A Wisconsin Thread

[dbrok]

I'm kind of surprised at the lack of interest for Wisconsin information, but maybe this will help get things started. Having lived in the Milwaukee area twice, and the fact that my parents still live in Brookfield helps me keep in touch with what's going on there.

Milwaukee has changed so much since I graduate high school and moved away in 1998. During the 90s it was pretty boring and kind lived up to its stereotype portrayed by Laverne & Shirley: a city of bowling in a state of cheese that was lost in the '50s.

When the Calatrava Art Museum opened a few years ago, that all changed. The museum and its beautiful unique design has been a catalyst for new buildings, design and commerce.

Here are some photos from a recent trip:

The new Discovery Center hands-on museum and aquarium on the left is directly influenced by the Calatrava

New condo projects along the lakefront

A mural downtown

No trip to Milwaukee is complete without a brewery tour

The State Fair is one of the biggest attractions in August. Attendance can reach about 100,000 per day on the weekends

[Randy@Tacoma]

Neat-O! Id love to visit Milwaukee sometime! :-) Seems like my kind of city!

[Snowguy716]

as much BS as they are, I love the commercials that have been playing about "Happy cows come from California"... with the lush green fields and beautiful scenery...

The most recent one I saw was about a cow who moved to California.. most likely from Minnesota or Wiscsonsin. The CA cows think the MN/WI cow is weird because she talks about snow on the grass.. and htey don't know what snow is. the MN/WI cow is like "Ya, no snow on the grass, don'tcha know!" I was laughing so hard.

Apparently WIsconsin plays the same type of commercials in CA.. because they're such a load of crap. I distinctly remember seeing probably around 1000 cows hovered underneath a barn/stable type building with dust devils blowing through a massive dirt pasture.

I'm sure the cows are happy when it's 110*F with no rain for 5 months straight... but oh well.

[dbrok]

as much BS as they are, I love the commercials that have been playing about "Happy cows come from California"... with the lush green fields and beautiful scenery...

The most recent one I saw was about a cow who moved to California.. most likely from Minnesota or Wiscsonsin. The CA cows think the MN/WI cow is weird because she talks about snow on the grass.. and htey don't know what snow is. the MN/WI cow is like "Ya, no snow on the grass, don'tcha know!" I was laughing so hard.

Apparently WIsconsin plays the same type of commercials in CA.. because they're such a load of crap. I distinctly remember seeing probably around 1000 cows hovered underneath a barn/stable type building with dust devils blowing through a massive dirt pasture.

I'm sure the cows are happy when it's 110*F with no rain for 5 months straight... but oh well.

I think there's actually a bit of a dairy battle between Wisconsin and California. Wisconsin is obviously known as the dairy state, but California actually produces more dairy products overall. However, I think per capita, Wisconsin produces more since they have about 5 million residents compared to CA's 34 mil.

[michaelskis]

I have relatives that live in Sturgeon Bay, and I have always loved the charm of Door County. Someday, I would not mind owning a place in Egg Harbor.

[Puant en la Baye]

Wisconsin is A-OK to me!

Geographically, on the west side of the state, we've got the quaint river towns along the Mighty Mississippi; on the North we've got Lake Superior shoreline and the Great Northwoods; on the east we've got Door County and the Lake Michigan shoreline; on the south we've got some great metro areas like Madison and Milwaukee; and inbetween we've got nice mid-sized cities like the Fox Cities, Wausau, pastoral farms, and a whole lot more. The seasons are awesome, too.

[Skittlebites13]

Anyone know where the boom in building in kenosha's downtown came from? In the last 4 years here i have seen at least 9 or 10 condo units on the pier and now a new 8 story building going in and what i think is the new civil war museum going in downtown.

[MJLO]

Not to be all ignorant, but I need a refresher on my WI geography. Where is Kenosha?

[mgk920]

Not to be all ignorant, but I need a refresher on my WI geography. Where is Kenosha?

[Skittlebites13]

Yeah, a lot of the old brown spots of now started opening up to development. The old broze factory area i believe has just developed into a new shoping area with a new pick and save and several other stores. The brown space on 52nd is still just a huge open space.

Even outside the city limits, between parkside and carthage there has been numourus condo's build in the last couple of years. I'm just wondering if this is going to turn Kenosha into a town that depends on the development and service industry so that once people stop moving here, people lose jobs and the town turns back into what it was when all the auto plants left.

[AuLukey]

401 West Wisconsin

I was looking through a website for a Charlotte developer The Ghazi Company, and noticed they had this project listed for Milwaukee. I haven't found any other information on the project except for this link on their website. I just thought I'd share this with you all. Milwaukee is severely underrepresented on this forum.

[nofunk]

401 West Wisconsin

I was looking through a website for a Charlotte developer The Ghazi Company, and noticed they had this project listed for Milwaukee. I haven't found any other information on the project except for this link on their website. I just thought I'd share this with you all. Milwaukee is severely underrepresented on this forum.

[Fletch]

I am a lifelong resident of Wisconsin (suburban Milwaukee) and have been looking for our state's participation in this forum as well. Milwaukee, in particular, shares a lot of the problems that a town like Detroit faces in the early twenty-first century. Crime, poverty, deindustrialization - Milwaukee is home to lots of auto suppliers - are very prevalent here as well. The difference, I believe, is quantitative. Put simply, Metro Detroit is some three times larger in population, therefore, roughly speaking, the D's problems should be about three times larger, more apparent, deeper, etc. Urban exploration has not really "taken off" here as a result. Abandonned structures seem to blend in better in Milwaukee.

There are, of course, many good things happening in southeastern Wisconsin - new lakefront development and proposals for a major expansion of U.W.M. among the most prominent. But in the global, information, creative economy we all live and work in, Metro Milwaukee as a whole is struggling to find its place. One solution to this I just mentioned: Improving the research facilities at U.W.M. in engineering and health, and tying this infrastructure into the Medical College's Wauwatosa site. This is a significant step forward in that competitive cities today need a world-class (or at least average) facility to incubate new commercial ventures in high-tech. Getting the new jobs to stay is a subsequent challenge that even a prosperous town like Madison is facing in stem-cell research.

One thing I do know is that Milwaukee (unlike, say, Flint, MI ) is not going to dry up and blow away in this new world. Even though much more needs to be done in high-tech., Milwaukee does have very successful firms in robotics (Rockwell Automation), and IT (Metavante). Even mainline manufacturers are adapting successfully in auto-parts (Johnson Controls), and heavy machinery (Bucyrus). I am not a cheerleader. Venture capital firms l.o.l. when approached about investing here. And we are still far, far too dependent on manufacturing. But with guarded optimism, I think we can at least not fail in the young century.

[xeno]

I lived in the Manitowoc, Green Bay Wisconsin area for 18 years. While growing up me and my friends always ran down to Milwaukee and Madison. There is always alot going on in both cities, although they are both totally different. The land along Lake Michigan, has been and will go through development, untill it is completely built up. I have watched the progress (if you can call it that) and some day, Milwaukee, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Green Bay will be just one big city. As long as the population rates continue to stay the same and global warming keeps denuding the coasts, and the hurricanes keep washing peoples lives away, More and More people are going to realize that the cost of land is cheap, the weather will not destroy there lives, and it's an absolutley beautiful place to live.

I often think about buying a piece of land along the lake i won't tell you where cause when i get enough money i'm guna get it, and i'm going to hold on to it forever, I garrentee you it's going to be worth more than just money.

[pcdoctor]

I am wanting to leave Grand Rapids, MI and am possibly looking at Wisconsin as one of the states to relocate to. I don't want to live in a major city, perferablly a small city is where I want to live. I would like to know which city you would recommend, and if it has a mass transit system like city buses and stuff like that. Hope you can help.

[Fletch]

Define "small" in terms of population. Really the only "major" town here is Milwaukee, and compared to say, Chicago, it is not really all that major. As in Michigan, there are plenty of small towns in Wisconsin, depending, of course, on one's definition of small.

[pcdoctor]

Around 40,000-130,000

[Fletch]

If you are interested in living within a short drive's distance (<1 hour) of downtown Milwaukee, there are several options here in southeastern Wisconsin for you. Waukesha (where I live) has a population of about 65,000 and is located about fifteen miles west of the lakefront. It is self-contained - meaning, you do not have to leave for arts, entertainment, a job, etc. - and is growing faster than the rest of the state.

Racine and Kenosha sit to the south of downtown Milwaukee and are the same in population (very roughly, 40-60 thousand). These towns are growing at about the state average, but have experienced some of the region's highest unemployment rates recently. Do not expect the streets to be paved with gold. Metropolitan Milwaukee was hit hard by the last recession and is slowly - very slowly - finding a niche in the "new economy." A key advantage that Racine and Kenosha share is their proximity to Chicago. If you want to work in the big city but return home to a much smaller place, start there.

More generally, my advice for anyone looking to move to Wisconsin is to consider our capitol, Madison. Although it is past your size requirement at about 150,000 people, it is the only metropolitan area that is doing, and will continue to do, well here. It is a government and university town, thus its economy is more stable than blue-collar Milwaukee's. A 40-130 thousand cohort is pretty broad, therefore, I could mention many others: La Crosse (close to the twin cities and fast-growing), Eau Claire, Oshkosh, Sheboygan, Green Bay (Packers-obsessed), Superior, Appleton-Neenah-Menasha.

[tombarnes]

I've been to both Madison and Milwaukee. Both cities impressed me, but I was able to spend a bit more time in Milwaukee. Madison is an extremely agreeable place- friendly too. Milwaukee impressed me with its energy and its new architectural works- the Calatrava museum, University Club tower etc.. I'd love to go back to either city any day. I haven't been anywhere else in Wisconsin- yet, but I would love to see more of your state. Keep the posts coming.

[ericnmu]

Define "small" in terms of population. Really the only "major" town here is Milwaukee, and compared to say, Chicago, it is not really all that major. As in Michigan, there are plenty of small towns in Wisconsin, depending, of course, on one's definition of small.

[Fletch]

I went to college there for five years, so I am familiar with the area, though it has been awhile since my last visit. I have many fond memories of Madison, but most revolve around the student life there: Study from Sun. night to Thu. night, drink from Thu. night to Sun. night, repeat. Thus, most of what I liked there was defined by the library and the bar, and not much else. How 'bout yourself?

[ericnmu]

I went to college there for five years, so I am familiar with the area, though it has been awhile since my last visit. I have many fond memories of Madison, but most revolve around the student life there: Study from Sun. night to Thu. night, drink from Thu. night to Sun. night, repeat. Thus, most of what I liked there was defined by the library and the bar, and not much else. How 'bout yourself?

[Fletch]

I never did much biking there, but you're right - as far as parks and recreation go, Madison is top-notch. How could it not be, with two large nearby lakes? What's more, it is probably the greenest town (most progressive-toward-the-environment town) in the state.

I don't listen to N.P.R., and the parking costs bothered me more than the aggressive drivers. Students who didn't bike (like me) can burn up so much money on parking. I really regret not biking more, but I hail from the 'burbs where we drive a mile for a gallon of milk.

Have fun at "The Big Gig."