Strong Towns South Milwaukee

10/09/2026

Let's celebrate Phyllis Bruneau, our 2026 Individual Community Builder Award winner!

For Phyllis's entire life, she has unwaveringly supported the City of South Milwaukee community in every way possible. She approaches every single person—friend or stranger—with genuine love and support.

Her connection to South Milwaukee goes back generations. She graduated from School District of South Milwaukee High School, raised her family here, and in 1958, at just 17 years old, was chosen as the first Miss Wisconsin Spectacle of Music. Decades later, she is still showing up for the community she loves.

Phyllis has been a highly impactful Sunday school teacher at Trinity Lutheran Church South Milwaukee and remains active there today, including through the church’s quilting project, making quilts for people who need them. She volunteers, helps with fundraising events, makes food for others, supports local businesses, connects people to community resources, and supports South Milwaukee students, educators and families.

She attends community meals, South Milwaukee Heritage Days Parade events and countless other activities. She even opens her home to neighborhood kids to give them treats, do arts and crafts, or just hang out and be the “next door grandma.”

One nomination captured what makes Phyllis so special:

“She has made it her mission to show kindness, playfulness, and generosity to others. I've seen so many people exemplify her traits because she makes kindness and good works contagious.”

Phyllis builds community everywhere she goes. She knows many people, connects people to each other, remembers names and people’s stories, and celebrates their successes.

She knows and loves South Milwaukee, promotes hospitality, contributes to local causes, gets others excited to attend events, and seems to be friends with everyone she meets.

We are so happy to recognize Phyllis with the Strong Towns South Milwaukee Individual Community Builder Award in 2026.

Thank you, Phyllis, for everything you do for our community—and for making kindness and good works contagious.

10/08/2026

On a dark Friday night, October 18, 2024, I struck a deer on I-43 outside New Berlin on the way home from Old World Wisconsin’s annual Halloween Legends and Lore event.

I remember the deep, dull thump. The immediate damage. The confusion and worry. My daughter, a friend and his son were in the car. Thankfully, everyone was okay.

The deer wasn’t.

I remember realizing that I had likely killed a living being with my car. Caused a death so easily, in a multi-ton machine used largely for my own convenience and speed. That feeling has stayed with me.

The car was wrecked. And for the next three weeks and four days, I was car-free.

At the time, I had already been attending monthly Strong Towns meetings for about a year. I had been thinking a lot about how we design our communities around cars. I had made some great friends, including one who didn’t drive at all. I had started biking more locally and was slowly realizing that many trips I had assumed required a car really didn’t.

Then, suddenly, I had no choice.

Nothing else about my life had changed. I was still a dad to a school-aged kid. Still working in Milwaukee’s Third Ward. Still relatively young, healthy and able-bodied.

But I didn’t have the thing so many of us are told we need to participate in daily life.

And, honestly, I wasn’t sure I needed it.

My insurance didn’t cover a rental, and I didn’t want to pay for one. So, I went without a car.

For three weeks and four days, I planned my trips differently, with more thought. I learned to grocery shop without a trunk. I walked more. I biked. I became a bus commuter. I spent more time in South Milwaukee and more time and money at local businesses.

I asked my neighbors for advice, the occasional ride, and a little help with school pickup.
And something unexpected happened: My community got closer.

I became more conscious of how I moved through the world and what I spent money on. I bought fewer unnecessary things. I took less trips to far away stores just because. I averaged nearly 5,000 more steps a day. I lost eight pounds.

And my daughter and I still lived a full life.

We took the bus to the Milwaukee Public Museum and 3rd Street Market Hall one weekend. We walked to the library often. I walked to my polling place on Election Day. We hosted an epic spaghetti dinner for friends and their families. We did our grocery shopping entirely by bike and bus, including a very memorable bike ride home with a jug of Carlo Rossi w**e and four tins of Italian tomatoes.

Life didn’t stop because I couldn’t drive. It just changed.

And when I finally got the keys back after three weeks and four days, I was surprised by how little excitement I felt.

I almost felt bad getting back into the car.

Because I had learned something I don’t think I could have learned quite the same way by simply reading about walkability, transit or car dependency:

Cars are incredible tools. But they are tools. They shouldn't be requirements for participating in everyday life.

And when we design our communities as though everyone has a car, we aren't just making driving convenient. We are making life harder for everyone who doesn't have that option, whether by choice, age, disability, income, circumstance or simply because they’d rather spend their time and money differently.

That’s what has reminded me of.

For me, it hasn’t really been about giving up a car for a week. I already know what three weeks and four days feels like.

It has been about remembering what those car-free, autumn weeks in 2024 taught me.

Sometimes, taking away the option to drive doesn't make your world smaller. It makes you notice how big it already was.

10/07/2026

For many neighbors in South Milwaukee, owning a car isn’t really a choice. It’s a requirement.

And that requirement comes with a hefty price tag. The average new car now costs more than $50,000, with a typical monthly payment around $750. Add insurance, fuel, maintenance, repairs and registration, and it can easily mean $12,000 or more a year just to maintain the ability to get around.

That’s a lot of household income tied up in a depreciating asset simply to get to work, school, appointments, groceries and everyday life.

asks us to consider what happens when driving isn’t a choice, but a requirement.

10/06/2026

10/05/2026

Trick-or-treat streets sounds pretty sweet to us! A little more fun, a little less traffic, and a whole lot more community.

Could we bring something like this to South Milwaukee? What do you think?

10/04/2026

How’s your going?

Have you taken the bus? Walked somewhere you’d normally drive? Biked to an errand? Shared a ride? Maybe even discovered something new along the way?

Our friends put together this fun Week Without Driving BINGO sheet to help you keep track of your progress. Give it a try, challenge a friend, and see how many squares you can check off before the week is over.

BINGO! 🎉 Week Without Driving starts tomorrow, October 1, and we’ve got a challenge for you. How many squares can you complete on our Bingo Board? 🚶‍♀️🚲🚌

Try something new, get where you need to go without driving, or learn more about what it takes to get around without a car. Start checking off those squares, and see how many you can complete throughout the week!

Take the pledge & find events on the website:
https://www.mobilisewi.org/weekwithoutdriving



Mobilise Commutewise Milwaukee County Transit System

10/03/2026

When the sidewalk ends, people walking, pushing a stroller, or using a mobility device are unnecessarily forced into the street.

“Where the Sidewalk Ends” is a great children’s book. It shouldn’t be our town’s transportation policy

A connected sidewalk network is basic infrastructure in a city where people can safely get where they need to go.

10/02/2026

Childhood mobility, mental health and well-being is not well served by car dependency. It’s easy to see when we experience a 💙 Strong Towns South Milwaukee

10/02/2026

South Milwaukee schools are embedded in neighborhoods intentionally. Walking or biking to school, even in the rain, is beneficial to child development and health.

10/01/2026

The “Week Without Driving,” Oct. 1–8, starts today, and we’d love to challenge our South Milwaukee neighbors to try something a little different. What would you discover if you didn’t always take the car?

Take the bus. Walk. Bike. Carpool. See our neighborhoods, our community and our region from a different perspective. For nearly 1 in 3 people nationally, this isn’t a challenge. It’s everyday life. In Milwaukee County, that number edges closer to 40%.

Week Without Driving encourages us to see our community from a different perspective and to build a little more empathy for the people who navigate it without a vehicle every day, either by necessity or by choice. The incredible. The good. The bad. The ugly.

When we spend so much of our time behind the wheel of our cars, we can miss so many experiences, connections and opportunities to build a deeper relationship with our South Shore home. So try it. Take the Week Without Driving challenge.

One errand. One trip. One afternoon. One day. One week. Whatever works for you.

Along the way, notice what works well. And notice where we could do better. That’s really the whole point — see, notice and understand more.

You might discover a little more time outside. A different view of your neighborhood. More movement built into your day. A new route. A bus ride you’ve never taken. A conversation with a neighbor. Maybe even a few extra dollars in your pocket.

And if the very idea of this challenge makes you uncomfortable or defensive, please sit with that for a moment. Ask yourself, why? What does that tell us about the way we’ve built our community, and the way we all move through it?

We’ll be sharing some of our own trips and reflections throughout the week. You in?