Milwaukee – Page 24 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Peter Park Advocates for Urban Life “at the Speed of Walking”

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:September 10, 2015
Post category:Milwaukee Public Speakers at Marquette

Much of the land on which the Park East Freeway stood on the north edge of downtown Milwaukee has been vacant for years, but Peter Park has no regrets about his important role in advocating for tearing down that section of elevated highway.

The day after Milwaukee County sold a large piece of the land for $1 to the Milwaukee Bucks for development connected to construction of a new basketball arena, Park returned to Milwaukee to pick-up where he left off in 2003, criticizing urban freeways and advocating for “multiple use” downtowns and neighborhoods that are attractive to pedestrians.

Park spoke at an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program at Eckstein Hall. He was the planning director for the city of Milwaukee from 1995 to 2003 and was an influential advocate of changes in downtown Milwaukee that have been made (two-way streets replacing one-way streets) and are still coming (a street car system).

Flynn: “I’d Like to See Fifty More Prosecutors”

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:August 27, 2015
Post category:Criminal Law & Process Milwaukee Public Speakers at Marquette

Don’t look only to the police to solve the problems of high poverty communities, Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn told a capacity audience Thursday in the Appellate Courtroom at Eckstein Hall.

Flynn pointed to the need for better services to help people with mental illnesses and to deal with issues such as child abuse as steps that would help reduce crime.

And when it comes to crime specifically, he pointed to what he saw as failings of both the state and federal systems for prosecuting and punishing criminals. Many criminals don’t face punishment that discourages them from offending.

Milwaukesha

Post author:Michael K. McChrystal
Post published:August 26, 2015
Post category:Milwaukee Public

Funny how the words fit together so smoothly yet, when combined, seem grating to the ears of many who reside in the region. The peculiar antipathy between Milwaukee County and Waukesha County may reflect the ways in which people have segregated themselves geographically based on cultural/political orientation. Waukesha County is 94% “white alone” according to Census Bureau data, while Milwaukee County is over one-quarter black or African-American and over one-eighth Hispanic or Latino. In the 2014 gubernatorial election, over two-thirds of Waukesha voters supported Scott Walker, while in Milwaukee County it was closer to one-third. Waukesha is more affluent, less racially diverse, and more Republican than Wisconsin as a whole. Milwaukee is the opposite.

There is, indeed, some basis for an us-and-them mentality.

But the positive connections are truly powerful. To trace a bit of the history, Milwaukee’s population was about ten times greater than Waukesha’s from 1900 until 1950. Then Waukesha’s population began to surge, growing more than four-fold since 1950, to about 400,000, while Milwaukee’s population has remained pretty constant at around one million. The result is that Waukesha now has about 40% as many residents as Milwaukee, thus bringing the counties into closer balance. Waukesha is now the third-most populous county in Wisconsin; in 1950, it was seventh-most populous, slightly ahead of Outagamie and Sheboygan and trailing Brown, Rock, and Winnebago, among others. Waukesha has become a powerful residential draw and also a draw for businesses, almost certainly in large part due to its proximity to Milwaukee.