Should I move to WI? (Milwaukee, Madison: to rent, houses, teaching jobs)

[Back 2 the Midwest]

Originally Posted by Drover

Sorry to say, the guy is on target. Milwaukee has its nice areas... but hell, even Detroit and New Orleans do too. But by in large, Milwaukee is a nasty little place. I lived in Pittsburgh and I found that even that town is nicer than Milwaukee.

And let me save you the trouble of thrashing Chicago: yes, most of Chicago sucks too. But the nice parts are VERY nice and make up for it. Milwaukee doesn't quite strike the same balance.

Milwaukee does have it's nice suburbs too Drover. Brookfield is a great area and there are a few others too.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by Back 2 the Midwest

Milwaukee does have it's nice suburbs too Drover. Brookfield is a great area and there are a few others too.

More than a few I would say -
Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Fox Point, River Hills, Oconomowoc, Mequon, Cedarburg, Delafield, Hartland, St. Francis, Port Washington, Brookfield (mentioned), Glendale, Wauwatosa, Menomonee Falls, Elm Grove, Sussex, Lannon, New Berlin, Muskego, Jackson, Franklin, Waukesha, Germantown, Grafton...those are just some extremely nice suburbs I can think of off of the top of my head - all within 20 minutes of driving time to the heart of Milwaukee, many directly bordering Milwaukee.

Also, I do disagree that the nice areas of Milwaukee itself are less than very nice. Downtown Milwaukee, the 3rd Ward of Milwaukee, etc. - extremely nice and very hip/upscale. East side of Milwaukee - same thing, very nice.

Milwaukee is very much a suburban-city metro area...the city is only a little over 500,000, however, the metro area is 1.5-million plus. Thus, 66.7% lives in the direct surounding areas - over 1-million people.

[Drover]

I guess I should have specified that I was talking about Milwaukee proper, not the whole metro area.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by Drover

I guess I should have specified that I was talking about Milwaukee proper, not the whole metro area.

No, I hear ya. I guess my point is just (and I am a longtime Milwaukee native that has been away for 3.5 years) that Milwaukee is one of those towns where almost I think you HAVE to judge its whole metro to be fair to it, rather than just the city itself.

Believe me, I am a long time Milwaukeean, love and defend it has highly as anyone probably around, and am currently looking to leave my beautiful sunbelt home to go back there, winters and all. However, even I admit there are very few places in Milwaukee itself that I would be really interested in living in. Anywhere on the east side (if I could afford it), anywhere downtown / Third Ward (if I could afford it), parts of the far west side and parts of the city near / bordering Wauwatosa and parts of the city near / bordering Menomonee Falls...that would pretty much be it. Oh, and a few underrated nice areas near the Miller Park area.

However, even I can admit that much of Milwaukee itself wouldn't be highly desirable, similar to Chicago (obviously Chicago has bigger undesirable areas as well as bigger nicer areas, both being just because of the huge size comparatively).

But I just think some cities are like that - where it is important to judge the whole metro area instead of the city itself. Similar to Atlanta...as it stands, Atlanta itself isn't the big, and the city itself isn't that desirable (in my opinion). However, the suburbs are massive and the whole suburban area is pretty nice.

Transversely, I live in Albuquerque, NM, which is largely the city itself to judge. I live in the actual city of Albuquerque, as most people here do. There are only a few scattered suburbs like Rio Rancho, otherwise, of the 810,000 metro area, 500,000 or so are in the actual city. And, I would live in very many areas of the city of Albuquerque - in contrast to Milwaukee, where I wouldn't live in a huge amount of portions of Milwaukee.

So I think much of what you say is fair and accurate, but I just really think to get a fair and accurate depiction of Milwaukee, folks need to truly get the whole metro picture, not just the city itself. When you go to places like Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Wauwatosa, Brookfield, Elm Grove, Glendale, even New Berlin, Greendale, etc., it doesn't "feel" like you've left Milwaukee if you don't see the dividing signs...seems like a part of the same big general area...and if you talk to a Wauwatosan or a Glendalean, etc., they'll often say they are from "Milwaukee"...as such, I just think those very closely-related and bordering suburbs are just as much a part of the city as the city itself. Same is true in the Atlanta example, and there are other cities like that (Denver, with huge but somewhat interchangable suburbs like Aurora, Littleton, etc.).

However, here in Albuquerque, if you call a Rio Rancho resident an "Albuquerque resident" they will be generally very quick and ready to point out that they assuredly do NOT reside in Albuquerque!

Cities are just different that way.

[Drover]

Well for all its warts I'd still rather hole up in Milwaukee proper than most of its suburbs. I'm just not a suburbs type of person. I bet that'll change the minute I start having kids.

The benefit of living in Chicago is that, while the nice to not-so-nice ratios are for all intents and purposes equivalent to Milwaukee, they're also both bigger, so if you're in a nice area you've typically got a lot more "nice" buffer between you and the not-so-nice.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by Drover

Well for all its warts I'd still rather hole up in Milwaukee proper than most of its suburbs. I'm just not a suburbs type of person. I bet that'll change the minute I start having kids.

The benefit of living in Chicago is that, while the nice to not-so-nice ratios are for all intents and purposes equivalent to Milwaukee, they're also both bigger, so if you're in a nice area you've typically got a lot more "nice" buffer between you and the not-so-nice.

I think that is fair too.

However, seriously...suburbs in Milwaukee like Wauwatosa, Glendale, Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Fox Point, and Greendale - these are not the "suburbs" that you usually think of as classic "suburbs"...they are very urban and feel just like nicer portions of Milwaukee. I bet you wouldn't feel "suburban" at all in the classic sense in one of these communities.

Now, admittedly, suburbs like Brookfield, Muskego, Menomonee Falls, etc., yes, those probably are truly more classic "suburbs" with the same feel of other suburbs like you'd experience in the Chicago area - Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, etc. Most are not quite as upscale as the Chicago ones, but have a similar suburban feel.

For example - Mayfair Mall is in Wauwatosa - not Milwaukee - and is in a really nice area, really nice mall. However, it is hard to even tell that you are in Wauwatosa there and not Milwaukee, as it is really just in the heart of what one feels alot of is MKE's west side.

But I do think you may be right about the kids thing. Living in Milwaukee, when I first got married, we totally were all about living in Milwaukee's east side and being a part of the action. Now we have 2 kids, and if we move back, the suburbs all of a sudden seem a whole lot more appealing!

[Hntr]

I lived in Milwaukee for thirty years and as far as I am concerned it one of the nicer metropolitan areas I have been in. My kids grew up in the city and had a variety of activities to chose from at every age. The parks are beautifully maintained. Transportation is no problem with the mass transit system.

I lived on the west side by Hwy 100, great neighborhood, wonderful friendly people.

[ihatefonddulac]

I hear you. We had the same problem. Our tax bill on a $175,000 was about $4,000 also, and I don't drink, and people looked at me like I was from Mars when I ordered iced tea or water instead of alcohol.

[cavewoman]

Justin, I am not sure where you are at with your decesion, but here's my two sense:

Anything has got to be better than New York! Is family coming with you?
Wisconsin is very pretty, but like many of the posts say above, people are not that friendly. The State has plenty to offer as far as land and nice hills.
What are you looking for? Define happiness.... the winters can be cold.
I livd there for a few years and loved the area. The people on the other hand, were rough on anyone from Chicago. I cannot imagine what a NEW Yorker would feel like.

[derpimpf]

Milwaukee is not anything like Chicago. I lived in Whitefish Bay for 3 years, it was amazing. It's a little stuck up and expensive, but honestly that's what I was looking for. You know you're kid is safe in an area that stuck up, and since I have kids I loved it. The schools are excellent, it's literally a 2 minute drive down Wilson st. and you're in East Milwaukee. It's not like Chicago because it's just smaller, and I think that's what I was getting in what I read. Being in a suburb of Milwaukee, even Germantown takes less time to get to dowtown than it would for me in Chicago to get 10 blocks due to the traffic and insane streets, it's all relative.