Public Art in Milwaukee turns into a rant about Civic Pride!

Wow. That was my first thoughts as I strolled around Milwaukee. The Public Art in this city is amazing. I started to question why do they have so much public art compared to Halifax. But first; what do we have in common and could Halifax draw from their success? Both cities have water surrounding them. Ok, We have ocean, Milwaukee has rivers and Lake Michigan. Then it became apparent that the Art Colleges NSCAD and MIAD have made their mark on the cities.


Again, I answered the question... Artists and Art Schools... but the answer I gave was only partially correct. Civic Pride was the key to Milwaukee. Halifax has no civic pride! It was lost in 1996 when our City was forced to amalgamate and be known by a long boring name: Halifax Regional Municipality or HRM (if you really want to add salt to an injury that has never healed). We call our home an acronym. This has to change.



Sure, it's been 13 years... give it a rest. I probably could if we actually celebrated our history properly! I came home from Milwaukee to find that Rick Howe had written an article calling for another museum. Then it hit me. We do need to take our artifacts out of the warehouse over in Burnside and display them proudly to our children, immigrants and to our visitors but especially for ourselves.

We need to stop hoarding and start displaying! We were founded in 1749, but we act like we are bumbling depressed adolescents with no past, no present, and no future. A tourist asked me one day, "where is your historical museum?"  I was embarrassed to tell them our infamous history is stored in boxes in a warehouse outside our downtown area.

Rick, We do need a museum. We need a place of worship for our history. Halifax must embrace the past so it will have a future. This will then spur on the artistic people of our lovely home to decorate our parks, streetscapes, and urban areas.  Developers and private industry need to embrace this idea too.
Celebration comes from realization! So let’s realize our past, present and future by calling for a Halifax History Museum.

I know this will start the howls of the other communities… “What about us!?!” Well, with the money raised from such a museum, other parts of the municipality could then apply for the MIRF a funding source from the federal and provincial governments! Urban areas can’t apply unfortunately.

What do you think? 

RiverWalk Milwaukee's Waterfront Stroll - Milwaukee IDA

RiverWalk spans nearly 3 miles along the Milwaukee River through the heart of the City's Downtown and is divided into 3 sections: Beerline, Downtown and Third Ward.

Beerline known as "B" RiverWalk makes up the northern most portion of the system. This segment is primarily residential in character and spans from the former North Avenue Dam south to approximately Juneau Avenue.

The central segment is called the Downtown segment. This segment of the RiverWalk is a mix of residential and commercial surroundings and spans from approximately Juneau Avenue to I-794 freeway.

Historic Third Ward RiverWalk is adjacent to a mix of residential and commercial businesses and spans the distance from the I-794 freeway to the Harbour entrance to make up the southern most portion of the system.

Ghassan Korban, an employee of th City of Milwaukee was our tour guide walked us to the beginning of the Downtown segment on Wells Street.  Public art is rampid in the Downtown and along the RiverWalk.  Everything from jewerly dangling around bridge houses to huge ring like sculptures with old bowling balls and pins as the insets.

If you follow my Facebook or Twitter, you know I was excited to hunt down the infamous Bronze Fonz. Well, Good news!  I found it on Wells Street next to a chinese restaurant. Ghassan explained that the City has an agreement with the landowners which allow for year round access to the visitors of all 3 segments of RiverWalk.  Much like our Waterfront Development Corp. Ltd, The City and BID maintains the RiverWalk.Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine places all lakes and streams in trust for the benefit of all citizens to use for commercial navigation, pleasure boating, sailing, fishing, swimming, skating, rowing, walking, and the enjoyment of scenic beauty. To ensure compliance with the Public Trust Doctrine, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) requested the City prepare a Master Plan to include the established guidelines for construction and use of riverwalks, as well as the location of proposed RiverWalk segments for future construction.


The City worked in cooperation with the WDNR to create a riverfront comprehensive plan, titled Riverlink Guidelines, that would comply with the State Constitution and the Public Trust Doctrine. With approval of the Riverlink Guidelines by the Common Council and WDNR, the process of issuing permits for the construction of the RiverWalk was greatly simplified. WDNR issues permits for RiverWalk construction for developments consistent with the adopted Riverlink Guidelines.

In 1993, expansion of the RiverWalk Initiative reinforced the City’s commitment for the design and construction of the RiverWalk. Consisting of 22 proposed segments, the riverwalk system would unify downtown attractions and become, over time, a significant attraction in itself.

A resolution creating the RiverWalk Site Plan Review Overlay District (SPROD) and RiverWalk Development Fund was adopted in 1993. The RiverWalk SPROD ensures the creation of new RiverWalk projects which are compatible with their neighbors. It also encourages creativity, variety and excellence in design and layout. The design specifications associated with the SPROD apply to, but are not limited to, landscaping, lighting, accessibility, adjacent building facades and the ability to connect to future RiverWalk segments. The SPROD applies to the Third Ward, Downtown and Beerline portions of the Milwaukee River, extending 3.1 miles, along both sides of the River from the Harbor northward to the former North Avenue Dam.

During our walk Ghassan explained how water taxis are being introduced to the RiverWalk experience.  Like Halifax Harbour, if such rights were given, they would probably be abused.  Milwaukee has introduced a loading zone concept that would make a water taxi idea viable for Halifax.  We need to introduce more innovative ideas like this to get people mobile using our wonderful harbour. Just think if we had such a system, people could move along our downtown and over to Dartmouth by a private operator.  It's used in Vancouver and Victoria...  why not here?

Financed through a partnership between the property owner, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and the City of Milwaukee, the Riverwalk continues to be maintained and promoted by the property owners in collaboration with the City formed a Business Improvement District (BID). 

Bravo to the City of Milwaukee on this innitiative!  On the downside, the water in the the river was green and did have a lot of litter.

Historic Third Ward : Milwaukee IDA!

What the heck?  While walking to the Midwest Airlines Convention Center a gentleman, who was 50 feet away from me started pointing to the sidewalk and saying "This goes on for blocks!" I guess I hadn't noticed the bloody foot print before this....  I was miffed by this left footed foot print that did stain the whole stretch of the sidewalk.  Back to the this story later....

After registering in the Convention Centre, I headed to my first walking tour of the Third Ward.  Yes!  The same Third Ward I discovered last night.  Nancy O'Keefe, the Executive Director, was our tour guide and was very knowledgeable of the area's history, and current operations.  We were dropped off at the Public Market and we walked around the corner to Lela, a trendy clothing store where we met the owners and were provided wth information and breakfast treats.

The owner explained that the space used to be a tomato warehouse and that it took a little convincing to get the space renovated but conceeded.  Lela was holding a fashion show that night and had a huge tent setup in the street in front of the shop.  I checked out the clothes and the were very cool but unforunately like any cool clothes, they were made for some other body type than mine :(

We then went over to the river side to a small park area called the Watershed.  Ths is one of the parks used to house the one of the entrances to the huge sewage tunnel built a few years ago.  Milwaukee built a large tunnel deep under the riverbank and this area has been reclaimed into a small parkette along the rverwalk.

We then proceeded down the Riverwalk within the Third Ward.  Many of the old warehouses have been converted to mixed use. High end condos above specialty pubs, restaurants and other businesses.  My only concern is how do you repopulate an area like the Third Ward with only high scale apartments or condos without including real amenities such as a a grocery, drug store or even corner stores?  I'll explain the pricing of the condos and apartments in an other blog. 

I will mention that you need to diversify your living accommodations to make a community vibrant and the Third Ward could be an awesome place if Milwaukee did have accommodations for the student of the Milwaukee Insitute of Art and Design (MIAD).  In Halifax we have The Nova Scotia School of Art and Design (NSCAD) and many of the students live close to the campuses which are located Downtown.  Their spontaneous happenings, ecological sensivity, and vibrancy make my neighbourhood, and the District a fun exciting place for both the young and old residents.

This is not something I dreamt up.  Richard Florida's Book "Rise of the Creative Class" preaches this ideology.  Creativity breathes life into our communities.  People are attracted to the buzz.  Artists, musicians, dancers all make an area buzzy. Creating affordable accommodations for such a creative class is imperative.

I fear that it will be incredibly challenging for the Third Ward if they do not adopt such a concept and with the economic conditions facing the USA, this may cause their great ideas for rejuventation to stall.

Neighbourhoods need to house the amenities the residents require to live!  Groceries, banks and drug stores need to be part of this area.  While working on HRM by Design this was proven to be an imperative component to urban design.  As Lewis Mumford stated:

"In a neighbourhood, everything that is needed is there and everything that is there is needed".

HRM By Design has 5 campaigns that could aid the Third Ward and all of the downtown areas of Milwaukee with its future in attracting more businesses and residents:

1. A Sustainable City  ( Milwaukee needs to work on this - recycling programs for solid waste)
2. A City of Liveable and Complete Neighbourhoods (Milwaukee must adopt this)
3. A Distinct and Unique City (Milwaukee has great character and is doing a great job of building it!)
4. A City of Vibrant and Exciting Places (Milwaukee has many components - keep it up!)
5. A Beautiful City (Milwaukee does have beauty, keep it up!

Oh!  forgot to finish the story about the "bloody footprint" !  Supposedly there was a shooting Friday night but there was no mention  during the conference.  Moreover the footprint trail was cleaned up by Noon.

First night in Milwaukee September 2009

 

I made it to Milwaukee on Friday Night. The home of some of my favorite childhood tv personalities the Fonz, Laverne and Shirley!

After checking into The Hilton, I set of to explore the city. Walking down Wisconsin Avenue, which under construction in some places, I met two young women who seem to be have a fun filled Friday night. We chatted for a bit about why I was out taking photos so late in the evening. After explaining my purpose for being in Milwaukee, they welcomed me and were impressed with my description of our fair Halifax. We parted ways and I continued to stroll along somewhat lost.

I noticed there wasn't many pedestrians even though the evening was warm without a cloud in the sky. Soon I found myself next to this huge freeway, Marquette Interchange, that unfortunately divides the city with a huge chunk of infrastructure. As you know we have the same thing in Halifax, the Cogswell Street Interchange, but it a 1/16th of the size of this roadway. I'm not a fan of such abstusive infrastructure and this one really is huge!

Luckly I found one of the features of Milwaukee I was itching to see, The Historic Third Ward. This is the home of the Public Market, refurbished warehouses which have been converted into mixed use developments and unique shops. I expected to see throngs of pedestrians and cafe like patios packed like Argyle Street where people are enjoy a drink on a patio, chat with friends and enjoy a fun atmostphere. Instead I found a few people milling about but nothing like I'm used to at home.

I did notice a stream of pedestrians and headed in the direction they were coming from. I had discovered another destination I was looking forward to exploring, Summerfest Grounds. This weekend is the Indian Summerfest. First Nations celebrating their culture with song, dance, drumming and fireworks! I milled through the crowds checkout the vendors and the different exhibits and stages before finally taking a seat in the bleachers to watch the young women's jingle dance. The drumming, costumes and whirling dancers was a amazing sight to see. An amazing display of fireworks capped off the night over the river.

Tired from traveling, I headed back to The Hilton via a free shuttle service provided by the City's Transit. Mental Note: we need to follow this example Halifax! Hint... Hint!

Furthermore the Driver announced every stop. I mention our issues regarding bus passes and the blind and the Driver told me it was a federal law and that all buses are required to do so in the USA. Guess I will have to investigate this when I return home. Time for sleep.