Photo via Visit Milwaukee
McGovern Park
McGovern Park
Beleaguered Milwaukee County officials are acting in haste to repurpose part of McGovern Park by plopping down a housing complex there with up to 50 dwelling units, plus a community center. Milwaukee County wants to transfer control of six acres of the park to a leaseholder through a 99-year lease.
Since time immemorial, public parks have been built for all to freely use. Housing has never been built in any park in Milwaukee—nor, for that matter, almost anywhere on the planet. For good reason.
Mixing private spaces into public places blurs their purposes and potentially results in conflict between residents and park users. Homes are private. Parks are public. It’s that simple.
When McGovern Park was created by the City of Milwaukee’s Park Commission in 1910, deed restrictions established it solely for typical public park purposes. Not housing.
There are distinct, long-defined relationships between public spaces (including parks) and private residential space—regardless of whether housing is owner occupied or a rental arrangement.
Housing located near a park adds well-documented value. People like living near public parks—ideally within walking distance.
Photo via Milwaukee County Parks
Milwaukee County Parks - Bike Trails
Riders enjoy biking along a trail at one of Milwaukee County's parks
Housing within parks inevitably will create confusion over whose needs and rights are paramount. Even without fencing, individuals are accustomed to knowing and respecting property lines, regardless of the type of housing. People also recognize park boundaries. Milwaukee County parks all have signs at one or more entrances. Parks are precisely defined.
Individuals are granted First Amendment rights—for free speech and assembly—in parks and other public spaces. Not so in private spaces.
If a housing complex is developed in McGovern Park, every visitor will have to consider whether and when they might be “encroaching” on someone’s privacy. Strollers in the park could easily be perceived as trespassing on someone’s front or back yard.
Will housing residents and visitors to the park and community center have to compete for limited parking spaces? If parking is segregated, who will enforce it? Just more hassles.
Also, bear in mind, parking is not allowed in any Milwaukee County park after 10 p.m. Housing residents and their guests can hardly be forced to observe a 10 p.m. curfew.
Further, who will maintain this joint park-housing complex? What new pressures and confusion will fall on parks staff as rights and restrictions will invariably clash between housing residents and park users? Blurred lines and confusion are not conducive to well-being--whether in a park or a residential setting.
Housing built above a library, being cited as a model for this proposal, is a completely different construct than housing in a park. No one is living in the library. Just as housing is never built in the middle of golf-course fairways. People would be living in the middle of McGovern Park.
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Housing is often developed in “repurposed” buildings. Parks, however, retain their original “evergreen” purpose and have no need to now be “reimagined.” Parks are not merely “underutilized” vacant land that is “shovel-ready” for development.
As a real estate investor and manager for 49 years, I know well that Milwaukee County officials will be responsible for tenant issues 24-7. No matter who “manages” this complex, Milwaukee County will forever be the landowner. As long as the building stands, county officials will never be able to escape the inevitable headaches.
Photo via Milwaukee County Parks
McGovern Park - Map
McGovern Park Map
Since this dubious proposal was announced on April 8th McGovern Park neighbors and senior-center participants have consistently expressed their concerns, but have not received good answers. Milwaukee County administrators say they want to innovate, and are trying to “think outside the box” with this unprecedented—and completely untested—proposal. While it is commendable to expand options, this four-story development will diminish the value of McGovern Park. I can conceive of no scenario in which a large-scale mixed-use development in a park will not disturb the peace of that park.
This plan is also being touted as a potential model for revamping all five of Milwaukee County’s senior centers, which are located in Clinton Rose, Kelly, Washington and Wilson parks. And there’s no reason to pretend that the proliferation of housing in parks would stop there. Putting the squeeze on parks by forcing them to accommodate housing will not serve public-health goals. Instead, these cobbled conflations of usage will be jarring to everyone.
A sense of urgency has been forced on this ill-conceived plan, which was hatched behind closed doors without consulting those who will be impacted. That top-down approach is not a new model. It’s just business as usual.
Milwaukee does not need to experiment with marginalized older residents and park users by handing over six acres of parkland for a mixed-use development.
I urge the county board to reject the cannibalization of McGovern Park for housing. Consider countless other locations for senior housing and a community center, including non-park sites owned by the county or city. As stated in the original charter, parks were created as sanctuaries for all residents, in perpetuity. Poaching them will destroy them. No matter what officials imagine they will gain in this unprecedented scheme, Milwaukee County residents will be the losers.
County residents may find their county supervisor at https://findyourcountysupervisor.com/. Please let them know what you think about taking over parkland for housing.
Read Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley's argument in favor of the proposal here.
