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Written by Louis Weisberg, Staff writer
Jun 2, 2011
Designed by renowned architect Erhard Brielmaier and dedicated in 1901, the Basilica of St. Josaphat is Lincoln Village’s most famous landmark. It was designated in 1929 as the United States’ third basilica church. – Photo: Courtesy
The LGBT community has played a pivotal role in renewing neighborhoods across America. Largely free of concerns about local school quality and lured by relatively low prices and interesting housing stock, gay and lesbian urban pioneers have transformed the profiles of neighborhoods from Boston’s South End to Loring Park in Minneapolis, from Capitol Hill in Denver to San Diego’s Hillcrest.
Closer to home, LGBT people have been key players in the redevelopment of Milwaukee’s East Side, Third Ward and Bay View neighborhoods.
The sudden proliferation of rainbow flags and flawlessly manicured lawns in an area that’s seen better days generally occurs by serendipity, not city planning. But a neighborhood association in southern Milwaukee isn’t waiting to be magically discovered by the Good Neighborhood Fairy.
Urban Anthropology, a nonprofit group that runs the association for both Lincoln Village and Baran Park – known collectively as “Park Neighborhoods” – is actively recruiting LGBT homeowners as part of its vision to create a haven “for artistic and intellectual stimulation.”
Urban Anthropology founder Jill Lackey and executive director Rick Petrie call their effort “Project OASIS” (Operation Artists, Scholars and Innovators). They’ve scheduled an August event with the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, and they’ve also reached out to the community through WiG and social networking.
In addition to the LGBT community, they’re presenting their vision for the neighborhood to cultural institutions such as the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
Petrie says the inspiration for OASIS came from the 2004 book by Richard Florida titled “Cities and the Creative Class.” In that ground-breaking work, Florida looked at areas such as California’s Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas, which have flourished economically by bringing together artists, knowledge workers and intellectuals. Florida wrote a 2002 essay for Washington Monthly titled “The Rise of the Creative Class: Why cities without gays and rock bands are losing the economic development race.”
Located just south of downtown and west of trendy Bay View, the Park Neighborhoods seem ideal to test Florida’s theory. MLS listings for April/May featured bungalows in the area for $15,000-$35,000 and a home with a garage for under $55,000.
The neighborhoods feature three large parks – Kosciuszko, Baran and Pulaski.
“There are 17,000 people living in the two neighborhoods,” Lackey says. “We have the most green space and the most densely populated square mile in the city.”
The largest park, Kosciuszko, is located across the street from the Old South Side Settlement Museum, which also houses Urban Anthropology. The park has a gym, swimming pool and other sports and recreational amenities.
The area was originally Milwaukee’s go-to place for Polish immigrants, but in the mid-1950s, the neighborhood’s first Mexican-American family – the Figueroas – arrived, making their home in what is now the museum at 707 W. Lincoln Ave. Fearful of discrimination, Lackey says, the Figueroas passed themselves off to neighbors as Italians.
Today the neighborhoods are primarily Mexican-American and Latino, with a sizable presence of Polish and Native Americans as well. Although these are not demographics known to be LGBT-friendly, Lackey says the area’s melting-pot history makes it unusually tolerant.
“I have never seen an example of any cultural anger issues,” Lackey says. “Just about everybody who’s really active in the community is so gay-friendly.”
Sheila Skenadore, an out Native-American lesbian who bought a house in Lincoln Village with her partner 13 years ago, says she’s never experienced harassment. Although affordability brought Skenadore to the area, she says the parks and atmosphere of neighborliness have kept her there.
“I like to go biking at the park,” Skenadore says. “They’ve got a basketball court and a tennis court. There’s a ton of things to offer there. And the libraries are pretty close.”
In the warmer months, Skenadore say she spends “a lot of time just out on my patio with my neighbors cooking out. It’s one of those neighborhoods where, if someone fires up the grill, it’s not a problem if you want to go over and use it, too.”
“Of course, all of us own pretty large grills,” she adds.
Skenadore says safety was never an issue on the block where she lives until the housing market collapsed a couple of years ago. Since then, she says, renters have moved into homes that were previously occupied by owners. As a result, the level of noise and crime has risen, she says.
“The neighborhood has become less and less improved,” Skenadore says, adding that she and her partner have become fed up and are ready to move.
Petrie says although the perception of crime in the area has presented a barrier, it’s not backed up by data. “Crime statistics here are slightly lower than city-wide,” he says. “They’re lower in burglary and murder. One of the things we’re trying to do here is change the perception.”
Although Lackey and Petrie hope to turn their neighborhoods into diversity-embracing communities that nurture creativity, they also hope to avoid the kind of gentrification that increases property taxes and contributes to resentment and property crimes. Their goal is to keep housing costs low so that artists and creative types will be able to live there as they pursue their crafts.
