From: Phillips, Rob
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 7:56 AM
To: EN GROUP
Cc: Piraino, Janet; Harmon, Ray; Strauch-Nelson, Rachel
Subject: Appointment of new City Engineer
Engineering Staff,
I am pleased to announce to you that I have been selected for the position of City Engineer. I look forward to serving the City of Madison in this new capacity. I truly believe that this selection is a positive reflection on all of you as well. I would not have been selected if not for the high quality work that all of you do.
As has been the case in the past, there will be significant challenges ahead and I look forward to working with all of you to overcome those challenges and continue doing the excellent work that the Engineering Division has traditionally done.
Thanks again for your support through this transition period.
Rob Phillips
Interim City Engineer
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
New City Engineer Dude!
Ok, this isn't much of a surprise, but for the record, looks like its official!
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An opportunity missed. Rob's a nice guy and a comptent engineer, I'm sure, but he lacks the political prowess of Larry Nelson and has a 1970s pave-it-all mindset to boot.
ReplyDeleteA pave-it-all mindset should go well with the mayor's twin loves of big, tall, jumbo sized buildings and developers.
ReplyDeleteNow all we need is a director of planning that disdains long range planning and has no sense of balance like the mayor.
I am going to give Rob the benefit of the doubt for his first two years for the following reasons:
ReplyDelete1) Larry Nelson did an excellent job in promoting bicycling projects in Madison, and from what I have seen has carefully selected and groomed Rob Philips as a successor in this area. For example, I believe it was Rob Philips that led the effort to design the S&M intersection for pedestrians and bicycles first, before addressing the needs of drivers. To my knowledge, this was the first example of ped/bike-first design in Madison history.
2) The mayor has been cracking down on the more "pro-road" top-level staff members over the last year or so. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that he had a chat with Rob about providing more emphasis on MV-alternative infrastructure.
3) Given the two facts above I believe how Rob is treated by MV-Alternative advocates now can influence where Rob Philips comes down in terms of infrastructure. If we treat him as an ally we can get a much better outcome than if we treat him otherwise.
I feel like I should say that in my brief dealins with Rob, I always found him to be good to work with and quick to help resolve issues, and he was helpful in helping me understand things . . . for an engineer! :)
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