Let's Discuss Wisconsin's Paranoia Towards Milwaukee (Madison, Kenosha: appointed, buying, gated community)

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Devitron5000

I addressed this in my original post... if that's the case, then why do so many out-staters STILL insist that Milwaukee is so dangerous and scary? I mean, criminals get locked up here, right? So why do they still feel so unsafe?

Because the city still has a serious crime problem.

Originally Posted by Devitron5000

Pretty sure I mentioned somewhere in this thread that I've lived in Atlanta, Detroit and Harlem. I've also spent a significant amount of time in Chicago and visited at least a dozen other major cities. The only place where I've noticed the suburban/outstate paranoia towards a city coming even somewhat close to matching Milwaukee is Detroit.

Yes, you mentioned that you spent time in these places. But did you spend any significant time in the rural areas in the same states?

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by Devitron5000

I addressed this in my original post... if that's the case, then why do so many out-staters STILL insist that Milwaukee is so dangerous and scary? I mean, criminals get locked up here, right? So why do they still feel so unsafe?



Pretty sure I mentioned somewhere in this thread that I've lived in Atlanta, Detroit and Harlem. I've also spent a significant amount of time in Chicago and visited at least a dozen other major cities. The only place where I've noticed the suburban/outstate paranoia towards a city coming even somewhat close to matching Milwaukee is Detroit.

City people complain and make fun of rural people. Rural people do the same back.
Categorizing and stereotyping is what we humans do well, and from any and every angle we can get a hold of. Wisconsin is a really nice place, but it is not immune. No place is.

[northnut]

Originally Posted by Devitron5000

I addressed this in my original post... if that's the case, then why do so many out-staters STILL insist that Milwaukee is so dangerous and scary? I mean, criminals get locked up here, right? So why do they still feel so unsafe?



Pretty sure I mentioned somewhere in this thread that I've lived in Atlanta, Detroit and Harlem. I've also spent a significant amount of time in Chicago and visited at least a dozen other major cities. The only place where I've noticed the suburban/outstate paranoia towards a city coming even somewhat close to matching Milwaukee is Detroit.

Oh, I don't know about that. You should go in the political forum. There are a multitude of threads & posters, all of them conservatives, who insist Chicago is a bastion of crime. Seriously, they're all afraid to visit, naively believing they'll be a victim of crime. All they do on a daily basis is point out crime that comes out of Chicago. I just have to laugh at them. I know people who live there, people who visit there often & they've never been victims of crime. Not even close. But if you would go by what the scared little conservatives say about Chicago, you'd think you would be shot the moment you stepped into the city. I don't really hear anything negative concerning crime from out of towners or out of staters regarding Milwaukee. Well maybe the folks that live in the suburbs seem to think there is crime, & they'd be right of course, but it's concentrated.

[CowsAndBeer]

It's the same story across the country - rural folks don't like the major city/cities. Milwaukee is no different. Agreed that you get more hysteria from suburbanites than (for example) folks from Appleton coming down for a Brewers game.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by CowsAndBeer

...folks from Appleton coming down for a Brewers game.

Curse you Appleton!!!! (Shakes fist in the air).

[Milwaukee City]

This dislike for the city by country people and vice versa is nothing new or unique to MKE, it's a my lifestyle is better than yours peeing match that goes on everywhere and forever. Yeah I do get tired of always defending Milwaukee, every time I am out state and people ask where I live and I say Milwaukee, out comes one of a number of "oh wow, how do you like it you know with all the crime" or "You live in Milwaukee? I thought only ghetto people live in Milwaukee". Ugh then I begin the relearning process to someone who hasn't been to Milwaukee since 1994, but that's what we have to do as city people rebuke all these informed people that no Milwaukee is not all hood and dirty and crime ridden, remember the people that think this way are all surrounded by people that dislike Milwaukee so all they will ever hear is how bad it is or how they could never live in Milwaukee. They need to hear from people that love Milwaukee that can offer a honest opinion on Milwaukee not just reactions from headlines that are carried out state by the AP.

I have even got a response from someone from Appleton once that "I couldn't live in Milwaukee, all that traffic is horrible!", So I quickly said Milwaukee has the 2nd best traffic of any major city only 2nd to Salt Lake City, and the average time for someone living in the Milwaukee area is 22min. Seriously do people actually think Milwaukee has a lot or bad traffic? how do you even combat idiots like that.

Can we get a few myths out of the way right now,

"Milwaukee has a horrible traffic problem"

- Milwaukee does not have a traffic problem, just a few slow freeway interchanges during rush hour. Some people in Milwaukee like to think Milwaukee is a bad traffic city for them telling other people that traffic is worse here than you think some how in their mind make Milwaukee more of a big city and less of a po-dunk town and helps them cope with their inferiority complex. It's okay that Milwaukee doesn't have Chicago type traffic and doesn't make Milwaukee less of a city. You'll see the same thing when people talk about rents and housing cost. It's their way of saying Milwaukee is a big city by overstating how much apts and housing costs. It's okay if our housing is cheaper and we don't have bad traffic we are not less of a city for having those things.

"If I go downtown I have to pay for parking and just trying to find parking is a hassle"

- Parking downtown is free on nights and weekends and easy to find, for some reason you cannot find parking Milwaukee has some of the cheapest parking in the US, just pay $5-$20 bucks for parking and stop complaining beside so many places downtown offer validating parking. Valet in Milwaukee will only run you $5-$20 but on average it's only $7-$10 bucks. Here is a little secret if you want free parking and want to never have to worry about finding a spot just park on Michigan Ave or Clybourn between Plankinton Ave and 7th street. There is always parking available on Michigan even all the way down to the US Bank Building. Parking secret number 2, John Hawks pub 100 east Wisconsin has validating parking meaning go there and buy a beer or dinner and they will validate your parking and you have free parking for the rest of the night. Besides 24 hour parking there is only $16 anyways, parking is a deal in Milwaukee.

Park Milwaukee

[Drover]

Originally Posted by CowsAndBeer

It's the same story across the country - rural folks don't like the major city/cities. Milwaukee is no different. Agreed that you get more hysteria from suburbanites than (for example) folks from Appleton coming down for a Brewers game.

That's probably because, among the older generations anyway, a lot of those suburbanites used to live in Milwaukee and have memories of when the city was in better shape than it is today, whereas your average Appletonian doesn't have that basis of comparison. A whole lot of suburbia wouldn't exist today were it not for people fleeing cities in the 50s through the 80s.

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by Drover

That's probably because, among the older generations anyway, a lot of those suburbanites used to live in Milwaukee and have memories of when the city was in better shape than it is today, whereas your average Appletonian doesn't have that basis of comparison. A whole lot of suburbia wouldn't exist today were it not for people fleeing cities in the 50s through the 80s.

This is spot on, case in point, I ran into a retired cop north of West Bend and he retired from MPD in 1994ish and that was when Milwaukee was averaging around 155-168 homicides a year and he vowed never to come back to Milwaukee and when I talked to him he stated that he doesn't keep up with Milwaukee news or anything and just reads his local village newspaper and hasn't been back to Milwaukee in years, so his last memories of the city were being a cop in the city in the 80's and early 90's, not exactly Milwaukee's glory years.

[CowsAndBeer]

Originally Posted by Drover

That's probably because, among the older generations anyway, a lot of those suburbanites used to live in Milwaukee and have memories of when the city was in better shape than it is today, whereas your average Appletonian doesn't have that basis of comparison. A whole lot of suburbia wouldn't exist today were it not for people fleeing cities in the 50s through the 80s.

Excellent point, had not thought of this.

Dead-on in regards to traffic (hasn't anyone been an hour down the road in Chicago???) and parking (ditto???). I have one of the worst commuter routes in town, 15 miles from Bayview to Brookfield on the Waukesha border, and it usually only takes me 20 minutes (morning) and 30 minutes (afternoon). Try that literally anywhere in the country in a similar metro.

Even though I'm likely moving away from the city in a year, I've seen an incredible amount of positive change in the city over the 5 years I've been here. I believe Milwaukee is in the middle of a renaissance. I was very skeptical when condos sprung up everywhere, but people are moving in and neighborhoods are slowly (and rapidly) improving. The problem is things aren't getting and likely won't get much better for a certain segment of the population. But overall, Milwaukee far outstrips its reputation. I'm proud of it how it stands and will root for Milwaukee no matter where I end up.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

This is spot on, case in point, I ran into a retired cop north of West Bend and he retired from MPD in 1994ish and that was when Milwaukee was averaging around 155-168 homicides a year and he vowed never to come back to Milwaukee and when I talked to him he stated that he doesn't keep up with Milwaukee news or anything and just reads his local village newspaper and hasn't been back to Milwaukee in years, so his last memories of the city were being a cop in the city in the 80's and early 90's, not exactly Milwaukee's glory years.

Yeah, it's kinda weird watching such movie classics as Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, etc., and it's almost unbelievable how much of a sh*thole NYC used to be compared to the playground it is today. Two nights ago I was watching Serpico based on a true story of an NYC cop fighting corruption in the NYPD; the movie's climax takes place in a run-down hellhole neighborhood. Turns out that "hellhole" neighborhood is Williamsburg, which is now the most expensive neighborhood in NYC outside of Manhattan. It's also a hoot watching the Blues Brothers who lived in a flophouse literally across the street from where I went to grad school, yet I didn't even realize it until after I graduated because the neighborhood as it was in 1980 is unrecognizable today. Unfortunately, these are the impressions that a lot of old-timer suburbanites still have of the cities they fled; and even if things have greatly improved since then, there's still a good deal of dysfunction in the cities compared to your average suburban hamlet.