POLITICS

State funds a downpayment, not transformation

Jason Stein, and Mary Spicuzza

Milwaukee

The $4.5 million promised to Milwaukee by Gov. Scott Walker can make an impact on the problems plaguing its inner city, rehabbing or razing scores of foreclosed homes and training thousands of workers.

But the money is only one step for a racially divided city seeking to overcome crime, unemployment and the aftermath of recent unrest around Sherman Park.

To put it in context, the money amounts to one-third of 1% of the city of Milwaukee's annual spending of $1.34 billion. On its own, it won't transform the city.

And with the state's budget next year expected to be tight, Walker and aides have been cautious about making more promises. But they said they wanted to make a start now with steps that don't need lawmakers' approval.

"What we heard from local leaders...was, as the mayor said, 'Give us something visible. Give us something tangible that we can see, that isn't just for show, that actually gets things done, that people can see that something different is happening,' " Walker said.

Gov. Scott Walker to send $4.5 million more to Milwaukee

COMPLETE COVERAGE: Milwaukee Sherman Park turmoil

The Republican governor spoke Friday at a jobs center a mile and a half from Sherman Park along with cabinet officials and two top Democrats, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and County Executive Chris Abele. The event came on the same morning as a funeral for the man whose shooting by police triggered a weekend of unrest.

Abele pointed out that real change would only come if elected officials listened to community leaders and if the public demanded that politicians make progress.

"If there's one thing I would say...hold us all accountable. Hold us all accountable for following up and taking real actions," Abele told the audience.

The money, a mix of state tax dollars, federal money and funds from a court settlement, is being shifted from other regions and programs to the city as a direct response to the recent unrest. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said the city needs help to overcome problems like the legacy of lost manufacturing jobs, foreclosed homes and a lack of opportunity.

"This is something that the city doesn't have the resources to handle by ourselves," Barrett said.

Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton said that bringing state and local leaders together represented progress.

"That’s a very visible change," Hamilton said. "We haven’t had this level of at least collaboration among every level of government dealing with something as specific as eliminating blight in our most impoverished neighborhoods."

In the face of this crisis, Walker has visited the affected areas and sent his top African-American aides, Workforce Development Secretary Ray Allen and Children and Families Secretary Eloise Anderson, to do the same.

Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) said she and other elected officials have been talking for years about the need to create local hubs to connect residents of distressed neighborhoods to services like job training, health care, child care and more. The recent unrest provided a renewed sense of urgency, she said.

"Frankly, it’s a work in progress...This is not the solution, but it surely is the first steps of laying a foundation and a pathway for hope for people," Taylor said.

The initial response includes:

$1.5 million in federal money for the Transform Milwaukee Jobs program.
$2 million to help the City of Milwaukee to demolish 50 tax-foreclosed properties owned by the city and renovate 60 more. With $1.1 million in matching dollars from the city, the money will help employ 200 young and unemployed area residents who will work on the homes as well as clean up all vacant lots, alleys and other blighted properties in the city." Our first choice is not to demolish them. If we can fix them, that's our first choice," Barrett said.
$1 million to Milwaukee businesses to help them train workers in the city.
An effort by the Department of Workforce Development to send mobile teams into distressed neighborhoods, where they will set up job centers in churches and community centers to give the unemployed better access to work.
Work by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. to see whether the state can use existing jobs programs to help businesses that were damaged or destroyed during the burning and looting.

The $2 million for foreclosed homes comes from a huge national settlement between Volkswagen and states and consumers over violations of emissions rules. Attorney General Brad Schimel felt helping clean up the result of risky lending practices in Milwaukee was "a good use of consumer protection money," said spokesman Johnny Koremenos.

Walker and Milwaukee leaders like Barrett clashed in 2012 about the state using some of the money from a mortgage industry settlement to plug a budget hole rather than address foreclosed homes.

The recent unrest in Sherman Park was sparked by the Aug. 13 fatal police shooting of Sylville Smith, a well-known figure in the neighborhood.

Authorities say Smith, 23, was armed and turning toward the officer when he was shot. Body camera footage of the incident exists but won't be released until the state Department of Justice completes a review of the shooting and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm decides whether to charge anyone in connection with it.

Sherman Park was once a thriving neighborhood, but the quality of life there has diminished and tense episodes involving residents, businesses and law enforcement have become almost routine. Residents face concentrated poverty, high unemployment, pessimism about the future and a sense that those in power don’t care about helping the community or are unable to do so.

There and in some surrounding neighborhoods, police are struggling to rebuild the public's trust as homicides and shootings tick upward.

Gina Barton of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this article.