Off the Cuff interviews Milwaukee Common Council President Michael Murphy about MKE Plays, a three-year plan he launched this spring with the Department of Public Works, Program Manager Sarah Zarate and a hardworking team. The project’s goal is to transform 12 of the city’s most dilapidated playgrounds into exemplars of renovation and community involvement.
How was the idea for MKE Plays born?
I grew up on the playgrounds of the city of Milwaukee. I had a typical Irish Catholic family—three brothers and a sister. My parents were immigrants and we didn’t have much money so we grew up on the playgrounds. I want kids in our city to have the same opportunities I had. I’ve noticed over the years that incrementally there’s been a decrease in money going into fixing up our playgrounds. [In 2013] I started the Playground Improvement Challenge Fund, but before that I would raise private money for the Merrill Park Playground and try to match it with city money. I was pretty successful doing that in my district, and when I became president of the council I chose to expand it to include other playgrounds throughout the city. I asked the Department of Public Works, “Just look at the inventory of all our playgrounds and tell me which ones have received the least investment in the last 10 or 15 of 20 years.” So it wasn’t a political decision; it was one in which they chose to view on a quantitative analysis what are the worst playgrounds in terms of our investments. Those are the playgrounds that I’ve chosen.
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Why is it important to maintain vibrant play spaces in our city?
Current statistics in our city indicate we have a high incidence of children who have diabetes, obesity, a lot of poor health outcomes, and part of it is they’re not outside and actively engaged in recreation. Also, a lot of research is pointing out how important for creativity and problem solving it is to be very engaged in play, and that play isn’t something to be taken lightly. Many of these public places have not been properly invested in and I want to turn them around and make them a positive asset in the neighborhood so that people take ownership of them and see that as a seed to grow—maybe working on other projects in the neighborhood, whether it be on foreclosures, or housing, or public safety.
The project is described as a collaboration between public, private and non-profit partners. How is this model different from the usual Department of Public Works method for rehabbing parks?
Previously the city would allocate maybe a quarter of a million to renovate these playgrounds and there wouldn’t be any outreach to the community. We will provide a pallet of opportunities where residents can choose what type of equipment they think people would take advantage of. We’re having community meetings with ad hoc committees of residents to help guide the city in making decisions. In addition, the city is going to be putting approximately a half million dollars toward the renovation of these parks and with the additional million that I’m going to be raising, that gives us an opportunity to do more. And we want to evaluate it. We set up a survey of people in the neighborhood before and after so that when I try to raise additional funds, I can honestly say that we’ve looked at it in a very objective manner. We’re also looking at hiring young people in the neighborhood to serve as play leaders and neighborhood ambassadors. Once the youth employment program is developed, we hope to fund it through a public/private model similar to MKE Plays.
When can the public visit the first rehabbed playground?
In the last two weeks of September. The first playground we’re working on is Arlington Heights Park on the South Side of Milwaukee.
To learn more about MKE Plays visit city.milwaukee.gov/mkeplays.
