City plans cleanup day to honor slain home inspector
Greg “Ziggy” Zyszkiewicz will be honored by Milwaukee leaders with a citywide cleanup day devoted to his memory.
The Common Council voted to commemorate Zyszkiewicz, a city home inspector who was shot and killed while on duty earlier this year.
The proposal was approved as part of the city’s 2018 budget plan. It will not cost Milwaukee taxpayers, but instead will give employees the chance to volunteer their time to clean up neighborhoods around the city.
“The plan is to have a citywide cleanup day that would reach out into neighborhoods throughout the city,” Council President Ashanti Hamilton told the Journal Sentinel. “There was a number of council members who wanted to do something to commemorate his life, and how long he had served for the city.”
Hamilton said details for the cleanup day are still being worked out.
“We valued his contribution to the City of Milwaukee, the work throughout neighborhoods throughout the city, and trying to help create stable neighborhoods,” Hamilton said. “We, as a city, we value that service. And that commitment.”
Zyszkiewicz, who worked for the city for more than 30 years, was killed in March during an attempted carjacking while he was near North 23rd and West Cherry streets conducting a routine code violation inspection.
Ald. Russell W. Stamper II, who represents the district where Zyszkiewicz was killed, led the council’s effort to commemorate him, Hamilton said.
Before last week’s vote, Stamper spoke of his sadness over Zyszkiewicz’s death and the importance of honoring and remembering him.
“If you talk to a lot of the employees, especially those that he trained, they say that he was a good example,” Hamilton said. “He gave a lot, not just in his job capacity, but as an example for other employees.”
In August, a memorial was dedicated to Zyszkiewicz on what would have been his 65th birthday. It sits in front of the Department of Neighborhood Services’ Lake Tower on the city’s south side.
A tribute to Zyszkiewicz is also featured on a “utility box mural” on South Sixth and West Mitchell streets. The mural was created under a partnership with the city Department of Neighborhood Services, the Historic Mitchell Street BID, and the artists of the Walker’s Point Creative Collective, DNS spokeswoman Christina Klose said.
Three males have been charged in Zyszkiewicz’s death, and their cases are winding through the court system.