Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway announced today that Matt Wachter has been named the City’s Director of Planning and Community and Economic Development (PCED). He is currently serving the City as Manager of the Office of Real Estate Services. Prior to his position in Real Estate Services, Wachter served as the City’s Housing Initiative Specialist since 2013.

The Position of PCED Director includes the advancement of the City’s efforts in affordable housing, land use planning and economic development, as well as leading the department’s management team.

Nan Fey has been serving as interim Director of the department since the retirement of Natalie Erdman earlier this year.

“Matt’s focus on, and creativity around, affordable housing solutions is important for the City right now. Increasing the supply of affordable housing is a top priority for my administration, and this position needs to be focused on that.” said Mayor Rhodes-Conway. “Matt is also familiar with the Department, since he has worked in a number of divisions within PCED and has been developing his knowledge base and management skills for a number of years. That experience will serve him, and the City, well. I am incredibly grateful for the service of Natalie Erdman and Nan Fey, and I know they have left the Department in great shape. I am confident that Matt will build on this, while keeping the Department focused on my priorities.”

As Director of the Office of Real Estate Services, Wachter oversaw the acquisition, sale and leasing of City real estate as well as the negotiation of Tax Increment Finance (TIF) investment and other real estate agreements with private developers and businesses. When in the Office of the Community Development Authority he was responsible for crafting the City’s housing policy through the Biennial Housing repost as well as leading efforts to develop affordable housing, including permanent supportive housing for Madison’s homeless population at a number of sites.

Prior to that position he worked I the City’s Community Development Division and as staff in the Office of Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin. He has an MBA in Real Estate Finance and Urban Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

His first day in his new position will be December 16.

MADISON – The 17th annual Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest is accepting entries online for the 2020 competition until 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, 2020.

The contest is designed to encourage entrepreneurs in the startup stage of tech-based businesses in Wisconsin. The contest links up-and-coming entrepreneurs with a statewide network of community resources, expert advice and mentoring, management talent and possible sources of capital.

Over time, the contest has led to valuable public and media exposure for the top business plans and spurred economic growth in Wisconsin. In 2019, finalists shared in more than $200,000 in cash and service prizes.

For their initial entries, contestants will submit a 250-word (about 2,000 characters) idea abstract online at govsbizplancontest.com. That’s where contestants will also find business plan templates and other information, such as the Entrepreneurs’ Toolkit. The toolkit provides business startup information and assistance, networking contacts and technical resources.

Contestants who advance to subsequent contest rounds will expand their plan in stages. More than 100 judges drawn from the finance, sales, marketing, research and technology sectors across Wisconsin will score the entries and provide feedback on submissions.

To get started, contestants must create a simple account at govsbizplancontest.com. All entries are submitted through the website. Contestants use their account to gain access to mentors throughout the process, as well as review the judges’ comments and feedback.

Since its inception in 2004, nearly 3,900 entries have been received and about $2.4 million in cash and services (such as legal, accounting, office space and marketing) have been awarded. Contest categories are Advanced Manufacturing, Business Services, Information Technology and Life Sciences.

Wisconsin residents 18 years old and older are eligible, as are teams from Wisconsin-based businesses and organizations. Businesses or teams from outside the state are also eligible to compete if they demonstrate intent to base or expand their business in Wisconsin. Entrepreneurs may also enter multiple ideas, though each idea must be separate and distinct.

Companies or individuals that have not received angel or venture capital in the current form are eligible to enter. As with past contests, the 2020 competition will take place in stages:

• In Phase 1, which is open until 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, the contest will accept idea abstracts on the website. Entries should be roughly 250 words (or no more than 2,000 characters, including spaces) and will be graded by the pool of BPC judges. The top 50 idea abstracts will advance to Phase 2.

• In Phase 2, which runs from Feb. 21 to 5 p.m. March 13, 2020, the top 50 idea abstracts will submit an executive summary. The top 20 executive summaries will advance to Phase 3. A mentored “boot camp” for contestants will be held in early March.

• In Phase 3, which runs from April 6 to 5 p.m. April 27, 2020, the top 20 executive summaries will prepare full business plans. Judges will review the plans and pick three finalists from each of the four categories to advance to the final presentation round. Mentored practice sessions will be offered to the top 12 in late May. 

• The top 12, or “Diligent Dozen,” will square off with oral presentations during the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference on June 4 at Northwestern Mutual, in Milwaukee.

 Past finalists have launched companies that have raised more than $200 million in angel, venture, grants and venture debt over time – all while creating jobs and economic value for Wisconsin. The contest’s major sponsors include the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

The 2019 grand prize winner was GrowthChart Records, a Stoughton-based company. The model has dramatically cut time and effort devoted to record-keeping by childcare providers, thus increasing time devoted to actual care. Category winners in 2019 were Templar Industries (Advanced Manufacturing) Blexx Technologies (Business Services), GrowthChart Records (Information Technologies) and Otologic Technologies (Life Sciences).

To enter, become a judge or learn about sponsorship opportunities, visit govsbizplancontest.com.

The City of Madison is pleased to announce that it has received a $7 million U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Bus and Bus Facilities Grant to support acquisition of property for the creation of a satellite bus facility.

“This is the next critical step in advancing my MetroForward plan, an initiative to support our regional growth, recruit and retain strong business and talent, protect our environment, and ensure a great quality of life for our residents. We must invest in success — sustainable, accessible, and reliable transportation,” said Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.

The application included a $5 million local match and, paired with the $7 million from FTA, will be used to acquire a portion of the Oscar Mayer property to serve as a satellite bus facility to support the growth of the Metro Transit bus fleet and expanded service. Metro Transit’s main facility on East Washington Ave. is too small for the current fleet of buses. Built more than 100 years ago to store 160 buses, it currently houses 218. With the addition of a satellite facility, Metro Transit will be able to store the full fleet and build capacity for the future of rapid transit.

“The City of Madison has also set a municipal goal of using 100 percent renewable energy sources and becoming carbon neutral by the year 2030. The new satellite facility is intended to enable a transition of our full fleet to all-electric buses, beginning in 2023, with installation of new electric charging stations and maintenance bays,” said the Mayor.

Finally, while the first phase of bus rapid transit will run East to West, the next phase aims to support a North to South line, with direct rapid transit service to and from the Dane County Airport.

The grant application, and related efforts in the past, received generous support from numerous partners for which the City of Madison, Metro Transit and Mayor Rhodes-Conway are grateful: Congressman Mark Pocan, Senator Tammy Baldwin, Senator Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Department of Transportation, County of Dane, Madison Region Economic Partnership, Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Madison, Inc., University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison College, American Family Insurance, UW Health, Epic, Rabin Worldwide, Town of Madison, and the Cities of Sun Prairie, Fitchburg, Middleton, and Verona.

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway announced today that Natalie Erdman, Madison’s former
Director of Planning and Community and Economic Development (PCED), will serve as interim
Metro Transit General Manager replacing Chuck Kamp, who has retired after 38 years in transit,
13 of those serving the City of Madison.

Erdman served the City as PCED Director for five years before retiring from the position earlier
this year. Prior to that she served as the Director of the City’s Community Development
Authority and worked in the private sector.

“Natalie knows the City, knows my priorities, is a wonderful leader and has the respect of City
employees,” said Mayor Rhodes-Conway. “I know Metro Transit will be in good hands until we
hire a permanent General Manager.’

The City will conduct a nation-wide search to fill the position.

America has many cities that are booming and others that are in severe distress. These two groups get the most public attention.

But what about cities between those two extremes—cities that are doing above average economically and demographically but not yet at the superstar level? This paper focuses on 10 such cities in the greater Midwest.

While the “Rust Belt” accounts for the lion’s share of America’s highly distressed cities, the image that this entire region is uniformly failing is not the whole story. There are well-performing cities in the Midwest that are growing in population and jobs faster than the U.S. average and have high-value economic sectors, civic assets, and amenities. They could potentially raise their performance to be more comparable with Sunbelt boomtowns.

These cities have succeeded by becoming economic centers of their state or immediate region. But to get to the next level, their challenge is to expand their appeal beyond their backyard to the nation at large. Moreover, if they fail to do this, their robust performance may degrade in the future as the population of their hinterlands declines.

While burdened with some factors beyond their control, such as cold winters, the cities in America’s older industrial heartland that have significantly reinvented themselves can find a way to grow, especially if they avoid repeating the housing-policy mistakes of coastal cities.

On the Threshold of the Major Leagues

Let us define cities as “superstars” if their metro areas exhibit real GDP per capita greater than 120% of the national average and per-capita income greater than 130% of the national average.[1] Another class of cities may be called “boomtowns”—growing both population and jobs at 1.5 times the national average.[2] Profiling urban America this way shows approximately 60 cities at the top of the performance spectrum.

At the low-performing end are about 50 deeply challenged urban regions[3] that I have characterized as “stagnating.”[4] These cities are in metro areas of fewer than 1 million people with a central city that has lost 20% of population or more from its peak. The best- and worst-performing metro areas total a bit more than a quarter of all U.S. metro areas.

What about the large number of cities in the middle? They are very diverse and cannot be lumped together in a single group. There is, however, a subgroup of cities, located in the Midwest, that perform above the U.S. average on metrics including population growth, job growth, GDP per capita, and college-degree attainment. To use a baseball metaphor, these cities are successful AAA players looking for a way to move up to the major leagues.

They are:

• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Columbus, Ohio
• Des Moines, Iowa
• Fargo, North Dakota
• Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas
• Lexington, Kentucky
• Madison, Wisconsin
• Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota

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