Posted by:
Mike Moore on
July 17, 2008 at
6:46PM CST
This post submitted by Allison Werner of the River Alliance of Wisconsin:
In (Wednesday's) article Plan makes Racine a river city, too, a vision for what the Root River can become within the city was unveiled. As Racine continues to change, the Root River can become a positive economic and community asset if attention is given to its redevelopment.
The Root River Council and River Alliance of Wisconsin spent the last year talking to the residents of Racine about their hopes for the Root River corridor. The culmination of residents input was used to create, Back to the Root: An Urban River Revitalization Plan, which is available at www.backtotheroot.org.
This plan is about bringing a positive focus back to the Root River by
Creating a sense of place;
Stimulating economic growth;
Allowing public access and interaction; and
Improving water quality
UW-Milwaukee Community Design Solutions student Anna Grosch created a few conceptual images to share ideas about how the Root River could look in the future. The images show:
The view downstream from 6th Street
Murals on the Water Street retaining wall
People canoeing and using a river walk downtown
A balance of plant buffers and viewing areas along the Root River Pathway
This is a long-term effort that will require many partners. To start the process, a public meeting will be held on Tuesday July 29 from 6-8pm at the Root River Environmental Educational and Community Center, 1301 6th Street. During this meeting people will be able to decide which projects they are interested in working on to improve the river. Suggested projects include:
Creating a mural for the Water Street retaining wall
Maintaining plant buffers along the river in parks
Creating educational materials about plant buffers
The Root River Council is looking forward to working with the community for many years to help Racine become a river city again. For more information about this effort visit www.backtotheroot.org or e-mail awerner@wisconsinrivers.org.
It is good to see that at least the conceptual artist recognizes that the right bank of the river is a walking public corridor. Without making a consistent public walking-exercise corridor there is no connection between the downtown anchor areas. Places like Mitchell Factory and Riverbend lofts are cut off by the highways and the traffic and the wonderful walkability that could be downtown Racine is not realized for much of the downtown. As it is now, one runs into chainlink fences and walls and public property (bulkhead lines established during the big ship days) is frankly disquised as private property when one tries to walk from the REC center to say DP Wigley along the right bank. Water Street is without sidewalks at the west end and crossing Marquette down in the spoon is dangerous because the traffic on Marquette moves fast and furious. The area I like the best is the low garden area that is the bend belonging the Gospel Lighthouse. That was most probably an Indian vegetable garden and on the right bank somewhere there would have been mounds. A big need is a pedestrian bridge like at 4th Street and/or where that nonfunctioning electrical (?) cross over bridge is that leads to the old Western Publishing complex.
Posted by: LEROYBEANS on July 18, 2008 12:08PM CST
i think this would be a good idea. the river is beautiful and the area down there is nice.
arent there some other things that need to be considered first?
1)money the city doesnt have for law enforcement 2)the extra law enofrcement that it would take to patole that particular area? 3)our already stretched to the limit budget of paying for things like gas and food, please for god's sake dont raise our taxes. 4)privitize the eyesore that was memorial hall and harborfest grounds so that they could make some money instead of sitting there vacant for 46 weekends a year. the list could and probably should go on but there is work to be done. i want to go look at the peaceful art on washington before too many people get there and i cant get close enough to see it.
This seems like a good plan for developing the area. There are some valid points made here about security, and city budgets, but it seems that at some point we have to approach the City's current predicament with Proactive actions (as this plan lays out) and not reactive actions (police, jails, detention...)... and yes, initially we will have to fund both, with the hopes that the positive projects will replace the existing crime, violence and chaos. But, one sort of has to wonder where all the City's money is going? The Mural was not a big capital outlay, and will be there for years to come. Fine. This push for artist revitalization is good, but at some point we have to start attracting actual jobs, promoting Food security, and providing positive family/youth activities.
As for the Jobs, we need all levels of work, both high and low-skill jobs. We are paying the money anyway: $30k/yr per inmate, lets spend it to build people up before they get locked up. Jobs do more then bring home paychecks... they build self esteem and strengthen communities and families, they give people a that certain sense of belonging to something bigger then themselves... socialization.. etc.. As we all know, "Idle hands are the ..."..
I hope any development along the Root River Corridor will employ people in the area, even if people are just moving rocks with wheelbarrows, weeping, planting..whatever... we are paying the money out anyway, let's build people/community.. because hey, this city is in a predicament.
Posted by: treadlight on July 21, 2008 12:39PM CST
MR- Point well taken... and I concur on some level. But I think that is exactly what initiatives like the Revitalization plan are trying to deal with... it's a direction to move toward, a goal, a standard.
It is very much like dieting, really, you try to eat well and healthy, and sometimes you slip-up and enjoy a fatty hot-fudge sundae, or a Bacon Cheese-burger.. and by all means, enjoy it!! but you continue moving in a direction. Or as another example.. In Christianity, followers attempt to follow moral standards that are "christ-like", will they be perfect in their pursuit? Probably not, they will slip up, but they are moving in a direction.
The Root River will never be the Snake River (WY), or Slamon River (ID) or any other absolutely pristine body of water, it will most likely always be an urban river that snakes through agricultural areas, picking up debris all along it's route...BUT, having a safe river, that is enjoyed by all is a direction to follow, something to strive for, a goal. And a valiant one at that!
Look at the Milwaukee River as an example... it is not pristine, however it has become a focal point for the city and has blossomed a viable cultural and economic area.
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