More sprawl in Milwaukee's future?

In an about-face from government policies of the '40s and '50s, which set the "white flight" from cities into motion, many states, including Wisconsin, are now looking for ways to halt urban sprawl in order to rejuvenate cities.

(See sidebar Some say suburbia promotes racism)

But according to Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, author of The Wealth of Cities, the State of Wisconsin could do a lot more to control and balance growth.

Norquist was one of 20 speakers at a conference, "Milwaukee's Future in an Era of Urban Sprawl: Is Smart Growth Possible?," held on campus June 2.

The conference was organized by the Urban Initiatives Council and the UWM Center for Urban Initiatives and Research.

While many of the conference speakers advocated state or national intervention as a remedy for sprawl, Norquist pointed out that the expansionist philosophy of the Department of Transportation is foiling attempts to deal with the problem.

Other speakers expressed concern over whether state legislation should be the answer. Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley stated, "I do not believe the body politic is ready for that yet. We have a strong tradition of state private property rights. It makes legislation very difficult."

Finley reminded the assemblage that Norquist's predecessor as mayor and Thomas Ament's predecessor as Milwaukee County executive both retired to Waukesha County. This underscores the fact that deciding where to live is, and should be, essentially a private choice, he said.

Waukesha, Wisconsin's fastest-growing county, also has the only city in the state with a land development plan. Because of the plan, Finley said, the city of Waukesha has acquired environmentally sensitive land to guard against its development, and has set aside "hefty" amounts of green space and park land.

Christine Nuernberg, mayor of Mequon, also believes that good growth is the result of good local government. Mequon has been trying to keep growth in check for most of its existence, she said, primarily to preserve the rural quality of life.

"The DOT wants to expand Wauwatosa Road to five lanes. Mequon doesn't want that," she said. "Also, we have fought the effort to put another exit (on I-43) at Mequon Road and Port Washington Road."

Mequon is now exploring whether residents would be willing to use tax money to protect the undeveloped wetlands that are left, she added.

At the same time, other states, such as Maryland, Oregon, New Jersey, and Washington, have passed legislative mandates aimed at putting a clamp on urban sprawl altogether.

Most conference participants believed that it is too late to stop growth, but steps could be taken that would make the city more attractive.

Milwaukee's best asset is its mayor, claimed Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "No one man in America has done more than John Norquist" to promote urbanism, Moe said.

In Milwaukee, city planners have worked to attract people back into the city limits by capitalizing on the city's architectural richness, recycling old buildings, making pedestrian traffic easier, and blending in new development.

Norquist said Milwaukee has updated old building ordinances that had "made mixed use illegal since World War II."

Before the ordinance revisions, "You couldn't build Main Street anymore, except at Disneyland," he joked.

Milwaukee also has kept its taxes down. The city has dropped from one of the top areas in the region for taxes in 1988 to 16th, the middle of the pack, Norquist said.