Much to agree with here; however, from the standpoint of someone who lives in an outlying suburb, you can go YEARS without actually getting to downtown Milwaukee -- 15 minutes away -- and not even notice it. The lack of a rail-to-suburb network or reliable bus service greatly stifles what should be ongoing interaction between suburbanites and the city.
Milwaukee is a walker’s paradise. Wisconsin’s largest city has made some great strides recently and, as with many cities in the Midwest, if you haven’t been here in the last decade you might as well say you’ve never been here. Once you’re on foot, you find that this city has a lot to offer in its confusingly large yet compact downtown area.
Read the rest at: Andrew Knee: Milwaukee – A Walker’s Paradise « urbanOut
Even in roughed-out form, one can appreciate the improvement occurring along Franklin's 51st Street between Drexel and Puetz. Engineers have preserved many of the trees fronting homes along the street, and soon residents will be treated to a wonderful and useful walkway as well as increased curb appeal for their property.This is going to be a much, much more inviting space than the cracked asphalt should that it replaces.
And that's not to mention that, for the first time since it was built decades ago, Franklin High School students will have access to a sidewalk in front of their school.
Soon, the walkway will continue north of Drexel for approximately 1/3 mile, built with a Community Development Block Grant. It'll provide a way for the senior residents at Clair Meadows to stroll outside their current "boundaries," and eventually will connect to the retail area on Rawson. Eventually 51st Street -- the only north-south connection for a mile in either direction -- will at long last stop acting as a speedway and instead function as an attractive conveyance for cars and pedestrians.
A space like the one above looks so inviting because, unlike most of the suburban built environment, it's designed to human scale and creates a sense of spacial enclosure in a suburban context.
Human scale and spacial enclosure is why, for instance, we feel comfortable on foot in a city setting like the one below:
...And why we feel anything but comfortable attempting to set foot outside our vehicles in a space like the one below:
Hard as it may be to believe, many refer to the area pictured above as my city's "downtown." Yet there are simple streetscape solutions that work in a suburban context that would transform this bleak area. It can be as simple as putting the parking in back of the buildings (see below):
Tonight I'll be attending the Franklin Common Council meeting to speak during citizen's comment period is support of the 51st Street sidewalk.
Why do I have to hire a babysitter and attend this meeting? Because, believe it or not, there is a gentleman -- a landlord who owns an apartment complex on the corner of Drexel and 51st (but does not LIVE there, of course) -- who is against providing safe mobility for those in our community who do not have access to a vehicle. And he took the time to get signatures from the homeowners living on 51st Street.
You can imagine how those little "sign my petition" encounters went. "Do you know what the city is trying to do to your property...?"
I doubt he brought up the fact that walkable communities experience experience increased property values, and that walkways actually slow down speeding traffic on overdesigned arterials like 51st Street. He probably didn't talk about new freedom of movement that will be afforded to elderly residents of the Clair Meadows senior apartments. I'm certain he didn't broach the subject of the sidewalk as safe conveyance for students and parents at Pleasant View Elementary and Franklin High School.
And, most importantly, I'm sure this landlord didn't mention that there are members of the Franklin Common Council who want nothing better than to put a lane of additional traffic in their front yard by widening 51st Street.
Doubt it? Read the ready-to-go plan here: Download 51st street widening.
Because, you see, no one walks and we need more room for cars -- and those cars gotta move fast.
The landlord's beef, evidently, is he'll be damned if he'll be responsible for shoveling snow for "other people" (hard not to imagine this guy twirling a waxed handlebar mustache, ala a silent movie villain).
Please consider attending tonight at 6:30, City Hall, to voice your support for a small but very important step toward making our community safer for young and old, more attractive to new residents and property tax-lowering commercial investment, and, above all, something better than a drive-thru suburb.
Downtown malls - becoming oxymoronic?
The company that owns the financially troubled Shops of Grand Avenue in downtown Milwaukee will be sold at a public auction later this month.
A sign that enclosed, climate-controlled shopping malls do not fare well against downtown streets and shops? One would hope.
Read the rest at: Financially troubled Grand Avenue mall to be sold at auction - JSOnline
Posted at 12:07 PM in Close to Home, Commentary, Current Affairs, Economic Development Commission, Milwaukee, Retail design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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