Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan sets Milwaukee up for success
The Common Council during its meeting on Tuesday, March 22 adopted a resolution approving the City of Milwaukee Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (CORP) 2022-2027, including a Gathering Place Feasibility Study. Tomorrow, Thursday, March 31 at 2 p.m., Alderman Michael J. Murphy will join other elected officials and stakeholders for a legislation signing ceremony to highlight the effort at La Placita Public Plaza at El Rey, 916 South Cesar E. Chavez Drive.
The CORP utilizes key elements of the MKE Plays initiative, founded by Alderman Murphy in 2015, to set up parks and other outdoor spaces for success in the future and ensure residents citywide have access to a recreational space that enhances their physical, social, emotional and intellectual well-being.
A total of 21 parks have been reconstructed or developed using the MKE Plays model, and since MKE Plays was established, $2.9 million of private funding has been raised while leveraging an additional $3.1 million in public funding. This totals more than $6.1 million of investment into local parks.
The CORP was developed with the cooperation of the City’s Department of City Development, Department of Public Works, Environmental Collaboration Office and the Office of Equity & Inclusion.
“I’d like to thank the countless City staff and other stakeholders for their work on the creation and implementation of this plan as we work to enhance outdoor spaces for everyone. I look forward to the parks, trails and other shared spaces that will be enhanced in the coming years,” Alderman Murphy added.
Additional information on the Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan can be found here.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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A historic note in support of Alderman Murphy’s efforts. For a now aging generation of low-income, working-class kids = across races – Milwaukee had to be the best city in this country to grow up in. What were, decades later, seen as great innovations in other cities were the norm in Milwaukee, largely due to the visionary work of a man named Harold “Zip” Morgan. And a willingness of government to pay for these valuable programs.
In Milwaukee, virtually every public school had after-school programs until 9 p.m. every weekday night and on Saturdays. These programs included athletics, arts and crafts and cultural programs. Similarly, for kids who had never heard of “summer camp,” every playground was also staffed from 9 in the morning to 8 at night during the summer, with the same range of programs. For example, there is a whole generation of Milwaukeeans who learned how to play chess on these playgrounds.
In addition to “keeping kids occupied,” these programs developed lifelong skills, and provided employment for generations of young people who learned valuable organizational and relationship skills.
Updated, there is no reason that these schools and playgrounds cannot play the same role in the lives of today’s kids. Unfortunately, the most pressing updating will require finding strategies to dramatically reduce violence and make these schools and playgrounds the safe and nurturing places that they were for that older generation. Then, it will require a vision and the money to execute Alderman Murphy’s plans.