Alderman Murphy sponsors budget amendments aimed at combatting reckless driving, boosting city parks

The Milwaukee Common Council today (Friday, November 4) adopted an amended 2023 City of Milwaukee budget that included several key amendments offered by lead sponsor Alderman Michael J. Murphy.

Alderman Murphy, chair of the Zoning, Neighborhoods, and Development Committee, said he was focused on ‘safety and quality of life’ issues when putting forth 2023 budget amendments. “Issues that add to the ability of Milwaukee residents to be safe, to prosper physically and intellectually, and to have enrichment and positive development – those are most important to me at budget time,” he said.

Among the budget amendments sponsored by Alderman Murphy adopted as part of the 2023 City budget are:

• An amendment adding $500,000 to DPW-Infrastructure Services to offset the reduction in special assessment revenue for traffic-calming installations. The amendment will enable additional city neighborhoods to combat reckless driving using speed tables, speed humps and raised crosswalks. This amendment is consistent with an amendment the Alderman offered last year, which was $1 million to reduce the assessment rate from 90% to 30% for residents, resulting in a record number of speed humps (272 – crushing the previous record of 116).
• An amendment transferring an Associate Transportation Planner from the Department of Public Works’ Multimodal Unit into the Mayor’s Office, to help implement and plan the anti-reckless driving policies and projects that are a part of the Mayor’s Vision Zero initiative.
• An amendment that will add two positions to support operations of the Development Center in the Department of Neighborhood Services. Delays caused by workforce staffing issues at the Development Center can have major negative impacts on residential and commercial projects across the city, and the added positions will help bolster staffing to prevent those delays.
• An amendment to add staff to make a fully-staffed MKE Parks section in DPW – Infrastructure Services. This will help bolster the existing and future investments in MKE Plays, an award-winning public-private initiative, created in 2015 as a way to reprioritize parks for local government while soliciting additional help from private sector partners (MKE Plays has raised more than $3.5 million, and is funded mostly by private donors, and this amendment will have a zero fiscal impact). The MKE Plays program continues to grow and as a result requires additional capacity to create a sustainable growth plan. Providing additional resources to the MKE Parks unit of DPW-Infrastructure will help ensure that the investment in playgrounds is protected by making sure that the playgrounds remain in good repair.

Alderman Murphy said he was disappointed that the Council voted down amendments to restore cuts to the Milwaukee Police Department.

“During this year’s budget process and meeting with constituents and business owners, I have heard major concerns about public safety and poor police response times,” Alderman Murphy said.

“I believe it is one of our foremost responsibilities to do everything we can to protect the general welfare of the public, for both residents and visitors alike. If people don’t feel safe, they will make the choice to leave our city,” the Alderman said.

All amendments to the 2023 City budget can be viewed here along with previous department presentations and other budget related information.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.