Peaches and pears grow in an orchard across the street from Larry Adams’ home in one of Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods. A garden has been planted a few lots down, and another parcel serves as a nursery for a landscaping business his nonprofit is nurturing.
Adams, his wife and Walnut Way Conservation Corp., their community development organization, have been buying homes and other properties on surrounding streets, creating a local renaissance by renovating buildings, expanding urban agriculture and encouraging others to do the same.
The couple’s success has inspired Milwaukee leaders, overloaded with abandoned and foreclosed properties, to turn land over to residents who want to grow gardens, create parks and establish food-related businesses. The goal is to revitalize neighborhoods and cut costs while improving residents’ access to healthy food.
Many cities have looked to urban agriculture as a way to use open space and improve residents’ diets. Milwaukee borrowed some of those ideas, such as New York’s licensing of food carts that sell fruits and vegetables. The city also is updating zoning and other regulations for urban agriculture.
But the most attention-grabbing part of Milwaukee’s plan is selling tax-foreclosed properties, perhaps for as little as $100, to people who promise to produce food. The goal is to create radical change by focusing resources — at least initially — on one neighborhood, and to have residents lead the way. In other words, they want to make it “Home GR/Own.”
The seeds have been planted in Lindsey Heights, a neighborhood just northwest of downtown. Adams’ home is less than three miles from City Hall, but economically, the areas are worlds apart. The median household income here is $22,838, half that of downtown, and the unemployment rate is six times higher at nearly 24 percent, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Venice Williams runs a community garden that serves as an incubator for food-related businesses on the Lindsey Heights border. She sees Home GR/Own as an opportunity for many gardeners to get land and strike out on their own.
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Concerned residents sent a flurry of emails to Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna last month after two men showed up armed with assault rifles near the city’s farmers market, according to a new analysis.
A few emails supported the men’s Second Amendment rights, but most were from residents who threatened to stay away from future public events if firearms could be present, the Post Crescent Media reported (http://post.cr/1gQB9JOhttp://post.cr/1gQB9JO ).
“As long as there are people with guns walking around this city, my family will not be,” wrote Adam Fredrick, of Appleton.
The men were carrying AR-15 assault rifles legally near the market on Sept. 7. Police detained them at gunpoint and handcuffed them before eventually releasing them without tickets.
“If these idiots are this paranoid perhaps they should stay home and protect their fortress and not wander around on the streets,” Mary Rutten, of Appleton, wrote of the men. “I do not want to live like this where people feel they have to carry guns to protect themselves at a public and/or family event.”
Other writers were worried about how the incident might affect the city’s reputation. Some asked Hanna to figure out creative ways to keep the city safe for families without violating state law.
Hanna noted that open-carry laws are governed by state statute and can’t be altered by city ordinance. He added that he’d like to see the state law changed, but acknowledged that the chances of that happening are remote.
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The health care overhaul law has made insurance available to 500,000 Wisconsin residents who don’t already have it, but many are not aware of their standing.
Groups working to teach the uninsured about their options say they are having trouble finding and reaching those in need, the Post-Crescent Media reported (http://mnhne.ws/1hiLc8ihttp://mnhne.ws/1hiLc8i ).
Some experts blame a lack of money and coordination.
“We just don’t have the resources to get out and really do the job we need to,” said Bobby Peterson, executive director of ABC for Health, a public-interest law firm in Madison that helps connect families around the state with health care.
Wisconsin’s community health centers received a $1.7 million federal grant to help enroll residents, and six other organizations got about $1 million more to target specific groups. But coordinators say that’s not enough to cover the cost of finding the half-million affected people and explaining complicated issues such as deductibles and premiums.
U.S. Rep Tom Petri, a Fond du Lac Republican who opposed the law, said the measure was inherently confusing, regardless of how much money was set aside to help explain it.
“I think there is bound to be a lot of confusion with the implementation of the law no matter how much money you spend advertising it,” he said in an email.
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Rob Zerban (zer-BAHN’), the Democrat who lost to U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan in last year’s election, is mounting a new challenge next year.
Zerban told The Associated Press this week he was getting back in the race. He made his announcement official Saturday at a rally in Kenosha.
He lost last year by 12 percentage points, 55 percent to 43 percent. But that was Ryan’s smallest margin of victory in eight races.
The 45-year-old Zerban is a former Kenosha County Board supervisor who used to run two small businesses. He blames Ryan for voting against ending the government shutdown, and for advancing a budget that cuts money from social-service programs.
Zerban says he supports green technology, immigration reform and same-sex marriage.
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