This Side of Town . . .: The Media

Showing posts with label The Media. Show all posts

Saturday, April 3, 2010

This Side of Town, the TV Version

Well, I survived my first taping, learned a lot, got over my nervousnesss and am thinking about continuing, but now its time for you to be the judge - just cut me a little slack, cuz it is, after all, my first show! There's also a second show I'll be on this week about blogging. Here's how you can check it out!

MY PILOT SHOW
Show: This Side of Town

Guests: I talk with School Board President Arlene Silveira about the school board budget challenge, Alders Mike Verveer and Marsha Rummel about the Downtown Library and Eddgewater Hotel and County Board Chair Scott McDonell about challenges facing the county (budget!), Tuesday's elections and RTA.

Schedule:
SAT 4/3 1:00pm
MON 4/5 3:00am
MON 4/5 4:30pm
WED 4/7 11:30am
WED 4/7 9:00pm
SAT 4/10 5:00am
SAT 4/10 6:00pm

Charter subscribers, tune in to Channel 991 (digital) or Channel 95 (analog).
Not a Charter subscriber or don't have a TV? Tune in online at www.wyou.org and click on "Watch Now."

A BONUS SHOW
Show: Progressive Voices

Guests: Host Rick Richards talks to me, Kristin Czubkowski from the Capital Times and Jason Joyce from the Isthmus about blogging, the media and the future.

Schedule:
SAT 4/3 2:00pm
MON 4/5 4:00am
SAT 4/10 2:00pm

A SPECIAL CHALLENGE
If you like these shows, let us know by donating (see below). I am considering continuing doing this on a regular basis, but only if it adds value, which I think it has potential to do, but I'd like to hear from you. If you donate and mention "This Side of Town" or as people have been calling it "Brenda's Blog Show" I'll know its worth continuing. You see, because of funding issues, WYOU is struggling to stay on the air past the end of this year, and its time for the community to step up and help show it is important to the community. My show won't exist without WYOU and WYOU (where the W in WYOU now stands for Willy Street) won't exist without YOU.

Check out what Barbara Lawton tells Ech Vedder on Luciano's Willy St TV show about WYOU (and enjoy a little Catfish Stevenson):

DONATIONS NEEDED
Because of cuts in public funding, WYOU needs your support. The move to our new location on Williamson Street is exciting and saves the station money, but is only one part of the solution. To continue providing locally produced programming to the television medium in Madison, as well as equipment for the station and technical education for the community, this spring fundraiser is critical.

Come see the new station location and make a housewarming donation in person. Donations can also be made by calling the station (608.258.9644) or by visiting the website and donating online at www.wyou.org. A membership donation is $50. Give more if you can. Any amount is welcome. Volunteers will be available to assist with your pledge and answer any questions you may have. Donations can be made via cash, check, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover and Paypal.

REDISCOVER WYOU
Please show your support for WYOU. Throughout the week, I'll highlight a few other shows that would be good to watch . . .
Read more!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Brief Snowy Tuesday Round Up

More snow! Wow. Yesterday was the first day of winter, the longest night of the year, but I'm done with winter already.

A LOT OF GOOD "EMPLOYEE OWNED" DOES
Woodman's cutting mental health insurance for their 2,000 employees? What? Right, the employees made that decision? Some delightful ignorance, from one of their "employees" named Clint Woodman at the end of this story.

WAUSAU LOSES GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY TELEVISION

WAUSAU AREA ACCESS CHANNEL CLOSES
Wausau, WI, December 21, 2009 – Today Mayor Tipple announces that after January 31, 2009, the City of Wausau will no longer be able to fund the two Public, Education and Government (PEG) Access Channels (Cable Channel 98/980 and 96/981). The Wausau Access Coordinator position will be eliminated and the Wausau Area Access Channel Office located in City Hall will be closed at that time. “These are tough economic times that require tough decisions,” explains Mayor Tipple.

In addition to serving as a way to locally exercise First Amendment rights of Free Speech, the Wausau Area Access Channels 98/980 and 96/981 have played an important role in our region, broadcasting area fabric-of-life events such as:
♦ local and regional candidate forums and volunteer recognitions
♦ unedited coverage of our local city council, school board and county board meetings
♦ complete game coverage of our local high school sports teams
♦ local high school graduations
♦ local church services,
♦ local parades
♦ locally produced programs and informational programs created by local services and non-profit organizations
♦ programs from federal agencies such as Social Security, NASA and the Armed Services
♦ programs to explain changes or improvements in services and procedures

Funding for the Wausau Area Access Channels had been provided by the franchise agreement between the City of Wausau and our local cable provider, currently Charter Communications. While Wausau Access Channels served the greater Wausau area, only the City of Wausau franchise agreement provided any funding.

When the state passed Act 42 replacing local franchise agreements with a standard state wide franchise, Wausau PEG support fees were eliminated after a three year sunset. That sunset would occur December 31, 2010. The City of Wausau has not received any PEG support fees from Charter Communication during the three year sunset period.

The cost of maintaining the current service and keeping the channels live would be $90,000. Interim funding streams are being explored while a longer term solution is being sought.
♦ The city of Wausau may recover the PEG support fees from Charter.
♦ All communities served by the Wausau Area Access Channels could consider sharing the cost of the channels.
♦ If the State Legislature passes the AB 606 Cable Consumer Repair Bill, 1% of the gross revenue from the local cable company can be requested to fund the local access channels. With the support of our state legislators and using the leadership positions that they hold, this bill could be passed quickly, securing long term survival of these valuable resources.
♦ Local residents, businesses and organizations could step forward with financial help to keep the doors open.

Once the public access channel goes dark, it will be difficult to reactivate it in the future.

WATER RATES GOING UP TODAY?

Tuesday, December 22
Public Service Commission of Wisconsin
610 N Whitney Way
3rd Floor
10:30 AM
Agenda Items 13.-14. (Last items on the agenda) Madison Water Utility request to increase water rates

THE THINGS YOU DON'T THINK ABOUT
Digesting your food for energy. Um, but not quite the way you think. Turning food waste, garbage, into methane. Uh, stimulating.

That's it for this morning . . . a brief round up, as promised. Read more!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Monday Morning Round Up

Lots to comment on . . . not just the Edgewater . . .

MADISON SCHOOLS GET VISIT FROM POCAN AND MILLER
Last Monday they stopped by for a chat with the school board. Here's a report on their meeting. It's the only one I could find and I had been curious how it went as I had gotten an email about it. At the end of the post he includes this suggestion that I thought I'd share for those who care about school funding:

It isn’t easy to move elected officials from words to action. One thing that helps is a show of public support. You can do this in two ways (do both): First go to the Penny for Kids website and sign the petition; second, send Mark Pocan a quick email saying you support Penny for Kids and he should too. You don’t even have to explain why — he gets it.

OH . . . THE IRONY . . .
Apparently, this played right before the Joint Urban Design Commission and Landmarks Commission meeting. You know, the "handful of unelected people" that should be ignored because the Council knows better . . .

I don't know who took the time to do that, but I appreciate it. I had gotten a clip of it from a neighborhood person but the video wasn't working, only the sound. Their description with the video is as follows:

Madison, Wi Mayor Dave Cieslewicz bashed members of his Landmarks Commission after they ruled in a way he didn't like. He called them a "handful of unelected people on one committee" and described the process as "fundamentally undemocratic" even though he appointed them. In this PSA, Mayor Dave asks residents to serve on city committees. He does not mention that he'll publicly bash your hard work . See here.

THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG
Dorothy Borchardt was quick to respond to news of the RTA appointments on Friday:

I bet the Mayor won't think their decisions are "undemocratic."

The WSJ reported that the Mayor thinks "unelected people on a committee shouldn't be able to block important development it should be decided by the elected representatives of the people." TCT reported the Mayor thinks it is "undemocratic for unelected people" to make decisions."

If the Mayor feels unelected people shouldn't be making big decisions ...why did he support appointing an RTA Board before the referendum on an additional sales tax, to cover commuter rail, goes to the voters? Why didn't he let the voters decide? Or, does it only apply to decisions made by the unelected individuals that the Mayor agrees with? If that is the case ...look for trolleys to be added to the trains before Metro is expanded to meet the needs of the community.

HARSH WORDS FOR DAVE FROM FORMER CITY STAFF
Jay Rath continues his excellent coverage of the Edgewater issue. What surprised me tho, was this comment:

Kitty Rankin, for three decades the city’s preservation planner, is alarmed by such talk. "The mayor is in the development community’s lap by repeating a phrase that the Landmarks Commission process is flawed," she says. "I have yet to see that it is indeed flawed."

Ouch. Even more interesting is what Bob Dunn says:

"No, no," says Hammes president Bob Dunn. The company promised from the start that its project would not set a precedent for the neighborhood. Now, however, it could set a precedent for the entire city. Dunn has plenty of problems with the ordinance, and he’d welcome change, but that "in no way was the intention of this project."

Intention or not, that is the impact. Read the article, its good. I hear there is another one coming today.

STATE JOURNAL BACKFIRE?
Several folks have mentioned they'd like to thank the State Journal for urging people to contact their alders in support . . . they promptly contacted their alders in opposition. Alders have heard that as well from people who called.

SCREW THE LAW AND PUBLIC PROCESS
In the State Journal editorial on the Edgewater, they list 7 alders, who haven't been engaged to the extent of Rummel and Verveer, who have made up their minds that they are voting in support of the Edgewater. I find it interesting, because to date, there has been no testimony or evidence provided that there is a hardship for the owner (not Hammes). Just a reminder, this is what the council must find first, then also find that that the meet the criteria for a certificate of appropriateness or variance (more here):

after balancing the interest of the public in preserving the subject property and the interest of the owner in using it for his or her own purposes, the Council finds that, owing to special conditions pertaining to the specific piece of property, failure to grant the Certificate of Appropriateness will preclude any and all reasonable use of the property and/or will cause serious hardship for the owner, provided that any self-created hardship shall not be a basis for reversal or modification of the Landmark Commission’s decision.

SURVEY SUCKS
I didn't want to choose any of the option in the Channel 3 poll on the Edgewater, they too, are ignoring the law and just wanting people to vote on if they like the Edgewater project or not. The survey is really lopsided, but you can just keep voting, so its easy to manipulate. From the alders I've been talking to, their districts are either against or running about 50/50. No surprises that the downtown districts lean more against. As Alder Rummel put it, her constituents who live in historic districts don't understand why they have to follow the law when replacing a porch railing, but a huge developer with lots of money gets to just ignore the laws.

ZWEIFEL JOINS IN
No, not in criticizing Mayor Dave . . . but, I was pleasantly surprised to see Zweifel write this piece in support of state legislation that would, among other things, restore funding for WYOU. Thanks Dave!

WHY IS OLINGER LEAVING?
Most people know, I'm not a big fan of Olinger. Many I know and respect are. So, I'm torn by the news of his departure personally. Politcally, I'm very nervous. While no one is talking much, Bruer pretty much said it all:

City Council President Tim Bruer said Cieslewicz is exercising his authority to shape the city's administration, and that the mayor wants someone more in line with his vision and beliefs and desired management skills. Olinger has done nothing inappropriate, Bruer said

"The mayor is looking at changing demands and challenges facing the city and felt he needs to bring in a different manager," Bruer said, adding that he supports the mayor's decision.

Do we really want someone in line with his visions and beliefs?

STILL TIME TO GET YOUR SHOT
Public health is still hosting clinics for people to get their H1N1 flu shots. Here's who's eligible:
• Pregnant women
• Persons who live with or care for infants less than 6 months of age
• Children and young adults 6 months through 24 years
• People 25 through 64 years with underlying health conditions. For a listing of underlying health conditions
http://www.publichealthmdc.com/disease/swineflu/K12/UnderlyingConditions.cfm
More details here.

NEED TO HEAR FROM ARTS COMMUNITIES

Dear Madison Arts Community;

The City of Madison has been updating zoning codes to make them more user friendly, align with the goals of the Comprehensive Plan and neighborhood plans, reflect newer growth and work patterns, encourage biking and transit use, facilitate mixed-use sustainable development, and achieve quality in-fill development. Roughly two months ago, a new draft zoning code was introduced to Madison’s Common Council. Last month, that draft zoning code was referred to the Madison Arts Commission for their review and recommendations.

On Tuesday, December 8, at their 5:00pm meeting in room LL 110 of the Madison Municipal Building the Madison Arts Commission will discuss Madison’s proposed new zoning code language and how it may affect area artists.

There have been many opportunities for public input during the process of developing the new zoning code. However, members of MAC feel that, because zoning codes affect so many artists in our community, extra efforts should be made to inform artists of when and where the Madison Arts Commission discussion of this item is taking place and to invite participation. The commissioners welcome citizen input as they formulate their thoughts and their recommendations to council.

At a previous MAC meeting, City staff briefed MAC on the rewrite and identified the areas of the new code that had the greatest potential to impact artists. Therefore, commissioners are paying particular attention to areas of the code that relate to live/work space and use of accessory dwellings for artistic production.

The proposed code can be found on the City’s Zoning rewrite website:
http://www.cityofmadison.com/neighborhoods/zoningRewrite/

If you cannot attend Tuesday night’s MAC meeting, please feel free to email your comments prior to or at their meeting and they will be shared with the commissioners (note: any written comments become a part of the permanent public record). There is also a “your thoughts” link on the zoning rewrite website that welcomes citizen input.

Sincerely,
Karin Wolf
Staff to the Madison Arts Commission

CANCELLED CITY MEETINGS
With snow coming, this is good timing. Looks like you can now sign up for an email list or rss feed to alert you to cancelled meetings. Much appreciated!
* RSS Feed: Cancelled Weekly Meetings RSS
* Email List: Cancelled Weekly Meetings (under City Hall), can subscribe at : https://my.cityofmadison.com/)

COUNTY ELECTIONS
It's widely rumored and I keep getting asked, but no, I am not running for County Board Supervisor. I like my supervisor Barbara Vedder just fine, thank you.
Read more!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Friday Round Up . . .

Ex-alder gives advice to colleagues, Olinger leaving the city, kudos to public health, Kailin service, Brews for WYOU, Homeless Memorial Day, composting, and more, more, more Edgewater . . .

ANOTHER EX-ALDER WEIGHS IN ON THE EDGEWATER . . . PROCESS
Former Alder urges colleagues to do the right thing, not the politically expedient thing. Good letter.

CLARENCE KAILIN MEMORIAL RE-PLAY

Clarence Kailin Memorial will play in its entirety ( 03:00Hrs) starting @ 3pm Saturday Dec.5 - WYOU ch 991 or WYOU ch 95 or wyou.org
Thanks to Judith leurquin and Russ Attoe for letting their program "third world view" be preempted
Peace
Luciano

OLINGER - OUTTA HERE!

From: Olinger, Mark
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 6:02 PM
To: ALL ALDERS
Cc: Mayor; Veldran, Lisa; 'Gregg Shimanski'; Harmon, Ray; Strauch-Nelson, Rachel
Subject: Information

Dear Alders:

I wanted to let you all know that effective January 5, 2010, I will no longer be under contract as the Director of the Department of Planning & Community & Economic Development.

The Mayor has asked me to continue to serve as Director on a provisional basis subsequent to that date to help finish a number of projects that are in critical phases of implementation or financing. I have accepted the Mayor’s offer in order to make sure that these projects get across the finish line.

It has been a pleasure working with you as Director.

Thank you.

KUDOS
I happen to be one of the "lucky" people who have an "underlying condition" (Type 1/Insulin Dependent Diabetes) so I was able to get a H1N1 flu shot the other day. It reminded me how great our Public Health Department is. So, kudos! And thank you!

WHAT MY NEIGHBORS ARE SAYING ABOUT EDGEWATER (FROM LISTSERVES)
Why not East Washington.

I know most are getting sick about the Edgewater discussion. Everyone on this list is well aware of the condition of the commerce on East Washington -- or lack thereof. We have a newly abandoned Madison Dairy, a vacant Mautz paint factory, an almost vacant Marquip factory, Don Miller is almost completely gone, and we have a huge abandoned Union Corners development. Some influential people in this city are bending over backwards to give $16 million to a luxury hotel that will charge $300/night that none of us will ever stay in. No serious amount of long term jobs. The developer refuses to build to the standards of which the property sits, so let's wake up and kill this project now while we have a chance, and divert this money to a stimulus package to invite real jobs to town. Let's invite proposals for all these decaying properties and long lost jobs so that we can once again be proud to bring visitors up East Washington Avenue. I would bet the mayor never brings guests up East Washington -- and it is a shame that the gateway to our city is falling apart.

This is a shameful hour for our city.

Need a new leader.

I think it is time for a future mayoral candidate to step up and address the infantile, temper tantrum histrionics of our present mayor. I hope there is someone out there to step forward and challenge his ability to lead.

E-mail your alders

Please e-mail allalders@madison.com. This entire project is fraught with deception and inaccuracies too numerous to mention. For me, what really is at stake now is the democratic process – including the citizen committees which are a time-honored tradition in Madison. These largely consist of experts in their particular fields who give their knowledge, experience and time freely.

To see so many ordinances violated, as well as the process itself, puts our city at great risk.

Once again, please e-mail allalders@madison.com and let them know that they are accountable to all of us to uphold the ordinances as written, not to bend to the will of a capricious despot.

No TIF

There seems to be an assumption on the part of a lot of people that TIF is free. But the city issues bonds. Issuing bonds affects the city's credit rating. Issue too many and the credit rating goes down and the cost of issuing the bonds go up. Or, another way to look at it, issuing 16 million in TIF bonds for the Edgewater project reduces the amount of money available for other projects, or raises the cost of all city borrowing.

Second xxxxx mentions that TIF is an investment. Again there seems to be an assumption on the part of a lot of people that TIF districts always repay the investment. That assumption is based on the notion that the TIF district gets better as a result of the project, all property values raise, and over time more money comes back to the city. It very questionable whether the Edgewater project will ever pay back the TIF expense. What additional development is theproject going to cause? There is no vacant land in the area to speak of. There are no empty buildings to redevelop. It's a residential area. Is having a large hotel as a neighbor going to inspire landlords to maintain their buildings better? Or maybe they'll let them deteriorate to make it easier to get their own TIF handout. It will probably actually lower the value of nearby residential buildings.

The Edgewater project doesn't meet the city's stated TIF goals and objectives. Giving the project TIF will simply make it harder to say no to all future mediocre-to-bad projects.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Board of Estimates (Preview of Issues to Come) Recap

Mark Clear violates ethics ordinance?, TIF falling out of favor with Madison School District and County (could future TIF districts and expansions . . . ahem, Edgewater . . . be in jeopardy?), the city budget shortfall (are newspapers partially responsible?) and towing . . . Thuy failed to show on Meadowood if folks are wondering, but Clear didn't fail to disappoint in geeking out, while grinning ear to ear, over software.

This isn't a typical line by line recap, just a few items of note.

CLEAR VIOLATED ETHICS CODE?
So, the ethics code, which there has been alot of buzz about recently clearly says the following:

An elected official who has or whose immediate family member has a financial or personal interest in any matter coming before the Common Council shall disclose on the records of the Common Council the nature and extent of such interest. This provision shall not apply if the elected official disqualifies herself or himself from participating in discussion of the matter and from voting on it. An elected official shall disqualify herself or himself from discussing and voting if the matter under consideration involves her or his or her or his immediate family member’s financial or personal interests to the extent that such interests conflict or appear to conflict with her or his official duties or would impair or reasonably be expected to impair her or his independence of judgment or actions.

While discussing the small business bus pass program at the Board of Estimates, Clear had this to say:

As a quick comment, as one of those companies that is ready to sign, I am very excited about this, and I think its a great program and I'm looking forward to being on of the first to participate.

That didn't sound like a disclosure, and it didn't sound like an abstention. I sounded like someone who has a financial (tax savings!) or personal interest in the passage of this resolution who violated the ethics code.

FED UP WITH TIF?
In discussing the "half mile rule" issue with the Board of Estimates, there were a few interesting tid-bits that were disclosed. Verveer had a substitute that was a "compromise" as a result of some of the concerns.

Gromacki explained that the Joint TIF Review Board had concerns about the project plan that was presented, they got alot of feedback that wasn't positive and he thinks if they had put it to a vote it would have failed. They were concerned that they were committed to paying $2M during a time when there is alot of concern about where funding is going to come from for school districts and underlying jurisdictions. The district is doing well and there is $5.7 million dollars of excess increment without identified costs in the district. That gave them pause and there was alot of pushback for the first time since Gromacki has been here. He said they came up with a compromise, which the joint review board still has to vote on that, that they would eliminate the $5.7M expenditure since it has unidentified costs. They think the $2M of budgeted costs for the capital square area that would be ok.

Bruer asked if, given the growing sensitivity of the other jurisdictions (County, School District and MATC) that have to approve our TIF districts, what the staff saw coming with other TIF district requests (everyone had to be thinking Edgewater, they still need to get the Edgewater in a TIF district before it can get TIF money and that has to pass this board.)

Gromacki says there is growing concern, School District is particularly cash strapped and they are looking at TIF districts that are doing well and wanting to recover cost, they want their foregone revenue back. They aren't really questioning our use of TIF, but they are in a situation where every dollar counts. They county surprised him because they got in the fray. Their concern was primarily with the $5.7M and even the MATC representative was concerned.

Bruer was really pushing for the city and Mayor to follow up to smooth things over to smooth the way for any future TIF requests.

Clear asked what happens from the $5.7? They said that it would be deleted and then it would force an early closing of the district.

Sanborn took the opportunity to explain how the schools and county and technical college fore go increases in taxes in those areas and re-made his argument that we should just borrow for items we think are appropriate. He, of course, was the sole no vote.

GEEKING OUT
So, I sort of was giving Clear grief for being a geek about software, but as they were discussing the upgrades, Dean Brasser mentioned that part of the project means the there will be web based tools to help access data in the financial database to limit the inquiries they get. I can't wait to hear/see more on that! There, now my geek is showing.

BUDGET . . . SHORTFALLS?
Brasser explained the resolution. He says its just a technical change, it presents information about budget amendments necessary throughout the year, they are pretty minor. There were a few departments who went over costs, Rhodes-Conway made sure they were called up to explain themselves. Brasser says streets was the biggest issue, but it was due to recycling costs being down by $1.22M. (See next item). He also then explained that the city, when they can, under the limits of the Expenditure Restraint program, we like to put funds towards the Workman's Comp Fund. We've had a deficit in that fund for years and when we can, "if we have available resources" we try to transfer money to the fund to help make up the deficit. This year we have 2.77M under the Expenditure Restraint program and after all the adjustments they have $1.625M that the CAN transfer if they CHOOSE.

NEWSPAPERS RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR CASH FLOW PROBLEMS?
This caught my ear . . . in response to Verveer, Al Schumacher was describing the recycling revenues being down, he said that newspaper and cardboard has been the main staple of the recycling program and it is down. He said "the downturn in daily newspapers has really caused a big hit and the foreign economies don't want our newsprint because they don't have a market for it." There you go! Blame the media . . . or is that the damn internets?

TOWING
They spent a good hour and a half on this issue. In a nutshell, disputes about zoning, who is the cheapest, who provides the best service and the bidding process were at issue. Prairie Land Towing went through a process, ended up the cheapest and had the best score (95 vs. 76 score) and got a letter saying they were awarded the contract, then there was a protest letter from Schmitz towing, then Prairie Land was told on the phone the contract was a problem because of zoning issues. When Prairie Land looked into their zoning, they found Schmidt's Towing was also in violation. Then the police weighed in saying they preferred the more expensive Schmidts. So the Mayor, Bruer and Clear proposed to overturn the process and scores and go with Schmidt's instead. Lots of talking . . . I skipped through a bunch of it (Bruer). . . in the end Sanborn suggested they go with 6 months and settled on a 9 month process. Bruer and Clausius argued they should stick with 18 months. I found Sanborn's arguments, once again, very responsible and convincing. Something kind of stinks here and it looks bad.
Read more!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

A little more Round Up

There's a little bit out there to comment on . . .

EDGEWATER TOUR
I considered going, but didn't feel like listening to another sales pitch. Apparently Rummel concludes, yes, the huge building will change the views for neighbors (duh, but somebody had to say it) and Maniaci presents a false choice "Alder Bridget Maniaci, a member of the commission, said the group first has to figure out if ordinance language related to neighborhood's historic district is meant to "stop destruction of historic properties" or "stop new development in historic districts." I sat on the commission, I don't think the commission needs to figure that out, generally speaking, it is clear that development is allowed, and we even said many times it shouldn't look faux historic, but should reflect the time in which it is built. I think the ordinance is clear that new development is allowed, the question is, is it compatible? Here's the language about "New Development" in the Historic District:

(e) Guideline Criteria for new Development in the Mansion Hill Historic District.
1. The gross volume of any new structure shall be visually compatible with the
buildings and environment with which it is visually related (visually related
area).
2. In the street elevation(s) of a new building, the proportion between the width and the height in the facade(s) shall be visually compatible with the buildings and the environment with which it is visually related (visually related area).
3. The proportions and relationships between width and height of the doors and
windows in new street facade(s) shall be visually compatible with the buildings
and environment with which it is visually related (visually related area).
4. The rhythm of solids to voids created by openings in the facade of the new
structure should be visually compatible with the buildings and environment with
which it is visually related (visually related area).
5. All new street facades should blend with other buildings via directional
expression. When adjacent buildings have a dominant vertical or horizontal
expression, this expression should be carried over and reflected.

There's other areas of the ordinance that come into play and the commissions job will be to try to balance it all and decide if it should get a certificate of appropriateness and consider:

c. Whether, in the case of any property located in an Historic District
designated pursuant to the terms of Subsection (6)(d) hereunder, the
proposed construction, reconstruction or exterior alteration does not
conform to the objectives and design criteria of the historic preservation
plan for said district as duly adopted by the Common Council.

So, the question becomes, should they get a certificate of appropriateness and does it conform with its plan. My guess is, they won't make a final decision on Monday, but you never know.

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING
Hmmm . . . Badger Depot closing causes confusion . . . no kidding, who didn't see that coming.

"CABLE COMPETITION" BILL NOT DELIVERING
Again, who didn't see this coming. Rates are up, union jobs are down, and its the beginning of the end of public cable access as we know it. In the Milwaukee area alone the they've lost 300 union jobs, or 15% of the jobs.

THE SAD STATE OF THE MEDIA
Sometimes, a picture is worth a 1,000 words. This used to be functioning media room at city hall . . . and now . . . its where they store the chairs.

Better yet, or I guess, worse . . . the other day when I cut through there, one of the computers had a "blue screen of death" on it.

BANDS, PROMOTERS, SOUND GUYS (OR GALS IF THEY EXIST?), ETC, NO DRINKS FOR YOU!
I have the week off, so I was reading the . . .gasp . . . thedailypage forum. Generally, to be avoided as it just devolves into a nasty round of insults, but this discussion is of interest . . . as they note, while its hard to argue that bartenders should be able drink on the job, they bring up some good questions about brewmasters and others. Was the ordinance intended to be that broad? Here's the ordinance proposal in question proposed by Schumacher and the Mayor:

(8) It shall be unlawful for the licensee, agents, officers, directors, partners, members, managers of the licensee, or any employee or independent contractor of a licensed establishment, including members of the licensee’s immediate family, to drink or consume any alcohol beverage or to be under the influence of an intoxicant, or a controlled substance or a combination of an intoxicant and a controlled substance, while working or performing services on the licensed premises.

BURY THE BAD NEWS
Instead of discussing this during the budget, they release it during a slow news week/when no one is paying attention, but the city is facing a deficit for the first time in 20 years. Not by much given we have a $239M operating budget, but $3.4M still hurts when taking it out of our reserve. It's also interesting that when looking at the city budget, you can find 16 fund balances, but not the amount that is in the reserve listed anywhere.

Eh, that's all I got for today . . . Happy Thanksgiving. Read more!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Pre-Thanksgiving Round Up

It's a slow week, but somehow, I still found a few things to comment on.

WYOU BLUES
If you ever thought about donating to WYOU, now is the time to do it. Please. After looking at the budget last night, its grim. And our only hope to survive is YOU. There's no other place to find this kind of local programming. And, if charter goes with their "consumption based billing" you may be watching a little less youtube. (Tho, I gotta wonder how that will work with all the free wifi - I bet they start blocking video streaming.)

DON'T RENT EARLY!
I blew it on this interview, I forgot to say that in addition to the price, the other big reason not to rent early if you are a student . . . some of the better apartments, the ones that landlords don't want to rent to students, are held back til later in the year in hopes of getting either more mature students or non-students. And I can't stress enough that when you are asked to renew earlier and earlier every year, you don't get the opportunity 2 months into your lease to know what the heating bills are, if you get along with your roommates, what kind of repairs the landlord will do, how alternate side parking affects you, will you be coming back next semester, is there flooding in the spring, etc etc etc. Because, the next thing that happens after people rush out there to sign leases . . . is that they decide to break the lease or sublet. My guess is Maniaci's ordinance won't do anything, as long as the landlord's still have the option to change the date in the non-standard rental provision.

SO MUCH FOR BUDGET CUTS
At a time when people are desperate for jobs and most places are getting tons of applications for the few jobs available, wouldn't this year have been a good time to cut back on say . . . recruiting . . . especially driving 14,000 miles in a year to places like Fargo N.D. Most departments can't even advertise their positions in their professional magazines and the Human Resources Department has said that they have cut back on advertising because of the economy and our attempts in the past to give them more money have been refused. But the police department, no need to be frugal there, they get a credit card with no limit.

MORE BAD HEADLINES
City subcommittee changes snow clearing ordinance [ONLINE EXCLUSIVE] - Right . . . a subcommittee changed an ordinance. In what universe? I don't really know where to begin, but given the professional media can't get their headlines right, I guess we can hardly expect UW students to get it right. What I'm confused about is are they planning for Madison Metro to get the tickets, cuz the bus pads are the city responsibility to clear. Or were they intending to make that the responsibility of nearby property owner? I re-read the article, wasn't sure what the intent was.

OVERCROWDING
Define overcrowding. These same homes, if they were family members, likely would not be "overcrowded" but because they are "unrelated" they are "overcrowded". And, given our definitions of "family" in our zoning codes and the lack of desire to fix it in the zoning code re-write, I think we should tread lightly. One of the odder questions I have even been asked was when 3 straight guys wanted to rent a 4 bedroom but couldn't because they were "unrelated", and asked if they should pretend they were gay. Which was inventive, but . . . still wouldn't help.
Read more!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Friday Round Up

There are so many issues in my queue to blog about, and so little time, so today, I have a little bit of this and a little bit of that . . .

FOLLOW UP ON FACEBOOK PRIVACY ISSUE
Emily Mills at Dane101.com does a great job outlining the issues and a relatively good/informed follow up conversation ensues. I agree these are open questions, and I'm surprised by who feels strongly which way on this issue. Those who first got me involved in blogging and on-line activities seem to lean more towards privacy, those a little newer tend to go towards no privacy. I guess I see a little of both sides of the issue. I think in this case, since I did post it on twitter, it was ok, especially because of how I use Facebook and Twitter, but it should have only been my comments, not those of others. But my opinions on this continue to morph as the conversation continues about the new on-line world and the media.

THAT'S ONE WAY TO DO IT!
I laughed when I read Bill Lueders article about the skateboard park advocates that finally just took things into their own hands. Skateboarding was an issue over 8 years ago before I was on the council and it does seem that nothing has changed. While their methods may have been a little unconventional, they certainly made their point! Hopefully, Alder Rhodes-Conway can help make something happen. There's no reason why a city this size doesn't have a skateboard park.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!
As I twittered, facebooked and e-mailed/listserved yesterday, then the email got blogged by Kristin at Laptop City Hall and a small article in the WSJ (based on a phone call, not the internet) . . . Carl DuRocher, the chair of the Transit and Parking commission is the latest victim of the Mayor's so-called non-existent "10 year rule". Tho, as Kristin points out, it is no small coincidence that Carl recently opposed the bus fare hike and is now being removed. To see others who may also be soon on their way out the door, here's the list I compiled a few weeks ago. It makes it kind of sad that the point made in the Cap Times editorial that touched off the facebook, racist, privacy debate got kinda lost. I agree with them, the City can handle vigorous debate and a diversity of opinions, too bad the Mayor can't see that as an asset instead of threat.

BANNING BOTTLED WATER BOTTLES
I think this should be considered along with the plastic bag issue. I like what they are doing at with water at Bonnaroo. I find their statistics from the press release staggering.

Bottled Water

Ends up as garbage 90% of the time.(1)
Uses 2,000 times more energy than water.(2)
Is 1,000 times more expensive than tap water.(3)
Takes 1,000 years to biodegrade.(4)
Requires enough fuel to power more than 3,000,000 vehicles a year.(5)

BUY LOCAL - KINDA
After attending the small business summit that the City of Madison and the Chamber of Commerce put on, a facebook "friend" (note, trying to respect this person's privacy) posted the following:

XXX is contemplating the irony of seeing a local Madison business tout technology developed in Asia by a company headquartered in Massachusetts to promote their "buy local" campaign.

I thought it was amusing. So I had to ask, and again, edited to protect privacy, here's what was said:

XXX presented at the Madison small-business conference on Tuesday, and gave a great commercial for Constant Contact, the e-mail marketing company from far away. My teeth were grinding. The good news is that XXX does use a local company [edited] for her Web site.

OH, OUCH
So, Terrence Wall was snubbed. After all the work he did to bring forward the idea of redoing the library, the committee goes with his competitor for the downtown library. Well, thank you Terrence, for getting the conversation going!

NORTHSIDE DISGUST
There has been a very interesting discussion happening on the northside neighborhood listserve. What shocked me was that when a person challenged Alderperson Michael Schumacher on his banning of liquor in small packages and tried to explain how that impacted low-income people . . . Alder Schumacher responded with a very personal attack on the critic. The person had been in trouble with the law in an incident that involved alcohol and Alder Schumacher used that incident to discredit the person standing up for the views in his neighborhood. It was one of the lower moments I've witnessed by bad listserve behavior by elected officials. However, the good news is, that after the personal attack, the discussion turned to some issues around alcohol and what is really needed to address the issues. I think the person, who did not back down when attacked by Alder Schumacher, was rather brave and I have new respect for this person and think it was great that he wasn't intimidated into silence.

DEWAR UPDATE
Thomas Dewar has defriended me. I'd like to say it has something to do with internet privacy, but I suspect not. I suspect it has more to do with yesterday's comments in my blog. If you'd like tho, you can join his fan club. (Zach Brandon should be the number one fan.) I told you, trouble follows him, or he causes it, one of the two. Read more!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

The Facebook Dilemma

A blog post, an editorial, a facebook status, another blog, another facebook status update, and now another blog post . . . and more new territory to cover in the electronic age. And to make it interesting, it involves Alder Thuy Pham-Remmele.

There's two issues going on here, one was a quote that morphed its way to being out of context. The second is the screen shot of a facebook page posted to a blog and the question of if that was appropriate.

The easy one first. The quote was taken from my blog post about if Thuy should be allowed to reconsider her appointment (or non-appointment) after stomping out of the meeting in a huff (if you choose not to be at a meeting, why should you get to vote on or speak to an item you missed?). A quote from that blog post was used in an editorial that I think was trying to call me a hypocrite - which was a little unfair because the quote was taken out of context and unfairly characterized. For the record, I dismissed Thuy not because she's bothersome to listen to (in fact, I believe she has as much right to speak as anyone else if she goes to the meetings), I dismissed her because she left the council meeting because she was mad, missed a discussion and then was asking to reconsider something she missed. I explained that in my blog post that they failed to acknowledge and instead to the casual reader made it sound like I gave them that quote in an interview or said it in a public meeting. This, of course, led another blogger to take another leap saying that my quote was used to explain why Thuy wasn't getting the appointments she wanted, which wasn't even close to what I said. Of course, he didn't read what I said until after he posted his blog, because the Cap Times didn't cite where the quote came from.

I'd call all that sloppy journalism, but, as the Wisconsin State Journal has proved time and time again, facts don't really matter in editorials. And although blogging might be the new media, it does have more liberal standards than journalism. So, the quote was misused. Annoying, but not such a big deal. This kind of thing happens more often than I'd like, which is part of why I have this blog - to set the record straight. As I'm doing now.

The second issue is a little more disturbing, perhaps because it is a new issue. Was it fair, tacky, inappropriate etc to post a screen shot of my facebook status update to a blog? One argument is that I'm a public figure and I have so many friends that it isn't really a private post. Probably even more so because I posted the update from Twitter. I have do have two issues with that, first, I'm no longer an elected official, just a blogger, so am I really still a public figure? And second, if I am a public figure, is that a lifetime status, or is there a way for me to escape the intrusion into my life at some point? However, I see the point, I think it was probably fair, but it changes how I will use Facebook in the future.

The other argument is that on Facebook, you choose who your friends are and who can see your status. Your friends can also post and other friends can see what they have written. It's semi-public depending upon your settings and as with any electronic medium, you never want to say something you're not willing to back up, because you never know where it will end up. However, I think posting the screen print of my facebook status is likely to have a very chilling effect on those of my friends who are more media savvy and politically aware. For other facebook friends, who might comment on my status who might not even be from Madison or aware of the media circus that tends to surround me, I think it is unfair that their comments could get posted to a blog because I'm a public figure. To them I might just be a niece or aunt or childhood friend or college drinking buddy. For those, I worry. Do I need to now put a warning with my status updates that comments made on Facebook may end up in the media? I always thought that there was an unwritten code that people would use their discretion and ask me directly for a comment if they saw something on my facebook update of note. But I guess not.

Now, don't get me wrong, I freely admit, I use twitter and facebook to accomplish political goals. Twitter almost always only has public comments, facebook might have comments about the split pea soup I made or the gardening I just did or whatever show I'm going to see. And so posting part of my facebook status update is probably ok because I do use it as a political tool - but as one friend told me - it kind of took all the fun out of facebook and they are glad they didn't make the comment they were tempted to.

So, do I unfriend all the media and bloggers that are on facebook and use it as a what-I-ate-for-dinner update for my closest friends? Or did it just become another political tool that is assumed to be open to the public. When I was an elected official, I did treat it that way, and began accepting any friends that requested to be my friend - now that I'm not an elected official does that change? These are interesting questions, with no real clear answers from talking to my friends, but whatever the case, the blog post yesterday at Dane101 changed things, again. I'm not sure if it was for better or worse, but it has definitely changed.

Finally, two last random comments.

Thomas Dewar - the Mayor's buddy. I should have known not to take the bait. It was probably a set up. Either trouble follows that guy like the plague, or he creates it. That's why I left his friend request sitting there for a couple weeks before I finally caved in. And voila, the very first comment he makes ends up a mini-controversy.

Second, is all of this exhausting? Perhaps. But only for those who are on-line types. Most of the City has no clue we're even having this discussion. And probably didn't read the Cap Times on line, or my blog, or Dane101 or my facebook status. If you're not interested, don't read it, and you can be less exhausted. I happen to think the situation raises interesting questions for geeks like me which is why I took the time to write this post. It's something to think about. Read more!

Friday, February 8, 2008

Cap Times . . . Progressive Risk Takers.

Since I'm home with a head ache and uber-sore throat after coughing (and not sleeping) all night you get the obligatory comment on the news that the Cap Times is going paperless. People, its the way of the future. Sure, its probably risky, but when you're on the cutting edge and progressive, you have to take risks. I wish them the best of luck in this new endeavor and I hope they can prove that this can work in one of the most wired cities in America and that they become a model for other local papers throughout the country.

Many of the people I talked to or heard from yesterday, are assuming the worst. I kinda agree with Paul Soglin. I see this as an opportunity. When I think of my own behavior, I used to get both papers at work, and the Saturday Cap Times and Sunday State Journal at home. At some point, when info was more available on the internet, we dropped the subscriptions at work. We only needed them to copy articles the Tenant Resource Center appeared in to show our funders we did outreach. Then, I got pissed at the WSJ, who knows over what, but I just couldn't give them money any more. And with the Wisconsin State Journal subscription, went the Saturday Cap Times. I've been reading my news on-line ever since. Sure, I felt a little guilty knowing that their circulation (not readership) was going down, but when I looked at the piles of paper I had to recycle and the creepiness of giving money to Madison Newspapers and my concerns with the extremely biased way they edit their stories, I justified it to myself. So, for me, this change probably doesn't mean much as long as they keep their reporting up to the standards they have had. And that's my concern.

I hear that the news staff is being cut from 40 to 60 and people have to reapply for their reformulated jobs. I really hope they make some good decisions and I feel terrible about the folks losing their jobs. I'm also concerned that what is left of the news in this town will suffer even more. I hope they keep covering all of the issues they have been covering and don't cut back on the news like the Wisconsin State Journal did. This is their strength, beyond the blogsphere, where else are we to get our local news? This is the niche they fill and they need to capitalize on that and then make sure they don't have editors that screw up the news with their biases. Plus, with an internet based product, they will be able to provide even more information to the public through links and not being limited by the amount of space the ink is taking up. Like I said, this could be a really good thing.

Finally, I'm not so sure how this twice weekly thing is going to work out, but I kinda see it as a transition as people get used to the way of the future. I look forward to seeing how this all works out and I hope this community holds them to the same high standards we've always gotten from them! Read more!

Friday, January 11, 2008

Who is it?

I'm dying of curiosity. Who is it?

Who is claiming that because some preliminary numbers from the FBI for a 6 month period of time are looking good, we need to revisit the 30 police officers? Channel 3 mentioned it. The Mayor's office referred to it when they said:

Those who are already suggesting we roll back our commitment to public safety based upon one year of positive results are wrong.

Who are "those" people?

I think we all knew we had no data or studies to show why we needed 30 officers. We had no basis to make that decision besides that it felt good. It was a knee-jerk reaction. But who's suggesting we review it based on crime data that is preliminary and a snap shot of a short period of time? If we reviewed it now, we wouldn't have anything to base a better decision on. It's the study stupid. We need the study that we authorized in November 2006. Once we get that, if we find out we have too many police officers, maybe we can have them plow snow and fill potholes? Or maybe actually respond to the many residents that feel like the police don't care about quality of life issues. Or some more neighborhood officers who focus on community policing needs and priorities.

Thanks to Pat Schneider from the Cap Times for writing her own story and not running with the story the Mayor's Office and Channel 3 seem to be pushing. Read more!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Manufactured News

It's not just the WSJ that makes things up. With the WSJ, they can't seem to get basic facts straight. Other times, I think news directors are just desperate to have some news. Or want to make some point and are just looking for someone to say what they want them to say. Yesterday's Channel 3 report about crime struck me as odd.

Here's what happened from my perspective. Rick Blum calls me and asks me if I've seen the new FBI crime stats for Madison. He tells me that all the crime numbers have gone down. I laugh. He offers to send me the link and asks if I have time to talk about it. I say, well, sure. I spend about a half hour looking at crime information and trends to prepare and then do the interview.

During the interview, I explained that this is just a snap shot of 6 months, that is isn't during the time period when the meetings were held last fall. I say that these are not the crimes that people were talking about because most people were talking about quality of life and the police non-responsiveness to lesser crimes. I say that we've always lived in a relatively safe city. etc. etc. Then I'm asked, should we revisit the 30 officers. I explain that it would be premature and that we don't have enough information to do that at this point and we should get that report from the police department that is due in February. They push me further. I say the quote that they have in the news story and VOILA! there's a story. Council members are calling for a review. Even though I even told them it was unlikely that we would do it due to lack of political will.

Interestingly enough, I asked the reporter, who else they had interviewed. She tells me Judy Compton. I ask what she said. The reporter tells me. However, if Judy Compton was interviewed before me, how could she have responded to what appears to be my suggestion that we revisit the hiring of 30 officers? Perhaps this line "But now some critics of that move are suggesting that the item should perhaps be revisited in light of some the new numbers from the report." isn't referring to me, but the way the story was presented, it sure appears to.

I suppose, if the council isn't doing anything this year, we'll have more of this as news directors attempt to fill the space they need to fill. I'm just kind of disappointed. I expect things like this from channel 27/47 or 15, but not channel 3. Read more!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

When did this happen?

I was reading the Wisconsin State Journal the other day . . . I know, I know . . . but its not quite as bad as listening to AM radio which I often do as well.

Anyways, I was reading the Wisconsin State Journal the other day and I found out that Zach Brandon is now the chair of the Board of Estimates! That's right, starting off the 3rd paragraph it says:

But Brandon, who chairs the city 's finance committee,

Congratulations on the promotion Alder Brandon. I wonder what the Mayor thinks of that? More time to eat dinner with his wife, I guess.

So, I'm used to the editorial pages really screwing up their facts, but usually not on the news side. Even if this is a new reporter or one who doesn't usually cover city activities, the editor should have caught this. Unless they really do want to mislead the public?

Note: The Mayor chairs the Board of Estimates. In his absence, the council president (Mike Verveer) traditionally chairs the meeting. And if both are absent it would likely be the pro tem (Tim Bruer) or the most senior member (Tim Bruer).
Read more!

Monday, September 3, 2007

Is Scott Milfred at the WSJ Stupid, Incompetent or Just So Arrogant He Doesn't Think People will Realize the Truth?

Or maybe he just thinks that the readers of the Wisconsin State Journal are dumb? Just when I think he can't top himself, Scott Milfred and the Wisconsin State Journal prove, once again, that they just don't care if what they print is the truth or not. Milfred's latest, PD Distraction Isn't Worth a Vote is just precious. I'll let the co-chairs of PD tell you about how dead wrong that headline is. And here's Lukas Diaz's expansion on the letter to the editor.

For me, Milfred's complete misunderstanding of how the City Council works is mind-blowing. Here's a few of his laughable comments:

1. "233 items for consideration". I don't think he realizes that of the 233 items "up for consideration", several of them are first being introduced and then referred to committees for action as well as several referrals. Several examples of how he gets this wrong will follow.

2. "Getting rid of a failed water utility director". This item is first being introduced and will not be voted on at the meeting.

3. "Courtesy of the hard-left political party Progressive Dane, the Madison City Council will debate whether to urge Congress to begin impeachment investigations against President Bush and Vice President Cheney." See above links about why this is so wrong. This was an initiative started and supported by the Green Party and the Democratic Party, Progressive Dane never even endorsed this resolution. (It was more of an oversight than a conscious decision.)

4. "Instead of pouring over a report on police overtime, instead of carefully considering the expansion of a city program to help more elderly people stay in their homes, a handful of PD council members want to pretend they are members of Congress." Most of us read the routine report on police overtime weeks ago and the city program discussed is on the agenda for introduction and referral.

5. "Forget about careful consideration of zoning changes that would allow larger garages and sheds to go up on certain property without city approval (Item No. 20)." This was an idea that didn't work and is being "placed on file" i.e. tossed in the garbage.

6. "And if the five PD supporters of the resolution soliloquy on Bush's follies for about five minutes each, that's another half hour wasted." This is laughable. The biggest time wasters on these issues are the 7 or 8 alders who make a speech about how this isn't City business. Thereby usually wasting more time than the item itself.

Nevermind the obvious that City Council members are perfectly capable of multi-tasking and dealing with more than one issue at a time. Nevermind that many of us Madisonians have friends or family members who served in the bogus war in Iraq and feel that this is an issue that affects us here in Madison. Nevermind the impact that the actions of the President have had on our state and local budgets while we spend billions of dollars in Iraq and Madison taxpayers are forced to fill in the gaps that the federal government isn't funding. Yeah, that's right, the war in Iraq and the President's actions have nothing to do with Madison . . .

For me, my vote for impeachment will be dedicated to those who survived Hurricane Katrina, and even more so for those who did not.

p.s. Here's what is really on the agenda for tonight. Read more!

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

WSJ: Once Again, Clueless.

The Wisconsin State Journal's Saturday Editorial, once again, shows how their editorial board could care less about the facts. Between the whining on AM radio and the grandstanding of Ald. Brandon and typical clueless editorials like one in the recent WSJ, one would think that hours of staff time were being spent and city government was coming to a screeching halt while we stopped to debate impeachment and thousands of city taxpayer dollars were wasted.

The reality of the situation is that, when a resolution such as this is introduced, the community group and the main sponsor are the ones who draft the resolution. It then takes less than 15 minutes for a city staff person to enter it into legistar.

Then, like many resolutions like this, there are no referrals to committees. The Council simply takes the matter up at a later Council meeting. The amount of time we "waste" on these types of resolutions are typically dependent upon:

a. How many people show up to testify.
b. How many speeches council members make.

Typically, there are City residents who show up in support because it is important to them. I never find listening to citizens of the City of Madison to be a "waste" of time.

Then a few people make some comments, and an equal amount of time is "wasted" by those on the council who feel it necessary to make speeches about how this is a waste of time, thereby prolonging the amount of time being "wasted". We then vote, and move on, and vote on about 150 other items.

Ironically, AM radio, the WSJ and the alders who don't like wasting time, probably spend more time on these things than the people supporting them. Perhaps they should look in the mirror to discover who is "wasting" time. Read more!

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Buying Local . . . did you notice it passed?

How does it happen that when Ray Allen and Mayor Dave, the Common Sense Coalition and Progressive Dane, Brenda Konkel and Russ Frank (Madison Top Company), Vicky Selkowe and Larry Palm agree on something . . . it still takes a year to get it passed through the council?

Take a look at the few events you might have seen in the news.

March 17, 2006 - Common Sense Coalition continues their call for a "buy local" initiative and I decide to draft a resolution to get the discussion started.
October 7, 2006 - "Buy local" is now the Mayor's initiative.

Ald. Jed Sanborn said that it would be "kind of absurd" if every municipality focused on buying services within its borders, and Ald. Zach Brandon questioned the ability of the city to define what's local and what's not, as well as the costs of doing so.

and

"It sounds good, and it feels good," Brandon said. "But we have to have a much larger discussion about what it means."

October 16, 2006 - WSJ slams the proposal.

It also could lead to retaliatory measures in other cities, hurting the many businesses in Madison that sell elsewhere.

and

There is no problem, just an opportunity to pass a law that sounds good to Madison's liberal constituency leading up to an election. And along the way, the proposal is likely to increase the city's tax burden and red tape.

and

A careful look at the consequences should show that "buying local," when mandated at the local level, won't change much and might even hurt.

October 25, 2006 - Opinion piece from Progressive Dane.

Meanwhile, in City Hall . . .
March 21, 2006 - Resolution introduced to study local purchasing. Resolution was sponsored by Brenda K. Konkel, Tim Gruber, Brian Benford, Robbie Webber, Austin W. King, Michael E. Verveer, Judy K. Olson, Zachariah Brandon, Paul E. Skidmore, Noel T. Radomski, Paul J. Van Rooy, Judy Compton, Larry Palm, Tim Bruer, Lauren Cnare and yet it takes until August 8, 2006 for the resolution to pass.

October - We get reports from the City Attorney and Comptroller's office.

November 7, 2006 - Larry Palm introduces his own ordinance, which is later "placed on file" - i.e. tossed in the garbage.

December 2006 - The committee fininshes their work.

April 17, 2007 - A policy finally passes! Unanimously.

Why and how does this happen? It was a great idea. Nearly everyone agreed it was a good idea - except the WSJ who has a knee-jerk reaction to anything Progressive Dane supports. We had the information we needed 7 months ago. A committee was formed, they met, they made recommendations that were widely accepted and finished their work last December.

Was it the wrangling by Mayor Dave and Alder Palm to take the credit? Was it petty politics to make sure that nothing the Common Sense Coalition supported passed the council? Was it election year politics?

Whatever the answer is, we shouldn't let this happen again. There is no reason for something that is good for the community and widely supported to take so long to pass.

And finally, when something that is good for local businesses passes the council, where is the media coverage? Read more!

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Is the Business Community Taking Over the Council?

As co-chair of Progressive Dane, during election season I'm often asked if Progressive Dane is going to take over the City Council. In 2005, the hysteria and attack by the media was especially nuts. This year, it has been a little more mellow, but still pretty obsessive by some local political hacks. And it started me thinking, where are the stories about the Business Community taking over local government? After all the Chamber of Commerce, who made their first endorsements, have endorsed 11 people for council and could stage a take over! Here's the folks who might do it!

District 1 – Jed Sanborn
District 3 – Lauren Cnare
District 5 – Troy Thiel
District 7 – Zach Brandon
District 9 – Paul Skidmore
District 12 – Mark Deadman
District 14 – Tim Bruer
District 16 – Judy Compton
District 17 – Joe Clausius
District 18 – Michael Schumacher
District 20 – Thuy Pham-Remmele

I find this impending takeover of the Common Council very interesting, given the backlash to Alder King's proposal to have public financing of campaigns. Clearly, they are trying to gain control of the Common Council, right?

Ok - so I bring this up somewhat in jest. After all, by these standards, the Teaching Assistants' Association, The Four Lakes Sierra Club and Paul Soglin could be taking over the council as well. Where is the hysteria? The obsessive coverage from the media? I wonder if these groups are asked by the media if they are taking over?

p.s. After the papers had all been filed, one out of touch news organization actually asked me and Lisa Subeck, repeatedly, and seriously, if we were running 20 people this spring.
Read more!

Monday, January 15, 2007

Dizzy from the Spin . . .Paul Soglin, WSJ and tdp

A few comments about experiences with Paul Soglin, the Wisconsin State Journal and Jason Joyce at thedailypage.com - all in one day. Sometimes, so much is said that is wrong, one hardly knows whether to respond or not. Today, I can't resist. There's just so much material.

It started my morning by responding to a suggestion by Jason Joyce on the thedailypage.com where he basically said that Progressive Dane endorsed elected officials had to vote in lock step against Zach Brandon. I presented several facts to prove not only do we not vote in lockstep, but we don't vote in lockstep against the nice Alder. And I also pointed out how our good ideas one year get voted down, and the next year, are sponsored by the same people who voted against them the previous year.

Then, I had read Paul Soglin's latest in his recent obsession spreading untruths about progressives and Progressive Dane. In this case, he that repeated the often repeated myth of the Progressive Dane oath. Specifically he claims:

PD basically demands a loyalty oath from all candidates seeking its endorsement. The absolutist position of PD in regards to candidates is one of the reasons that the present mayor, no longer needing them to establish his left credentials, is not renewing his membership.

I don't remember raising my hand and taking any such oath. And I'm wondering what Paul knows that I don't know about why Mayor Dave isn't renewing his membership, cuz this wasn't mentioned when he got the call about renewing his membership. And for what its worth, this is the so-called loyalty oath.

Finally, I got around to reading the Wisconsin State Journal editorial about the oath of office elected officials and committee members take. This one baffles me to some degree. Their article on the oath identified me as the sole sponsor of this initiative. And they repeated my name in their editorial, but as I pointed out on thedailypage, I'm not the only sponsor. This is sponsored by Brian Benford, Austin W. King, Brenda K. Konkel, David J. Cieslewicz, Michael E. Verveer, Zachariah Brandon, Judy K. Olson. And typically the first person listed is considered the lead sponsor. So, since the Wisconsin State Journal reporter hadn't talked to me, you have to wonder how she decided to only list my name as a sponsor. (You also might want to read the City Attorney's response to the legal issues regarding the oath.)

These are just three examples of why you have to be careful when you believe, and repeat, what you hear on the internet and even in the media. There's so much spin sometimes it makes you dizzy. Oh, and before I forget, PD didn't stack the Dem meeting. Several Progressive Dane leaders were busy having our monthly Steering Committee meeting while the Dems were doing their endorsements. It's getting deep out there, and I'm not talking about the snow. And that spinning, isn't tires. Read more!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

It's not just the WSJ . . .

So, I was intrigued by the Cap Times reporting of the Plan Commission discussion on demolitions we had at the Plan Commission the other night.

The Cap Times reported:

Commission member Ald. Brenda Konkel said she wants the city to take a tougher stance on older structures, including requiring information on what will be built, the historic context and the cost of rehabilitation vs. demolition.

I'm quite certain, I didn't say anything to that effect. What I was talking about is the CURRENT law. I said we need to either have the information before us and follow the law, or we need to determine how to change the law. The CURRENT law requires us to consider what will be built. The CURRENT law requires us to consider the historic context of the building and the CURRENT law requires us to consider if the applicant has tried to rehabilitate the home.

I recently wrote an op-ed for the WSJ Business Journal that explains what I was talking about at the plan commission meeting the other night:

Why is there a special subcommittee set up to look at demolitions? One word: predictability. Currently we have an ordinance that simply doesn’t work for the Plan Commission or applicants. The Plan Commission has been approving demolitions that don’t technically meet the requirements of our ordinance but are good planning and development. We need to bring our ordinance up to date, making it consistent with current practice.

The current ordinance requires us to find, in part, that any demolition meets the following requirements:
- Encourages preservation of existing buildings that are structurally sound, economically productive and suitable for rehabilitation and repair
- Encourages voluntary compliance with building and housing codes
- Aids in the preservation of residential neighborhoods
- Requires the Plan Commission to evaluate proposed alternative uses of the property before existing buildings are destroyed or removed

Clearly, we have allowed demolitions that do not meet the stated goals of the ordinance. If the applicant doesn’t provide documents proving that the building is not structurally sound, economically productive or suitable for rehabilitation or repair, should the application be denied? We currently do not receive such information with the demolition application. When applicants submit pictures of buildings that don’t appear to meet basic minimum housing codes, should the application be denied? Since we started asking for pictures of what is to be demolished, I’ve seen many minimum housing code violations. If residential properties are to be demolished to make way for a commercial property, should the demolition be denied? And when a building has outlived its usefulness or is creating a safety hazard (e.g. abandoned and being used for illegal activities) should we require that we know the details of the future use prior to allowing the demolition?

There are times when a demolition is desirable, yet it doesn’t meet the requirements of the ordinance. This puts the Plan Commission in the difficult position of choosing between making a good decision for the community or following the current law. The choice is further complicated because the Plan Commission is an administrative body that must base our decisions on the criteria outlined in the law. Lack of consistency opens the door for potential lawsuits.

Additionally, our ordinance does not address such issues as:
- Demolition by fire (used as a fire department training opportunity) and requirements for notifying neighbors
- Consistent conditions for approval of demolitions without a known future use
- Requirements for a reuse and recycling plan

We’ve also had a few demolitions without a permit in recent years. The owners subsequently asked for a retroactive permit. Additionally, some residents have expressed concerns that the ordinance does not adequately spell out criteria for denying a demolition permit based on historic preservation.

Clearly, there are multiple complex issues involved and the Plan Commission has been struggling with this ordinance for the past few years. Hopefully the subcommittee can accomplish our goal of writing an ordinance that leads to more predictability and clear expectations that updates the ordinance to reflect our current planning goals.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

A dailypage comment: Is this news?

I had a somewhat odd experience with thedailypage.com forum, channel 27, Mike Hanson, the democratic party, the Mitch Henck show and the Vicky McKenna Show last week.

It all started when I posted some crime statistics from this blog and then said this on thedailypage.com forum:

Part of me is a little cynical in that we have a public information officer for the City of Madison who is running for Sheriff . . . and I wonder how that all plays into all this attention to crime of late . . . .

At first, I got a response where someone tried to twist what I said into this:

What are you implying? That Mike Hansen is out commiting crimes to support his race for sheriff?

Which blew my mind, cuz that wasn't at all what I had intended. So I replied:

That was not what I implied in the least bit.

Its just that someone running for sheriff benefits everytime his mug is in front ot the cameras or in the paper or on the radio . . . so the more attention he calls to the issues, the more attention he calls to himself . . . all those trolls concerned about taxes should be screaming from the rooftops that he is campaigning on the taxpayer's dime . . .

p.s. as someone who has had campaign lit sent out implying that I was causing rapes in the downtown, and been accused of causing people to commit acts of vandalism, I"m a little sensitive to what is implied and I certainly did not mean to imply that Mike Hanson was committing crimes . . . I've had that tactic used against me and its shitty. Apologies if that was somehow read into what I said.

And then the "discussion" deteriorated into . . . well, it went to that special place that only an internet forum can go to . . . and I thought it was over . . . but no . . .

I get a call from Channel 27, asking about my posting on thedailypage. I explain to them that it was a comment on a discussion board and that it wasn't news. They persisted. They said that they were going to interview Mike Hanson and that if I didn't comment it would look funny. Since this is the station that calls me at 3:30 when they don't really want my comment and then report "Konkel refused to comment" when I'm unavailable, I got the reporters point. If I didn't comment the story would have been "Alder accuses Police Public Information Officer of Misconduct in office". So, I did the interview.

But I did a little research first. And it seems I wasn't the first one to raise to this issue. In a letter to Wayne Bigelow, Chair Democratic Party of Dane County, Chief Noble Wray explains in response to Mr. Bigelow's request that Chief Wray assign Michael Hanson "a different role during the course of this campaign" for Sheriff that he cannot reassign Mr. Hanson unless it is "basedon performance or discipline". (Sorry, that was a horrible sentence!) Chief Wray goes on to say that he has requested that Officer Hanson review policy 4-1000 regarding political activity and that there was contact with Attorney May and that the following guidelines were discussed:

No campaign materials with pictures of Officer Hanson in Madison Police uniform
No campaign materials at work
No campainging or fund raising while at work
No campaign events during work hours
Discussed limitations on how he can state his profession, for example, it is OK to say that he is a Madison Police Officer in a resume fashion

So, I tried to get channel 27 to discuss this with the folks who had raised this concern in a more official capacity, but they didn't really seem interested. They kept asking if I'd call for his resignation. I said no. Or if I'd ask for an investigation. I said no. Or would I alleging something was done improperly. I said no. They ran the story anyways.

And then . . . enter, AM radio talk shows. The next morning, Jed Sanborn, filling in for Mitch Henck had Officer Hanson on the radio to talk about my concerns. And then later that day, Vikki McKenna was talking about it as well.

All of this, from a dailypage comment? Is this where this town gets its news? Is this news? Ugh. I hate to even bring it up again Mike Hanson's role or thedailypage), as its likely to cause more controversy. My point here is . . . how does an alleged "news" agency take a posting from an internet discussion board and blow it up into a news story despite the fact that the "source" of the news isn't alleging the story they are trying to create. And then, why is it that the AM radio talk shows are right there the next morning with their guests all lined up to discuss this non-news? And why do they do all of this when they do have a legitimate news story with the Democratic Party chair? Read more!