Mayor Tom Barrett announced today that the City's plans to redevelop the 30th Street Industrial Corridor, the area defined by West Hampton Avenue on the north, West Highland Boulevard on the south, North 27th Street on the east and North 35th Street on the west.
Barrett is calling the project the Greenlight District to indicate a zone where the City gives a "green light" on use of TIFs and other economic development tools within the corridor to attract business, especially "green" industries. The project, he says, is similar to the long-range efforts that went into the revitalization of the Menomonee Valley.
The 30th Street Industrial Corridor had traditionally been a rail corridor through the central city, allowing companies such as Master Lock, Miller Brewing and Harley-Davidson to move raw material and finished goods in and out of Milwaukee since the late 19th century.
The major points of the revitalization plan are:
- Attract / retain business
- Target green industries
- Focus resources to offer business incentives
- Incorporate job training incentives, additional workforce development initiatives to support local industries in the corridor
- Improve infrastructure, residential and commercial areas
- Eliminate blight
- Increase public safety
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
