In 2013, Common Ground released a study called “Envisioning Fair Play”, which documented the reprehensible state of public playgrounds and athletic facilities in Milwaukee County: 65% of the athletic/recreation spaces at public schools were rated “terrible,” “poor,” or “inadequate.” Our kids did not have safe places to play sports (or simply play) outside.
The NBA had recently threatened to move the Milwaukee Bucks out of Milwaukee if taxpayers didn’t spend $550 million on a new arena. We love the Bucks, but we also love our kids. We saw an opportunity. We said, “If we are going to use $550 million of our tax dollars to build a new arena for the Bucks, we also want to spend at least $150 million to give our kids great places to play in neighborhoods all around Milwaukee. We can do both.” On April 8, 2014, 800 members of Common Ground voted to launch our Fair Play issue campaign.
