MD: It's hard sometimes, but the benefit of this district is the people who live near the lake are not people who think differently -- they may have different means or bigger houses or more money -- but as far as ideology and thought, the district is pretty progressive from end to end. People understand that problems need long-term solutions, the things that I spoke about before -- home ownership, education and good jobs -- are things we need to work on.

There really isn't a pitting of one side against the other. I was knocking on doors the other day, and we did a ward on Marietta and Lake Drive and Shepherd, and then we did a ward up near Holton Street, and it's amazing to see the difference in the lifestyle, but the people are concerned about the same things: crime, education and making sure they get the biggest bang for their tax dollar.

OMC: As an alderman, is there really anything you can do to improve crime?

MD: I think this is a great question that you ask. I think that when crime's bad, elected officials get too much of the blame, and when crime's down, we get too much of the credit. A lot of it has to do with forces that are out of our control, but I'm one of those people who do not believe that the police department is the only solution for crime.

We have a ton of city departments that need to fight crime. The Health Department has to make people healthy, we need to lower the infant mortality rate. We need to get people off of their addictions. That fights crime. Our Department of City Development needs to help businesses create jobs. That fights crime. Our libraries need to stay open, so the kids have an alternative, a place to go to get off the streets.

Everybody has a role in fighting crime, and when we just put money into cops, we diminish the amount of resources we give to everyone else, and so you're using the most resources on the most expensive solution.

OMC: Do you think crime is getting worse in Riverwest?

MD: There has been a spike in crime in Riverwest over the last year. It's not a dramatic increase, but we're seeing more gun crime. If I were able to do one thing crime-wise, I would get every gun off the street. The kinds of crimes we're seeing were never committed with guns in the past. Like if someone were going to mug someone, they would do it with their hands, now they're carrying a gun. And that's the stuff that scares me. If one thing goes wrong with a gun crime, someone's dead. If something goes wrong with a mugging (in the past) you may have a black eye or a bloody nose, but you weren't dead. We need to get guns off the street.

OMC: Do you think the new Alterra will have a strong positive impact on Riverwest?

MD: I think it's great for Riverwest. The building it replaced was a blight, and it wasn't contributing to the neighborhood. Secondly, they're bringing their whole operation here, and are creating jobs. That's wonderful for the neighborhood. And Alterra has a history of hiring people from the neighborhood already. And it's going to be a gathering spot. It's a really valuable marriage between private sector and public sector. Alterra is a company with a community conscience, so what they do makes them money but it's also really good for the neighborhood.

OMC: What are your thoughts on the development of the river trails?

MD: The trails are fantastic. I have supported the trails. We got money from the state to build the East Bank Trail. We helped get money from the state to build the West Bank Trail. There needs to be a very distinct difference between the hard scape of the river that ends around the Humboldt Bridge and the soft scape that begins above the dam. I think access is incredibly important, and I will point to another success that I think we had.

When I was first elected, one of the emphases I had, was to make the opening of the Oak Leaf Trail -- the bike trail -- accessible from multiple points. And we've done that. We provided an access ramp from North Avenue, we provided a ramp at the Kenilworth building that provides access, we will provide a ramp at the Layfettee Park condominiums that will provide access. The Brady Street Bridge now provides access, and I think we're going to do the same thing at Cambridge Woods.

Those access points have made the trail far more utilized and much safer because more people use it now. The same is true with the river. I think that you can have access without necessarily interrupting the natural state of the river. That's the delicate part of figuring this out. We want to preserve it, but keep it accessible and safe in an area that is urban.

OMC: Some homeowners living east of the river struggle with issues like loud college parties, litter and a lack of parking. What is your message to these residents?

MD: I think that we have to continue to work for solutions and that means the university working with us, the regions working with us, the state working with us because my line is this: UWM has grown its student body 10 percent over the last five years and they never asked anybody who lives around there if that was a good thing. They never measured the impact that it would have on the people who live there, and have made investments there.

It is unfair, I think, for the state to impose that upon us without taking reactions into account. My goal now is to make sure that that connection is between the people who live there and the decision makers, so when they make those kinds of decisions, they understand the impact.

At this point, my belief is that UWM has put as much as they can into that East Side campus. It has reached its maximum growth. It's changing the dynamic of the neighborhood slowly from a single-family neighborhood to a student-rental neighborhood and that's dangerous. It destabilizes that neighborhood. I want the university to be there, it adds value to the area, but I also want the neighborhood to stay family-oriented, and I want that balance to be realized.

The balance is tipping over the wrong way. UWM needs to find a second campus, somewhere in the city, but not on the East Side. Whether it's near Capitol Drive between Humboldt and Holton is a great location, or the old Pabst Brewery, Park East or on the Northeast side. They need another campus that works in conjunction with the East Side campus so they can grown and add value but not overwhelm that neighborhood.

The parking solution that we've come up with for resident parking I think is the perfect model. We didn't say to the university, "Get your cars off our streets. It's your problem." Instead, we said let's make a deal that we understand that the number of spaces that you have for parking are constant -- both on campus and off campus – so we'll trade you those off-campus parking spots on the street, for a new parking structure that you build on campus. This way, the students and the residents win.