University of wisconsin milwaukee

[Milwaukee Ronnie]

MilwaukeeCollegeLife.com

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by jds

im thinking of attending here... i was wondering how the area of town is crime,traffic, safety and things to do in the night life im from iowa so any info reguarding the entire city is fine to.... let me know all you can thanks!

UWM is in a nice, safe area. It is close to Lake Michigan where lots of outdoor activites abound. There is nightlife in the area, an area known for being ecclectic and fun. It is residential, close to some very nice near suburban homes, and yet just as close to the urban city life.

Most crime in or near that area are random car break ins on a street, depending on where it is. You will have plenty to do and you will feel plenty safe. There is also new housing going up for students in the area.

It is a bigger school....however it doesn't have the huge sprawling campus of a big school. It is a nice area....mostly residential in feel ...with close proximity to urban. Milwaukee itself has a very safe downtown. Much of Milwaukee's higher crime is in specified areas where often times it is the people in those geographies commiting those crimes amongst themselves. These areas aren't at UWM, nor downtown. They would be NW sides of Milwaukee, and generally would be good to know.

UWM is not like U of Iowa in Iowa City, ....as far as the school spirit....it is known as more of a commuter-ish school feel in general....nothing compared to Iowa for example. ....as long as that doesn't matter to you, you are fine. ...that sort of spirit exists more at UW-Madison, and at crosstown Marquette(although UWM did get the better end of the geographic stick in Milwaukee) It has had its moments, but mostly apathetic in that regard.

Compared to Iowa, Milwaukee perhaps may be a big city....but once you get used to it, you will quickly find that it is a small city, likely big enough for you to explore, yet small enough where you will always be comfortable and familiar with your surroundings...coming from your background. .....if you were coming from a bigger city, you would find Milwaukee small.....everything is relative.

[Milwaukee Ronnie]

UW Milwaukee has changed a lot in the last few years. It has become less of a commuter college and more of a residential college. The demand for dorms is through the roof right now, so much so that the University recently built a new dorm tower and is building another one right now. Oakland Avenue, once a non-descript street of grocery stores, diners and bars, has taken on a distinct college atmosphere lately. North Avenue, about a mile south of campus, also has a bit more of a college edge than it did a few years ago, mainly due to grad student housing recently built there, and the opening of the new art school there.

I attended UW Milwaukee for one year before transferring to Madison back in the mid-1990s. Back then there was little school spirit, and a scant identity as a college. I don't even think most students even knew the University had sports teams. The campus and surrounding area were dead after classes let out.

Now, students turn out in numbers to support athletic teams, and you see students hanging around, studying, or whatever it is that students do, at all hours of day and night. It's definately not quite a true "college town" atmosphere like Madison or Iowa City. Rather, it's become a smaller version of the U of M in the Twin Cities -- a chunk of college life in the midst of a larger city.

You're not going to find block after block of 100% student housing like you would in a college town. Rather, students are more interspersed among "regular" people on the East Side of the city. And the East Side definately is the most upscale part of the city, without a doubt.

[quijote]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee Ronnie

You're not going to find block after block of 100% student housing like you would in a college town. Rather, students are more interspersed among "regular" people on the East Side of the city. And the East Side definately is the most upscale part of the city, without a doubt.

This is one of the reasons I really like the UWM area and East Side---some highly concentrated pockets of students, but mostly a mix of students with other folks. And a lot of interesting retail/entertainment zones, scattered about, too--each with its own personality. UWM doesn't have a "State Street" area where lots of stuff is crammed into over twenty contiguous city blocks, but rather has several smaller stretches ranging from four to twelves blocks at a pace. It makes for an interesting patchwork of neighborhoods.

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee Ronnie

UW Milwaukee has changed a lot in the last few years. It has become less of a commuter college and more of a residential college. The demand for dorms is through the roof right now, so much so that the University recently built a new dorm tower and is building another one right now. Oakland Avenue, once a non-descript street of grocery stores, diners and bars, has taken on a distinct college atmosphere lately. North Avenue, about a mile south of campus, also has a bit more of a college edge than it did a few years ago, mainly due to grad student housing recently built there, and the opening of the new art school there.

I attended UW Milwaukee for one year before transferring to Madison back in the mid-1990s. Back then there was little school spirit, and a scant identity as a college. I don't even think most students even knew the University had sports teams. The campus and surrounding area were dead after classes let out.

Now, students turn out in numbers to support athletic teams, and you see students hanging around, studying, or whatever it is that students do, at all hours of day and night. It's definately not quite a true "college town" atmosphere like Madison or Iowa City. Rather, it's become a smaller version of the U of M in the Twin Cities -- a chunk of college life in the midst of a larger city.

You're not going to find block after block of 100% student housing like you would in a college town. Rather, students are more interspersed among "regular" people on the East Side of the city. And the East Side definately is the most upscale part of the city, without a doubt.

I'll disagree on school spirit......generally speaking...when the teams aren't good no one goes...and they generally go or care only about infrequent big games when succeeeding. UWM is trying in this regard and improving...but we are talking infantile baby steps imo. One would never compare it to a Marquette or Wisconsin or Iowa etc....in terms of school spirit. There are some competitive teams, but school spirit imo is low and inconsistent.

I'd agree on residential as I said, more housing going up and more demand for it.

And I would agree on the description of the neighborhood.

[43north87west]

Originally Posted by MidwesternBookWorm

And according to the housing person we spoke to, the neighborhood nearby is not at all interested in having students live there (they even enacted an ordinance that prohibits more than three non-related people from living in the same residence), so most off-campus housing is several miles away from the campus.

I just wanted to weigh in on the neighborhood part.

The ordinance you mention is to prevent unscrupulous landlords from packing fire traps full of students who are looking to rent for super cheap. Also it is to protect landlords from liability or lost rent when the students 'forget' to put people on the lease but let them live there anyway.

Concerning the "neighborhood is not interested"...

The neighborhood near UWM is very nice and upscale. The area I just moved from a year and a half ago was a $500k/up area. There were some rentals there and many apartments in the near area. The Newberry Blvd area is a desired address in the city, and it is historic, and the homes are mostly $500k++.

Now, in most areas where homes cost over 1/2, and property taxes are well over $10k a year, residents do not take kindly to the following behavior experienced by ME in a measly 6 years in the neighborhood:

-hearing the F-word six times in a single sentence, over and over
-having one's Lexus tire urinated upon
-having yard decorations ruined or stolen
-having a drunk and high person banging on your door mistakenly at 3am
-having the neighbors house broken into by a young student type under the influence of somethin, in the middle of the day
-having a freshman blow chunks all over your sidewalk at 7pm (this is more funny than annoying... I mean... 7pm?)
-having drug activity in the area (I despise this personally, especially the recent increase in meth)
-having a girl-fight in the boulevard at 2:00am
-hearing screeching tires all night long (this may be cool in Rhinelander???)
-having to put up with uncontrolled parties, breaking of glass, damaging of property, and worst of all...
-having to put up with the University's negligent, hands-off attitude when it comes to controlling its own student body

Now, the above certainly do not apply to EVERY UWM student, but I have had the unfortunate opportunity to cross paths with a heck of a lot of low-lifes. And I certainly don't appreciate a girl who obviously just got off the bus from MOW (Middle Of Nowhere) giving me lip when I complained about the broken glass that the neighbors hurled all over my yard while having a party. Her attitude:

"You live on a college campus."

I lived almost a mile from campus, but students think that they have free reign to be as destructive and disruptive as they want to because it is "near" campus. I wonder how far they consider "campus" to stretch... Brookfield?

Mind you, this very residence was the same one I went to late at night when a terrified, screaming girl showed up on my doorstep screaming for help, that someone was going to die. I contemplated just ignoring it, but it was was apparent that someone was either a) dead; or b) dying. So, I figured what the heck, maybe I can stop someone from dying, and I went over to the house with her.

I arrived to find a kid on the floor lying in a huge puddle of urine, complimented by a code brown. He had aspirated vomit and some other neighbor arrived steps before me, and began clearing the kid's airway. I started crowd control while someone called 911--on my phone (I'll get to that in a second).

Very nice. Welcome to college, kids! Drink enough to float a barge, OD on drugs, then pi$$ and s**t yourself, and almost die. Everyone who starts college should be forced to look at a situation like this, just as a reminder of what can happen.

And one wonders, why the neighborhood isn't very jubilant when college is in session.

The verdict of this incident was a heroin overdose. But the REAL loser was the kid who leased the house, and confiscated the screaming girl's cell phone--so HE wouldn't get in trouble. I politely informed him that should his prevention of EMS contribute to a death, he would not only be in "trouble", he could be held responsible for preventing EMS from being notified.

Now, again, this is not EVERY student. But this is a severe example of a prevalent problem.

I went to a small private college and we did not have these problems. But as part of being a very good neighbor to the high-dollar community, my college allowed organization-sponsored parties to serve alcohol to ALL STUDENTS. That's right, that means ALL STUDENTS. Underage? No problem, you could drink legally on campus. The local police agreed to this as well, and the campus security patrolled the parties to make sure outsiders did not take advantage of these unusual rules.

As a result of this excellent policy, there were virtually no problems within the community. We could consume alcohol in dorm rooms, lounges, and designated party areas as long as the doors were closed. School-sponsored events allowed more lax rules such as drinking at games or outdoors, or in public areas when the school permitted it during events. Police officers and campus security would not interfere with this activity unless the alcohol went beyond either the campus sponsored party area, or the dorm room/lounge/private party.

This taught much more responsible alcohol use because it was not prohibited, it was part of life and was not discouraged in any way. However, off-campus violations were prosecuted severely. That's how it goes when the neighbors live in a million dollar house. They don't want to be awakened by some yokel at 3am.

I am unsure of whether this would be successful at UWM, but something has to happen. The growth of the school with the negligent lack of growth of the facilities, is simply poor planning on the University's part and must be remedied.

Last, nobody is asking the UWM students to be SILENT. But the neighborhood expects to live a life without sleep being destroyed three nights a week, having one's sidewalk puked on, one's Lexus pi$$ed upon, and one's yard trashed. That is just going too far and I for one, don't have the patience for it. I could care less if I live across the street from the university. What happened to common decency?

Parents... teach your kids some manners... or they risk learning the hard way. Evictions, citations, a nice drug OD replete with a loss of bladder and bowel control, etc.

So THAT is why the neighborhood doesn't always throw out the red carpet. The students have made their bed too many times and the University's flimsy pledges to make it better have been unfulfilled.

[Twoaday]

Well I'd say give UWM a look because going to school and living on the EastSide of Milwaukee would be soo much fun.