Archive for the ‘Milwaukee’ Category
Milwaukee : 12th Most Sustainable City
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My home for the last 2.5 years. And the U.S.’s 12th most sustainable city?
SustainLane is a new website that uses contributions submitted by citizens around the country to rank cities on 16 attributes of sustainability. By these measures, Milwaukee ranks #12. This is an improvement from #16 two years ago.
Given the empahsis on sustainability in the city and at the state level, I would expect this ranking to improve year over year. We might not catch Portland, but I bet we could make the top 10 in the next decade.
For reference, here are the current rankings for 2008:
- Portland, OR
- San Francisco, CA
- Seattle, WA
- Chicago, IL
- New York, NY
- Boston, MA
- Minneapolis, MN
- Philadelphia, PA
- Oakland, CA
- Baltimore, MD
On Milwaukee!
Filed under Milwaukee, climate change, environment : Comments (2) : Sep 22nd, 2008
Facebook ad of the day - BaconSalt
This demonstrates two things:
1) Facebook is able to target ads with a very fine grain
2) My demographic on Facebook has very strange food preferences. (BaconSalt? Seriously?)
Facebook ad of the day - BaconSalt
Filed under Milwaukee, culture, technology : Comments (0) : Sep 7th, 2008
Bike to work #1 : success!
After many many months of hemming, hawing, and making up excuses for why I couldn’t, I brought my bike to work today and rode it home. (Since I left my car there, I’m really hoping it doesn’t rain tomorrow morning.)
Initial thoughts on bike commuting:
- It’s shorter (by distance) and only slightly longer (by time). Since I’m taking a more direct, as-the-crow-flies route (as opposed to the highway), i’m shaving off a couple miles from the commute. Plus, since I can use the bike/curb lane and generally don’t need to wait for traffic, I can maneuver much quicker.
- Office buildings need showers. I got pretty sweaty riding home. That’s fine if I have a shower to jump into, but at work I’ll need to use the gym’s shower facilities. My frustration is that the people who run our gym refuse to entertain the concept of bike commuters using only the showers for a reduced rate. (I’m not planning to pump iron while at the office.)
- Very pleasant way to start/end the day. Unlike car commuting, when I have to constantly be thinking about traffic and watching for bad drivers, bicycling is very relaxing. I’m still watching for bad drivers, but I found my mind much clearer. I think it has something to do with the exercise component.
- Total gasoline used : 0 gallons!
- You should try it! I used to think it was too far, too many busy roads, too this, too that. Unless you try it, you’ll never know if you like it.
Filed under Milwaukee, energy, environment, frugal, work : Comments (1) : Jun 24th, 2008
Proof that we both need and want mass transit :
Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit - New York Times via kwout
Filed under Milwaukee, economics, energy, environment, suburbs : Comments (0) : May 19th, 2008
Wisconsin : Wake up!
Having lived in Madison for 4 years and Milwaukee for 2, I’m beginning to understand the Wisconsin scene a little better. From what I gather, the state legislature does not like Milwaukee. In fact, they seem to act with contempt towards Wisconsin’s largest economic center. Curious. Here’s an example : Wisconsin LOVES to build highways.
Holy smokes we’ve got highways. But public transit? No thanks. Passenger rail between Milwaukee and Madison? No way. Regional rail linking Milwaukee, Chicago, and the Twin Cities? Nope. Modern buses or light rail? Not on your life. Eight lane super-highways? YES PLEASE!
Milwaukee’s mayor is pleading for a sensible transportation strategy. I’m not holding my breath.
Barrett asks state to divert funds from I-94 project to mass transit - Small Business Times via kwout
Filed under Milwaukee, culture, energy, environment, politics, suburbs : Comments (0) : May 5th, 2008
Brady Street Skate Vid
I did a little video project with my friend this weekend :
Filed under Milwaukee : Comments (4) : Apr 27th, 2008
It’s happening
Over the past few years, esteemed blogs (such as tadfad.com) have espoused at great lengths why suburbs are not a wise investment for our nation in general. Now, as gas prices are on the way to $4/gallon and the credit markets are tightening up, home buyers seem to agree.
Home Prices Drop Most in Areas with Long Commute : NPR via kwout
The part that’s sad about this is that almost everyone is going to lose in the end. We’ve spent trillions of dollars building not only the suburban homes themselves, but all the infrastructure to support them. As these areas become less and less desirable (and hence, less valuable), much of this investment will simply go to zero. The negative effect to the U.S. economy will be significant.
Fortunately, there’s hope. In cities all across the U.S., there’s plenty of space to expand. After decades of suburban flight, many neighborhoods are living with low population density and ample opportunities for improvement. We’ll need to act wisely as we re-urbanize and ensure that low income families aren’t forced out to the fringes. Again, history is a wise tutor as most cities dealt with mixed income housing quite well prior to WWII.
The key to this equation will be wise investment. There will be enormous pressures on state and federal governments to prop up the suburbs with cheap loans and road building. We need the forethought to gradually close the book on the great suburban experiment and rediscover what city life can be.
[Side note : Anyone looking for an investment opportunity? Check out the Riverwest neighborhood in Milwaukee. ]
Filed under Milwaukee, culture, economics, energy, environment, suburbs : Comments (3) : Apr 23rd, 2008
Roundy’s does organic
Roundy’s is a supermarket megapology in the Midwest area (they own Pick N’ Save, Copps, and Rainbow Foods). They also sell store brand foods under the Roundy’s brand.
Imagine my surprise when I was cruising the organic dairy case (looking for my favorite Silk soymilk) and discovered that Roundy’s now offers organic milk. Huzzah!
This tells me a few things :
- Organic is officially mainstream (+)
- Organic appeals to people outside the lefty tree hugging crowd (+)
- Organic is done on the industrial scale just like conventional (-)
So with two (+)’s and one (-), this is a good thing. I’m walking the organic line; some things I like to buy organic (like my Silk) while others I go conventional. Let’s hope that we all continue to realize that energy intensive farming is not a winning strategy and keep moving the needle.
Filed under Milwaukee, economics, energy, environment : Comments (5) : Apr 20th, 2008
Is Twitter useful?
When Twitter first came on the scene, I was skeptical. How useful is it really to answer the question “what am I doing?” in 140 characters or less? I threw down a few tweets, didn’t get much return, and abandoned it after a few weeks.
Well let me tell you, my friends : Twitter is the real deal.
It’s incredibly simple. The interface has only a handful of links. And yet in spite of this, it’s incredibly powerful. Rather, because of this it’s incredibly powerful.
More so than other social networks, you’re encouraged to provide actionable information that’s locally relevant. (Some people use it to spam out links, but that’s lame.) Last week I found some friends through Twitter who were looking for coffee, so I joined them. I’ve found Milwaukee folks who share some of my interests. I’ve learned a bit more about the peculiar habits of my colleagues.
Twitter is not for everybody. (In fact, it’s probably not for most people.) But if you’re at all interested, I would strongly encourage you to give it a shot and try to find some new contacts through it. Here’s a start: twitter.com/tadfad
Filed under Milwaukee, culture, technology : Comments (5) : Apr 16th, 2008
Wisconsin Primary [updated]
It’s Tuesday the 19th of February and Wisconsin is voting for the presidential primaries. My prediction : Obama wins handily over Clinton for the Dems and McCain steals the show for the Republicans. (Of course, given my track record at predicting primary outcomes, you’re going to want to take that with a grain or two of salt.)
[Updated Feb 19, 23:04] Obama finishes the night with a commanding lead, beating Clinton by 16%. Consider this : Obama’s margin of victory in Wisconsin is greater than that in Michigan (and just behind Florida) where he agreed not to campaign due to these states violating party rules.
Hillary, it’s just not your year.
Filed under Milwaukee, politics : Comments (0) : Feb 19th, 2008
