Johnsons Park Neighborhood Meeting!

 

On April 20^th 2009 the Johnsons Park Neighborhood Association held their meeting at the J.O.Y. Center, which is owned by the Christ Presbyterian church. It was exciting to see 88.9 Radio Milwaukee host Adam there. Johnsons Park, among other Milwaukee Neighborhoods is getting lots of press lately, positive press. It seems that not only are residents of Johnsons Park taking notice but other communities as well and it was honestly amazing to be a part of that experience.

The meetings are typically held once a month, and this was one of the first meetings to be held in the J.O.Y. Center. It was nice to see businesses in the area coming together and opening their space for these types of meetings to be held, this just illustrates the strong sense of interconnectedness and community within Johnsons Park. The main topic of this meeting was how the funds from the Stimulus plan would be disbursed to not only the city of Milwaukee itself, but also Johnsons Park in particular. Tony advised the residents that more funding would be put towards Housing Grants for Lindsay Heights and foreclosure prevention. Also the Police District three, in order to increase policing/patrolling.  There was also discussion about upcoming events in the community such as the Neighborhood cleanup and the third year Summer Bike Camp/Swimming lessons. I was particularly interested in this because the neighborhood raffles off about four bikes each summer and the swimming lessons take place at the YMCA. It is a great success because it gives the children something fun/constructive to do, along with working with Alice’s Garden.

Throughout the meeting I truly felt a warm, welcoming sense of community. There is such a strong sense of teamwork and unity here. It is amazing to see everyone come together and share resources, despite our current economic state. In fact, I think that it was makes Johnsons park such a strong foundation; their hope, their vision empowered by the courage and dedication to the community