a regular basis during periods of high rain. Milwaukee would be wise to at the very least make permeable pavement a requirement in all new construction in the Park East neighborhood. Special thanks to Jason Varone at the NYC-centric Streetsblog for drawing my attention to this development.
Nov 29th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
Free Public Showing
Rooftop figure Originally uploaded by johndecember MSOE’s new Grohmann Museum will be open to the public for free on Saturday, December 1st from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. I had class in the building all last trimester (there are a couple classrooms in the building), and would recommend you stop in to check it out if you’re in the area. It has a wonderful roof-top sculpture garden, which you’ll be able to get on weather-permitting and take a couple pretty pictures. On the note of the building itself, it’s a wonderful addition to Milwaukee. It’s a renovation of a previously underused and fairly ugly building, and for the first time creates an entry and exit point for the MSOE campus with the Kern Center. Admission is available any other day of the week for $5.
Nov 19th, 2007 by Jeramey Jannene
City Image Logo to be Unveiled Soon
The nonprofit Spirit of Milwaukee is undertaking an image rebranding for the community.
Jan 10th, 2005 by Michael Horne
More OIC – George Connections
Although the Gary George – OIC-GM connections are well documented, particularly those that have led to the convictions of George, Mark Sostarich and Carl Gee, recently-released audit information and other source documents indicate that perhaps the OIC-George connection needs to be further investigated. Nobody is accusing anybody of wrongdoing, but perhaps investigators should dig a little deeper into the dealings of George and those connected with him, if only to remove any hint of suspicion from settling on the mantle of the innocent. Take, for instance, the relationship between Todd Robert Murphy, OIC-GM and Gary George. Murphy was recently relieved of his Public Relations contract with OIC-GM, and was replaced by Martin Schreiber and Associates. The recent audit of the OIC-GM accounts indicated that payments made by OIC-GM to TRM Marketing Consultants, Murphy’s firm, were “unallowable expenses,” according to Paul Steiber of the State of Wisconsin. His review included two months during which Murphy received $4,000 per month from OIC-GM. Was this a “cushy consulting job,” as Leon Todd has suggested? Todd said the Murphy-planted cover story about OIC-GM that appeared in the Shepherd Express (and, interestingly, in newspapers in the African-American community) was “not enough” to save him his job. According to the audit, OIC-GM was not authorized to hire a public relations consultant with W2 funds. The Ethics Board did not have a complete accounting of the amount of money Murphy’s firm was paid over the years. The board was investigating “direct” payments, and Murphy’s were considered “indirect.” According to John Becker of the Ethics Board, the payments to Todd Robert Murphy’s firm “were not something we focused on.” Nor has the board “seen any checks,” from OIC-GM to Murphy, he said. One wonders if the State of Wisconsin Ethics Board should have done a better job reviewing its own documents, for the Statements of Economic Interests filed by George for the years 1999-2001 show that George received more than $1,000 per year from Murphy’s firm. It would be interesting to know how much exactly per year Murphy sent to George, and what he got in exchange. George also reported receiving funds from Petrie and Stocking, the firm that employed Mark Sostarich, who gave George kickbacks from OIC funds. George also received money from Coleman & Williams, Ltd., an accounting firm. Coleman & Williams also received money from OIC – to conduct an audit of the OIC books. Isn’t it odd that an accounting firm that received money from OIC-GM would also, coincidentally, be sending more than $1,000 per year to George, who was systematically swindling OIC-GM out of money, with the connivance of Carl Gee, the group’s director, and Mark Sostarich, the Petrie and Stocking lawyer? Bill Coleman, of the accounting firm, said the relationship was quite innocent, and that he had hired Gary George to do unspecified legal work for his firm. Since many aspects of attorney-client relationships are privileged, we’ll have to take his word for it. Still, workers at the Ethics Board, the United […]
Nov 15th, 2004 by Michael Horne
