Remarkable Milwaukee

This has already been shared and reposted about a hundred times, so what's one more gonna do. Take a look at the discussion from "Remarkable Milwaukee", a panel organized to deliberate on what Milwaukee needs to keep it moving forward in the future...
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/138205484.html

Good article. Good read. All good ideas. One thing I would stress though, is that many, if not all of the ideas proposed are HUGE in scope and thus, need backing from government in order for them to get done. That's all well and good...and I hope it gets done...but the next discussion we should have is "what can we, as individuals, or a group of individuals, do without the major support of the government and at least keep moving forward with small steps?

A total lakefront cultural center would be awesome...and the idea is definitely worth discussing, but what now? Now it's back in the hands of politicians and city leaders...we have this big discussion and end saying, "man, we have good ideas...too bad we can't get any of them done." Let's face it, the chances that these huge projects get approved, funded, designed and actually built is slim and far off at the very most...I think a next discussion would be great if we kept it to "real" solutions...or maybe a better term "more practical" or "immediate" ideas.

I love everything they came up with...but its all "start an organization" "revitalize the lakefront" build a better infrastructure" "create demand for art and design" and as an individual, I'd come out gleaming with a big ass smile only to ask the panel "So when do we start? Where do we sign up? Who's heading this all?"and I can only imagine I'd get a response of something like a sigh and "well they're just ideas so far."

And we should be talking about this. This is GREAT. This should happen between all people around looking to make something better in the city. This shouldn't just be an event at the Pabst , it should be happening in bars between friends, at galleries between artists, at cafe's in book clubs, sports clubs and on the beach...but instead of dreaming of all we need the city to do, we should move the conversation to what WE can do.

So, I guess that sounds more negative than I intended...but I mean it as more constructive. The discussion was great...but as it was only a discussion, it was barely a start, and a small start on gigantic projects at that. I think the real way to actually move forward, instead of just talk about it, is come up with smaller scale projects that we, as a community of individuals, can accomplish.

*NOTE* - this reaction is all based on three or four reviews of the event and what those chose to discuss about the event. I did not go, and have not read the transcript. If this is off-base, I apologize.