Legislators show plan to address inner city poverty

Two Republicans from the suburbs, including State Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), are rolling out a plan to fight poverty in Milwaukee's inner city.

The goal of this plan is to pull people living in Milwaukee's inner city out of poverty. It's a bold plan that creates a bunch of new opportunities according to State Representative Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield), the other author

According to the report released Wednesday, the plan focuses on areas of Milwaukee where unemployment is higher than 10 percent.

What this plan would do is allow businesses to move into these areas and not have to pay taxes, and it would also allow them to operate without requiring employees to pay union dues.

The more controversial part of this plan is it would allow for failing public schools to become charter schools on a faster timeline.

\"We've just listened to folks, we've just been different places, attended different events, and essentially based on that experience, we put together an agenda where we feel like it's going to provide a lot of relief and a lot of different ideas in the inner city of Milwaukee.\" said Kooyenga.

State Representative David Bowen (D-Milwaukee) said in a statement, “I'm disappointed, however, that two suburban legislators would put out a complete, twenty-five page proposal before even asking for feedback from the people who actually represent the City of Milwaukee. It is my hope that this was an oversight on Rep. Kooyenga and Sen. Darling's part, and that their proposal is intended to be the beginning of the discussion, not the end.”

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