VOL. 17 NO. 5 -- March 7, 2022
Our Stories and Features
Reflections/Jonathan Gramling
Could Have Been Better
On Tuesday March 8, the city of Fitchburg voted to rename its council chambers after Frances Huntley-Cooper who became the first African American elected mayor in Wisconsin’s history in 1991 and is still the only one elected in the state’s history, although that might change on April 4 as Cavalier Johnson, Milwaukee’s interim mayor, is running against an opponent who didn’t live within the city as of primary night.
While I understand that the naming of the chamber after Huntley-Cooper is a compromise between the group who pushed the renaming of the city hall after Huntley-Cooper and a faction on the Common Council opposed to the naming of the city hall after an individual, I personally am disappointed with the result.
I have lived in the city of Fitchburg for 12 years and actually wrote a letter of support in favor of the renaming of city hall after Huntley-Cooper and testified for the proposal at a city council meeting, one of two Fitchburg residents to testify in person.