Milwaukee community members have mixed feelings about the city’s plans to demolish dozens of vacant properties deemed beyond repair.
In a news conference Monday morning, Mayor Cavalier Johnson said the teardowns are a part of the city’s Raze and Revive initiative, which is meant to address public safety challenges and improve property values.
A home on North 26th Street, that area residents said has been vacant for years, was one of the first to be torn down Monday. This comes after Johnson doubled this city’s demolition budget in 2024 for vacant buildings.
“They drag their feet,” resident Armando Blair said. “If it was somewhere else, it probably would have been gone the next day or something, but unfortunately we’re used to being the last ones to get dealt with.”
With the eyesore finally gone, Blair said he’s glad to see the city taking steps to address the problem but he also worries about what comes next.
“Hopefully they put a big fence up over there too, so it doesn’t become a dumping ground,” he explained.