As the murder rate in Milwaukee skyrockets even as the national homicide rate declined by the biggest margin since 1900, it’s worth remembering that Mayor Cavalier Johnson thought food trucks were a primary culprit.
As Milwaukee’s homicide rate skyrockets–punctuated by two mass shootings over the weekend–it’s worth remembering that Mayor Cavalier Johnson for years thought the best way to combat violence downtown was to crack down on…food trucks.
Yes, food trucks.
In May 2022, following a horrific mass shooting that left 18 people injured following a Milwaukee Bucks playoff game, Johnson said in a news conference that he was going to take swift action to move food trucks away from where criminals were supposedly congregating.
“We will reconfigure the location of food trucks where folks have been congregating and participating in some of this poor activity,” he said.
He did not say how exactly the City of Milwaukee would do that, but it’s the thought that counts, right?
The following year, as the murder rate in Milwaukee continued to climb, Johnson finally ended the scourge of the misplaced food trucks once and for all.
He signed regulations prohibiting food trucks from operating within 50 feet of restaurants and requiring them to close by 1:00 am each morning. Additionally, food trucks operating downtown were required to move every six hours.
Unsurprisingly, the homicide rate did not dramatically drop. In fact, it increased by 8% in 2025 and could climbe even higher this year even as the nationwide murder rate dropped by the lowest level since record-keeping began in 1900.
On Sunday morning–after the food truck curfew of 1:00 am–man was killed in a triple shooting while multiple other violent crimes occurred, including a pistol-whipping and robbery caught on camera.
Since he can’t blame food trucks for this recent surge of extreme violence in his city, one wonders what Mayor Johnson’s next ridiculous scapegoat will be.
