Photo by Tom Jenz
Cheryl Blue
Cheryl Blue
Over 100 years ago, manufacturing giants such as Harley Davidson, A.O. Smith, Briggs & Stratton, Badger Meter and Master Lock were located in the 30th Street Industrial Corridor, 880 acres of industrial infrastructure on Milwaukee’s Northwest Side. The Corridor extended along a 6.2-mile railroad track of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, with access to the Milwaukee Port on Lake Michigan. From there, goods were transported to the eastern seaboard for national and international manufacturing and trade.
Due to increased demand for products, high paying manufacturing jobs became available, and tens of thousands of southern Blacks moved to Milwaukee for those jobs. More housing was built around the factory buildings, and middle class, blue-collar Black neighborhoods bloomed. At one time, Milwaukee had the highest standard of living for Black workers in the United States. It did not last.
By the 1990s, the manufacturers had left Milwaukee for cheaper labor in foreign countries. For instance, at one time, there had been 10,000 workers in the A.O. Smith factory, but 30 years ago, the company left town, leaving behind a vast vacant lot. With the decline of manufacturing, very few of Milwaukee’s leaders, businessmen and politicians had the foresight to help redevelop this once-thriving area. They let it go to seed.
Founded in 1991, the 30th Street Industrial Corridor is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the redevelopment of large swaths of industrial land and buildings dealing with poverty, unemployment and crime. The Corridor is a 501c3 nonprofit classified as charitable and eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. It works with residents, homeowners, businesses, churches, schools and organizations trying to make a difference.
Since 2017, the Corridor’s executive director has been Cheryl Blue. I met her in her office in the historic Eaton building on 27th Street near Capital Drive. She told me, “My name is Cheryl, but everybody calls me ‘Cheryl Blue.’” Cheryl Blue wore a dress as blue as the blues in a Renoir painting. An articulate spokesperson, she frames her words almost as if she is writing them.
Let’s start out with your personal history, your parents, neighborhoods you lived in, and schools you attended.
I was born and raised in Milwaukee’s 53206 zip code, now known as the Amani Neighborhood. My father is a native of Tennessee, and he worked in the Patrick Cudahy packing houses. My mother worked at Milwaukee County Hospital. Our family attended the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and I graduated from North Division High School.
What was it like for you as a teenager at North Division?
I love that school to this day. A 99% Black student body, and almost all Black teachers who really cared about us. North Division has the HBCU culture. (Historic Black Colleges & Universities.) We were like a family, sharing our history and culture, and supporting one another through high expectations.
What did you do after high school?
I went to UW Whitewater for undergrad, and I was the first member of my family to go to college. We had the largest Black freshman class in the school’s history. I earned my undergrad degree in History and Sociology. Then, I went to Temple University in Philadelphia, and attended the masters degree program in African-American Studies. I stayed in Philadelphia for 15 years. I worked for Philadelphia Freedom Schools, a summer literacy program based on the Freedom Riders.
(NOTE: Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals.)
In the summers, we hired college and high school students to teach reading and literacy, and mathematics to young Black and Latino children. Prior to that, I was the youth services program manager for Congreso de Latinos Unidos in the barrio in Eastern North Philadelphia.
You spent 15 years in Philadelphia, but then you came back to Milwaukee. How come?
I was laid off. I had a small child, and I was tired and stressed out. In 2010, I came home to spend time with my parents, and I had every intention of going back to Philly. However, a lot of positive momentum was going on in Milwaukee, and many of my college friends had jobs in government, businesses and nonprofit organizations. I wanted to help move things forward for Black people on the north side of Milwaukee,
How did you get involved in neighborhood and community housing issues in Milwaukee?
I started working in development with the 30th Street Industrial Corridor Corp. where I am now. We had a grant from Argosy Foundation to build a rain garden in Garden Homes Park.
We began convening everyone together so that we could maximize our efforts. We soon found that the historic Garden Homes neighborhood was in disrepair, including a number of abandoned homes, some city owned. There were a lot of dedicated people and organizations working in the neighborhood, but they didn’t always work together. We convened a number of stakeholders—business owners, home owners, church leaders, politicians, neighborhood groups, and over 200 residents. In 2018, we were able to adopt a neighborhood revitalization plan under the umbrella of the 30th Street Corridor Industrial Corporation.
NOTE: Garden Homes is on the national and state register of historic places. It is the first municipally sponsored housing co-op in the U.S. Built in 1921. The Garden Homes project was shepherded by the Socialist Mayor Daniel Hoan (Mayor 1921-1940). It was built as a whites-only coop. Over the years, most of the whites moved out, and migrating Blacks from the South moved in. Currently, 30% of the homes are owned, 40% rented, and the rest are vacant. There are 7280 residents.
You have been instrumental in restoring the historic Garden Homes area. At one time, that neighborhood fell into neglect. What is the process in getting the Garden Homes neighborhood restored?
Progress has been made, but we still have a long way to go. One of the areas in our Neighborhood Plan is housing. There are several historic homes around Garden Home Park that stand in grave disrepair. Due to their historic status, the Garden Homes Neighborhood Association lobbied the city not to tear down the homes. However, because of the costs of historic restoration, the homes remained in a dilapidated state for many years. In 2019, we applied for LITC (low income tax credits) from WHEDA, the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. In 2020, WHEDA awarded the Corridor tax credits to restore 30 homes in and around the Garden Homes Park. We worked with Alderman Ashanti Hamilton and got the deserted houses from the city for one dollar each. There were other partners. Cinnaire Solutions, Federal Home Loan Bank, and the City of Milwaukee Home fund, to name a few. Those homes are now under construction, and God willing, they should be finished by the end of 2023.
There are a number of vacant buildings and houses along parts of the 30th Street Industrial Corridor. What are the biggest challenges you face in your improvement efforts?
Financial investment, for one. Also, building the Restoration partnerships of the 30th Street Corridor. Our greatest resources are the people that live there. We are working on a loan fund to have emerging developers build 200 homes on vacant lots on the north side. We are also exploring the possibility of locating a satellite HBCU campus here in the Corridor.
NOTE: After our interview, Cheryl Blue took me through the Garden Homes neighborhood, a cluster of formerly middle class dwellings surrounding a small park. Eleven homes were in the process of repair. The street culture seemed a mixture of older Black residents tending to their lawns, and teenagers clustered in small gatherings, some in drug deals.
Since 2017, you’ve been the Executive Director of the 30th Street Industrial Corridor Corp. Describe the 30th Street Industrial Corridor. What geographical areas do you cover?
The 30th Street Industrial Corridor is a huge area on the northwest side, roughly 27th to 35th streets, east to west, and Highland to Hampton, south to north. 880 acres of industrial infrastructure that hugs the railroad. We are working with Milwaukee’s Department of City Development strategizing ways to redevelop this old industrial zone.
On your LinkedIn page, you wrote: “The 30th Street Corridor’s mission is to serve as the mobilizing entity to collectively promote and spark economic resurgence for businesses and residents in the area.” How are you going about this economic resurgence?
For many years, there has been a lack of development in this area. Often urban planners and developers focus on the physical spaces for remediation. In our view, the people here also need investment. Milwaukee has one of the youngest, Blackest communities in the country. Although there is poverty, we see our people as the greatest resource. We are a convener. We bring people to the table. Our hope is to bring organizations, corporations, and government entities working in silos to make change. It’s important that Black people are in leadership roles, and we are proud to have several passionate and impactful Black leaders on our board. After all, 40% of the Milwaukee’s residents are Black, and 13% Latino.
The old A.O. Smith property on the corner of Hopkins and Capital Drive has been a huge vacant lot for 30 or more years. An eyesore. Are you involved in helping restore that area?
The city owns most of that vacant land and has invested millions of dollars doing brownfield remediation and preparing the sites. We are working with the Department of City Development on ideas for redevelopment of that land for investment projects from private companies. The city did invest in building the Century City Business Park on 3025 W. Hopkins. It’s owned by Good City Brewing, and the entire building is now full. The problem with the A.O. Smith site is that it’s located in a disadvantaged Black community and without close access to the freeways.
What are the proposed plans for the possible 30th Street East Trail, the 6.2-mile stretch along the railroad tracks? I understand that it’s an ongoing term project.
The 30th Street Corridor is working on this project in partnership with Rails to Trails Conservancy, the Route of the Badger, Northwest Side CDC, Near Westside Partners and Havenwoods Neighborhood Partnership. Our long-term goal is to build a shared use trail near those railroad tracks into a biking and walking trail which would connect to the Hank Aaron Trail on the southern end, and then go up north to Havenwoods State Forest and connect to the Oak Leaf Trail.
A lot of people living on the North Side do not have access to trails. This 30th Street Trail would give them access to ride bikes and walk in a safe space. We think that this project would encourage more economic development in the north side of town. For me, one of the gifts I have been blessed with is the ability is to bring people together. The Bible says “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” My team and I are working with others to build a positive vision for this part of Milwaukee.
