June 5, 2009 

NEWS FROM THE MAYOR

Dear Friends, 

I’m pleased I had the opportunity to deliver Milwaukee’s message to Washington on a few fronts this week. Milwaukee played host to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Deputy Secretary of Transportation John Porcari.

During my conversation with Secretary Duncan, I reaffirmed my commitment through the MPS Innovation and Improvement Council to make the positive changes needed to improve the educational attainment of all students in Milwaukee Public Schools. The work ahead is extremely tough, but we all know it is too important an issue to ignore and one we must take seriously. The message to Secretary Duncan was clear: Milwaukee is a community that cares about its children and we are prepared to roll up our sleeves, get to work, and address the educational challenges in our city.

Working in collaboration with a broad base of community stakeholders, we will oversee, coordinate and implement an MPS Innovation and Improvement Plan, improve fiscal accountability, transparency and performance management, and make Milwaukee as competitive as possible for American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funding. We are poised to make Milwaukee a top contender for the highly-competitive Race to the Top funds.

I’m grateful to the Governor, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Libby Burmaster and Superintendent-elect Tony Evers for joining me in this critically important issue facing Milwaukee.

In my conversation with Deputy Secretary Porcari, I expressed my desire to advance high speed rail from Chicago to Milwaukee and Milwaukee to Madison. High Speed Rail is an important component of a diverse transportation infrastructure and would utilize my downtown street car proposal.

I’m looking forward to continuing this important discussion with the Federal Department of Transportation. As work begins on the reauthorization of the Highway and Transportation Bill, I will continue to stress the importance of increasing federal investment in local roads, mass transit and infrastructure.

I’ll be sure to keep you posted as we progress on both fronts. 
 

Sincerely,

 

Mayor, City of Milwaukee  

Visit my website at: http://www.city.milwaukee.gov/mayor