Photo Courtesy of Party for Socialism and Liberation
Clean Water Program
Pay-what-you-can Tricklebee Cafe (4424 W. North Ave.) has teamed up with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) Milwaukee on the Clean Water Program, an initiative distributing free, filtered water to neighbors living in homes connected to lead lines. The program takes place on the second Saturday of every month, with the next one Saturday, October 11 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Lead pipes in plumbing were outlawed nationally in 1986. Although the City of Milwaukee has removed thousands of lead laterals in recent decades, an estimated 65,000 homes remain connected to city water lines containing lead. This is especially prevalent on the city’s North and South Sides, disproportionately affecting Black and Brown working-class neighborhoods. Lead exposure can cause serious hormonal imbalances, behavioral changes, motor control difficulties and other health issues, particularly in children and the elderly.
PSL member Joshua Taylor points out that lead in Milwaukee’s water has long been a known issue. “It goes back to the late 19th century,” he explains. “Mayor Harrison Ludington’s family owned a lead transportation company, and as a way to profit for himself and his family, they mandated that all pipes had to be made out of lead.”
Ongoing Activism
There has been ongoing activism demanding all lead pipes be removed from Milwaukee water lines. The Get the Lead Out Coalition, formed in 2015, has been a prominent bullhorn around the issue, having urged Mayor Tom Barrett and the Milwaukee Health Department to speed up removal of lead laterals. As of early 2024, homeowners are no longer required to pay a hefty $1,600 fee to remove lead laterals from their “private” sides of water lines.
“Before pressure was put on, they said it was going to take 70 years to remove all these pipes,” Taylor continues. “That’s multiple generations of people possibly being poisoned.”
The PSL, an organization fighting for a new system to put people over profit, launched its Clean Water Program during COVID quarantine. At the time, the program specifically catered to expecting mothers, offering eight free cases of water for 12 months. It has since become open to anyone affected by lead pipes. The PSL engages in door-to-door knocking to make communities aware of both the problem and the program.
“We wanted to politicize it and educate folks more,” Taylor explains. “We formed a relationship with Tricklebee, which is a good community institution with a lot of folks already coming here, so it became the perfect collab.”
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Locally Grown
Established in 2016, Tricklebee Cafe is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering nutritious meals made with locally grown food in a space where no one is turned away. Executive Director Christie Melby-Gibbons felt the partnership was an easy yes. “We are already here invested in the neighborhood, feeding people regardless of how much money they have,” she says. “When the PSL came to us, it made total sense because we’re trying to nourish people on all levels.”
Milwaukeeans may utilize the city’s Lead Service Line Inventory to determine if their home is connected to a lead lateral. Eligible folks may receive three to five 20-gallon jugs that can be refilled and returned. Tricklebee Cafe fills the jugs with water filtered by a high-quality Frizzlife system that gets replaced every six months. Per Tricklebee Cafe’s hospitality, all guests are welcome to enjoy a nutritious meal as well.
“We are already a busy place, serving between 70 and 100 people a day,” Melby-Gibbons notes. “On the water days, even more people discover us.”
As the Clean Water Program ensures access to clean water for dozens of Milwaukee individuals and families, Taylor points out that such an initiative can only do so much to help communities at large. “Even if we extended the program to two days a month, it’s not sufficient to correct the issue,” he affirms. “We need systemic change, and that’s why we’re planting power in the people and spreading consciousness.”
One way the PSL does this is by way of its Milwaukee Liberation Center (MLC), recently unveiled at its new location at 1920 W. North Ave. in Lindsay Heights—just a five minute drive from Tricklebee Cafe. After originally opening it in 2023, the PSL moved the MLC from its previous location on Historic Mitchell St in favor of a larger space in a more residential area. The center serves as an event venue and community organizing hub as well as a bookstore for revolutionary literature.
Better Conditions, Better World
Erica Steib of PSL describes MLC’s mission, “It brings together the community to struggle for a better world and better conditions for all of us.” The PSL saw the need for a space independent of the nonprofit complex and other political interests that lean on grant funders or philanthropists. “The people of Milwaukee are what make it great and are who produce everything here of value,” Steib affirms. “A lot of what we do is about culture and art and creativity and waging political struggle in the interests of the working class.”
The MLC recently featured programming during Black August that entailed self-defense and de-escalation training as well as a creative workshop centered around Black liberation. In addition to continued political education, the MLC has more youth-centered programming in store for the coming months.
“We’re finding that people want to proactively contribute to their community and city, and who feel a lot of pride in their neighborhood even as they reckon with inherent struggles there,” Steib adds. “We want to bring as many people as we can into the work that we do because we see that all our people have ideas and leadership capacities, and they know what they want to see out of a better future.”
