Is Oak Creek taking over? New 27th Street streetscaping leaves Franklinites scratching their heads

For the greater part of last year, people using 27th Street have had to endure with a large-scale reconstruction project by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation from College to Drexel Avenues. This reconstruction was also the time when some were looking forward to seeing the final product of a vision tens of years in the making for the 27th Street Corridor - streetscaping that would enhance the corridor and create a "district" for businesses, retailers and potentially residents to call home. As the project is winding down, however, it's leaving some with more questions than appreciation.

If you were one who followed FT from the original days of it being a blog on the FranklinNOW website, you may recall several posts about the corridor. After all, since the 1990s this section of Franklin has been the cherished dream waiting to come true for Alderman-turned-Mayor Olson, who sat on the 27th Street Steering Committee during the times in which the planning for this corridor took place. The district itself received a lot of attention after FT published a story highlighting expenses related to this corridor coming to fruition, including the announcement of the district's name - Boomgaard - which turned heads and then upset many taxpayers when the price tag for all of this came out to the tune of $400,000.

After FT's initial story hit the Journal Sentinel and several area blogs, the namesake of Boomgaard became both a laughingstock and a focal point highlighting the lack of progress for the district. So much negativity around it forced both cities to abandon the name shortly after the announcement - basically making the $400,000 paid out for branding the district to be nothing more than wasted taxpayer dollars.

Then, a few years later, there was more controversy revolving around the streetscaping in particular, as Oak Creek and Northwestern Mutual approached the city and asked for a contribution of $500,000 for the Drexel Interchange @ 1-94. While the two aldermen that represented the corridor opposed the fund transfer to Oak Creek, it passed anyways - with then-Alderman Olson voting in favor. The funds for Franklin's contribution likely got sucked away from the streetscaping fund, and based on the final product today it clearly shows.

Since the days of Boomgaard, clearly no 27th Street Steering Committee member, or aldermen on either Council in Franklin or Oak Creek, wanted to put any effort towards branding the district with a more reasonable name. Additionally, in what's perhaps a stunner today upon seeing mostly the final result of the taxpayer expense, the efforts by the Historic 41 Business Improvement District to continue their district southwards into Franklin and Oak Creek's portion of 27th Street was rebuffed. FT doesn't know the exact reason(s) why, but wouldn't put it past some aldermen on both cities' Councils of fearing a partnership with a BID that included the City of Milwaukee.

The result of all of this is a rather embarrassing one for anyone who put any stake or effort into making this a top-tier corridor for Milwaukee County. Not only did we see the corridor's guidelines get shoved aside by Oak Creek for warehouse-styled structures across from the Wheaton hospital years back, and more warehouses to be included in Mayor Olson's warehouse park on the SW corner of 27th & Oakwood Road, but now the streetscaping, one that was to have tons of landscaping, rain gardens, benches, trees, and signage has turned into a D-grade project in comparison to Historic 41's work just to the north. The district is simply labeled "27th Street", and in what perhaps adds insult to injury is the choice of unique monument signage for the corridor - an "O" design strikingly similar to what Oak Creek uses for its logo (see above for comparison). Funny thing is no one even knows what the "O" stands for as it sits at the corners of 27th & Rawson and 27th & Northwestern Mutual Way - perhaps a tribute to Oak Creek was in the cards.

In comparing the original designs (see left for an example) with the final product, other than the "O", the items that stayed the same was the choice of metal benches for the corners. But even this was haphazardly installed, as in several instances thanks to sloping or other circumstances the benches are not evenly placed on the side of the road, forcing an odd sitting situation to whoever decides to sit on them.

Here's to hoping that the streetscaping is nowhere near as done as it looks today. If it is, it's a true shame more cooperation wasn't done to simply continue the Historic 41 streetscaping, lights and signage further south.