Barrett Endorses Great Lakes Compact, Green Programs

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett Monday included a strong pitch for the Great Lakes Compact in his State of the City address. Here is one link to the speech.

His support for the Compact is in marked contrast to the position of the Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce (see Saturday post below) that suggests fatally weakening this US-Canadian agreement that protects the Great Lakes from harmful diversions.

Barrett also highlighted several green programs in the city, his new Office of Sustainability (full disclosure: I participated last year in the candidate interview process for the director position) and other preservationist initiatives.

That agenda in favor of the common ground should be the underpinning of regional cooperation in southeastern Wisconsin.

Right now, regional cooperation tends to mean suburban exceptionalism, and that is bad for the City of Milwaukee, the southeastern Wisconsin region and the larger Great Lakes region, too.