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Milwaukee Common Council race; Northridge, prison key for 9th District
Milwaukee's 9th District has not been represented since Chantia Lewis pleaded guilty to misconduct. Odell Ball and Larressa Taylor are running to fill the seat.
MILWAUKEE - Twenty percent of Milwaukee Common Council seats are vacant – and have been for months. On Tuesday, April 4, voters in the district will finally fill the seats in special elections.
The 9th District has been unrepresented since Ald. Chantia Lewis lost her seat in July after pleading guilty to felony misconduct in office.
Since then, the Common Council approved the city's budget and approved a site for Wisconsin to build a youth detention facility, commonly called a youth prison, which will house the state's most serious juvenile offenders. That site is a former emissions testing center near 76th and Clinton on Milwaukee's northwest side – part of the 9th District.
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Whether they would have voted for or against that youth detention center site represents a clear distinction between the two candidates vying to fill Lewis' seat.
"Knowing what I know now, I probably would have voted yes for it," candidate Odell Ball said. In regard to Lincoln Hills, the current youth prison located in north central Wisconsin: "I did my due diligence, and I did read reports, 50 monitoring reports, federal monitoring reports. And on a 50 monitoring reports, the abuse that I saw there was just outrageous."
Rendering of youth prison to be built near 76th and Clinton
Ball is a former Milwaukee Public Schools teacher and the husband of Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball.
"I'm a Baptist deacon in the Baptist church, and my faith tells me that we have no throwaway children," Ball continued in regard to the youth prison. "I would rather have those children brought back to Milwaukee to get a chance to see their family and be with the family here. And they can be better served here than someplace we're being isolated away from the families. And so yeah, I think I would probably vote for it."
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Fellow candidate Larresa Taylor, a current MPS teacher, said she would have voted against it.
"Because the majority of the residents have said no, that is not something that they want in their district, then my vote would have to be with them and then that would have to be no," said Taylor. "No one is opposed to the idea of having children come closer to home, because I think we all realize that it's important to have families be able to have some contact with their loved one. It's important that when you have contact, that you can thrive more, we all realize that – but making a decision for someone without representation was not a good thing. And because we didn't have representation when this decision was proposed, and voted on, I think that is the bigger issue here."
The 9th District also includes the old Northridge Mall, which is now shuttered and surrounded by two layers of fences.
Odell Ball; Larresa Taylor
Ball said the mall does not have to be completely torn down. One idea would be to use the site for police and fire training for cadets from around the state and country.
"I looked at places like Fox Valley. Fox Valley had the same situation, and what they did, they invested the money, I think it was $36 million, and built that type of center," said Ball. "Now they're reaping the benefits of it because the cadets, people from all across the nation and internationally as well."
Taylor said she would work with the private company that owns the old mall to find a solution.
"What my plan is, is to kind of make contact with them and try to work in conjunction with them to try to collaborate to bring something to that area that's going to benefit the entire community," Taylor said. "Something that we all can look over there and say, ‘Hey, you know, this is something that that will work for, for all of us in District 9.’"
SKYFOX: Aerial view of Northridge Mall property in Milwaukee
If elected, Taylor would have to move quickly; she does not currently live in the 9th District.
"I'm 53 years old. I've been part of the north side of Milwaukee my entire life," said Taylor. "This is where I was born. This is where I was raised. This is where I was educated. This is where I now have my career. This is where I raised my own children, and now they are productive adults.
"It's not about the boundaries, you know, because what affects one district can also affect another district, right? And so the whole goal is to improve the quality of life for the residents here, as well as the city of Milwaukee. And that's what the goal is. And so, not being across that imaginary line does not affect how I'm going to do the job. But you're right, once elected, I will definitely live in those within that boundary."
On April 4, voters in Milwaukee's farthest northwest corner will decide – and for the first time since Lewis pled guilty, they'll have representation on the Common Council again.