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Along the Milwaukee River, Optimism Abounds

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All this week, WUWM News is exploring recent efforts to revitalize what was once a key thoroughfare through the city, but one which fell into decline decades ago. The Milwaukee River once was the catalyst for commerce and industry during the city's formative years and also provided recreation for the people who moved here. However, disregard for the river's health led to decades of decay.

But fortunes are, again, changing for the river. Thousands of apartment and condominium units have gone into former factory buildings along the river and as a result, hundreds of millions of dollars have gone into the city’s tax base in recent years.

WUWM’s Bob Bach boarded a boat and went for a tour of some of the riverbank’s recent developments with the City of Milwaukee’s Commissioner of Development, Rocky Marcoux.