Frank Zeidler and City Living

Former Milwaukee Mayor Frank Zeidler, the "Sewer Socialist" who served from 1948-1960, died recently at the age of 93. Zeidler was a rare breed among elected officials--honest, humble, principled, smart, able to disagree without demonizing his opponents, and, GASP, comfortable with losing every now and then. As stated in the Journal Sentinel piece:

"Zeidler was undeterred by the fact that his stands were often lonely. To him, politics was never just about winning; it was about principle and issues." Zeidler was one of the first big city mayors to take the issues of racial discrimination and civil rights seriously, leading to vicious personal attacks.

I met Frank Zeidler at his modest Milwaukee home on August 24, 2001. Milwaukeean Doug Freshner (a great man in his own right), former producer and technical director for "Commentary," arranged for cohost Jim Mather and I to meet and interview him. I have the interview on VHS tape--someday I will have it transferred to a digital format.

Since Zeidler left office in 1960, Milwaukee and virtually every American city has suffered from almost 5 decades of mostly mindless, unsustainable development, most of it the product of an unholy alliance between profit driven builders and "professional" governments that have raised the strip mall and big box retail store to mythological status. Once liveable cities devolved to near rubble and were replaced by the ugly Frontage Road monster which municipal Mr. Hydes cloned along virtually every highway in America.

What became clear in our interview with Zeidler was that he never gave up on the idea of the city as a thriving space for citizenship, community, and commerce. Now that gas has passed the $3 per gallon mark, perhaps the idea of liveable cities featuring strong neighborhoods and reliable mass transit might gain currency.

We certainly won't get there without some Zeidler-like leadership.