Simon's Gardens

A new (but old) sign appeared at 6th and Norwich in the Gardens. It says “Simon’s Gardens” a salute to both Bryan Simon and his brother Mark. The top part was given to me when I was Alderman by a person living in Racine that thought it was a part of an old town of Lake welcome sign. Dawn Riegel used her talents to bring the rusty old sign back to life.

Also when I was Alderman, Bryan Simon, Simon Landscaping, bought into the idea of making the 13th District, the Garden District.  He became the vice-chairman of the Garden District Neighborhood Association and used his resources and knowledge to make Marie Cassavant’s idea for a community vegetable garden a reality and also worked with the Milwaukee County extension program to make it happen. He designed and planted the garden beds on Howard and the 6th Street Bus stop garden bed. He wrote a grant to rehab the old town of Lake fenceline for two blocks, dug out weed trees and started planting flowers along both sides. He used his staff and equipment to grade the block, put in the brick walk, the rock wall and got donations of bricks made from fly ash, a waste product, from Calstar to build the farmers market. He worked with me to establish a Green Corridor committee to use S. 6th Street from Howard to College Avenue, as a corridor to showcase examples of sustainability. For example, the rain that falls on the farmers market flows to the east and through the permeable pavement driveway donated by Spancrete, then enters holding tanks and then pumped to the recycled rainwater stream (with two bridges) he built next to the farmers market. Moving across Norwich, he landscaped that block, building the parking lot with brick pavers and harvesting the rainwater that falls on it for a small waterfall to provide water for the five hoop houses south of the parking lot. He put in the urban orchard on those blocks. Bryan was the mastermind behind those projects. His brother Mark did much of the work with him and directed the business’s workers building it. They maintained this great gift to the community until recently. The cost and labor for years was theirs. I should mention that they also put in electric which they pay the bill for to this date including Wonderland for which Bryan also donated the light tunnel. He told me it was always his intention to gift it to the community and that the community take over maintaining it. It has been about 15 years, but that part of his plan has happened. They have not entirely stopped doing things for the community as demonstrated by their providing the grading, drilling the footings and re-grading and removing left over ground from build the gazebo. They have never wanted to appear at an event to be publicly thanked for what they have done for the community so this sign, declaring this to be Simon’s Gardens is very fitting in my estimation.

- Terry