AT THIS TIME LAST YEAR. NEW THIS MORNING, MILWAUKEE CITY LEADERS OUTLINING THE NEXT STEPS FOR REDEVELOPING THE FORMER NORTHRIDGE MALL PROPERTY SITE. THAT SITE, NOW KNOWN AS GRANVILLE STATION, SITS ON 58 ACRES OF LAND READY FOR NEW DEVELOPMENT RIGHT NEAR 76TH AND BROWN DEER ROAD ON THE CITY’S NORTHWEST SIDE. 12 NEWS ZOE HENRY IS LIVE AT MILWAUKEE CITY HALL, WHERE THOSE LEADERS JUST ANNOUNCED THEIR PLANS. YEAH, THEY JUST UNVEILED THE GRANVILLE 2.0 VISION REPORT, AND IT ENTAILS THE PROGRESS THE CITY HAS MADE, AS WELL AS COMPILING COMMUNITY MEMBERS VISION ON WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE AT THE SITE. NOW, THE REPORT EXPLAINS THE CITY’S EFFORT TO LEARN ABOUT THE GRANVILLE COMMUNITY AND ITS NEEDS. AS OF RIGHT NOW, THE CITY HAS NOT DISCUSSED ANY BIDDERS. THE LOT FOR THE LOT. BUT THE CITY IS LOOKING FOR THREE KEY FACTORS A LAND USER THAT WILL BRING JOBS, LARGE CAPITAL INVESTMENT, AND LONG TERM USE. NOW, THE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSIONER SAYS THE BOTTOM LINE IS THEY’RE THINKING BIG ON WHO SHOULD USE THE SPACE. SOME OF THE IDEAS THAT WE’VE HEARD, WE’VE HEARD ABOUT A RECREATIONAL FACILITY, YOU KNOW, PLACE FOR YOUTH SPORTS, WE’VE HEARD ABOUT, YOU KNOW, AN ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX, THINGS OF THAT NATURE. AND, YOU KNOW, I THINK WHEN THE COMMUNITY SAYS THINK BIG, WHAT THEY’RE SAYING IS WE WOULD LOVE PERHAPS AN AMENITY HERE THAT DOESN’T EXIST IN THIS AREA. SO, ZOIE THERE’S ANOTHER COMMUNITY LISTENING SESSION PLANNED FOR THE FIRST OF THE YEAR. YEAH. THAT’S RIGHT. SO IT’S JANUARY 21ST. THE DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT SAYS SOME OF THE FEEDBACK THAT HAS BEEN HEARD IN VARIOUS DIFFERENT LISTENING SESSIONS COULD EVEN HELP DECIDE WHO ENDS UP ULTIMATELY USING THE OLD NORTHRIDGE MALL LOT.
Milwaukee outlines possible plans for former Northridge Mall site
Milwaukee city leaders have outlined plans for redeveloping the former Northridge Mall site, now called Granville Station, emphasizing community input and economic growth
Updated: 4:48 PM CST Dec 18, 2025
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Milwaukee city leaders have outlined the next steps for redeveloping the former Northridge Mall site, now known as Granville Station, located on 58 acres near 76th Street and Brown Deer Road on the city’s northwest side.City leaders just unveiled the Granville 2.0 Vision Report, which details the progress the city says it’s making on the project, as well as what community members have said in various listening sessions and what they want to see at the old Northridge Mall site.”We’ve heard about a recreational facility, you know, place for our youth sports. We’ve heard about, you know, in entertainment, complex things of that nature. And, you know, I think when the community says think big, what they’re saying is we would love perhaps an amenity here that doesn’t exist in this area,” said Lafayette Crump, commissioner of the Department of City Development.The report shows that over the last 20 years, spending has been stagnant in the Granville neighborhood, leading to more vacant commercial properties in the area. As of now, the city says it has no concrete bidders for the former Northridge Mall site, but is looking for specific criteria in a land user.”We want significant capital investment and growth to the city’s tax base. We want new momentum along the Brown Deer Road corridor. We want family-sustaining jobs. This needs to be a true community focal point that redefines the identity of the area. A strong anchor will drive demand for surrounding development,” Crump said.The Department of City Development has planned another listening session on Jan. 21. They also added that some of the things that come out of these listening sessions could go into the decision for who ends up using this vacant lot.Top Headlines Uber driver in Milwaukee says passenger chased by man with a gun12-year-old Milwaukee girl charged with abducting 4-year-old brotherAttorney: Teen ‘brutally assaulted’ at Racine County detention centerWATCH Ex-girlfriend identifies man in $10,000 Big Bend bar ATM heist
MILWAUKEE —
Milwaukee city leaders have outlined the next steps for redeveloping the former Northridge Mall site, now known as Granville Station, located on 58 acres near 76th Street and Brown Deer Road on the city’s northwest side.
City leaders just unveiled the Granville 2.0 Vision Report, which details the progress the city says it’s making on the project, as well as what community members have said in various listening sessions and what they want to see at the old Northridge Mall site.
“We’ve heard about a recreational facility, you know, place for our youth sports. We’ve heard about, you know, in entertainment, complex things of that nature. And, you know, I think when the community says think big, what they’re saying is we would love perhaps an amenity here that doesn’t exist in this area,” said Lafayette Crump, commissioner of the Department of City Development.
The report shows that over the last 20 years, spending has been stagnant in the Granville neighborhood, leading to more vacant commercial properties in the area. As of now, the city says it has no concrete bidders for the former Northridge Mall site, but is looking for specific criteria in a land user.
“We want significant capital investment and growth to the city’s tax base. We want new momentum along the Brown Deer Road corridor. We want family-sustaining jobs. This needs to be a true community focal point that redefines the identity of the area. A strong anchor will drive demand for surrounding development,” Crump said.
The Department of City Development has planned another listening session on Jan. 21. They also added that some of the things that come out of these listening sessions could go into the decision for who ends up using this vacant lot.
Top Headlines
WATCH Ex-girlfriend identifies man in $10,000 Big Bend bar ATM heist
Detroit Edison alumna Rickea Jackson remembered a conversation she had with her school superintendent, Ralph Bland, in 2017.
“This is something that before we won our first state championship, I talked to Mr. Bland, like, ‘you know if we win a state championship, we need to retire my jersey,'” Jackson said. “And then we went on to win two more.”
BRAD HARRISON/Staff An exciting season of Jones County Parks & Recreation youth basketball is off and rolling with ongoing play in a total of five divisions with fundamentals and more being mixed in with the fun of the game. The season for all leagues runs into February with games being played at the Jones County Government Center Gym….
CORRECTS FIRST NAME TO DIANE – Diane West and her grandson Paul Quirk pose for a photo, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
The oldest baby boomers — once the vanguard of an American youth that revolutionized U.S. culture and politics — turn 80 in 2026.
The generation that twirled the first plastic hula hoops and dressed up the first Barbie dolls, embraced the TV age, blissed out at Woodstock and protested and fought in the Vietnam War — the cohort that didn’t trust anyone over age 30 — now is contributing to the overall aging of America.
Boomers becoming octogenarians in 2026 include actor Henry Winkler and baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, singers Cher and Dolly Parton and presidents Donald Trump, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The aging and shrinking youth of America
America’s population swelled with around 76 million births from 1946 to 1964, a spike magnified by couples reuniting after World War Two and enjoying postwar prosperity.
Boomers were better educated and richer than previous generations, and they helped grow a consumer-driven economy. In their youth, they pushed for social change through the Civil Rights Movement, the women’s rights movement and efforts to end the Vietnam War.
“We had rock ‘n’ roll. We were the first generation to get out and demonstrate in the streets. We were the first generation, that was, you know, a socially conscious generation,” said Diane West, a metro Atlanta resident who turns 80 in January. “Our parents played by the rules. We didn’t necessarily play by the rules, and there were lots of us.”
As they got older they became known as the “me” generation, a pejorative term coined by writer Tom Wolfe to reflect what some regarded as their self-absorption and consumerism.
“The thing about baby boomers is they’ve always had a spotlight on them, no matter what age they were,” Brookings demographer William Frey said. “They were a big generation, but they also did important things.”
By the end of this decade, all baby boomers will be 65 and older, and the number of people 80 and over will double in 20 years, Frey said.
The share of senior citizens in the U.S. population is projected to grow from 18.7% in 2025 to nearly 23% by 2050, while children under 18 decline from almost 21% to a projected 18.4%.
Without any immigration, the U.S. population will start shrinking in five years. That’s when deaths will surpass births, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office, which were revised in September to account for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Population growth comes from immigration as well as births outpacing deaths.
The aging of America is being compounded by longer lives due to better health care and lower birth rates.
The projected average U.S. life expectancy at birth rises from 78.9 years in 2025 to 82.2 years in 2055, according to the CBO. And since the Great Recession in 2008, when the fertility rate was 2.08, around the 2.1 rate needed for children to numerically replace their parents, it has been on a steady decline, hitting 1.6 in 2025. Younger generations miss boomer milestones
Women are having fewer children because they are better educated, they’re delaying marriage to focus on careers and they’re having their first child at a later age. Unaffordable housing, poor access to child care and the growing expenses of child-rearing also add up to fewer kids.
University of New Hampshire senior demographer Kenneth Johnson estimates that the result has been 11.8 million fewer births, compared to what might have been had the fertility rate stayed at Great Recession levels.
“I was young when I had kids. I mean that’s what we did — we got out of college, we got married and we had babies,” said West, who has two daughters, a stepdaughter and six grandchildren. “My kids got married in their 30s, so it’s very different.”
A recent Census Bureau study showed that 21st century young adults in the U.S. haven’t been adulting like baby boomers did. In 1975, almost half of 25-to-34-year-olds had moved out of their parents’ home, landed jobs, gotten married and had kids. By the early 2020s, less than a quarter of U.S. adults had hit these milestones.
West, whose 21-year-old grandson lives with her, understands why: They lack the prospects her generation enjoyed. Her grandson, Paul Quirk, said it comes down to financial instability.
“They were able to buy a lot of things, a lot cheaper,” Quirk said.
All of her grandchildren are frustrated by the economy, West added.
“You have to get three roommates in order to afford a place,” she said. “When we got out of college, we had a job waiting for us. And now, people who have master’s degrees are going to work fast food while they look for a real job.” Implications for the economy
The aging of America could constrain economic growth. With fewer workers paying taxes, Social Security and Medicare will be under more pressure. About 34 seniors have been supported by every 100 workers in 2025, but that ratio grows to 50 seniors per 100 working-age people in about 30 years, according to estimates released last year by the White House.
When West launched her career in employee benefits and retirement planning in 1973, each 100 workers supported 20 or fewer retirees, by some calculations.
Vice President JD Vance and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are among those pushing for an increase in fertility. Vance has suggested giving parents more voting power, according to their numbers of children, or following the example of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in giving low-interest loans to married parents and tax exemptions to women who have four children or more.
Frey said programs that incentivize fertility among U.S. women hardly ever work, so funding should support pre-kindergarten and paid family leave.
“I think the best you can do for people who do want to have kids is to make it easier and less expensive to have them and raise them,” he said. “Those things may not bring up the fertility rate as much as people would like, but at least the kids who are being born will have a better chance of succeeding.”
Major cities in Tennessee are reimagining their public riverfronts as vibrant community spaces.
By Cary Estes on December 23, 2025
Agency Landscape and Design
River City Company launches a visionary plan for the Chattanooga riverfront, showcased in the rendering.
When Tennessee native Anna Mae Bullock – better known as Tina Turner – famously sang about “rollin’ on the river,” she was referring to the Mississippi River, which runs along the western edge of the state.
But the Mighty Mississippi makes up only a small portion of the more than 60,000 miles of waterways flowing throughout Tennessee. And increasingly, this natural resource is being further enhanced through public-private partnerships designed to make many of the Tennessee riverfronts even more attractive and accessible. This, in turn, is expanding recreational opportunities and boosting local economies.
“It really speaks to a statewide commitment to investing in the quality of life in Tennessee,” says Patrick Osborne, planning and design director of the Tennessee RiverLine project. “The state is embracing the value of outdoor recreation. Projects like these reflect a broader movement, where Tennesseans see their waterways as assets to be celebrated and protected.”
Memphis River Parks Partnership
The City of Memphis has a front-row view to the watery wonder that is the Mississippi River. But easy access from downtown Memphis to the river has long been limited.
That began to change in 2017 with the formation of the Memphis River Parks Partnership. The goal was to convert 5 miles of mostly underused river parks into a connected network of public spaces, with multiple access points to Beale Street and other popular downtown destinations.
“It is meant to draw people together in one place that is beautiful and peaceful,” says Paul Chandler, CEO of the Memphis River Parks Partnership. “The intent is to unify our city and enhance relationships that might have never been developed without this park system.”
The centerpiece is the renovation of 31-acre Tom Lee Park, which opened in 2023 and receives approximately 2 million visitors annually. Chandler expects the park to become even more popular in 2026 with the scheduled opening of the Memphis Flyway, a 40-foot-high observation deck that will extend 218 feet over the Mississippi River.
“When the sun sets across that huge body of water, the view from the Flyway is going to be really spectacular,” Chandler says.
Evolving Chattanooga’s Riverfront
The City of Chattanooga made major enhancements to its Tennessee River frontage in the early 2000s with the 21st Century Waterfront plan. Now, Chattanooga’s economic development engine – the River City Co. – is bringing additional improvements to the area through the Evolving Our Riverfront Parks plan, with work scheduled to begin in 2026.
“Our goal is to add strategic features and amenities to allow for year-round daily use and enjoyment of the waterfront,” says River City Co. President and CEO Emily Mack. “We’re focusing on people-centered design and providing places of enjoyment for our community.”
Proposed changes include improvements to the riverfront pier, the creation of additional river access points, landscaping with more shade trees, two new restaurants, two new recreational spaces with playgrounds and more public restrooms.
“This is an opportunity to provide a destination for people to gather and connect with the community and with nature,” Mack says. “It will help support our existing riverfront events, which are huge to the local economy. It will also serve as an economic catalyst for our downtown businesses. This is going to have an incredible ripple effect throughout our city.”
Tennessee RiverLine
The long-term goal for Tennessee RiverLine is to be a 652-mile, 1.2 million-acre river park.
Knoxville Is Part of Tennessee RiverLine
The most expansive project of them all, the Tennessee RiverLine, began as an idea by a student in the University of Tennessee School of Landscape Architecture to create a connected system of recreational opportunities along the Tennessee River.
Now, work is underway to make this vision a reality; the long-term goal is to form a 652-mile, 1.2 million-acre river park, stretching from Knoxville to Paducah, Kentucky.
“It’s a regional vision for how our communities connect with the Tennessee River and adjacent public lands,” Osborne says. “Our focus is on planning and designing river access sites, parks, recreation opportunities and the supporting infrastructure.”
The key to the project’s success, Osborne says, is through the RiverTowns Program, in which RiverLine officials work directly with local community leaders. There are currently 12 communities in Tennessee that have signed up to be part of the program.
“This is a generational project that is moving forward in phases, primarily through our RiverTowns Program,” Osborne says. “We’re helping each of these towns identify and prioritize projects that help improve river access and highlight restorative recreation practices. We want to ensure that the river is accessible, healthy and celebrated for generations to come.”
Tennessee Focuses on Outstanding Parks, Too
The most popular outdoor attraction in Tennessee is easily Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which received more than 12 million visitors in 2024. But if you want to be a little more low-key than Smoky, there are also 60-plus state parks across the state.
The offerings range from the nearly 30,000-acre Fall Creek Falls State Park near Spencer to the 11-acre Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville. Scott’s Gulf Wilderness State Park in Sparta features the 110-foot-tall Virgin Falls, which requires a 4-mile hike to reach. It is one of more than 80 waterfalls that can be found within Tennessee’s state parks.
Tennessee added several state parks in 2025. Though it was a division of an existing outdoor attraction, the Hiwassee/ Ocoee Scenic River State Park was split into two separate parks to provide more dedicated resources to each area. The Ocoee River was the site of the 1996 Olympic whitewater slalom events, and the 2.5-mile course remains popular with paddlers.
Head of the Crow State Park and Fiery Gizzard State Park near Monteagle were both carved out of the already existing South Cumberland State Park.
Even more state parks are on the way. The current 950-acre Devil’s Backbone State Natural Area, which is just off Natchez Trace Parkway near Gordonsburg, is set to receive official state park status soon too.
Tennessee bird watching is also exceptional, with over 400 documented species, including residents and migrants. The Cumberland Mountains are vital, hosting the highest global concentration of the near-threatened cerulean warbler’s breeding pairs. Additionally, successful reintroduction efforts mean the majestic bald eagle is now observable statewide.
LAFAYETTE — LaFayette Parks and Recreation now has early-bird registration open for spring baseball and softball, ending on Dec. 31. The early-bird registration fee is $60, and regular registration is $75 — regular registration ends on Jan. 31. Upon registering $40 is due, and the remaining fee must be paid by Jan. 31.
“A lot of our kids actually trended toward going to Valley to play, and I think Roanoke as well — so we’re trying to bring those kids and families back to our program so we can actually grow our own program inside of LaFayette,” said LaFayette Diamond Youth Baseball Coordinator Jamarcus Walton. “This is the first year where we’re actually trying to incorporate the softball aspect into our program as well… We’re looking for volunteer coaches to coach any level, and we’re also looking for players to fill out all those rosters — hopefully, this year, we can have more than one team in each age group.”
Walton said there are many ways the community can get involved in helping the LaFayette Parks and Rec baseball and softball programs grow and serve local children, including sponsoring an athlete, a business sponsorships and donating funds for new bats.
“Currently, we’re in need of sponsorships, because I was just informed at the district meeting that we have to change over to USA bats — so that’s gonna be a big difference this year for the entire Diamond Youth Program in the state of Alabama,” Walton said. “So we’re going to definitely need some sponsorships in order to help the city purchase [those] — that’s for the entire 6U up to the 12U level as well. So hopefully we can get all that done. I have a lot of faith in this program, it’s grown tremendously since we first brought it back.”
With a desire to provide a space for activity, Walton said he hopes access to youth sports will support community growth and provide a space for children to have fun.
“I feel like youth sports are the one thing that drives the community,” he said. “And as you can see, without youth sports, your community sort of dwindles away. You have different families leaving the area, transition to other places that have these programs in place — but if we can bring all these extracurricular activities to our own city — I feel like that help us retain, of course, our citizens, but also help us grow and expand. LaFayette lately has been trending down the population, but we’re trying to bring the youth sports in order to bring those families back to our communities, so we actually drive success.”
Walton said for young children, co-ed T-ball is offered for ages three and four, and for ages five and six they can enjoy modified coach pitch style. Baseball and softball teams are offered for ages seven and eight which will have coach pitch double, and nine and 10 which will start kid pitch, as well as kid pitch for ages 11 and 12. The age cut off to participate is on May 1, as long as children do not turn 13 they can still play in the 12U age group.
“At the end of the day, everything revolves around the kids,” he said. “Youth sports, it’s all about the kids. So we’re trying to find ways to get more revenue and money [in the program] to do more for the kids, so we can have different cookouts and stuff like that for the kids as well. [We want] to give them something different to do [other] than just staying at home and going to school every day.”
For more information, visit Parks & Recreation of LaFayette on Facebook.
