Our Stories Pt 3: Be A Champion

Lake Drive, Downtown Milwaukee

What motivates members of our local conversation to take time out of their busy lives to advocate for a strong town?

We have stories.

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Many, probably most, members of our Local Conversation can point to some sort of revelation (or two) that their sense in the built environment wasn’t quite right and required a change - if not their outright activism. It’s a common story. There are few Americans alive today that weren’t born into automobile-first culture. Breaking away from it means getting blue-pilled somewhere along the way.

Our friend Sam didn’t land here quite that way.

ST: Hi Sam. What’s your story?

S: I'm a Milwaukee native, and after graduating college, I returned to the city for my work as an electrical engineer. I've been involved with the Strong Towns Local Conversation here in Milwaukee since our fifth meeting in May of 2023.

ST: What has your involvement in the group looked like?

S: In my time here, I have been primarily involved with our Bus Bench project, both as part of the maintenance effort and as a website designer. In the time I've spent with this group, I've attended dozens of public meetings aimed at making our city safer for people walking, biking, and taking transit. I have tabled (ed: Sam is one of three of our star recruiters who set up at events and are happy to answer questions about the group), participated in crosswalk actions, and attended meetings at city hall.

ST: Your takeaways so far?

S: If you want your city to change, be a champion for that change. All you need is time and energy. It's been amazing to help this group grow and solidify its purpose

ST: We always ask our members how they found us and what moved them to action. Your answer to that included an interesting phrase - “something was off” - and the use of “freedom” in a context that ad agencies usually try attaching to cars.

S: Yeah I would say that I found this community through the internet, but I think I always knew that there was something off about the place where I grew up. I grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee, on a street with no sidewalks. As a kid, I remember wanting to bike everywhere, but I was never allowed onto the streets on my bicycle because it was too dangerous - even when my school was two blocks away from my house. In college, I biked and rode the bus everywhere, even to get groceries, and when I came home for the summer, I found that I missed that sense of freedom.

ST: Thanks Sam.