Helping Out 'Mayor Mike'
Residents rally behind neighborhood powerhouse stricken with Parkinson's.
April 29, 2009 — -- Every day is a struggle for Mike Salter.
Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2005, he is facing a lifetime of medical woes, compounded by mounting financial worries. And like 50 million other Americans, Salter does not have health insurance.
But he does have something many of those 50 million don't -- his neighborhood. Residents who surround the house Salter has lived in on and off for some 60 years have now rallied behind the man they call the unofficial mayor of their block in Waukesha, Wis. He's half local historian, half surrogate grandfather.
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"Mike brings everybody together," neighbor Kelly Schmitt said. "I think without Mike we might not have had that sense of community that we have."
Neighbor Gina Maas agreed, calling Salter "a very sensitive, dear man. A great neighbor."
"The neighbors treat me like an extended family member, which I greatly appreciate," Salter said.
After getting an MBA from Harvard University, Salter spent years traveling the world as a representative for an electronics company. It was last fall's stock market dive that undid his careful planning. His IRA fund was cut in half, forcing him to drop the health insurance that cost him $500 a month.
Now his neighbors are helping out, performing tasks that would otherwise cost Salter money that would further threaten his ability to stay in the North Racine Avenue home he has loved for decades.
"He really does bring everyone together, and it's a wonderful thing," Schmitt said.
Neighbors have competed over who gets to water his plants, clean out his gutters, escort him to the drugstore, trim his beard.
