2007 Newsletter

Board Members

How we're funded

POP Update:
News from PRESERVE OUR PARKS 2009

Adequate park funding needed now

When Scott Walker presented his 2010 budget on September 24, he kept his vow to hold the line on property tax increases by cutting the parks budget by a staggering $9.2 million. Many POP supporters attended the November County budget hearing to oppose the cuts, and fortunately the County Board rejected many of them. Still, next year’s park budget will come up $1.2 million short of this year’s.

Park budgets have declined since 1986, when they peaked at $45.7 million. The 2010 budget has $3 million less than that of1986. The parks now operate on half the funds they had 24 years ago. The results? Deferred maintenance of $300 million, 500 fewer employees, a system in dire need of a secure funding source.

State Representatives Christine Sinicki and Jon Richards recently introduced AB 504, legislation that would authorize a half percent sales tax increase dedicated to funding parks and other County quality-of-life entities such as the Zoo and Marcus Center. The legislation would also authorize property tax relief of $37 million, as these entities would be removed from the levy and would benefit from over $60 million in sales tax revenue. Seven members of the POP board went to Madison recently to speak in favor of AB 504
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As with any legislation, a lobbying effort is needed to ensure adoption. Preserve Our Parks and The Park People together have incorporated a new, separate political action organization, the Public Parks Alliance (PPA). PPA has contracted with Martin Schreiber and Associates to lobby on behalf of AB 504.

If you treasure parks, please consider a donation to the PPA. Make checks to “Public Parks Alliance” and send to 1845 N. Farwell Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202.  (POP and Park People are also at that address.) Donations to the PPA are not tax deductible.

Lakefront given a break

When the slice of downtown lakefront between the Milwaukee Art Museum and Discovery World was proposed as the site for headquarters of UWM’s new School of Freshwater Sciences and the Milwaukee Water Council, plus offices for other water-related entities, POP had reservations at several levels. While we strongly support the area-wide effort to make Milwaukee a world powerhouse in freshwater research, we had these questions about use of that site:
Was it legal under the State’s Public Trust Doctrine, which bars non-public use of filled lakebed land? Was it desirable to shoehorn a school and business-promotion center between the two showplace buildings? Wouldn’t green space and a view of the lake better complement the two existing buildings?  Was it wise to split the Freshwater School campus? (UWM earlier had announced plans to locate the Freshwater School with the Great Lakes Water Institute on the inner harbor.)

The proposed land was occupied by the defunct Pieces of Eight restaurant (why this commercial use was originally approved, then reapproved remains something of a mystery, considering the longstanding Public Trust Doctrine). Some weeks into the debate, Michael Cudahy, one of the strong proponents of the plan, bought the restaurant lease for$1 million and said he would donate it to UWM. Mayor Tom Barrett, the Journal Sentinel, the Greater Milwaukee Committee and other influentials supported the plan. But some UWM faculty and others didn’t .POP wrote a couple of OpEd pieces for the Journal Sentinel expressing our opposition, which stimulated discussion. We met with people involved in the project and appeared before the Harbor Commission, reminding it that the Milwaukee Lakefront Plan rejects placing any new buildings east of Lincoln Memorial Drive. POP board members made a trip to Madison to ask the DNR to enforce the Trust Doctrine.

In the latest development, UWM backed off on the site, saying it had aroused too much controversy. And Cudahy now says he will reopen a restaurant there, to be run by Joe Bartolotta. The lease still has eight years to run. So we won a partial victory. Stay tuned.

Check 4 the box for Johnsons Park

While there is a long way to go to meet all of its goals, the Johnsons Park renewal project supported by the Johnsons Park Neighborhood Initiative is making great strides. Despite the economic downturn, fundraising is approaching the $1 million mark.

Come to 17th & Fond du Lac and see for yourself! The City and County, working together, lowered the park’s berms this summer to open up sight lines and tie the park more closely to its neighborhood. “Alice’s Garden,” a large nearby community garden, will have a new look by spring. And this summer, with some additional support, much of the asphalt at nearby Brown Street Academy will be removed and replaced with a Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom, the first in Wisconsin.

If $350,000 can be raised to match pledged funds, work on the park will begin in earnest in spring with the installation of paths, grading, lights and trees. POP is among the groups fundraising for this project, and though we’ve asked for your help before we are asking again because the project is so counted-on by its neighborhood and has so much potential as a mid-town oasis and catalyst. Write a check to Preserve Our Parks and mark it “for Johnsons Park.” If you have received a print copy of this newsletter, our enclosed envelope contains a box to check to direct a contribution solely to the Johnsons Park project. We hope you’ll check the box.

More POP news

•  Travel fees:  POP paid travel fees for County Parks land manager Brian Russart to attend the joint meeting of two wetlands associations in Madison in July. Russart oversees the County’s 9,300 acres of natural lands and is mapping the presence of invasive species in the park lagoons so that a plan for control can be developed.
•  Parks assistant: Pop will fund up to 50% of the six-month salary of an Americorps intern to work for land manager Brian Russart in 2010, focusing on species control, education, outreach and wildlife habitat restoration.
•  Our hero: When the Shepherd Express recently named POP president John Lunz “Hero of the Week”for his service to parks, John flinched but we didn’t, because we know of his extraordinary record of working outdoors in parks year-round. A semi-retired MSOE professor, John runs the Park People Weed-Outs and volunteers at the Audubon Center and other places. He sometimes answers his cellphone from a woods or meadow where he’s weeding or planting. On being named a “hero,” he emailed his thoughts on the pleasures of hands-on park labor: “I’ve met loads of nice, interesting, and concerned people through the years and I’ve also found the physical effort brings its own rewards. It’s a time to concentrate on the task at hand, putting the cares of the day at bay for a while, and to see at close hand just how beautiful and precious our parks really are.”

Preserve Our Parks is a watchdog group founded in 1999 to work for preservation of parks and public greenspaces.  Our board:  President, John Lunz;  Betsy Abert, Laurie Albano, Randy Bryant, Diane Buck, Barbara  Elsner, Beth Fetterley, Jim Goulee, Bill Hibbard, Bob Kalupa, Charlie Kamps, Mary Kamps, Kaye Kern, Bill Lynch, Betty Quadracci, Karin Holmberg Werner, Ted Wiley.

Please consider giving us your email address, to be used when we seek support on park advocacy issues. Contact us at 1845 N. Farwell Avenue, Suite 100, Milwaukee WI 53202 or at info@preserveourparks.org.