They lift your spirits, prompt you to think, make you feel grateful and inspire you to do more. They connect you to our community, shining a spotlight on what's good about our city. They're stories that are Uniquely Milwaukee.
Skepticism and uncertainty.
That’s how Juan Miguel Martinez felt about becoming a local official in Milwaukee.
“I just thought, ‘Wouldn't it be funny? Wouldn't that be funny if I became a county supervisor? That's not gonna happen. I'm gonna give it my all, though,’” he recalled. “Then I started making progress, and people were rallying behind me.”
Then, it happened.
In 2022, the Milwaukee native was elected County Supervisor of District 12, representing various southside neighborhoods like Mitchell Park, Clarke Square and Silver City.
“It made me realize this is not something I'm doing on my own at all,” he said. “All of the work I do, it’s not me trying to do one thing for myself. It's a group of people, and it’s a movement of people actually making things happen.”
As a county supervisor, Martinez focuses his advocacy on resources in neighborhoods — especially parks, which he calls catalysts for change and community anchors. In 2024, he showed his commitment by helping secure $30 million from the city to restore the Mitchell Park Domes and its horticulture conservatory.
“The biggest thing I would like to see is the Domes are gonna expand, right?” he said. “They're gonna have another dome right there in the Sunken Gardens area, and it's going to extend to the rest of the park.”
To understand such dedication, sometimes we need to dig deep into our past. When thinking about his labor organizing, his upbringing influenced his thinking about workers rights and the residents that make up the neighborhoods he represents.
“My dad is from San José de Buenavista, Jalisco — un rancho outside of Guadalajara,” Martinez said. “He worked at Grady Foundries. My dad worked in the core room, and he made molds. And he was 17 when he had that job. He's 68 now, and he's still working at the same job.”
That often means working 12-hour days, sometimes up to six days a week. In his younger days, Martinez would have conversations with his dad about those shifts. “He's like, ‘I gotta do what I gotta do,’” Martinez recalled. “A man does what he does. He takes care of his family, you know? Whatever the cost."
Community is a throughline for the county supervisor, and there are many ways he brings people together — inside of politics and outside of it, where he’s also a writer and a DJ.
“There was always music in our house,” Martines said. “We had the Columbia House thing, and I remember the first CDs I ever got were Dookie by Green Day and Donde Jugarán los Niños, the Maná record.”
Music plays a part in his present-day role as well. Martinez counts Chris Schulist, co-owner of vinyl-loving Bay View establishment the Wiggle Room, among the community members who have supported him throughout his journey, the people he calls his “angels.” They’re also his daily motivation — them and everyone in his district.
“There is one common denominator in all of it,” Martinez explained. “I am a servant of the people.”
