Milwaukee's parks are relying on a little help from neighbors these days as decreased funding has led to the deterioration of some of the county's area parks.

Jeff Boudry, marketing coordinator for the Milwaukee County Park System, said the parks system is operating on less than half the funds it had in 1980 because taxes have not increased to provide funding and costs have gone up.

"The parks typically take a bigger hit compared to other programs," Boudry said.

Political emphasis has shifted to funding social programs at the expense of park funding, he said.

The parks system also has about half the workforce it did in 1980, according to Boudry.

Boudry said neighborhood associations and other nonprofit groups help clean up parks that have been overlooked over time.

"You're bound to find parks that need maintenance," he said. "Sometimes it's up to other sources to take care of them."

"Friends groups are instrumental in the ongoing upkeep and maintenance of our parks," Boudry continued. "Without them we would have a hard time accomplishing what we need to."

By "friends groups," Boudry is referring to groups like Lake Park Friends, which is dedicated to park upkeep.

Joe Wilson, the board president of Lake Park Friends, a nonprofit organization, said his group is constantly working on the preservation of Lake Park, 3233 E. Kenwood Blvd.

"We see ourselves as advocates," he said. "A lot of people don't raise their voices until it's too late. We're always working to maintain and enhance our parks. If we don't do it, who will?"

Wilson said the current fiscal crisis is nothing new for the parks system. According to him, over the last 20 years resources have been reduced because of unfunded mandates by the state and federal governments.

"They're not raising taxes and the situation becomes more dire each time and leaves us with limited and often severe choices," Wilson said. "The parks system tries to do as much as possible with the few resources and money they have."

Currently Wilson's organization is working on a $40,000 project to rehabilitate walking trails and the bridges over ravines in Lake Park.

Lake Park Friends was formed when the park turned 100 in 1994 and was incorporated in 1996.

"The formation of our organization was in response to the park being listed as a national historical landmark," Wilson said. "People got together to protect the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted."

In 1889, Milwaukee commissioned Olmsted, a prominent Milwaukee citizen and landscape architect, to design Lake Park, River Park (Riverside Park) and West Park (Washington Park). Olmsted also designed parks in other cities such as Chicago and New York.

Wilson said his organization and other park groups regularly work with the parks system to set agendas of what projects need to be done and how much funding those projects will need.

Brigid Daly, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and a member of Students for an Environmentally Active Campus, said friends groups are important to the county's parks.

"Park preservation is absolutely essential to the collective sanity of Milwaukeeans," she said. "We have constructed lives increasingly removed from nature, and it's a shame that we even debate the value of parks."

SEAC participates regularly in park clean-up projects and is looking to become more directly involved with local preservation efforts, Daly said.

"A park is for everyone to enjoy; it should not be sold to the highest bidder to do with what he or she will," she said. "There are some things that money should not be able to buy, especially when the acquisition by one person means deprivation for the rest of the population and destruction to the environment."

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 22, 2005.