Don't Even Consider Milwaukee
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12/28/2010
As a former resident of Milwaukee, I cringed when I saw that my two choices for governor were two Milwaukee politicians becuase I fled that huge bucket of FAIL years ago.
Why am I so hard on Milwaukee? I think the question should be why am I not harder on the place? As the years went by, I pretty much discovered that even when I got a degree my job prospects would more or less consist of working as a temp for $11 an hour out in New Berlin. And even if I got a decent paying job that allowed me to utilize my skills, my housing choices would consist of a) enclaves on the far eastern end of the city populated by insufferable yuppies, b) dysfunctional crime ridden neighborhoods, or c) dull, overpriced suburbs full of bigots.
Making matters worse are the taxes. I understand that taxes are the price one pays for civilization, and though Milwaukee's are some of the highest in the nation you don't get anything approaching civilization. While the city is begging for money to fix its useless schools and can't answer police calls in a timely fashion, they have plenty of money to hire parking checkers to nickle and dime people enforcing some of the most arcane, useless parking regulations in the nation. In fact, if they put the same energy in crime prevention and economic development they do in handing out parking tickets, Milwaukee could be a decent place. But they won't, becuase they only care about shaking the residents down and hoping they don't find a decent city to live in.
And the suburbs? The taxes aren't much better, and they're populated by frightened soccer moms and whimpering bigots.
Living in Madison, which is admitedly somewhat overrated at times, we at least have the hope of better times and elected officials that care about the people that they serve. Milwaukee has none of those things. And now that one of their fearless leaders is governor, I fear for the future of this state.
Bp | Madison, WI