Feature
Milwaukee Riverkeeper’s Spring River Cleanup
If you’re going to go out and enjoy a walk along any of Milwaukee’s rivers, now may be the team to do it. This past Saturday approximately 3,000 volunteers, myself included, descended upon Milwaukee’s river beds to clean up everything we could. This was the second year I had participated in the event, and I elected to work at the North Avenue/Hometown site again this year. Our group of 49 aimed to clean the east Milwaukee River bank from the former North Avenue Dam to just south of Locust Street. Walking under the bridge for the first time is always a reality check, especially this year, where it appeared seven individuals had made been living there It will be interesting to observe how the new UWM dorm on the Hometown site will affect the number of homeless individuals living under the bridge next year (and the amount of garbage). One would assume it would have the affect of reducing the number living there, and also reducing the amount of garbage. Unfortunately this doesn’t solve the obvious issue, that there are too few beds for the less fortunate in our community. Other sites, as the Journal Sentinel story indicates, aren’t about cleaning up the land around the river, but cleaning out the actual river itself. It appears sites along the Menomonee and Kinnickinnic Rivers are hotbeds for shopping carts and other non-natural things to inhabit the rivers. If you have a chance to next year, participate in the 2009 river cleanup. It’s a great opportunity to volunteer, as your hard work is immediately visible.
Apr 22nd, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
Commission Approves Near South Side Area Plan
Although this meeting of the City Plan Commission was light on large scale development projects, there were two items of interest on the agenda.
Apr 21st, 2009 by Dave Reid
Revitalize Broadway with Street Improvements
Broadway is the center of the action in the Third Ward, it works for business, pedestrians, and even automobiles. But just across I-794 it is a wasteland of surface parking lots and empty storefronts. While there are surely numerous factors in place that have hurt the vitality of this street, an area that can be addressed by the city to make it more attractive to business is to improve the pedestrian environment.
Apr 20th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Milwaukee Streetcar Round-Up
The Milwaukee circulator streetcar is moving forward, but there is still confusion in the mind of many. We've covered the issue in the past, but this article attempts to bring everything together in one place, the history, the frequently asked questions, and the proposed route.
Apr 19th, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
Complete Our Streets to Build a Better Milwaukee
The first thing most people see of Milwaukee's streets is the vast wasteland of potholes that mark each and everyone of them.
Apr 15th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Zweig Project Would Add a Twist to Milwaukee
The debate swirling around the Janet Zweig art project got me thinking about the value of public art to our city and how other cities embrace opportunities to enhance their public places.
Apr 13th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Lake Express Ferry Back In Action
The Lake Express ferry has returned to Lake Michigan in preparation for the first voyage of the season on May 1st. When the ferry was put in its winter berth, the folks at Lake Express created an excellent video of the boat's journey from the port up to the berth in the Menomonee Valley. Well it's not quite as amazing as the original video, they produced another one of the recent reverse trip. Enjoy.
Apr 12th, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
Accents on the Interstate, Lipstick on a Pig
If accent lighting on the interstate isn't the perfect definition of lipstick on a pig, I don't know what is. That said I'm not opposed to it. In fact, I think dressing the Marquette Interchange for the prom was a positive step forward. There is, however, only one thing I wish would have happened differently.
Apr 8th, 2009 by Jeramey Jannene
How Not to Run a Public Hearing
We often hear about the lack of "transparency" or that "the process wasn't followed," and it is actually my belief that often enough this isn't true.
Apr 6th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Would Neon Colored Ashtrays Have Been Acceptable?
In case you missed it, at yesterday's Public Works Committee meeting a previously contracted public art project was halted, because some of our Alderman didn't find the art to their liking.
Apr 2nd, 2009 by Dave Reid
Zweig Project Held by City Committee
This committee meeting had numerous items of significance relating to the built environment that were up for debate. A couple highlights (or lowlights) included the holding of a file over budget concerns, a heated discussion over Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (“CMAQ”) grants, and a most intriguing debate on public art. The approval of the schematic designs of public artwork which is to be incorporated into streetscape improvements within the first block of East Wisconsin Avenue was up for approval. The project put out a RFQ to which nearly fifty artists responded. Artist Janet Zweig was selected to design the artwork and at a recent Streetscape Public Art Advisory Committee meeting the committee approved the schematic design. The design would include five kiosks attached to five light poles. Each kiosk would essentially be a historical reference to a type of flip board system that existed in train stations. Each kiosk would display flip movies of Milwaukee, and would be custom built to hold 80 flaps. This project was funded under the federal CMAQ program to promote walking as an alternative method of transportation by making improvements to the pedestrian experience. Additionally, of the total project only a little over 1% of funds has been allocated to public art. Initially, Alderman Robert Bauman was concerned that there might be a cost to moving this project forward so he questioned, “tell us why this is even in front of us?” After much discussion it became clear that this file was just the approval of the schematic design and that as he said “rejecting this concept saves no money.” At this point Alderman Bob Donovan began railing against the design saying “Thomas Edison had that 100 years ago,” and that “I refuse to have my name associated to something as ridiculous as that.” Alderman Willie Wade took a more measured approach in his response to the work stating “I’m not impressed with this at all” and that “this is too old school for me.” Attempting to bring the discussion back to the overall idea of improving public space through the addition of public art Alderman Bauman explained that “art is in the eye of the beholder.” Debra Usinger, who appeared previously in regards to a Riverwalk project, explained that “public art is great” and that despite the sentiment in the room, this art works because “all of a sudden we’ve created discussion in here.” She added that “I think this is really innovative.” This file was held to all for public input. A file that would have funded a variety of nonassessable public improvements was held because of future budgetary concerns. Alderman Joe Dudzik questioned the wisdom of this spending while planning on significant layoffs, which sparked the discussion regarding holding the file. Wondering if there was a cost to delay action on the file, Alderman Dudzik questioned “is there any urgency in getting this file passed today?” Apparently if delayed projects might see a increase of 10% to the cost so the […]
Apr 1st, 2009 by Dave Reid
