Mvp Organizational Information

MVP Organizational Information

Menomonee Valley Partners’ mission is to promote redevelopment of the Menomonee Valley for the benefit of the entire Milwaukee community. To accomplish its mission, MVP engages public and private stakeholders to ensure that environmental, social and economic concerns are addressed.

MVP envisions a redeveloped Valley that plays a central role in Milwaukee: economically, with strong companies and jobs near workers’ homes; ecologically, with healthy waterways and greenspace; geographically, with renewed ties to its surrounding neighborhoods; and culturally, with firm roots in its past and a role in histories to come.

Needs Statement and Program Response

The Menomonee Valley was, historically, a sprawling wetland that provided Native American tribes with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of fish, waterfowl, and wild rice. By the late 1800s, the wetland was converted to dry land and Milwaukee grew into “the Machine Shop of the World” with the Valley as its engine. Yet by the mid-20th century, the Valley had become a fading industrial landscape that mirrored the misfortunes of manufacturing locally and nationally. While the water and air quality suffered the impacts of industrial contamination, the entire 1200-acre Valley was deemed a brownfield by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR).

Neighborhoods adjacent to the Menomonee Valley have continued to house much of Milwaukee’s economic distress with some of the lowest incomes in the state. Residents suffer from limited access to jobs and recreation opportunities, high levels of asthma and obesity, and poor air quality. Within a 3.5-mile radius of the Valley, ten neighborhoods received 82% of the state’s W-2 welfare aid, and with 25% of residents lacking access to personal cars, suburban jobs are beyond their reach.

In recognition of the opportunity presented by vast amounts of vacant land at the doorstep of downtown, MVP was formed to facilitate efforts to address the issues described above through strategies combining economic development, environmental remediation, ecological restoration, and community development. MVP programs focus simultaneously on economic revitalization to offer family-supporting jobs for local residents, safe and stable neighborhoods, and a stronger tax base for the city, as well as environmental revitalization to improve the Valley’s ecological health and the quality of life for those who live in the surrounding community.

MVP Program Activities

The work to be done in the next decade will further transform the Valley, bringing additional economic development and building a stronger, healthier environment. While the Valley has already overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, MVP programs will bring more companies to Milwaukee, connect people to jobs, improve environmental conditions and create quality of life amenities for residents from throughout the region. MVP’s projects and programs include:

1) Hank Aaron State Trail Connections and Natural Area

MVP’s efforts during the next several years will focus primarily on a series of related projects that connect people to jobs, provide environmental science education, restore natural resources, and create livable communities. Implemented in partnership with the State, City and Urban Ecology Center (UEC), the effort includes constructing three bike / pedestrian bridges, extending the Hank Aaron State Trail by six miles, transforming a brownfield into a 24-acre ecologically diverse natural area, and opening a third branch of the Urban Ecology Center to engage people of all ages in environmental exploration and prepare youth on Milwaukee’s south side for science through applied environmental education. During this three-year grant period, MVP will focus on the following relative to this program area:

a) Securing Financial Commitments: The total cost for this effort is $26 million, and MVP has secured half of this amount to date with nearly all from public sources. MVP and UEC is working to raise additional public funds, as well as seek investments from foundations, corporations and individuals. In 2010, MVP in partnership with UEC, will hire a staff person dedicated to the fund development efforts for this project. Project components can be implemented in phases so that partners maintain momentum as funds are secured for the next phase.

b) Formalizing the Public Space Ownership and Maintenance Agreements: In 2009, MVP facilitated an 8-party agreement for the ownership, construction, maintenance, and public use of the lands associated with the Valley Passage, the first of three pedestrian bridges part of this project. In 2010, MVP will facilitate two additional agreements for public lands. The development of the Hank Aaron State Trail natural area, as a 24-acre park, requires an agreement between the City, the Redevelopment Authority, WDNR, the Department of Transportation (WisDOT), Milwaukee County, CP Rail, MVP and UEC. MVP will facilitate the development of the ownership and maintenance agreement and shepherd it through city, county, and state legislative processes. At the same time, MVP will be facilitating a similar process for the transfer of easement rights and responsibilities from the Redevelopment Authority to the WDNR and City for public lands north of the river, and assisting the city in developing a financing and long-term maintenance plan for this land. These solutions have been years in the making and provide a cost sharing arrangement between the public and private sector that ensures green space is well maintained for generations to come.

c) Building Programming Partnerships: MVP is partnering with several organizations to ensure that as new public spaces are developed, there is a plan in place for their long-term maintenance, as well as a plan that provides immediate programming for community use. MVP and UEC are jointly planning the establishment of a Valley UEC branch, which will serve as both a community center and an outdoor science education center for students from 22 neighborhood schools, receiving 10,000 student visits per year. MVP will also be facilitating a strategic planning session in 2010 for all the organizations involved in the long-term maintenance and programming of the public spaces to ensure these aspects are handled effectively and efficiently, including: MVP, UEC, the City of Milwaukee, WDNR, the Menomonee Valley Business Improvement District, and the Friends of the Hank Aaron State Trail. MVP will lead the process to best organize these roles and responsibilities for the long-term care of the land.

d) Project Construction: MVP’s construction oversight during the grant period will include:

·  Oversight of the construction of the Valley Passage project, in partnership with WisDOT (construction June 2010 – October 2010). The project, a bike/pedestrian bridge over the Menomonee River, a railroad underpass, and a serpentine path up to 37th and Pierce Streets in the Silver City neighborhood, adjacent to the future UEC, reestablishes a historic connection between the neighborhoods and the Valley. When completed, the Valley Passage will be a trailhead for the Hank Aaron State Trail and will reconnect the surrounding neighborhood to Valley employment opportunities and recreation amenities. It will also serve as the only link between the existing Trail and the Trail’s western 6-mile extension, which will run west past the Zoo to the Milwaukee / Waukesha County line.

·  Managing native landscape planting on a portion of the project as a community-building event. MVP will organize neighborhood plantings of the two rain gardens which that are a part of the project.

·  Managing a public art process for the installation of murals. The project requires retaining walls to support railroad tracks, creating more than 700 feet of wall facing Canal Street and the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center. For aesthetics, as well as to protect the infrastructure from graffiti, murals will be installed along this section and within the underpass and on retaining walls facing the neighborhood. MVP and WDNR will manage the process of selecting an artist competitively, engaging the community in the selection of themes for the murals, and oversight of the installation.

·  Overseeing the design and construction of a natural area along the Hank Aaron State Trail and the bike / pedestrian bridges project, a 24-acre expanse between 27th and 35th Streets, the Menomonee River and the railroad tracks. This area will become part of the Hank Aaron State Trail, with bike/pedestrian bridges to the Mitchell Park Domes and the surrounding neighborhoods.

·  Managing the contracts for the landscape restoration of the 24-acre project, including a landscape installation process that will engage the local workforce and provide opportunities to local and emerging businesses within the surrounding community. MVP, in partnership with UEC, will directly manage approximately $2.5 million worth of landscape installation scheduled to begin in 2012.

2) Business Recruitment Program

·  MVP will continue its efforts to recruit quality companies to the Valley. Most recently, Ingeteam, a manufacturer of wind turbine generators, announced their plans to build in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley after a nationwide search of 80 sites. In 2009, Derse and Charter Wire opened in the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center, Instrumentarium opened in the Canal Street Commerce Center, and Sign-A-Rama opened on North 12th Street. The Alfred Benesch Company, a Chicago-based engineering firm, opened a branch office; and Engineers and Scientists of Milwaukee, which focuses on STEM education, set up headquarters in the Valley. At year end, Palermo’s Pizza announced its plans to purchase an additional four acres and expand its facility, while Zimmerman Architects announced its plans to move to the Milwaukee Light complex in 2010. In 2010, Ingeteam, a Spanish manufacturer of wind turbine generators, announced its plans to build its North American headquarters in the Valley. Soon after, Helios, a startup company manufacturing solar panels, announced its plans to set up operations in the Valley’s Canal Street Commerce Center.

3) Businesses Resource Program

In 2009, MVP’s volunteer-based and staff-led Business Resource Committee took on numerous projects, including a Workforce Forum: Employer Strategies for Uncertain Times, producing the Valley Employee Calendar and Resource Guide, distributed to 3500 employees in the Valley, and increasing ridership of the #17 Valley bus, now being funded by the County rather than the Business Improvement District. In addition, the committee and the Public Safety Committee worked closely with the Milwaukee Police Department to change district boundaries, so that the Valley is served now by one district rather than four. Through this program, MVP

·  Develops relationships among businesses in industry clusters to plan for future business needs. ;

·  Created geographic cluster groups of businesses, similar to a neighborhood block watch, to strengthen safety and security within the Valley;

·  Facilitates route and scheduling updates for the Canal Street bus route (#17) to ensure Valley businesses are more accessible to the surrounding workforce;

·  Administers the Valley Business Assessment Tool, a comprehensive survey that will assess a company’s current and future workforce needs, hiring plans, and other employee needs (from daycare providers to translation services) and match businesses to resources that aid their recruitment and retention of employees;

·  Publishs the annual Menomonee Valley Calendar: An Employee Guide to Neighborhood Resources to distribute to Valley employees. This contains information to encourage employees to patronize neighborhood services and make use of Valley park space;

·  Continues to improve security issues throughout the Valley through joint planning with the Milwaukee Police Department and the Valley Safety and Security Task Force;

·  Organizes bi-monthly Menomonee Valley Business Association luncheons and provide resource information to businesses for employee retention and recruitment; and

·  Produces the Menomonee Valley Business Association bi-monthly eNewsletter that contains information for Valley businesses, and distributing it to Valley employees.

4) Community Engagement

MVP facilitates the planning of the Menomonee Valley to provide community greenspace, biking and walking trails, access to the Menomonee River, and promoting use of these amenities to Valley employees, their families, and community members. To this end, we:

·  Engage the community members (residents, nearby businesses, bikers, others) in the design and construction of the Valley Passage, the Hank Aaron State Trail natural area and the Urban Ecology Center south side branch;

·  Organize a contract letting system to engage a higher percentage of emerging businesses and local workforce in the landscape restoration and installation;

·  Organize the annual Menomonee Valley Earth Day Clean-up (which now welcomes over 500 volunteers per year) to clean up along the Menomonee River and Hank Aaron State Trail;

·  Organize the annual Menomonee Valley Community Planting Day to get community members involved in the development of the park;

·  Manage the Stew Crew program, the Valley’s “adopt a trail” program. Currently five businesses, two neighborhood associations, and one school participate. These groups commit three hours per month to removing trash and invasive species, as well as participating in native plantings;

·  Assist in organizing the annual Hank Aaron State Trail 5K Run / Walk event; and

·  Assist Valley businesses in developing wellness programs, especially those that make use of the Hank Aaron State Trail; as such, MVP will create and distribute employer-specific walking maps of the Hank Aaron State Trail.

5) Outreach and Marketing

MVP provides education, outreach and marketing regarding the needs and accomplishments of the Valley, including:

·  Producing a video for the fundraising efforts for the Hank Aaron State Trail landscape restoration, pedestrian bridges, and Urban Ecology Center building;

·  Delivering a monthly Menomonee Valley eNewsletter to over 2,500 individuals, promoting the developments in the Valley; and

·  Conducting outreach and promotion regarding redevelopment of the Valley, including presentations to legislators, professional associations, local civic groups, and national conferences.