Milwaukee and Chicago: One City or Two?

Earlier this spring, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued what it called a "territorial review" on the Chicago economic region, stretching from Milwaukee through northwest Indiana. Basically, the OECD said this region was much less than the sum of its parts, and needed some real cooperation, across state lines, to achieve a vibrant economy in the age of globalization.

At the time, I wrote about this report and expressed the hope that somebody in the region would jump on these ideas and try to turn them into reality. It looks now like this may be happening.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has made closer cooperation between Milwaukee and Chicago one of its main topics this year. Together with the Law School at Marquette University, it is sponsoring a conference July 17 at Marquette entitled "Milwaukee's Future in the Chicago Megacity." I'm taking part in this conference and hope it will be the first step toward real collaboration between the two lakeside cities that share so much -- history, economy, geography, demographics -- but spend so little time talking with each other.

If Chicago and Milwaukee aren't exactly the Twin Cities, they're the next best thing. Most big Midwestern cities are 200 miles apart or more -- too far apart for easy day-by-day cooperation: probably nothing short of a true high-speed rail network will overcome this tyranny of distance.

But Milwaukee and Chicago and the suburbs between them are close to being a megacity, a conurbation of 12 million people, spread along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, only 90 miles and 90 minutes apart, even on the toonerville Amtrak rail link between them. A decent semi-high-speed commuter rail line would cut this to 45 minutes, which is about what most Chicagoans already spend getting to work each day.

How to establish this link? How to get Chicagoans working in Milwaukee and vice versa? How to get the two cities to save money with shared services? How to hook Chicago into Milwaukee's growing water industries and Milwaukee into Chicago's business services? Indeed, how to get the two cities to move beyond their traditional rivalry in sports and begin talking seriously about their common future?

This is what that conference will be about. It is Milwaukee-centered, which is unsurprising considering the participants: the agenda is how Milwaukee can gain through greater links with Chicago: it would be nice to see a reciprocal Chicago-centered conference, with Chicagoans, who habitually ignore anybody outside the city limits, thinking how they can gain through ties with Milwaukee.

A major problem, noted by everyone, is that the two cities lie in two states with a long history of non-cooperation, even hostility. It would seem that greater Milwaukee-Chicago cooperation would lie in projects outside the authority of the states, so Madison and Springfield couldn't stick their oar in.

But as you'll see from the agenda, one of the speakers is a Wisconsin state official, Paul Jadin, who is CEO and secretary of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, which recently replaced the state's Department of Commerce. Jadin also took part in the Chicago program that unveiled the OECD report. He's a solid citizen and if he's a sign of new thinking in Madison, perhaps state capitals won't be that much of a problem after all.

All over the Midwest, cities are talking about striking closer ties with neighbors, sometimes in other states: Cleveland and Pittsburgh, for instance, or the Quad Cities, or Omaha and Council Bluffs, or Indianapolis and Louisville. If the folks in Milwaukee are on to something, they could be blazing a trail for other cities to follow.

At any rate, we'll be taking notes at that Milwaukee conference next month and will keep you posted.

Comments

[Aaron M. Renn]

I think you summed up Chicago's attitude pretty well: who cares about Milwaukee? But I wonder what the general attitude in Milwaukee is. My friend Pete Saunders did an interesting analysis of what he called 'satellite cities' that could apply to Milwaukee:

http://cornersideyard.blogspot.com/2012/06/on-satellite-cities.html

From what I've seen, satellites that are in the process of being integrated into a bigger nearby metro go through a period of extreme hostility towards their bigger neighbor. The two cities near Indy Saunders noted - Bloomington and Anderson - have both taken explicit steps to distance themselves from Indianapolis, no matter how foolish that may be.

I'm not sure it's feasible for Milwaukee, a city that's really struggled demographically and economically, to go it alone. As another friend of mine said of it, "If Chicago is the sun of the Midwest solar system, Milwaukee is Mercury. It's too close to the sun and gets burned up." But it is a huge mindshift for even much smaller cities to stop thinking of themselves as standalone, so I'm guessing it would be very tough here too. Sounds like an interesting conference.

[Everyday Freethought]

Interesting that you say that Chicago and Milwaukee should not expect too much help from Springfield or Madison. Chicago is closer to Madison than Springfield. And WRT to Aaron Renn's comment, I think the reputation of and interest in Madison amongst Chicagoans is higher than the reputations of and interest in Milwaukee and Springfield.

But then nobody knows much about Rockford. But Rockford is in bad shape these days. If it were up to me, I would expend energy on building ties with Madison and Milwaukee first.

[Skip]

Marc Eisen recently wrote about this issue with regards to Madison and Milwaukee:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/milwaukee-and-madison-a-need-for-stronger-links-875mikm-158254795.html

When I read such pieces as his and the one here, I reflexively nod my head but I have to ask: how is "Chicago's attitude" determined? And who isn't cooperating?

I live in Madison and am simply an interested observer. I have no background in urban studies, &c. From my vantage point, there are a lot of ties amongst Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison. The Hiawatha ridership keeps bumping upwards; Badger Bus, which runs between Madison and Milwaukee, added another daily run last year; I read a statistic in the past couple years that, in terms of sheer numbers, Milwaukee and Cook counties are the top 2 in terms of out migration to Madison (Dane County?). A friend of mine lives near Edgerton (about 25 miles south of Madison) and many of his neighbors are from the Chicago area. They bought homes near Lake Koshkonong so they could come up on weekends and during the summer. And let's not forget all the Chicagoland tourists who go up to Wisconsin Dells and points farther north.

Being from Chicago originally, I have family and friends there. I also have friends in Milwaukee. Yeah, there's animosity - mostly revolving around sports - but it's not like people from either side of the Cheddar Curtain consider the other anathema. My kith and kin from the Land of Lincoln go to Milwaukee, Madison, and other areas of WI regularly. I go to Chicago and Milwaukee. We all visit one another and do weekend getaways in each city. So I just don't see an unwillingness to cooperate at the level of Jane and John Sixpack.

I understand that at least the WI state government doesn't have much interest in cooperating and strengthening ties as the 86ing of the expansion of the Hiawatha line and the cold calls our Lt. Governor is making to get businesses to move from the Rockford area to the Beloit area. Municipal governments don't seem keen on it either. But are they the only ones who need convincing? Is the Chicago attitude towards Milwaukee that Aaron noted purely that of government officials or does it extend to the movers and shakers in business there? Eisen also makes the point that cooperation between Milwaukee and Madison isn't lack solely because of animosity.

So who needs to be convinced to cooperate? And how much of the convincing is to overcome animosity and how much is to prioritize cooperation?