Milwaukee V.S. Madison (Green Bay, Sheboygan: transplants, lofts, condos)

[MadCityKid9]

Why is it that Milwaukeeans are always ragging on Madison?

[desert student]

I have no idea! Madison is a wonderful city. I cannot say the same for Milwaukee. If you looked up Rust Belt in a dictionary, there would be a picture of Milwauke. LOL! Even Wikipedia has it listed as heavy Rust Belt. Industrial decay covers the whole town, but besides that, not one suburb can really compare to Madison in the least.

[Empidonax]

Originally Posted by MadCityKid9

Why is it that Milwaukeeans are always ragging on Madison?

Perhaps you need to meet some different Milwaukeeans? Many Madisonians rag on Milwaukee, too. But for the most part, Milwaukeeans live their own lives without thinking much of Madison, and Madisonians live their own lives without thinking much of Milwaukee.

What strikes me as funny is that some Madisonians typecast Milwaukee as quintessentially "rust-belt," yet overlook the sophisticated, white-collar features that the city offers. Similarly, some Milwaukeeans typecast Madison as just a monolithic town of drunk college kids, yet overlook Madison's diverse history, including its industrial and agricultural ties. True, Madison is largely defined by UW-Madison and the State Capitol, but it also has stuff like Oscar Meyer. And true, Milwaukee is often defined by Miller and post-war immigrant culture, but it also has stuff like Northwestern Mutual and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Some Madisonians wish their city were Berkeley, CA, and some Milwaukeeans wish their city were Chicago, IL. But the people with real sense know that both Madison and Milwaukee are true-blue Wisconsin, both with a mix of cosmopolites, suburbanites, factory workers, urban poor, farmers, and so on. If the two cities would work together a lot more, the cooperation could really propel the state forward. Perhaps we should replace the "versus" (vs) with an "and"?

[Mad Taoist]

I've run into this a lot. Here are my theories:
Most of us Madisonians love our city. We are very proud of our city. We like to talk about how great it is.
This could be construed as arrogance? Which elicits backlash?

Then there's the fact that in recent years, Madison has been in several national magazines' lists of best places to live in American. (Middleton made #1 this year.)
Milwaukee, on the other hand, is often referred to as the "armpit" of Wisconsin by people from all over the state.
So there's the jealousy thing?

Regardless, it seems to be just forum fodder; never real bias or ill will.
To me and my friends, it's a Ford vs. Chevy thing and nothing more.

[Empidonax]

Originally Posted by desert student

I have no idea! Madison is a wonderful city. I cannot say the same for Milwaukee. If you looked up Rust Belt in a dictionary, there would be a picture of Milwauke. LOL! Even Wikipedia has it listed as heavy Rust Belt. Industrial decay covers the whole town, but besides that, not one suburb can really compare to Madison in the least.

You obviously haven't visited Milwaukee; the East Side is hardly covered with industrial decay, and other parts of the city use their industrial past to advantage (converted condos, artist lofts, etc.). And besides, Madison isn't immune to industrial decay; the east side shows a lot of signs of such.

It's true, perhaps, that no single suburb of Milwaukee can compare to Madison; considering Madison's size, that would be an unfair comparison. However, the city of Milwaukee compares quite nicely to Madison. We don't have all of our goodies concentrated on a few main streets (like State Street and Willy St.) like Madison does, but rather we have several streets lined with good stuff: Kinnickinnic, Oakland, Brady, Prospect, North, Farwell, Locust, Wisconsin, National, Vliet, Downer, 1st, 2nd, 3rd/MLK, Lincoln, Mitchell, 5th, 13th, 27th, 35th, and so on and so forth. Milwaukee has so many different neighborhoods, merely a handful of streets won't do the job.

In any case, it's kind of interesting that your post actually seems to disprove the point of the Original Poster....

[Empidonax]

Originally Posted by Mad Taoist

I've run into this a lot. Here are my theories:
Most of us Madisonians love our city. We are very proud of our city. We like to talk about how great it is.
This could be construed as arrogance? Which elicits backlash?

This could be true, though a lot of such Madisonians I've met are transplants from other places (and have some sort of connection with UW or state government). The few native Madisonians I've met tend to have more realistic perspectives on Madison, especially the folks who work in humble jobs around town.

Then there's the fact that in recent years, Madison has been in several national magazines' lists of best places to live in American. (Middleton made #1 this year.)
Milwaukee, on the other hand, is often referred to as the "armpit" of Wisconsin by people from all over the state.
So there's the jealousy thing?

It seems to me that Milwaukeeans get mixed messages in this regard. In some media, the city is called an "underrated city" and "cool and vibrant," but then other media evoke the Laverne and Shirley thing. In some ways, Milwaukee is a victim of its own success: the stereotypes actually used to be considered a good thing, something quintessentially "American." Now, everything is being upscaled to death, so being a post-industrial factory city is not good enough for some folks. If you're not Seattle, you're nothing.

Regardless, it seems to be just forum fodder; never real bias or ill will.
To me and my friends, it's a Ford vs. Chevy thing and nothing more.

Very true. In spite of all of the real and perceived rivalries, both cities are still in Wisconsin, which is still considered a flyover state for many people on the coast. In spite of all that it has to offer, Milwaukee is still often perceived as nothing more than "rust-belt." And even though Madison is seen by some as an outpost of "coastal" or "hip" culture, the idea is usually still qualified by the phrase "It's nice for the Midwest."

[EnjoyEP]

To answer the original posters' question, it is because of silly, unfounded attitudes like the one given below. To act like Madison is some sort of cultural nirvana (in reality it is a decent college / state government town with a few more, not drastically more, but a few more cultural ops than other towns of its university-nature and size bring with rowdy college students and cold weather) and Milwaukee is some "dump" is just so off-base it is hard to know where to start:

Originally Posted by desert student

I have no idea! Madison is a wonderful city. I cannot say the same for Milwaukee. If you looked up Rust Belt in a dictionary, there would be a picture of Milwauke. LOL! Even Wikipedia has it listed as heavy Rust Belt. Industrial decay covers the whole town, but besides that, not one suburb can really compare to Madison in the least.

And desert student, if you are currently a student, I would advise you strongly to consider not using freaking Wikipedia as your basis for citing opinions as facts...

[desert student]

Wikipedia might not be the best source, but these sure are.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14487553/

http://hubpages.com/hub/Worst_Metro_Areas

http://www.worst-city.com/Milwaukee-...p-ten-most.htm

[Empidonax]

Originally Posted by desert student

Wikipedia might not be the best source, but these sure are.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14487553/

Perhaps a lot of Milwaukeeans attend UW-Madison, then:

http://encarta.msn.com/college_artic...heartiest.html

http://hubpages.com/hub/Worst_Metro_Areas

http://www.worst-city.com/Milwaukee-...p-ten-most.htm

The Madison area obviously isn't doing enough to compensate for Milwaukee's sluggish growth:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=616706

In the hubpages site you reference, I notice Milwaukee ranks along with San Francisco and New York. Pretty awful cities, right?

[PDXBADGER]

[SIZE=3]My opinion, Madison is far superior to Milwaukee. (Note: I've lived in Milwaukee, Madison, Sheboygan, Wausau, Stevens Point and Green Bay.) I may be biased, but after graduating from the UW, I found a position in Madison. Eventually left Wisconsin due to its winters. Live in Portland Oregon now.[/SIZE]