Mayor Tom Barrett
Press Release

Mayor Barrett Launches New Citywide Sustainability Initiative

Mayor Tom Barrett launched a new initiative, ReFresh Milwaukee, on Tuesday, July 16. ReFresh Milwaukee provides a vision for community sustainability over the next 10 years and seeks to make Milwaukee a center for sustainability innovation and thought leadership.

By - Jul 16th, 2013 01:14 pm

MILWAUKEE – Mayor Tom Barrett launched a new initiative, ReFresh Milwaukee, on Tuesday, July 16. ReFresh Milwaukee provides a vision for community sustainability over the next 10 years and seeks to make Milwaukee a center for sustainability innovation and thought leadership.

The Plan sets goals and targets for individuals and organizations to achieve and provides a citywide roadmap for improving the environmental, economic and social conditions of Milwaukee’s neighborhoods. ReFresh Milwaukee is a call to action to the community and connects residents, businesses and other groups working on sustainability issues. Mayor Barrett and director of the Office of Environmental Sustainability, Matt Howard, revealed the ReFresh Milwaukee Tuesday.

In February 2012, Mayor Barrett appointed the Milwaukee Green Team to create a vision and new ideas for a more sustainable city. Nearly eighteen months of planning and organizing later, the ReFresh Milwaukee initiative was unveiled.

“What makes ReFresh Milwaukee unique, and the recommendations quite poignant, is the fact that residents set the direction of this planning effort,” said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. “How can we reinvigorate our great city? How do we reinvest in our neighborhoods? And ultimately, how do we build a city where every neighborhood is a great place to live and raise a family? This was the challenge of the new Green Team and I think they delivered with this dynamic road map,” said Mayor Barrett.

ReFresh Milwaukee details specific goals and targets for city leadership to achieve while highlighting high priority strategies to make this vision a reality. The Plan sets goals and targets in eight issue areas: buildings, energy, food, human capital, land and urban ecosystems, mobility, resource recovery and water. It also identifies two projects – HOME GR/OWN and the Inner Harbor Redevelopment – as “catalytic projects” which can act as visible demonstrations of multiple ReFresh Milwaukee goals.

The complete ReFresh Milwaukee plan is available at www.ReFreshMKE.com. The initiative also provides a way for residents, businesses and organizations to engage with the plan, each other and take action.

“ReFresh Milwaukee serves as a road map not only for city government, but for our community at large,” said Howard. “The website will serve as a way for the community to engage with the recommendations so we can all work together to achieve common sustainable goals.”

For more information on ReFresh Milwaukee, visit www.ReFreshMKE.com.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.

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