By Renard Teipelke
Only four mayors in 60 years – three of them socialists (sic!). Considering Milwaukee’s 20th century history, the preconditions are really exciting for a US-American city. The Sewer Socialist movement emerged from Milwaukee and included famous figures like Victor L. Berger (see here for more information). With 600,000 citizens, Milwaukee is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin. In the last article I wrote about Wisconsin’s capital city Madison – also an ‘alternative’ city but with a completely different outset. Milwaukee, as part of the Rust Belt, experienced the well-known decline of heavy-industry cities at the Great Lakes. When I told my American friends that I was going to visit Milwaukee, they all ask me why on earth I would want to go to this ‘city in decline.’ Continue reading
