Pro-Sprawl Policies Help Make Milwaukee America’s Most Segregated Metro

Among the myriad insights from the new Census is another blow to Milwaukee. The metro region was once again rated the most segregated in the country, beating out notoriously divided metros like Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and LA.

We’ve written before about how metro Milwaukee’s development policies encourage sprawl, isolating people of color and the poor in the city (while degrading the environment in the suburbs). In its analysis, Salon takes another tack. Anti-transit policies, like the ones endorsed by former Milwaukee County executive and current governor Scott Walker, serve to further isolate the region’s disenfranchised populations. Salon elaborates on the local atmosphere:

James Rowen at Network blog The Political Environment points the finger squarely at local leadership:

Rowen adds that the region’s continuing segregation problem is another argument against allowing suburban Waukesha to build a pipeline to pump water from Lake Michigan, which would allow for further sprawling development. Waukesha County, incidentally, is facing charges of housing discrimination:

The situation in Milwaukee goes to show runaway sprawl and transit disinvestment don’t affect everyone equally. Scott Walker is aggravating the already egregious problem in Milwaukee by pushing through $1.7 billion in suburban highway expansions, while decimating transit budgets.

Elsewhere on the Network today: The Active Transportation Alliance looks at bike commuting as a form of workplace wellness. Let’s Go Ride a Bike comments on the “Mary Poppins effect,” wherein female cyclists who fit a certain stereotype are said to receive more favorable treatment from motorists. Google Maps Bike There says transit fare increases are tantamount to tax hikes, and regressive ones at that. And the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition asks local residents to get behind a planning process to help the city compete for Safe Routes to School funds.