For the first time since 2010, Milwaukee has a new plan for its downtown and surrounding areas.
Adopted by the Common Council and signed by Mayor Cavalier Johnson last week, Downtown Plan 2040 is the result of years of planning by the city’s Department of City Development and the Downtown Business Improvement District, with input from community listening sessions. The plan includes a wide range of projects, from adding concessions to parks to narrowing or removing streets in favor of pedestrians, bicyclists and public transportation.
Larry Sandler, a local journalist who wrote an article about the plan for Milwaukee Magazine, says the plan’s focus is not on adding to the city’s skyline, but more on how people move through, and spend time in, downtown.
“When we think of downtown development, a lot of people think about big buildings,” he says. “A lot of the themes [in the plan] are in what we do with the streets, how we get around, how downtown operates as a crossroads for vehicles and people.”
While the plan has been approved by city government, it is not guaranteed to be fully realized by 2040. Barriers include funding, possibility for changing mayoral administrations and alderpeople, and interference from state government on aspects like expanding the streetcar to surrounding neighborhoods.
Sandler says right now it's fair to be cautiously optimistic about the plan’s future.
“Lots of things can happen over the decades, not everything that was in the 2010 plan happened, certainly, but some of it did,” he says.
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