As I've said earlier on this blog, UWM and some private sector interests are stacking the deck against greater public use of the Pieces of Eight site as a location for the UWM School of Freshwater Science.
Plilanthropist Mike Cudahy's purchase of the site for transfer to UWM puts the city's Harbor Commission, essentially the public domain landlord for the property, in a tougher political position as it tries to determine if the site is appropriate for the school and offices of the M7 public-private collaborative.
Among the site's drawbacks are its narrow configuration, lack of parking and proximity to the Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum.
There is an assumption that the school needs to be on the actual lakeshore, but all the school's laboratory research activities will be at the UWM's WATER Institute, on Greenfield Ave.
The school's water research boat will not be pulling into the Pieces of Eight site.
UWM's push for the site is being driven by academe's growing reliance on private sector support and influence.
That does not have to mean that these interests dictate how land in the public domain should be used and built upon.
I agree, right now nothing about the lake front teaches what the natural shoreline should teach. It is where the rip rap and steel meet the sea. I find it ugly and totally devoid of habitat and ecological viability. The site should be a series of rolling rain gardens and dune grasses that allow people to walk through and interpret naturally what should be there.
ReplyDelete1. I can see the attraction of wanting to put a new Freshwater Sciences Institute right on or alongside the lake, but doesn't the city or the county already own plenty of land along the lake that would work as well if not better as a site? Is there some inherent advantage to relying on private charity?
ReplyDelete2. Did you notice the lack of reasons given in the recent Journal Sentinel editorial as to why they think the Cudahy site is the right one?
3. At a minimum, if the Institute is to be built there, we should demand a ribbon of public land, with a path and shade trees and grass, from which to take in the best view (incomparable in my opinion) of the Calatrava addition. We should fight to keep that view, at least, from being privatized.