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| | | | This will be a virtual meeting conducted via GoToMeeting. Should you wish to join this meeting from your phone, tablet, or computer you may go to https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/766386101. You can also dial in using your phone United States: +1 (571) 317-3112 and Access Code: 766-386-101. | | | |
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| | | | Also present:
Minutes note: Alex Highley, Legislative Reference Bureau
Bernadette Karanja, Common Council-City Clerkâs Office Workforce Development Division | | | |
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| | 3. | | Review and approval of the previous meeting minutes.
Minutes note: The meeting minutes from August 26, 2020 were approved without objection. | | | |
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| | 4. | | Assessment, analysis, and setting of priority goals, objectives, outcomes, and recommendations.
Minutes note: A. Task force priorities
1.) Infrastructure, streets, and transportation
-Milwaukee "Complete Streets", BIDs, NIDs, Zoning, Commercial Corridor programs, bus rapid transit, rail lines
Chair Ellison asked members to review the "Milwaukee Complete Streets Health and Equity Report 2019" and policies making streets more pedestrian friendly and accessible.
Mike Amsden, Department of Public Works, gave an overview on Complete Streets. He is the Multimodal Transportation Manager. The Complete Streets policy was adopted in 2018 and is fairly recent. Goals of the policy are to promote safety, comfort, and enjoyment of City streets and sidewalks for persons of all ages, mobility, and disabilities; apply to all project phases; prioritize equitable investment; engage with communities; strive for pedestrian safety; create a better city, attract and retain residents; have transportation options; and address disparities. There has been community advocacy for better street and sidewalk infrastructure. There has been implementation on some City streets resulting in better landscaping, green infrastructure, bike lanes, outside dining options, and/or narrower lanes for those streets.
Members said that "Complete Streets" should be more aggressive as a policy instrument, have more follow-through on implementation, be more forward thinking rather than reactionary, can possibly make driving and parking more difficult with narrower lanes, should have an overall vision, should be better marketed, and should be intentional (especially for people in different life stages). Members added that increasing parking prices (due to Milwaukee having low parking rates) can be a revenue generator.
Members inquired about policy expansion, leadership, impact on driving, and parking. Members also questioned equitable connectivity and implementation on the city northside, the Active Streets Initiative, project selection process, upcoming projects, community engagement process, and overall vision for Complete Streets.
Mr. Amsden responded. There could be more resources and funding acquired towards the policy. Through the support of advocacy groups, the 2020 City budget was amended to fund $500,000 toward the implementation of Complete Streets this year. The City has the ability to do variable parking pricing. There are many recommendations to expand upon such as prioritizing safety over speed. The policy is supported at the top by Mayor Tom Barrett and DPW Commissioner Jeff Polenske. The policy has changed the perspective on street infrastructure from being solely about engineering. They are now tracking and evaluating the progress of street infrastructure on an annual basis, which was not done before. They are now doing more intentional community engagement for projects, such as doing walks and bike rides, as opposed to doing just informational sessions. There must be benefits and alternatives offered for making streets narrower. On connectivity and equitable access opportunities, there is a Rails to Trails project for the 30th Street Corridor to create a multi-use trail from Miller Park to 30th Street and Havenwoods Park. A feasibility analysis is being done followed by process with the State and railroads. There are plans to expand the Beerline Trail northwest. The Active Streets Initiative helps to provide access to City-County parks and trails. Due to the pandemic existing corridors with support were chosen for this year. Budgeting is being done to expand next year, which will entail a community process. There are no locations set yet. Traditionally, projects were based on condition. Other important criteria are being considered now for projects. Examples include data on safety and crashes. Some future projects planned include National Avenue, at Century City 35th Street and Capitol Drive, Becher Street, and Teutonia Avenue. Community engagement will entail going beyond informational sessions, catering to each neighborhood uniquely (neighborhoods are different from each other), and being relevant to different cultures. There is no unique overall vision and marketing done for the policy other than what was mentioned.
Chair Ellison said that beyond Millennials the task force is focused on people within three different life stages: youth to 23 years old (education years), 23 to 30 years old (no family/children), and 30 years and over (with families/children).
Lafayette Crump, Commissioner of the Department of City Development, commented on City development. There are no parking minimums downtown, parking rates for the City are lower than the rates of peer cities, and developers usually include more parking than required in their projects due to demand. DCD will also consider the different life stages of people, homeownership, racial equity, and residents. Developments in the City need to be intentional and mindsets need to change on the front end so that developments can occur in all parts of the City other than downtown. Downtown is an important catalyst for the City. Complete Streets seems to be what people want. There needs to be acknowledgement of the many areas where Milwaukee ranks low with respect to African-American economic success. At the same time, there should be action and creative solutions to improve those negative aspects.
Members said that the City's business improvement districts (BIDs) seem to be disproportionably funded and successful, there should be more resources and creative solutions to help underperforming BIDs, perhaps there can be the ability to redistribute funds from successful BIDs to underperforming ones to be more equitable, perhaps the City can explore doing a revolving loan fund program to purchase empty buildings like the $50 million fund in Cincinnati, City leadership has been focused on downtown development, opportunity zones work for projects over $10 million and not for smaller projects, and perhaps the City can do its own opportunity zone.
Ken Little, DCD Commercial Corridor Team, commented on commercial corridors. There has been Tax Incremental District (TID) redistribution of funds from TIDs to other TIDs. There have been instances of TIDs being created for areas other than downtown and in underserved areas. Sherman Phoenix was an example. There are some existing economic development tools for commercial corridors such as through Brew City Match and MKE United. New revenue streams need to be explored for BIDs. Grants through his office are specific tools to assist businesses in commercial corridors.
Commissioner Crump added comments. Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce also assists in economic development. Downtown is important, and equally important are all neighborhoods outside of downtown. There was intention to extend the streetcar to other areas from downtown. There needs to be options for people who do not want to live downtown. Developers need to be convinced to develop in areas outside of downtown through incentives or making them think earlier about possibilities.
Two individuals from the public objected to the streetcar.
Chair Ellison said that the streetcar has been controversial and exists currently.
Dave Steele, Regional Transit Leadership Council (RTLC), commented on regional transit.
Of importance to him and RTLC are to have solutions drive conversations, advocate transit, and pinpoint problems. RTLC is a coalition of regional leaders with the goals of being a convener, articulating its vision, championing transportation choices, building upon existing transit options that are working, working across transit lines, and championing equity. The view that Milwaukee has no transit options is false. Milwaukee has the third most ridership numbers in the Midwest. The negative view of Milwaukee transit may be rather that there are poor transit choices or that transit options cannot compete with driving. Data show that communities of color are more reliant on transit and suffer more from transit cuts. Transit insecurity is a major roadblock for advancement. The bus is the backbone of workforce transit. Many people may lack a car, driver's license, and/or cannot afford owning a car. Many jobs, either inside or outside Metro Milwaukee, are inaccessible by transit or require very long transit travel times. Jobs should not have to require a person to own a car or travel long times.
There are short-term goals (centered on Covid-19 recovery) to provide emergency transportation funding to displaced workers, embrace Complete Streets, and support the bus transit system. A mid-term goal is to embrace a bus rapid transit (BRT) system. There are efforts to improve and expand rapid busing connectivity between Milwaukee County and Waukesha County, which will improve transit accessibility and travel times to jobs. Having a BRT transfer point at Vel Phillips Square or at 4th St./Wisconsin Ave., creating a regional transit app, spearheading rideshare or microtransit service in suburban areas, and having flexible, on demand service are other mid-term goals. Long-term goals center on being better than the competition by using tech more intelligently, having different modes work together for a rider to get to a destination, having Milwaukee being a region of choice for employment, housing, and transportation.
The region is diffuse with cities doing things in silos and throwing money at businesses to move there. The leadership council is focused on working with existing transportation and leaving land use alone. There will be a fall symposium called Reimagining Transportation in Southeastern Wisconsin on September 15, 2020, and more information regarding the event can be forwarded to the task force.
Members said that safety and transit to large job sites are important, perhaps a Talent Retention and Attraction Task Force can better continue the efforts of the Millennial Task Force beyond Millennials, covid has produced different options (virtual) and issues, and there should be task force recommendations on transit.
-Supporting research
No discussion.
2.) Other
No discussion.
B. Reasons Millennials and Generation Z leave or stay in Milwaukee
No discussion.
C. Review of Common Council legislation, existing programs, or initiatives
No discussion.
D. Any research, speaker, or presentation requests?
No discussion.
E. Other
No discussion. | | | |
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| | 5. | | Next steps moving forward.
Minutes note: A. Task force meeting schedule and structure
Meetings to occur every 2-3 weeks. The task force may have to extend its deadline to complete its work.
B. Agenda items for the next meeting(s)
Internal discussion by members on infrastructure, streets, and transportation.
C. Set next meeting date(s) and time(s).
To be determined.
D. Other
No discussion. | | | |
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| | 6. | | Adjournment.
Minutes note: The meeting adjourned at 4:59 p.m.
Chris Lee, Staff Assistant
Council Records Section
City Clerk's Office | | | |
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