While I am relatively new to South Milwaukee, one thing I have heard is that there are a lot of things people say about each other. This is controversially represented in the South Milwaukee Town Hall Facebook page. I looked to Facebook in order to figure out where I belonged in this new community of mine. I have heard wonderful things about this space as well as horrible things about this space. While not officially associated with the city of South Milwaukee, this Facebook page is moderated by an alderperson, Lisa Pieper, which has stirred up some controversy over the years. Lisa and I met at Better Together Coffee shop. I was admittedly nervous with the variety of different reactions and things that I have heard about Lisa. I wanted to sit with Lisa and discuss her history, feelings about South Milwaukee, and why she does what she does.
Lisa is the 3rd generation here in South Milwaukee. Lisa and her husband, married for almost 40 years, lived here their entire relationship. Lisa did not envision herself being in politics. Starting in retail management then Lisa then was given the opportunity to run the community center. Lisa talked about the history of the community center and discussed how she really enjoyed being connected to the community in that way. At the time, the community center was a non-profit and as many people who may work in the non profit world, money is always tight. The building was heated using steam from the Bucyrus factory. After the factory updated, the heat no longer was supplied to the community center. According to Lisa, after this shift, to heat the building would have cost upwards of six thousand dollars. The community center became sadly unfeasible.
Lisa found herself wondering what was next. From Lisa’s experiences with the community center, Lisa decided to run for common council. Lisa said at that time that she missed working with people of the city and wanted to find a way to return to that work. Lisa ran against an incumbent and won. Lisa has been on the council since. Lisa talked about the various experiences being on the council, including often being the only woman and receiving death and physical harm threats to her home. Lisa said that she has always felt protected by her husband. Lisa stated that she often times feels as though she is a whistle blower and stated that she is ready to call out what she sees as ‘bullshit’. Lisa has seen the city through various changes and has felt deceived by some referendums that make her feel warry of others. Lisa’s husband and life partner sadly passed three years ago and has changed how safe and ‘sassy’ she feels being on the council.
I asked Lisa, “why are you still doing what you’re doing?”. Lisa said she loves South Milwaukee. I do see this in the way she posts about emergencies and the way she makes connections with her constituents to ensure their safety. One person recalled to me that Lisa automatically reached out to her in the recent floods to make sure their family was staying ‘afloat’. Lisa said during our coffee together that she would like to see a number of projects through that she feels will improve the city. These projects include the library referendum, the senior center, and a viable grocery store.
I went into this interview thinking honestly I was going to be ‘ghosted’, however I found myself really enjoying my time. Maybe its the nature of my job (therapist), but I really felt like what I took away from this is that we need to sit down with one another- face to face- and talk about how we are feeling and what we need from one another. It is so much easier to sit in front of a keyboard and say things that we may not exactly mean. Lisa and I have dinner planned for another day and I genuinely hope that we can continue to sit down and talk through our wishes and wants for this amazing community. I feel encouraged to get more people together and I wonder what we could do within this city if we did sit face-to-face and get to know each other more often.
South Milwaukee Blog 