With the first budget hearing in Milwaukee in four years, the state Senate Committee on Labor, Elections and Urban Affairs came out Tuesday to discuss why the Milwaukee Initiative is important for the entire state.

The Milwaukee Initiative is part of Gov. Jim Doyles plan to build on the citys assets and grow a stronger middle class.

Whether you live in Milwaukee or Marinette, the future of the states largest metropolitan area affects you, Doyle wrote in a description of the Milwaukee Initiative. For Wisconsin to thrive, we need a strong and growing Milwaukee.

Crime was one of the first Milwaukee problems brought up at the hearing.

Michael Morgan, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Administration, said Doyle put an additional $4 million into his budget to put more police on the street.

Following Morgan, Mayor Tom Barrett said that the city already spends $214 million for police, but still needs more to keep up with increased costs.

Barrett also addressed the problem that many young people cannot get jobs because of curtailing drivers education programs in high schools.

What happens is they start driving, they get a ticket �¢���¦ it makes it almost impossible to get a job that requires a drivers license, Barrett said about young people who choose to drive despite having a valid license.

In the governors budget it addresses that problem and gives $100,000 to public schools to make drivers education more affordable to low-income families.

While giving money to Milwaukee may not always seem like a benefit to the entire state, Robert Miranda, executive director of Esperanza Unida, a nonprofit community organization that places an emphasis on the social and economic concerns of the local Latino community, said it can.

Miranda cited examples of how development of both Chicago and Pittsburgh aided the entire state in its development.

If they have the political will to make it happen, the central city should have a renaissance, Miranda said.

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