Photo by Tom Jenz
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson
At the Shepherd Express “Best of 2022” event in early January, I cornered Mayor Cavalier Johnson for a brief chat. As my companion said, “The mayor has a million-dollar smile.” Beneath that sincere smile is a genuine desire to turn Milwaukee back into a city where residents want to live and work.
Cavalier Johnson grew up in the inner city of mostly Black residents, and he moved around a lot, his family suffering significant housing insecurity. In high school, he lived on 19th and Center and Sixth and Clark. He was bussed to Bay View High School, 50 minutes each way.
Through a mentorship program, he was able to attend UW Madison where he majored in political science and worked his way through college. At 22, he ran for Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and got trounced. On his second try, he again got trounced. Meanwhile, he worked in Workforce Development, helped young people and older adults, and spent time in New Orleans helping victims of hurricane Katrina. He was dedicated to his goal of a life in public service, and he served on various nonprofit boards. At 26, Johnson was hired to work for Tom Barrett in the mayor’s office. Two years later, he was elected Alderman of the central city’s 2nd district. Eventually, he rose to become common council president, then succeeded Barrett as mayor in December of 2021. At only 36 years old, he faces the challenge of leading a major city.
I met Mayor Johnson in his office. I expected to sit a long way across from him at his imposing desk. He preferred that we gather around the coffee table at the opposite end of the room. Leaning forward, he speaks in clear measured phrases as if he was researching the data in his mind. Somehow, his eye contact says, ‘I’m interested.’
You have been acting mayor and mayor for over a year. Describe the authority of your office. Do you always have to go through the common council for your priorities?
A lot of young people ask me this question. I equate my duties, on a small scale, to the U.S. president or the Wisconsin governor, except they are way up there, and I am down here. But the roles and responsibilities are somewhat similar. I am responsible for leading the executive branch of city government, and I set directions, visions and goals for the city. To advance these goals, I work with the legislative branch, the city council. Those alderpersons will sometimes question and further refine my goals before we can move forward with my agenda.
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Shortly after the George Floyd incident, you told me, and I quote, “Our present law enforcement system just isn’t working anymore. There needs to be a rebalancing of how police protect and serve residents in troubled neighborhoods.” Presently in Milwaukee, general crime is trending slowly downward—on a year-by-year comparison. How do you see the role of the police in the future?
Regarding law enforcement, what I said back then and what I’ve done in my time in public office—I think there is consistency. When I was a member of the council, we pushed for changes in the way that policing was done in Milwaukee. I think the police need the resources to carry out their duties, but there also needs to be a rebalancing on how policing is done. In the common council, we pushed for initiatives that made interaction between law enforcement and the public safer for both parties. We supported the national platform of 8 Can’t Wait, and we adopted it locally. The role of police is very important for safety. But the police and community have to work together for there to be improvement in safety.
The 8 Can’t Wait program for police departments includes a ban on chokeholds and strangleholds, requires de-escalation, requires a warning before shooting and requies that all alternatives be exhausted before shooting.
I’ve interviewed Police Chief Jeffrey Norman several times, and I think he is moving forward with community policing, the police officers engaging more with residents.
To your point, Tom, about my approach to policing, it needs to be fair and community oriented. Chief Norman feels the same way and is directing his department to do that. What you mentioned about crime trending downward—since I’ve been in office and working with the police, year over year, overall crime is down 15%, and violent crime is down 7%.
There are community organizers and street leaders who tell me they would like to have more inclusion at government meetings. Do you agree? And is that possible?
I think that Chief Norman and the police are listening more to those community organizers who want to advance safety. I believe the common council members are also including more voices in their public listening sessions. We want to hear all voices.
Not long ago, I did a story on the Office of Violence Prevention. Director Ashanti Hamilton described the responsibilities of the OVP. He said, “The goal and purpose of the OVP is to reduce the negative impact of violence on communities, neighborhoods and people—and also reduce the number of perpetrators and transmitters of violence.” The city has provided the OVP an additional $8.4 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Director Hamilton said that the ARPA money will help expand his staff. I believe that the OVP is now working more closely with you and the common council. How is that progressing?
Director Hamilton is taking all the planning that has gone into the OVP and finally operationalizing those plans in order to increase the impact on violence reduction. The police cannot do this alone. It takes a multi-prong approach to have an impact on violence. Months ago, I went to Washington D.C. to lobby for the Federal “Cops Hiring Grant.” Milwaukee received $16 million to gain access to more police officers. But everybody in this city needs to step up to achieve public safety. It’s not just police. Teachers, preachers, mentors, friends and parents all have roles to play. And the people in the OVP need to step up as well to help mitigate violence in our neighborhoods.
It seems like the police can’t really prevent crime. They intercede after crimes have been committed. But the Office of Violence Prevention can try to help prevent crimes.
One person, one leader, one organization, or city office cannot by itself stop crime. The presence of police will have a deterrent, but we don’t have a budget big enough to police our way out of it. Those folks who have a deeper reach into the neighborhoods like community organizers can influence residents who might do something bad, persuade them to put their guns down. My idea since taking office is to address root causes of crime. If you have access to a family-supporting job, you probably won’t commit a crime because you have stability in your life and in your kids’ lives. And this creates a thriving neighborhood of families that don’t move around so much, help each other out. But I will say that any time someone causes death or destruction, there needs to be a price to pay. I mean that.
The Downtown area including the Third Ward and Fifth Ward and also Bay View are doing very well—successful businesses, apartments and condos, thriving stores and restaurants, the Deer District and more—proving that investment in the infrastructure works. Therefore, it would seem productive to see improvements on the Black North Side and the Hispanic South Side. How can your policies help build up the infrastructure of these inner-city areas and help developers invest in the inner city?
I call it people-structured investment in Milwaukee. From my first day in office, I called for infrastructure investments not just in downtown but out in the neighborhoods. Those investments are starting to happen on the North Side and South Side. This means opportunities for businesses to thrive including minority-held businesses that employ folks from minority neighborhoods. I’ve also encouraged a bicycle lanes network to make streets safer and thus encouraging businesses to thrive. We are also implementing the federal ARPA money to convert and rehab city-owned, tax-foreclosed properties for residents to purchase at affordable rates.
I think you are seeing this improvement along ML King Drive, for instance, the old Gimbels Building completely renovated. The vacant Briggs & Stratton plant on 32nd and Center has been converted into affordable living spaces. There are beautiful new office and apartment buildings on North Avenue near 15th Street. There is the Sherman Phoenix complex on 36th and Fond du Lac.
That’s right, and if you build higher density living units in the neighborhoods, you will create construction and office jobs. Residents will also need access to public transportation like busses, bicycle and stroller lanes. That means residents are spending more of their money locally.
About a year and a half ago, I walked with you through a section of your 2nd aldermanic district where you listened to the problems facing your constituents. Now that you are Mayor, what are your priorities for neighborhoods moving forward? And might there be future listening sessions with city residents?
As mayor, I have the pleasure of listening to every Milwaukee citizen, and I visit all the neighborhoods. I speak to citizens on a daily basis. I bring their concerns back to City Hall. I see this as part of my job as mayor—listening to the residents.
What are the concerns of residents as you hear them?
Increasing public safety is a big one. Another is creating family-supporting jobs in order to build a strong and thriving middle class, especially in the hard-hit areas like the North and South sides. The older residents want their kids and grandkids to stay in Milwaukee. We are working to create an environment where young people can be educated and then lay down roots here.
A while ago, you told me, “I’ve lived in zip code 53206, lived the life of an inner-city Black man. I’ve seen domestic violence, the use of guns, not personally but people in my family, other people that I care about. Black people not having enough to eat, lights shut off because they were late on a bill, power shut off so they were cold in winter or had to use candles. As a kid, I’d been through near-evictions. One of the houses I lived in was set on fire when my family was living upstairs.” How has your inner-city childhood experience influenced your role as Mayor?
That experience affects my work every day. It’s why I understand the importance of public safety. It’s why I care about people who have to move around too much, be transients. I attended six different elementary schools. I don’t want to see that experience for inner city neighborhood kids. I care about kids having stability in their family life. I focus on root cause issues—safety, jobs, growth opportunities, and business establishment.
You once told me, paraphrasing, “There are inner city Black children who have never seen Lake Michigan.” I get it because I’ve spoken with some Black teens who said they’ve never visited Downtown. A lot of people do not realize the isolation some Black families endure in Milwaukee, even the loss of hope. Can you comment?
Recently, there were young men participating in the Camp Rise program that I and other partners launched to take young people from hard-hit neighborhoods and provide opportunities for them to have caring adult mentors to teach them about work and responsibility. Also, to give them exposure beyond their neighborhoods. That Sunday, for the first time, these young men went into the Fiserv Forum, watched the Bucks practice and then watched a game. Employ Milwaukee runs Camp Rise and also Earl Ingram from Voices of the Elders. Last summer, we recruited 200 young men of color into the program. These are positive influences. You need exposure to things outside your neighborhood. If all you see is death and drugs and violence, that can send you down a bad path.
Is being mayor a lonely job? In other words, is it lonely at the top?
Lonely at the top? This is the most challenging job I’ve ever had, but also the most rewarding. Ten years ago, I worked as a staffer for the mayor here in City Hall. At times, I was alone in the mayor’s office. I could have sat in his chair behind the desk, but I never did. I said to myself, the only way I will ever sit in that chair is if I earn it myself.
And now you are sitting in that chair.
You don’t understand the magnitude of the mayor’s job until it’s your name above the door. Is it lonely at the top? Yes, to a respect—but rewarding, too.
