Sue Black (second from right) from our January feature story “The Hot Seat” where she was
named a top leader. Photo by Adam Ryan Morris.
Three days before Sue Black was fired, I interviewed the former Milwaukee County parks director for an upcoming story, and the conversation turned to the future of Milwaukee’s parks – a future I’m positive she thought she would be a part of.
Black, who already had several awards under her belt, expressed interest in helping Milwaukee improve its bronze ranking in the League of American Cyclists’ Bike Friendly Community program to a platinum. This would make it the only community in Wisconsin to have earned the highest level. (Madison has a gold.) She stressed the importance of the county’s trails, such as the Oak Leaf trail, as a key but not the whole picture. “It’s not just about the trails; it’s about what happens on the trails,” she said.
She also said she wanted the city to win the “Most Livable City” title, which is given every year by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research and analysis firm within The Economist Group – the same company that publishes The Economist. She also wanted to continue to win the National Gold Medal for Excellence given by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration and the National Recreation and Park Association every five years. Under Black, the Milwaukee parks system won the award in 2009.
Questioned on such lofty goals, Black said: “I’m a goal setter. That’s how I want to run the department. That’s what I hope we get out of the leadership [of the city].”
Looking even further into the future, Black began to contemplate what she would be remembered for. “As much as I like the recreation side of what we do, it’s really in the ecosystems of water that I really want to leave a legacy,” she said. She also said she wanted people to think of this era – her era – as “when we really shored up the department.”
I don’t think she expected anyone to be talking about her legacy quite so soon.
