Milwaukee's inferiority complex

Invariably, whenever one of Milwaukee’s leaders - usually the mayor or the head of the Greater Milwaukee Committee or the chamber - makes a speech about the city’s wonderful assets and great future, they include a statement comparing Milwaukee to another city. They’ll say something like, “The last thing Milwaukee wants to be is another ….” Oftentimes, the blank is filled in with Detroit, but I’ve also heard Des Moines and Cleveland.

I’ve wondered why these leaders feel the need to take swipes at other cities if Milwaukee is so great. I remember my parents telling me when I was small that people who tear down other people only do so because they want to make themselves look better. That certainly appears to be the case regarding Milwaukee.

The latest issue (June 2007) of Inc. magazine ran a list of the country’s fastest-growing inner city companies. Guess what? Detroit has six such companies, all of them technology or manufacturing based, while Milwaukee has one, a janitorial service. Moreover, the day after I received Inc., The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story about a Cleveland developer, John Ferchill, who is turning the former Book-Cadillac hotel building in downtown Detroit into a 455-room Westin hotel and 67 condos, all of which already are sold. Ferchill has assumed more than $80 million in loans and other debt for the project because he sees a bright future for downtown Detroit. When was the last time a big-time outside developer saw a bright future for Milwaukee?

Indeed, the city of Milwaukee has owned a prime piece of real estate along Wisconsin Avenue directly across from the convention center for more 25 years because it can’t find anyone who wants to develop it. So it remains a blighted surface parking lot.

If I were one of Milwaukee’s leaders I’d be a bit more careful about poking fun at other cities to make Milwaukee seem better than it really is. They’re only making themselves look foolish in the process.