Five or six wayward ducks paddle in a foot of murky rainwater at the deep end of what was once Hoyt Pool. Tall weeds push through cracks in the cement. Painted on the deck is a “No Diving” warning, faded and pointless. Once the state’s largest outdoor pool, Hoyt has been empty since 2003, when a leaky bottom and shrinking parks budget forced Milwaukee County to pull the plug. It felt like a death for many in the neighborhood.
Belatedly, a handful of residents formed Friends of Hoyt Park & Pool, hoping to somehow reopen it. But they seemed to be tilting at windmills. The Friends had little chance of squeezing money from the county or raising millions on their own – until they discovered two generous Wauwatosa natives.
John and Tashia Morgridge had made headlines giving more than $100 million to their alma mater, UW-Madison. The former CEO of the multibillion-dollar Cisco Systems, John Morgridge was ranked one of America’s richest men. With more sleuthing, the Friends discovered he was a state swimming champ when he attended what is now Wauwatosa East High School.
Phone calls were made, meetings were held, and in 2007, the Morgridges – through their quaintly named TOSA Foundation – presented the Friends with a $4 million challenge grant. The challenge worked, leveraging $2.2 million in private donations and $1.5 million from the county.
This isn’t the first such story of a park saved. The bandshell at Washington Park was rebuilt with help from Harley-Davidson. The Mitchell Park Domes got a bump from philanthropists Michael Cudahy and Chris Abele. The Lake Park Friends – one of 55 such groups supporting various county parks – helped secure grants to restore North Point Lighthouse.
I’m happy about Hoyt’s rescue. I live five minutes from the pool and have fond memories of going there with my daughter for endless rounds of “Marco Polo.” But this sort of bailout only saves parks that private philanthropists, corporate benefactors, wealthy neighbors or community activists care about. Too many parks lack this advantage.
Across town on Milwaukee’s North Side is Lindbergh Park. Its wading pool has been dry for five years. Mold grows inside an abandoned concession stand. Surrounding it is a neighborhood filled with kids, but these families lack the resources to rescue a park.
“More and more of our parks are getting closed down,” laments the young mother of a 4-year-old daughter who lives near the wading pool. “We need more places for the kids or they’re going to end up on the streets.”
Milwaukee County spends just $42 per resident on parks, well below the national average of $71, according to the Trust for Public Land. The county ranks near the bottom in number of pools (excluding wading pools and splash pads) with 1.3 per 100,000 residents, compared to the national average of 2.7 pools.
“People have to understand, if you want parks to maintain their luster, it’s going to cost dollars,” says Jim Goulee, who retired in 2006 after 33 years in the parks system. He is now executive director of the Park People advocacy group.
Pools and parks offer great recreational and social benefits. County residents seem to know that. Voters in 2008 approved a referendum to boost the sales tax by 1 percent to improve parks, transit and public safety. (But the state legislature has yet to approve the tax hike.)
To a degree, parks help pay for themselves. Studies show property values increase 5 to 15 percent for homes within 1,500 feet of a well-maintained park. This generates more tax dollars. Unmeasured is the indirect economic impact, ranging from lower health-care costs for active users to dollars spent on sales taxes and fees (the Domes, golf courses, concessions) by visitors from outside the county.
Sue Black, director of Milwaukee County Parks, says fundraising is now a big part of her job. “The enhancements are what I reach out for,” she says. “The core work should come from the parks system.”
But the core budget just keeps declining, leaving ever more “enhancements” needing donations. Can the Washington Park bandshell, the North Point Lighthouse – or the complete rebuilding of Hoyt Pool – be called enhancements?
The parks are for everyone, not just squeaky wheels who raise money to save their own. In the celebration over those saved, we as a community lose sight of all the dying parks, making it too easy for county officials to neglect their fiscal responsibility.
The new Hoyt Pool is scheduled to open by next Memorial Day. It will be a dazzling facility, with eight lap lanes, a water slide and a sit-down restaurant in the redesigned bathhouse. The fortunate few, such as me and my Wauwatosa neighbors, will enjoy it immensely.
The North Side mom and her daughter won’t be as lucky. By then, Lindbergh’s pool will be all the more decrepit, a molding ruin of no use to its neighboring families.
