The State of the City
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett scored points by choosing the new Harley-Davidson museum as the setting for his State of the City address last month. The terrific new building, on the edge of the Menomonee Valley, served as an ideal backdrop for Barrett’s speech.
Barrett is understandably proud of the progress made in redeveloping the valley. For years, this industrial corridor has been a festering sore symbolic of the economic and environmental damage left by Milwaukee’s manufacturing past.
But, little by little – or, more precisely – master plan here, Miller Park there, Henry Aaron trail here, Harley museum there, the valley has undergone a significant revival that is a tribute to what can be accomplished when government, business and nonprofits put their brains, imaginations and resources together.
And Barrett was not shy about taking credit for the progress. He opened with the story of how the Harley museum was mired in gridlock when he took office and his intervention led to the opening of the tourist attraction at 6th and Canal.
The valley, according to Barrett, “once the City’s biggest eyesore, has become home to growing companies and first rate attractions.”
Milwaukee is the proud home of a number of nationally and internationally renowned companies but none is more intertwined with the city’s image than Harley (especially now that Miller Brewery has merged with Coors and will locate its corporate headquarters in Chicago).
The fascinating history of Harley nicely parallels the city’s itself; from innovative small company, to booming wartime manufacturer, to depressed victim of a controversial buyout to resurgent forward-looking, modern corporation.
But like most stories in the real world this one doesn’t necessarily end “and they all lived happily ever after.”
The downturn in the economy has not left Harley unscathed and the company has announced layoffs as have many other formerly strong and highly-regarded businesses.
I am reminded of when Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan gently warned the president of AARP (where I worked at the time) that great empires often signaled their impending demise when they constructed expensive and ostentatious buildings in their own honor.
The senator was referring to the Romans, of course, but the meaning wasn’t lost on those of us employed by the highly influential aging group which had recently constructed a new headquarters referred to affectionately as the Taj Mahal.
The mayor’s mantra since day one has been “jobs, jobs, jobs” and he points to 2000 new ones created in the valley. One wonders about his math, however, if these include promised new jobs over the course of the near and distant future and whether he will be equally forthcoming if those future jobs turn elusive.
One cannot discuss the Menomonee Valley without commenting on the 800-lb gorilla smack dab in its center. I’m talking about the Potawatomi Casino that is easy to love, hate or both, but difficult to be neutral about.
If anything on God’s green earth is recession proof, it’s casinos. Expansion of Potawatomi has continued nearly unabated and the sheer number of parking spaces suggests that there are more visitors there than Miller Park, the Bradley Center and Lambeau Field combined.
Remember this place is open 24/7.
Now I am not opposed to casinos and I am glad there is one here in Milwaukee. Unquestionably, casinos are good for the economy and, even if you don’t gamble, decent restaurants and excellent concert venues are also part of the package.
But there is something indisputably disreputable about the place. And its unfortunate location near the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory aka The Domes, (that delightful Mecca for school trips that has generated giggles among generations of sophomores) brings to mind, well if not Las Vegas, perhaps Reno.
But enough about the valley.
The mayor also pointed to a number of other promising initiatives.
The 30th Street Industrial Corridor offers many of the same challenges as the Menomonee and he pledged to tackle three of the worst brownfields there in 2009.
And the mayor also paid tribute to developer Joseph Zilber and his remarkable commitment to The Brewery Project on the site of the former Pabst facility. The plan is for the “first sustainable LEED-certified neighborhood” and who can argue with that?
So development remains a major component of the city’s quest for improvement. To some, this is controversial, especially concerning the taxpayer supported financing instrument known as TIF by which the city borrows money to fund improvements using the promise of future property taxes to repay the loans.
For example, Mayor Barrett said that the city assisted Zilber’s $205 million Brewery Project with “a $29 million TIF to fund demolition, environmental cleanup, new ‘green’ streets, sewers and sustainable public improvements.”
Public policy experts differ on the benefits of this government investment. As the least, advocates for the unemployed argue in favor of requiring developers who benefit from these kinds of deals hire a certain percentage of qualified city residents who need the work and pay them a prevailing wage.
Mayor Barrett has voiced his support for this proposal, known as the MORE ordinance, and it is currently wending its way through the Common Council. Stay tuned.
Another initiative that Barrett called attention to is his commitment to growing and attracting green industries. The mayor has endorsed the creation of a School of Freshwater Sciences at UWM. Not a bad goal.
Whew! Not that I’m complaining but it sure looks like the era of big government is back. I hope someone is paying attention to make sure this is all done efficiently and effectively,
The Mayor also touched on education and crime reduction and the news was good on both fronts. Barrett praised Gov. Doyle for including a change to the state funding mechanism that would lead to $38 million in property tax relief for Milwaukee.
And the selection of Edward Flynn as the city’s new police chief may have been the most significant accomplishment of Barrett’s time in office. His arrival has met with nearly universal acclaim. Reducing the number of violent crime is nice but getting all of the competing interests in town to like and respect him may really be what earns Flynn some kind of Nobel Prize.
Like Flynn, Barrett faces a difficult job of keeping lots of different people happy. To a certain extent, the fact that everybody seems to be a little disappointed by the mayor’s performance may be a sign that he is doing a good job.
The mayor outlined a comprehensive list of successes and projects in the works that would serve as a worthy agenda for any elected official. The challenge is to continue offering the leadership necessary to move these projects forward in a high-quality, timely and cost-effective manner.
After all,in Milwaukee we tend to keep our mayors around for a long, long time.
