Greater Milwaukee Green Party 

"Be part of the solution"

Home

What's New

Meetings

Events

Issues

Candidates

Volunteer Opportunities

Links

Contacts

Photo Page

Membership

Reading list

GMGP Admin

Editorials

These articles reflect the opinion of the author and are not endorsed by the Greater Milwaukee Green Party.

Milwaukee's Economic Present And Future
By Robert Miranda

Aside from the gentrification that usually accompanies new economic initiatives in targeted city zones, consider the lack of information and isolation of prospective neighborhood entrepreneurs and workers who aren't part of the political loop.

Gentrification, is a term used when poor working people and elderly people on fixed incomes are forced out of an area being developed (like Walker's Point) due to increased property taxes and rising property assessments, both of which hurt property owners and renters alike.

Over the next few months debate between candidates running for Alderman of the 12th district will center on issues that directly impact our neighborhoods and our city. While many of the issues they argue have merit, it is important for me to say that jobs and the creation of jobs will be my top issue.

As I see it, the public investment going towards the growth of light industry construction jobs in the Park East Corridor and the Menomonee Valley area is lacking a real dynamic plan that links our residents to the construction jobs about to be created.

Neighborhoods like Lincoln Village are experiencing growth in poverty and crime because city planners lacked vision and failed to have a plan in place to deal with neighborhoods now being impacted by the economic revival of Downtown, Walker's Point, the Park East Corridor and the Menomonee Valley.

Community Benefit Agreement

The economic initiatives taking place in these areas are all major economic projects that workers and small business owners of the 12th district must all be a part of. To ensure that this happens, I support the Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) being proposed by a coalition of community groups known as Good Jobs and Livable Neighborhoods.

This coalition advocates for an agreement designed to enhance Milwaukee area workers, residents and small business entrepreneur's access into the Park East Corridor.

The CBA allows for housing developments at the Park East to provide 30 percent of units being built as affordable housing. It assesses fees on commercial developments in order to subsidize affordable housing construction in the Park East area. It calls for at least 75 percent of jobs created by businesses in the Park East to pay a living wage plus provide health insurance. It calls on corporations to provide 25 percent of construction jobs to be filled by Latinos and other people of color. And, it requires that 50 percent of the jobs created after the construction stage be filled by people from a targeted area within the city, such as the 12th aldermanic district.

Having a CBA would benefit our city and ensure that corporations hire residents living in areas of economic need. Seeking a similar CBA for the Menomonee Valley would be an issue I would pursue as Alderman, if there were none in place now.

The public's investment in these development initiatives could total $3 billion dollars over the next decade. The average wage for construction union workers may range from between $45 to $65 dollars an hour. The average wage for skilled construction workers who are not union will of course be less, while wages for unskilled construction jobs will be far less.

The unskilled workforce in our district must be provided with every opportunity to get skilled training so that they can compete for the union wage jobs and living wage jobs about to be created in these areas in the coming years.

Job training programs like the ones offered at Esperanza Unida must be supported and fully funded by the city. They aid in the training and placement of workers.

Back to editorial index.