Save Hawthorne Ridge Park

05/10/2026

A very happy Mother’s Day to all of our park moms. We are still fighting for you and your babies!

05/05/2026

Common Council meeting
Tuesday, May 5 7:30 PM
City Hall - Council Chambers

05/01/2026

This is a view of our park from one of my bedrooms windows. Are we really to believe this is a dangerous area?

While speaking to an officer at the police department, the officer said stories of the park being dangerous are just “red herrings”.

I have never heard of a local government work so hard to *not* give a community what they have asked for.

04/26/2026

Letters to the editor of the paper must be submitted by Monday

04/26/2026

Many of you have reached out wondering what can be done to have the Hawthorne Ridge Park equipment approved.

Reach out to the common council who vote on this matter. Please be respectful and concise. I am hopeful it is misunderstanding or miscommunication hampering the wants and needs of our community.

Common Council:

April Welch: [email protected]

Karen Spiegelberg: [email protected]

Rusty McConnell: [email protected]

Kevin Ellis: [email protected]

Jennifer Aultman Kloth: [email protected]

Zach Frankowski: [email protected]

Erik Jungwirth: [email protected]

Charles Schellpeper: [email protected]

Mayor Matt Rosek: [email protected]

04/25/2026

Remember this? Why would the council go back on what they previously approved? Additionally, the park equipment chosen came in UNDER budget. One would think this would have been a win-win for all.

The council voted to approve $90K in the budget for EITHER Hawthorne Ridge Park OR the proposed new park on Oconomowoc Parkway.

The decision has been sent back to the Parks Board to make a decision in August or September.

We need to keep putting pressure on the decision makers in order to keep our beloved Hawthorne Ridge Park

The Parks Board members are:

Jimi Hall, President
Katie Miller
Scott Antonneau
Karen Spiegelberg, Alderman [email protected]
Rusty McConnell, Alderman [email protected]
Julie Nankee
Chad Brown
Bruce White

At this time I do not have email addresses or phone numbers for all of the board members, just the two listed. If you have any if them, please share

I will post the dates and times for the meetings as they come available.

We will need all hands on deck.

Thank you all!!!

04/23/2026

Bad news. The new council and mayor rejected the funding to put in playground equipment in Hawthorne Ridge Park. It was a 6-2 vote with Karen and Chad supporting the funding that was already approved. It’s very sad that our voices from the survey are falling on deaf ears.

04/21/2026

Please attend if you can!!!

Common Council meeting TONIGHT.

Tuesday, April 21, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Location: City Hall - Council Chambers
174 E. Wisconsin Ave. Oconomowoc

New Business on the agenda:
Consider/act on Resolution 26-R3363 Purchase of Playground Equipment for Hawthorne Ridge Park

*picture is ai, not an actual photo

04/15/2026

I am currently in Ireland with my family. At a roadside stand, a woman was selling her wares.

The first thing I noticed were necklaces based on “Birth Ogham”. Birth Ogham (or Celtic Tree Astrology) is a modern, neo-pagan system mapping 13–20 lunar months/dates to specific sacred trees, each represented by an Ogham letter. It aligns birth dates with tree characteristics for personality insights.

The one for my birthdate is the HAWTHORN!

I hope we can all agree that Hawthorne Ridge Park represents the same: balance, resolved healing, and most of all, love. 💕

04/15/2026

This is a rendering of the park equipment which will be installed this summer at Hawthorne Ridge Park.

The purchase needs to be approved by council on the 21st and then as soon as it arrives, it will be installed. Eric, the parks department director, mentioned that he wants it in place for most of the summer for the kids.

04/14/2026

We did it!! Thank you to you ALL for your support of our beautiful park. 🫶