Tuesday’s City of Milwaukee Mask Ordinance Vote
Milwaukee, WI – Michael Sampson, entrepreneur and candidate for Mayor, issued the following statement regarding the upcoming mask ordinance vote in the City of Milwaukee:
The legislation put together by Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic and Alderwoman Zamarripa is extremely vague. The ordinance states that a person shall wear a face covering whenever the person enters a building open to the public. It does not include mention of eating, drinking, running, playing basketball or reporting the news. Is Giannis going to play with a mask on?
This is why I am running for mayor. We need to stop playing politics with people’s lives. We need to get back to a place where we trust the experts hired to work for the city and use their guidance to make decisions that improve people’s lives. We need to fight against this national trend that is making every political decision a chance to campaign.
Alderwoman Dimitrijevic could have put this legislation in during the Delta spike, which was 90% more deadly than Omicron, but didn’t. She could have proposed this legislation knowing that Omicron was on the way along with cold, flu and the holiday season but didn’t. Now, when cases are declining, she wants to implement a mask ordinance? She waited until 2022, an election year, to act. Marina failed us as the city’s Public Safety and Health chair.
Over the last month, two of the top five covid hot spot areas are in Alderwomen’s Dimitrijevic and Zamarripa’s districts. We should turn our focus to those areas and the people that need help.
I trust the expertise of our City of Milwaukee Commissioner of Health, Kirsten Johnson. If Commissioner Johnson suggests a mask ordinance, then I am with her. She is the expert, not any elected official. The ordinance must have clear language to the law, have an end date, and be based on City of Milwaukee data, not county. Furthermore, enforcement of any mask ordinance must consider what burden enforcement places on people in our city. I have witnessed countless workers, including a 16-year-old cashier, get screamed at because of mandates that turn them into frontline enforcers. I ask that the Common Council does not repeat the mistake of holding small business accountable for what should be an individual’s responsibility.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
