Since when did that become the cool opinion, especially around town. You live here for goodness sakes. Civic pride anyone? It seems to be dead in Milwaukee, especially among young people.
Now yes, I am a young person, a college aged kid, but I've got civic pride. Is it lost on our generation? It seems that way sometimes.
What's the big thing to do as of late? Take the Greyhound down to Chicago. Admire Chicago. Wish Milwaukee was Chicago.
Milwaukee isn't Chicago. Milwaukee will never be Chicago.
And that's fine with me. I really think it should be fine with everybody.
The problem is, it isn't. Young people vote with their feet meaning if they don't like where they live, they will leave. Why do you think Portland, Oregon is yuppiefied now? There wasn't much in Portland, except it attracted the younger crowd with good urban planning policies and other urban issues the younger generation cares about. They might not realize it, but they do care about urban issues?
Now what has Milwaukee been doing wrong? I'm not sure. Every time we try to be ahead of the curve, we either fail at being ahead of the curve somehow, or it gets shot down by the powers that be.
What makes Milwaukee projects fail? We have them, we have lots of them. We do them by the book.
I think the problem is that Milwaukee only does things by the book, things that can be found in other cities. So why choose Milwaukee for that thing? When Milwaukee does want to do something new and beautiful and ahead of the curve...it gets shot down by the powers that be.
I still love this city though. I have pride in my city. I love where I live. I want to make things better. It's hard though.
Milwaukee is shedding it's rust belt industrial past, but apparently not fast enough for some people.
It's not cool to hate on Milwaukee.
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You're right- it's not cool to hate on Milwaukee.
People don't realize how much Milwaukee has evolved. Ten years ago milwaukee as a completely different city- it's changed for the better.
There are a lot of cool things in Milwaukee. If people would pull their head out of their ass and stop moping about not living in NYC or Chicago they might see that.
I completely agree with you, and it's good to see a young person who's in tune to the importance of civic pride and taking an interest in improving the lives of their neighbors rather than badmouthing them for petty reasons. I live and go to school in Milwaukee. I am 35 and changing careers, and most of my much younger classmates sit around and bitch about the city like it's the worst place to live on Earth. The problem with that is...I know so many friends, relatives, co-workers over the years who moved away for a "better life"... some went to Chicago, some went to Houston, some went to Florida and other various little towns. All of them except one has returned to Milwaukee. Wow! (he exclaims sarcastically) who would have thought that other cities and communities could have more problems and be less appealing than Milwaukee Wisconsin! I myself lived in Chicago for three years when I was younger, and I loved it, but I really did not like the overall attitude of that city. Milwaukee has always offered its citizens more than it should for a city its size. Think about it all you younger people! A city of around 500,000 people that supports art, theatre, symphony, concerts, huge festivals, fine restaurants, professional sports venues, decent colleges, tons of shopping, a beautiful lakefront, and all without the heavy traffic and out of control cost of living you find in other metro areas. It's fine to want to improve on your hometown's faults, but stop whining about them like sniveling little poop heads and get out and DO something about it!
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