Think Milwaukee’s 8,000 beer gardens are just about drinking in public and eating pretzels? Think again. Today, the Milwaukee County Board’s Parks Committee adopted a resolution to allocate a chunk of change to repair the restroom facilities at Humboldt Park—using funds raised from the Humboldt Park Beer Garden. Makes sense! A press release from Supervisor Jason Haas is below:
Humboldt Park Beer Garden Fund Leads to $54,000 in Repairs
MILWAUKEE – The County Board’s Parks Committee adopted a resolution Tuesday to allocate $27,000 for repairs and upgrades to the Humboldt Park restroom facilities.
The county’s $27,000 grant will match $4,000 from the Humboldt Park Friends group and $23,000 from a private account that is funded by a portion of all beverage sales at the beer garden.
“Every pint of beer sold at the beer garden helped made this possible,” said Supervisor Jason Haas. “With the completion of these repairs, for the first time in decades we will have newly remodeled, comfortable and fully accessible restrooms at Humboldt Park.”
Improvements to Humboldt Park Beer pavilion include upgrades to restrooms and improved wheelchair accessibility, while maintaining the historical character of the building.
Haas timed Tuesday’s action to ensure that repairs are done before the beer garden opens in May.
Crews will install new tile floors, new faucets, new mirrors, new ADA compliant sinks, new bathroom stalls, new toilets, baby changing stations in both bathrooms, and new floor drains, make repairs to window and repairs the historic brick walls.
The improvements mark the culmination five years of work by Supervisor Haas, the Humboldt Park Friends group, and others to complete an upgrade to park’s bathroom, in need of repair for years.
The Humboldt Park Beer Garden is a public-private partnership between Milwaukee County and St. Francis Brewing, an arrangement that generates revenue for the county parks system.
In 2014, St. Francis Brewing established a dedicated maintenance fund for Humboldt Park, funded with 10% of all beer garden beverage sales.
In 2016 the County Parks Department completed more than $50,000 in major infrastructure improvements to the bathroom plumbing and sewer system, and removal of hazardous materials.
Also in 2016, St. Francis Brewing paid to widen the bathroom doors in order to be ADA compliant.
Supervisor Jason Haas restored the Milwaukee County Parks Amenities Matching Fund (PAMF) in the 2017 Milwaukee county budget upon discovering previously unaccounted for revenue from a county-owned parking garage. The PAMF provides a dollar-for-dollar match of county money with private funding that is donated to repair county parks.
Presuming Tuesday’s resolution is adopted by the County Board, County Executive Abele could sign it, return it unsigned, or veto it, a move that requires a 2/3 majority of supervisors to override.