Photo by Tom Jenz
Laressa Taylor - Milwaukee 9th District Alderwoman
Laressa Taylor, 9th District Milwaukee Alderwoman
If you are a Milwaukee alderperson, almost any central city district is a tough district to represent. The issues are familiar and often difficult: criminal activity, poverty, neglected houses, street repairs, crowded neighborhoods and reckless driving. For those who represent these communities, the job can be as much about listening and understanding as it is about legislation.
At 56, 9th District Alderwoman Larressa Taylor knows the beat. She grew up near 25th and Concordia in the central city, in a neighborhood she remembers very differently from the one she represents today.
“Back then, the blocks were fairly peaceful, a whole community thing,” she told me. “Kids played in the streets and on the sidewalks. I could walk to my grade school. Mom and Dad were in my home, gainfully employed, and my grandmother, my auntie and uncle lived down the street on 23rd. I only left my neighborhood to attend Maryland Avenue Middle School and later Custer High School.”
Taylor learned early that hard work was not optional. At 14, she had a job at Millway Nursing Home and a second job at the Milwaukee Public Library. After graduating from high school, she continued working while stepping into the college arena.
“First, I went to Alverno College and graduated with a biology degree,” she said. “Then, I went to Marquette where I earned my master’s degree in administration of Jjstice. Later, I got a second master’s degree in education from Rockford College. In the midst of my college educations, I got a job in corrections as a guard in the state prison system. At the time, I had a husband and two of my three children.”
Much of Taylor’s career, however, would eventually lead her into the classroom. I reminded her that teaching had occupied a large part of her professional life.
“I wanted a job where I could work as a lifetime career,” she said. “That’s when I got my master’s in education. I was a teacher for 23 years, most of them in the Milwaukee Public Schools. Kids were coming into middle school and high school and reading at a 3rd grade level. I taught grade school for a while but found that children were not getting reading help at home. I taught at a middle school and then high school where I could guide children into adult life.”
But Taylor’s résumé extends well beyond teaching. She spent eight years in the Navy Reserves, worked a year as a police officer and served for 20 years as a neighborhood block captain.
“I always tell people you can have more than one career in a lifetime,” she said.
We met inside the vast Tru Bru café and coffee shop connected to Evolve Church on North 76th Street in the heart of Taylor’s district. Around us were 250 children attending a three-week summer camp sponsored by the church. The room was filled with the sounds of children talking and laughing.
What are the geographic boundaries of your 9th Aldermanic District?
They run from 43rd Street over to 124th Street, and Mill Road to County Line Road, that general area.
There are about 40,000 residents in your district. How would you describe the typical resident?
First of all, most of my residents are very involved. If there's anything that's going to impact them, they're able to tell me about it. I would say most residents are middle class, career oriented, some professionals, some retired people. We have a mix of homeowners and apartment dwellers.
What are some of the most important issues and complaints from your constituents?
The roads. I typically get a lot of calls regarding the street conditions. So I try to get ahead of that by driving around myself, noticing the potholes or where the streets are in real disrepair, and I call those into the Department of Public Works. I take pictures, and those pictures give them exact locations. They generally get the repairs done pretty quickly.
Any other important complaints?
Another big one is the condition of our housing. I did a lot of research to figure out how to improve the housing conditions many of our residents live in. I’m talking about people who are renters. Disrepair can be an issue. If the property owners are neglectful, or they sell the property, then security and ineffective management can become problems. I contact the property owners and let them know that this is unacceptable. I report the complaints to our city inspectors who go out and see what is in disrepair and let me know. They can issue citations that will say, “This needs to be repaired in this number of days.”
Is the repair work getting done?
There is an apartment complex in really bad shape, but now much has improved. It's two large apartment buildings, and there's about 200 apartments. I was really concerned about that situation over the last three years. I have been talking about it out in the open. Recently, I walked through and found the repairs all done. I saw new windows, new flooring, new elevators, new stairwells, new locks on doors, security systems, and more cameras.
Do you have reckless driving issues in your district?
We do, though there has been street calming such as speed bumps and build outs. But we have roads that are state highways, like 76th Street where we've had injuries and some fatalities since I've been in office. I talk to our state reps regularly about what different roads that could be addressed. Brown Deer Road is another state road that had a lot of fatalities. I raised a big stink about that because I had six deaths on Brown Deer in my first year, and that was pretty devastating. Those were due to reckless driving. There was a couple more near where the North Ridge Mall stood. And there have been others.
The Granville Station is the former Northridge Mall. That falls within your district. What will happen to the vacant property?
I think the abandoned Northridge Mall was an eyesore. Thanks to Governor Evers providing funds for the demolition, the old mall is now gone. The city residents seem to want an anchor, such as a medical facility or healthcare or sports facility.
One of Mayor Johnson's main issues is the lack of affordable housing. How does that apply to your district?
That seems to be an overall issue in the city, lack of affordable housing. I've asked for documentation of that, and I've read through that documentation, and I can't say I understand everything, and I'm not real clear on why we are lacking affordable housing in my district. What we are lacking, as I mentioned before, is acceptable housing that would be appropriate for one to live in and to live a decent life.
So can your district use new affordable housing?
Sure. I'm all for affordable because that does help a lot, and some areas need to be upgraded. But the real need hasn’t really been clear on from the documentation that's been given to me. I mean politicians talk a lot about affordable housing, particularly in the larger cities, but I've yet to hear how you do it. How do you come up with affordable housing?
What about new large developments in your district?
There's a lot of developments proposed for our area. One is called Kingdom Faith, and they were proposing a senior living facility along with a memory care facility. And so they faced no opposition from area residents. It will be located at the end of our district, around 124th Street. The developers were granted permission to go ahead with that development.
Any other developments happening?
We had another one that the Christian Faith Fellowship Church proposed.
I think that was Fellowship Village, a 190 unit upscale, market-rate apartment complex on a vacant parcel adjacent to the church at West Good Hope Road.
Friendship Village was a $50 million project and entirely church-financed with no public tax subsidy. But it was met with 100% opposition by my residents. Those apartments would not have been affordable. They would have been market rate rentals, meaning they would have had young professionals move in. There was another one called the Annex Group proposed to be near our North Ridge Lakes area, but that was also met with opposition because many of the neighbors there are homeowners, and they oppose rental units coming into their space.
Do you consult with developers about their proposed projects?
I make it very clear to any developer that when you come to our area, your project is going to be presented to the residents, and the residents will say yay or nay. If the residents say yay, I say yes. If the residents say nay, I say no. That’s because I represent my residents, and I try to represent what's in their best interest, and who knows what's better in your best interest than the person whose interest is being represented. Then, the onus is on the developer to talk with the neighbors and convince them that a new development is a good idea.
I just did a story on Karen Tyler, Director of the Office of Wellness and Safety. She said you are actively involved with controlling violence. We discussed the Promise Zones and the Promise Keepers.
The Department of Community Wellness and Safety is very active in my district. There are some Promise Zones located in our district. When dangerous things happen and residents need support, Karen Tyler and her team have come to provide that support. For example, we had a murder in one of our areas. Residents called, asking, “What are we supposed to do and who do we talk to now? Because this murder is really impacting us, and it happened right down the street from our homes.”
And so Karen Tyler came out and talked with residents and provided the services they needed, even if it's just talking to someone about what they were feeling. Then we had another area where there were gunshots fired off in the Bradley Townhomes. I lost two young children, I believe ages two and four, to gun violence. Then there was a gentleman who was in his bedroom, and the bullet went through the wall and into his leg. The Wellness and Safety people came out, along with our state reps, and they set up a table to talk to the residents about gun safety and to issue gun locks. They also have counselors on staff to help people deal with the trauma that's left behind from these stressful situations. And so I think that they're an essential part to our community right now.
Karen Tyler also praised this Evolve Church where we are now. She said they're very involved with helping your district.
The Evolve Church people are extremely involved, and that's why I'm so excited right now to see that they have 250 children attending this summer camp, because this church does a lot. So I praise Pastor Kenneth Locke for everything he does, and he's always looking at how to make the community better. This here is a very community-oriented space, and a lot of people are using this space. The Tru Blu Cafe and Coffee Shop is available and open to everyone.
You were 53 when you left education after 17 years as a teacher, ran for office and became the 9th District Alderwoman. Why did you change careers?
For many years, I was actively involved in my community. You might say I was “Taylor-Made” to represent the residents of the 9th Aldermanic District. I wanted their voices to be heard at city hall.
