Milwaukee, One-Liners And Development: Guest Blog By Sam McGovern-Rowen

In February of this year I attended a panel discussion at UW-Milwaukee regarding the pending tidal wave of stimulus dollars and possibilities for green jobs in Milwaukee.

Those sure were some high-flying times back in early ’09 when non-profiteers like me were kept awake at night with Scrooge McDuck-like dreams of swimming backstroke in piles of grant dollars that would rained upon our agencies like pennies from heaven.

Not much news at that discussion - - however my old boss, former Milwaukee Alderman Mike D’Amato got off a great one-liner:

“The worst possible thing for Milwaukee is that this money is for shovel-ready projects only.”

It was funny then, and it is funny now how dated a reference like “shovel ready” gets in eight months.

While leaving the discussion I had an awkward exchange with another audience member who works in economic development for a planning committee in the region that will remain nameless.

It went something like this:

Man in sweater: “So… you’re Jim Rowen’s son…what do you do?”

SMR: “I do business and economic development on the North side of Milwaukee. Primarily I am focused on helping to attract new businesses that create jobs in areas like the 30th Street Industrial Corridor...”


Man in sweater: (eyes rolling) “Hmph…sheesh (eyes now bulging…how do you that?”

This is how: http://www.nwscdc.org/