This is a little nostalgia and biography mixed with a little confusion about where we are all heading.
I grew up in what was then rural Waukesha County on what had been my grandfather’s farm. My uncle farmed it for a while and then leased it out to the farmer up the road. Many of my other relatives were also farmers so I knew farming although I didn’t live it day in and day out. But seasonally I got involved…mending fence, baling hay, filling silo, feeding livestock.
But my main memories are wrapped around exploring meadows and pastures, trying to spot frogs and turtles in the creek and wetlands, skating on the creek when if froze, hunting hickory nuts for my mom’s baking projects, and just generally reveling in watching nature.
I came to Milwaukee to attend UWM and never went back home. But I thought about it a few times. Considered moving back to the family home. The main reasons being the memories of the open spaces and active nature. I thought that would good for my son. But the commute to my job in Milwaukee always put me off. Later in life I was interested in a farmhouse on a few acres including a creek and wood lot. But again, I didn’t make the move.
So when I read these few words in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article about a proposed development in Mukwonago Wisconsin, I was befuddled. Why would you want to do this?
The village has seen its share of recent development, but this one is so large — more than $50 million — it could create a cascade effect to give the village what it wants and needs, officials say.
Imagine 50 acres, a stone’s-throw from the Interstate 43 interchange, filled with a hotel, new restaurants, an upscale supermarket, entertainment-oriented businesses and 600 new apartments that include plenty of green space and walking trails.
“The village currently lacks the population density to draw some of the ‘big-city’ amenities that our community desires, such as Panera, Sendiks, Applebee’s and other developments of that nature,” he said. “This development will certainly help lure more of the services, dining, and entertainment options that our own residents are calling for.”
[emphasis mine]
Mukwonago is out in the country…it is rural…although like most everything else in Waukesha county it is filling in with strip malls…and now a much bigger mixed use development.
I would think the people who live in Mukwonago live their because it is rural. Because it has wide open spaces. Because it is quiet. Why the hell would you want sufficient population density to attract ‘big city’ hum drum amenities? That’s what big cities are for. If you want that crap move to Brookfield which has already taken the downward slide to being anywhere America. I don’t get it.
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