Rotary Riverwalk
Rotary International celebrated its Centennial as a Service Organization On February 23, 2005. During Rotary's annual year, period from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005, Rotary International urged its member clubs to participate in its Centennial Year by organizing Centennial Community Projects that Celebrate Rotary while fulfilling an important need in their home area.
The Mequon and Thiensville communities in Wisconsin are supported by two local Rotary clubs, The Thiensville-Mequon Rotary club, founded in 1937, and the Mequon-Thiensville Sunrise Rotary Club, founded in 1990. The boards of directors of the two clubs decided that joining the two clubs together for the purpose of embracing a centennial project would allow for a larger, more significant contribution to the communities of Mequon and Thiensville. Several projects were proposed and evaluated. It was decided to participate in the Mequon-Thiensville Town Center Initiative, a city and village beautification and enhancement project which extends from the northern gateway at Thiensville's northern boundary at Main Street, through to Mequon's Cedarburg Road boundary at Mequon Road. The two Rotary clubs decided to sponsor and develop the centerpiece project of this effort, Rotary Riverwalk. The proposed Rotary Riverwalk extends from Thiensville's Village Park on the north, south along the west bank of the Milwaukee River all the way to Mequon Road, a total distance of a bit more than a mile.
The two Rotary clubs are working with the property owners to reach mutually satisfactory plans for the Riverwalk on their properties. No improvements will be implemented without landowner consent and acquisition of conservation easements. Land acquisition, if necessary, will be negotiated with landowners, and will only take place with landowner consent. (Sample Conservation Easement - Click here to view)
A web site (www.mtrotaryriverwalk.org) has been developed as an information vehicle to provide information about the Rotary Riverwalk, to assist in its marketing, development, and eventual completion. We are striving to provide the most current information on the progress of this project, opportunities for other members of our communities to participate, a calendar of events relating to this project, and references to the many partnerships were are developing in order to accomplish our lofty goals.
This project is being financed through the efforts of the two Rotary clubs, via the stewardship of the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Foundation, Inc., an IRS 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation founded in 1991 to hold and distribute funds for the Rotary club's many charitable purposes.