You may have seen him taking advantage of the weight machines in the Rec Plex around 5:30 p.m. You may not remember, but you probably saw him if you voted at the Alumni Memorial Union in the 2004 presidential election — he was there to make sure things went smoothly at the city's largest polling place.

A 1974 Marquette alumnus, Robert Bauman is the alderman who represents the university. His Fourth District is a diverse collection of neighborhoods, from the Marquette campus west to North 35th Street to downtown and the Third Ward.

Bauman is a graduate of Northwestern School of Law and practiced law downtown before being elected to the Milwaukee Common Council in 2004.

As chair of the Council's Public Works Committee, Bauman helps promote and approve development around the city. Some of the initiatives in which he has played a large role are pertinent to Marquette — the renovation of the Ambassador Hotel, 2308 W. Wisconsin Ave., and the push to install of a city-wide wireless Internet network.

Bauman said he works with Marquette on many issues, from the everyday — getting traffic lights installed at 13th and Wells streets — to the large-scale, such as helping coordinate the 2004 presidential polls at the AMU and personally spending the day to intervene if things went awry.

He said his relationship with the university is "outstanding at all levels."

A recent Tribune article that quoted Marquette Student Goverment President Alex Hermanny saying MUSG and Bauman did not interact much prompted Bauman to "pick up the phone the next day" to tell Hermanny he was "more than eager" to attend student events.

Hermanny said since that conversation, MUSG is "keeping him more abreast of what's going on," which includes inviting the alderman to Friday's inauguration of the new MUSG president and executive vice president. Hermanny said the new leaders will be told to utilize Bauman as a resource for various neighborhood issues, which in the past has included the request for better communication of parking restrictions.

Neighborhood revitalization

In the past few years, the Avenues West neighborhood, which includes the Marquette campus, has seen several major improvement projects take place.

There was the restoration of the Ambassador Hotel and the construction of the 2040 Lofts, 2040 W. Wisconsin Ave. The renovation of Norris Park, located between Kilbourn Avenue and State Street and 18th and 19th streets, is in the fundraising stage and there is a proposed redevelopment plan that will use tax credits to help fund affordable rental housing and retail on a vacant city-owned block at North 27th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue.

The Avenues West Association represents the neighborhood in which these properties reside and is one of several stakeholders involved in the Norris Park renovation, which will create usable green space for the public and become a neighborhood asset, according to the association's executive director, June Moberly.

"I think that it's great to have multiple stakeholders getting together," Bauman said of the Norris Park proposal.

Throughout the many development and renovation projects in the Avenues West, Moberly said teamwork has been the key to success.

"We have been blessed with very good collaboration. That's the only way any of these things happen — by people working together," she said.

A new Milwaukee

In his 2006 State of the City address, Mayor Tom Barrett used the phrase "Milwaukee Renaissance" to describe the ascent of Milwaukee to become one of the nation's greatest cities.

Milwaukee has seen a renaissance, Bauman said, but one that has been uneven.

While there is a growing development of housing in the downtown area that has been a catalyst for the expansion of cultural, social and nightlife activities, he said there are still "vast traces" of the city that have not benefitted, and lack of education is one major roadblock for a citywide renaissance.

"The lines have really been drawn along educational achievement," Bauman said. "Education is an increasing part of economic success in the 21st century-there is no doubt about that."