Park Place

The Milwaukee County Park Department was once regarded as the best urban park system in America and was the envy of other large metropolitan areas. It served as the national model for public investment in open space, recreational facilities and programs. This is no longer true. While the rest of the nation has discovered the wisdom of upgrading park facilities and investing in new parks our park system has experienced a significant decline in funding due its reliance on the property tax as a means of support.

From 1983 to 2007, the county’s overall tax levy grew by 112%, out-pacing inflation, yet during that same time, the park system’s share of the levy shrunk by 18%.  Factored for inflation over this twenty-four year period, the reduction in park funding is a sobering 65%.  This reduction has led to an unconscionable build-up of deferred maintenance and a loss of nearly two-thirds of the full time workforce.  As staff levels have dropped there has been a related increase in the perception that our parks are not as safe as they once were.

 It’s no secret that our parks have lost their luster.  Evidence of this is the proliferation of Friends Groups, Park Watch Groups and Neighborhood Associations that are concentrating their volunteer efforts on improving parks.  The business and corporate communities are also weighing in with significant contributions for park programs and improvements.  It has become very obvious that many in our community understand the value of parks to our quality of life.

The Park system is suffering. It doesn’t have to be this way. We all share in the responsibility to preserve and enhance our parks for future generations. The most effective way to ensure they will remain a vibrant public trust is to alter their source of funding.  The sales tax advisory referendum is an opportunity for the citizens of Milwaukee County to speak on this issue.  What is the harm in that?

 

 

Milwaukee’s great icon, the Mitchell Park Domes, is undergoing restoration work this summer to enhance the facility with a new lighting initiative, a new lobby roof and ceiling and Domes glass replacement. The Domes will close on June 23^rd through late September in order to accomplish these extensive projects.

The new lighting system, LED designed and energy efficient, will accomplish several things for the facility. It will provide a more defined and better-lit entrance and it will enhance these unique structures to give them an overall nighttime presence for visitors by adding dramatic highlights for evening special events and public rentals. In short, this project will put the Domes on the map and light up our Milwaukee skyline!

The initiative will also incorporate improved landscaping accents; lobby ceiling and wall light enhancements and add to the existing path illumination. The halo lights will once again be installed at the top of each Dome, which had been part of the original design by the architect, Donald Grieb, when the Domes were built over 40 years ago.

In addition, a stage will be installed within the Show Dome to allow a better performance venue for musicians and other entertainment. All of these additions will help sustain and support a new vision for the Domes and the value it brings to the County Parks Department and the over 200,000 visitors it brings in a year.

Please support this wonderful botanical conservatory and stop by to take in our spring show, Appalachian Springtime, before the doors close June 23. The lilies and tulips all remind us of the wonderful season that is just around the corner. Spring has always been a sign of hope and for the Domes, especially this year, a sign of great things to come.

See you at the Domes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A March 25, 2008 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel began, “Though no doubt many lives were saved by the rescue missions launched from its docks, repeated efforts could not save Milwaukee’s historic U.S. Coast Guard station, which finally fell victim to a wrecking crew Tuesday after standing watch over Lake Michigan for almost 100 years.” Whether you considered the old coast guard station a historic treasure in need of restoration, or an eyesore that met its destiny, its role in Milwaukee’s heritage and maritime history should not be forgotten.

 

According to the report prepared for Historic Designation for the former US Coast Guard Station Milwaukee was identified as a possible site for a lifesaving station in 1873. The Life Saving Service, a forerunner of what would eventually become the U.S. Coast Guard, began as a volunteer activity. A lifesaving station was not constructed until 1877 in the aftermath of a serious shipwreck in the fall of 1875. A two-story, Gothic Revival style building was constructed at the end of South Pier, near the “Straight Cut” or new mouth of the Milwaukee River. By 1886 the lifesaving station had been relocated to Jones Island, where it was headquartered in an attractive, Shingle Style structure.

 

When Jones Island became polluted due to overflow of the city’s sewerage system, efforts began to find a new location on the lakefront. “A Milwaukee Sentinel article of May 13, 1915 reported that Captain Olsen had been dissatisfied with the illness of his crew from the polluted conditions and the fact that the water level had been falling at that location for several years.” This coincided with federal plans to create a new agency called the Coast Guard – a consolidation of the previous U.S. Lighthouse Service, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, the U.S. Lifesaving Service, and the Steamboat Inspection Service.

 

The federal government was already in the process of finding a site along the lakefront. Formal action was taken in court for the condemnation of lakefront property at McKinley Park on February 13, 1913. The site was chosen because it was one of two large parcels that the city had reclaimed from the lake bed, the other being the Northpoint Pumping Station. Both sites had become popular recreation destinations for residents who had no other access to the lakefront.

 

On May 26, 1913, the Common Council decided that “in view of the benefits to the city from the relocation of said lifesaving station, and in view of the fact that the United States of America has heretofore given the city a permit to fill in the harbor for park purposes for a distance of 600 feet from the shore, the City of Milwaukee waives any claims it may have for damages for the taking of said piece of land for a site for the life saving station, and will accept a nominal sum therefore (sic) as damages.” The resolution was adopted on May 13, 1915. A newspaper account in the Milwaukee Sentinel of May 13, 1915 reported that the Federal government would turn over its Jones Island site in exchange for the new lakefront property.

 

Alfred C. Clas, who had designed the Lake Park pavilion with its grand staircase and was busy with plans for the Lincoln Memorial Drive, submitted plans for the Coast Guard Station that although not used, must have influenced the Prairie style stucco structure.

 

Work on the structure did not begin until 1915, and was completed and ready for occupancy on April 17, 1916 when the Sentinel ran a photo of the building complete with caption. The new facility was a three story, rectangular, Prairie Style structure with a prominent five-story tower located at the southeast corner of the building. It was more spacious than the Jones Island station with accommodations for two powerboats, and other craft associated with rescue work, private quarters for Captain Ingar Olsen and his family, and quarters for up to eight crewmen. The new facility had a boat room and apparatus room, but for motorized boats, not sailboats that required horses to draw them out of the water. A one-story boathouse wing extended from the building on its Lake Michigan façade and extended north beyond the main block of the building.

 

The Coast Guard would occupy the building until 1970. A new station was built at 2420 South Lincoln Memorial Drive in Bay View, where they remain at present.

 

According to the 3/15/08 Journal Sentinel article, “after the federal government closed the old facility in 1971, the building was occupied in a political protest by American Indian Movement activists and later became the first Indian Community School in Milwaukee.” The school left the site after 1980 and the Milwaukee County Parks then considered using the facility for its headquarters.

 

The county purchased the site in 1987 for $200,000 when the federal government divested itself of the surplus property. A National Register nomination was prepared for the station in 1988 and the building was subsequently listed in the National Register on August 7, 1989 based on architectural and historic significance.

 

Since that time the old Coast Guard station has met with many challenges. A number of proposals have been entertained for the building including a restaurant and maritime museum in 1989. Objections from the DNR over private businesses on the public lakefront quashed the restaurant proposal. A fire in the building in 1989 led the County DPW to report the structure as unsound.

An environmental education center was considered for the site from 1997 to 2000 when the sponsor decided to move the facility to another location. In 2001 the County voted to raze the building and was asked by the State Historical Society to make a final attempt to seek proposals for the structure. A number of proposals were received and reviewed by Milwaukee County and the DNR among others. The HONOR proposal for a Wisconsin Indian History and Cultural Center was considered the most appropriate for the lakefront site. Since that time HONOR has attempted to secure the necessary funding for the 4.1 million dollar project. The lease between Milwaukee County and HONOR expired in March 2007, and the county gave the group a six-month extension. HONOR was unable to reach its fundraising goal.

 

Today, if you drive along the lakefront you will notice all that remains is the metal pedestrian bridge that was likely built as part of the 1938 replacement of the old Coast Guard station boathouse. The Parks Department plans to integrate the bridge into the reconstructed bulkhead and landscaping around a proposed picnic shelter.

 

Laurie M. Albano compiled this article with information from the City of Milwaukee’s Interim Designation Study Report, Coast Guard Station, August 2001, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and other Milwaukee County Files

 

 

 

“Citizen Stewardship of Our Milwaukee County Parks”.  That’s our mission statement; a nice concise phrase packing a lot of meaning in a few words. Stewardship means different things to different people, but one meaning is maintaining the health of our neighborhood parks - something that can not be accomplished by our dedicated park workers alone. That’s where you come in!
 

“Weed-Out”, is a program in its second decade dedicated to ridding our park’s natural areas of invasive plants. Spring and fall, volunteers help eliminate or control the spread of exotic threats to our native plants and trees.

What’s the problem with invasive plants? Most plants become invasive when they have no natural controls such as insects or animals. That occurs most often with species introduced from different continents. A horrible example is kudzu introduced to our south to control erosion which now has reached the northern suburbs of Chicago as it adapted to cooler climates. You see it growing up trees as it smothers all other vegetation under it. It soon will be in our area as temperatures moderate and as it adapts.

Garlic mustard is another example, and one that’s of more immediate concern to us. It’s spreading across the northern United States from east to west, largely in our forests, but also in our yards, gardens, and parks. Garlic mustard attacks the beneficial fungus in the soil, destroying an energy source needed by our trees and native flowers, resulting in a reduced germination rate of beneficial species. Garlic mustard has a huge financial impact, not only in the cost to control its spread, but in the increased lumber price that ensues. Garlic mustard also crowds out our native woodland plants reducing our native populations. Without action on our part we will soon have only a mono-culture of garlic mustard and other invasive plants reducing the food supply for our native insects, bees, birds, and other wildlife that depend on plant diversity.

Once again this spring, generally on Saturdays in May, we will be doing Weed-Outs in several of our parks. Garlic mustard removal is our main goal. We’d love to extend the program to every park and every stretch of parkways, but that takes concerned neighbors who are willing to pitch in. Weed-Out is expanding, thanks in large part to The Park People’s Friends initiative which is creating more and more neighborhood park groups. Please consider joining in. Watch our web site for the spring schedule, or call the office for latest information. And, don’t hesitate to let us know which park you’d like to see added to the list! I hope to see you in the woods this spring!

                      Spring 2008 Schedule             

Unless otherwise noted all times are 9am - Noon

Juneau Park Sunday June 8  12:30 – 3:30 Meet near the log cabin	Boerner Botanical Gardens May 17, 24 Meet at CCC building next to parking lot for Boerner Botanical Gardens, 9400 Boerner Dr, Hales Corners, WI
Lake Park April 19, 26, and Saturdays in May 3-24 Meet at the warming house, 2975 N. Lake Park Rd., Milwaukee	Jacobus Park April 26, May 3 Meet at pavilion 6501 Hillside Lane, Wauwatosa
Sheridan Park May 3, 27 Meet at the pavilion, 4800 S. Lake Dr., Cudahy	Greenfield Park April 29, May  9am-noon Meet at Cool Waters Parking Lot 2028 S. 124th St
Estabrook Park May 4th SUNDAY Meet at parking lot across from lagoon 4400 N. Estabrook Dr, Shorewood	Menomonee River Parkway - West May 10th Meet on the west side of the river near Keefe
Grant Park Saturdays in May Meet at picnic area #1 Use park main Rd from blinking stop sign at S. Lake Dr and Park Ave in S. Milwaukee	Riverside Park Saturdays in May 9am-11 tentative Meet at Urban Ecology Center 2808 N. Bartlett St,  Milwaukee
Gordon Park Located in Riverwest Contact Vince  for Date and time vbushell@gmail.com 588-7281	Honey Creek Parkway May 10 Meet at 8024 Brookside Pl, Wauwatosa
Greendale Parks Call Nancy at (414) 421-9304 For locations and sessions	Kletzsch Park Saturdays in May 9am-3PM Meet at pavilion, 6560 N. Milwaukee River Pkwy, Glendale
Lincoln Memorial Drive Bike Trail May 10 Meet behind Altera 1701 N Lincoln Memorial Dr.	Trimborn Farm May 10 and May 24
Menomonee River Parkway – East May 17 Meet on the east side of the river near Keefe	Cudahy Nature Preserve Saturdays in May

In 1937 the City of Milwaukee ceded their parks to Milwaukee County because of financial problems.  The thought then was to spread the cost of building and operating parks to a broader tax base.  This consolidation of City and County parks worked very well as the tax base of the County was growing exponentially.  Unfortunately, our parks today are suffering the same malady that lead to the consolidation. 

To put the current financial problems of our parks in historical perspective it is helpful to understand how our present system of parks was created.

The 15,000 acres of parks and parkways enjoyed today by residents of Milwaukee County arose from modest beginnings. When the City of Milwaukee was established in 1846, its founding fathers, most notably Solomon Juneau, Byron Kilbourn and George Walker had provided "public squares" in their early settlements. These were followed by a park on the east-side of the city overlooking the lakefront, today's Juneau Park; and the Flushing Tunnel and the Water Tower sites, which were landscaped by the Board of Public Works as an incidental side to their main functions for sanitation. These public parks were intended to be public places, open to everyone without charge, where people might relax in a pleasant green landscape free from the urban hustle and bustle but were soon not enough to satisfy the needs of a rapidly expanding city.

Between 1870 and 1900, Milwaukee's population quadrupled from 70,000 to 285,000. During this period urban residents were seeking opportunities for recreation, and to meet their need numerous private parks or "pleasure gardens" were established. These gardens catered to families and group excursions, who paid a fee to enjoy a combination of entertainment, amusement and refreshments, in addition to fresh air and flowers.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century the City of Milwaukee was faced with the need to improve public services for its rapidly expanding urban population. It was at this time, in 1889 when the Milwaukee Board of Park Commissioners was created. The first board, appointed by Mayor Thomas H. Brown was composed of five civic and business leaders who served without pay. They were: Christian Wahl, president; Calvin E. Lewis, Charles Manegold, Jr., Louis Auer, and John Bentley.

 In 1889 the state legislature passed laws permitting the City of Milwaukee and its park commission to purchase land with money raised from the sale of bonds. The new park board first assembled in June of 1889 and by October 1890, they had agreed upon the five sites to purchase. These sites became Lake Park, Riverside Park, Mitchell Park, Kosciuszko Park and Humboldt Park.

As the City boundaries expanded, the City Board soon found the original legislation too restrictive. New legislation in 1891 allowed the board to purchase land anywhere in Milwaukee County where desirable sites and reasonable prices were more readily available. Land was then purchased for Washington and Sherman Parks.  With these early land purchases, the Board had gone over $800,000 in debt and thus no additional lands would be purchased for the next sixteen years.

Financial problems were a constant hindrance to the physical expansion of the City park system after the momentum of the first few years.

One of the most notable early steps taken by the Park board in its early years was to retain the services of nationally known landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, whose firm eventually provided the basic layout for three of the new parks, Lake, Riverside and Washington.

By the early 1900's a group of city leaders felt that a broader vision for the growth of the surrounding region was needed. The creation of the Milwaukee County Park Commission in 1907 allowed for the purchase of parkland outside of the city limits. Anticipating the need for population growth into the rural areas, they placed a strong emphasis on sound planning of major transportation routes, zoning for future development and the creation of a countywide park and parkway system.  Under the leadership of Charles Whitnall, the County's park system received widespread public and political approval. A Regional Planning Department was established in 1923, and soon, extensive plans for the park and parkway lands, purchased by the County Park Commission, were developed. With these visionary plans in hand, the New Deal programs of the Depression era became an opportunity for unprecedented development for the parks. Civilian Conservation Corps camps were established in four locations throughout the county and the men and boys were set to work doing everything from building roads to planting trees. Many other Public Works programs such as artists of the Works Progress Administration created additional enhancements such as sculpture, furniture and decorative ironwork for the parks.

Both the city and the county park systems would operate in tandem until the County eventually absorbed the financially strapped City parks in 1937 in the midst of the depression. The county continued both its physical expansion and program development of parks during the postwar years, and has become nationally recognized as one of the nations foremost urban park systems - a legacy to be cherished and enjoyed by residents and visitors to Milwaukee County for generations to come.

The 15,000 acres of Milwaukee County Parks we enjoy today is the result of the creation of the Milwaukee County Park Commission in 1907 and the visionary thinking of the early Commissioners. In addition to the parks that had already been established within the limits of the City of Milwaukee by the original City Park Commission (in existence since 1891), the new County Park Commission had a much broader goal.

The visionary thinking of the early Commissioners conceived of a park system that would form a "green belt" or series of scenic drives and parks which would eventually encircle the county. Parks were located in outlying areas to allow for population expansion. Land was selected for its natural beauty and interest, always bearing in mind its fitness for use in various forms of active and passive recreation.

.

According to the Trust for Public Land, a national center concerned with conserving land for people, here is how the Milwaukee County Park System stacks up to other large metropolitan park systems in a number of areas.

 

• Milwaukee County offers 16.3 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents.  The average for the 20 municipal areas with a population density of equal or near proportion is 20.6 acres per 1000 (for year 2005).

• Milwaukee County provides $47 per resident in total park-related expenditures (including capital expenditures).  This ranks Milwaukee County 43 out of the 54 metro areas polled.  The average for all areas is $86 (for year 2004).

• Milwaukee County provides $40 per resident in park related operating expenditures (not including capital expenditures).  This ranks Milwaukee County 39 out of 54 metro areas polled.  The average for all areas is $63 (for year 2004).

• Milwaukee County provides 0.28 full time park employees per 1,000 residents.  This ranks Milwaukee County 60 out of the 66 metro areas polled.  The average for all metro areas is 0.70 (for year 2004).

• Milwaukee County provides 1.3 baseball diamonds per 10,000 residents.  The average for the 20 municipal areas with a population density of equal or near proportion is 1.3 (for year 2005).

• Milwaukee County provides 0.5 soccer fields per 10,000 residents.  The average for the 20 municipal areas with a population density of equal or near proportion is 0.7 (for year 2005).

• Milwaukee County provides 1.6 golf courses per 100,000 residents.  The average for the 20 municipal areas with a population density of equal or near proportion is 1.0 (for year 2005).

• Milwaukee County provides 1.2 park playgrounds per 10,000 residents.  This ranks Milwaukee County 42 of the 56 metro areas polled.  The average is 2.0 (for year 2005).

• Milwaukee County provides 0.2 dog parks per 100,000 residents.  The average for all 56 municipal areas polled is 0.6 (for year 2005).

The Milwaukee County Executive’s 2008 Recommended Budget proposed the creation of a Park Patrol.  On Monday, November 5, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors supported the creation of a Park Patrol when they passed the 2008 Adopted Budget. 

 

The mission of the Park Patrol is to provide informational, educational, and safety services to the general public, revitalizing Park Watch groups, and monitoring activities in the parks to ensure patron safety and voluntary compliance with park rules and regulations.  The Park Patrol will also be able to assist field staff by monitoring rentals, providing security during special events, ensuring fee compliance (e.g., boat launch fees and dog park permits), and working to prevent vandalism and theft.  Community involvement is a key component in the fight to prevent vandalism and crime in our parks, therefore, their work in revitalizing neighborhood Park Watch groups will be essential.

 

Parks departments nationwide have been turning to Park Ranger programs to enhance safety and security in their parks and to serve as ambassadors.  Locally, Waukesha and Dane Counties have had successful ranger programs for years.  Milwaukee County Parks’ proposed Park Patrol will be very similar in structure and function to the program in Waukesha. 

 

Patrol members will be provided with bicycles to allow for greater coverage in larger parks, parkways, and trails.  They will receive extensive training through the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Training Academy that includes personal safety awareness, conflict resolution, and county parks ordinance review.  Bicycle safety classes will also be offered.  Park Patrol members will be provided with 800 mhz trunked radios with direct access to Sheriff’s Dispatch and each other.  It is not the intent of the program to involve Park employees in patron disputes or crimes in progress but to serve as educators and frontline eyes and ears to credentialed law enforcement officers.  Their training will also prepare them to track patron contacts and violations.  This tracking mechanism will be a vital tool to provide local law enforcement agencies information and trends on the types of violations observed in the Parks. 

 

One of the key factors in the success of Park Patrol will be the continued cooperation with the Sheriff’s Office Targeted Enforcement Unit (TEU).  TEU was established in 2005 with an emphasis on Parks and Transit issues.  During the busy summer months, the TEU is a valued partner of the Parks Department and their dedication to the safety of the public and our employees is evident.  The TEU is comprised of 26 deputies and sergeants that are divided into geographical patrol areas.  The Sheriff’s Office has also established their own parks hotline at 453-PARK.  This hotline was established so that residents can report Parks-related crime issues and tips directly to the TEU. 

 

For more information or if you are interested in starting a Park Watch in your neighborhood, contact Laura Schloesser, Safety, Security and Training Manager, at 257-PARK.

 

During this snowy start to our Wisconsin winter take a walk south from the Lake Park Bistro past the old Nike station to the equestrian statue standing on a little knoll.   Beside a beautiful walk in one of Milwaukee County Parks, you might be surprised to find a bronze monument of a Civil War General astride his favorite horse, Gunpowder.  You will be surprised because, thanks to a recent conservation effort by Lake Park Friends, the old bronze monument looks bright, clean, shiny and magnificent as it faces Lake Michigan

 

Who is this distinguished looking gentleman sitting on his horse?  He is Erastus B. Wolcott (1804-1880), a hero of frontier Milwaukee.  He came from a prominent Eastern family, and after attending two medical schools he joined the US Army, he received a posting as surgeon at Mackinac Island.   Because of his concern with the Army during its Trail of Tears campaign, and at the urging of Solomon Juneau, Wolcott left the Army to become Milwaukee’s first physician in 1839.  When Dr. Wolcott and his family arrived here there were only 700 residents.  By his death in 1880 Milwaukee had grown and Wolcott had built a large medical practice; performed ground breaking surgery; fought a local cholera epidemic; served as Surgeon General of Wisconsin during the Civil War.  Dr. Wolcott also led the drive to establish a Veterans Administration Medical Center for our community.  Besides his prominence in the medical field, he helped found Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, built the first flour mill in West Bend, stood firm on issues such as anti-slavery and women’s voting rights.  From these descriptions you can see why he can be described as a hero in our community.

 

The sculptor of this wonderful monument, Francis H. Packer, studied at the Cooper Union in New York City and in Europe.   Returning to America he worked in the studio of Daniel Chester French, a leading American sculptor of the 19th century.  After Packer established his own studio, he became an important sculptor of monuments and statues all over the United States.  His skill and determination for fine art is reflected in the conservation work done this summer on the equestrian monument.  When the conservators finished their work, they commented on the fine detail and strong bronze casting of the horse and rider.  When you examine the bronze be sure to look for the details on the body of the horse and the image of Dr. Wolcott.  Even the artist’s signature is carefully executed.

 

The pedestal with its engraved dedication may seem excessive:

“He lived a blameless life.
Eminent in his profession.
A lover of humanity,
Delighted to serve his fellow men, city, state and nation”

 

However, the profuse description makes the viewer realize Wolcott accomplishments are indeed special and deserve to be memorialized in a Milwaukee County Park.

 

How do monuments like this one get preserved when Milwaukee County continues to cut parks budgets?  All conservation work is accomplished because of volunteer groups like Lake Park Fiends.  Lake Park Friends raised the funds to preserve the Wolcott monument over several years, contracted with the conservator, and oversaw the work done this summer by the Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio, Inc.

 

Currently, the Polish Women’s Cultural Club, Polanki, have engaged a conservator to examine the General Thaddeus Kosciuszko equestrian monument in Kosciuszko Park for a possible conservation project.  This is another 100 year old bronze monument in great need of preservation.  Polanki is forming committees to look for funds or grants.

 

Unfortunately, volunteer groups like these cannot examine, maintain and preserve every part of Milwaukee County’s collection of monuments and statues.  There are dozens of these outdoor sculptures in Milwaukee County Parks.   Every one of them needs regular maintenance; a few monuments demand major conservation work. It is essential for Milwaukee to retain and preserve these works.  They represent the history and artistic efforts of our community and nation.

 

There is NO plan in Milwaukee to care for these important gems in Milwaukee County Parks.  The need for a Milwaukee County plan for maintenance and preservation of its collection is pressing.  The excuse of no budget just isn’t acceptable any more.  Other urban communities that struggle with budgets have maintenance plans.  Why not Milwaukee?

Often when there’s a debate over holding the line on taxes, County Park operations are brought up, as if Park expenditures are the fault for our high tax burden. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Last year, for every $100 that a Milwaukee resident paid in total property taxes, only $1.62 went to fund the 15,000-acre park system.

For 2008, the County Executive proposes cutting taxes devoted to Parks by 5.86%, compared to this year. The County Board’s Finance Committee alternative would impose a $24.2 million levy which amounts to a $2.1 million increase over this year’s budget. That increase would equate to an additional $4.41 on the annual property tax bill for a family living in a $130,000 house.

Neither funding alternative reaches the $26.9 million levy that was devoted to Parks in 1983. You read that right: the County is funding Parks at a level that’s less than what existed 25 years ago!

From 1983 to 2007, the County’s overall tax levy grew by 112%, outpacing inflation. Yet, during that same time, the County cut the Parks portion of that levy by 18.3%.

Our Parks aren’t the cause of high property taxes. Don’t let anyone tell you different.

What’s the old adage? Something like: If you have a weak stomach, don’t watch either sausage or laws being made.

Six years ago, The Park People proposed the creation of a separate Park District governed by elected, unpaid commissioners, to save our great Parks System from ruin. This simple measure, such as has been adopted by hundreds of cities and counties across the nation, requires approval by the Wisconsin Legislature.

It has taken this long to get the Wisconsin Legislature to even consider a bill to allow that to happen, not just in Milwaukee County but also in any county or municipality in the state that wanted to enjoy the benefits of a Park District.

Park districts are beneficial because they take public parks out of the realm of partisan politics and budgetary shenanigans in the same way independent school boards keep public schools from being subject to political whims and cyclical budget crises. Award-winning parks systems such as Minneapolis’ and the more than 350 independent park districts in Illinois, as well as the private, non-profit district that has brought about the marvelous rebirth of Central Park in New York City, have showed that this apolitical, proactive approach to local parks stewardship works, and works better.

But even though our legislation has finally been introduced and assigned to a committee it will go nowhere if it doesn’t get that committee to schedule a hearing.

Why wouldn’t it? Well, if Senator Mark Miller, chairman of that committee, Environment and Natural Resources, saw it as purely a Milwaukee County initiative (which it isn’t; as mentioned, it would allow any Wisconsin city or county to gratefully enact a Park District), and if he demanded the support of his party’s Milwaukee delegation before he would give the bill a hearing (he does), and if the Milwaukee County Democrats denied that support for purely political reasons unrelated to the public good (they have), then the bill would and will go nowhere. And the Milwaukee County Parks, and possibly many other parks systems in Wisconsin, will continue to decline toward decrepitude.

Why, you may wonder, would elected Milwaukee County Democrats not garner full support of something that thousands of their constituents want – thousands or their strongest constituents, by the way, including the members of a slew of environmental groups?

Three reasons: One, they are tied to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, which is supposed to be non-partisan but isn’t (it is composed overwhelmingly of old-line Machine Democrats); two, they are tied to the public workers unions, which for some reason haven’t come to realize that the only hope of saving their few remaining jobs is to get themselves out of the clutches of Milwaukee County government; and three, they hate Scott Walker, who as county executive has endorsed the Park District plan as the only way to save our parks.
But, you may well say, that’s wrong! That isn’t the way government is supposed to work! If thousands of constituents, Democrats and Republicans alike, are crying out for a way to save our parks, those representatives are supposed to listen – and act!

Ha. In your eye, Pollyanna. Politics works like this: “I don’t like the guy who is supporting this because he’s a conservative Republican, and I don’t care that 10,000 Milwaukee County environmentalists and park-lovers also support it, because, in the end, I know they’ll vote for me anyway, even if they have to hold their noses when they do.

“Furthermore, you unwashed masses, you, if you don’t understand by now that representative government in Madison has nothing to do with either representation or the public good, but rather has everything to do with backrubs and massages, full-body if necessary, for the constituents who count; i.e., the local politicos who keep us washed and fed, well, you just haven’t been paying close attention.”

But we digress. Here’s a recap. Milwaukee County Democrats in Madison hate Scott Walker even when he’s right; love the unions even when they’re wrong; and ignore the public routinely until such time as its attention involves some form of public humiliation.

It is a case of very strange bedfellows. Conservative County Executive Scott Walker and moderate Republican Sen. Alberta Darling agree with thousands of wild-eyed liberals that our parks are in crisis and that there is a better way to save them, and they agree to support that. Democrats such as Reps. Dave Cullen and Jon Richards and freshman Sen. Jim Sullivan listen to 200 union members and 19 County Board members and agree to support them, instead, even though they are simply wrong and don’t know it.

We don’t want to bash the unions. These people work hard, and they are certainly justified in their fears for their jobs. Walker proposed cutting more than 80 full-time jobs from the Parks Department alone in next year’s budget. And the County Board is working hard to restore those jobs to its b

The staff at the Park People office received a number of calls last Thursday morning from concerned citizens who apparently choked on their Cheerios while reading Charlie Sykes’ column “Parks Proposal Benefits Everyone” in their MyCommunityNOW newspaper. It seems that County Executive Scott Walker has finally found a voice in the wilderness to assist in his rationalization of the accelerated destruction of the Milwaukee County Park System. On the surface, Sykes’ regurgitation of Walker’s attribution of clear thinking sounds plausible, but when looked at in the context of its effect on the park system it is exposed for what it is – irresponsible.

Sykes’ attempt to lend credence to the swap of competent full-time employees for more seasonal employee hours may sound rational to his general audience but doesn’t pass muster when confronted with reality. While seasonal employees are a valued and important part of the staff of the Parks Department, this proposed switch to an even greater dependence on these “here today, gone tomorrow” employees will lead to a further decline in our once vibrant park system for the following reasons:

- Seasonal employees require copious hours of training before they are effective. In fact, nearly all of their training is currently conducted by a full-time Park Maintenance Worker, the same position that is proposed to be cut. The responsibility for competent training will fall to a greatly reduced force of full-time employees who will be asked to train an even higher number of these transitional employees. This is a recipe for further dysfunction.

- These temporary staffers require much more supervision than dedicated full-time staffers. In keeping with the continual reduction in field staff, the supervisory ranks are at an all-time low and struggle to keep a watchful eye on their charges while keeping up with their myriad other duties. A good work force is one that has a stake in providing a quality product while keeping on task. With an even greater dependence on a transitional workforce that has no real stake in the operation, creating that “buy-in” is a harder sell and keeping them on task over the long term is a wish.

- Because of low wages and lack of benefits a high percent of seasonal employees are college and high school students who are not available during the school year. This is especially problematic during the early- to late-fall period when park personnel have the task of mending the hundreds of athletic fields that were tortured during the main sporting season. Local sports enthusiasts have already taken note that their “fields of dreams” have turned into nightmares over the last number of years due to lack of maintenance. This bad dream will only be exacerbated by this further reduction of available, competent full-time staffers.

The list could go on, but with some consideration for brevity, it should be noted that this trend towards a seasonal work force is nothing new. In the mid-‘70s there were more than 1,100 full-time employees staffing our parks. In the mid-‘80s the number had dropped to a still reasonable 760. This year, the number of full-time staffers is about 260 able bodies.

The Parks Department deserves to be complimented for developing the efficiencies necessary to keep our parks in fairly decent shape during this decline. For many, it may appear that there is nothing wrong with this proud department, but those with a good memory can point to a number of unfortunate consequences that have resulted from this loss of full-time staff due to budget reductions.

Winter recreational opportunities have dwindled. The parks now offer only one groomed cross-country ski trail where once it offered four. Ice skating rinks have been reduced from more than 60 to a bare handful. Both of these reductions are because of staffing cuts.

Summer picnics have suffered because of a gross lack of maintenance to the parks’ fleet of picnic tables, which number in the thousands. These tables were constructed and maintained by full-time staffers during the winter months. While some new steel-leg replacements were built a few years back, the bulk of this fleet are the older wooden-leg models that were built as long as 25 years ago and are in dire need of some loving care. They will not get it because of the reduction of full-time staff.

Building maintenance has suffered. Winter maintenance has suffered. Many park paths do not get plowed or salted anymore.

You get the picture….

The bottom line is that if you truly value a quality park system and believe that the spiral of reductions to our once-envied Milwaukee County Parks Department should stop, here and now, don’t listen to the weak rationalizations of Charlie Sykes. After all, he is merely toting water for his own personal county executive, Scott Walker.

One of the greatest legacies left to us by the men and women who built Milwaukee into a modern city is the extensive and well-designed park system they created.

Milwaukee was the first city in America to adopt the “greenbelt” concept of establishing parklands along all its major waterways to serve both as floodways and natural recreational corridors – the system we know as our parkways, the routes followed by most of our bike paths.

This was accomplished during the 1930s; other cities did not recognize the wisdom of establishing greenbelts until the 1970s and later.

With more than 150 parks and parkways encompassing 15,000 acres, Milwaukee County offers more open spaces and natural areas than does Chicago.

Unfortunately, our impressive park system is now in trouble. Since 1982, when the County Board of Supervisors and the County Executive dissolved the Park Commission that built this system and took over responsibility for the parks budget, deep annual funding cuts have left the Parks Department an empty shell.

In adjusted dollars, the parks budget is now less than two-thirds what it was 25 years ago. In constant dollars, it is only about half. And more cuts are planned for next year. The parks staff has been cut from more than 1100 full time workers in the early 1970’s to just over 260 – barely sufficient for proper park maintenance.

The Park People was founded in 1978 by former Parks Commissioner Joy Teschner to advocate for our park system. She clearly foresaw the danger of taking this public treasure out of the hands of an independent commission of volunteer citizens and placing it in the political realm.

The Park People has responded by forming more than 36 individual park Friends Groups to take stewardship of their neighborhood parks. The Park People also has proposed legislation to return to an independent citizens’ commission to govern the parks through the creation of a separate Park District.

Our goal is to ultimately create a network of 150 Friends Groups numbering 10,000 or more concerned citizens to protect every park in the system and to demand adequate funding and staffing for all our parks.

We will be posting regularly on this site about issues affecting our parks and the efforts of Milwaukee County residents to rebuild and revitalize this precious legacy. Sometimes, we’ll tell you a feel-good story about how people have stepped forward to raise money and awareness for their park’s needs. We might share a bit of the history of some our less well-known parks, such as Franklin Park, one of three designated state natural areas in Milwaukee County.

But sometimes, we’re going to stick a pin in our elected officials, demanding to know why our tremendous park system has been allowed to deteriorate and what in the world is taking them so long to do something about it.

Through the Park Department’s own admission, our parks system has come to have incurred more than $150 million in “deferred maintenance” – the crumbling infrastructure of rutted roads, impassable parking lots, locked-up and leaking restrooms, empty swimming pools, historic pavilions that need new roofs and boilers. We’ll point the finger at the people who have let the capital budget for these needed repairs stand at unsustainable levels for far too many years.

We want you to know what we’ve got out there and why it’s worth saving. We want you to share our pride in the foresight that led Milwaukee to create a park system that has been the envy of other cities across the country. And we want you to share our concern that this heirloom is threatened and that public officials have been so slow to move to protect it.

We want you to become a Friend of the Parks. Stay tuned.


If you have a question about the parks that you would like answered or have an issue you would like us to address, please use the Park People link above to send us an email. This address can also be used for information on how to start or join a friends group or become a member of The Park People.