Our properties are in Milwaukee and I am scared.
The proposal to eliminate residency requirements for municipal employees will pass and will further weaken the demand for housing in Milwaukee. The result will be more abandonment of homes in older, lower value neighborhoods as owners in the outer band of Milwaukee make concession to sell or rent homes vacated by the exodus of city employees. You read the city can’t afford to bulldoze the stuff that needs to be torn down today. Where will this leave us? Will we be the one city in the nation New Orleans and Detroit can look down at as a failure?
Another aspect is much of your income do you spend within a few miles of your home. I buy most of my groceries a mile from home. I shop at the Walmart that is a mile and half from home and the Target that is a mile in the other direction. As people move out there will be less sales in those stores and they will require less employees resulting in more of my tenants going from barely making it to failing. City workers in general make an above mean wages so this will be a dramatic impact.
You live in the suburbs or your properties are there so you think this will be a good thing. But in reality you should be as concerned as me. Suburban school districts will have to expand their schools to accommodate the influx of former Milwaukee residents. That will adversely impact your taxes. The only alternative will be to diminish the quality of the suburban schools as they become more crowded and understaffed. All the while they will be shuttering MPS schools
School teachers that wish to remain teaching in Milwaukee should be the largest group opposing this as the first group to leave will be city employees with children who are not satisfied with MPS. This will reduce job opportunities at MPS. Carmen and I lived in Milwaukee for a while, but ruled Milwaukee out when we bought a new house due to problems her daughter and son had at MPS. We moved to Greenfield. Schools are good and safe. But I am so close I can walk to Milwaukee in ten minutes. We have a very responsive police department. Our water and sewer rates are much lower than the city that provides the service ironically.
City workers in general will see layoffs, reduced opportunities and lower employment as people leave. They will now have to fight for jobs with those who already live outside of the city, but would not take employment in the city as they did not want to or cannot for economic reasons move to Milwaukee. So although they are the ones pushing for this they too will be paying a price.
You are saying: “Sure Tim, I agree and would love to contact my Senator and Representative but I’m too busy unplugging toilets and fixing broken windows to keep up with politics” Well. fear not. You can find who your state legislators are at: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/Pages/waml.aspx
