Ruby and the Tree: Growing with 3 Bridges Park

-->

It is at once perfectly ordinary and miraculous each time a baby is born into a loving family as it was for Dan and Nora not long ago. By contrast, the creation of an urban park isn’t an ordinary event and although in retrospect it may seem like a miracle, it is not. The establishment of 3 Bridges Park in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley was the result of a long planning process, hard work, and no small financial commitment. 3 Bridges Park arrived the same year as Dan and Nora’s daughter, Ruby.

The coincidence of these seemingly unrelated events has become intertwined for the young couple who saw in them new beginnings not only for their family but also for the community at large. Moved by the symbolism of new life and growth, they began what they intend to be an annual ritual. They agreed to let me accompany them and to share their story.

On a warm, sunny afternoon in August I met the three of them at their home in the Merrill Park neighborhood on the north edge of the Menomonee Valley. After bundling Ruby into her stroller, we headed past the 35^th Street viaduct towards the freeway underpass where 32^nd Street connects with Canal Street. Dan, who works for Layton Boulevard West Neighbors, explained that he takes the viaduct back and forth every day to his job near 27^th and Greenfield. For casual walks in the Valley and to reach the park they prefer the Canal Street route. Although less direct, it’s quieter and they generally see other people using the Hank Aaron State Trail, which parallels the roadway.

We wound our way through the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center, past Palermo’s Pizza, J.F. Ahern Co. and Falk Corporation, to where 33^rd Ct. ends at the middle of the three bridges leading into the park. We paused on the bridge to look out over the river and the park. Dan pointed to the place they had gone the year before to pick out a tree. “We thought it would be meaningful,” he said “to document Ruby growing up as the park grows up.”

After we had circled around and descended the boat ramp nearly to the water Dan gestured towards a small oak, its tender leaves resplendent in the mid-day sun. He continued his story. “We found the tree in this picturesque spot. You can see the river and the middle bridge in the background.” They sat infant Ruby next to the tree and snapped the shot.

“The idea,” Nora told me, “is that every year around the same time we will come back and take a picture so that as she grows and the tree grows and the park grows up around it, we’ll get a record of that kind of growth—the park, the community, our daughter.”

In the year since that first photo was taken Ruby already has grown significantly, of course. She now toddles around the tree, the nearby log, and the rocks along the path. The park too has begun to bloom. The earthen slope, still predominantly covered in protective burlap, sprouts spindly saplings, thin patches of rye grass and the occasional wildflower. Dan concludes, “It’s nice to see all of this happening all at once right here where we live in the center of Milwaukee.”

I looked up from the tableau of this family and their symbolic tree and surveyed the surrounding landscape. Suddenly, from this vantage it seemed as though the city itself was growing up around the newly created park. Perhaps it is, in a sense. Perhaps that’s the real lesson of 3 Bridges Park and of the Menomonee Valley redevelopment process. Like Ruby, we all have an opportunity to grow together with a new and sustainable urban landscape. After all, building a park out of an abandoned brownfield is a hopeful act.

Ruby and the tree are a perfect symbol for the desire to improve our world. The motivation for planting trees is to some degree the same as for having children: they embody our dreams for a brighter future. 

This post is one in a series that relates to my Menomonee Valley Artist in Residency. For more information about the residency and links to previous posts and photographs, go to MV AiR.

Bad debt is good business!

The first thing I notice about the nondescript two-story brick building is the sign. Or, to be more precise, the wrong sign. I’m looking for Professional Placement Services (PPS). I check the address again. I’m at the corner of 12^th and Mount Vernon and number on the building matches. But I see only “Signarama” in bright red lettering. I wonder how much privacy a collection agency needs.

After confirming that I’m in the correct building the second thing I notice are the locks on the doors. In the main lobby I press the call button, identify myself and hear the familiar click of a lock disengaging. On the second floor I find myself in a glass cage confronted by another locked door and another call button. This time when I push it there is no answer. Immediately beyond the glass cage is a vacant reception desk. I tap on the glass, gingerly. To the concern for privacy add security.

The next thing I notice contradicts everything I’ve been seeing.

Please go to Arts Without Borders for the rest of this story and photos.


This post is one in a series that relates to my Menomonee Valley Artist in Residency. For more information about the residency and links to previous posts and photographs, go to MV AiR.

Biking to work in the Menomonee Valley

-->

 

“Do you know each other?” I asked after taking this shot of Bernadette and Jim on the Hank Aaron State Trail. No, they assured me cheerfully. She was traveling west to her job at Melk Music in West Allis. He was on his way downtown to MATC where he taught mechanical design. The chance encounter came about because they’d both stopped for coffee and a bite of pastry at the commuter station set up next to the Trail for Bike to Work Week.

I’d been asking people who were biking to work if they would mind being part of my effort to document the weeklong event. While only a single person shyly declined my request, Bernadette and Jim were the two strangers who symbolized for me the remarkable collegiality amongst the cyclists. For two hours each morning the station buzzed with lively chatter about workplaces, distances traveled, cycling, and of course the (generally bad) weather.

There were regulars, like Kevin (above), who said that he rides 26 miles round trip at least four days a week. And others like Joel (below) who told me that he was “just getting back into” riding to work. In fact, the timing of the annual Bike to Work Week is meant to inspire people to drag their bicycles out of the garage, where they’ve been stored for the (brutal) winter.

 

In Wisconsin Bike to Work Week was May 12-16. To commemorate the event and cheer on the cycling commuters, volunteers from the Urban Ecology Center and Layton Boulevard West Neighbors set up the refreshment station on the Hank Aaron State Trail next to the Valley Passage that links Pierce and Canal Streets. Coffee, hot chocolate, and fresh pastries were donated by Colectivo Coffee.

This is a strategic location for more than one reason. The Hank Aaron Trail is already a popular commuter route. The Valley Passage is not only centrally located in the Menomonee Valley, the heart of the Milwaukee region, but it is also a cycling crossroads that leads outward in every direction.

 Cyclists came into the Valley from as far away as Bayside, Oak Creek, and Brookfield. After stopping for a rest many of them headed back out to destinations equally distant. Some grabbed a hot beverage or a donut; some just paused to chat with the volunteers who were on hand to provide refreshments and morning cheer.

Not everyone came from far away; some had set out from the adjacent Silver City neighborhood. At least two stopped within sight of their destination at the Derse Company just across the river on Canal Street. Susan (above) was one of them. Many, having embarked from their homes in the western suburbs—West Allis, Wauwatosa, Brookfield—were on their way downtown. But nearly as many—this came as a surprise to me—had come from the East Side, Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, or Bay View on their way to jobs in West Allis, Wauwatosa and Brookfield.

The significance of this prime Trail intersection is not lost on cycling professionals. It is no coincidence that several bike related businesses share the WI Bike Fed building just off the Valley Passage on Pierce Street. (I profiled one of them previously: see Fyxation.) Dave Schlabowske, director of WI Bike Fed has this to say about the week:

"The Wisconsin Bike Fed has been promoting Bike to Work Week for about 25 years now. Over that time, the number of people who bike to work has increased more than 60% statewide, and even more in cities that have added lots of bike lanes, bike racks and trails, like Milwaukee and Madison which have seen increases of 300% and 200% respectively. To encourage people to try riding bicycles for transportation, we coordinate commuter stations at various places in cities and towns around Wisconsin."

While most of the people who stopped were indeed commuters, getting to work was not everyone’s goal. Until he retired, Bob had been biking to his job at Johnson Controls since the 1080s. “I’m the original bike to work guy,” he claimed proudly. His T-shirt confesses his current destinations.

Jeff, below, was another retiree, from the Kenosha Chrysler plant. Comfortably recumbent, he was about halfway around a 50-mile loop from his home in Oak Creek.

Many visitors to our station were of a more serious bent, however. John, clearly garbed for speed, told us he’d retired from the racing circuit two years ago. He was on the final leg of a 25-mile commute to his job in the Third Ward.

Cycling wasn’t providing quite enough exercise for Jim, who I caught up with at the Menomonee River observation deck. He was doing calisthenics as part of his regimen. I’ll gladly grant him the morning commute prize, having ridden to Greenfield Park in West Allis from his home in Whitefish Bay before turning around to get to his job with the Zilber Group downtown.

It rained twice during the week. In those circumstances the station was moved under the shelter of the Valley Passage Bridge. Participation slowed on those days but stalwarts continued to stop by and they seemed particularly grateful for a cup of hot chocolate or coffee.

Friday was the best day of Bike to Work Week. That was the day when bacon was added to the menu! Veterans looked forward to Friday all week and newbies were invariably thrilled.

For my part I enjoyed the camaraderie with commuters and volunteers alike. Glenna, the director of the Valley branch of the Urban Ecology Center (below, with Dan of LBWN) offered the following reflection:

“My favorite part about Bike to Work Week is that the commuter stations create a small but meaningful opportunity for cyclists to build community. Folks that ride the trail often see each other every day but don't really get a chance to pause and just talk to each other, and it's fun to help create the space for them to do that. In fact, a few years ago at a Bike to Work Week station I met a couple who told me that they had first met each other at that station—and now they're married!”

The volunteers kept a running tally of cyclists, with separate columns for those who stopped and those who rode on by. When I left on Friday the totals stood at 118 and 110 respectively. The daily totals made it clear that the weather affected participation. Thursday, with freezing rain, was the low point. The coming week is supposed to be far more pleasant. Maybe I’ll see you out on the trail!

For many more photos from Bike to Work Week go to my flickr album.

This post is one in a series that relates to my Menomonee Valley Artist in Residency. For more information about the residency and links to previous posts and photographs, go to MV AiR.