Launch of controversial streetcar project even has some skeptics thinking about the economic development potential

Milwaukee has for years been listed among the largest American cities without easy-on, easy-off urban rail transit. But that ends Friday when the city officially opens the initial 2.1-mile line for “The Hop,” the new downtown streetcar system.
The Hop will be winding through downtown Milwaukee, carrying bus and Amtrak riders from the Intermodal Station in the city’s Third Ward neighborhood, past f...