Inclusionary Zoning - We can't even agree on a report.

We disagree. Wow. Yesterday was supposed to be the final meeting of the Inclusionary Zoning Oversight Committee where we worked on our annual report to the Mayor and Common Council and we were supposed to have our recommendations ready for what we think should fix the ordinance.

Essentially, we ran out of time. We've been working hard, discussing lots of issues, arguing, listening, agreeing, disagreeing and we even have had fun within the committee. We've met every Friday morning at 8:00 for months. We've worked hard. However, in the end, we still don't have a report. When it came down to the final vote, we voted 5 - 5 against/for the report. Against: Brian Munson, Curt Brink, Matt Miller, Lauren Cnare, Brenda Konkel. For: Nan Fey, Judy Bowser, Tom Hirsch, Alex Saloutos, Marianne Morton.

So, we're back to the drawing board. We're meeting on August 11th at 4:00 and hopefully we can work on a report that we can all support. For me, the biggest reason to not vote for it is that we rushed and wrote it by committee and as Lauren put it "If I was handing this in to my English teacher, I'd be embarrassed." We just weren't done and it wasn't a report I'd want to put my name on. I was pretty clear about that, I wasn't going to vote for a report that we slammed together to meet a timeline and was essentially not ready.

As a result, Lauren and I are getting together to spruce it up, make sure it is crystal clear on a few points and to bring it back to the committee in a week and a half. So, the report won't be ready for the council meeting on Tuesday, it will have to wait until the next council meeting in September, but I believe the extra time will make the report stronger.

All that said, in the end, our report doesn't really have a single conclusion. We didn't offer one package of fixes that we thought would fix the ordinance. We ran out of time for that too. However, we did collect data, report on our activities and laid out many of the issues that we felt were important. We had a balanced committee, with friends and foes of the ordinance and we simply don't agree and our report reflects that. The fact that we didn't come up with one set of fixes doesn't really mean that the ordinance is irretrievably broken - it means we didn't agree. Some people want the ordinance repealed, some want to try to fix it. You can't try to fix an ordinance with people who don't want to fix it.

So, the report will be done in a few weeks and hopefully reflect all of that. Meanwhile, numbers we got yesterday say that with the first ordinance, with the screwball equity model and loopholes in marketing, one family got into housing (Feb 2004 - July 2006). Once we changed the ordinance, 32 families got into housing (July 2006 - July 2008). With some more changes, perhaps we can get that number even higher and make the development community a little happier - although they will never like this ordinance. If we don't do that, what is our alternative? With the budget the way it is, the options seem so limited.

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Budget Smudget - Council Recap

Last night we had a council meeting to hear about . . . drum roll please . . . THE WORST BUDGET YEAR EVER. Sigh . . . where have we heard that before? It's the boy who called wolf. Every year this is going to be the worst budget year ever. Every year a miracle happens and the Mayor gets to be the hero. This year, when things are bad, his cries of wolf are hard to hear. It's hard to know exactly how bad it is with the preliminary numbers we have. And, its hard to listen to, because its our own damn fault. If you nearly quadruple your borrowing and give the police everything that they want for 6 years, there's going to be consequences. In 2002 we had a $95M Capital Budget with G.O. Borrowing of $26M. 6 years later, in 2008 we had a $160M Capital Budget with G.O. Borrowing of $95M. That's right, 6 years ago we borrowed $26M, in 2008 we authorized borrowing $95M. And the rule of thumb is that for every $1M we borrow, we need $140,000 per year to pay principle and interest. The police budget in 2002 was $39M and now it is $54.5M in 2008 and projected to be $55.6M in 2009 out of a projected $244M budget.

Before I get into the numbers and the insane statement by the mayor, let me say a few things about last night's council meeting and quorum.

• Quorum for council is 14 (by ordinance). Last night we started the meeting at 5:00 with Sanborn (excused), Cnare, Brandon, Palm and Compton missing. (quorum +1)
  
• Compton showed up a half hour late. (quorum +2)
  
• Gruber left at 6:00. (quorum +1)
  
• Kerr left at 6:15. (quorum)
  
• Solomon, couldn't leave to go to the public hearing for Office of Community Services budget because we would lose quorum.
• Dean Brasser spent about 1 hour briefing us on the numbers.
• The mayor spoke for about 10 minutes.
• We had lots of questions and issues to discuss, but had to let Brian go to his meeting so adjourned due to lack of quorum around 6:30.

So, here are the big scary numbers.

• They figured 1% inflation for all the departments and then added money for opening a fire station +$1M), not making police (+$550,000) or fire (+$193,500) make any cuts, subtracted election year costs for the clerks office (-$174,034), gave the Overture 4% increase (+68,807), added money to streets for increase in costs for blacktop and salt (+$155,000), fuel for the buses ($1M), fuel for the rest of the cities vehicles (+$716,400), added money for a full year of the position for the Economic Development Unit Director (+$60,000), added money for a full year of the position of the Community Development Unit Director (+$60,000) and the library had an increase (+$831,212) for Sequoya and compensation and something else I didn't quite understand. With all of that, our budget ends up being about $244M as opposed to $224M in 2008. That's a $20M increase.
• Our expenses are increasing by 8.67%. ($20M)
  
• Our revenues are going down by 6.67% ($4.6M)
• That adds 15.79% to the levy ($24M)
• That's $186.89 more on the average $247,974 house.
• It's a 10.37% increase making the taxes $1,988 on the average $247,974 hours.
  

However, the state imposes various restrictions on us and so we can't really do that. Our estimates at the moment say the following:

• We have to cut $1,799,085 to meet the requirements of the Expenditure Restraint Program. If we don't hit that target, we lose $5.5M in State aids.
• We have to cut or find other sources of revenue to keep within our levy limits imposed by the state. The amount we have to cut or find other sources of funding for is $6.9M
  

So, it looks grim. It always looks grim this time of the year. And we have tools and tricks we can use to get these numbers down. There's the $30M+ rainy day fund, the transient occupancy tax funds, raising fines and forfeitures and other cost shifting measures we can use. So, it remains to be seen how horrible it is.

Now, for the absurdity of the evening. As quorum was dropping, the Mayor spoke to us and asked us to look for cuts in the areas that we support. So, if we support police, we should cut in the police department. If we support community services, we should find cuts in community services. If we support economic development, we should look for cuts in economic development.

Then . . . here it comes . . . he made the grand gesture of . . . cutting what many of us called the "Mayor's slush fund" until we put a process to his slush fund (Emerging Neighborhoods Fund). That process crashed and burned at one of our last council meetings. Anyways, to prove his point, he offered to cut 75% of the program that he described as "nothing more personal" to him. That program that is sinking faster than the titanic. He's offering to cut $150,000 of the $200,000. Well, I've got a cut for community services, since I'm an advocate for it. Cut the other $50,000!

There you have it folks. All the scary news you can handle. Now, we try to sort out what the reality of this all is.
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Not so fast Charter!

So, it turns out, maybe Channel 12 might not be moving to 994?

Yesterday at the Board of Estimates Brad Clark informed the group that it is possible that Channel 12 might not be moving after all. If I understood this correctly, in order to make this move, the PEG access channels have to be free. There cannot be additional charges for the channels. So, they have to be part of the basic package and there can't be installation and other charges for the costs to view the channel. Including the "free" converter box.

Also, apparently they want people to call Consumer Protection.

So, stay tuned, I guess.
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Those 30 cops

Did we need them or not? After sitting in a hot, sweaty, stinky room 260 in the Municipal Building for more than two hours last night and listening to the study results, I'm not sure I can say yes. The bottom line, I think, was that we needed 13 - 25 patrol officers and 9 sergeants to supervise them as of last September 2007. That's the data for 2 months before we added the 30 new officers. However, we haven't ever been told just exactly what those 30 officers we hired are doing. How many are patrol? (Also, according to Noble Wray "patrol" doesn't count the 11 - 12 neighborhood officers and 30 Community Policing Team Officers. However, I thought we had less neighborhood officers than that. And those officers do answer patrol calls.) Also, the consultant only studied the staff for roughly half the department and ignored the question of if we have enough civilian support or if our command structure was appropriate. And, at several points during the presentation, the consultant said "depending upon what you want for your community" and I'm not sure who is answering that question for the consultant.

Additionally, the study has admitted flaws in that it is based on the calls to the 911 center. First, there were admitted flaws in that data. (Tho they said the bad data was a better mechanism to use than trying ot compare us to other cities or using a 1.9 officers per 1000 population ratio.) Second, they only counted calls that actually get answered, not the ones that get dropped. Which explains why they want to move two officers from East and four officers from Central to the other districts. If they only measure what the police have time to answer, they're not going to include all those quality of life calls from downtown . . . and instead, they are rewarding the areas where those calls do get answered, with even more officers. The study also assumes that all calls are answered by Madison Police Department and doesn't count the officers from UW and Capital Police that might respond to the calls as well.

It was a relatively rough crowd in that alders asked many questions last night. The consultant was grilled on the quality of the data and asked questions like if they looked at if we could cut down officer time by having less officers respond to incidents (do we need 3 or 4 officers to respond). And asked if it takes 1.9 officers for each car we have on the street due to time off and non-patrol duties, how does that compare to other cities. (Answer, its a little high, its typically 1.6 - 1.8.) And they asked how many hours our officers were working in a year if they worked 6 on and 3 off. (Answer 1946 hours in a year. Apparently we spend more time in training our officers than other departments.) And the questions weren't coming from the skeptical lefties, they were coming from those who championed the 30 officers. I think they might be suffering from a little buyers remorse now that they are looking at the impact of that decision on the upcoming budget.

Another interesting point was that we weren't seeing some dramatic increase in crime. The crime in the city was staying relatively steady over the past few years according to the consultant.

Other recommendations that they have for us are:

• We need better data collection and need to look at our dispatch policies.
• We need to train our officers to better track the work they do.
• We need to look at the codes we use to collect the data.
• We need to better document when we are on "priority call only" or "injury and blockage" status.
• We need to better collect data on the number of officers available at various times.
• We should consider changing two two power shifts in addition to the 3 regular shifts to better cover the busiest times of the day. (This requires us buying more squad cars.)
• If the cars are too expensive, consider putting two officers in a car.
• Redeploy the officers within existing shifts to better cover where we need more help. (I think this was moving two officers from East and four officers from downtown.)
  

In the end, I think the bottom line is that we have enough officers at this point and we just need to fill the positions we have. This became clear when Alder Rhodes-Conway asked so "we don't need to authorize the positions, we need to fill them?" And Noble Wray answered "that is correct". Noble Wray also said that in February 2009 "we will definitely be within the range" of necessary officers. However, when Alder Schumacher asked directly what the impacts for 2009 would be and Noble Wray said that we might be looking at adding more supervisors, but we couldn't make decisions about more cars fast enough before the staffing decisions for 2009 needed to be made.

So, there you have it. It was kind of, in the end, clear as mud. The bottom lines weren't as clear as one might have hoped. I think we have all the officers we need, but without more details, who knows. Perhaps NOW we can find out how those 30 new officers are being used?
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Allied Drive . . . ahem!

So yesterday was the ground breaking at Allied Drive, but do they have the $9M in financing I'm wondering if the timing of the groundbreaking was intentional. When we passed the agreement with the CDA to develop Allied Drive there was this little clause in the agreement:

7. Financing. The CDA will be responsible for procuring sufficient financing for the Project. The Cooperation and Development Agreement shall be null and void and of no further effect if the CDA fails to obtain at least $9,000,000 in firm financing commitments by August 1, 2008. The City’s financial contribution will be limited to its contribution of land to the CDA, demolition and public improvement costs outlined in item 6 above, and its credit backstop of the Fannie Mae revolving line of credit loan.

The fiscal note said the following:

The entire proposed redevelopment agreement would be contingent upon the CDA's ability to obtain $9,000,000 of redevelopment financing by August 1, 2008. Currently, it is anticipated that $7,500,000 of this financing could be available from tax credit equity, with the additional $ 1,500,000 available through a first mortgage on the property and miscellaneous grant sources.

So, we know they got the tax credits from WHEDA in the amount of $7.5M but did we find the investors to purchase the credits and do we have the rest of the financing? I haven't seen anything that says we accomplished that. It doesn't necessarily mean that we haven't, but if they got a grant or secured a loan you'd think we'd have heard. Hmmmmm.
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The Week Ahead

Seems to be a short week! And its all about the budget!

Monday, July 28, 2008
4:30 PM BOARD OF ESTIMATES ROOM 260 MMB

• Amending budget and using 1/2 million dollars from the contingent reserve for this winter's storms.
  
• Truman Olson - we finally get to see how the budget will be impacted.
• Choosing consultant for Downtown Hotel feasibility study.
  

5:00 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT COMMISSION ROOM 310 - CCB

• Public Hearing on CDBG Budget recommendations for 2009/2010.
  

6:00 PM COMMON COUNCIL - DISCUSSION ROOM 260 - MMB

• At long last, the police staffing study we should have gotten last February . . . or even earlier.
  

Tuesday, July 29, 2008
5:00 PM COMMON COUNCIL ROOM 201 CCB

• This meeting is supposed to be our quarterly update on the budget from the Comptroller, and then our preliminary discussion on the budget.
  

6:00 PM COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMISSION 119 E OLIN AVENUE

• Public Hearing on the Community Services Recommendations for the Budget for 2009/2010.
  

Wednesday, July 30, 2008
12:00 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ROOM LL - 130 MMB

• Allied and Villager (Someone asked me what the third amendment to the contract on Allied was because the link was useless. They were upset that this isn't good public notice. All I could say was "yes, I know, you're talking to the wrong person.")
  

5:30 PM CENTRAL LIBRARY DISPOSAL SURPLUS PROPERTY CRITERIA AND SELECTION COMMITTEE ROOM 120 - MMB

• Another meeting where it is hard to know what they are talking about, since there are no links.
  

5:35 PM COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMISSION 119 E OLIN AVE

• Final recommendations for the Community Services Budget.
  

Thursday, July 31, 2008 & Friday, August 1, 2008
Currently, there is nothing on the schedule. CDBG has a meeting on Thursday where I believe they will be making their final recommendations for the 2009.2010 budget, but its the only meeting I'm currenlty aware of.

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This Year's (Yet Again Ridiculous) Operating Budget Process

Despite all our talk about how to improve this year's budget process - it seems we have made no progress and seem to be going backwards!

Here's the Council's Operating budget process:

1. 10/7 Mayor Introduces Budget - this is the first time the Council members get to see the budget.

2. 10/13 & 10/14 Board of Estimates meetings - Less than a week later, we have to have read the hundreds of pages and asked as many preliminary questions as possible and be prepared to ask city agencies any questions we might have. Technically, this is only the Board of Estimates that meets, but all alders are ex officio members of all committees and we can participate in discussions, but not vote. However, the Mayor has a practice of calling on Board of Estimates members first - then us second class citizens get called on. And in the past, there were not enough chairs or microphones for all the alders and many did not participate because when you had a question you had to get someone who had a chair at the table to give up their spot so you could speak. We are attempting to modify this procedure for this year, to make sure all alders can have meaningful dialog during this procedure, otherwise, the only opportunity to ask questions of staff is done privately and then we get a huge list of amendments that take up alot of discussion time when we pass the budget. We'd like to have some of this discussion done before we get to the budget meetings.

10/21 - Board of Estimates members amendments are due to the Comptroller. If anyone not on the Board of Estimates wants to submit an amendment, they have to find a sponsor from the Board of Estimates to agree to submit it.

10/24 - Board of Estimates agenda (with amendments) available. The agenda for Board of Estimates is available Friday between noon and 3:00 and we will be able to see what amendments have been recommended. We then have the weekend to review the amendments, but can't ask staff any questions because they are unavailable. We Monday to ask questions of staff or we have to ask the at the Board of Estimates meeting.

10/27 - Board of Estimates meeting on the amendments. When the Board of Estimates discusses these amendments, we'll likely be back in the same position where alders who are not on Board of Estimates won't have a place at the table. So, participation by alders will likely be minimal and we'll have counter amendments that will be submitted at council.

10/28 - Public Hearing on the Budget. At this point, the public is asked to give input on the budget that was just amended the day before. How they're supposed to know what they want to testify about, when the budget was amended less than 24 hours earlier and how they are supposed to get be informed is beyond me. This public hearing is nearly useless.

11/4 - Council amendments are due. This is one week after the Board of Estimates meeting. We often get several do-overs. Either amendments that failed at the Board of Estimates that alders think will pass at the council or amendments by council members that attempt to reverse the Board of Estimates decisions.

11/6 - Council members get the amendments of our colleagues to see what we will be voting on 5 days later. We have 3.5 business days to ask questions of staff before we vote.

11/11 (6:30), 11/12 (7:00) & 11/13 (7:00) - Council meetings to hear public testimony (likely only the first day) and then discussion of the budget amendments.

That's the process for this year.
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The Capital Budget Process

Maybe we'll pay more attention to it this year, since the years of warnings we have been giving are finally becoming a problem. The more we borrow, the more interest we have to pay, and the more it impacts the capital budget. If only we had borrowed $10M less, we wouldn't have that $1.3 million dollar of cuts we need to make.

Here's the budget for the Capital Budget
9/2 - Introduce Executive Budget to Council. This is the first we see it.

9/8 & 9/9 - Board of Estimates Meetings. 4 business days to ask questions before we can ask them publicly.

9/16 - Public Hearing. This is a much better schedule for the public. They have a whole week to find out what the Board of Estimates decided, instead of 24 hours or less.

9/17 - Board of Estimates Amendments to Comptroller. The next day after the public hearing, we need to get our amendments in or find a Board of Estimates member to sponsor them for us. So, we don't have long to fix anything that the public might raise. Especially since the amendments are due at noon.

9/22 - Board of Estimates Meeting (decisions) - So, weeks before the Operating Budget is out, the Capital Budget is scheduled to be done. I'm guessing that members of the Board of Estimates will not follow this schedule but wait to see the Operating Budget so that they can assess what kind of impacts the Capital Budget might have on the Operating Budget.

10/7 - Board of Estimates Report to Council. If they refer at Board of Estimates, the Council will likely do the same.

11/5 - Council Amendments to Comptroller. This is almost a month after we should have gotten the report from the Board of Estimates.

The rest of the schedule is the same as the Operating Budget. We usually take up the Capital Budget first, so depending upon how long the public testimony lasts, we will start the capital budget the first night and hopefully finish it the second night.
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Come Celebrate!

Last Sunday I turned 40! Tonight its time to celebrate!

The Brink Lounge (701 E Washington)
5:00 - 7:00
Friday, July 25th

Music by the Gadjo Players

Food Donated by: Himal Chuli, Buraka, Lulu's, Taste of Asia, Hawk's, Hong Kong Cafe,
Weary Traveler, Bahn Thai, Bandung, JD's, Michael's Frozen Custard

And there will be cake! Thanks to my sister.

This is a fundraiser for the Tenant Resource Center - which is still trying to recover from loss of funding by the UW and HUD - no minimum donation. Our policy is for people to give at the level they feel comfortable with and can afford - we appreciate any level of support. (City staff and lobbyists invited, not expected to donate.)

Please thank our sponsors for helping us to raise $8,000 already! We are at $22,000 of our $30,000 goal beyond our usual fundraising!

Sponsors:
Madison Gas & Electric

James Boll
Rebecca Krantz & Don Katz
Gary Gorman
Chris Laurent
David Simon
Judith Strand & Michael Matty

Mary Anglim
Judy Bowser
Carol Carstensen
Dana Chabot
Nan & David Cheney
Martine Davis (Indoor Environmental Testing Inc.)
Connie Deer
Andy Heidt, Nancy Bradley & Max
Michael Hershberger
Mary Lang-Sollinger
Stuart Levitan
Kathryn Lewis-Peacock
Norm Littlejohn
Joe Lusson & Aleen Tierney
Howard Mandeville
Denise Matyka
Leslie McAllister
Fred Mohs
Marianne Morton
Kathie Nichols & Bill White
Marj Passman
Jacque Pokorney
Rick & Sara Richards
Juscha Robinson
Susan & Gary Schmitz
Vicky Selkowe
Margaux Shields
Tobi Silgman & Paul Romlow
Paul Soglin
Troy Thiel
Dick Wagner
Tripp Widder

Crystel Anders & Jay Solwold
Michael & Sarah Basford
Mary Kay Baum
JoAnn Brown
Tim Bruer
Yogesh Chawla
Betty Chewning
Maya Cole
Cathy Dethmers (High Noon Saloon)
Joe & JoAnn Elder
Frank & Dolores Emspak
Chuck Erickson
Marilyn Feil
Kim Fisher & Linda Ketcham
Vance Gathing
Sheila Guilfoyle
Greta Hansen & Gary Kalles
Tom Hirsch
Kristin Hoffschmidt
Brett Hulsey
Ed Jepsen
Judy Karofsky
Bob Klebba & David Waugh (Morningwood Farm)
Joe Lindstrom
Dean Loumos
Jessa Lutz
Jean MacCubbin & Al Seeger
TJ Mertz & Karin Schmidt
Rita Meuer
Beth Moss
Judy Olson
Mark Pocan
John Quinlan
Ron Richardson
Dan Roberts
Paul Rusk
Mike Verveer
Robbie Webber
Carlos Weeden
Heidi Wegleitner
Carol Weidel
Katie Wenban
Dorothy Wheeler
Judy Wilcox
Cheryl Wittke
Bert Zipperer & Laurie Frank

Joe Clausius
Liz Falk
Dr. Jay & Sabrina Gold
Michael Goldsby
Wyndham Manning
Nick Novak
Bob Shaw
Marsha Rummel
Dace Zeps & Tim Dean
Susan De Vos
Lauren Cnare
Larry Dooley & Greta Kuphal
Lisa, Michael & Corey Jacob
Austin King
Salli Martyniak
Alfonso Zepeda-Capistran

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Americans Increasingly Want a Third Party

Wow - here it is! Polling results.

Polling Data

Some people say we should have a third major political party in this country in addition to the Democrats and Republicans. Do you agree or disagree?

Jun. 2008 Agree 56% Disagree 38% Not Sure 6%

Apr. 2006 Agree 53% Disagree 40% Not Sure 7%

Jun. 2004 Agree 50% Disagree 43% Not Sure 7%

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 2,004 American adults, conducted from Jun. 18 to Jun. 29, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
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The Dalai Lama - An Experience.

Yes, the Common Council got a tremendous opportunity to meet the Dalai Lama and hear some private words from him. An amazing opportunity. For each of us, probably for different reasons. I really struggled to decide if I should go. I don't practice his religion, but I personally really wanted the opportunity to meet him, but that seemed like a really selfish reason to go. I also didn't think it was fair that I got to go and so many others did not. But in the end, I decided it would be disrespectful not to go. I ultimately justified it in my mind, because I view him as a political leader. And of course, what he had to say to us, was just that, political.

He reminded us how fortunate we are in the United States that we are a model around the world for democracy, freedom and liberty. And how we have values in place like freedom of speech and freedom of the media that protect us. And he used scary words that we don't usually use in polite society like oppression, communism, capitalism and totalitarianism. And he talked about China and Tibet.

No matter how hard people tried to say that what we did as a council by recognizing the Dalai Lama was not a political issue, it was political. To treat it as anything but, is ludicrous. I couldn't help wonder what my colleagues were thinking as the Dalai Lama was speaking about his political thoughts about China and Tibet. After all, this is the guy who said if we have a Green Party in the United States, he wants to join. And his values and political leanings were so far from that of some of my colleagues. And, this certainly wasn't about "basic services". The fact that 17 (of 20) Council Members showed up (Bruer, Sanborn and Verveer not present) and the resolution was unanimous when we voted signals that sometimes straying from basic services might be acceptable - at least when they get to meet a great world leader. The whole experience was humbling and fantastic and surreal.

The experience ended up being a little extra special for me because when we got done meeting the Dalai Lama and all of us council members were leaving the room, a nun approached me and asked to talk to me. She shared with me that when she moved to Madison she was flipping through the channels and saw me arguing a point at a meeting and after listening to me, she had decided that she had moved to the right place. I felt very honored that she had shared that with me, it was very sweet.

As I was leaving with some of my colleagues we were noticing how peaceful the ground were, so unlike when other large groups of people gather. I then ran into a friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while and we got to catch up a little - he was so happy for me that I had gotten to exchange scarves with the Dalai Lama. And next is when we ran into Pat Schneider from the Cap Times. She kept asking me questions, but I didn't want to comment. I was still soaking in the moment and there really weren't words for what I was able to experience.

It took me three days to post this, because meeting the Dalai Lama was a very personal experience and anything I write just doesn't do the experience justice. There is much to say about the hypocrisy of my colleagues and their denial that what we did was a political act, but that all kind of just fades away in the experience of the day. Now, if only we can remember some of his comments and teachings as we govern the City, it would make our whole community better, but I'm afraid that may have already faded away as well.

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This is news? Does it help or hurt?

How is this news?Someone-had-an-idea-and-one-guy-on-the-council-says-we're-not-going-to-do-it.

Ok, I was not concerned about the conversion from paper to digital Cap Times, but I have to say, I am more and more disappointed. I'm so sick of getting very little besides re-written police press releases and weather reports. But then, knowing that the council isn't doing anything . . . it's hard to know if it is their fault or ours.

Regardless, we've gone from guy-on-the-plan-commission-wonders-aloud toSomeone-had-an-idea-and-one-guy-on-the-council-says-we're-not-going-to-do-it.

The sad thing about both of these cases is that there are real problems that need to be addressed that just end up just being fodder for undeserved ridicule on AM radio and conservative venues. In the case of drive throughs, climate change and how to we impact the environment is very important. And I have to say, I started turning my car off as I go through the bank drive through (tho its partially the noise factor cuz I need a new muffler.) In the case of the menus, making healthy food choices and public information is critical - especially as we face an obesity epidemic. As a Type I diabetic, who needs to count the carbs in my food so I know how much insulin to take, its not a trivial matter. In a way, its not much different than how the smoking debate started. Non-smoking planes, restaurants, work-places, bars etc. sounded infeasible at one time as well.

The solutions may not be exactly right, but they are forward thinking and trying to solve important issues. Unfortunately, the "public discourse" around both issues has made it difficult to talk about real solutions because of the way it gets presented and predictable vitriolic response of the nanny-staters. And I'm not sure if articles like this one are helping advance the discussion.
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How do you get that "free" converter box?

That box to convert to digital so you can watch City Channel 12, soon to be 994, isn't so free after all. But I can't say I'm surprised. Below is a person's first hand account of what it takes to get one of those boxes and your options:

1. You can go out to the local Charter Communications office at 2701 Daniels Street--if you do this, you will be given the needed box at no charge. If you don't have a car, this address _is_ on only one bus line, Route 39 (a morning and afternoon rush-hour-only route). Daniels Street intersects Pflaum Road between Advance Road and Agriculture Drive, but 2701 Daniels is on Daniels quite a ways from the bus stop on Pflaum Road--in fact, that address is nearer to Dairy Drive, rather than Pflaum Road, so it might be better to get off the bus at the intersection of Dairy Drive and World Dairy Drive.

2. You can make an appointment for Charter Communications to come out and install the box on your television--this costs their standard service call fee of $29.99.

3. You can make an appointment for Charter Communications to come out and hand you the box, but you will install it yourself--this costs a reduced rate of $19.99.

There are no other choices, according to Charter's 800 telephone number.

They said that they will not mail the box to anyone, although the box itself is only about 5" by 7".

They said that they will not make arrangements for a more centralized pick-up spot for the boxes. They didn't seem concerned about the difficulty for people to arrange to be off of work during business hours, either for those with access to a car to drive out to pick up the box or those who have to get out to the Daniels location on a rush-hour-only bus to their location. They didn't seem concerned about those who had to arrange to be away from work in order to be at home to have the box delivered or installed, or about the significant fee involved with delivery.

I called this afternoon and spoke with Mr. Brad Davis at the Madison City Channel and he said he would be talking again (soon) with the Charter Communications people to see if anything can be done about this situation. Mr. Davis indicated that Madison City Channel would be glad to take a supply of the boxes to have available at the Madison City Channel offices (located right in the city's downtown area) to be picked up by the Charter subscribers who need the box to receive the Madison City Channel, but that Charter Communications had previously declined such an arrangement.

To clarify, Mr. Brad Davis is actually Brad Clark and this person followed up with the following information.

Say, I just found out that Route 39 does have "off-peak" service between the morning and afternoon rush-hour periods--it _does_ run once an hour between the morning and afternoon rush-hour periods.

Any which way you look at it, these options are less than optimal. And I thank the person who sent this to several listserves for the detailed information.

UPDATE: After I wrote this, I got an email from someone who said that when they called the person they talked to "had no record of" the fact that the box is supposed to be free for the first 6 months.

Read more!

When "Free Land" Costs "the City" $425,000 plus ???

The Plan Commission, without looking at the fiscal impacts, and with some pieces of the documents missing, approved the plan for the Truman Olson site on Park Street. Porchlight, Inc. essentially told them that they preferred the Nakoosa Trail site over Park Street because they could do the project earlier, despite the fact that these is no other housing around the project, its isolated and the staff won't be able to ride the bus to the site later at night. I don't really blame them, but dang, this is going to cost us some money.

We have yet to see the fiscal impacts of such a decision. However, last night, we were told that the Nakoosa site was appraised at $425,000. It is currently owned by the Water Utility. Which means the Water Utility Board (which is meeting tonight and has this on its agenda but no further information is available on-line) is going to have to approve giving the land to Porchlight, or . . . the City will have to buy it from the Water Utility. Either way, its $425,000 I don't think we can afford this year.

Next expense . . . we need to buy the 3.5 acres on Park Street from the Army. Can anyone figure out how this is going to be a good deal for the City taxpayer? Why are we paying for what would otherwise be free land?
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We got it Bass-Ackwards!

What should our 30 new cops do? We still don't know. I asked for that report, that Chief Noble Wray allegedly held in his hands last November, the night the council screwed up the 2009 and future budgets. He promised to get us that report that said what the 30 new officers were planned to do "tomorrow" - after we voted for them. Tomorrow never came.

Now, the Mayor will be getting a briefing this week, and the council and the community will be getting a briefing on July 28th after the Board of Estimates meeting about how we can more effectively and efficiently use our officers.

What caught my eye, was how Jason Joyce characterized the situation:

Freesmeyer runs a company called Etico Solutions Inc. which trains law enforcement agencies in "resource allocation." Etico's website says it can help police departments answer the following questions:

• How many officers must be put on the street each day to reach our agency goals?
• How many officers must be assigned to patrol?
• What is the most efficient deployment for existing staff?

About a year ago, residents of neighborhoods in southwest Madison demanded more of a police presence on the streets to discourage what they viewed as escalating criminal activity. The city responded by budgeting for 30 new cops this year, and some of those officers have already hit the streets.

The next step is to figure out how to most efficiently deploy those officers.

No. No! No!! No!!! No!!!! This is backwards! Is this the way you want your government to handle these types of situations. Do you want department heads and elected officials who pull a number from the air (30) and add that many police officers and then figure out, in retrospect, what to do with them? This is insane. Especially since it is part of what is making this year's budget so dire and making the mayor say there will be no new projects this year. No new homeless services (cuz there is no problem there), no new recycling programs (like having recycling in our Parks!), no new economic development initiatives, no new salt practices for next winter, no new trainings for staff etc. etc. etc. No new programs because we needed 30 police officers to make the community feel good, but we don't know what we are doing with them. And we don't know if that could that have been 24, 8, 16, 28 or should that have been 40? Stupid.

No wonder they were so anxious to cancel that presentation of the annual police report at the last Council meeting.
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An Excuse for a New TV?

If your television is more than 4 years old . . . you might not be able to watch Madison City Channel, Channel 12, er, Channel 994 as of August 12. For everyone that thinks that the great switch to digital television won't be a problem for them because they have cable may be in for a surprise. In order to get the Madison City Channel, you're going to need a new box for your television unless you have a television that is new in last four years. And, while it is free for the first 6 months, it will end up costing you $5 per month or $60 per year after the first 6 months. (So much for the great rate savings promised with the great telecommuniciations act!) The full memo is here and here's some details you need to know:

• Channel 12 will be moved to 994 with the other government channels (C-span, Wisconsin Eye etc.) called the "Public Affairs Neighborhood".
  
• The government channels will remain part of the basic cable package.
  
• You will need a tv that has a "QAM" tuner or a digital converter box. If you already have premium services like HBO or Pay-per-view you already have a digital converter box.

It's important to understand that this is not the same thing as the FCC mandated switch to digital in February that you have been seeing commercials for. It is a different converter box.

The good news is that all of Dane County will get channel 994 which means that County Board meetings will be able to be viewed by the entire county. The other good news is that City Channel will be streamed 24/7 at www.madisoncitychannel.tv.

Read more!

Madison Lakes: To Eat the Fish or Not?

Or, at least warn people what they are eating! Here's an email I got from the Madison Environmental Justice Organization with some good information about who's eating the fish and what they need to know.

The Madison Environmental Justice Organization has just released a report entitled The State of Shoreline Fishing in Dane County: A report on fishing, fish consumption and public health advisories. This report has been submitted to the Department of Public Health for the City of Madison and Dane County for use in compilation of its report to the Dane County Board of Supervisors, as directed by Sub. 1 to Resolution 238, 07-08 Posting of Fish Advisory Notices along Dane County Waters. The Public Health report will be on the August 7 agenda of the County Board.

We ask that the Public Health Department include in its report a recommendation that fish consumption advisory information be better disseminated, especially to low-income and minority communities, through permanent, laminated metal signs at popular publicly-accessible shoreline fishing locations, in Hmong, Spanish and English.

Fish consumption advisory signs would have the greatest impact by being placed in the City of Madison parks that have lake shorelines where people fish. City parks with shoreline include Brittingham, Monona Terrace/Law, Cherokee Lake/Cherokee Marsh, Wingra Creek, Lake Wingra,Yahara Place Park and Olbrich Park. These signs would be a low-cost, effective means to communicate important public health information to people who will not learn about it it any other way.

Key findings in the report include:

* People who catch locally-caught fish eat about three fish meals per week. Some families eat many more fish meals per week than this, with many eating fish every day.
* Shoreline anglers catch a wide variety of fish, not just panfish. Bass, catfish and walleye are especially popular. These fish typically contain higher levels of toxins than panfish.
* Lake Monona, Lake Mendota, Tenney Park, Cherokee Marsh and Lake Wingra are very popular for shoreline fishermen of color.
* Most people are unaware of fish consumption advisories that are designed to protect public health. (For most people, one meal per week or month of certain fish is recommended.)

For many people, the amounts of locally-caught fish they eat are greater than recommended in state fish consumption advisories. Due to mercury and PCB levels in fish, the State of Wisconsin has issued fish advisory warnings for anglers and those who eat locally caught fish from inland Wisconsin waters. Yet many anglers are not aware of these advisories.Levels of mercury, PCBs and other toxins that concentrate in fish are a known public health hazard. Shoreline anglers catch and consume many pan fish that may have lower toxin levels than larger fish, but when consumed in high quantities they may exceed levels recommended to avoid negative health effects; they also frequently catch and consume larger fish, which tend to have higher concentrations of toxins.

Through our investigations, we have learned that public agencies have very little data about local fish consumption habits and toxin levels in locally caught fish. Levels of mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, and other toxins are high enough in Dane County lake sediments and waters to raise concerns that people may need to limit their consumption of fish caught in these waters because these compounds build up in fish tissue, which humans consume. To partially address this data gap, MEJO has gathered data about fish consumption habits by interviewing more than 125 local fishermen and families who eat fish (published in the report)

Women of childbearing age, pregnant women and children are especially at risk for developmental, neurological and long term health problems from exposure to toxins present in locally caught fish. The environmental impacts of pollution on low-income and minority citizens are often unknown or underestimated because of a lack of data collection, and lack of consideration of these populations in determining public policy. This reality is a key component of environmental justice. The common good and sound public health policy is served by informing anglers and others of potential risks associated with consuming many kinds of locally caught fish.

The Madison Environmental Justice Organization (MEJO) was founded in 2006, with a mission to educate the community about environmental justice issues, work to address them, and support environmental justice for the benefit of the general public. We have been working with people of color and low-income residents for more than two years discussing toxins in locally-caught fish, and learning about cultural practices regarding fishing and preparing and eating fish.

The full report can be found on the MEJO website here and also by contacting MEJO directly at info@mejo.us.

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The Week Ahead

Here it is . . . what's going on this week . . . BK version. (Should I be flattered that the Cap Times and the Isthmus now have their version as well?)

Monday, July 21, 2008
12:00 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ALLIED DEVELOPMENT SUBCOMMITTEE ROOM LL-130 MMB

• Even though there are many things listed on this agenda, I never really know what they are going to talk about.
  

5:30 PM PLAN COMMISSION ROOM 201 CCB

• Brad Clark will talk about the switch from channel 12 to 994.
• The fate of Truman Olson - homeless shelter or economic development.
  
• Moving house to 520 E Johnson and project at 119, 123 & 125 North Butler Street and 120 & 124 North Hancock Street.
• Chickens
  

Tuesday, July 22, 2008
1:00 PM MEETING WITH HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA 1919 ALLIANT ENERGY CENTER WAY, GREEN ROOM

• Funny that this made it on the weekly meeting list, but no mention of the Meet and Greet with the Business Community/Lobbyists at the Brink Lounge later this evening that has been planned since last April. Here's the info.
  

  Alders, Mayor, Mayoral Staff and Department/Division Heads,
  
  Let me take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the alders, the Mayor, Mayoral staff and the department/division heads who were able to take the time out of their busy schedules last year to attend the first Meet & Greet Reception held on June 26. We were able to meet many individuals from the various organizations attending the event in an informal social setting; the African American Black Business Association, Downtown Madison, Inc., Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau, Latino Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Advisory Council and Smart Growth Madison.
  
  Feedback from those of you that were able to attend the first event was so positive that there have been many requests to organize a second Meet & Greet Reception. There also appears to be agreement that the event include an exchange with the Madison Small Business community, given the number of small business owners that are not part of a formal business association or organization. We are asking you to suggest any invitations that should be extended for this reception to ensure maximum attendance. Please send your suggestions to Lisa Veldran, Administrative Assistant to the Council, lveldran@cityofmadison.com.

  
  We recognize how challenging your schedule can be and we want to give you ample time to put this reception on your calendar. A tentative date for the reception has been scheduled for:

  Tuesday, July 22, 2008

  5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

  The Brink Lounge, 701 E. Washington Avenue.
  
  Hopefully you will be able to find the time out of your busy schedule to once again attend this event. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you.
  
  

  Ald. Tim Bruer, District 14

4:30 PM WATER UTILITY BOARD 119 E. OLIN AVENUE, ROOMS A & B

• Water Conservation Plan
• Status Report regarding Disposal of Surplus Property at 4002 Nakoosa Trail. (no link)
• Heads up to those following the Truman Olson issue - rumor has it, this is a potential site for housing for the homeless. No worries, the site is isolated and the neighbors likely won't complain.
  

Wednesday, July 23, 2008
4:30 PM URBAN DESIGN COMMISSION Room LL-110 MMB

• Two new hotels.
  

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Friday, July 25, 2008
12:00 PM TAX INCREMENTAL FINANCING POLICY AD HOC COMMITTEE ROOM LL-130 MMB

• Final meeting? Really, seriously, it could be!
  

Also, I'm pretty sure there are two other meetings of interest this week that haven't made it on the agenda.

• Wednesday 8 am at the Water Utility Building is the public hearing on Child Care funding for 2009-2010
• Friday 8 am in room LL-120 at the Madison Municipal Building (215 MLK) might be the final meeting of the Inclusionary Zoning Oversight Committee to issue our annual report and recommendations for the Mayor.
  

Read more!

Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente

I'm still kind of overwhelmed by the Green Party Convention last weekend. You just have to see this for yourself.

I blogged about my experience at the Green Party Convention (1, 2, 3) and shared pictures of the faces of the Green Party, but I haven't written yet about the most amazing piece of the convention - the speeches by Rosa Clemente and Cynthia McKinney. Mostly because they were so rich and it is somewhat overwhelming when I think about all that they had to say. I am so grateful that I took the time to go to the Convention and just can't can't stop thinking about it. You simply have to watch these videos for yourself.

Rosa Clemente nomination speech from Green Party Convention

Cynthia McKinney nomination speech from Green Party Convention

The first few minutes of Cynthia McKinney are missing and can be found on cspan.

While I'm at it, here's video of the guy I introduced, Malik Rahim from New Orleans.

Enjoy - it's worth taking the time this weekend (even if you've caved into the Obamania) to see what they have to say and see what the altnernatve . . . er, imperative is! It's a new day!

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The SUV and Suburban Home Becoming Less Popular?

It may be too soon to tell, but I found this article in the Capital Times very interesting.

In particular I found this passage very interesting:

And there are early indications that life in the suburbs is starting to look less attractive to home buyers.

Consider the median price of homes sold in McFarland is down nearly 19 percent from a year ago, falling from $258,000 to $210,000, according to the latest figures from DaneCountyMarket.com.

In Mount Horeb, prices are down 14 percent. In Fitchburg, they're off 8 percent. In the New Glarus/Belleville/Monticello market along the Dane-Green County border, prices are down nearly 10 percent.

While real estate insiders say it's dangerous to draw conclusion from just a few months of data -- Verona, Waunakee and Sauk City, for example, have all seen prices climb in 2008 -- there seems a growing realization that gasoline prices are not going down again.

That's left some observers wondering if the drivable suburb -- the model for virtually all post-World War II development in Wisconsin and the U.S. -- has run its course.

That's bad news for those who need affordable housing. If this article is correct, housing prices in Madison are going to remain quite unaffordable and in order to find housing that is more affordable, people will have to pay in other ways. It's interesting times that we live in.
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Upcoming City Budget

The Mayor briefed some alders on the budget yesterday at noon, and it seems there is some confusion. Yes, this is going to be a bad budget year, but the agencies are NOT being asked to cut 5% and Community Services and CDBG got a cost of living increase (COLA).

Somehow, people got a little confused about the mayor's budget instructions this year, or so we were told. There apparently is a little too much nuance in his instructions. He's asking everyone to come up with a budget at cost to continue, with adjustments. Here's some of those adjustments.

• Madison Metro got $1M extra in their budget for fuel costs.
• Fleet services got $750,000 extra in their budget for fuel costs.
• Office of Community Services got the 3% cost of living increase, but not the 4%.
• CDBG Office got a 3% cola increase, but only on the city funded portions (not state and fedral monies).
  

What he is saying is no new services unless you make cuts or find outside revenue sources. After that exercise is done, he wants a menu of choices to cut within budgets. Those choices should add up to 5% of the department budget. He also followed up by saying that departments can't cut 5% and survive and that "everyone knows we won't" cut 5% across the board. He's simply looking for more options. And, he's not accepting supplemental requests this year . . . unless the department makes cuts or comes up with outside revenue sources.

A few departments were exempt from this exercise. I don't have a complete list but the following are exempt: Water Utility, Parking Utility, Landfill Utility. Most of them are utilities that keep their own profits within their department. However, the Stormwater Utility is not exempt because there may be ways to shift services that the city does to the Stormwater Utility budget.

Tim Gruber asked how we got into this situation - the explanation - goes something like this:

• Fuel costs are up $1.75 - 2M.
• Building permits are down $1.4M
• Debt Service is costing $6.2M (yes, we predicted that would happen!)
• Health Insurance up 10% (average of last few years)
• We have to pay for wage increases.
  

So, our budget goes up $24M (approx 10%) just to continue at current levels. That's 15% increase on the levy and we are limited to 11.75%. The levy limit is higher than usual because of our TIF retirement last year. That is a 10% increase on the average house.

The Mayor has some tricks to use to get us down to being about $1.3M over the levy limit. But we'd still need to cut from cost to continue about $1.3M. In an over $200M budget, that should be manageable.

Unfortunately, this budget meeting was after the 3.5 hour meeting of the Early Childhood Care committee where we made about 6 - 7 failed motions before getting to the point where we could give the Mayor his options to cut 5%. It's a painful exercise to go through. All of our calculations could be wrong, however, if the COLA is the 4% we were counting on instead of the 3% we worked towards.

My guess is that we will have to go more than three nights and well into the morning again. We're trying to do things in advance to make sure that doesn't happen, but I'm skeptical that we will succeed.


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Common Council Recap

The meeting went past 10:00! That has become so rare!

The meeting started off with much confusion. Alders Sanborn and Bruer were not in attendance, but excused. As a result, Alder Clear made the motions (here's the agenda) for the meeting. However, for some reason, after introducing his new staff person, the Mayor called on me. I attempted to move adjournment . . . to no avail! :)

The first item of business was the #1 the report of the Chief of Police on the state of public safety in the City of Madison. Apparently leadership decided that they didn't want Noble Wray to do this in front of the camera and so they are setting up a different meeting for this report. They attempted to have it during the time when we would have had the 2nd August meeting (the 19th) when most council people plan vacations. I believe they are rethinking that.

The second item of business was #2 a resolution congratulating the City of Madison Fire Department on 100 years of service as a career Fire Department. Chief Amesqua made some brief remarks.

The third item of business was #3, a resolution welcoming and honoring the visit of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet on his 7th visit to the City of Madison. There were a few speakers and we were all presented with scarfs as a sign of friendship. Technically, we are not allowed to keep anything of value, so at the end of the meeting we were instructed to turn them in to the Council Office. Thuy Pham-Remmele however, very visibly refused to turn hers in and walked out of the room with hers.

Next, we did the consent agenda. We passed the entire agenda minus the public hearing items and 12 other items.

The issue during the public hearings was about a waiver request for Linden Park (items 5, 9 and 61). The issue was that the city did not offer enough incentives/offsets to make the developer whole, so they applied for a waiver. This was the first time the staff had done the waiver process and there were several questions about if the numbers were correct or if the policies were followed. The staff admitted there were likely some errors and we were not clear if the process was done correctly. There was a long explanation, that I have to say at least 75% of the people in the room didn't understand. And the argument ended up being about if we should just trust the staff (who said they weren't sure the answer was correct) or not. Absurd. Of course we trust the staff, this issue was just complicated and there are several issues to be resolved. The vote ended up AYE: Brandon, Clausius, Clear, Cnare, Compton, Gruber, Judge, Palm, Pham-Remmele, Rummel, Schumacher, Skidmore, Solomon, Verveer, Kerr. NO: Webber, Konkel ABSTAIN: Rhodes-Conway ABSENT: Bruer, Sanborn I asked a few people why they voted the way they did and the biggest reason I heard was the they had to pay $7,800 into the Inclusionary Zoning fund and people didn't want the number to go any lower. My argument was, we should make sure they do it right and if the amount of money changes, maybe even goes down, so be it. We should just make sure we do it correctly. For me, its about integrity. I should have known better trying to make that argument to a room full of politicians. It was also during this discussion that Alder Thuy Pham-Remmele pulled out the standard insult that I don't have a "real job" and haven't ever done a development. Classy.

The next item (#26) was the Allied Drive Task Force Employment report which was accepted after a few questions.

Then we discussed the budget process for next year (#28), which was an amended substitute reflecting the work of the Presidents Workgroup. We are attempting to get more council members involved earlier and make the process more welcoming (starting with having enough chairs in the room!). I also posed the question, if instead of doing 3 the budget meetings 3 nights in a row, if we might haveing the meetings in a little over a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday) so that we could have more time to work between the meetings and also more time to work things out with our colleagues. While many thought that had merit, we didn't think we could change it for this year. If the budget is going to be as bad as they say it is going to be, I think we need to do it this year. Who knows, it still may change.

I think this is where we took a "10 minute break" that lasted 20 or 25 minutes. When we came back we did #74 the annual report on gender, racial/ethnic minorities and people with disabilities on City of Madison committee, commission and board appointments. There were a few softball questions about how alders could help get more people on committees and the report passed.

We then went back to the Salt Use report (#31), no one was there to answer questions so we referred it.

Union Corners redevelopment district(#59), also referred, for 90 days.

Mailboxes ordinance (#62) also referred for more work.

Next up - a new lease for Madison Metro (#69) - a bigger space at a higher costs and in spite of the worlds worst budget ever for next year, we approved the lease.

Finally, somewhat appropriately, the fireworks (#72). Alder Cnare attempted to lower the fine from approximately $400 to approximately $100. Before the meeting, I talked with Alder Cnare and we came to a compromise of $225. However, Alder Brandon had went on a little rant about how the police shouldn't be able to not give tickets, then come to us and tell us they won't give tickets because what we decided was appropriate was inappropriate in their eyes. There were some issues about different types of fireworks (bottle rocker vs. mortar vs. multiround) and an attempt to refer it back to PSRB to give different fine amounts based on the type of fireworks. That motion failed on a voice vote. Next we voted to lower the fine to $225. That passed AYE: Webber, Clear, Cnare, Clausius, Compton, Gruber, Judge, Konkel, Palm, Pham-Remmele, Rhodes-Conway, Schumacher, Solomon, Verveer. NO: Brandon, Kerr, Rummel, Skidmore ABSENT: Bruer, Sanborn Then we voted on the final and the vote was the same except Palm and Schumacher switched to no.

After that, we went to Brochah. Gruber, Clear, Rummel, Rhodes-Conway, Webber and the Mayor's staff (Mendoza, Plant, Pariano and the new kid on the block), the Mayor and the City Attorney were there. Home by midnight.
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The Rest of the Week Ahead

I attempted to take 7 days off of work. Ended up cancelling 4 days of vacation and since I spent the first two days at the Green Party National Convention, yesterday was my only real day off . . . so my apologies for not posting this earlier. Here's what's up this week.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008
5:00 PM CITY-COUNTY LIAISON COMMITTEE ROOM 309 CCB

• Here's something you almost never see. Looks like they might finally be moving forward with improvements to the Council Chambers . . . they've only been talking about it since 2001 when I was elected . . . 7 years ago.
  

5:00 PM COMMON COUNCIL - DISCUSSION COMMON COUNCIL UPDATE ON CITY'S NEIGHBORHOOD INDICATOR'S PROJECT ROOM 201 CCB

• We get to see what this has morphed into and how it might affect the budget.
  

6:30 PM COMMON COUNCIL ROOM 201 CCB

• #1 The police report we were supposed to get on agenda item #1 was rescheduled for August 19th - you know, the day we don't have a council meeting in August so council members can take vacation during the summer. Methinks they don't really want us to show up.
  
• #26 Employment report from Allied Drive
• #28 Budget process for this year
• #31 Salt usage
• #59 Union Corners redevelopment district
• #62 Mailboxes
• #69 Paying too much for the Madison Metro offices
• #72 Fireworks
• #74 Diversity (women, people of color and people with disabilities) on city committees
• #86 ATC power lines

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
8:00 AM DISCUSSION ON EXPANDED NOTIFICATION FOR SNOW EMERGENCIES ROOM 103A CCB

• After council members pushed for this, now, the Mayor and City staff are inviting us to talk about it? I love the goofy rush to take credit for things.
  

8:00 AM EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION BOARD 119 E. OLIN AVE.

• More work on funding recommendations for 2009-2010. We'll have to decide which programs to cut so that we can keep our promise to provide cost of living increases to the programs so as not to destroy all programs by a death of a thousand cuts.
  

4:00 PM TAX INCREMENTAL FINANCING POLICY AD HOC COMMITTEE ROOM 101 MMB

• Could this really finally be our last meeting?
  

4:30 PM BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS ROOM 108 CCB

• Requesting DNR to lower the lake levels.
  

4:30 PM COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMISSION 119 E. OLIN AVE.

• Continued work on funding decisions for 2009 and 2010. I'm glad I'm not these folks who have to go through this absurd exercise of cutting 5% and listening to all the upset people only to typically have the funding restored.
  

Thursday, July 17, 2008
4:30 PM COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMISSION 119 E. OLIN AVE.

• More agony.
  

5:00 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT COMMISSION ROOM 260 MMB

• The folks are in the same boat as the Early Chilhood Care and Community Services programs in trying to make recommendations for 2009 -2010. Cut. Cut. Cut. While there are increasing needs in our growing city and a failure to acknowledge cost of living increases.
  

5:00 PM LONG RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLANNING COMMISSION ROOM LL-110 MMB

• One of the single most useful city meetings of the year - when Larry Nelson presents his plans for road, bike etc projects for the next few years.
  

Friday, July 18, 2008

It's not on the agenda yet . . . but Inclusionary Zoning Oversight Committee will be meeting to work on its report to the Mayor on its recommendations for the ordinance.

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Green Party National Convention - Day Three

The day of the nomination . . . after two full days of workshops and meetings, we are finally at the point where we are packing into the Chicago Symphony Center for a day of voting and speeches!

We kicked it off with a roll call and credentialing of our delegates. We were skillfully guided through the day by

With assistance from Lynn Serpe

and Ruth Weill who did a ton of work to plan this whole event. (Sorry, no picture of Ruth)

Our first speaker was Cliff Thornton

Followed by Kathy Kelly

We then had our platform vote . . . 'nuff said about that.

Then I had the great pleasure of introducing Malik Rahim

We had a quick fundraising pitch from David Cobb

and then we then had speeches by our candidates for president. Jesse Johnson

Followed by Cynthia McKinney, who I thought I would get picture of later . . . except my batteries died.
Then Kent Mesplay, who I completely forgot to take a picture of . . . ugh . . . . followed by Kat Swift.

We took a QUICK break for lunch and came back for more speeches by

Jill Stein

And Omar Lopez

And then we went on to our presidential voting. Pictures here.

After Cynthia McKinney won in the first round, we took a hand vote for her chosen running mate Rosa Clemente (by this point, my batteries in my camera were dead and my cell phone couldn't take pictures due to the lighting.) The vote was unanimous except for one abstention by our very own Ben Manski.

The speeches that followed were truly remarkable. More on that in a bit.

After the convention, I went to dinner with Rob and back for more celebrating at the Palmer House Hilton.

A remarkable, remarkable day. I'll get you more on the chosen President and Vice President candidates as soon as I catch up on the rest of my blogging.

Note: I intend to put in links to the amazing people who spoke at our convention, so check back in a day or two for more information.

Read more!

Faces of the Green Party

The face of the Green Party looks alot different than it did 4 years ago. It really struck me as people were reading off the nomination votes just how diverse we have become. Here's some of the faces . . . I'll apologize in advance for some of the poor photo quality and for missing a few folks . . . especially at the end. And these got a little out of order, I hope I got everyone's state correct . . .

Arizona

Arkansas

Black Caucus - And Cynthia McKinney's Parents

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Washington DC

Indiana

Illinois

Hawaii

Georgia

Florida

Maine

Louisiana

Lavender Caucus

Iowa

Michigan

Massachusetts

North Carolina

Montana

Missouri

Mississippi

Minnesota

Ohio

Women's Caucus

New York

New Jersey

Nebraska

Oregon

Tennessee

South Carolina

Rhode Island

Pennsylvania

W Virginia??

Virginia??

Wisconsin
Women's Caucus - corrected announcement

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Green Party National Convention - Day Two

Day Two - lots to do!

I started my day moderating a press conference for the Green Party U.S. Congressional and Senate candidates. I was very impressed by the quality of candidates. The press conference had four featured speakers, and many others joined in for the questions and answer period.

SPEAKER ONE: Bob Kinsey running for U.S. Senate in Colorado.
He's a United States Marine Corps veteran with three years of active duty. A twenty-five year retired veteran of public service as a history and social studies teacher and recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education. A retired United Church of Christ clergyman with a Masters in Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary and forty years of advocacy for the Just Peace theology. Read more about his issues here.

SPEAKER TWO: Omar Lopez running for U.S.Congress in the 4th District in Illinois.
He is most likely most recognized, as he said, for standing accused of being the principle convenor and leader of the historic mega- marches of March 10 and 1 May, 2006, in defense of the rights of undocumented immigrant workers and all of our human and Constitutional rights, which were then under attack by the Sensenbrenner House Bill HR 4437. These initial Chicago mega-marches, were (then) the biggest mass mobilizations in the history of the United States and were the catalyst for similar mega-marches throughout the USA. Omar N. López was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico and has lived in Chicago since 1958. He's a founding member of LADO (Latin American Defense Organization), founded the Mexican Teachers Organization in 1973, and was a leader in the fight for quality bilingual education for students and for the recruitment of trained bilingual teachers. He was instrumental in the acquisition deal with the Chicago Park District for the building that now houses the National Museum of Mexican Art in Harrison Park in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. He has helped facilitated and processed the legal residency of thousands of undocumented workers and was vigilant to ensure that agencies and individuals could not abuse Latino families by charging exorbitant prices for processing their legalization applications. He has been the director of C.A.L.O.R. for the past 14 years; C.A.L.O.R. is an organization that provides services to Latinos impacted by HIV / AIDS and other diseases. For more on his issues see here.

SPEAKER THREE: Rebeka Kennedy is running for U.S. Senate in Arkansas.
Rebekah was born in Heber Springs Arkansas.
She holds a BA Degree in English Literature from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and a Juris Doctorate for the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville. She practices law with the firm of Pryor, Robertson, Beasley, Smith & Karber in Fort Smith and is most proud of her work in the area of civil rights and on behalf of victims of discrimination in the workplace. For more on her issues, see here.

SPEAKER FOUR: Jason Wallace is running for Congress in District 11 in Illinois.
Jason served as a member of the Illinois Air National Guard as an Airman First Class. While at Heartland College, previous to serving he became a local community activist and grassroots organizer by founding and coordinating the Central Illinois Bill of Rights Defense Committee (CIBORDC). After returning from active service he returned to his job as Heartland Community College’s Student Activities Assistant. Read more of his many awards and activities here and more on his issues here.

The impressive group that joined them included for questions and answers:
Steve Fournier, District 1 in Connecticutt
Steve Alesch, District 13 in Illinois
John Miglietta - District 5, Tennessee
John Wages - District 1, Mississippi
Peter Myers - District 15, California
Rodger Jennings - District 12, Illinois
Scott Summers - District 16, Illinois
Richard Duffee - District 4, Connecticutt
Deborah McFarland - District 2, Arkansas
Sheldon Schafer - Illinois

There were a few other candidates for US House or Senate that were not at the press conference, the two I noticed were Malik Rahim from Louisanna and Farheen Hakeem from Minnesota, but I'm sure there were others as well that I don't remember at the moment.

After the press conference, I got some work done then attended some work shops. I attended workshop put on by Marnie Glickman

(with apologies to Marnie for the poor photo quality)

from Green Change on on-line organizing.

Next I attended a crowded work shop about messaging put on by these lovely ladies:



Again, my apologies for the bad photos. Colia Clark is from NY Power to the People Committee, Gingi Lester is with the Will County Illinois Green Party and xxxx Schafer

Then I presented a program with Ben Manski from Liberty Tree and John Nichols from The Nation and the Capital Times. Our presentation was about "A Democracy Movement for the U.S.A.".

I tok a quick break for dinner before attending the debate between our presidential candidates (another bad cell phone photo)


After the debate Wisconsin had its caucus meeting before the nominating convention and then we attended the Liberty Tree reception "A toast to the Greens". A long day, with a longer day to come.
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Green Party National Convention - Day One

So far, the Green Party National Convention has failed to disappoint me. Going to these types of events always makes me anxious and I wonder what I’m getting myself into and if it will be worth it. I figure I don’t have time for these types of events and worry about the things left undone on my desk and the many things I might be missing while out of town. And of course, once I get here, that worry slips away as I see all the old and new friends, the results of earnest and hard working activism throughout the United States and have a wonderful the opportunity to learn from others that I can’t really find elsewhere . . . its all worth it. Very worth it and the worry was unnecessary. The things left undone can wait, and the things I miss I can catch up on.

We arrived in Chicago yesterday and got into our room at the Palmer House, Hilton around 2:00. Grabbed a quick bite to eat and had to go do our first workshop. This workshop was “What is Local Democracy? Building from the Bottom Up for Political Power”. Sounds radical and scary to many I am sure. But really, it was very interesting. Having people from several states with various forms of local government and talking about local politics is always a challenge, but when you talk about what democracy is . . . and the brainstorming starts, we all find our commonality. Some of the words used to describe democracy by the group are as follows: participation, equity, collective decision making, chaos, transparency, will of citizens/not corporations, local rule, lot of work! messy!, inclusion, (personal) ownership of rights, not always getting your way and compromise/collaboration. The workshop was facilitated by Juscha Robinson, a fellow with Liberty Tree and Peter Karas, formerly of the Racine City Council and myself shared stories of what being an elected official and community activist look liked for us. Then, we heard from folks about the many great things going on in their local communities. I wasn’t taking notes, but the things that stood out in my mind were: Fighting for Instant Runoff Voting, Impeachment resolutions, fighting privatization of utilities, working on water issues, urban planning concerns, getting people to run for office, transparency and accountability in local government, not giving away public property for private interests, transportation issues, mock elections in Philadelphia and oh so much more.

In the evening, we attended the reception with the International Greens.

There was a brief acknowledgment and celebration of Ingrid Betancourt being freed, Pat LaMarche took to the podium – unauthorized – to announce that two presidential candidates were in the room, Cynthia McKinney and Jesse Johnson. We also heard from Marco Mroz. A great first day . . .

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3 hours, 40 people, ignored. Fork over more money.

Is this the CDA that promised that it was "more open than any other developer" and that it had the best interests of the community, not profit at heart? Well, clearly, money is not object, since it isn't theirs. They can just go back to the bottomless well of the City taxpayer and pay for free land, and then pay for some more land. Pure lunacy. Levitan got this one right! Thanks Stu.

I wish I had been able to be at the meeting, and thank everyone who was able to show up. I'm really disappointed that the CDA didn't listen to the wishes of the public and already had their minds made up. But I am not surprised. Also, if I understand the motion they made, I don't think that HUD will approve our plan as they recommend. Unless Porchlight withdraws their legal claim to the land. Which I hope they don't do - it would be foolish.

This should be an interesting discussion when they come to the Council. I hope they have a solid financial plan in place, because the Council will want to see how much money they are asking us for. With so many costly and somewhat risky plans already out there - Lakepoint, Allied, Villager, Truax, etc, I can't see how the Council will approve yet another project that we don't have available staff to work on (who's paying for that staff?) and will cost us even more money.
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Homeless Services vs. Economic Development

What a ridiculous choice to have to make! Your input needed tonight! I believe the federal law and intent dictate what the choice is. The CDA has essentially already decided Economic Development. However, the CDA will be having a public hearing to hear from YOU about what you think is the best choice for the city?

This whole situation is happening because the Truman Olson ROTC Property is no longer needed by the Army and they have a process by which they dispose of property. The process is outlined in the law called BRAC or more accurately the Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act of 1994. Under this law local governments must form redevelopment authorities (LRA) to create a reuse plan for closed/reassigned military property. LRA must work with homeless assistance representatives and take into account needs of the homeless population.

4 community groups have submitted applications for the property as intended under the law. The subcommittee of the CDA has recommended to reject all 4 applications and use the property for "economic development". What that means is unclear (The City should put money in 2011 -2012 budget and CDA will decide what to do?) and we don't know what it will cost! Apparently the CDA is trying to enter into side deals with the two programs that serve to homeless to withdraw their applications. Under the "plan" that I've heard city staff and CDA members talk about, but don't have any details about, the City would put up money for the CDA to purchase the property (for more than $1), then the City would purchase more property (where is uncertain, since one site was rejected by the community in a classic not-in-my-back-yard reaction) for Porchlight and Goodwill. And somehow, the CDA is going to make money - and presumably not pay the City back. But I can't figure out how we break even - sounds like another losing proposition. Without those details and a solid plan, clearly, the only thing to do is to recommend to HUD and the Army that the top applicant, which most believe is Porchlight, receive the property.

There's so many reasons why this is the right thing to do, here's a sample:

Need for Affordable Housing. Expanding affordable housing options for homeless single adults was a priority in the Community Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. The 24 new units of permanent affordable housing proposed by Porchlight can give more people a chance to move out of a shelter situation.

Federal Priority. A federal commitment to affordable housing and homeless services has been increasingly rare. This is seen in no place more than in the decreases in HUD’s budget and extensive de-funding of the Section 8 program nationally. In the discussion of homelessness and housing policy, local public officials will often lament the lack of resources from federal and state governments. Here we are presented with a VERY rare opportunity—one that we should not let pass.

Amenities. The Park Street location is uniquely situated to services that low-income people rely upon; namely, the location is very close to regular bus service, a grocery store, a pharmacy, and a medical clinic. These features to the location will help to insure that people who move into the developed permanent affordable housing will be able to maintain that housing.

Need for New Building. Currently, Porchlight spends $36,000 of HUD money to rent the building where Safe Haven is housed. By owning their building, Porchlight could begin to decrease those costs. Additionally, the aging, dilapidated building that currently houses Safe Haven was not built for the purpose of providing these services, and does not accommodate the type of programming Safe Haven strives to provide for homeless persons who struggle with mental illnesses.

Sensitive to Neighborhood Plan. As city staff has confirmed for the CDA Redevelopment subcommittee, Porchlight took great care to build their proposed development within the confines of what is expected in the Wingra BUILD Plan and other neighborhood plans. Porchlight has considered density of the housing, aesthetics, and the need for road building on the site.

Case Management Element. Every person receiving services from Safe Haven, and all residents of the proposed 24-unit permanent housing location will receive some form of case management to monitor client needs and prevent crisis situations for those struggling with mental health or addictive disorders. The presence of case management services should decrease concerns about neighborhood safety.

Land-Swap Risks. The Department of Defense policies allow for giving this parcel of land to Porchlight at no cost. If the land were to be used as outlined in the current development plan, it would not necessarily be given to CDA at the same discount. As a result, the city may end up LOSING money in a time when tough budgets are forcing us to cut other important services in the community. A land-swap should not be considered at the cost of additional budget problems and further difficulties for other programs.

I will be out of town, but I hope neighbors and people who care about the homeless situation and affordable housing show up and testify about what they think should happen with this property. I resent the position that advocates have been put in as both homeless services and economic development should be high priorities. However, the federal laws have made the priority choice, and we should honor that intent and what is fiscally prudent.

The public hearing will be:

Thursday, July 10
5:00
Catholic Multi-Cultural Center Dining Room (Lower Level)
1852 Beld Street

The meeting starts at 4:30, but the hearing is scheduled for 5:00. Lots more info here.
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Green Party In Chicago!

I'll be spending the next four days with Green Party activists from all over the United States. It should not only be informative and an opportunity to get all kinds of party business done, but fun and invigorating.

Wisconsin delegates travel to Chicago to choose Green presidential candidate

This weekend twenty-four Wisconsin Green delegates and two alternates will travel to Chicago to attend the Green Party of the United States Presidential Nominating Convention, “Live Green, Vote Green,” at the historic Palmer House Hilton and Symphony Center, July 10 – 13. Greens from all over the United States will choose a presidential candidate on Saturday, July 12th.

“True to our 10 Key Values, we can be certain that the Green Party presidential candidate, whomever is nominated, will stand for single payer universal health care, an end to the US occupation of Iraq, a steady-state economy, equality for women and minorities, and serious reform of the election system,” said Brenda Konkel, delegate for McKinney and Green Alderperson, District 2, City of Madison Common Council.

The four Green Party presidential candidates are: Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, and Kat Swift.

Wisconsin Greens voted their preference by mail-in ballot. The convention delegates are committed to represent the ballot results: nineteen for McKinney, two for Mesplay, one for Swift, one for Ralph Nader (who is running an Independent campaign for president this year) and one Uncommitted.

“There is a lot of excitement about the convention among the membership – by those going, and by those staying home,’ said Monte LeTourneau, delegate from Necedah. “Members were very generous in responding to an appeal to help send us to Chicago. We look forward to Saturday when the Green Presidential candidate will be determined."

A generous sum was raised to offset delegate's convention expenses through a direct mail request and an auction of books such as The Lorax, Ecotopia, and The Natural Step for Communities at the Wisconsin Presidential Primary and Spring Gathering in March.

Wisconsin Green Party

Updated convention information and schedule
Media credentialing page for the convention
Convention press kit
General information on the convention
Green Presidential Candidates

Wisconsin Convention delegates

Rick Bruening, New Berlin
Jill Bussiere, Kewaunee
Fred Depies, New Holstein
Barb Eisenberg, Milwaukee
Nelson Eisman, Madison
Ron Hardy, Oshkosh
Steve Herrick, Madison
Brad Karas, Racine
Pete Karas, Racine
Dean Katahira, Ripon
Tommy King, Milwaukee
Brenda Konkel, Madison
Monte LeTourneau, Necedah
Robin Lutz, Oshkosh
Ben Manski, Madison
Sarah Manski, Madison
George Martin, Milwaukee
Jeff Peterson, Luck
Dan Rodriguez Schlorf, Mt. Pleasant
Kathy Sommers, Milwaukee
Kay Springstroh, Oshkosh
Nancy Stewart, Luck
Cindy Stimmler, Dresser
Claude VanderVeen, Cudahy
Sandy Weisto, Milwaukee

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James Madison Park A Wet Shelter?

I think not. But nice photoshop job David.

The last three Blaska Blog's have some how made some reference to me and affordable housing and all that allegedly wacko crazy lefty talk about providing services for the least among us in this crappy Republican economy where it is hard to get a good paying job and find decent affordable housing on that wage. Based on all the crap he has been spewing, former County Board Supervisor and Alder Andy Olsen started a thread on thedailypage forum addressing the Blaska-bashing of the homeless and the recent murders. Then, the ad hominen attacks ensued. I've tried to ignore it. But one of Blaska's latest posts, was actually sent as public comment about what should happen in James Madison Park, it even will be linked in Legistar, so I thought I'd better set the record straight for those of you who might not fully appreciate Blaska's style.

Make no mistake. Blaska is just trying to provoke with the ridiculous, which is why he says the Collins House should be a wet shelter. And facts are completely irrelevant with this guy. His whole post is predicated on the "fact" that "Given that this regal home is planted in Ald. Konkel’s district, it would make the perfect location for something the good leftist has long sought: a "wet" shelter for homeless vagrants."

Do me a favor, test his hypothesis. Google "brenda konkel" and "wet shelter" and find where I have "sought a "wet" shelter". Nothing. Except his post.

When I talked about having a "public use" for the Collins House, along with the neighborhood associations and neighbors in the area, we were talking about a coffee shop, a bakery, a book store, a Madison souvenir shop, a Madison history museum, a demonstration project for retrofitting old houses or new environmentally positive retrofitting techniques, a restaurant, a library, a neighborhood gathering place/neighborhood center, an activity center for children in the neighborhood, a deli, and I'm probably forgetting many, many more creative ideas that people talked about. But not once, not ever, has anyone suggested using it as a "wet" shelter. That idea is as absurd as the class-clown persona that suggested it.

The point of all the above ideas was that the public would be able to come into the home and enjoy the great architecture of the home. It's a lovely Claude and Stark home with wonderfully crafted woodwork and part of the park history, and it should be shared, not sold the to the highest bidder to be used as a private home.

If you have a serious idea for the home, the committee will be meeting this evening to discuss the committee members ideas for the first time as a committee. (Previous meeting were initial information gathering, a tour of the house and a public hearing.) Public comment is allowed, or you can send comment to drolfs@cityofmadison.com or swidstrand@cityofmadison.com. Former, serious written comments by the public, can be viewed here, and info on what people said at the public hearing is here. To see my previous comments, search "james madison park" on this blog site (look at/scroll to the top of the screen) and you'll find plenty.
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Public Access TV . . . soon to be a thing of the past? Cable prices going up!

Hmmmmm . . . . cable franchise bills, like the one passed in Wisconsin, didn't lower cable costs and are putting public access channels in jeopardy. Duh!

All the bills did were to raise prices in 66% of the cases and lower them in a whopping 1%. They allowed things to happen like moving channel 12 to 900 something-or-other. And will likely be the death of community stations like WYOU and others across many small towns across Wisconsin and America. 25% of those surveyed said they have lost funding for their stations or expect to lose those stations. After 2011, the PEG funds that fund stations like Channel 12 and the School channel, will go away. Ironically, stations like Channel 4, WYOU that have been forced to work with less PEG funding may do the best in this new scheme.

But don't worry, they tell us the market will take care of it. As new companies enter the market, the competition will drive the prices down. And those communities that value their public access stations can contract to use franchise fees to fund them. So, the market will take care of things. Right. Where have we heard that before and how is it working?

If you want to read more check here. And the survey is here.
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City Committees Trained to Use their Power? Or not.

City Committees have alot of power, but only if their members know how to use it. I'm not sure that this training will tell you that, but its a start. Understanding the process and why they City operates the committee system the way we do is a huge first step in making sure that committee members understand the full extent of their power. Maybe that's why the trainings are typically help in August, when most committees take a break, and most committee members, take a vacation. Here's part of the letter many folks will be receiveing soon - I hope people can find the time to attend!

It is important that we provide sufficient training so that you are able to carry out your membership responsibilities. Training sessions have been scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the following dates:

Monday, August 11 – Main Public Library, 201 W. Mifflin St., Conference Room 202
Wednesday, August 13 – Council Chambers, 210 M L King Jr. Blvd, Room 201
The sessions are identical; you only need to attend one.

Newly appointed members and those who have not received formal training are encouraged to attend. If you’ve attended training in the past and would like a refresher course, you are welcome to attend.

If you are not able to attend one of the meetings in person, Madison City Channel will broadcast the meetings on Cable Channel 994. Please check the channel schedule for replay dates and times.

The training session is also available on the City’s committee Web site at: www.cityofmadison.com/mayor/CommTraining/CMTIndex.htm as a streaming video. The materials used in the presentations can be viewed and/or printed from this Web site.

Please RSVP to Pam Williamson at 266-4434 or pwilliamson@cityofmadison.com only if you plan to attend one of the sessions. Feel free to contact Pam if you have any questions.

Here's the agenda:

I. Welcome

II. Karl van Lith, Human Resources/Organizational Development and Training
• Role/responsibilities of committee members

III. Michael May, City Attorney, and Roger Allen, Assistant City Attorney
• Ethics
• Robert’s Rules of Order
• Open Meetings/Public Records

IV. Questions and Answers

Ok - I have a question or two. Where to they talk about what legistar is? How referrals work? What a recommendation means? Should there be a resolution with your report? If there isn't what does it mean for the report? What is the difference between a lead committee and a referral committee? How should the recommendations come back to council to be effective? etc. etc. etc.

I'd love to have this second piece of training so that committee members can be as effective as possible within our system. But that would probably give them too much power and make the time they spend on committees more effective, so I doubt it will happen.
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St. Raphael's

Clearly, it is a landmark. Clearly, the demolition permit has been issued by staff. Now what?

Last night's Landmark Commission meeting was a classic showdown between staff and policy makers. I'm certain I did not understand everything that was going on. The wrong staff was in the room to ask the appropriate questions. And the ordinance, sucks.

I'm spoiled, because on the plan commission, despite how horrible our zoning code is, at least we had some guidelines and rules to follow. Last night, we were faced with making a decision based on this:

(6) Procedures.
(a) Designation Of Landmarks and Landmark Sites. The Landmarks Commission and the
Common Council may consider nominations for landmark status. An individual or group
may nominate a property for consideration. If a complete, accurate application is
submitted and the Commission decides to consider the nomination, a public hearing shall be scheduled At least ten (10) days prior to such hearing . . .

That's it. It doesn't say what we consider or why we would or would not have a hearing.

While it is clear that under the ordinance, once we get to consider it, how to make a decisions (MGO 33.19(4)(a)):

(a) For purposes of this ordinance, a landmark or landmark site designation may be placed on any site, natural or improved, including any building, improvement or structure located thereon, or any area of particular historic, architectural or cultural significance to the City of Madison, such as historic structures or sites which:
1. Exemplify or reflect the broad cultural, political, economic or social history of
the nation, state or community; or
2. Are identified with historic personages or with important events in national, state or local history; or
3. Embody the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural type specimen,
inherently valuable for a study of a period, style, method of construction, or of
indigenous materials or craftsmanship or
4. Are representative of the notable work of a master builder, designer or architect
whose individual genius influences his age.

Stuart's right. It's clearly a landmark. To do anything except allow the hearing on it would have been abdicating our responsibility as the Landmark's Commission. And to say the "application is incomplete" was appalling. In any other circumstance, the staff would have worked with the applicant to make sure the application was complete.

We decided to hold the hearing and allow the applicant to amend his application. It was an interesting, odd, meeting. But we made the only decision that a Landmark's Commission could have/should have made. Heh, Stuart and I were even on the same side of the issues!
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James Madison and Tenney Park Beaches Closed

Due to blue-green algae. Read more about it here. All these beach closings this year and the high water is making the Goodman Pool decision look brilliant in retrospect.
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Cool Temporary Art Project

Here's a description of a cool temporary art project along the Yahara River:

Eric Melton-White, a local artist (lives on Willy Street) would like to place a temporary art installation in the Parkway this fall (approx. September-October). The proposed funding is a city Blink grant.

The piece will consist of 15 woven fabric lanterns strung on a line across the river just south of the Willy Street bridge. It will be solar powered and the theme is "Living Lanterns". Eric is working with an arborist and Parks staff. The inspiration is
the webbing produced in early summer and fall by web worms. The lanterns will produce a soft glow following sunset for about 3-5 hours. The art installation will be removed from the trees once complete.

The Parks Commission will be discussing this on Wednesday.
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Well Siting Public Process

I participated in the first of these processes as we searched for a new site for Well 3 that was shut down due to carbon tetrachloride. It was a good process and a great start, so the following is good news from the Water Utility:

Public Participation Plan in Place for Water Utility Facility Projects

Madison—After receiving Common Council approval, the Madison Water Utility has instituted a new plan for involving the public throughout the process when major facilities are constructed.

Although the utility has previously gathered public input on major projects, the new standard operating plan formalizes the procedures from the early stages on through completion for choosing the locations and designs for new municipal wells, reservoirs, pump stations, and control valve facilities. The formal plan was originally suggested by Ald. Tim Gruber (District 11), and is designed to inform and involve stakeholders in the vicinity of proposed projects.

Larry Nelson, Interim Water Utility Manager, stated that the plan strikes a balance between public participation and the need of the utility to provide the necessary infrastructure in an economical and timely fashion.

One of the key elements of each construction project will be the appointment of a Citizen Advisory Panel made up of interested parties such as neighborhood groups, environmental groups, businesses, elected officials, and other organizations. This volunteer panel will provide recommendations to the project manager/engineer on public goals, preferences, and community values as they relate to the proposed construction. Other public participation opportunities throughout the process could include open houses, public workshops, websites, meetings, feedback cards, surveys, and public comment meetings.

Major Water Utility projects currently underway are using a modified version of the public participation plan. Projects proposed after January 1, 2009, will use the entire new plan. The full text of the Public Participation Process for Water Utility Facilities is on the utility website under Plans, Programs, and Projects at www.cityofmadison.com/water.

The construction of major Water Utility infrastructure projects is projected in the utility’s Master Plan and Infrastructure Management Plan, which are also posted on the website.

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The Week Ahead

As if to prove the Wisconsin State Journal's point . . . I don't have much that is exciting this week.

Monday, July 7, 2008
4:30 PM BOARD OF ESTIMATES ROOM 260 - MMB

• Budget process.
  

4:45 PM LANDMARKS COMMISSION ROOM LL - 130 MMB

• Making it easier to have solar/wind systems.
• St. Raphael's
  

5:00 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT COMMISSION ROOM 300 - MMB

• Continue making recommendations for 2009-2010 funding.
  

5:00 PM PLAN COMMISSION ROOM 201 CCB (wrong agenda attached in weekly schedule)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008
4:30 PM MADISON ELECTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE ROOM 101 MMB

• Getting ready for fall elections
  

5:00 PM AFFIRMATIVE ACTION COMMISSION ROOM LL-120 MMB

• Strategizing for action plans re: report on salary's for top management.
  

5:00 PM PUBLIC SAFETY REVIEW BOARD ROOM 103A CCB (couldn't access agenda in weekly schedule)
5:30 PM ZONING CODE REWRITE ADVISORY COMMITTEE 330 W. MIFFLIN ST, ROOMS 1 & 2

• Zoning Code Analysis
• Public Participation and Communication Plan
  

Wednesday, July 9, 2008
4:30 PM URBAN DESIGN COMMISSION ROOM LL -110 MMB

• Solar/wind systems
• Allied Drive

5:00 PM JAMES MADISON PARK PROPERTY PLANNING COMMITTEE ROOM 108 CCB

• The committee's first discussion about what should happen in the park and deciding how to proceed.
  

5:35 PM COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMISSION 119 E OLIN AVE

• Continue working on 2009-2010 funding recommendations.
  

6:30 PM BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS 1625 NORTHPORT DR - WARNER PARK COMM REC CNTR

• Banning alcohol in Eastmorland Park (no attachments)
• Lake Levels
• Siting water utility facilities in parks (still no attachments!)
  

Thursday, July 10, 2008
4:30 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY 1852 BELD ST - DINING ROOM (LOWER LEVEL)

• Lakepointe update (no attachments again!)
• Truman Olson public hearing
• Allied Drive (lots of topics listed, see a - j)
• Villager Mall
  

5:00 PM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT COMMISSION ROOM 260 - MMB

• More 2009-2010 funding decisions
  

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Reporters stretch for a story.

Since I ripped on the Wisconsin State Journal twice this week, it's the Cap Times' turn. Now, don't get me wrong, when there isn't much to write about, the reporters still have a job to do. So I don't blame them when they stretch a bit. However, when they are stretching, they should probably make a little extra effort to make it crystal clear to the reader. Case in point: drive throughs.

This story can basically be boiled down to this: Last week (yes, they are writing about it a week later) a guy made a comment at a meeting.

Think about it, if every time someone made a comment at a meeting they wrote a story, the news would be quite different. Why this comment, verses 1,000s of other comments made at a meeting made the news, I don't know.

Why do I care. Well, here's what happens with this type of thing:
1. Story written about off-hand comment.
2. AM radio shock jocks run with it.
3. Right-wing AP staff get it out on the wire.
4. People freak out and roll their eyes and whine about how Madison isn't connected to reality. (Dane 101 compiled some of these comments.)
5. Bloggers feel the need to comment.
6. Nut jobs email council members with platitudes about how we are crazy and anti-business.

Meanwhile, what really happened. Nothing. There is no proposal. There is no official City action. No alder proposed anything. Nothing happened except that a guy made a comment at a meeting. And it is probably Progressive Dane's fault.

The last time they did this is when they wrote a story about banning plastic bags and bottles. Once again, no proposal. No official City action. No alder proposed anything. But we did get the same whack job anti-business emails and comments.

I remember getting a call from Bill Nowak asking if we were thinking about banning plastic bags. No, I hadn't heard anything about it. But that didn't stop him from writing about it. That was March 2007, and still no proposal. Tho you should note that is the first sentence in the drive through story. Even funnier, is this AP story from last January that says a month ago a city committee voted to put an item on their agenda and might do something, but not for a year.

I'd ask how this became a story, but my guess is that this is a combination of a City of Madison Police Department Public Information Officer with too much time on his hands that had a chance to feel superior to the Town of Madison and a Cap Times with nothing to write about.

I know the council hasn't been very active lately, but gee whiz. We can do enough nutty things on our own, it'd be kind of nice if we didn't get things attributed to us that we haven't done. And something with a little more substance than a-guy-had-a-thought-a week-ago or reporter-wonders-if-city-might-do-something. Maybe its not the paper's fault, but readers, especially those who like to email and contact and yell at alders, be careful out there. Read things a little more closely and don't believe everything that you hear on AM radio.


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James Madison Park - Why's it taking so long?

So, below is an open record that I have been sitting on for quite some time. It's always tough to know what to do with this information, but since the Wisconsin State Journal is looking for blame for why this is taking so long . . . please read below (you might want to read from the bottom up for the full effect). Its classic, sticking the staff in the middle.

From: Marx, Don
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 7:43 AM
To: Olinger, Mark; Harmon, Ramon; Twigg, George
Subject: RE: James Msn Park committee

Just for the record. This committee process has been in the Mayor's Office for many months. We were specifically and repeatedly instructed to wait for direction from the Mayor's Office before we do anything. We have received numerous inquires on the status of this committee process from alders, citizens, and occasionally reporters all of which have been referred to the Mayor's Office as we were not in a position to provide status. We continue to await direction from the Mayor's Office.

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From: Olinger, Mark
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:52 PM
To: Harmon, Ramon; Twigg, George
Cc: Marx, Don
Subject: RE: James Msn Park committee

None scheduled to date.

Office of Real Estate Services will set the dates. Awaiting further direction on the communciations piece.

m.

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From: Harmon, Ramon
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:45 PM
To: Twigg, George; Olinger, Mark
Subject: RE: James Msn Park committee

Mark:

What are the committee meeting dates?

Sincerely,

Ray Harmon

Office of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz

210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

Room 403

Madison, WI 53703

608-266-4611

608-267-8671 (fax)

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From: Twigg, George
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 1:01 PM
To: Olinger, Mark
Cc: Harmon, Ramon
Subject: James Msn Park committee

Mark:

I got a call from Bill Lueders inquiring about the status of this. Sheridan G also stopped by the office the other day. What's the latest, from your perspective?

Bill's basic line is, the members of this committee were all named as of Sept. 07, here it is April '08 and no meetings yet, what's up?

George Twigg

Communications Director

Office of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz

(608) 266-4611

Sorry about the momentary tangent, but had this been a text message, if the Mayor and Alder Zach Brandon get their way, this would not have been an open record. (Read here for my full statement of concerns about eroding open records.) With the new fancy phones the staff have, that is not outside the realm of possibilities.

Back on topic - It's makes it all the more ridiculous that we are now being asked to rush to meet the Mayor's time line. I'll leave you with this final thought, from one of my neighbors:

I really really hope that this reflects the mayor trying very hard NOT to do anything about this, and not a serious level of incompetence in the city govt staff.

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