2 aldermen invite Trump to Milwaukee
A pair of Milwaukee aldermen have invited Presidentelect Donald Trump to the city “for a firsthand look at some of the city’s public safety challenges.”
Alds. Bob Donovan and Mark Borkowski wrote a letter to Trump on Tuesday urging him to visit — and comparing Milwaukee’s problems with homicide and violent crime to those of Chicago.
Their letter was sent one day after Trump said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel should seek federal assistance to combat homicides.
“Chicago murder rate is record setting — 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016. If Mayor can’t do it he must ask for Federal help!” Trump tweeted Monday.
While Chicago’s 2016 homicide rate was not actually record setting, homicides did rise nearly 60% from 2015 to the highest levels in some 20 years, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The number of homicides in Milwaukee during 2016 tracked closely with the 2015 decades-high death toll.
Donovan and Borkowski, who serve as chairman and vice-chairman of the City of Milwaukee’s Public Safety Committee, applauded Trump’s comments about Chicago.
“It is frankly invigorating to hear the future occupant of the Oval Office speak so directly and particularly to the needs of a ‘rust belt’ urban area and then go even farther and offer to begin a conversation about a federal response to the problem of urban violence,” the aldermen wrote. “For too long the federal government has chosen to look away from the tangled web of cause and effect that has brought so much unemployment, under-education, despair and violence to these communities that have begun to feel forgotten.”
Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said police are already working with federal officials to combat violent crime.
“The federal government has a role to play in urban crime control as evidenced by the fact that both Milwaukee and Chicago are already part of the Department of Justice Violence Reduction Network,” Flynn said. “In Milwaukee the VRN partnership has resulted in a 28% reduction in nonfatal shootings in the target area.”
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said his administration has been working with the federal government for years, but added that he would welcome additional resources.
“I am always eager to get help from other units of government, and we’ve been very aggressive in trying to seek funding for law enforcement from the Obama administration, from the Bush administration before that, and we would be very receptive to have the Trump administration help us out with our law enforcement needs,” Barrett said.
The aldermen’s letter added that they hope Trump’s election would “prove transformational” and offer people a chance to “rise above partisan differences and set to work healing and building a great America” together.
“Please accept this letter as an invitation from both of us to visit Milwaukee as president. We would be honored to both welcome you and show you a city of which we are very proud, but about which we are very concerned,” they wrote. “Failing this, please know that we stand ready to work with you in partnership to bring much-needed assistance to this community we serve.”