On Sunday, over 200 Common Ground (CG) members and public officials gathered on the steps of St. Hyacinth Parish on 15th and Becher to announce a 5-point Plan for making the South Side safer and improving the quality of life for all who live, work, play, and worship in the greater Historic Mitchell neighborhood. This comes after CG’s October 19th assembly where 847 CG members launched a campaign focused on crime and safety issues on the South Side. 

“In October, we went public with the problem of crime in our communities,” said Ruben Rosales, President of St. Hyacinth’s Parish Council. “After 6 months of research, we are proud today to announce and begin initiating our solutions. We created our 5-point plan to tackle crime proactively and comprehensively. People should not be afraid to go out at night or to let their kids play at the park. We must make our neighborhoods safer.”

Common Ground, a powerful, broad-based organization—consisting of 46 member institutions across Greater Milwaukee—thanked City, County, and MPD leadership for signing their plan, including: Common Council President José Pérez (who represents the district), District Attorney Kent Lovern, Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa, County Supervisor Caroline Gómez-Tom (who represents the district), and MPD District 2 Captain Erin Mejia—the police district covering the vast majority of targeted neighborhoods.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson, City Attorney Evan Goyke, and Fire & Police Commission Executive Director Leon Todd also signed the plan but were unable to attend. CG invited MPD Chief Jeffrey Norman to attend and sign, but did not hear back.

Two people shared stories at the press conference:

Aubree Hansen, Operations Manager for NourishMKE—the largest network of food pantries in Milwaukee and a new member organization of Common Ground—recounted a shooting outside of their Mitchell Street location last September. “After the shot was fired, chaos ensued. Over 100 guests scrambled into the building. Because of deep mistrust, bad experiences, and vulnerable identities, no one thought to call the police for several minutes. By the time they arrived, the shooter was long gone. Then no one wanted to tell the police what they saw. For our community, the police are viewed with anxiety, not trust. It’s a negative spiral.

Laura Basurto of St. Hyacinth shared: “When I lived on 16th Street, I’d call and call about the drug house and problem gas station. My neighbors didn’t; I was the only one. But guess what? The drugs went away. It worked! But it takes trust and communication. So many people in our community—especially those who are vulnerable—do not want to call the police. They are scared. They say the police mostly don’t speak Spanish. They say the police are slow or ineffective. But without the data, the police cannot be effective or proactive. We need new ways to communicate, and for the police to speak our language.”

CG’s Safety Plan has 5 planks:

  1. Accountability – CG identified some 100 problem South Side properties via surveys and data analysis. “These are hot spots for drugs, sex work, gunshots, and criminal activity,” said Rosales. “We will hold them accountable.” This follows the arrest of Sam Stair of S2 Realty Group, the largest landlord on the South Side, for alleged drug trafficking in his properties. CG’s Rosales said: “This is a horrific, vivid example of everything we have said. Our city’s crime statistics do not show the full picture. It should not have reached this point. We need accountability with real teeth.” (See CG’s statement on S2 here.)
  1. Proactive Neighborhoods – CG declared they are “adopting the neighborhood” around St. Hyacinth, St. Adalbert, Becher Court, and Peoples’ Table pantry—from Mitchell to Lincoln (north and south), and 10th to 20th (east and west), covering big sections of Historic Mitchell and Greater Lincoln Village neighborhoods. CG will do proactive code enforcement, CPTEDs, and aldermanic walks to ensure property conditions are improved and city services are delivered. “We will start here, then expand. People need to feel and see change,” said Rosales. “The street lights need to work. The crosswalks need to be painted. The dumping sites need to be cleared. The properties need to be decent. This is about beautifying and fortifying our community proactively.”
  1. Police Relationships – CG announced 3 actions to improve trust and communication:
    1. CG will invite MPD to attend their South Side institutions, meet their members, and (re)build trust proactively, not just reactively in the event of a crime.
    2. CG will create institutional teams to liaise between its vulnerable members and MPD, reporting crime incidents that occur on their behalf.
    3. CG will investigate how to ensure District 2—which has a supermajority of Spanish-speaking residents—has a sufficient number of bilingual officers. 
  1. Policy Reform – “Citywide, data shows that the 80-10 Nuisance Ordinance is being used less and less, even though it’s one of MPD’s most powerful tools to hold property owners accountable,” said Rosales. “Why? While violent crime is trending downward, quality-of-life crimes like drug dealing remain huge issues. These policies need to be used to benefit our communities.” CG shared records obtained on the number of nuisance abatement letters sent from August 2017 to August 2025. The data shows declining usage. Yet, CG said they have identified more than one thousand addresses citywide that technically qualified for a nuisance designation, but did not receive one. They plan to work with researchers to comb through the data, then bring it forward in the coming months.
  1. Prevention – CG announced they will go listen to youth across the South Side to ask them what activities and programs they want to see. “Young people on the South Side don’t have enough positive activities,” said Rosales. “We will go ask them what they want. Maybe we need an indoor soccer field for the winter months. Maybe we need more lifeguards so places like Pelican Cove at Kosciuszko Park can be open every year.”

CG’s Southside Action Team is composed of leaders from St. Hyacinth Parish, St. John Paul II Parish, St. Adalbert Parish, People’s Table food pantry, NourishMKE (the largest food network across Milwaukee), all 4 South Side HACM properties, among others. Those institutions collectively represent some 20,000 South Side residents.

After signing the plan, Council President Pérez, DA Lovern, and Alderwoman Zamarripa spoke. Council President Pérez announced a future Steering & Rules Committee hearing to evaluate Part II crimes, corporate landlords, and the Nuisance Ordinance.

To conclude, Common Ground’s members signed the plan, committing to the work ahead.