An Island of Green Amid the Gray
The letter G was selected for Green Tech Station, a place to gather to learn about green infrastructure in the gritty Garden Homes neighborhood.
“G” is for gather, growth, gritty, Garden Homes... Green Tech Station is a unique site that advances Milwaukee’s global leadership in green infrastructure technology and practice. It is an oasis of green space intentionally designed on a remediated slice of abandoned industrial wasteland. It is a beautiful educational amenity amid underserved neighborhoods. It is tenacious as a phoenix.
It is a space driven by community. Danitra Jones of Northwest Side Community Development Corporation explains Green Tech Station’s multifaceted value to the community. Young artists Nazareth Casillas-Reyes, Emily Thao, and Kayla Hooper interned with ArtWorks for Milwaukee under the guidance of mentors Will Plautz and Ashanti Weeks to paint water-themed Aldo Leopold benches for the outdoor classroom and assemble a multi-panel fence mural made of 12,000 plastic bottlecaps. Pam Ritger of Clean Wisconsin, who has worked to infuse green infrastructure throughout northwest side neighborhoods to reduce flood risk, sees Green Tech Station as evidence of how green infrastructure benefits communities.
It is a space supporting “green jobs.” Wilniesha Smith of Reflo guided Dontae Luttrell and other interns to help maintain Green Tech Station and other community-supported green infrastructure projects in the 30th Street Corridor. Chris Pack of Cream City Conservation Corps leads workforce crews to manage invasive species at Green Tech Station’s constructed wetland and native prairie.
It is a place of and for learning. The U.S. Geological Survey is using the twin bioswales as a test site to study microplastics in stormwater, and Marquette University students Joe Branca and Camille Nitsche are using specially constructed mesocosms to measure how different soil mixtures manage excess nutrients in stormwater. Lauren Lepold-Schiro of Hawthorne School is one of many teachers excited to bring her students to Green Tech Station on field trips. There, teachers and students alike can learn firsthand what the movement of water through the site can teach about taking care of new green infrastructure redevelopments at schoolyards throughout Milwaukee.
It is a place shaped by urban water management. Like a silent guardian, there’s the Deep Tunnel. Built and serviced by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and over 200 feet below ground, this massive tunnel’s job is to hold on to water during the heavy rains in order to reduce the risk of basement backups and sewer overflows that threaten to overwhelm the sewer system. An access shaft and vent for the Deep Tunnel at Green Tech Station reminds visitors of the important network of publicly owned and maintained “gray infrastructure”—including sewer pipes and culverts—that the 21st-century wave of community-supported “green infrastructure”—bioswales, porous pavers, green roofs, other plantings—is being deployed to complement.
Green Tech Station: ‘It Takes a Village’
Meet Danitra. Danitra Jones is one of three community organizers with Northwest Side Community Development Corporation, the nonprofit organization that spearheaded the creation of Green Tech Station. She is proud of the opportunity Green Tech Station represents for the surrounding neighborhoods.
Meet Ashanti. Ashanti Weeks is a longtime resident of Milwaukee’s Garden Homes neighborhood involved with the nonprofit ArtWorks for Milwaukee. Ashanti supported high school interns painting water-themed benches at Green Tech Station as well as the bottlecap mural containing 12,000 plastic bottlecaps.
Meet Niesha. Wilniesha Smith coordinates the environmental intern program for the Milwaukee nonprofit Reflo which supports transformative green infrastructure projects in the 30th Street Corridor: Benjamin Franklin’s schoolyard redevelopment, the creation of Melvina Park, and Green Tech Station.
Click to discover more about Green Tech Station’s transformation, including before/after images from the supporting partner nonprofit Reflo.
Reflo drone image of Green Tech Station, July 22, 2021. Click for an annotated overview of this unique research and demonstration site showing Milwaukee’s green infrastructure leadership.