Milwaukee Magazine’s “News Buzz” website has an update on the plans for the War Memorial Corporation to put up a parking lot on lakefront park land that I’ve been talking about for several months now:

One county supervisor says times is running out to start work on a much-needed expansion to the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center’s parking lot – a proposal that’s drawn objections from parks groups that say the facility is attempting to infringe on public  land. Meanwhile, the state DNR as weighed in to oppose the expansion.

Sanfelippo argues the parking lot must be expanded because people attending events at the Center routinely park on the grass to the north of the existing lots. “We’re talking about events that attract a lot of elderly people,” Sanfelippo says.

To his credit, Sup. Sanfelippo is very cleverly trying to confuse the actual facts about the plans from the WMC. The Park People and Preserve our Parks are completely supportive of the WMC building a new parking lot on their land. What we’re against is them paving over park land that they’re currently squatting on to increase the bottom line of a private non-profit.

In the article, he also tries to muddle the waters when talking about how the War Memorial Center is owned by the County, then goes on to talk about how because of that the War Memorial Corporation isn’t a private corporation, which is untrue. The Corporation operates out of the Center building.  It’s no different than the private corporation Coast Restaurant leasing a public building from the County or the Zoological society leasing out public space at the Zoo or a hundred other similar cases.

The fact is – as the article correctly points out in it’s headline – time is in fact running out for the War Memorial Corporation. It would be in their best interests and the interests of the taxpaying, park enjoying public for them to give up on this misguided land grab and go ahead with their plans to develop and improve a parking lot on their existing land.

(Full disclosure, I’m one of the people who signed the Notice of Claim against the County regarding this issue.)

UPDATE 06/24/10: The county board today rejected on a 9-10 vote the proposal to fast-track the lakefront takeover.

You may recall that several months ago, I outlined a plan being put forth by the War Memorial Corporation that would take over additional park land on Milwaukee’s lake front to put in a new parking lot.

Since then a lot has happened.

The War Memorial Corporation (WMC), a private, non-profit corporation,  is advancing a plan to expand the parking lot on the north side of the building (directly south of Veterans Park) to raise revenue from  special event parking at the expense of the County Parks Department’s O’Donnell parking garage located right across the street, and to the detriment of public parkland.

At a recent meeting of the Lakefront Development Advisory Commission  (LDAC) several weeks ago, the WMC plan was put on hold as park supporters turned out in force to express their concerns. Not only was this action wrong, it was also illegal. It recently came to our attention that the WMC plans to bypass all public input into this plan by having certain Milwaukee County Supervisors do an end run of existing procedures and public scrutiny and bring the plan up for a vote at their monthly meeting on Thursday (tomorrow).

The County Board is doing this through a parliamentary procedure known as “suspension of the rules,” and it does exactly what it sounds like: bypassing the existing and proper rules to ram this proposal through the County Board.

This morning Preserve our Parks and The Park People of Milwaukee County filed a “notice of claim” with the Milwaukee County Clerk which not only outlines the reason this  is illegal, but lays out very clearly that Preserve Our Parks and The Park  People are prepared to litigate this matter with the County if the WMC chooses to move forward with paving lakefront park land to expand a parking lot.

To avoid that costly and resource consuming litigation, we’re urging Supervisors to vote against suspending the rules and have issued a press release today outlining our opposition and held a press conference this morning to alert the media – and the public – to this high handed land grab.

The last thing we should be doing is paving over any lakefront park land to provide more parking for a private group whose tenants include for-profit businesses!

Please spend 5 minutes by joining us in calling your Supervisor to ask that they vote AGAINST this  parliamentary procedure, they vote AGAINST this land grab on our lakefront, and they vote FOR our parks!

For information on how to contact your Supervisor, visit: http://county.milwaukee.gov/FindDistrictSupervisor or call the County Board switchboard at: 414-278-4222

Please join me in this important fight to halt the constant “nibbling away” at public park land for the benefit of private businesses!

I should note that about half of the County Board is already on record as being against the “suspension of the rules” being proposed by the other half who are in favor. I’ll get a list as soon as I know it of who is against this land grab and who’s in favor of it.

Our press conference this morning was attended by the three major networks in Milwaukee and I’ll post video of the conference as it comes in.

Blogging has been a bit light lately, but a major project at work that I’ve been on for the past six months is finally done!

• Good news for Milwaukee’s northwest side as a committed group of neighbors turned a landfill into a great new park. Kudos to the Hartung Park Community Association!
• Your liberal media pointing out that Senate candidate Ron Johnson lobbied against victims of sexual abuse via the Catholic church. The responsibility free talk radio shows have been warning us that they’d “trash” Johnson, and their predictions have now come true! Because pointing out where an otherwise blank slate of a candidate stands on an issue is trashing him!
• Finally, the Suppon is gone. A 29-36 record with a 5.08 ERA isn’t a bad way to earn more than $20 million I guess, but good for the Brewers to do what needed to be done.

This concludes an all Journal Sentinel edition of “In brief”.

WTMJ did a short piece yesterday about the overflowing trash bins in many Milwaukee County parks as a result of people, you know, actually using them over a holiday weekend. As myself and others have predicted, the impact of slashing the parks budget and staff in the last several years is starting to become apparent, and not in a positive way. The video is here.

Even when people use trash bins to properly dispose of their garbage there simply aren’t enough parks staff around anymore to keep them clean. Year after year the parks have been on the receiving end of a “hold the line on taxes” policy which has cut it’s budget and shrunk it’s workforce by hundreds all while some in the area have been plugging their ears and humming a tune of “Everything is fine in the parks, they just mow lawns la-la gold medal!”.

The result is predictable and saddening. Worst of all, there’s no quick fix in sight as election year politics will only make things worse for the Milwaukee County Parks and those of us who enjoy spending time with our families in them celebrating national holidays like Memorial Day.

In the meantime do what you can and either dispose of your garbage in the bins throughout the park or pack it out yourself. You’ll have the thanks of those of us who may be using the picnic areas within our parks after you!

Nice piece in the paper today about the resurgence of Milwaukee’s Bradford Beach:

Thousands flocked to the beach, especially on Sunday, and the crowds were so big that traffic came to a standstill on Lincoln Memorial Drive and caused Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. to close the street for a time. Four people were arrested for fighting.

Clarke said Tuesday that a traffic stop Monday evening near the beach led to the arrest of a man for carrying a loaded concealed weapon. Clarke noted that because of the increased crowds there’s a strong visible presence of law enforcement to ensure a safe time.

Those trying to get to the beach on a beautiful, sunny day this week found that parking was impossible, and many complained about the garbage and litter left on the beach.

I’ve noticed myself over the past two years some of the problems they’re bringing up in the article. It’s impossible to find parking anywhere along the lake on weekday afternoons and anytime on a weekend, which leads to large numbers people parking in the neighborhoods “above” the bluffs and causing some issues there. A lot of people who visit don’t respect the park or beach itself, whether that’s expressed through them bringing glass, grills or causing trouble.

It’s good the Sheriff has more deputies on patrol in the area, but it’s going to take more than the flashing “Disorderly conduct prohibited” sign parked along Lincoln Memorial Drive to get people to change some of those negative behaviors.

On the whole though having lots of people visiting Bradford once again is a good “problem” to have. I know that even five years ago a lot of people didn’t feel it was safe enough or clean enough to take their families to. Hopefully people start to respect the beach and park so all the hard work people have put in to change the perception of Bradford Beach doesn’t go to waste.

On a completely unrelated note, check out the second comment in the JSonline.com article for a perfect example of the kind of morons that still live in and (more than likely) around Milwaukee: “I just love how political correctness is ruling the day here. It is obvious that the blacks coming to Bradford are causing the problems.“. It’s a prime example of how the “comment” feature for articles in the newspaper has quickly devolved and become nothing more than a place for people to post trash like that anonymously.

It’s not the kind of development envisioned, but at least they’re going to be doing something to make the barren desert of development known as the Park East corridor a little less of an eyesore:

Part of the vacant Park East strip, on downtown’s northern edge, might be getting a green touch as it awaits development.

The Department of City Development has been talking with officials from Milwaukee County, which owns the land, about planting some trees around the perimeter of two tracts between W. Juneau and McKinley avenues, and N. Old World Third and N. 6th streets.

It’s interesting that the City is approaching the County about cleaning up it’s act. The tract of land directly north of downtown Milwaukee has been sitting vacant for over 7 years now as the County has failed time and time again to develop it. It’s embarrassing to be honest.

Meanwhile, the city owned tracts of land have been developed and are producing property tax revenue (Flat Iron condos, aLoft Hotel, the North End condos).

There’s been a rash of vandalism in south side parks lately, one of the worst examples was an entire playground set on fire at Wilson Park recently resulting in area families losing their playground as well as their sense of security.

Milwaukee Buzz has a good article up today on the subject and what’s being done to stop it.

It’s been a long comedown for the Milwaukee County Parks Department. In 1980, perhaps the system’s heyday, when the construction projects of the 1960s and 1970s were still new, the county enjoyed 1,327 full-time parks employees. Today, the number has shrunk to about 220, and some say having fewer employees in the parks is driving up vandalism.

County Supervisor Gerry Broderick, chair of the parks committee, says vandalism “is a direct result of not having workers in parks to intervene in those types of situations.” – MilwaukeeBuzz.com

I’ll admit to being one of the sources in the “some would say” line above. It’s an absolute fact that when you have fewer authority figures in and around parks (or any public resource for that matter), vandals and thugs are going to move in. Milwaukee County Parks has about a sixth of the workforce it did 15 years ago and as a result vandalism, graffiti and other deviant behavior is in the rise.

It’s one of the primary reasons that I’ve been such a big opponent of those elected officials – like my own County Supervisor, Lynne DeBruin – who want to slash the workforce within the Parks Department. These are our parks! The last thing that should be on a parents mind when they bring their kids to the park is, “Is the park a safe place for my family?”

It’s also no coincidence that the massive growth in the number of “Friends Groups” has taken place over the past 10 years as concerned residents try to protect their parks in the face of reduced numbers of park staff or because of crime concerns. Outside of contacting your elected representatives to voice your opinion about things like staffing levels, getting involved in a park watch or friends group is the best way to keep your park out of the hands of thugs and as a place where families can enjoy our parks in a safe and secure environment.

To find a Friends Group for your park or to learn how your neighborhood can start one up, visit the Park People website for more information.

If like most people you couldn’t make one of the three listening sessions for the 2011 budget that Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker held during the day over the past week, you can now give your feedback online as well.

If you go to http://www.milwaukeecounty.org/CountyExecutive7711/2011RecommendedBudgetSurvey.htm you can fill out the same form that  people who attended the sessions could, the feedback asking your opinion about the upcoming budget for Milwaukee County which will be proposed by the County Exec. later this year.

I honestly don’t know what happens to the feedback, but if you’d like to let the County Exec. know how you feel about a service like parks, transit or the Courts, send this form in! Every bit helps!