Another Rant about Milwaukee

I own a property in the City of Milwaukee in the "Hood" or at least very close to it. The area I'm talking about is bounded by 27th street to the east, North Avenue to the north, Lisbon Ave to the south and 43rd St to the west. The worst area is the area south of North avenue west of 35th St. Lisbon to the south and 43rd to the west. At least at one time it wasn't all that bad but over the years the neighborhood has deteriorated and become a cesspool of violence, drugs and gangs. The only people we can rent to have been really bad people. Last August I had to evict both upper and lower tenants for non payment of rent, a common occurrence in this part of town. The upper flat needed updating. The lower flat having been occupied by a girl who unbeknownst to me when she rented (perhaps because she was taking her medication) had severe mental problems. An unwed uneducated single parent, she got pregnant, went off her medication and spiraled downward causing damage to the apartment and finally eviction.

For the past months I have completely gutted the upper apartment kitchen and bathrooms and upgraded them, repainted and added new carpeting. I did the same to the lower apartment.

Now here's the kicker. Shortly after finishing this work to the tune of about $20,000 vandals broke down the new doors and busted many of the downstairs windows and stole some of the contractors tools. A claim was made to the insurance company which settled for little over $5,000. (they cancelled my policy by the way, something that upsets me also, but that is another rant) Most of the damage has been repaired and new tenants are scheduled to occupy the newly rehabed apartments November 1st.

I have been robbed at gunpoint within feet of the front door to the property. They were caught only because I was in uniform at the time. You see I am a licensed security officer for a major college in the city of Milwaukee. For that I am thankful. It just goes to show, you don't mess with a law enforcement officer and get away with it. Would anyone else have been as lucky? I doubt it.

What I really don't understand is why the City of Milwaukee has repeatedly ignored pleas to crack down on violence in this area but instead focus its efforts on honest landlords in order to preserve a so-called pristine look to its neighborhoods. It is like a nice shiny box filled with garbage festering just beneath the surface.

Now they want to conduct a witch hunt by calling a Public hearing on the housing in the area. They are more concerned about what it looks like than the shootings, gangs, drugs and violence festering in the neighborhood. Don't you think they have their priorities a little mixed up?

People come here and say "Oh what a pretty city" while underneath is a cesspool of festering violence, drugs, gang activity and shootings unabated and totally ignored by our city officials. What really pisses me off is that they don't care. No matter what we say it is like talking to a brick wall.

Because of this I am in the process of liquidating my properties within this city and will be moving on outside of this cesspool they call a 'Great place by a great lake. I THINK NOT This is the most anti-landlord city I have ever lived in. I'm not a native of this state. I SAY GO AFTER THE CRIMINALS, NOT THE LANDLORDS YOU DUMBBELLS.

By the way this so called public hearing will get full coverage right here. So stay tuned for more hard hitting reporting. The witch hunt continues.

Ain't that the truth?