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Stingl: Milwaukee woman thinks this railroad bridge is ugly, so she's working to change that

Jim Stingl
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Darrian Davis stands near the railroad bridge at 30th and Center streets that she plans to beautify as a neighborhood project.

My own expectation is that urban railroad bridges are gonna be ugly. Unless it's outside my living room window, I'm not bothered by a rusty overgrown span carrying a train over a street.

Taking the opposite point of view is Darrian Davis, who I met Friday under the old and homely rail bridge over Center Street near North 30th Street on Milwaukee's north side.

In 2015, when Davis was living in an apartment on 27th and Center, she used to see the drab bridge, weeds and graffiti every day when driving her son to school nearby. She uses words like hideous and depressing to describe it.

"It started to weigh on me, and it was weird for me, like, 'Oh my God, why do you care so much about this?' But my grandmother taught us and I come from a church that teaches us that you can't just complain about something if you're not going to do something about it," she said.

The world is not accustomed to an average citizen stepping forward to beautify a bridge. When Davis started calling around to see what this was going to take, she was met with a mix of surprise, delight, support and resistance. You might be surprised by the layers of permission needed to make something prettier.

Davis, 37, is a single mom who manages her 7-year-old son's modeling career and who recently launched a line of clothing she makes from recycled denim. She grew up in Oak Creek and earned a business management degree from Alverno College. 

Her idea for the bridge involves artwork, though she doesn't call herself an artist. 

"I more consider myself creative, whatever it is at the moment that I enjoy doing, whether it's sewing or trying to draw or making room decorations for my son," she said. "If you give me a challenge creatively, I typically can rise to the occasion."

Davis asked young people in her neighborhood what they would like to see on the bridge. Something positive, they said. Maybe put some encouraging words up there — joy, peace, love respect, unity, hope, faith, stop the violence.

So Davis took their ideas and drew up a plan. She figured out whom to speak to at Milwaukee City Hall and received the enthusiastic support of Ald. Russell Stamper, who signed a letter that says, "Thank you for bringing the community together for this project, and I look forward to the positive transformation this collaboration will bring."

Master Lock Co., which has a plant near the bridge, agreed to pay for paint to beautify the bridge. The Wisconsin and Southern Railroad supported the plan. And Davis got approval from neighboring businesses, We Energies on the north side of Center Street and American Auto Salvage on the south side, to allow painting of the underpass walls just east of the bridge.

But then it turned out that Canadian Pacific Railway actually owned the bridge and it was unresponsive to her plan. And later in 2015, Davis moved away from the neighborhood to live in her late aunt's condo on the northwest side. The project was put on hold.

Regaining momentum

Fast forward to this year, and Davis was contacted by Cheri Fuqua from Middle Ground, a residents group from the neighborhood near the bridge. They wanted Davis to revive the bridge effort, and she agreed.

This time Canadian Pacific said yes, so long as the painting did not cover certain bridge fasteners.

But now the earlier commitments from businesses were off the table. The woman Davis had talked to at Master Lock was gone and with her the offer to pay for supplies. The salvage place changed its mind. We Energies was hanging back until it was assured others were on board.

Davis envisions the bridge displaying an inspirational message in bold yellow letters on both sides, but she wants to keep the wording a surprise for now. An artist from the neighborhood, Willie Weaver-Bey, has a scissor lift and agreed to do this part. 

The street would be closed for a day, and neighborhood volunteers would paint the walls below with the other uplifting words. Davis thinks the project could be done for $6,000, including paint and some T-shirts and food for the volunteers. But at this point, she's still working on raising that money.

She had hoped to do all this by the end of October, but now it looks like it might have to wait until spring. 

As I said, making even small improvements in the world around us can be harder than it looks, but Davis remains upbeat about lifting up the neighborhood.

In her bridge improvement plan, she says, "We know that when a community and its residents unite with beautification as a common purpose, transformations occur in the physical surroundings, but also in the hearts and minds of everyone involved."
