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The Menomonee Valley
Leadership Team exemplifies local support,
participation, and collaborative problem solving
efforts to create and implement green planning
within the Menomonee River Valley.
The dedicated individuals of
private, public, and non-profit sectors that played
a crucial role in planning include:
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Peter McAvoy - Director of
Environmental Health, Sixteenth Street Health
Center
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Julie A. Penman - Commissioner, Milwaukee
Department of City Development
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Mariano Schiflalacqua - Commissioner, Milwaukee
Department of Public Works
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Mick Hatch - President, Menomonee Valley Partners,
Inc.
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Lilith Fowler - Executive Director, Menomonee
Valley Partners, Inc.
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Brian Reilly - Manager, Menomonee Valley
Redevelopment, Milwaukee Department of City
Development
The team focused on a
visible location along I-94 in the center of
Milwaukee, the Menomonee River Valley. The Menomonee
Valley is situated on a 1200-acre brownfield site,
designated as a landfill by the Wisconsin DNR, which
is blighted by ninteenth-century decayed industrial
building and abandoned weed lots. The Menomonee
Valley Leadership Team envisioned a miraculous
change in the area by offering a redeveloped
employment hub with integrated open spaces. The area
will be dedicated to athletic fields, natural
restoration, flood control, and community events
providing a connection to the surrounding
neighborhoods.
In the winter/spring of 2002
Menomonee Valley Partners, Inc. (MVP) surveyed surrounding
neighborhood communities to document past and
current connections to the Menomonee River Valley. These results were used in the criteria
for a landscape design competition for the
Menomonee Valley in 2002. Participating teams were
asked to create an
industrial park with development and a landscape that
will restore native species, filter stormwater
runoff, and allow community access. The winning
design, submitted by Wenk Associates, integrated
natural and open space elements into the industrial
park through trails, a stormwater park, a community
green, and the Menomonee River itself. These
features offer visitors a connection to the
Menomonee River by use of arts, cultural and
recreational events, and great views of downtown
Milwaukee along the sculpted landscape of the Hank
Aaron Trail.
Over the next ten years the
team will work to transform the post-industrial
Menomonee River Valley into a culturally,
ecologically, and economically vibrant space in the
center of Milwaukee.
For more information contact
Elinor
Tretheway, Director of Outreach and Special
Projects for Menomonee Valley Partners, Inc., or visit the
Menomonee
Valley Partners, Inc. website.
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