What should be done with O'Donnell Park? County supervisors call for seven-member Task Force

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- What should be done with Milwaukee's O'Donnell Park and its parking structure? In mid-December, the Milwaukee County Board voted 9-8 against selling the park and its parking structure to Northwestern Mutual.

Northwestern Mutual had offered to purchase the parking structure and park for $14 million. The company was interested in the property because it's located directly across the street from where the company is building a new office tower.

County Supervisor Jason Haas voted against the sale.

"We need to hang onto that. There's greater value for the public in having that access than the relatively small amount of money we'd get in the very short term from the sale of this land," Haas said.

But those who supported the sale, including Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele say the attached parking garage is a burden the county should've released. In 2012, the county made about $1 million on the garage, but Abele notes that money won't always be there.

"A big part of the revenue we get right now from the parking garage comes from (Northwestern Mutual Life) parking there. And as (Northwestern Mutual) announced when the board made the decision not to sell, they`re gonna build their own parking garage and they`re gonna move their parking needs somewhere else, which means they county`s gonna lose that revenue," Abele said.

Because it won't be sold, Milwaukee County Supervisors Patricia Jursik, Gerry Broderick and Jason Haas have introduced a resolution that will issue a request for proposals to repair leakage issues at O’Donnell Park -- while creating a seven-member “O’Donnell Activation Task Force” chaired by James Guolee, executive director of Park People.

The task force is to identify funding sources that not only utilize revenue generated from O’Donnell, but all new funding sources to accommodate all necessary improvements to the facility and park. The resolution calls on the task force to:

“Now that the County Board has decided not to sell O’Donnell Park to Northwestern Mutual, it’s time to move forward with a vision that includes not only necessary repairs to the structure but to determine how to make the park more user-friendly and aesthetically appealing. This plaza has been neglected for too long by two different administrations, and we need to move forward with this new vision," Jursik said.

Broderick said that O’Donnell Park was a “poster-child for deferred maintenance.”

“This plaza, along with so many of our parks, has become a victim of deferred maintenance. We can start repairing the damage and neglect by coming up with a plan to improve this valuable piece of real estate on Milwaukee’s beautiful lakefront," Broderick said.

"There`s thousands of people just in the couple of office towers within half a block of here. There`s thousands more within another block, two blocks of here. If we can get those people coming here, spending their money, that would bring a lot of money into the park. This park should be one of the jewels of Milwaukee County, yet lack of maintenance has made it an example of what happens under a policy of neglect,” Haas said.

While Abele says he still believes the County Board missed a great opportunity in voting against the sale, he says he's open to the idea of a task force.

"I`m always happy to happy to look at any ideas people have, but they`ve gotta be grounded in reality and be responsible," Abele said.

Haas says he'd like to see the full County Board approve the task force by early February. From there, he wants to hear the first set of suggestions from the task force in March, so work can begin this summer.

Meanwhile, two Milwaukee County supervisors say they're critical of the proposal to create a task force in this case.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Steve Taylor issued this statement:

Milwaukee County Supervisor Deanna Alexander has issued this statement:

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