Sales tax, streetcar, I-794 and more: CBS 58 discusses the year ahead with Mayor Cavalier Johnson
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Wisconsin's biggest city will get plenty of national attention as the swing state plays a pivotal role in the 2024 election, but there are plenty of local issues that will affect residents over the next 12 months. During a 40-minute sit-down interview earlier this week, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson discussed many of those topics with CBS 58:
Public Safety
One of the biggest challenges facing Milwaukee in recent years has been a rise in violent crime. However, after three straight years of setting new homicide records, the city recorded 161 homicides in 2023; that was a decline of more than 20%.
Johnson credited improved communication between police, residents and community groups. When asked how people can measure success moving forward, he called for the Office of Community Wellness and Safety, formerly known as the Office of Violence Prevention, to do a better job of spending the federal pandemic aid it's received.
"I think one of the metrics folks should be able to look at is the amount of money the office presently has and getting those out of the door," Johnson said.
Improving Schools
Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) scored a 58.0 out of 100 on the most recent state report card. That score allowed the district to be classified as meeting expectations as MPS improved in the achievement and growth sections of the state evaluation.
Still, 23 of the district's 142 schools fail to meet expectations. Beyond that, graduation and absentee rates are still below the district's target area.
Johnson noted the mayor doesn't have direct power over the district in Milwaukee since the school board is elected. When asked what he believes his role is when it comes to education, Johnson said it was to influence better living conditions for families, which would then give kids a better chance to succeed in school.
"I want to make sure that kids live in neighborhoods and have families that put them in the best position to succeed when they do get into the classroom," he said. "That's where my responsibility lies."
While MPS considers asking voters for more money in an April referendum, Johnson pointed to other districts that have gone to referendum.
According to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum, 2022 saw a record-high number of school districts asking voters for additional tax support. At the same time, none of those districts received nearly as much pandemic aid as Milwaukee.
"If all these other school districts are using this tool to make sure their districts have the resources necessary to provide a quality educational environment for their students, then I think Milwaukee should be availed those opportunities, as well," Johnson said.
Sales Tax
Milwaukee's new 2% city sales tax has been in place for one week. With the new tax, the overall sales tax burden now places Milwaukee between its peer cities; some similar-sized cities have a higher sales tax, others lower, but the difference in all cases is no more than two percentage points.
Johnson's interview with CBS 58 happened early last week. In the following days, he and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann have traded barbs online about the sales tax.
Johnson said he was not worried about the sales tax harming his chances of re-election in April. According to city election records, Johnson has two challengers: Ieshuh Griffin, who is also running for multiple Common Council seats under the Poor People's Piece of the Pie Campaign, and David King, who describes himself as the founder of "Wisconsin God Squad."
"I think that the vast majority of citizens in Milwaukee understand the fact that if the state had came through with shared revenue as the promise was made many, many years ago, then we wouldn't have been in that situation," Johnson said.
Relationship with the Legislature
Johnson has often discussed his desire to improve the city's relationship with the Republican-controlled state Legislature. Last year, he was involved in negotiations that led to deals on increasing the state's shared revenue with local governments and a $500 million public funding package to extend the Brewers' lease in Milwaukee through 2050.
At the same time, GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has targeted Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs in the University of Wisconsin System and other state offices. Johnson, a proponent of DEI efforts, said he opposed Vos' push to cut DEI support at the state level, but he added that disagreement would not hamper his efforts to work with the Legislature in other areas.
"We have to understand the political reality that's on the ground," Johnson said. "And so, yes, there are areas where we can and should work together because we need to, for instance, [shared revenue] presenting us the opportunity to preserve services that all of our constituents here in Milwaukee need and deserve."
"But that doesn't mean I agree with every single thing Republicans in Madison attempt to do. In fact, I wholly disagree with a number of their efforts on DEI, whether it's locally or whether it's a statewide issue."
Future of the streetcar
As part of the shared revenue agreement allowing Milwaukee to pursue a city sales tax, one condition imposed on the city was it could no longer use tax revenue on its streetcar system, known as "The Hop."
Johnson said he was perplexed as to why Republicans and many of their suburban constituents opposed to the streetcar to such an extent that it became a bargaining chip.
"Some of our viewers in the WOW counties [Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington], specifically, some of the suburban viewers and some of their representatives in Madison have this sort of toxic relationship with the idea of the streetcar or fixed rail transit, generally," Johnson said.
The mayor acknowledged that restriction would limit Milwaukee's ability to match any federal grants to extend the streetcar to places the Common Council has identified for expansion, including the Bronzeville and Walker's Point neighborhoods, as well as Fiserv Forum.
Johnson said his sales pitch to conservatives would be to look at other cities that use transit as a development tool. He pointed to the Couture's developers in Milwaukee citing the streetcar's value and plans to build a streetcar in Omaha, Nebraska, where Republicans control the state government, using tax increment financing.
"I wanna see the development that's happened downtown with the streetcar, I wanna see that expanded into the neighborhoods, including neighborhoods that have had issues with crime, including neighborhoods that need more access to family-supporting jobs," Johnson said. "Yes, I mean, [tax districts] would be the best way for us to be able to generate the local match necessary to tack onto these federal grants in order to expand the system."
Future of I-794
One of the biggest long-term issues facing the city is whether I-794 will continue to run through downtown. Proponents are calling on the Department of Transportation of take down the elevated freeway and replace it with an at-grade boulevard.
While Johnson has said he's open to that idea, he also isn't wholeheartedly embracing it the way he is with the push to remove the Stadium Freeway on the city's west side.
Johnson said he did not have a timeline for when he would take a stance on I-794.
"I think there's still questions that are out there, data needs to be analyzed," Johnson said. "I don't even have all that information just yet, and I don't know when all that information is going to come to me."
While Johnson said he did not want to see I-794 rebuilt in its current form, he indicated there were various perspectives he must take into account. Ald. Bob Bauman has previously implied downtown employers U.S. Bank and Northwestern Mutual were pressuring city leaders to oppose complete freeway removal.
"I have an entire constituency that I have to represent, and I've got a lot of interests that I've gotta consider in this," Johnson said. "My belief is that 794 should not be reconstructed in the current footprint that it is right now."
Tearman Spencer and Willie Hines
Two city offices under intense scrutiny have been the office of city attorney and the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM).
City Attorney Tearman Spencer has been accused of misconduct by the city's inspector general, who maintains one of Spencer's deputies has been working for his private practice on city time. Since his 2020 election, Spencer has seen numerous employees leave the office amid a series of complaints, including accusations of sexual harassment.
Johnson declined to directly answer whether he had confidence in Spencer as city attorney.
"I think whether or not I have confidence in the city attorney is probably irrelevant," Johnson said. "What's most relevant right now is the voters of the city of Milwaukee who will be casting ballots in the city attorney's race in just a matter of months."
State Rep. Evan Goyke is challenging Spencer in the city attorney race. While Johnson acknowledged he's familiar with both people, he declined to issue an endorsement.
"You know, I'm focused right now on my own election," Johnson said.
Meanwhile, HACM has been plagued by accusations of incompetent record keeping and poor security measures.
While activists have called for the ouster of executive director Willie Hines, Jr., Johnson said he supported Hines remaining the head of HACM. The mayor said he based his stance on federal housing officials finding HACM has been making progress.
"Right now, I'm comfortable with Willie remaining in charge," Johnson said. "Again, it's not just taking my word for it. When I talk to [U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] officials, from all levels of government, or all regions, they say it's heading in the right direction."
Development around American Family Field
Part of the funding bill for Brewers stadium renovations is the creation of a task force to explore developing some of the parking lot space around American Family Field.
Johnson has openly vouched for such development while Brewers officials have been more hesitant, saying it's not an immediate priority and they want to ensure any changes don't harm the team's "tailgating culture" or worsen traffic congestion before and after events.
Johnson said he believed such development could catalyze a wider renewal in the area, specifically on Canal Street.
"I think you've got excellent bookends with American Family Field and the Harley-Davidson Museum and Potowatomi Hotel and Casino in the middle," Johnson said.
Currently, that stretch of Canal Street between 6th and 35th Streets includes a large garage for the city's Department of Public Works. Johnson said he would be open to relocating city operations in order to clear out room for more development on Canal.
"I'm open to seeing those things move, yes," Johnson said. "And those are things that we want to explore because I think there's tremendous value in doing that, opening up that land for development."
Timeline to replace lead water pipes
Perhaps Johnson's most ambitious goal as mayor is to replace all of the city's nearly 70,000 remaining lead water lines in 20 years.
During his visit to Milwaukee last month, President Joe Biden touted a federal goal to use money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to replace all of the nation's lead pipes in 10 years.
That would require an incredible uptick in Milwaukee's rate of lead pipe replacement. 2023 was the first year in which the city replaced more than 1,000 lead service lines.
With federal dollars supporting other projects and a shortage of construction workers, Johnson acknowledged meeting his goal, let alone Biden's, will be a massive undertaking.
"There are issues around capacity, right? And getting enough contractors out there in order to meet our desire," Johnson said. "It's a huge challenge. It's a monumental challenge, but it's a challenge worthy of all our effort, and that's exactly what we're gonna give to it."
Closing thought
The final question for Johnson was what he'd pursue if given the ability to bypass lawmakers in Madison and send one piece of legislation directly to Gov. Tony Evers' desk.
"Guns," Johnson immediately replied. "It'd be on guns."
When pressed for specifics on what that bill would do, Johnson said it would include mandatory background checks on all gun sales, red flag restrictions that allow police to confiscate guns from someone deemed a threat and harsher punishment for both thieves who take guns and people who fail to secure their guns while in public.
"Holding people accountable who steal guns from cars, yes, increasing penalties on them because they've committed a crime in doing so," Johnson said. "But then also holding folks to account who have brought their guns to a place where this activity [stealing guns from cars] is known to happen."