Last week I had the opportunity to photograph the 10th Anniversary Celebration of local non-profit, the Menomonee Valley Partners. The MVP is a group devoted to bringing life and prosperity back to the Menomonee Valley, a former industrial powerhouse for Milwaukee, but neglected for many years. The event featured speeches by Mayor Tom Barrett and Giacomo Fallucca, of Palermo Villa.
The MVP has developed Sustainable Design Guidelines and has been working to redevelop the Valley “for the benefit of the entire Milwaukee community.” As the MVP say on their website, the “ideal” development of the Valley would be:
“•Economically, with strong companies and jobs near workers’ homes;
•Geographically, with renewed ties to the surrounding city;
•Ecologically, with healthy waterways and greenspace; and
•Culturally, with firm roots in its past and a role in histories to come.”
To those ends, I think the MVP has been VERY successful. Take a look at the Valley; drive along St. Paul Avenue and you’ll see new businesses moving in, the park areas growing and people biking and walking along the Hank Aaron Trail. The Valley is an area dear to my wife and me, as we’ve bought a home on the N-W end of the Valley, in the area called Piggsville/Valley Park.
In 2007, I had the opportunity to be the photographer for the “Milwaukee Mass Portrait”, a public art-project organized by the MVP. This event drew hundreds of people to the Valley and helped show-off all the changes that have taken place.
