Brady Street Remembers Late Alderman Jonathan Brostoff With Candelight Walk

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Friends, constituents and former colleagues of Jonathan Brostoff gathered on Brady Street Monday evening for a candlelight memorial walk in remembrance of the late District 3 alderman.

Attendees packed into Brady Street corner bar The Roman Coin at 5 p.m. to share stories about Brostoff, who served the East Side as a member of the Milwaukee Common Council since 2022, with a term in the Wisconsin State Assembly before that.

East Siders gather outside The Roman Coin on Brady Street before the memorial walk.
East Siders gather outside Brady Street’s Roman Coin before the memorial walk.

Brostoff died by suicide on Nov. 4 at the age of 41, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed. He leaves behind a wife and four children.

The Brady Street Business Improvement District (BID) announced the event with the following Instagram post:

About 100 East Siders lit candles, leading a reflective walk down Brady Street to Farwell Avenue, in honor of a politician who left a powerful impression on the neighborhood.

“He was such an advocate for the street and this neighborhood, and so driven and reliable,” said traffic engineer Alex Motl before the walk. “It’s a loss for the city, and a loss on a personal and professional level to lose a friend like that.”

Motl worked closely with Brostoff on BID’s “Pedestrian-First” study, an effort to develop four possible options for pedestrianizing Brady Street following a series of pedestrian injuries and deaths on Brady Street.

“A lot of the work that he did throughout the community, throughout the district, was focused on pedestrian safety, multi-modal safety and making things safe for all people,” she said.

Motl says Brostoff’s support for pedestrian safety will be an important aspect of his legacy.

“We need to do something different; the status quo is not acceptable,” Brostoff told CBS 58 in May of 2023, following a hit-and-run that left Brady Street resident LeQuincy “Quincy” Alexander in critical condition.

Brostoff discussed further plans for Brady Street safety with Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and the Milwaukee Police Department on Oct. 31, BID Executive Director Michael Sander told Media Milwaukee.

“We had a press release that was going to going to go out, but unfortunately it’s on Jonathan’s desk,” he said. “I thought it was untimely to release that, but I will be releasing that very shortly.”

An idea Brostoff had pitched to Sander via email the week before his death inspired the Monday night memorial walk, Sander added.

“He said he wanted to start a monthly walking tour on Brady Street to walk and meet at a place and to just come together as a community,” he said. “So this was perfect timing to honor his legacy.”

Milwaukee County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman gives a speech about Brostoff.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman echoed that sentiment in a speech about his friend and former colleague.

“He would work with anybody,” he said. “He’d want to hear your viewpoints, and the truth is there are very few politicians like that.”

Wasserman’s speech also highlighted the importance of kindness.

“Sticks and stones break bones, but words break bones too,” he said.

Brostoff’s wife and friends have said that the alderman felt lonely, isolated and bullied by members of the community following the Oct. 7 attacks, according to an article from the Wisconsin Law Journal. In the past year, Brostoff’s support for Israel also led to a painful falling out with State Rep. Ryan Clancy and State Senator Chris Larson over differences of opinion on the Israel-Hamas war, the article said.

Nas Musa, co-owner of Casablanca and MooSa’s custard stand, recalled a time that Brostoff and Larson offered help during a difficult moment in 2020.

“I posted on my Facebook that we had a break-in at MooSa’s, and Jonathan was the first one to respond.” he said in a speech. “The next day, him and Senator Larson came and helped me clean and sweep up the glass.”

BID’s Michael Sander says Brostoff was a public servant who was “always available” to help constituents and listen to their concerns.

Nas Musa stands to the right of Sheldon Wasserman (in blue), while holding a candle for at the corner of Brady Street and Farwell Avenue.

“But at the same time, I think we need to stop and reflect on mental health issues,” he also said. “You never know what someone’s going through.”