• Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service

Your neighborhood. Your News.

newsMilwaukee NNSMilwaukee NNSSearch
Subscribe to NNS today!
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
    • Arts and Recreation
    • Community
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Health and Wellness
    • Housing
    • Public Safety
    • NNS Spotlight
    • Special Report
  • Posts From Community
    • Submit a Story
  • Community Voices
  • How To
  • Multimedia
    • NNS Local Video
    • Photos
    • NNS on Lake Effect
    • NNS WGLB 1560 Radio
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • About
    • Staff
    • Partners
    • News 414
    • The neighborhoods we cover
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service

Diederich College of Communication, Marquette University

You are here: Home / Home / Carousel / Milwaukee legislators hope new federal program will help city’s distressed areas

Milwaukee legislators hope new federal program will help city’s distressed areas

March 22, 2018 by Elliot Hughes 2 Comments

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin

The former Blommer Ice Cream Factory, at 1500 W. North Ave., is being converted into a 64-unit housing complex, with the help of tax incremental financing. (Photo by Elliot Hughes)

A delegation of Milwaukee state legislators is hoping that a new program tucked away in the federal tax cut bill signed into law late last year could reel in investment to the city’s most distressed neighborhoods.

Under the new program, governors can nominate economically struggling census tracts within their states to become “Opportunity Zones,” where investments will be subject to various tax incentives.

The Milwaukee Democratic Legislative Caucus recently wrote a letter to Gov. Scott Walker calling on him to nominate as many eligible Milwaukee census tracts as possible in Wisconsin’s application to the U.S. Treasury Secretary, which certifies nominated areas as Opportunity Zones.

Governors were allowed to nominate 25 percent of the census tracts within their state that qualify for the program. Out of 120 nominations submitted Wednesday, Milwaukee scored 34, more than three times as many as the second-place municipality, Madison, with 10.

It is unclear how long it will take the Treasury Secretary to make the final designations.

Rep. Jason Fields, who represents the Havenwoods area, said he hoped the program could help projects in affordable housing, education and other community-building developments.

Rep. David Crowley, pictured in October 2017, said Milwaukee’s neighborhoods present a good opportunity for the Opportunity Zones program due to their proximity to the booming downtown. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)

“We have the new Bucks arena, we have the new Northwestern (Mutual Tower),” Fields said. “But are we increasing the demand for projects like affordable housing? Are we developing places where entire neighborhoods will redevelop and grow better?”

Before the nominations were released, Rep. David Crowley, who represents the Grasslyn Manor-Columbus Park area of the North Side, said that the delegation would be happy to see any part of the state receive the Opportunity Zone certification. But he argued that the program’s incentives would pair well with Milwaukee’s downtown development boom and that the entire state would reap the benefits.

“We are the economic engine of the state,” Crowley said. “The reality is, if we can do much more for this city and build this city up even more, then we have an opportunity to give more back to the state. Revitalizing this area does much more than just [benefitting] Milwaukee. It does a lot for the state of Wisconsin.”

The Opportunity Zones program was designed to help distressed communities still struggling from the effects of the Great Recession. According to the Economic Innovation Group, 52.3 million Americans, or 17 percent of the population, live in economically distressed communities.

The letter to Walker stated there are 165 eligible tracts in Milwaukee alone, accounting for nearly 35 percent of Wisconsin’s eligible tracts.

“We believe that while our city represents a significant number of the highly distressed census tracts, it also presents the largest investment opportunities that coincide with the provisions of the Opportunity Zone designation,” the letter reads.

Tracts qualify for the program if they are in a low-income community, or if the tract borders a low-income community and its median family income does not exceed 125 percent of the median family income of the low-income neighborhood that it borders.

Walker’s office convened an interagency working group and consulted with a “nationally respected consulting firm” as well as local leaders to determine the state’s nominations, spokesperson Amy Hasenberg said in a statement.

“Governor Walker is optimistic about the potential benefit that Opportunity Zones will have bringing jobs and growth to communities across Wisconsin,” Hasenberg said.

The letter to Walker was signed by Crowley, Fields and representatives Fred Kessler, JoCasta Zamarripa, Evan Goyke, Josh Zepnick, Christine Sinicki, and Leon Young; and senators Lena Taylor, Tim Carpenter, Chris Larson and LaTonya Johnson. All are Democrats.

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin

Filed Under: Carousel, Economic Development, Home, Neighborhoods, News

Avatar

About Elliot Hughes

Comments

  1. AvatarWalter Ramsey says

    March 22, 2018 at 7:26 am

    While the hope for funding for economically depressed areas will help alleviate party blade a better solution is 2 use the economic power that businesses already have to generate the resources necessary to fight Urban poverty in Milwaukee the process is to use economic multipliers and economic accelerator is to generate the resources necessary to improve the blighted areas without the need for dependency on Government funding should such funding become available it can be used to augment the self-sustaining activity of Milwaukee let’s show them that Milwaukee n have the drive and determination to solve these problems themselves with reduced dependency on government Aid

    Reply
  2. AvatarJseed says

    March 22, 2018 at 10:07 am

    Good day, it would be most amazing should our public speakers, representatives, would always speak in lay mans/woman’ s terms. whether Federal funds dedicated to impoverished zip codes or formulas that are used as determining factors. Our leaders/spokesman should always aspire toward encouraging citizen active support and that would be facilitated effectively, when the average high school educated person understands your resources, application, time lines and both near and far objectives. The people insist that political jargon be translated every opportunity eliciting support through understanding the words used, which must always reflect collective values solicit active citizen support. Be able to tell us exactly what you mean and how we can partner with you and achieve measurable results, just like the counted votes that elected each of our public representatives. Plain Old Talk, POT, will do just fine. Thank you

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Top Stories

Advertisement

How To …

What you need to know now about mail-in voting in Wisconsin

6 helpful tips on mail-in voting to ensure that your vote is counted and your voice is heard in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election this November.

More "How To" articles

Advertisement

Recommended Reading

A Vaccine Reality Check

The Atlantic

UWM study on the state of Black Milwaukee describes the city as ‘the epitome of a 21st century racial regime’

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Videos Show How Federal Officers Escalated Violence in Portland

The New York Times

These mayors want to fight Covid-19 and the recession with one big idea: A guaranteed income

Vox

The World John Lewis Helped Create

The Atlantic

News

  • Arts and Recreation
  • Economic Development
  • Education
  • Health and Wellness
  • Housing
  • Public Safety
  • NNS Spotlight
  • Special Reports
  • Multimedia
    • NNS Videos
    • Photos
    • NNS on Lake Effect Radio

Engage with us

  • Posts from Community
  • Community Voices
  • Submit a Story

About NNS

  • Staff
  • Partners
  • News414
  • The neighborhoods we cover
  • Internship opportunities
  • Careers
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise

Connect with us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS feed

Communities

Contact

mailing address
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Diederich College of Communication
Marquette University
1131 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Johnston Hall 430
Milwaukee, WI 53233

email
info@milwaukeenns.org

phone & fax
PHONE: 414.604.6397 FAX: 414.288.6494

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service is a project of Diederich College of Communication and Marquette University.
© 2020 Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Terms of use.
1131 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee WI 53233 • info@milwaukeenns.org

Copyright © 2021 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in