Just Enough for the City

I love me some Milwaukee.
I really, really do.
Some people hate it here.
Some people think it's dirty.
Some people think it's racist.
Some people think it's lame.
Some people think it's stupid.

But to those people I say MOVE!
I love Milwaukee.
What I DON'T like about Milwaukee is everyone raking on it all the time.

This all began when I was watching a Bucks game.
Yep, it's true. Milwaukee has a professional basketball team.
And they're going to the playoffs!
A commercial aired for a summer basketball camp that the Bucks were putting on.
I thought to myself, "Well how great that the Bucks will be having something for Milwaukee's youth."
And then the location of the camp was stated: Mequon.
Mequon is a "suburb" of Milwaukee
Mequon is a good 30 minutes from Milwaukee.
Children that could really benefit from a skills building basketball camp most likely can't get to Mequon.
I'm not saying children who live in Mequon won't benefit from a basketball camp.
They will.
But wouldn't it make sense to at least hold the camp in the city. Where the parents of the Mequon kids commute to for their jobs.
I realize I'm speaking in sweeping generalizations here but here are some fun facts:
The median income in Mequon is $90733.
The median income in Milwaukee is $32216
The graduation rate for Mequon is consistently in the high 80s or low 90s percentage wise
The graduation rate for Milwaukee is in the mid to high 60s percentage wise (This is up from the low to mid 50 it was pulling in about 10 years ago!).
I guess I don't understand how anyone expects Milwaukee to get "better" if people keep leaving.
I'm not saying city living is for everyone, I get that it's not.
But I feel the people who do live in Milwaukee have to explain it to our suburban friends or relatives.

I have a bone to pick with the radio station 88.9 as well.
Radio Milwaukee it's called.
And I like it.
I really do.
Sometimes they play a little too much "A Tribe Called Quest," but whatevs.
And they do play local music, which I love.
And they do this neighborhood series.
About the different neighborhoods in Milwaukee.
WHICH IS GREAT!
I love this! The station reaches all over the place thanks to the internet it shows the world that Milwaukee is truly full of diversity and neat little nooks and crannies.
So as I'm tooling around on their website I peruse the upcoming neighborhoods that will be profiled:
The neighborhoods, in no particular order, are Lindsay Heights, Clark Square, Martin Drive, Havenswoods, Walker’s Point, Harambee, and East Tosa.

What the what? While I know where some of these neighborhoods are...East Tosa?
Wauwautosa is a SUBURB of Milwaukee.
It is NOT Milwaukee.
Not to mention if you look at this map of Milwaukee neighborhoods, there are clearly more neighborhoods to profile, before we get into the suburbs.
I suppose I could be, and hope I am, wrong about the name East Tosa, and I hope it signifies a hidden gem somewhere I have never been.
But the likelihood of that is slim, I'm afraid.
I think it's even a bit more disheartening because I felt this station championed Milwaukee, and here it is pandering to it's moochy suburban cousins again.

These issues compounded the other night at a board meeting for our little old neighborhood association:
After the meeting was pretty much adjourned, one of the board members decided to talk about their trip to Arizona. They commented that they've noticed in "the south" that gated communities are a way of life.
I commented I didn't think that was a southern thing as much of a classist thing.
They went on to say how concerned they were in our neighborhood that they couldn't let their 5 year old daughter play outside because their fence wasn't six feet high.
And that they couldn't work in their bathing suit because their fence/our neighborhood wasn't walled off.
I would like to note that we live IN the city. Some would even say central city.
We, well at least me, are not about gating ourselves off from the rest of the city or other neighborhoods around us.
We are about welcoming and improving.
Greening and cleaning.
Not Gating and Hating.
What my favorite part of this exchange was that they actually thought nothing was wrong with thinking we could/should gate Cold Spring Park off from the rest of the city.
OMFG is all I have to say to that.
OMFG.
 

Day 64

Today E and I were quite the active urban residents.
We walked to our urban library, through Washington Park.
Then we swung by the Urban Ecology Center, located in Washington Park to pick up some info on upcoming events.
If you live near an Urban Ecology Center, I would recommend becoming a member as they provide great things for residents of the city! I think a family membership is like $35.
With that being said, Erin and I are not members, as I don't have a job.
But we will become members once a steady paycheck is rolling in.
I promise.
Just like I promise to become a member of WMSE, WUWM (our NPR station, yep...we're THOSE people that listen to NPR), and maybe Radio Milwaukee.
I say maybe to Radio Milwaukee because 9 times out of 10 I don't like what they're playing, but they DO do a lot of stuff for neighborhood's, and they are still better 95% of the radio stations out there.
If you listen to these stations and have a job you should totally support them!!!
Even if it's just $5. They will, to quote AA, "APPRECIATE!"

We then headed home for a delicious dinner made on the grill.
Fake chicken cutlets and grilled asparagus (okay and some wine and beer) make for a delicious meal. We are quite impressed with the McCormick's Montreal Grill Seasoning, as our last bottle of "Season-All" ran out and we were quite disappointed to find out that they don't make it anymore. Seriously, this bottle came from J&P and we were both sure it was years, if not decades old.
This stuff is good, even though we will never use it on a steak.

After dinner we had a neighborhood meeting.
As I'm sure most of you know, I serve on the board of our neighborhood association.
And.
This meeting was a biggie.
There was a group home proposal and apparently, if there is something that CSP residents don't want in their neighborhood...
It's a group home.
A group home for troubled youth.
Troubled males.
Yikes.
Actually some people thought a group home would be fine, if controlled, etc.
Upon hearing the initial where/what/when from our Alderman, I kind of thought I wouldn't like this idea.
But!
I decided I would let the woman talk and see if she could talk me into it. Maybe she had some great ideas, great staffing options, what have you.
Nope.
None of the above.
Her and her associate gave different answers, used made up words (seriously "Flustrated"?), and clearly had no idea what was going on, nor what our neighborhood was about.
Which means they did absolutely no research, which didn't give me confidence in the way they would run business.
And it was clearly a business venture for them.
So as a group, CSPNA did not like the idea of a group home. This doesn't mean it won't happen.
But it will go to BOZA when they are making their decisions.
AND.
The board looked like we actually had our shite together.
For once.