The Steering & Rules Committee of the Milwaukee Common Council met on Monday, June 8, 2026, at 1:37 PM in City Hall. The committee heard public testimony, discussed four major agenda items, and voted on several files. Key topics included the decline in Chronic Nuisance Premises (s. 80-10) letters, new public dashboards for Part II crime data, corporate ownership of rental properties, and the likely effects of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais on voting rights. Two files were placed on file as no longer needed.
The meeting adjourned at 3:53 PM.
For the steering and rules committee, I am Alderman Josepet as chair. I am joined by Alderwoman Marina Dmitrievich Vice Chair, Alderman Bauman, Alderman Russell Stamper, Alder Woman Malayle A. Cogs is excused. He'll be with us in a moment. And we're also joined by Alder Woman Charlene Moore. It is approximately 1 37 p.m. Uh today, Monday, June 2026, and we'll be getting right into it. And uh item number one, file two five two four two communication from the Milwaukee Police Department and the Department of Neighborhood Services relating to the decline in nuisance letters of eighty ten chronic nuisance premise letters. Could you please join us? Uh excuse me, I'm sorry, we will be taking testimony just at the beginning. It'll be the only testimony we'll be taking today, will be on this file from the public. And um, and then we'll we'll take that information and we'll we'll uh put it into the record. So I I know that I coordinated with common ground a couple of folks to testify. Can you come to the front and testify, please? Yeah, just what is it? Two people? If we can just make room for our folks to testify. Sorry about the confusion. We wanted to take the testimony and then go into the farm. Oh, you want to take the testimony first? Yeah, my fault. Sorry about that. And and just to set the tone, I mean, um some of these uh this request for this communication was really based on um, I know that I made some inquiries in 2024 about the the amount of nuisance letters that uh I know district two that I was receiving from my district, and in the process, we've had uh communication from several of our community groups and members about nuisance issues in our community, and uh earlier this year, I know that I signed the pledge along with many other elected officials with common ground. So reason we wanted to get your testimony first and about the work you did. Uh I know I signed it, the mayor did. Uh, all the women's all the person on Maripa and and uh Kent LaBerne. So we do have some traction and wanting to move things forward, and we want to take your testimony, put that front and center, and then uh all of us can react to that as we communicate uh how we move forward. So thank you. Thank you to the committee, and thank you to the council. Good afternoon. I am Gabriela Diegues of Common Grounds Strategy Team and Southside Action Team. My comments pertain to this to several of the files today. Our message is use and improve the eighty-10 nuisance ordinance to make our neighborhoods safer, to hold corporate landlords accountable, and to recoup funds for MPB. Common ground submitted a nine-page evaluation of eighty-10 to the file with three concerns and nine recommendations. This is part of our Southside Safety Campaign. Last year, we conducted a survey and 1,557 Southsiders said crime is hurting their lives. In April, we launched a five-point safety plan signed by our members and officials like Major Johnson, Council President Perez, Alderwoman Samaripa, City Attorney Goicki, District Attorney Lovern, MPD District 2, Captain Mejia, and others. Thank you again to those who signed. The fourth point of our safety plan is policy reform. That is why we are here. 80-10 is one of MPD's most powerful tools to hold property owners accountable and to recoup service costs at problem properties. But in eight years between August 2017 and August 2025, 80-10s usage has declined and has been inconsistent. In total, 991 nuisance letters were sent to property owners in that time. 150 letters in 2018, but just 46 in 2025, less than one third of the amount, without a similar drop in crime. Some MPD districts like District 2 have been relatively consistent with 80-10, whereas others, like District 7 reported zero nuisance properties in the last two years. In the last two years, according to records, we obtained, let's be clear, 80 10 works. The city itself says 81% of cases are resolved without any billing for services. 81%. Concerns like evictions or foreclosures are rare and overstated. In our analysis, Common Ground found thousands of properties that theoretically met the 80-10 threshold, but were not declared such.