Barrett Offers City for G-7 Summit
Urges President Trump to host 2020 meeting of leading industrial nations in Milwaukee.
Mayor Tom Barrett speaking at the groundbreaking for the Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons in 2016. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
In the decades since the G-7 was organized, the United States has hosted meetings in a number of locations, but never in the Midwest. The G-7 brings together the leaders of the world’s biggest economies including Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Last week, Trump came under bipartisan fire after the White House announced next year’s summit would take place at the president’s Doral golf resort outside of Miami. On Saturday, Trump announced he was dropping the plans.
Barrett said Wisconsin presents the “depth and diversity exemplified by a strong urban center in Milwaukee, thriving suburban communities, and rural areas that face economic challenges that are, at times, exacerbated by international trade issues.”
Barrett said Wisconsin has important lessons to share globally. And the region is not dominated by one political party.
“If he wants to get out of Washington, D.C. and come to an area where trade issues, like Harley Davidson, and domestic issues, like dairy prices, are front and center, Milwaukee would be an excellent choice,” Barrett said Monday after an event.
Milwaukee will host the Democratic National Convention from July 13-16. The 2020 Ryder Cup will be at Whistling Straits in Kohler from Sept. 25-27. Barrett said those events mean security planning is already well underway.
Listen to the WPR report here.
Milwaukee Mayor Asks President Trump To Consider Hosting 2020 G-7 Summit In Milwaukee was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
I was living in Savannah when the 2004 G-8 came to the area, Be careful what you wish for, Mssrs Barrett, et.al.
The city was bursting at the seams with military “watchers” (with weapons on display). Most were National Guard, as I recall, who were just hanging out wondering why, but it made for an eery atmosphere. Lots of plain clothes suit wearers walking around to forestall disruptions, that never broke out. There were predictions of protesters galore, but they mostly didn’t show up because it was an election year and they other “fish to fry” elsewhere that year. The locals either left town or stayed home (off the streets) for the most part. Restaurants and tourist-y businesses (tours, etc) were very hard hit because all the global folks had meals (banquets, e.g.) provided at the meeting sites like out of town at Sea Island, (think Kohler for instance in our case) or by hotels that had the staff to feed large groups or at the convention center on the island in the Savannah River between GA and SC. Tourists stayed away because of the strange atmosphere they anticipated, violence, etc, and on the assumption that the city would be teeming with security (true) and those attending the meetings (not true).
A restauranteur I know said he would have just shut down had he known how little business he’d have — lost money after paying staff— and said the same was true for other dining/drinking spots in town. The most we locals saw of the “dignatories” was their limosine cavalcades going here and their with police/sheriff escorts.
Funny thing was that protest organizers sued (or threatened to sue) for the money the city required them to spend for using the prime protest location(s), because the protests were puny. My neighbor went over to the biggest protest site, curious to see what was going to happen. That night, since the media HAD to put something on the news, he was interviewed on TV answering questions about what WASN’T happening and (in his opinion) why?
In my youth I spent a summer in Ankara, Turkey, which was under martial law after a failed military coup. Was pretty much like Savannah during G-8. Not much fun!