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MILWAUKEE – At least 200 people rallied outside Milwaukee’s Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center on Friday night, protesting the Trump administration’s planned cuts to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Local perspective:

An internal memo said 80,000 VA employees nationwide – roughly 15% of the workforce – could soon lose their jobs. But for veterans in the Milwaukee chapter, cuts hit close to home.

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“No severance, no warning – I got about $50 bucks in my pocket, half a tank of gas,” said James Stancil. “It’s all about public support, but that doesn’t put food on the table. And I am just one guy, I’ll be fine, but there are families that have kids.”

The Milwaukee VA chapter said Stancil, a veteran, was one of 10 employees that had been fired without notice. He worked as a supply technician.

Group protests Trump administration’s VA job cuts

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“It was oh hey, check your email – you just got fired. For what? I don’t know,” he said. “Just turned in your badge and go home.”

Big picture view:

The move is the latest proposed cuts made by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. VA Secretary Doug Collins said the layoffs would not impact veterans’ health care or benefits.

“The government in general uses more outside consultants than they really should,” he said.

During Milwaukee’s frigid temperatures in early February, Steve Paradowski found himself facing a familiar problem in the apartment he moved into over 10 years ago — his heater wouldn’t turn on.

Paradowski, 68, told Public Investigator he couldn’t remember the last time both heaters in his Seaway Terrace apartment at 4601 S. First St. had worked. As soon as one was repaired, it didn’t take long before it broke again or the other one stopped working, he said.

Public Investigator called the phone number on the Seaway Terrace Apartments website, which is the same number for the Illinois-based property owners, Kinzie Realty, three times. Reporters also followed up with five emails over the next three weeks. Nobody responded.

But just three hours after Public Investigator published an article about Paradowski’s faulty thermostats and nonfunctioning heater, he said he got a call from the property manager.

“I just had a long talk with the manager,” Paradowski texted the morning of March 3. “Apparently, your article was read by the owners who contacted the manager. A maintenance man is on the way as we speak.”

That day, Paradowski said his living room heater was fixed. Two days later, maintenance fixed the thermostats that had been hanging from the wall since he moved in.

Even the closet door, which Paradowski said had been broken for nearly his entire time there, was repaired.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” Paradowski said. “I didn’t expect them to act so quickly.”

Paradowski said property manager Scott Snarski personally visited his apartment to check over the completed repairs.

More: What are the heat laws tenants should know in Wisconsin?

Andrew Brown, a representative for Kinzie Realty, said the company never received any voicemails from Public Investigator at its Evanston offices, even though reporters used the contact information on Seaway’s website.

According to Brown, Paradowski didn’t formally request maintenance work. Tenants have to make these requests through email, phone, online, or in person before they’re logged in the company’s software, Brown said.

“There are no logged work order requests from this tenant from the past several years,” Brown wrote in an email.

Paradowski said he knows a filing a work order is required, but thought he could ask maintenance directly for help, which he’s done in the past.

But Brown said notifying maintenance staff isn’t sufficient for a request.

He said the other tenant in the story, Nailah Boyd, who also reported heating problems, has also been visited since the article’s publication, and her issues are being resolved “as rapidly as possible.”

Boyd’s thermostat had been “repaired promptly” after she submitted a maintenance request in December, Brown added.

“At the same time, it is possible that her heat was compromised, but we’re not certain,” Brown said.

Brown also pointed out that Kinzie Realty did not own the apartment building until 2018. The company owns or manages several apartment buildings in Wisconsin and the greater Chicago area.

“We’re regretful that this prior owner may not have focused on repairing property maintenance issues timely, but we can’t be responsible for their flaws,” Brown said.

Paradowski said the problems with his apartment go back farther than just the issue with his living room heater. He also took issue with Kinzie Realty taking away residents’ free storage units in 2018 and maintenance staff making a hole in his wall in 2019.

According to a notice viewed by Public Investigator, maintenance made the hole to install a sleeve for a standing air conditioning unit. Paradowski was given two choices: buy his own AC unit, or rent one from Seaway. He said he couldn’t afford either.

Though his heating issues are resolved, Paradowski said it shouldn’t have taken an article for Kinzie Realty to respond to Public Investigator. But sometimes, that’s what it takes, he said.

“It’s good,” he said. “Because I guarantee you, I’m not the only one.”

Quinn Clark is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be emailed at QClark@gannett.com.

Contact Public Investigator

Government corruption. Corporate wrongdoing. Consumer complaints. Medical scams. Public Investigator is a new initiative of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and its sister newsrooms across Wisconsin. Our team wants to hear your tips, chase the leads and uncover the truth. We’ll investigate anywhere in Wisconsin. Send your tips to publicinvestigator@jrn.com or call 414-319-9061. You can also submit tips at jsonline.com/tips.