From the Archive: Moving Milwaukee Forward

The recent conversations about I-794 have us wondering again about the discussion we hosted just over a year ago on July 17th, 2023, at Marquette University. We were joined by Peter Park, the former planning director for the city of Milwaukee, who highlighted his work on taking out the Park-East Freeway 20 years ago. Following the presentation, Park joined a panel of Milwaukee leaders discussing the current proposal to remove I-794 between Downtown and the Historic Third Ward. The Panel was moderated by Mark Kass of The Milwaukee Business Journal.

Here are some highlights from Peter's talk:

"Every single time a freeway came out, a neighborhood got better and access got better. Every time a freeway was cut into a neighborhood, it didn't get better. If any of you have an example of a neighborhood that got better when a freeway was cut through it or over it, I'd love to see it because I've never found one."

"I challenged them to define a Civic vision for Milwaukee. All right, what could happen if the freeway weren't there? It's not about taking the freeway out; it's about making the city better, right? It's not what we lose; it's what we gain."

"Would you choose to continue to make a city like this, or would you choose to make a city for people? It's a choice... because cities are fundamentally about people. We make them for people; we strive to make them beautiful for our own enjoyment, not for the enjoyment of cars. But if we prioritize making cities for cars, this is the best environment that you can create: lots of parking stacked in lifeless buildings and endless lanes of travel..."

"This idea that we would use spare money in ways that creates value... rather than spending taxpayer money in ways that devalues. I mean, if you think about it, right, spending money on highways in cities, it's a very Un-American thing if you think about it. It's using taxpayer money in ways that devalues private real estate in the parts of our country that have the most valuable real estate, which is in cities. Why would we do that?"

Check out the full event recording: