Residents lead the way in Garden Homes neighborhood
Volunteers fill 60 trash bags as part of strategic plan
Barbara Moore spent a recent Saturday raking up litter along the railroad tracks on Milwaukee’s north side.
She wasn’t alone.
More than 80 people volunteered for the Garden Homes Neighborhood cleanup, filling about 60 trash bags by the end of the day.
The event was one step outlined in a new neighborhood-wide strategic plan that touches on everything from building local pride to lowering crime.
“Everybody wants the same thing: We all want a nice place to live in,” said Moore, a community organizer for the Northwest Side Community Development Corp.
“It just makes it easier with everybody working toward the same goal,” she said.
The Garden Homes plan was released earlier this year after contributions from more than 150 residents and 40 churches, nonprofits and other community groups. It has seven target areas: neighborhood pride; housing; crime and safety; education; and health and wellness; economic development; and jobs.
“A lot of time people look to City Hall, they look to politicians, they look to the police to improve the area. We’re engaging the residents,” said Cheryl Blue, executive director of the 30th St. Industrial Corridor Corp.
Longtime residents say they have noticed a difference already.
“I’m feeling like we’re taking back our community, our neighborhood, so kids can be safer to go outside and play and there’s not violence and shooting and drug dealing,” said Linda White, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years.
The Milwaukee Police Department is a partner in the plan, which calls for three new block clubs, upgraded lighting and quarterly neighborhood safety walks. Capt. Timothy Heier, who commands District 5, praised the residents’ efforts.
“There’s leadership, there’s focus and there’s a vision,” Heier said.
Garden Homes has a storied history with its curving streets tucked into the wedge created by the intersection of West Atkinson and North Teutonia avenues.
The brainchild of Milwaukee’s first socialist mayor, the cluster of two-story stucco cottages was built in the 1920s in what was then the outskirts of town.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, it became a solidly middle-class, African-American neighborhood that offered one of the highest standards of living in the city.
The loss of manufacturing jobs in the late 1970s and ‘80s, followed by the foreclosure crisis, challenged the neighborhood. Crime crept up.
Residents are determined to bring back that high standard of living.
Nora Nimmer grew up in Garden Homes, watching her father have pride in their neighborhood as he picked up litter whenever he saw it.
“I didn’t know any better than to have a nice neighborhood,” said Nimmer, now in her early 50s.
“A lot of the children have moved away and their parents are still here,” she said. “I still believe this area can change and get better, as long as we don’t give up.”
But not everyone supports the 12-page strategic plan.
Vincey Toney, who has run a longtime block watch, described “a divide in this neighborhood.” He disagrees with historic preservation plans for the cottage homes, many of which have fallen into disrepair.
“There’s no investment because they should tear it down and start over,” he said. “This mission here we don’t support. We don’t support that they labeled something historical when there’s nothing historical about it.”
He also criticized the amount of time it took to create the plan — nearly two years — and suggested some of those most involved in leading the effort don’t live in the area. He said the focus should be on addressing crime, keeping the streets clean and holding licensed businesses, particularly those selling alcohol, accountable.
Still, the strategic plan has found support in City Hall. Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton, who represents the area, told residents they were “already winning.”
The latest community-building event is the Promise Zone Bike Ride Saturday.
“We’re not a powerless people in a position of hopelessness,” Hamilton said at a community meeting earlier this year.
“We are powerful and in control of our destiny,” he said.