In early 2012, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett appointed a diverse group of 15 community leaders, including Fix Development’s Juli Kaufmann, to a City-community “Green Team.” The Green Team, in collaboration with the City’s Office of Environmental Sustainability, was challenged to develop the City’s first Sustainability Plan, a strategic roadmap that would answer such questions as, “How can we invigorate our great city? How do we reinvest in our neighborhoods? And how do we build a city where every neighborhood is a great place to live and raise a family.” They answered those questions in July 2013 with ReFresh Milwaukee, a bold plan to make Milwaukee the greatest city on the Great Lakes and in America.
Download the Sustainability Plan here.
The Harbor District Initiative is a catalytic project emerging from the City of Milwaukee’s Green Team project, ReFresh Milwaukee, the City’s first sustainability plan. The harbor initiative is aimed at reinforcing existing businesses and neighborhoods while revitalizing Milwaukee’s harbor area and setting a new standard for how waterfronts work – environmentally, economically and socially. It seeks to redevelop Milwaukee’s Inner Harbor into a resilient waterfront for the 21st Century.
The Fixer’s Manifesto: Why Fixing is the Unsung Hero of Creativity.
Although this may not be exactly the meaning behind Fix Development, we clearly are compatriots in the same struggle. To fuel the conversation about why a culture of fixing is so important, some wise folks made—The Fixer’s Manifesto. Check it out: The Fixer’s Manifesto
We love Oxbow Studios for many reasons. First, they take old materials and reuse them for new purposes. But even more than that, they make certain that their work provides not only function, but becomes art.
Take a look at this produce stand, built for Wormfarm Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to integrating culture and agriculture. When this stand brings food to the city center, it evokes nostalgia and textures of the rural farm land that produced the fresh vegetables which fill its shelves and lattices.
The bike corral that Oxbow made for Alterra Coffee on Prospect goes far beyond the average bike rack to also become public art that improves environment in multiple ways.
A grassroots alliance, Local First Milwaukee was started by local independent businesses to support each other and to create public awareness about the importance of thinking local first. Did you know that for every dollar you spend at a local business, 68 cents stays in Milwaukee, versus 43 cents from a dollar spent at a chain? Fix Development is a proud member of Local First.
