Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich touts city's 'heart, healing and hope' in annual state of the city address
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GREEN BAY - Touching on themes of "heart, healing and hope," Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich Thursday compared the city's surviving the COVID-19 pandemic to its emergence from the Great Depression 88 years earlier.
The mayor said residents continue to show empathy and compassion despite national and state politics' having divided many, ticking off a list of people from Afghan refugees being helped by Catholic Charities to resettle in America to the people who celebrated as the Pride flag was raised outside City Hall for the first time.
His speech then spelled out a list of accomplishments in programs, by individuals, and touched on plans that he and his department heads plan to accomplish in the coming months or years. That includes the planned relocation of the C. Reiss Co. coal piles from the Fox River's west shore, creating an opportunity for what Genrich believes would be a good home for an Amtrak station that would serve a future Green Bay-Milwaukee line that the mayor and other local leaders hope will be built.
Relocating the piles, Genrich said, "wouldn't just be a once in a lifetime opportunity," but "a once-in-a-city's-lifetime opportunity."
The mayor made sure to name-check a range of people who've been involved with projects in the community, be they elected officials planning how to focus the use of the $23.7 million ARPA/COVID-19-recovery funds in some of the city neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic, to the staffer setting up a Green Bay conservation corps of six full-time and 15 seasonal workers whose job it will be do work on three miles of trails and 75 acres of wildlife habitat.
He was reluctant to choose a favorite accomplishment of the city's in the past year, saying doing so was like "being asked to choose a favorite child," but conceded he held particular excitement about the proposed Shipyard development, a multi-use redevelopment of vacant riverfront land north of Mason Street, which broke ground earlier this month.
The mayor also was quick to share credit, acknowledging current and former elected officials like State Sen. Robert Cowles and County Board Member Dan Theno, and recently retired Sen. Dave Hansen. He also praised City Council President Jesse Brunette, and Karmen Lemke of Catholic Charities for their work with Afghan refugees, and Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach as a willing partner in projects that benefit the city.
Genrich also singled out city department heads, citing soon-to-retire Fire Chief David Litton for applause for his nine years leading the department. Litton's tenure included expanded the department's service area to add Allouez and Bellevue and those villages' fire stations to the department's seven in the city.
Finally, the mayor honored pet food-manufacturer Carnivore Meat Co., currently planning an expansion and additional hiring at it facility on Green Bay's east side, as the city's "Business of the Year," Rashad Cobb as Green Bay's "Citizen of the Year" for his contributions to a range of boards and panels, and multimedia communication specialist Shelby Edlebeck as the city's "Employee of the Year."
Contact Doug Schneider at (920) 431-8333, or DSchneid@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PGDougSchneider.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Eric Genrich lauds Green Bay's 'heart, healing and hope' for progress
