Archive for the ‘Milwaukee’ Category

Attention Milwaukee : Vote YES!

Did you know that Milwaukee County residents are voting on an advisory referrendum this November to modify the tax balance between sales tax and property tax? Well, we are. And you should vote YES!

The legislature is asking for direct voter input on whether the tax burden for transit, parks, and culture should be shifted from property tax to sales tax. Read the bullet points above and check out the linked site for more info.

And please, vote YES!

Filed under Milwaukee, culture, economics, politics : Comments (0) : Oct 13th, 2008

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 :