What does the City's Economic Development Plan mean for the Northside?
A Northside Action Alert
By Tim Carlisle, NPC Lead Organizer
That’s a darn good question...
NPC has followed the City’s recent economic development
planning efforts closely. NPC sponsored a community forum on
the City’s draft plan on March 10. Matthew Mikolajewski
of the City’s Office of Business Resources, presented
the key findings and recommendations of the draft plan, and
responded to audience questions. NPC members also participated
in the City’s plan review sessions on March 25.
The majority of NPC members feel that to the extent implementation
of the City’s plan is successful in achieving its goal
of creating quality jobs, the Northside will benefit along with
the rest of the City.
NPC supports growing the pie, as long as the Northside
gets a slice of the bigger pie.
It
is a positive sign that the current draft of the City plan does
identify the Packers/Northport corridor and the airport as potential
focus points for expansion or construction of manufacturing
and office facilities. The plan also encourages the formation
of Business Improvement Districts for neighborhood development.
The Northside Neighborhood Plan process currently underway represents
another opportunity for Northsiders to consider the threats
and opportunities for our local neighborhood economy. See page
9 for more details on this process.
In conjunction with the neighborhood plan, the City will be
funding a Market Study to look at the market opportunities and
potential customer base on the Northside for a variety of businesses
and commercial activities.
If there is sufficient interest among Northside community and
business organizations in pursuing economic initiatives on the
Northside, NPC will consider partnering with the City and other
resource organizations to improve the economic opportunities
for our community.
Who knows, by working together, maybe we’ll develop our
own Northside recipe for growing a bigger pie -- one that all
Northsiders can get a slice of.
Stay tuned for further developments and opportunities to get
involved in the coming months.
