Instead of viewing economic development as a local issue, civic leaders in Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago and the Twin Cities ought to strengthen regional ties and work together to foster growth, according UW-Milwaukee urban planning professor Sammis White.
“It really is the Midwest against the rest,” he told a group of about 80 gathered Friday for a breakfast meeting sponsored by the UW-Madison Small Business Development Center. “If we want to succeed, we really need to take advantage of the strength that each of these areas have, and the Midwest as a whole has, in order to compete with other sections of the country.”