Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Milwaukee’s first black-elected mayor, has been busy actively shaping the city since he was elected in April 2022. In this candid conversation, we delve into important topics such as the truth behind dropping crime rates in Milwaukee (though traditional media seems to hide this fact), strategies to attract people to the city, his perspective as a Democrat on the upcoming RNC, his early political setbacks, and the inspiring journey that led him to the position of Mayor. If you’re looking to get to better know the Mayor and what he is doing to make change happen in Milwaukee this episode is for you!
Sponsored by Central Standard Distillery: https://thecentralstandard.com/
Produced by Story Mark Studios: https://storymarkstudios.com/
Media partner – OnMilwaukee: https://onmilwaukee.com/
Richie Burke:
Hey everyone. Welcome back to Milwaukee Uncut, presented by Central Standard Distillery in partnership with On Milwaukee and Story Mark Studios have a very special guest here today, mayor Cavalier Johnson, the first elected black mayor of Milwaukee who took over for Tom Barrett in December of 2021. Then won his election in the spring of 2022. Just wrapped up your first official year. Yes. Since getting elected. Yep. Thanks for coming in today. It’s great to have you.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Pleasure to be here. Happy to do it. So
Richie Burke:
Just going back, you grew up, you were one of 10 siblings, essentially grew up in the 5 3 2 0 6, which is the most incarcerated zip code in the us. What, what was your experience like growing up in the city of Milwaukee?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
You know it was challenging when I was a kid. And I went to Milwaukee Public Schools from kindergarten all the way to, to 12th grade. We moved a lot when I was a kid. We had a, a lot of housing instability. When I was in elementary school, I went to six different schools getting plucked out of, you know, schools and going to other ones across, across the city. So I, I had experience before I ran for Office Citywide Experience just by virtue of the fact that I was in schools from the far Northwest side all the way to the south side of the city. And lived in a, in a number of different neighborhoods primarily on the No Side, certainly. But I had a citywide sort of experience before I even thought about running for public office.
Richie Burke:
And when did you know you wanted to get into politics?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
14 years old. 14 years old. Two things happened that year. It was 2001, and I had joined or was recruited to go into a, a, a pre-college program for low income students in Milwaukee Public Schools, to be the first person in your family to go to co to go to college. That program was called Sponsor A Scholar. It was a mentorship program, and it was, it was great. The other part of that same program was to get those same kids involved in public, in service and given back. And so I went to help seniors to rake leaves and shovel snow and do all this sort of stuff. And I fell in love with the service, you know, aspect of that. And then later on that same year, nine 11 happened and I watched president George W. Bush at the time go to what was left of the World Trade Center as a, a freshman at high school at Bayview High School. And for whatever reason, you know, something just clicked in my brain that said I could have a career where I got up and served people. Like I fell in love with doing that to the Y M C A and government could be the pathway that I did that, because I saw President Bush doing that. And so that happened at 14 and just never looked back 14 years old.
Richie Burke:
And you, you weren’t a success right away when you got into the political, I know you had a couple failed campaigns. Can you, can you touch on that and what your initial start was trying to, trying to break in?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Oh, yeah, Lord, no. I was not successful at all. So when I went to college, I went to, you know, UW Madison and studied political science. I knew what I wanted to do, so I didn’t to switch. I didn’t need to switch majors, you know, a number of times I was, you know, focused in on what I had desired there. And when I graduated with me degree in political science I had opportunities before going into the workforce where I worked in workforce development with the agency that’s now called Employ Milwaukee. I worked there as an intern when it was the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board, and the Private Industry Council of Milwaukee County did other service projects in New York and Europe and in South America, other places. My first spring break in college was in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and folks had lost everything.
And so then when I graduated and I took, you know, all the experiences that I had from those things, I said, okay, I’m, I’m ready to run. I was not ready to run. There were things that I still did not know. So I thought to myself, this is the only time that I’m going to be able to run for office, because there was a somebody who was in office for some time and they left the county board. So I just decided to throw my name in the hat, and, and I ran there were five people in the race, and I got crushed. I was in fifth place, like I got the fewest amount of votes. And then the next year there was another opportunity. Somebody else had left office. That should have been my signal that there will be opportunities.
But I was still young. It wasn’t yet. So I thought, okay, this must be, you know, the godsend, like the a a second kick of the cat. Th this time there were seven people in the race. I wasn’t in seventh place. I was in sixth place, and I got fewer votes than I did the first time that I ran. So it was a little demoralizing, to say the least. But but I stayed at it and I learned from a lot of folks. I expanded my network, and I just continued to, to dig in and work at it. And I, I just, I didn’t give up. I didn’t give up. And that’s one of the life lessons that you know, my mentors and family taught me over time, which, which is just, you know, you face difficulty, you face challenges, but those things can be overcome. There is another day, do not give up. And I did. I just didn’t give up.
Richie Burke:
I know that probably can’t be easy at that age. You probably have an ego at that age, and you think you’re gonna go out and just kill it, and then you get last place, and then you get fewer votes than you did before the next one. No. you said you kept going, obviously you did. You’re the mayor of the city or right now, what, was there anything in particular that, that kept you going and that made you not so discouraged from those early failures?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Was there anything in particular that kept me going? I, I think just my desire to serve in this, I, I don’t know why it was that, you know, those two things. My experience in the Y M C A and the, the service projects, and, you know, of course, nine 11 affected every person, every American in, you know, some way or another. You know, some folks decided to become police officers. Some went into the armed forces. I decided to devote my life to, to service, you know, in doing this. I think it was just my own desire to continue serving my community in some form or fashion that didn’t have me to give up. So I, so after failing in my initial two runs for office I still was involved in public sector service giving back. I continued my work with the nonprofit sector with workforce development.
I helped young people get their first summer jobs through our Earn and Learn Summer Youth Jobs program. I helped seniors to retool their resumes and get back into the workforce for the last time. And then I had the opportunity the, the former mayor Tom Barrett saw all the work that I was doing in the community and recruited me to come into his office. So I, I made it to the mayor’s office, as a, as a staffer. About 10 years ago, actually, in 2013 I went there and then when I was there, a a third sort of opportunity came up. I, I’m a young man. I moved around, you know, and the place that I lived at the time, the Alderman in the second Alderman district was running for mayor and not running for reelection.
And we’ve seen this in the past where some alders have run for both. They run for, for mayor, and as a, you know, sort of fail safe. They, you know, run for their alderman district again. This time the alderman was not running for reelection. And so I thought to myself, it’s a wide open seat. It’s a third shot. I have better connections. I feel like I’ve made more of an impact. I learned lessons from the past. I think I can give another shot at this. I, I, I will tell you though, I was, I was scared. I was scared. I made my, my way into the mayor’s office. And I remember the day in July of 2015, when I left the mayor’s office, I, after working so hard to get to government, to get to the mayor’s office, I packed my box up.
And if you were ever in City Hall on the second floor, I was at the, the, the top of the stairs. And I had my box. And I looked back, you know, to my left at, at, you know, the sign over the door that says Mayor’s office. I’m like, I don’t know if I’ll ever be back here. I don’t know if I will be, but I have to. I have to go and I have to, to try to get to the other side of the hall. And so I walked down the stairs and you know, just like in my first race, there were five people in the race, and I’m like, oh, Lord, here we go again, . But again, I, I relied on the lessons that I had learned. And I mean, that time I didn’t come out in fifth place that time. I came out in the primary election. I came out in the first place with over, I believe I, I forget what the, what the total was then, but it was a significant amount. I think it was like 40% of the vote or something like that. And, you know, ultimately won the general election too, and became a, at that time, the, the youngest African American to ever win a seat on Milwaukee’s common council.
Richie Burke:
What was that feeling like? Were you surprised? Were you relieved? Were you proud? Combination of everything
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Combination of everything. , I remember the election night, April 5th, 2016. And you know, had folks at my election party in the district and me being so nervous and, you know, not wanting to go there until I knew for certain that I had won the election. Cuz I had lost two, you know, and it was gonna go anyway. But like, I wanted, I wanted to know. And my opponent at the time had served in the alderman’s office. Now, the, the, the, the previous alderman had been there for 13 years. Joe Davis he had been there for 13 years in, in that seat. And his aid was my general election opponent. And he had been in the office with Davis for 11 of those 13 years. So he knew everybody. He knew the district, he knew all the neighborhoods, he knew all the black watch. Like he had so much institutional knowledge about the district that I thought that it was, you know it was gonna be really difficult to defeat him in the general election. But again, we, we worked really hard. I learned the lessons of the past, and we ultimately were, were were successful that night. But all those emotions you talk about, all of those were racing through my mind and my heart.
Richie Burke:
Yeah. It’s gotta be nerve wracking. And how did, so Barrett step down in late 2021, how did that come about for you to take over for him?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
So when, if you fast forward the tape from that first election, 2016, so then in 2020 I run for reelection and I’m reelected to the city council. That year I also run for city council president. Right? And so that, that’s an election just between, just amongst the, the, the elders. And so the elders, or at least the majority of us, elected me to serve as, as council president. And so when you get elected council president, you are you are, you know, I guess essentially like vice president in a, in a way. And so if the president of the United States, if President Biden were to step down, you know, today, then vice President Harris would assume the presidency, same thing that we have here. So mayor Barrett at the time was being nominated by President Joe Biden to be United States Ambassador to Luxembourg. And ultimately, when the Senate confirmed his nomination and the mayor resigned as council president, I then had the opportunity to step up and serve as acting mayor from the point that Tom left up until the point of my own election the following April. So that was December 20 December 22nd, 2021 and then elected in April of just last year.
Richie Burke:
Was that a whirlwind five months for you?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was
Richie Burke:
Because Did you see that coming at all, or
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
You know, I, I didn’t, of course, as, as council president, you know, that, you know, you’re in a position to become mayor if something like that were to ever happen. We’ve got a tradition of very long serving mayors in Milwaukee, and certainly tell Tom Barrett served for a very long time nearly 20 years as, as mayor that I have any inclination that it would happen. You know, my thought was like I, I watched Tom serve in the position of mayor from, you know, 2008 up until, you know, 20 17, 20 16, 20 17. And I say those years because those are the years where Barack Obama was presidency, was was President rather. And Tom Barrett was the first big city mayor in America that actually stepped out and endorsed Barack Obama, even when Hillary Clinton was still in the race. You know, Tom was there for, for Barack and for two terms, two of presidential terms. Tom Barrett was still here, he was still mayor, the president Obama hadn’t tapped him. So my thought was like, if he stayed here for two Obama terms, it’s probably unlikely that he’s gonna go anywhere now. So, like, I’m just focused on doing my job as council president and serving as second district Alderman. So do I know there’s a possibility, something like that happening? Yeah, sure. In the back of your mind. But I wasn’t really banking on it. I didn’t know it was going to happen. But then it did.
Richie Burke:
Yeah. And you’re the first elected black mayor of the city of Milwaukee, obviously very segregated city. What, what do you think the importance of that is?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
I, I think it’s, I think it’s very important. You know, Milwaukee is sort of like the, the Ellis Island of the state of Wisconsin, right? One in 10 wisconsinites live here. The vast majority of people of color in the state of Wisconsin live here in Milwaukee. Certainly the vast majority of African Americans. We’ve got a growing in great Latino population here in the city. We’ve got one of the largest enclaves of Hmong people in the country here. There are native Americans who live in, called Milwaukee home as well too. So it means a lot, I think, to have a person of color who represents the diversity of the city. And when we’re a city that is, you know, 65%, maybe a little bit more people of color, right? And so to have a mayor who reflects that, I think is is, is critically important.
And I remember my election night last April, and one of the first people that I had the opportunity to speak with was a little black boy who now can see his own reflection in the mayor’s office. And I, I I, I spent a lot of time in schools across Milwaukee. And one of the first things that I tell young people in schools is that, look, I, I can’t be here forever now. We’re not gonna be mayor forever. I’m not trying to break, you know, you know, Henry Meyer or Carl Zeller’s record of being, you know, mayor for 28 years or anything like that. So, so I need them to study hard care about their community because at some point in the future, one day they’ll be, there will be a new mayor, just like there was after Tom Barrett left, just like there was after John Norquist left, just like there was, after Henry Meyer left, so on and so forth. And I need them to be ready to step into the opportunity to serve. And it is really a, a, a unique opportunity to just, to serve every person in our city.
Richie Burke:
And it’s gotta be inspiring from them a a young black man becoming there from their zip code. Just seeing that.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I think that it is you know, when I get the chance to, to, to go back there and go visit them in their schools or go walk, you know, on the streets in those neighborhoods you know, they are impressed and like, they, they want to see me. They wanna shake my hands, they wanna take pictures with me, because again, they can see their own reflection, I think, you know, for, for them now they think that, Hey, this is, this is possible too. You know, it’s one of the pieces of advice that I got when I was a kid. There were, there were, you know, several pieces that, you know, helped me even today as it relates to this conversation. One of the pieces that that I got when I was a kid was from my dad.
And my dad told me when I was a kid that you should get off the block and , when I was young, I thought he was talking about my actual, like, you know, four corners of my, you know, city block that I lived on. And I said, well, dad, I could just, you know, cross the street. And then I’m like, not on , not on the block, but he was talking about like, expanding your horizons, you know and going different places and doing different things and being exposed to, to different things. And now I think for these kids, even by me coming to them or them seeing me elsewhere, if that were to be the case that is expanding their horizons, they can see that, you know, what happens on the four corners of their block, especially if it’s just, if you know they’re accustomed seeing bad things happening, they know that there is some other chance, there is some other opportunity if they work hard and stay focused, that they can, they can do anything.
They can become mayor. And I tell them too, there’s, there’s nothing special about me there. There isn’t you know, I, I come from the same neighborhoods went to the same schools, have the same challenges. Know what it’s like to be hungry, know what it’s like to have Christmas with no gifts. You know, know what it’s like to be one of many siblings. Know what it’s like to see gun violence or domestic violence. Like I, I’ve got those same, you know, things in my past as well. And if I’m here, I, they, they certainly can be here too.
Richie Burke:
Absolutely. and you said you’re committed to creating a safer, more equitable city. A lot of people are concerned about the crime in Milwaukee. We’ve had a number of shootings recently. We’ve had the Kia Boys over the last few years. Come on the scene. Can you speak to some of the initiatives that you’re working on and how they’re going?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Sure. and, and I think it’s important for folks to, to know this, we don’t get enough of this from traditional media. And I wish that that was that that was, you know, not the case. But the fact of the matter is that in the one solid of the year that I’ve been mayor in 2022, and I’m not trying to jinx anything I think we’ve been like very, very focused working with all of our partners and police, other area areas of law enforcement, violence prevention with the nonprofit sector, certainly with the, with the the private sector to grow jobs and opportunity. Crime has actually dropped in Milwaukee in 2022. Crime in Milwaukee was down about 15% and violent crime was down some 7%. And here in 2023, those trends continue. And, and, and those are good things.
And I think that there are a number of factors as to why that’s the case. One we’re working at growing family supporting jobs in Milwaukee. Years ago, if you rewind the tape back 50 years we used to have the highest quality of life for African-Americans in the United States, right here in Milwaukee, right? Why? Is because folks had access to good paying family supporting jobs to help them to take care of themselves, take care of their families, buy a home. So they’re stabilizing forces in those neighborhoods. And if you have that stability in somebody’s home and in somebody’s family and in the neighborhoods then that’s how you get to a safer city overall, because the neighbors, the neighborhoods become familial when you get to a critical mass of that. So we got a, a real focus on working with the private sector to grow jobs.
We’ve been working with the police department to do a number of things. We launched a traffic safety unit that goes after folks who are disregarding traffic law. We’ve implemented new policies to allow the police to go after folks who are driving recklessly to actually tow those vehicles away. So we’re doing that. We’re working with our Department of public works to install improvements to the roadway, shrinking down you know, some of the lanes installing protected bike lane facilities throughout the city, which makes traversing the city safer for those folks. But then also puts an additional barrier in the way for folks who attempt to, to drive recklessly. We’ve got pinned on curb extensions that are out there as well. We’re working with our partners in violence prevention. We just celebrated a Peace week just last week where we had, you know, dozens and dozens of, you know, groups coming out to celebrate all the events that we’re doing.
You know, so we’re doing a lot of things to improve safety in Milwaukee from the private sector, growing jobs point of view, from the position of law enforcement, from the position of violence prevention from the nonprofit sector. I mean, even our initiative to invest millions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act that we were given by President Joe Biden’s administration into city-owned tax foreclosed homes where we fix those properties up we sell them to owner occupants are gonna be there, be those stabilizing forces in the neighborhoods I was just talking about. And that helps to make neighborhoods stronger and more stable as well. So multi-pronged approach. And I think from what we’ve seen, you know, it is working because crime has dropped and those trends continue even in, into this year.
Richie Burke:
Yeah, I did, like I was listening to a different podcast you were on, you talked about, I believe Camp Rise. Yeah, yeah. As well, where you took inner city kids and gave them jobs and which prevented them from being recruited into the Kia Boys for the most part, and gave them experience in the workforce as well, and put a couple hundred kids through that last summer.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that. Yeah. You know, when I leave this office at some point in the future, like many, again, we got long serving mayors in Milwaukee, like but at some point when that does happen, I’ll be able to look back at Camp Rise, and I think that’ll be the thing that I’m most proud about because we use the experience that I had growing up in those Y M C A programs I talked about and got those kids who other otherwise would’ve been recruited into going to the Ki Boys and stuff like that, and put them on a better path forward giving them the caring adult mentors you know, giving them a work experience, showing them an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work. You know Milwaukee, I believe is the only major city in the United States right now that is doing workforce development programming with kids as young as 10.
I mean, this is four years before they’re even able to get a work permit. And we’re doing that, and we’re making a difference in the lives of those kids. Last year was 200, you know, young boys of color. This year it’s 200 young boys of color. There. There was a criticism we got last year that there were no opportunities for girls. Now we’ve added opportunity for, you know, 50 girls to join into Camp Rise as well. So phenomenal program. The, the, from the initial year parents who were surveyed I remember a stat, they said like 91% of the parents who had young people involved said they saw growth in their young men participating in this program. And so very, very proud of, of that. And our partners at Employ Milwaukee Titania Brown in particular who’s the president, c e o there that are administering the program.
Richie Burke:
Hey everyone, it’s your host, Richie Burke, and I just wanted to take a minute to thank our sponsor, central Standard, and remind you that we are giving away hundreds of dollars in central standard gift cards, event tickets, and more. You can simply enter by clicking the link in the show notes. And if you’re looking for that perfect summer cocktail, central standard has great options through the new ready Poor mixers, dockside whiskey, and my personal favorite, the Dora County Sherry Vodka, and a lot more. Also, their rooftop is open at the craft house downtown. I’m not sure if there’s a better place in the city to enjoy a drink on a nice summer afternoon. Thanks again for tuning in thanks to Central Standard, and let’s get back to the show.
Okay. So, Milwaukee got the bid for the R N C in 2024. You a, you’re a Democrat. Mm-Hmm. , you are, you’ve said you’re very much in favor of the R N C coming here. Why is this important to the city? And what would you say to other Democrats in the city, which is a good chunk of the city’s population who are maybe not looking forward to the R N C crowd coming in?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Yeah. to me, and, and yes, I am a, a, a Democrat and proud to be so but to me, the R N C is not about politics. It’s not about, you know, whether you got a D behind your name or an R behind your name. It’s about business that’s, it’s, it’s purely about business. Look, this convention is going to happen, right? And it was going to happen in some city, somewhere in the United States of America, and whatever community they went to, the eyes of the country, the eyes of the world were gonna be fix, fixated on that city. And for, you know, the, a couple of days or so you know, when millions of people tuned into the convention on their television screens, they would see the skyline of the city. They’d see, you know, neighborhoods of the city. They’d constantly get, you know, word fed to them about, you know, this city, you know, this opportunity to, to, to speak up, you know, and, and talk about the, how, how great a city is.
I didn’t want that to be Nashville. I didn’t want that to be Cleveland. Again, I want Milwaukee to, to join that conversation. And the, the fact that up to, you know, 200 million plus potential economic impact would happen from that. I don’t want 200 million spent in Chicago, or in p GSKi or in Kansas City. I, I want 200 million spent in Milwaukee. I want those dollars to go into our economy. I want those, those dollars to go to support our workers on the ground in this city. I want those dollars to go to support businesses that have been battered by the pandemic in our hospitality, hospitality retail tourism sector here in Milwaukee. I don’t want that to happen in some other place. And I want the, this convention to continue opening people’s imaginations about what it is that we can offer here in Milwaukee.
I want Milwaukee to continue to be a part of the conversation, right? So I don’t think that it, it, it stops at the R N C I think the R N C is a great stepping stone for other large scale sports, entertainment, political events to choose Milwaukee and see the R N C and the success that we’ll have with this convention as as an opportunity to say, Hey, I’d never thought about Milwaukee in, in that sense. Now I’m thinking about going there. So for the, the N B A All-Star game, now, they’ll think about Milwaukee, the MLB, all-Star game. They’ll think about Milwaukee the CrossFit games that happened in Madison you know, practically every summer. Now they can think about Milwaukee too. The USA triathlon that routinely has happened there. I want them to stay here. You know, I want another crack at the Democratic National Convention, you know, as well. And I’m a big, you know, WWE fan, and so Nashville hosted Summer Slam last year. Like, I want summer slam here. I want people coming from all around the world, all around the country coming here. This
Richie Burke:
Is the real reason, right there.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Yes. , no, I, there, there, there’s, there’s so much, there’s so much opportunity beyond just this one event, and I want the eyes of the world on Milwaukee, and I want those tourism dollars spent here. And, you know, the other thing too is like, Wisconsin is incredibly important for both Democrats and Republicans who are running for, for president. If Milwaukee were not in this state, there is no r n C in Wisconsin. There is no D n C in Wisconsin. It’s only because Milwaukee is in this state that we are in the position for these large scale events to come here. And a quarter of all tour tourists who come to the state of Wisconsin, they come here. I want more people to come here to feed our economy, to support our workers, and to support Milwaukee.
Richie Burke:
That makes sense to me. A lot of eyes on the city, great economic impact, and we can show the world that we can handle large scale events. Correct. seg segueing nicely, your goal is to increase the population of the city as well. You set a goal of a million people with the population stands slightly less than 600,000 right now. And we’re the 30th largest city in the sixties. We were the 11th mm-hmm. , largest city, obviously on the coasting, big conventions. There’s great exposure. What, what other things need to happen in order to grow the city very extensively?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Well, a number of things. And you’re right about the trajectory that we’ve been on. We’ve, our population has not grown. And, and I want to reverse the, those negative population trends. Like, I, I don’t think it’s good enough for us to just settle of being a city of roughly 600,000 or, you know, you know, biting around the edges to maintain that. Like we should be ambitious and look to grow that. So yes, hosting these large scale events, getting more eyes and attention on Milwaukee, getting more visitors to come here, that I think will generate people deciding to, to move here as well. So that’s certainly a piece of it. It’s our efforts, as I talked about, you know, previously to stabilize neighborhoods with using the American Rescue Plan Act dollars to get owner occupants into housing out in the neighborhoods.
It’s working with our partners in the nonprofit sector who are doing the same thing, busting up, you know, these outside absentee landlords ability to buy properties and then themselves doing the same thing to get long-term, stabilize homeowners into neighborhoods as well. All the efforts that we’re making around improving the, the roadways in the city that I just talked about earlier, reducing reckless, reckless driving, making it safer for other users of the roadway. Those are attractive factors to get people and people with families, especially to look at moving to Milwaukee building out a protected bike lane network, actually protected, not just paint on the ground, but a protected network citywide. I think that’s attractive to people who have disposable incomes and could move anywhere in the country to choose to come to Milwaukee being open to economic development and growth here in the city.
So right now in Milwaukee, like we’ve got this renaissance that’s been happening over the course of the past couple years. And you know, I served as council president, so I can take some of the credit for that too here. Milwaukee tool that was growing, you know, a thousand jobs it was gonna happen somewhere. I said that it needed to happen in the city of Milwaukee, not just in the region. It needed to happen in the city. And right now they’re putting the finishing touches on their office downtown. And I think that is awesome. I tasked my administration, the Department of City development to work with Pfizer to make sure that their global headquarters didn’t leave from Brookfield and go to Atlanta, or go out east New York, New Jersey, where their CEO sits or go to Omaha, that we retained it in Wisconsin, that we retained it in Milwaukee.
And so their global headquarters is gonna be downtown Milwaukee. They’re gonna bring hundreds of jobs, and they’re gonna grow jobs there as well. We are, you know, finishing off the expansion of the Baird Center, formerly the, the Wisconsin Center. And that’s gonna allow us to be able to attract more large scale events and multiple events at the same time to, to the city of Milwaukee. And right now, presently in Milwaukee, there are three skyscrapers that are going up that are 30 stories or more. When you think about the, the Heinz development at the north end of the Third Ward the the Edison Mass Timber Tower on the banks of the Milwaukee River, the Couture 44 stories down at the lakefront. These things are attractive, and it’s not just those, I mean, it’s, it’s, you know, the, the other residential buildings that are coming up as well, like Renaissance Place over on the, over on the East side, you know, others that are happening across the town, 1818 on Water Street that have an affordable housing component as well.
Our investments in transportation, because not everybody wants to own a car. I wish I didn’t have to own a car you know, half the time. But more people want that. And if you’re attracting young professional talent, then they need to have spaces where they can get around and not be dependent on an automobile. So certainly there’s, you know, the streetcar that we have here working with Milwaukee County on the bus, rapid Transit program that’s connecting the two largest job centers in Milwaukee, downtown Milwaukee, and our regional medical center in the West suburbs along Wisconsin Avenue. Like all those things are attractive to growing the population and bringing people here. And that’s not even touching on the efforts that the M M A C, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce have with their region of Choice Initiative working to make sure that more people and more people of color get opportunities to serve in management and leadership positions in businesses across Milwaukee. So a lot of efforts.
Richie Burke:
Yes. Great stuff. All right. We’re gonna move over to the standard five, five relatively quick questions. Okay. Brought to you by Central Standard. Number one, if you could spend a day with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Just one person, not one alive, one dead. Just one person. You can
Richie Burke:
Gimme two if you’d like. Oh.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Martin Luther King and as my dead person and alive George W. Bush.
Richie Burke:
I like it. Yeah. Be cool both at the same time, too. That’d be a good conversation. Yeah, that’d be interesting. What is your favorite thing to do in Milwaukee that may surprise some people?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
My favorite thing to do in Milwaukee that may surprise people
Richie Burke:
Or may not surprise people.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
It may not surprise people. I mean, I, I love going to parks in Milwaukee. I mean, I really, really do
Richie Burke:
Good activity. I don’t want to get you in trouble, but do you have a single favorite restaurant in the city?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
No, I love them all.
Richie Burke:
It’s a politician right there. That is a politician. All right, we’ll move on. The first take segment, you got some na, national attention from Steve, a very popular show. I liked that show. How did that all come about and how did you actually get the gift basket to him and on tv?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
How did it come about? It came about because Stephen a was talking crap about Milwaukee, man, let’s talk about these cold. It’s cold during winter. He lives in New York. It’s cold in , it’s cold in New York in winter as well. Look, look at, at the end of the day, I think Steve and I, Steven a and I are gonna be, you know, really good friends. It came about because you know, he made those comments and then we work with the Bucks in order to get the, the, the gift basket over to, I think it went over pretty well.
Richie Burke:
Yeah, that was great. That was great. There was some breaking news, I believe last week. You had your mayor’s design awards. Mm-Hmm. saw Joe Stanton from Three Leaf Partners. Mm-Hmm. Snagged one of those. Mm-Hmm. . Can you can you touch on the, you know, importance of Joe Stanton and Pat Connaughton to the city of Milwaukee?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Yeah. Joe and Pat are doing just amazing work with their developments. I mean, just, just in Milwaukee, all across the region. And it’s not even just the, the, the developments, you know, the, the, the properties, the, the real estate that they’re developing. It’s also the, the charitable giving that they’re doing in Milwaukee, especially through Pat Compton’s Foundation as well. I had the opportunity to go visit Neighborhood House you know, maybe about a year ago and saw the, the court that the foundation put down. They’re, they’re just doing great work in Milwaukee affecting our physical landscape. And I’m really appreciative to what they’re doing.
Richie Burke:
I agree. As the mayor, would you recommend that Joe and Pat come back on the podcast?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Absolutely.
Richie Burke:
Great. Thank you. Fi, final question. When you look back at your tenure as the mayor of Milwaukee, what would you consider success?
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Well, I guess I, I would end where I began. When I began my quest to become mayor I talked about having a city that was stronger, that was safer and that was more prosperous for all Milwaukeeans. And I think we’re on the way to doing that. I’ve got a long time to go before I leave this office. But that’s gonna be my sort of north star here. Is the city in a stronger position? Is the city safer than what it was when I became mayor? And are we gonna be in a position where more people in Milwaukee, regardless of their race, regardless of their background, regardless of their zip code in a position to have more access to prosperity? Those are things I’ll look at.
Richie Burke:
Very well said. Mayor Johnson, thanks for coming on Milwaukee Uncut.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson:
Happy to be here. Thank you guys for having me.
Richie Burke:
Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of Milwaukee Uncut. If you enjoyed this episode, please do us a huge favor and subscribe to the show and write a review that helps us get more ears on these episodes and these great Milwaukee stories. Also, just a reminder that this podcast is sponsored by Central Standard Distillery in its in partnership with On Milwaukee and produced by Story Mark Studios.