Mayor Barrett turns to sustainability to grow Milwaukee economy

Scott Paulus

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett Tuesday rolled out a new sustainability plan that seeks to spur the local economy through promoting energy efficiency companies, promoting building upgrades and redeveloping the city?s inner harbor.

Other focal points in the 10-year plan include promoting locally grown food, recycling and job-training opportunities for city youth. To draft the report, a task force surveyed 1,011 residents, held public meetings that involved 435 residents and received input from about 85 businesses.

?We can build it, fix it, ship it, grow it and design it,? according to Barrett?s intro letter to the report. ?We can do all those things when it comes to our neighborhoods and quality of life. Sustainability is the fuel for the great cities of the 21st century and we hope to revitalize our neighborhoods.?

Among the major projects is converting city-owned vacant lots into urban gardens, an idea the city floated as its plan in the national Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayor?s Challenge. The report sets a goal of rehabbing five foreclosed buildings for reuse in the local food supply chain by July 2014. By 2015, 10 vacant lots are to be converted to join the effort.

Revitalizing Milwaukee?s inner-harbor area, which has been the topic of a different task force, also is listed as a catalytic project. That 970-acre area has 100 acres of brownfields to be cleaned over the next decade, generating 22 jobs per acre of redeveloped land.

The report identifies energy efficiency technology as an opportunity to grow more local companies. It says an organization similar to the Water Council should be created for energy businesses. It recommends Eaton Corp.?s former facility at 4201 N. 27th St. as the location for a business incubator. That building is being revitalized by a local business owner for new tenants.

Sean Ryan reports on real estate, construction and public transit in southeast Wisconsin

Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/bizj_milwaukee/~3/6uEl-2ZbO48/barrett-turns-to-sustainability-to.html

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