Lisbon Avenue Neighborhood Development

How do you feel about the MPS proposal to demolish the St. Thomas Aquinas Church Complex to build extend their playground and create parking?

By Jenise Terrell

Save St. Thomas Community Center

This is a beautiful and very substantial bricks & mnortar part of our neighborhood and the building has been an important part of neighborhood life for over 85 years. The school is important too. But for the school to acheive its ends at the expense of the neighborhood that surrounds and hosts it makes no sense at all. We have to find another way to meet the schools needs. I urge everyone to attend the Town Meting on the 19th.

By Peter Kokh

Mayor on our side - BUT ...

At the Neighborhood Renewal Workshop held in the LAND Community Center (the former St. Thomas Church) on Saturday, February 12th, Mayor Norquist, who was a guest speaker, looked up at the beamed vault of this beautiful structure and said, to much applause, "It would be a crime to tear down this building!" Later, he promised to write Milwaukee Public Schools asserting his total opposition to their plan to demolish the center for additional "parking" and more "playground space."

That is certainly good news. The mayor is a powerful ally. But we must still produce an alternative plan to meet the school''s needs, a plan that preserves the church complex, or at least the church itself, if not the adjoining structures.

Please come to the Town Hall Meeting this Saturday morning, February 19th, 10am-1pm. We need your numbers. We need your opinions. We need your suggestions.


By Peter Kokh