UWM again

In another fine post today, Capper discussed (in a long post, which I invite you to read for yourself) the whole UWM invasion onto the County Grounds, stating that "the so-called County Board Economic and Community Development Committee foolishly voted to recommend all but giving away the county grounds to a private developer." One reason that it just rubs me the wrong way- besides the idea of developing the County green space that was supposed to remain open in perpetuity- is that I worked for Columbia Hospital for so many years and (overall) loved it. It's closing- gradually, slowly dying; my former unit already closed last year. Some of the buildings are historic, and rather ornate. It would be the best possible thing for everyone concerned if UWM bought the Columbia property.

Look at this map- the Columbia property is situated perfectly within the L-shaped UWM campus. (Yes, I know it is supposed to say "Downer Woods"; it's not the worst error ever made on an online map.)

There it is- perfectly nestled, just waiting to be repurposed as university space.

Letter from Gerry Broderick

This morning I wrote to the County Supervisors on the PEE Committee about the proposed UWM expansion onto the County Grounds, writing essentially the same thing as my previous post on the subject.

I always hear back from Mr Broderick, and this is the response I received from him within three hours:

"While I agree with your expressed sentiments, I've been around long enough to know that an effort to oppose this plan would be quixotic on my part and divert energy from obtainable environmental goals.Keep the faith, lately we win more than we lose."

Reality: usually disappointing.

Friends of the Monarch Trail

In a post on his Cognitive Dissidence blog, Chris Liebenthal describes a recent public hearing about the possibility of the UWM engineering school expansion project sucking up even more of the Milwaukee County Grounds. (Completely illogical. A campus feeds off the proximity and energy of people working, studying, and learning together; off-site experiences are for internships. Selling off and building up more of the County Grounds is foolish and short-sighted.)

Also, if I ever have a kid, nine-year-old Izzy- who wore her butterfly wings and spoke at the hearing- is the kind I would want to have. She shares the opinion of Friends of the Monarch Trail, who is urging the county to create a conservancy to maintain control of the land before any deal goes through with UWM. Sounds like a good idea to me.