greetings and welcome to the Reconbobulation Area. Thank you so much for
joining. Oh yeah let's clap. We're excited to be hosting this evening of
conversation and community. Community is something that's really important to
me in the work that we do at the Reconbulation Area and since I started this
publication almost five years ago now the community surrounding it has just
been so special and being a reader-supported publication means that it is
because of all of you here that events like this are at all possible that our
publication is at all possible. So first give yourselves a round of applause
for making this publication possible and all of that. Before I go any further I
want to extend my thanks to a number of others as we get to put this event
together. This event is sponsored by Generator, the startup incubator. They've
been a big supporter of ours since the very beginning. I also want to give a
big thank you to Anadine Coffee here in Walker's Point and for letting us
be in this beautiful space and sharing this evening of community with all of
you. Thank you so much to Anadine. I want to thank my good friend here,
Sanjai Surya, who is our sound tech and just kind of general utility man for
the evening. So thank you to Sanjai. I want to give a thank you to Stephanie
Rhodes of the Great Milwaukee Block Party who is going to be joining us to tell
us a bit about what they are working on for some of the counter-programming and
protest that's happening in the city during the RNC and then of course I would
love to thank our award-winning contributors here Phil Rocco of Marquette
University and Angela Langley Executive Director of Black Leaders
Organizing for Communities. Everybody please give Phil and Angela a big hand.
Marquette University does not endorse so we're just
going to be taking questions from you in the audience at the end of the
podcast here. So if you have any thoughts there's a lot going on in the world
right now. If you have any thoughts and you would like to share them with us
ask us a question. We'll save those just kind of for the very end then. So with
that let's recombobulate. So we are here it's July 10th. We are five days from
the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. So I just kind of
want to show what. I was just trying to get the I was just trying to see help see
if anybody push it I could push that into the red over there. So I just wanted
to start with just kind of a general vibe check. How are we all doing here with
the RNC coming you know the content I feel like the context surrounding this
political convention given it's all that's happening with President Biden with
the Democratic Party and so much else the context of this has changed and I feel
like the the discussion we're having around the RNC has shifted quite
significantly in recent weeks where I think you know before that debate we
would I think have had a very different conversation about this convention. So
Phil and Angela what what are you feeling right now with just five days to go
before this convention. Well I will say I unlike you you're a real journalist I'm
not I think you've got press credentials for this thing I don't I'm not going to
be seeking them but I am looking for people if I can get a VIP pass for the
warehouse RNC probably project 2025 sponsored warehouse dungeon party where I
can only assume there's going to be sort of a role cosplay sort of Dickensian
meatpacking plant vibe in there listen to some KMFDM call for the sacred
judgment this hour you know so something like that if you can get me into that
with your credentials I don't know that's sort of what that's that's the vibe
that I'm carrying right now. Yeah I saw that announcement I don't know if
anybody saw that there was an announcement that there's like a warehouse in
Brewer's Hill that there's like a secret party happening during the RNC and
it's like an invite only thing I think Urban Milwaukee did a story about it
yesterday but when I saw it it was just immediately thought of like the Milwaukee's
hottest club is you know we have everything project 2025 no women allowed this
you know the policy fest project 2025 policy fest but in sort of a let the
bonded like I'm thinking like BDSM Kevin Robert sort of gears I don't know why
my head went there but anyway it's seems entirely possible so okay so
Phil's vibe check is how do I get into that. How do I get into that where
is the place to be Angela how about you not okay I woke up with a lot of
anxiety today specifically but I yeah no to secure my anxiety I am hopping on a
flight at about 11 o'clock on Sunday and so next week I will be taking press
interviews poolside I want no parts I am just as we've all I think been saying
that we've had some serious concerns about what this looks like for our city so
yeah I'm getting out of town with my staff thank goodness and I will be in a
sunny hundred plus degree weather place that sounds great I will be in I will be in
Pfizer forum with press credentials bless your heart trying to you know what I'm
going to be very discombobulated what's going to be happening I think it's
going to be a very discombobulated time for Milwaukee time for the country time
for so many things so I'm jealous that you're going to be able to get out of
town I feel like there's a lot of people who are going to be getting out of
town during the RNC a number of my friends are getting out of town I have a
group of friends who are all going up to the UP I feel like the UP is going to be
a very busy place with like a lot of 414 are you gonna economic impact and you
know what this is gonna mean for the UP yeah just curious show of hands for
those of you in the room how many of you are planning to leave town during the
RNC yeah so I think there's gonna be a lot of people from Milwaukee who are
not going to be experiencing that event in Milwaukee next week and I also
want to say that like I understand that me as an organization it is incredibly
privileged to be able to get out of town and to have the resources to do so and
knowing that there are support staff and folks that may not even be in the
Pfizer or just working downtown that don't have an opportunity to get out of
town or it's not even feasible or possible for them to work from home so I just
want to even acknowledge the privilege in some of us being able to get out of
town and I am one of them and not everybody has that opportunity including some
of the most vulnerable people that may be targeted then I have to ask you you're
covering this event like if you looked at the schedule like what are you gonna do
what are you gonna go what's the first you know well so though the roster of
events is pretty wild and I have looked through it to just see you know the
type of one there's some things that are open to press some things that are
not open to press some things that are held in like Lake Geneva has a bunch of
events going on and Lake Geneva formerly known as Milwaukee but now there's a
bunch of different things I haven't you know I don't think people are
necessarily coming to me for like the breakdown of the Heritage
foundations full day of programming that's happening at the Bradley Symphony
Center on Monday I'm not quite sure if I am the person to go to for that I do
think what I want to be covering with this is the conventions relationship with
Milwaukee and Milwaukee's relationship with the convention and how that
interacts and how the you know supposed 50,000 people who are going to be
there how that unfolds in Milwaukee you know I was thinking about this you know
just in terms of of you know things that I've experienced in that part of
Milwaukee you know the the Sunday where there will be some sort of kickoff
type of events happening I don't think anything's happening at Pfizer form but
Sunday will be three years to the day of the first NBA finals game three
years ago you're just gonna so you're gonna be doing reporting but you're gonna
be walking around closing your eyes yes yes yes and I keep thinking about that
scene in the deer district from that first game that was held and it was just
this beautiful collection and I compared it at the time to a mix of like a
big summer fest free stage like the Miller Oasis the tailgate outside of
Miller Park I still call it Miller Park and the Bradley Center upper level from
the 90s if anybody remembers the vibe in the Bradley Center upper level from
the 90s so that's what I compared it to and I just loved it so much and this
event is going to be just the absolute you're gonna have a panic attack man
this box news is broad casting from the deer district and that will be
exactly in the spot where I was standing watching the box win a finals game
three years ago so the the paradox and juxtaposition of all of that is it's
gonna be a lot but I was also down there last year for the debate and I covered
the debate you know back when we thought there was gonna be a primary among
the Republican candidates of course when Donald Trump didn't show up that you
know kind of set the tone for the rest of the debate itself as well as the
primary but it was just really bizarre seeing like you like I went to it the
Democrats held a press event at the Hyatt and as I was leaving the Hyatt Matt
Gates was walking in and so just seeing that type of scene we're just like the
places that I'm super familiar with and these just like out of control right
wing characters who are gonna be walking through it it's gonna be a lot to
process and like I said very very discombined I mean who's to say that they'll be
in or any interaction it you said like the interaction between walking the
like who's to say that there'll be any interaction whatsoever it seems like
most of the events most of the programming is happening within the aptly
named hard zone say nothing of the soft zone zone in which I reside but the you
know I was sort of wondering it's like you know these people are going to be
venturing out yeah and I would guess not perhaps not even outside of the shadow
of Matt Gates's chin do you think that they're gonna go to Bronzeville and
support black owned businesses yeah I don't think that's the gonna happen so
the economic impact is supposed to be great in that what our great fine mayor said
yeah black owned businesses are gonna boom and have all this thriving opportunity
here's my idea for you then I think you should just follow basically sort of
shadow somebody trace the steps and see like basically how how many what's the
pedometer rating right what's the what's the actual footprint how many steps
are people taking beyond yeah and that while I saw this on the list too there's
like after so the programming for the event at Pfizer form ends at 10 and then
there's like buses that take the attendees and delegates and whoever to their
hotels at the end so are these people just going to be staying in like
Geneva and then bust to the I assure you that they will get straight back but
there are so far as that are open so 4 a.m. which that also sounds like a great
idea yeah I mean where do you think the most interesting where do you think
place to go for bars is gonna be after this this is one of the things that I'm
putting into my calculation oh water street one hundred percent water street is
on brand yeah for folks going see I think see this is what I was thinking with it
too a lot of people are gonna be like spilling out of the a Pfizer form and
going to like yeah or water street I kind of feel like the real sickos are
going to be up a Brady Street so I think that is now the attic at meters that's
all the etiquette when you're saying nothing more about events at at
meters which you don't want to know what happens in the attic at meters all
right so we've all the three of us at the recombobulation area have written
various pieces about the RNC about what you know what it's going to bring to
Milwaukee and so I want to talk about a few of those different things that we've
we've all written about Angela you wrote a piece at the recombobulation area
about safety concerns with the RNC specifically as it pertains to threats from
the attendees and part of the piece that you talked about was you know the the
fact that Trump's sentencing was initially scheduled to be well Friday it was
supposed to be two days from now they've you know since the Supreme Court
ruling they've delayed it and so that's not going to be there so with that
change do you does this change anything for how you see this event impacting
Milwaukee and what are your biggest concerns going into the event right now I
don't think that verdict you know being postponed or delayed what does not
change anything it's we're still having this group of what I will call hateful
bigoted people in our backyard I think there's maybe a little less of an
agitational point for them but I do not feel any more safe because of it I will
also and I it's fresh to talk about but I've made the decisions to talk
about it here and I got clearance from staff to talk about it block for those
that don't know I'm the executive director of black leaders organizing for
communities where year-round civic engagement organization dedicated to
building black political power we had been on summer break for the last three
weeks we worked from home on Mondays so yesterday was our first day back in the
office we suffered a tragedy over break and so we spent a lot of time talking
and healing with each other not necessarily on our computers but when we were on
our computers everything was fine internet was great begin the office today and
the internet's not working that's not uncommon we call spectrum hey what's going
on something told me to go outside and to check the wires and sure a shit
multiple wires had been cut intentionally not just one not just oh someone ran
over it with the lawnmowers it was intentional multiple wires in multiple
areas had been cut this is not our first time experiencing this and this isn't
something that organizations are always right press releases and stuff about
but I bring it up here today because this is these are the types of things that
black and brown organizations have to deal with the fact that we had folks
trying to get into our mailchimp and act blue at three in the morning on
election day in 2020 these are things that people deal with and for me it's not
about the internet someone's coming at 9 a.m. tomorrow to fix it fine whatever
what bothers us is that when we called and this is a really sick fact but when we
called spectrum they said yeah we noted that your internet has been out for
18 hours we did the math it was only a couple hours after we left the office
after not being in the office for three weeks so we're like is our office being
watched great now we have to add more cameras by the end of the week before we
leave town these are things that we're always dealing with and why I have
continued to be outspoken since day one about having quite frankly this bullshit
here it's not what Milwaukee's about it is not upholding our values and it
only is further antagonizing and terrorizing marginalized organizations that
are already the subjects of things like project 2025 so it doesn't change
anything for me I am personally angry and upset at our quote-unquote leadership
that are welcoming these people with open arms and rolling out the red carpet
for these bigots and I just other people don't want to use that language I
will people call me the angry black woman this is why I'm fucking angry our city
does not deserve this our city doesn't need this and I'm so concerned about what
is going to happen so much so I am spending my hard earned grand dollars from
funders to take my team out of town that's the reality of the situation so I'm
incredibly concerned and even this verdicts doesn't change anything because
it doesn't change who these people are and who we are welcoming quote-unquote to
our city I mean thank you for for sharing that story with us and I'm so sorry
that this is happening is that you're experiencing all this and you're all
already you know processing a tragedy and you have to deal with the next
thing and you know this convention is inviting a lot of different things to
Milwaukee and I think since the Trump era began I feel like he's opened the
floodgates for a lot of hate in this country and that hate has a lot of gravity
to it and I think a lot of you know powerful forces negative powerful
forces have have gravitated to that hate and have caused a whole lot of
problems in this country sense and I just feel like bringing that into our
doors is just it's frightening in a lot of ways but the money though I do
remember a sweet I don't know if it's been deleted or not but I will never
forget it and I will not let anyone else forget it but someone's mayor
tweeted yeah I'm a Democrat but they're money's green that was the line yeah yeah
the line that was going out when two years ago when Milwaukee decided to you
know get into this process and say yes it's it's not about red or blue but
green and that's what we heard over and over again and and that's that's one of
the things that Phil you have written about on a number of different occasions
both at the Reconvagulation Area and elsewhere about these promises of
economic impact so the number that of course has been tossed around so much in
the in the time since is this projection for a $200 million director
indirect economic impact because of four Milwaukee from the RNC you had doubts
about this from the very beginning could you you know kind of explain those
break those down for us about just the bigger picture of conventions yeah and
what they you know kind of sell and and the Milwaukee specific piece of it as
well I mean I think part of this this like frustration that a lot of us are
having is that the city like this idea that it was just about the money that
politics didn't enter into it is really it's a sign in a way that like this
sense that like we're trapped by this urban growth coalition that in the
same way that you know steel mills in another age might have just said you know
what look you know environmental hazards bad air quality that's just a that's
just the cost of doing business for you know for steel mills in the same way
it's like well this is just the cost anything bad that happens with the RNC
it's like the cost of doing business for having a city whose economy is built
in a state whose economy is increasingly built around tourism as if that
that's just like fine and I think we're seeing across the world is like cities
that build their economies around tourism tourism has problems too like you look
at Barcelona they're now considering like banning Airbnb for this very
reason because there's not enough place for people to live in Barcelona and so
like that's so like one thing is just like thinking about like the politics of
this is just the fact that we've chained ourselves in a way to this idea that
like inexorably we have to go chasing after these sorts of mega events even if
there's no evidence that it's gonna you know produce any growth so like this
$200 million figure even before common council like voted on it unanimously
by the way like the figure was bullshit and everybody who knew anything knew
it everybody just sort of swallowed it to begin with but it was bullshit
because everything that we know suggests that like most of the money for
convention which is about 20 million per convention comes from hotel rooms so
you're gonna ask the question how much more so the rest of the spending has to
come from sales food beverages rental cars and any sort of like local sales
how do you get from 20 to 200 million right especially when you consider the
following things like one there's always leakage so lots of money doesn't stick
here obviously Lake Geneva is gonna get some money but also like corporations
that aren't headquartered here are gonna get a lot of money so also that's one
problem second problem is this basically crowd out effects so a lot of people
are leaving town maybe not everybody but a lot of people are leaving town and so
that's gonna display economic activity that would have otherwise happen and then
there's also just this idea that the that it doesn't necessarily
redound to the kind of growth that we think it's going to because if you look
at all of these studies like do people's incomes change just like the median
income or wage change as a result of having these sorts of things it doesn't so
any of the ways in which we might think about the economy as like having an
effect but the thing that I didn't calculate the thing that didn't even occur to
me I was like well all of this stuff this is true of every convention it didn't
occur to me what a shit show the actual contracts that they wrote right with
with places that could have held events would be like all of this stuff that
you reported on Dan when I was thinking that this this 200 million dollar was
absolutely fictitious I wasn't even I was just assuming that all of that stuff
would happen right so it's not happening so it will probably be worse and so
like thinking about it like the the visit Milwaukee the tourism bureau they're
gonna say that the 200 million dollar that's not that's not just like this
year next year that's like in the future that's sort of like the reputational
benefits of Milwaukee's brand like putting Milwaukee on the map yeah just like
this like fuzzy because Milwaukee is open for business right this this sort of
like fuzzy sense of like things are just gonna like this rising tide things will
just keep getting better but then thing you have to ask is let's assume that
that's true all right let's assume that that Peggy Williams Smith is is right
about that it's like well okay then who who benefits from that one do workers
benefit from that not necessarily especially given that we know that
conventions don't necessarily result in more income maybe there's been some
hiring at the Wisconsin Center districts their payroll is a little bit up and
don't know how it's distributed so then you got to ask okay businesses well if
people don't go to Amalinda and they don't go out to this business businesses
don't necessarily do that much better and then you got to ask well maybe it's
the rest of us because we're gonna get the tax revenue back somehow then you
gonna look at where most of the tax revenue from this is going to go and I was
looking at this most of the tax revenue from this is going to go back to the
Wisconsin Center District that's where the hotel room taxes go that it's
where the rental car taxes go and that is where some of the sales tax will go
and then you got to ask well Wisconsin Center District has this weird
arrangement with the city of Milwaukee where it gives them gives the city
something called a payment in lieu of taxation which is basically like an
agreement that scouts on our we will give you some money and what we learned this
last year so they signed this in 2020 they're like we're gonna give you one
million for the first 30 million dollars we get in our income our net income
and then one million for every additional 10 million on top of that the
problem though is last year they just said to common council sorry we're not
going to be doing that which I guess that the contract they wrote allows them to
do the problem for the city of Milwaukee is they were totally betting or not
just betting but it was projected that was where we were gonna get a lot of
money from and it was Wisconsin Center District says well actually no we
don't have that net income to use so we're just banking on this idea that the
city is gonna be able to get all the sales tax revenue which you had better
hope pay pay you willing to spend better hope that that two hundred million
dollars isn't just like money we're gonna get at some point if we're good boys
and girls like that money had better come in or like the revenue forecast for
this year might be very off well in fairness to it to the folks that visit
Milwaukee when I in in talking to people in the special report that I put out a
couple weeks ago on the lack of activity the over-promise under-delivered people
weren't putting that at the feet of visit Milwaukee they're putting that at
the feet at the RNC yeah I mean who could have guessed who could have guessed you
know that the Republican Party would bring an event that would over-promise
and under-deliver for for a large municipality a large diverse population
center on brand as ever you know the it's it's so much of this is on brand
Democrats built the infrastructure for something Republicans swooped in and
then over-promised and under-delivered and you know maybe a potential
potential story to be told in that sense as well but like what what did you
hear like what happened like they wrote these contracts perhaps don't say what
went what what occurred you know here's the like when I was talking so I interviewed
Gary Whitt for this story it's president CEO of the PAPS theater group and he
said that you know he told me that the the Riverside Theater PAPS theater of
Ivarium and Fitzgerald will all sit empty during the during the RNC and part of
what they what Gary was telling me as well was that they had to sign an
agreement with the RNC saying that they would not host any other events so when
the Riverside Theater was the Riverside was one of the places that the RNC
host committee toured back in 2022 to find out if this was a city that would you
know meet their what they wanted to do the Riverside was part literally part of
the tour and two years later at the Riverside is going to be a 2,500 seat
iconic venue is going to be sitting empty during the convention and they can't
book anything else and so one of the things that that happened over the course
of this the New York Times reported in April that somebody tried to book the
Riverside Theater for a 50 person movie screening and so Gary goes back to
them and gives them a bill for well caught renting out the Riverside theater for
the full day costs $100,000 and they're just like well we're not going to do
that and so we said okay we'll just wait to see what else comes and they waited
and they waited and nothing ended up coming and so now all of those venues are
going to sit empty I actually just got confirmation today that the Milwaukee
Public Museum will be closed for both public and private events for the
duration of the convention and you know a number of other places have kind of
pivoted what they're doing so all of these different things that were supposed
to bring this bustle of activity you know to downtown Milwaukee hasn't come
to fruition as well so I think there's the part of the story that Phil was
talking about with the kind of empty promises from the very beginning but you
know this is kind of how Gary put it to me as well it's like it's a it's about
execution and if you're not going to be able to execute on these lofty plans
you're not going to be able to do it and that's what has happened with the
RNC and when I so I broke that story two weeks ago it's gotten some pick up a
lot locally a lot nationally and what you haven't seen in response to it that
I found really fascinating you haven't seen like a representative from the
RNC going on TV saying like hey we're gonna have a lot of activity this is you
know just a couple not every place is gonna be full blah blah blah blah we
haven't seen that at all and which I think is really fascinating I think it
just lends credence to the fact that it is the situation where they're
over-promising and under-delivering it's just a party of smoking mirrors let's
just be real policy convention I gotta ask though they were gonna book this
out for a movie movie screening with 50 people the which which venue was that
for the 2500 seat right outside what movie I'm now having very dark visions of
what like they have a couple movies listed on the event roster that they put out
on Monday there's there's a Trump specific movie that is premiering at this
event and then there's a Ronald Reagan documentary that is like I think it's
playing at the Miller High Life Theater in like an afternoon like a Wednesday
afternoon or something like that which you know sounds sounds just like a
whole circle of hell yeah I'm getting tickets I'm getting tickets all right we're
going we're going so I think it's gonna be it's gonna be really interesting to
seek and I think the other piece of it too is as I reported on was the
restaurants and this is something that I kept hearing around Milwaukee
throughout June so I got a hold of this letter that Gary Witt had sent to the
visit Milwaukee in the RNC in late May and as I found that I was like oh well I
wonder with what type of impact that's there's gonna be on restaurants so if the
Riverside Theater isn't getting tension you know what are what are these local
small businesses what's gonna happen there and as I kept talking to people you
know not a lot of people really wanted to go on the record with this and I get
why but a lot of people that I was talking to were saying like yeah we just
don't have a lot of interest like we had a lot of interest with the DNC four
years ago and I after my story broke Dan Jacobs from Dan Dan talked about how
he had interest for months in advance for bookings at the at the DNC before
things you know the pandemic happened and everything went virtual and he's like
we only have we we've had no inquiries at Dan Dan which is you know a renowned
restaurant for a chef that was just featured on top chef and they have no
inquiries like this is crazy the other restaurant I featured in the story
Lupi and Iris that was kind of a very celebrated new restaurant like I don't
know two 300 people can be there and he's like you know we're closing the
reservation book for the week of the convention assuming that we're gonna get
interest and intrigue from you know close close down the restaurant type of
here's the event and whatever and they got none of that so they reopened the
reservation book and when I interviewed him two weeks ago for that story again
less than a less than a month before the convention they had one private
dinner book and so it's really startling to see just the lack of activity that
that this event has brought to downtown Milwaukee and you know I think you
know we'll see a lot of a lot of things happening maybe some changes there
there's gonna be some places that get a big pickup but I think on the whole it
just is it not materializing anywhere close to what we thought it would be
even with the over-the-top lofty projections but even thinking about four
years ago when Milwaukee was set up to you know have this crowning achievement of
hosting the DNC which is generally a larger event and just that that was such a
disappointment and this is becoming such a disappointment yeah I mean that's
the thing that's weird is I was going back is like oh just the contract just in
general like the city sign look bad it looks like every other contract that
every other city is signed for every convention that I can find going back
like ten years the thing that's different is the party to the contracts the
RNC it's like if you look at any other thing but going out the DNC like you
don't hear then you're saying like we're not booked out yeah no one called
this is unique I think to this institution at this moment in time I mean what
do you think it says about the Republican Party and how little they're
actually investing I mean I'm now I'm literally coming up with my next op-ed
Dan as we speak um subscribe subscribe I will be writing a thing a post
RNC but like what does that say that like all I keep thinking about is how
much they are extracting from our community and how there are I think
parallels of how folks extract from our community electorally right like this
is just an extension of how they extract and pull and drain and terrorize
and traumatize and antagonize our community instead of it being for votes it's
for our dollars and you have people leaving so like the the local restaurants they
can't even get their regulars because their regulars are getting out of town
I'm concerned if they're like is this gonna have a long-term effect that like our
restaurant's gonna have to close because they lost a summer month that they
were counting on and it doesn't seem as you said I thought I missed something I
assumed that they were doing damage control but I guess not and if you're not
even like doing anything and trying to reassure people it just seems like yet
again you're proving at the point time and time again you're only here to
extract as many black and brown votes specifically to break even and to
mitigate your losses you do not give a shit about our city you do not give a
shit about our businesses and you for damn sure don't give a shit about the
people look at your policies look at your platform look at project 2025 and I
think time and time again these things to me they connected my mind and how just
like the whole tone and we joked about how it's on brand for the Republican
party this is what they're known for literally sucking people dry including our
city and the fact that they're not even counteracting that they're not even
trying goes to show who they really are and the fact again I'm not gonna get
off this point the mayor is like yeah that's cool oh y'all called us a
horrible city right back at your buddy come harder bro what is this like we are
not and I say we everyone in here I think is going hard to defend this city but
it really grinds my gears that our mayor who gets paid to represent this city
doesn't have a strong enough clap back and that everyone in this room seems to be
defending the city harder than he does there's a whole Kendrick Drake beef make
Trump Drake come on I think you're making that beef right now I'll drop don't let
me I will drop a verse and I will come after more than just Trump let's just
say that including our city leadership y'all want me to do that Angela had to
pop out there hey sometimes you gotta pop up and show people edited version all
right so there are some positive things happening in Milwaukee happening in
Milwaukee during the the Ronald Reagan documentary I'm going which I'm going
going to see it and so joining us for this portion of conversation is Stephanie
Rhodes she is with the great Milwaukee block party which is kind of this
grassroots pop up type of deal that we're seeing in this city that is is
inviting a lot of counter programming and protest and a whole lot of different
things that are happening throughout the city in many different venues so
everybody please welcome welcome Stephanie to this stage here from the
great Milwaukee block party so Stephanie tell us about the great Milwaukee
block party how did this come together what are some of the events happening
and why did you and the other organizers want to put this together thank
you so much for having us it's the most important thing we can do right now is
get people to come out to the events as opposed to I'm sure you were trying to
go to RNC stuff but we're gonna steal you it's a collection of events and
spaces and activities that is created by the community for the community to
facilitate facilitate connection and acts of joyful rebellion so joyful
rebellion is like a really hardcore bumper sticker for us and it came about I
mean for years right all organizers in Milwaukee from the minute Milwaukee was
courting like a jealous sad pick me like trying to get the RNC to come here we're
very upset and not really sure how to respond I mean I think a lot of us it's in
our nature we know each other from protests and we start looking at each other
like I don't want to protect I don't want any part of this like it's we why
were they courting us in the first place to come we're Republicans to come
here who hate Milwaukee why are they inviting people that hate Milwaukee to take
over our city and obviously for a lot of us we know it's because they do hate
Milwaukee and they don't care of the the carnage that they're that's gonna
happen here the white supremacists that are gonna come here and they don't
care who they hurt they don't care that they're gonna wash their money with
Republican companies in places outside Milwaukee and you know leave Milwaukee out
to dry like Angela said that's that's what they do they're they're so good at
that so of course they would pick Milwaukee for that they've been doing it for
years decades centuries and so you know we've always been trying to figure out
like what to do in response because we didn't want to do nothing either and some
so organizers that are in the Zau Church space opened up their space to just
pull the community in who was upset about it and I mean we had meetings with
hundreds of different activists that we've known each other for years or we've
met each other for the first time but knew of each other's groups and we just
had a lot of sessions of like rooting of why we were there and what did we
want to do in response and you know started doing some poster boarding and
stuff and then it just started to come together that we wanted to do we kept
jokingly calling it a block party and then we said let's just embrace that it's
a block party because what does Milwaukee do best right we throw great parties so
Milwaukee summer is like block party central like it's absolutely a perfect
perfect way to do it and from the different discussions there was definitely a
trend of like three stages that we wanted to be able to do something from our
homes like if we didn't want to go anywhere we wanted to do something with our
friends and our family and use that time to like really build our pods and we
wanted like spaces to go to that were publicly hosted that you could go to and
have this joyful rebellious connection with people you know kind of an FU in
the face to this whole thing so that's how that came about and we started
talking about blocks and how there's you know that you build brick-and-mortar
with blocks and you live on a block and you talk to your about your head as a
block so though those are like all those foundational conversations and thus
the great Milwaukee block party was started and so we just started reaching out
literally grass the grass roots yes way via email to like all the businesses we
could think of that we felt we're kind of progressive we work with a lot of
organizations that did a lot of stuff and lo and behold we have a pretty good list
of events going and it's growing every day you know we have stuff from drag
shows and drag bingos and burlesque shows and the Milwaukee child care
collective is doing a giant play date with a free ice cream truck in the park
and there's going to be an all ages hip hop and DJ show at the Cooperage and
can I has a bunch of trivia nights and stuff and Las Valley has a you know a
techno show and we've been able to call out for performers and be like we'll
just try to put you somewhere so like we've been trying to find venues that
all host spaces and stuff like that and it's just we just charged people with
being creative too like put joy and creativity in there and hopefully the
people will come well I think it's just a phenomenal effort let's give
it let's go for Stephanie round of applause just to run through some of the
spaces that are hosting events with this locations include cactus club X-ray
arcade comedy sports Las Valley Cider Company Sugar Maple Diverse and
Resilient Canada Mk E Sherman Phoenix the Cooperage and more so there's a
whole lot of places places that you probably love here in Milwaukee who are who
are not you know laying down in the face of what's happening here but are
organizing something different something special and I think you know I have
soft to you guys for for making this happen and there's new spaces I've never
been to or heard of like Kumba juice on the north side is opening up and they
said please take our space and we've been really appreciative of how many
spaces you know are like waving their fees and just being like please use the
space you know a lot like you said a lot of these businesses are kind of
hurting or didn't want to open themselves in the first place to having R&C
folks so for us to come in they're like this is amazing how can we support you
and it's been great well that's so great well thank you so much Stephanie for
coming up and joining us and sharing a little bit about what's going on with
the Milwaukee Block Party everybody give her a hand
all right and so with that I think we're getting into the live Q&A portion of
the evening so we do have a mic set up right up front here if anybody does have
you know any kind of questions for us there's obviously a lot going on in the
world in the political spec you know political landscape of everything in
Wisconsin across the country so whoever might have questions please feel free
to come on down to our microphone that we have set up right in the front here
views and opinions expressed do not represent our employees okay actually mind
do so mind you for yourself oh come on somebody's got to go first all right all
right appreciate it first of all thank you for the work that you're doing with the
absolute cratering of political coverage by the media in Milwaukee Wisconsin
I'm looking at you Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in particular thank you I mean
it's I think it's really important for the work that you're doing so thank you
very very much so my question is with regard to the convention I would
imagine that the city of Milwaukee is going to be spending a lot of money on
security so who gonna pay for that are we are we gonna get those costs recoup in
some way shape or form are we gonna have to pay for that too I think we'll have
to pay for some of it but there is so one of the things that was happening was
their congress passed some sort of appropriation with 75 million dollars for
both Milwaukee and Chicago for security costs so I do think that is that is
going to be a big part of how they recoup those but I think Angela is ready to
answer this question so Milwaukee police department millions of dollars extra
money I was just having this conversation recently that money doesn't just go
for overtime fees that money gets allows them to buy new little fancy toys that
they aren't leasing that they get to keep after the RNC that is a problem call
that a legacy investment you know I think that's a long-term investment that's
a return on investment at some point also there are tools that are being
like evolved in what not such as like the stingray for folks that don't know
it's kind of like this data thing that messes with your cell phone and can track
stuff excuse me and so in Milwaukee actually has at least one I don't know if
they have two I know we have at least one stingray not all cities do but
basically like that money is there what I will also say is we in the city the
city is starting its budget conversations now departments are putting in
their proposals for the city and the county as well too I would say let's pay
attention to what the Milwaukee police department is asking this fall because
theoretically they shouldn't need any more money right and y'all just said
that crime is going down so maybe we should divest from the police oh wait we
can't because of act 14 and so if policing levels need to be the same that
means they can't go down but they will try to go up and I implore every single
person in this room not just this year every fall pay attention to the city
budget and the county budget it's more specifically the Milwaukee police
department which largely is mostly between 45 and almost half of our total
budget when let's just take a guess how much our health department gets roughly
between 1 and 2% when MPD is getting nearly 50% doesn't really seem balanced in
my opinion are they going to ask for more funds this year there is an
article today crimes going down shootings are going down I guarantee you their
argument I'm going to say it now just so we can all call their shit when they
say it their arguments going to be well it went down we need more police to
maintain it don't fall for it we need to be paying attention to these budgets
because I'm sure you all have heard budgets or moral documents they show what
the city is prioritizing they show what the mayor is prioritizing and we all
need to watch that in the fall yeah I guess this is one way in which you know
the you know cities like Milwaukee or there's sort of tourism cities there's
one way in which a political convention is different categorically than any
other mega event you would get which is the level of security you know requires
not only a multi-million dollar multi tens of millions of dollar federal
grant it requires all of this additional something people are police are
coming in from all kinds of jurisdictions that is actually it's a phenomenon
that is unique to the last 23-ish years right political conventions didn't
historically have that intense level of investment it's a post-9-11
phenomenon in part well I think you know I just to follow up on what Angela
is saying it's it's I think the folks here in this room are people who are
going to be paying close attention to things and showing up and maybe your
voices in your participation will maybe fill some of those gaps from the
hollowed-out media landscape that we have here in the city of Milwaukee in the
state of Wisconsin and we'll continue to do the best that we can at the
recombobulation area to fill some of those gaps as well I think one thing to
also mention that I know we had talked about as the three of us but we didn't
get into because there's so much to talk about is the different organizations
and businesses that are going to be affected folks like over at St.
Benz that serve some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and you
add a dissension of extra law enforcement agencies to already vulnerable
population what does that look like right folks that are picking up their
prescriptions down town have to get theirs early or later so they don't have
to get their cars you know swept by security just doing mundane tasks and so
just seeing how disruptive all of this is not just in the immediate term but also
again going back to the budgets and what that looks like long-term in the
effects yeah and and Milwaukee neighborhood news just had a good story about
this but just about all of the court activity it is going to be moved to like
the other side of town as well I mean it's just so much that's going to be
disrupted and changed for for the four days of the convention and obviously we've
you know it's not just the four days of the convention because it's happening
now I mean if you came here now you saw what's happening downtown today with
some of the security perimeter being put up and just ever all of the work that is
just like blotting out the sun for how much is happening around the city right
now it technically ends on Thursday but let's think about this I'm trying to warn
folks if folks are trying to avoid Milwaukee like if a conference ends on a
Thursday people might just stay through the weekend I when I was coming here
I think there's like some other stuff that's starting to be set up there's
like all sorts of festivals and what not every weekend are these folks going to
stay for the weekend yeah I mean also that let's hope not get out of my city
I said it anybody else have questions for us please come on up to to the
microphone I just have a couple of different things so one thing I was
downtown yesterday for licensing hearing but I saw I mean all through
downtown they have the red bags over the meters yeah they are towing cars left
and right so that's how they're making the money yeah the
economic impact I got to get in on that scheme yeah parking checkers and then the
other thing I would like to hear your opinions and the matter of guns in the
area because of because of the the state legislature and Milwaukee wanting to
not have guns there but not being allowed to tell them that they can't guns and
bars open till 4am look it go wrong I mean great formula in a largely black
in brown city when the Republican Party is largely white men that hate us all
of that sounds like a great great idea but yeah I wrote an op-ed about guns
at the before the recon population area about guns in the security perimeter and
I understand there's a statute whatever whatever fix it that's all I don't
care great there's a statute fix it this is a problem if we are not
understanding the current political climate realities I don't know if some
people should be in leadership if you don't have a realistic understanding of
our political landscape and I I it was it failed in committee at the common
council there is a committee I can't remember which one don't quote me but there
was a committee in the effort to actually try and challenge it failed I
remember I was traveling I turned my phone back on I texted an older person and I
said respectfully explain your votes they respond to me saw them at an event
say hey she's like yeah how are you a phone call yeah let's talk and they were
like well you know if even if we did pass it in committee it was gonna be
challenged by the courts I said great challenge it and that's what's
frustrating is that people aren't even trying to fix the thing and I think that
is a problem with the Democratic Party that folks aren't trying to do the best
they can because they're like oh it's gonna get caught here so I'm not even
gonna try I would have liked to see this fought out in court if we lose fine but
at least try and it was very frustrating that people rolled over way too
quickly for that I mean it seems like if we've learned anything from the sort
of ascendancy of conservatives in the courts it's that the way that you
change the law is through doing things that draw a challenge and then fighting
it out and and so if you're in an advantageous legal environment with a you
know for liberal justice majority in the Supreme Court seems like you could do
some things that would draw a challenge then they would go to that court and
you might win so you know just a thought novel maybe let's not be resigned to
defeat before we even have the argument I mean that's did people fight really
hard some people I was not one of those but didn't people fight really really
hard for this state Supreme Court to be the dynamic that it is and people are
afraid to go to the thing which I'll do all that fighting for got it yeah
frustrating all right any other questions hello I just want to express
appreciation for everything that y'all do I have a bit of a wonky question about
act 12 to which Phil has covered extensively
for the author of the award winning Milwaukee Press Club award winning
award winning on act 12 yeah so so really this is how democratic leadership in
the city sold the RNC coming here right so just a name who we're actually
talking about here Mayor Cavalier Johnson and County Executive David Crowley
said you know this is the price of hosting the RNC and having this event in
our city is that we are going to have this very difficult to pass bill that
Republicans had been very intransigent on with shared revenue and local sales
tax that they act the Robin boss actually came around on and I'm sure I'm
muddling this and not getting it all right so feel correct me but I guess my
question for all of you is was that I'm gonna call it a devil's bargain is
that going to be worth it for the city of Milwaukee in the long term and I have
a sense of where you all might lie on that answer but and I know the event
has not actually occurred yet but just checking in because I know Dan you also
wrote something about about that and saying it's not even I think Dan what you
said in your column was it's not about red blue or even green but black saying
Milwaukee is back in the black with the sales tax so I just wanted to check in
with all of you about your stance on that thanks yeah I mean look I think well
one I think the interesting thing is that the mayor and the County Executive
never to my knowledge never said it explicitly that that was the bargain I
actually sort of wish that they I sort of wish that they would have right
rather I mean at the very least tell me something honest right don't tell me
about this two hundred million dollar bullshit because that's not true no
no reasonable person believes that right so just tell me what the bargain is
like in Tennessee the state of Tennessee was dying dying to host the R&C and
they went to Nashville and they said look we'll give you this is a sort of
bootle of money to do it and there was an explicit like quid pro quo I wish
that the quid pro quo in Milwaukee would have been specific so we would at
least know that this was this was the offer and then this was the the quo you
know whether or not it will be you know think thinking about kind of what the
city was facing like last fiscal year it was really I don't want to like
sugarcoded it was really grim I mean it was really grim they were they were
talking about cutting a significant number well the County was talking about
cutting a significant number of bus routes the city was talking about the
possibility of cutting a significant number of hours at public libraries I
mean that would have been I think devastating now the thing that's the thing
that is going is that cities around the state were telling the state
legislature that this needed to change for years for decades and they did
nothing and they waited until the last possible minute the minute when
their political leverage was at the apex right when the city was facing an
imminent fiscal crisis and when they had the ability to extract having a
political convention here so they had Milwaukee around with their hands around
the throw with a vice grip around Milwaukee's head and said you know okay
you're running your life and whether or not it was I don't know worth it in the
end I'll I'll allow like future fiscal analysts to figure out you know in the
next 20 years whether or not it was I actually think the Milwaukee could have
gotten a better deal Evers plan had significant more money not just from Milwaukee
but for you know communities around the state small large everything in
between but like you know I think the thing that is annoying is not only do we
accept the deal but we just sort of didn't complain about it right that we
didn't like articulate like we're we're getting screwed here we're being told to
make a your money or your life argument and at the very least it's like in the
moment where you're getting screwed it would be nice to just say hey we at
least recognize just just for the sake of dignity just the sake of like
political dignity we recognize like we have to take this deal and we're getting
screwed you know so like in that sense the thing that I wish would have happened
as we would have acknowledged what was going on and that's why I wrote the
column that I did about the political bargain that I think underlies this
whole convention because it is kind of this unsaid thing because you know when
I was report when I was doing some reporting on act 12 in the and the
battle over the shared revenue and sales tax deal you know an issue that I'd
written a lot about it the recombobulation area obviously feel went super in
depth as that as that bill was unfolding but this was the thing that like
every budget cycle you know the mayor of Milwaukee or whoever it was would go
to the go to the state legislature and say hey we are going to run out of
money and we're going to have to make deep devastating cuts to city and
county services if we don't have our own revenue stream and so and year after
year Robin Voss just said nope never gonna do it we're not gonna do it we're
never doing it over and over and over again and so like the political dynamic
changes when Miracabular Johnson is elected they try this reset Johnson said he's
gonna have a cop in the capital we're gonna get this done all of these different
things and you know I think credit to them to a certain extent or getting
something done but I think the fact that things are so twisted in this state with
the Republican controlled state legislature that they needed this carrot of
having the RNC in Milwaukee to be able to not let their largest most
diversity fall off the fucking cliff and slide into Lake Michigan by the way
would have affected the account of the entire state yeah right yeah I don't I
this was in the insane part of this debate of act 12 and I'm looking at
Fran who was there for most like watching but it's like like listening to
the entire debate was about is it was as if the bill only helped Milwaukee right
and it's like that was the insane thing it's like yeah no it won tons of other
small towns get this huge bump from it and two if Milwaukee fails I'm sorry
like you're all going down with us okay so do you like that so like that's a
thing I wish that we actually sort of recognize that we had maybe more
leverage than we thought and we didn't get a better deal that's what pisses me
off is like okay you're gonna make the deal for the RNC then for God's sake like
get us something where we're not going to be back in a 34 35 million dollar
budget hold by fiscal year 2025 yeah what kind of deal makers are you I think
also and I know I rep on the mayor a lot as I did tonight but I will also give
County Executive Crawley some credit that before he was County Executive he
was working on this in the assembly and I don't think what the end result was
what he was negotiating he had been working on this four years I think his new
title and his different position it made things a different ballgame but I do
give him credit for how much he had been working on this four years in a
completely different capacity what I will bring up because I agree with
everything what I find interesting that every time we have these conversations
about shared revenue and our RNC I'm gonna enter a new villain I don't think we
talk about this enough where was the governor in this governor allowed this
to he allowed RNC he allowed the shared revenue deal and our stadium thanks
Fran you know the governor I think is allowed to get away with some stuff
because he's a great guy that you want to play pickleball with but some of us
behind the scenes as organizers understand how challenging that office could
be and it's not necessarily him in the way they isolate him and it's it's
fascinating that every time we have these conversations my intel tells me that
the governor was a part of some of this as well but he doesn't get the same bad
rap as granted you know the mayor you're the mayor of Milwaukee you have a
little bit more ownership and responsibility but let's not forget the the
governor had his hands in this as well and he doesn't also does not get a
pass it's a we have a very complicated fractured political dynamic in the
state of Wisconsin you know and that's why that's why occasionally we need to
recover and go to the recovery scenario all right well I think we have time for
one more question if anybody else has a question you got to eagerly appreciate
energy yep I have a question on kind of a related but a topic that hasn't been
touched on exactly tonight which is there's this coalition that's protesting
the RNC and there's that legal case that's been going on whether or not
they're even going to be within like you know being able to see it's right
right which is going to go to Lake Geneva I don't know if you heard
they're not going to like Geneva apparently right right I got family down there
okay we could have had a drinking game tonight every mention of Lake
Geneva take a shot and we'd all be stumbling out of here do not make this a
challenge stand sorry I'm competitive so yeah I know they got the permit to
protest you'll annoy during the RNC but no seriously yeah my question is what
the status was of that I don't know if you've been following it and I'm really
curious what the implications of that are for all of us as Milwaukeeans yeah so
I mean I have I haven't been following this quite as closely I think Phil
my understanding is there was a news story yesterday yesterday yeah came to a
conclusion that said now you're not able to yeah but my my understanding is
that they're they said okay fine you don't approve the parade route that's fine
we're gonna do it anyway which you know all right there you go I mean I have
no I what I don't know and which what I really haven't gotten any sense of
from the reporting is how many people the sort of the scale and and maybe
that's something that's sort of like hard to estimate but I do think that like
the impact of it will sort of be contingent in part on kind of not just sort
of what is that parade route yeah sort of look like but also just like how
many people does it involve I mean that's it's the numbers is I think
everything in the sorts of scenarios I think in terms of what this means in
the status of it I will disclose although I'm not speaking on behalf of I'm the
vice president of the ACLU board of directors I know as much information has
been reported in the press as well I am very curious of how that group is
going to proceed I have some ideas and honestly shout out to them right because
there's there's two types of folks there are folks that like I'm gonna put my
body on the line I'm gonna protest and there are folks that are like I'm gonna
be with the great Milwaukee block party and build community and stuff and I
do think that there is there is significance and importance in both of those
what I worry about actually one before I forget if folks disagree with them
not being granted the permit I hear some organizers are saying call the mayor's
office and tell him that that's just what I heard I think it was floating around
on Instagram I don't know you are probably find it somewhere I think you can
Google the city hall office number but so like there's some of that what I'm
concerned about for the long term is the precedent descends again I'm not a
lawyer right but like we understand how precedent works if we're gonna start
denying people permits how far does that go right is it just for conventions or
if somebody else wants to have a protest because somebody was shot and killed by
police which is probably gonna happen at some point in this damn city again are
you gonna deny permits there or you're just gonna let it go because like what
is the line what like how are we going to be consistent and how does this not
in French like in long-term on freedom of speech rights and all of that and I
guarantee what I will say on behalf of the ACLU the only comment I will make on
behalf of them is that they will be keeping a close eye to make sure everybody
civil liberties are protected and that is the only time I will talk about the
ACLU everything else I said is not representing them at all including the
civil liberties of the people at the RNC dungeon where house party you say
house party I think different parties I think it's so interesting too that you
know we always hear from Republican Party that they're the party of free
speech and you know don't cancel us don't put us in a box and they're
putting you know they're saying hey protesters go to your designated free
speech zone do not leave do not march this way do not do that you know is it
is it really is it really free speech that they're that they're promoting or
is it you weaponizing that type of language to advance their own political
agenda who's to say really who's to say I would go to the I heard it's foundation
policy fest and find out I would go to their website and see what they have to
say but yeah I think it's you know the I think they are the protesters there's
like two spots I think that there are designated spaces for the protest zone
so I think there's south of the security perimeter on Zydler Square Park
right right just south of third street market hall so that's going to be a
interesting juxtaposition of some of some of the events if you look through the
RNC events list that are happening in some of the spaces there and then
there's also like this Haymarket Park or what maybe I'm getting the name of it
wrong but there's that little park right up in front of the associated bank on
McKinley and there's so there's like a staging space there for the protests
and then the Zydler Square thing so I you know it's it's they kind of split the
two areas instead of having one dedicated protest zone at Pierre Marquette Park
so that's going to be pretty bizarre too so I think on Monday I think is when
they're planning to to march when the when the event starts so I'm
planning on being there so you know follow along with with my coverage of the
RNC at the recombobulation area all right and with that I just want to
thank Angela I want to thank Phil and I want to thank all of you for being here
and helping being being a part of this goofy little community that we have
built with the recombobulation area thank you all for being here thanks Dan
let's go with it Reim.
