Number
190445
Version
SUBSITUTE 1
Reference
170337
Sponsor
ALD. HAMILTON, COGGS, RAINEY, STAMPER, BORKOWSKI, KOVAC AND JOHNSON
Title
Substitute resolution relating to the creation of a City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity.
Analysis
This resolution creates a City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity for the purpose of making recommendations on how to address the ongoing climate crisis, ensure Milwaukee meets the obligations set forth in the Paris Climate Accord, and mitigate racial and economic inequity through “green” jobs.
The Task Force shall be comprised of the following 13 members:
1. A Common Council member appointed by the Common Council President.
2. A Milwaukee County Supervisor appointed by the County Board Chair.
3. A representative of Citizen Action of Wisconsin.
4. A representative of the Wisconsin Climate Table.
5. A representative of the Sierra Club.
6. A representative of Community Advocates Public Policy Institute.
7. A representative of the NAACP.
8. A representative of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council.
9. A representative of Clean Wisconsin.
10. A Milwaukee Youth Council representative.
11. A community member appointed by the Common Council President.
12. A community member appointed by the County Board Chairman.
13. A representative of the Environmental Collaboration Office.
Body
Whereas, In 2018, reports from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United States Global Change Research Program, found that:
1) The global climate is diverging from its prehistoric pattern due primarily to human activity since the Industrial Revolution, including increased greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and other land use changes.
2) Human activities have increased the average global temperature by approximately 1.0°C (1.8°F) since the early 1800s, and will likely cause the average global temperature to rise another 1.5°C (2.7°F) between 2030 and 2052 (and 2.0°C (3.6°F) under current emissions), making the earth significantly less habitable for humans and wildlife.
3) The Midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin, with 60 million people and producing 18 percent of the American gross domestic product, will likely experience:
a) Decline, to 1980s levels, of agricultural productivity due to forecasted precipitation changes and increases in extreme temperatures by 2050.
b) Downturn in the forest industry as trees, including birch and ash species, may not be able to cope with temperature changes and the advancement of invasive species.
c) Degeneration of biodiversity as many plant and animal species may not adapt to changes in climate and other human pressures.
d) Increased public health problems from the poorer air quality resulting from increases in ground-level ozone, extended length of pollen seasons and deadlier urban heat island effects.
e) Higher costs of maintaining and reconstructing Midwestern transportation and stormwater infrastructure due to higher intensities and frequencies of storms and floods.
; and
Whereas, The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, in an October, 2014, “Climate Change Vulnerability Analysis,” anticipates that, among other things, Milwaukee will likely see larger storms and more precipitation falling as rain rather than snow, potentially rendering green infrastructure less effective when contending with storm surges and lowering the water level of Lake Michigan due to evaporation exceeding precipitation; and
Whereas, In 2016, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, of which the United States is a Member State, adopted the Paris Agreement (Paris Climate Accord), a global plan to counteract climate change and prevent the average global temperature from rising to or above 2°C; and
Whereas, In the same year the United States signed and ratified the Agreement; and
Whereas, In 2017, the City and County of Milwaukee both declared their intent to adhere to the Paris Agreement (Common Council File Number 170337); and
Whereas, Forty years ago, Milwaukee’s vibrant manufacturing sector and the Great Migration combined to temporarily create the most prosperous African-American middle class in the United States, but decades of de-industrialization, outsourcing to the suburbs and overseas, hyper-segregation, and other aspects of structural racism, have stolen that fleeting prosperity away, creating persistent Depression-like conditions in African-American neighborhoods while also harming the Latino community; and
Whereas, Professor Marc Levine of the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Center on Economic Development wrote in 2010 in “Race and Male Employment in the Wake of the Great Recession” that, “No metro area has witnessed more precipitous erosion in the labor market for black males over the past 40 years than has Milwaukee” and “in no other large metro area is the contemporary black male employment crisis more acute than in Milwaukee”; and
Whereas, University of Wisconsin - Madison researchers found in 2018 that:
1) In 2016, 30.3% of Blacks and 18.5% of Latinos and other minorities lived in poverty compared to 10% of Whites, according to the Wisconsin Poverty Measure.
2) In 2016, overall poverty in Milwaukee County (17.5%) is significantly higher than the rest of Wisconsin (10.8%).
; and
Whereas, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee researchers in 2019 found the following information on Milwaukee’s 53206 zip code:
1) Approximately 50% unemployment among working-age adults.
2) 46% of prime-age adults (ages 25-54) had full-time jobs, compared to 69% in the entire City of Milwaukee and 75% in Milwaukee suburbs.
3) More than one fifth of employed residents had income below the federal poverty level.
4) An overall poverty level of 42%, six times the poverty rate in Milwaukee.
; and
Whereas, The same report found, specific to working-age males in the 53206 ZIP Code, that the area “has come to epitomize the social and economic distress facing inner city neighborhood in this hypersegregated metropolitan area,” and “only 49.7 percent of working-age males (ages 25-54) in 53206 were employed in 2017, compared to 89.4 percent in the Milwaukee suburbs. An astonishing 34 percent of 53206 males in their prime working years were not even in the labor force”; and
Whereas, Reducing locally-produced greenhouse gas emissions will likely lead to the creation of new “green” jobs; and
Whereas, The Center on Wisconsin Strategy estimated in February, 2019, that 100 percent domestic energy production with renewable resources in Wisconsin may produce a net increase of 162,100 jobs and keep $14.4 billion in Wisconsin by not importing fossil fuels for state powerplants; and
Whereas, The City of Milwaukee recognizes the opportunity to address the ongoing climate crisis by creating family-supporting green jobs for those in poverty; and
Whereas, A City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity, if created, could develop and provide recommendations for meeting the obligations of the Paris Climate Accord and addressing economic inequity; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, By the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee, that a City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity is created consisting of:
1. A Common Council member appointed by the Common Council President.
2. A Milwaukee County Supervisor appointed by the County Board Chair.
3. A representative of Citizen Action of Wisconsin.
4. A representative of the Wisconsin Climate Table.
5. A representative of the Sierra Club.
6. A representative of Community Advocates Public Policy Institute.
7. A representative of the NAACP.
8. A representative of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council.
9. A representative of Clean Wisconsin.
10. A Youth Council representative appointed by the Common Council President.
11. A community member appointed by the Common Council President.
12. A community member appointed by the County Board Chairman.
13. A representative of the Environmental Collaboration Office.
; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity is charged with making recommendations on how to reduce community-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 45% by the year 2030 and achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner, and mitigate racial and income inequity through green jobs; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Task Force shall make recommendations on how to dramatically reduce racial inequality by assuring that greenhouse gas reduction investments and policies will create the maximum number of permanent living wage jobs for people who live in the most impoverished Milwaukee neighborhoods and are currently shut out of economic opportunity; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Task Force shall be co-chaired by the Milwaukee Common Council President or his designee, and the Chairman of the Milwaukee County Board or his designee, and, be it
Further Resolved, That the City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity shall provide the Common Council and the County Board of Supervisors, within 6 months of the date of adoption of this resolution, a comprehensive plan that includes the following:
1. A roadmap of required and measurable governmental actions to accomplish greenhouse gas reduction goals.
2. Suggested policy changes and investments required to simultaneously reduce racial and income inequity, including advice on creating training and/or vocational programs for maximizing the number of Milwaukee “green jobs”.
3. A description of how local governments may be able to assess and map vulnerabilities to climate change by neighborhood and community across the County.
4. A list of outside experts the City and County may contract with for technical expertise to further the goals of the Task Force and write a climate change and economic equity comprehensive plan for the City and County.
; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the City Clerk’s Office shall provide staffing support to the Task Force; and, be it
Further Resolved, That all City departments are directed to support and cooperate with the work of the Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity.
Requestor
Drafter
LRB 174322-1
Luke Knapp
6/25/2019