Chicago's Planning Runs Circles Around Similar Agencies Here

I've lost count of the number of times I've noted on this blog that the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning doesn't hold a candle to its counterpart in Chicago.

And while Chicago also has its Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) - - a venerable, activist civic complement to the public sector planners - - we here in southeastern Wisconsin have the relatively new M-7, which got caught recently overstating its economic successes.

Brother.

Here's a fresh example: one of the young planners at the Chicago MPC thinks that fears over an Asian carp invasion of the Great Lakes could be used to trigger serious, comprehensive regional planning.

Details here, (and I will post more information at the bottom of this item and you ask yourself, would anyone here at SEWRPC or the M7 ever launch an effort that detailed and bold?) - - but here's what's getting kicked around 90 miles south:

"Over the next few decades, [planner Josh] Ellis says growing [water] demand may reach that limit, putting the area at a competitive disadvantage for attracting businesses and residents while maintaining healthy ecosystems. Updating the city’s treatment process, re–reversing its rivers where feasible, and planning for the future by recycling the city’s water supply could solve this problem before it starts, he adds.

What does that have to do with Asian carp? By eliminating the need to send sewage away from the city, Ellis says Chicago might be able to construct physical barriers that keep unwanted fish and other future invasive species at bay. “There are still a thousand details to work out, but we reversed the river once, we can come up with engineering solutions to solve all of these problems at the same time,” he explains, adding that strategically located boat lifts or intermodal facilities could mitigate negative effects on shipping and tourism traffic."

I'm not out to knock the M-7, or SEWRPC. Really.

But I am told that several young planners left SEWRPC recently because the old-boy network there just sucked the life and energy out of staffers who were interested in sustainability, New Urbanism and anything outside of the box.

The M-7 and Water Council have been hung up on having a glitzy headquarters for water-related business recruitment, which is why they first pushed for a location at the former Pieces of Eight restaurant site on the lakefront, and fell back, after the lakefront site bombed, to persuading UWM to split the new School of Freshwater Science into two locations, with the Water Council and private sector effort located on the Reed Street Yards site near the Harley-Davidson museum.

Nice location, sure.

Will it lure capital to Milwaukee?

These things are always oversold.

I'd rather have cutting edge ideas than what is being promised at the Reed Street Yards - - an "iconic" structure.

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