The City of Milwaukee recently released a plan for the “Swing Park” at the south end of the marsupial pedestrian walkway beneath the Holton Street Bridge.
The plan calls for remaking the physical space and also boosting programming at the park, which was created in the space along North Water Street at East Pearson Street in 2006 by La Dallman Architects as part of the marsupial bridge project.
Conceptual renderings of The Landing at Tannery Row proposal were released on Sept. 10 and The City of Milwaukee is accepting public comment on the plan at its website through Friday, Sept. 20.
In 2012 a local “placemaking” group hung a variety of swings in the park, which were removed by the city due to safety concerns the following year. However, the community wanted the swing park back and so in 2014 the space was redesigned, re-surfaced and new swings added and the “Swing Park" became official.
In the years since, there have been a number of violent incidents around the park and considerably more apartments have been constructed nearby. Last year, the park was closed due to the Holton Bridge repairs project that is currently underway.
The Landing plan – a response to residents’ desires for “increased safety measures and reconsideration of park use and programming,” according to the website – was created by the Smith Group, along with MKE Parks, Ald. Jonathan Brostoff and the Friends Group.
Brostoff got $50,000 into the city budget to kick off the project and that has helped fund the design process and initial improvements to the space while further funding is pursued.
The new plan calls for a playground, surrounded by a colorful, lighted and semi-transparent “art screen” and fence, near the sidewalk, with adjacent bike racks, terrace and picnic tables. Connecting the playground to the sidewalk would be a boardwalk that spans a stormwater planter.
Leading down from the terrace toward the river would be steps that can also serve as seating and a “river theater” that would host programming. Between the theater and the river’s edge would be a stepped area with stone blocks.
A gangway would lead to a paddlecraft dock.
The marsupial bridge connection to Brewers’ Hill across the Milwaukee River would remain.
“It is still intended to still serve as a literal and metaphorical “‘bridge”’ that welcomes people from all neighborhoods,” the project website notes.
One of the renderings shows a grassy open area with trees to the west of the current park site. That land has been for sale for a number of years after an apartment development proposed in 2018 did not come to fruition. It is currently listed at $6.5 million.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
