Milwaukee County to Repair O'Donnell Park
MILWAUKEE - County supervisors approved funding to repair O'Donnell Park after the deadly concrete collapse.
The collapse, which happened during Summerfest, took the life of 15 year old Jared Kellner. He was walking near the O'Donnell Park parking garage when a large concrete slab fell on top of him. The slab was hanging on the building as part of the decorative facade. The garage has remained closed since the incident.
In the 2011 Milwaukee County budget, supervisors opted to spend $6.5million to remove all of the other concrete panels on the structure's facade and put a coating on the building. The funding also covers other repairs to the parking garage's structure.
Some county supervisors hoped to offer the site as a development opportunity and to make the prime lakefront location something other than a parking garage. However, Supervisor Mark Borkowski said it was important to take action on the site rather than delay. "I think we need to finally make a decision and lets go with it," he said. "I'm not in support of the repairs. But that's what we voted on so let's do it."
Supervisor Theo Lipscomb wrote the resolution authorizing the funding and said, "we're not going to wait years for some proposal to drop from the sky and not address the needs of the facilities who are around the structure now who need that parking."
Supervisors say they want the repairs completed before the summer 2011 festival season.
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