MILWAUKEE — Voters have a chance on Tuesday to narrow down a field of 20 candidates competing for three City of Milwaukee aldermanic seats.
Milwaukee has 15 aldermanic districts. The areas that have open seats are Districts 1, 5, and 9. The top two vote-getters in each race will move on to the April election.
The day before the spring primary, Jo's Cafe on 35th and Silver Spring in District 1 was busy for lunch.
Tony Hopson lives nearby and was among the crowd. Hopson thinks mental health is among the pressing issue facing the community, but it is not the only one.
"They need to fix the streets. You can't get to work or get to your destination if you got a flat tire. Secondly, they got to find something for the children to do productively something more community-based like paying them $15 an hour to clean up. Let's get some of the trash out," Hopson said.
Over in District 5, Adam Jenkins said the roads are in bad shape there too.
Right after Jenkins picked up groceries at the Sentry Foods at 92nd and Lisbon, he said the next alderperson need to tackle the rising cost of living. Jenkins pointed to the increasing price of renting or owning your hope as wages remain low.
"I don't need steak and lobster every day, but don't need to be stretched so thin that you can't sleep at night," Jenkins said.
Both Jenkins and Hospson seemingly want the same qualities in their next alderperson, whoever that is.
"Representing the people, being honest, putting what people need first," Jenkins explained.
"Be about what you say. Don't just say a bunch of lies just to go to an office and then don't answer the constituents' calls when they call," Hopson said.
Polls open at 7 a.m. on Tuesday.