John Antaramian is Kenosha’s current and longest-serving mayor. He was first elected in 1992, serving four consecutive terms before stepping down in 2008. Eight years later, he ran again, winning in a landslide and resuming the role in the spring of 2016. Antaramian’s return comes at a time of rapid growth and rich potential for the city, and he has many plans for how to make the most of it. “There are so many opportunities right now,” he says. “I was excited to come back.”
Kenosha County has attracted a lot of industry in recent years, and Antaramian says there’s a lot more coming. The arrival of companies like Amazon—which opened its enormous “Fulfillment Center” in 2015—have helped lower the unemployment rate and make the county one of the top areas in the U.S. for job growth. As mayor, Antaramian is encouraging these developments and paving the way for more. One of the top priorities of his new term has been negotiating a boundary agreement with the neighboring village of Somers and town of Paris that will allow the city to incorporate 3,300 acres of land west of Interstate 94. “That’s what we’re classifying as our growth corridor,” Antaramian explains. “Our ability to grow is a major issue for us."
Also on the mayor’s list of priorities is cleaning up the former Chrysler Engine Plant and building a research facility in its place; investing in housing and attractions in downtown Kenosha (like the historic Heritage House Inn, which is being transformed into a boutique hotel); and revitalizing the older neighborhoods with updated infrastructure. “I’m a big believer that the strength of the older neighborhoods is what propels the city in the long term,” he says.
While Antaramian’s work is focused on the future, the lifelong Kenosha resident has plenty to say about what makes his hometown special now. “It’s a great place to live; a great place to raise a family,” he says. “We’re one of the safest cities around, and we sit in an ideal location for people who want more of an urban type of living, but not an extremely large community.”
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As the site of Wisconsin’s only Metra rail station, Kenosha has a unique link to Chicago and its surrounding area. The mayor says this connection has been “a great advantage to the community,” enabling people to live in Kenosha and work in Illinois. It’s also helped make Kenosha more of a “Chicago market” than a Milwaukee one. Antaramian suggests that this dynamic has prevented a lot of Milwaukeeans from visiting or following events in Kenosha. As a result, he says, they might not realize how the city has changed over the years, or what it’s become. “It’s a small city that actually looks very big,” the mayor says. “We have a lot of things that people look at as big city activities, but happening in a smaller community.”
To really see what he’s talking about, Antaramian suggests spending a Saturday in downtown Kenosha. The area boasts four museums: the Kenosha Public Museum, Dinosaur Discovery Museum, Civil War Museum and the Kenosha History Center, which collectively rank among the state’s top tourist draws. There’s also a farmers market (the year-round Kenosha HarborMarket) that attracts thousands of people every week and a popular electric streetcar. During the summer, there are weekly festivals on the lakefront.
“A lot of the new people coming in are surprised at what we have here now and the opportunities that have arisen,” Antaramian says. “This community has grown dramatically in extremely positive ways.”
