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Originally posted by CONNERMAN2000 I hear practically all of the northside is dangerous, which I found surprising since normally for cities, the southside is the bad spot, and the northside is where all the rich people live. I hear Milwaukee is the opposite. But yeah, I love it there too for exact reason as yours. Its like a small city, but with all the characteristics of a big city (sports teams, skyline, lakefront, etc.)

The northern and western sections of the city are plagued by crime but like I said, Milwaukee's very segregated.

The wealthiest people in Milwaukee live either on the eastside or in the burbs. The largest home's in the city are along the lakefront on Lake Drive and the blocks sorrounding it and the mansions go on for miles into the suburbs. All the northern suburbs are generally pretty wealthy. The far western suburbs are extremely wealthy aswell. Most are small in population but for example, the village of Chenequa boasts a median house value of over $810,000.

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Originally posted by BadBadNeil Speaking of Milwaukee, its not a bad town. There is a huge ghetto area though once you cross some street. My ex used to live by St. Mary's hospital. She now lives in Oak Creek and hates it, too far away so shes moving back downtown. Milwaukee is strange in that its a pretty large city but to me felt rather small which was a good thing, it wasn't overwhelming like NYC and Boston.

good to hear it. too many people judge the city of milwaukee based on very closed minded things. here is a large ghetto because milwaukee is very segregated. If you're white, once you get west of the river, you're officially the minority. Even though all that seperates the east side and the ghetto is a river, it feels like two different worlds. While the economic and social problems plaguing the ghetto are still large, it seems to be slowly improving. I refuse to say that it's quickly on its way to becoming a completely safe place to be due to the fact that the black community in milwaukee doesnt seem to care if theres constant social and economic deterioration and sadly, the aldermen and other public leaders arent setting a very good example (recently a north side alderman threatened a womans life in court)

While i wont rip on milwaukee too much because I love the city, I think Milwaukee's black community has a lot of work to do if they want to improve the status of their neighborhoods. Education is a huge problem. Hopefully the city can figure out a way to keep low income minorities in school.

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Originally posted by _Ocean_Drive_ Wow, this thread is interesting!! I just finished my dissertation on Las Vegas and its use of water, and it's going to come up short if it doesn't get its act together.

ah yes Las Vegas. I didnt mention that because its not as large as the Phoenix metro area but its in a very similar situation.

No matter how much I think about it, it never ceases to amaze me that people would move to a desert, let alone the 3.8 million people that make up the Phoenix MSA

dres is gettin all worked up

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Originally posted by D-res architecture and urban planning is kind of a hobby/passion of mine so this is the type of thread i can really contribute to.

i happen to work in a company that does urban planning.

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Originally posted by igottaknow dres is gettin all worked up

nah i'm chill. i like talkin about this stuff


/geek

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Originally posted by superglo i happen to work in a company that does urban planning.

well played. maybe in a few years i will too. i'll have to see where college leads me.

what company you work for/where is your company located?

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Originally posted by Nou Suburban sprawl works when its planned right. As long as their are large green bufferzones between settlments and public transportation and road systems are worked out well it can be a choice residential plan for SOME cities, not all. Innercity residential growth is becoming more attractive as personal transportation becomes more expensive. Also there is more single, or couples with no children now (either empty nest or none to begin with) and they are shifting to the city). Remember, the baby boomers children for the most part are now in the 15 year old in the low end to 25 year in the high end range, so a lot of parents are going to be changing their living situations based on their children leaving home.

thats very true. i clearly forgot to be specific. i dont hate sprawl, i hate unplanned sprawl. when someone wants to move in and the city planners are like... ok lets just throw a road down and build a house then i hope they burn in hell.

if you arrange neighborhoods intelligently, provide good mass transit options and access to city utilities, you're okay in my book

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Originally posted by Nou I have a huge urge to play Sim City 4 now hahaha...

fuck yeah!

too bad i left the play disc at my friends apartment again

When I finally settle down I do want a big plot of land... but it will not be in these suburbs! I want somewhere isolated... I guess you could call it in a rural area.

Another good thing about Milwaukee is the Mandell Group. I love their condos/apartments. They are very modern designs and I love how they take old buildings and warehouses and transform them into great residences. Their tower by the lake, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill is amazing and their new $67million 6 building project looks great. I wish we had someone of their caliber who does modern architecture here.

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Originally posted by CONNERMAN2000 I see...so what you are saying is that suburbs should NOT become more than a bedroom community?

not at all

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Is it really that vital to not detract from a metropolitan area's urban core? To me, I think having suburbs become more than bedroom communities would only benefit the entire metropolis as a whole. Think of LA. Los Angeles itself is practically nothing when you look at the whole scheme of things when you see LA. Its all Hollywood (a suburb), Long Beach (a suburb), and along with all the other coastal communities (all suburbs). Los Angeles pretty much just has a downtown skyline, and I guess we'll thrown in Lakers stadium, and thats pretty much it. What im getting at is, wouldnt improving the suburbs improve the city core? Although many consider this to be trivial bullshit, im pretty fuckin interested to hear what you have to say.

is it vital to not detract? yes and no

I'm by no means saying that suburbs developing and becoming more than bedroom communities is a cardinal sin, but it can be dangerous if done incorrectly.

Most suburbs I know have their own downtowns. At one point they were cities too and as milwaukee grew, those towns would fill in. they're all their each little city. I think cool little downtowns with corner shops and a some retail is fine. They are their own self-economized (does that word work? cities. I have no problem with malls either. They shouldnt be located downtown in my opinion anyway. Many downtowns dont have enough street-level retail to compete with a mall. A malls duty, like a casino (also bad downtown) are to keep people indoors and spending money. this starves the other street retail that cant provide the sheltered, easy paced environment that a mall can. In the case of Chicago, which has multiple malls and indoor shopping centers, it has the mag mile and many other great retail options and has MUCH higher pedestrian activity than most cities. Due to the presence of so many people, malls are fine in downtowns.

In the case of LA, yes it does thrive from its suburbs. Christ, LA,s metro has almost 20 million people in it and it continues to spread. People move there for various reasons, but the suburbs such as hollywood creat more appeal.

I think improving suburbs do improve the cities. look at any major mid-size or large-sized cities in the US. Not ONE is self-sufficient. You will never find a city over 150,000 in the US without a suburb. Americans are obsessed with suburban living. Withouth the suburbs, the cities would not survive at their current magnitude. New York has close to 22,000,000 people in its metro area. These are huge cities and they got that way because of the suburbs.

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O and do you think Schaumburg has really detracted from Chicago? Malls arent really a new thing, and thats pretty much all Schaumburg has (The Streets of Woodfield, im sure you know it). Where I live (Naperville), we have the Fox Valley Mall, which serves East Aurora, West Naperville, Winfield, Warrenville, and a few other suburbs. Does having it mean Naperville is detracting from Chicago?

I dont think Schaumburg is detracting from Chicago in a way that should cause concern. As I said, Chicago is a HUGE city. there are over 3 million people in the city and nearly 12 in the MSA. Chicago is a world city, a world commerce center and has its name everywhere that matters.Schaumburg detracts but not at any noticable rate. go to downtown chicago any night and i gaurantee the traffic is heavy and there'll be people everywhere. Scaumburg is a terribly planned and terribly overdone suburb. Its nothing but big box retailers and shitty sprawl. To most people that doesnt matter shit but I guess to a few people it does.

Does Schaumburg even have sidewalks?

not that i've seen.


And no naperville isnt detracting noticably either. But my cousin and his wife and their son live there and they enjoy it.

how close are you to o'hare btw? is the airnoise shitty or dont you notice it much? with over 75,000,000 passengers a year I'd think it would be unbearable.

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Originally posted by _Ocean_Drive_ Is it as stale and dull as it's often made out to be? Rich kid lifestyle in LA, what's it like?! 2.4 kids, dad an oil tycoon, mom a housewife, gated communities etc.

i obviously grew up in the wrong suburbs then. parents work 16 hour days. barely above the poverty level. gang-infestation. crime.

+Edit+

i guess that's why i get so pissed off at those MTV shows - because it's not what i consider "real life". only cause of my own experience. which i guess is a bad bias to have - but it just gets on my nerves.

Last edited by tubularbills on Jun-16-2006 at 02:14

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Originally posted by BadBadNeil Another good thing about Milwaukee is the Mandell Group. I love their condos/apartments. They are very modern designs and I love how they take old buildings and warehouses and transform them into great residences. Their tower by the lake, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill is amazing and their new $67million 6 building project looks great. I wish we had someone of their caliber who does modern architecture here.

Mandell Group certainly is a vital resource in milwaukees architecture development.

Their work in the third ward and on the redeveloped commerce street is amazing. have you seen pictures of commerce street makeover?

The tower by the lake is University Club Tower. its definitely a great building and i cant wait for its completion in a couple months. its already topped out and they're putting the side panels up completing the facade. I think they're at the 31st floor now. only a few more floors to go. I know a lot of the condos in the tower have already been sold. I believe only 12 remain. If i had a mil and a half i'd be there.

as for the new development, I believe you're refering to The North End. I REALLY hope the project comes to fruition. it would be an amazing addition to that corner of downtown.


EDIT: i have to ask since its rare to find someone with similar knowledge about this sort of thing, is this also an interest/job of yours? are you familiar with the forums at www.skyscrapercity.com ?

check it out if you dont know it

for right now, i'd rather live in the city... the suburbs seem too boring to me. plus i like the city where there are plenty of buildings (less insects, more things to do, etc)

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Originally posted by inconspicuous AndreaCKY772. just. so. dumb.