Paul Soglin: Waxing America

WIAA Tournament in Madison in Jeopardy?

I read with interest Tom Oates' recent column in the Wisconsin State Journal, Alvarez shoots an air ball with lame offer to WIAA.  

The future of Madison hosting the WIAA High School boys and girls state tournaments is in jeopardy. The formation of the Big Ten Conference in men's hockey resulted in possible hockey tournaments at the Kohl Center which would directly conflict with the high school tournaments.  These are events that bring thousands of families from throughout the state to Madison in March at a time when hotels and restaurants welcome them with open arms.

This issue is frustrating on a number of levels and as Mayor I am concerned.

 My staff and I have been involved in this issue for weeks, reaching out and meeting with University officials, city business leaders and Madison civic organizations that are deeply concerned.

 The city of Madison and the University of Wisconsin are in a continuing partnership. UW Athletic Director  Barry Alvarez needs to balance the University's interests and its need to generate revenue with the Wisconsin Idea - reaching to the boundaries of the state.

The UW serves the entire state of Wisconsin and these high school basketball players work for years to be able to earn the chance to play at the Kohl Center.  State high school basketball tournaments were meant to be played on the hardwood floor of the major state university basketball team.

It is noteworthy to point out as well, that the Kohl Center will only be needed for hockey if the Badgers do well enough to host the tournament.  If not, as Oates points out, the Kohl Center will sit empty for two weeks.

This is an instance where the City and the University partnership to serve the state must take precedence.

The issue is generating more interest and a number of suggestions for compromise.  Andy Baggot's column in the Wisconsin State Journal proposed one solution, Shifting Big Ten hockey to neutral site would eliminate WIAA conflict.  He proposes the Big Ten hockey games be played at  the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota and suggests it's a change that would address a lot of concerns, including a big one in our backyard.  Another option is to hold the hockey tournament, when necessary, at the first great home of the Wisconsin Badger hockey team, the Memorial Coliseum at the Alliant Energy Center.

I encourage the Athletic Department to consider Baggot's suggestion and others.  Join in the community dialogue so we can work together on this issue.

 

Shop Local

A well known on-line store is apparently asking customers going into brick and mortar stores to use the company's smart phone price-check app to receive a discount on a product that could have been purchased in the local store.  It's a great reminder that although we all want to save money when we can during the holidays and beyond, we need to support our local businesses.

There are a number of promotions in Madison to do just that and I encourage you to participate.  Remember this past summer when so many people worked together to shop and eat at establishments on Willy Street to support business during the construction?  We can, and should do it again and expand our efforts to other neighborhoods as well.

Consider the stores on State Street, Willy Street, Monroe, Atwood and others.  They are destinations for thousands all year round.  You can find unique items and get to know the shop owner and employees who may very well be your neighbors.  Those neighborhoods and store fronts have been redeveloped at great expense and are a source of pride for Madison.  We need those stores, boutiques and restaurants to provide the unique character and charm of which we are proud.

Part of the distinctive character of State Street and others is a result of the restrictions on the size of the businesses.  The stores are more narrow and chain stores generally don't consider them, as they are too small. It's a character of the street that I support and appreciate.  It is part of what makes Madison special. If we don't support those stores though, now and year around, they won't be here to appreciate. 

Join me in taking some time away from the computer and heading out to businesses that are uniquely Madison.  You won't be disappointed!

 

 

White House Highlights Barbara A. Bitters and Angela Byars-Winston as “Champions of Change” for Girls and Women in STEM

I want to add my congratulations to Barbara A. Bitters and Angela Byars-Winston for their recognition as 'Champions of Change"  These outstanding women will also be featured in the White House website at http://whitehouse.gov/champions.

WASHINGTON, DC – On Friday, December 9^th, twelve local leaders in the effort to recruit and retain girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields will be honored at the White House as Champions of Change. These men and women, who include teachers, industry leaders, students, and non-profit leaders, have each taken great strides to reduce the barriers that drive many girls and women to turn away from high-paying, highly rewarding careers as the Nation’s top innovators.  

 “These ‘Champions of Change’ are community heroes, helping to build the ranks of women in the Nation’s STEM workforce and ensuring that America’s science and engineering enterprise is fueled by the diverse talents of all of its citizens,” said Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “The bold work of these Champions epitomizes the President’s vision of an ‘all hands on deck’ effort by government, academia, non-profits, and industry to maintain America’s leadership in STEM fields for decades to come.”

 The Champions of Change program was created as a part of President Obama’s Winning the Future initiative. Each week, a different issue is highlighted and groups of Champions, ranging from educators to entrepreneurs to community activists, are recognized for the work they are doing to better their communities.

 To watch this event live, visit www.whitehouse.gov/live at 3:30 pm ET December 9th.

 Barbara A. Bitters is the Assistant Director for the Career and Technical Education Team at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (www.dpi.wi.gov). Barbara is both the state leader of the Wisconsin Girl's Collaborative Project (www.ngcproject.org) and the co-leader of the Wisconsin STEM Equity Pipeline Project under the auspices of the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity Education Foundation (NAPE) (www.stemequitypipeline.org).  As the leader for these two projects her focus has been to develop and refine strategies and activities that attract, serve, and support the success of girls/women and other under-represented groups to build STEM skills and to explore STEM Careers. She was the state Sex Equity Coordinator under federal vocational education requirements U.S for over 12 years. In 1980, Barbara, under an intergovernmental exchange program, served in the Department of Education as a Special Advisor on Women’s Issues and Vocational Equity to the Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education. She was co-director of the National Leadership Development Conference for Vocational Sex Equity Coordinators from 1979-1987.Barbara is a Past Chair of the Association for Gender Equity Leadership in Education (AGELE) (www.agele.org) and is on the Executive Committee of the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) (www.napequity.org).

 Angela Byars-Winston, Ph.D. is a counseling psychologist and Associate Professor (tenure track) in the University of Wisconsin Department of Medicine, section of General Internal Medicine and the UW Center for Women’s Health Research. Her research examines cultural influences on academic and career development, especially for racial and ethnic minorities and women in the sciences, engineering, and medicine with the aim of broadening their participation in STEM.  Dr. Byars-Winston has translated her research into evidence-based, culturally-relevant interventions to increase the persistence of underrepresented groups in STEM, working with middle school students to early career professionals.  She is currently Principal Investigator for an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to measure the impact of mentored research experiences on career outcomes for diverse undergraduates in biology and biomedical science and co-Investigator of another NIH grant to promote retention of racial and ethnic minority doctoral students in the biological and behavioral sciences.  In addition, Dr. Byars-Winston is a member of the STEM Equity Pipeline National Advisory Board, the Wisconsin Career Development Association Executive Committee, and the National Career Development Association Diversity Committee.  She is a graduate of San Diego State University (bachelor’s and master’s degrees) and Arizona State University (doctoral degree).

 

 

Minnie Minoso and the Hall of Fame. Is 2011 the year?

As reported last November by the Negro League Baseball Players Association: 

A five-member screening committee of Negro league baseball historians, appointed by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors, has selected a slate of Negro leagues and pre-Negro leagues candidates for consideration for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Then on February 27, 2006 a special 12 member voting committee of historians will meet in Tampa to vote none, one, or more into the Hall of Fame. There are 39 candidates.

This special ballot is profound for two reasons.  First it provides an opportunity for some great ballplayers to get fair consideration for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Secondly, the voting will be conducted by a dozen of the most knowledgeable men and women in regards to Negro League history.

While there were special elections in the past, and elections by the "Old Timers Committee," Negro League players, slighted during the height of their careers continue to be slighted after they ran their last base.

Election to the Hall of Fame will not be easy.  Fortunately there is no artificial limit on the number of players that can enter the Hall of fame through this ballot.  However, to make it to Cooperstown, the player must receive a three quarters vote, or nine of the twelve committee members. Considering the members have greatly differing areas of expertise, although some have co-written books together, most are academics with strong opinions, so nine votes could be very tough for any candidate to accumulate.

I have a special interest in the outcome, having railed for years about the injustice done to one player who should have been elected long ago.

His real name is Saturino Orestes Armas Minoso y Arrieta, born in Havana, Cuba, November 29, 1922. 

Bill James considers Minnie Minoso the 85th best player in the history of the game:

Minoso didn't get to play in the majors until he was 28 years old, but had a better career after age 28 than almost any Hall of Fame left/right fielder. Minoso hit for power, drove in 100 runs like clockwork, was a Gold Glove outfielder and one of the best baserunners of his time. Had he gotten the chance to play in the Majors when he was 21 years old, I think he'd probably be rated among the top thirty players of all time.

Minoso was in between. He didn't play long enough in the Negro Leagues like Buck Leonard and Josh Gibson, and he did not get to the Majors early, like a 22 year-old Ernie Banks.

He was 21 in 1945 when he played his first fall season of Cuban Baseball with Maraino hitting .294. The next year was he hitting .309 for the New York Cubans. The following season, 1947, Minoso again led the New York Cubans as they captured the Negro National League pennant and easily defeated the Cleveland Buckeyes to win the Negro League World Series. In that Series, Minoso was the offensive star, batting over .400.

I first saw Minoso play against Boston at Comiskey Park in 1952, the second of three consecutive years that he led the American League in stolen bases with 22.  By that time Minoso was a star by anyone's standards.

The closest I ever got to Minoso was in 1954. The Chicago White Sox stayed at the Piccadilly Hotel, just two blocks from my home. Once the season started, every day after school we headed to the Piccadilly about 3:30 pm. The White Sox would be returning from the day game by 4:00 pm. Every White Sox player stayed at the Piccadilly except for two.  Jack Harshmann had his entire family with him and lived in an apartment about a mile away.

Minoso drove up to the hotel in his dark green Cadillac convertible; it was a '54 El Dorado. He dropped off the first of the great Venezuelan shortstops, Chico Carrasquel, and then headed further south.  Word was that he lived somewhere near 63rd Street. 

Minoso was black. He was the first black Cuban to play in the Major Leagues. He was the first black Latin player. 

From 1954 until 1960, my last summer hanging around the hotel, I never saw a black, man or woman, ball player or not, go through the front doors of the Piccadilly Hotel.  In places like Baltimore, or Boston, or in the deep south during spring training things were worse:

The Pyramid Hotel in Tampa is a quite modest upstairs establishment in a somewhat less than fashionable district. This was the spring training home of Minoso and his Negro teammates Bob Boyd, Connie Johnson, and Earl Battey. Sport Magazine, August, 1954, p91.

Rob Neyer says:

It’s fairly safe to assume, though, that if Minoso had grown up in Georgia with pale skin rather than in Cuba with dark skin, he’d have reached the major leagues three or four years before he did. Let’s be conservative, and give Minoso four more seasons. He was good for approximately 175 hits per season, and 175 times four is 700 hits. Add 700 to 1,963, and you get 2,663 hits.
There are, to be sure, players with more than 2,663 hits who aren’t in the Hall of Fame. But I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody with 2,663 hits and Minoso’s broad base of skills who hasn’t been elected or won’t be. Bill James rates Minoso as the 10th-greatest left fielder ever, and I think that’s just about right.

Some say Minoso was born in 1925.  It doesn't make a bit of difference. It would have meant three fewer potential seasons in the majors.  He didn't need the three years. Minoso languished for two years in the minors once Cleveland signed him in 1949. They didn't understand his style of baseball-speed, hustle, and potentially leading the majors with hit by pitches was not a white 'Yankee' thing.

In 1951 he played his first full season, and by all rights, should have been named Rookie of the Year. That cannot be fixed.  The special committee can fix Minoso's long overdue induction into the Hall of Fame. This fall, Minoso saw something he always dreamed about and never thought would happen in his lifetime-the White Sox winning a World Championship.

This committee can make sure Minoso lives to see his induction into the Hall of Fame. He is a man of great talent and character, who while overlooked during his prime, was among the best.

Members of the committee and their areas of expertise are:

Todd Bolton, Latin America
Greg Bond, 19th Century (Here at the University of Wisconsin!)
Adrian Burgos, Latin America
Dick Clark, Negro leagues 
Ray Doswell, overall knowledge
Leslie Heaphy, Women's History, Negro leagues 
Larry Hogan, overall knowledge
Neil Lanctot, Negro leagues eastern teams 
Larry Lester, Negro leagues 
Sammy Miller, Eastern and Western teams 
Jim Overmyer, Eastern teams and 19th century
Robert Peterson, overall knowledge

Lobbying for Minnie Minoso, One Voter at a Time in 2011

This Minoso post originally appeared February 12, 2006. Once again Minoso may be overlooked. I have followed the discussions and even Bob Costas misses the point. You cannot look at only his major league career. Minoso had a great run for the New York Cubans with a smashing World Series in 1947.

Doug Moe's column Friday  described my recent lunch with Greg Bond, a UW PhD candidate who has a vote in this month's special election for the Baseball Hall of Fame:

THE OTHER day at J.T. Whitney's restaurant and brew pub, former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin did a little lobbying.

This was nothing new for Soglin, of course. In his two long stints as mayor he often fought to get Madison a fair shake from some of the rubes in the Legislature, who often seemed reluctant to share state revenues with the city.

At this recent lunch, however, the stakes for Soglin were infinitely higher than merely ensuring Madison's financial stability.

This was about getting Minnie Minoso in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

Soglin's table mates that day included UW-Madison cable TV expert Barry Orton, who edits Soglin's blog. A few recent blog entries have been devoted to Minnie Minoso and his deserving a spot in the Hall of Fame.

The third man at the table was a Madison resident who will actually have a say in whether or not Minoso makes the hall.

Later this month, in Tampa, Fla., Greg Bond will be one of 12 experts on African-American baseball players who will vote up or down on 39 Hall of Fame candidates from the old Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues baseball teams. Minoso is one of the 39. Players getting at least nine of the 12 votes will be officially enshrined into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

How Bond, who is in graduate school in American history at UW-Madison, became expert enough to sit on such a prestigious committee - the non-voting chairman is former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent - is an interesting tale.

At 33, Bond is the youngest member of the committee. He first fell under baseball's spell while growing up in Vero Beach, Fla. - the winter home of the Los Angeles Dodgers - and he first got interested in the old-time African-American players when he read David Zang's book, "Fleet Walker's Divided Heart: The Life of Baseball's First Black Major Leaguer."

Ask baseball fans who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball and most everyone will name Jackie Robinson. In fact, it was Moses "Fleetwood" Walker, who in 1884 played 42 games for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association, which was then recognized as a major league.

Still, baseball - reflecting society - remained largely segregated and, by the 1890s, segregationists had carried the day. The Negro League Baseball Players Association Web site notes the following: "During the 1890s, most professional black players were limited to playing in exhibition games on 'colored' teams on the barnstorming circuit."

In 1920, Rube Foster organized the first black professional baseball league and Foster is known as the father of black baseball.

Greg Bond's interest lay in the Fleet Walker era - the more obscure black players from pre-1900. He wrote his UW-Madison master's thesis on them and, in doing his research, Bond corresponded with and got to know the top experts in the United States on black baseball. In time, Bond himself became a leading expert on the pre-1900 era. He is now working on his Ph.D.

Recently, the Hall of Fame received a grant of $250,000 from Major League Baseball to try to determine if any deserving Negro League or pre-Negro League ballplayers missed being inducted when the hall's Veterans Committee began considering them for induction in the 1970s (the great Josh Gibson, for instance, was inducted in 1972).

A screening committee settled on 39 potential candidates, one of whom is Minnie Minoso, who had a great career in both the Negro Leagues and later with the Chicago White Sox. Paul Soglin, as mentioned, believes passionately that Minoso should be in the hall. He hit for power, stole bases and was a gifted outfielder.

On his blog, Soglin writes poignantly of first seeing Minoso play at Comiskey Park in 1952. Soglin was just a kid but knew he was witnessing greatness.

Soglin continued: "The closest I ever got to Minoso was in 1954. The Chicago White Sox stayed at the Piccadilly Hotel, just two blocks from my home. Once the season started, every day after school we headed up to the Piccadilly about 3:30 p.m. The White Sox would be returning from the day game by 4 p.m. Every White Sox player stayed at the Piccadilly except for two. Jack Harshmann had his entire family with him and lived in an apartment about a mile away.

"Minoso drove up to the hotel in his dark green Cadillac convertible; it was a '54 El Dorado. He dropped off the first of the great Venezuelan shortstops, Chico Carrasquel, and then headed further south. Word was that he lived somewhere near 63rd Street.

"Minoso was black. He was the first black Cuban to play in the major leagues. He was the first black Latin player.

"From 1954 until 1960, my last summer hanging around the hotel, I never saw a black, man or woman, ballplayer or not, go through the front doors of the Piccadilly Hotel."

Around the holidays, Barry Orton was on the Internet when he learned that one of the 12 people who will meet Feb. 25 in Tampa was a Ph.D. candidate at UW-Madison. The meeting at Whitney's was arranged. During lunch, Soglin produced and passed around Minoso's 1954 White Sox contract. Soglin had bought it on eBay.

"Did he press you to vote for Minoso?" Bond was asked recently.

"He did a little advocating," Bond recalled.

Greg Bond will decide how to vote for himself, of course. He's looking forward to his weekend in Tampa. There will be discussions Saturday and Sunday and finally a vote. A press conference is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 27 with Fay Vincent presiding, where the results will be announced. Most likely, Paul Soglin will have never been more nervous about an election - even one of his own.

I hate to disagree with my good friend Doug, but the 2004 election made me much more nervous than any of my races: after four years of George W, I feared the worst was yet to come from an administration that would never have to face the voters again...

Thoughts on Edgewater

The critical question for any TIF project is “Will it be a good investment for the City and for the taxing jurisdictions in the District?”

The $16 million TIF assistance for the Edgewater was far too expensive when measured by the public cost and the return to the taxpayers in terms of project value and its beneficial impact to the surrounding area.  In addition, the Edgewater TIF compared poorly to other major city TIF projects designed to revitalize the Capitol Square and the downtown.

• City policy adopted in 2009 supports giving a project up to 50% of the incremental property taxes that the project generates during the life of the tax increment district. Based on this formula, a TIF of $3.3 million is justified, not the $16 million of tax incremental financing approved by the city council in 2010 to pay for Edgewater project costs.  The $16 million approved for the Edgewater is almost five times the amount of TIF recommended by City policy.

• The city of Madison does make exceptions to the “50% rule” when the project demonstrates added value to the community. Two such projects were Capitol Square Block 89 and the Hilton Hotel on Wilson Street. Both projects spurred additional development, including 100’s of units of owner occupied housing that did not receive TIF assistance, and that changed the face of the downtown as well as the revitalization of the Main-King area, once plagued with crime and  prostitution.

• Not only did the Edgewater demand a very high amount of TIF assistance, it was not consistent with City plans for the Mansion Hill historic residential neighborhood, and was unlikely to generate additional development in the Mansion Hill Historic District.  To the east is Mansion Hill, to the west Langdon Street with student and Greek housing, to the south is a well developed area with churches, recently renovated buildings, and historic homes, and to the north is Lake Mendota. There is only one signiifcant property in the area that might benefit from the Edgewater TIF, and that is the adjacent Lake Mendota lot owned by National Guardian Life Insurance.

• The full tax increment to be derived from the Edgewater Hotel is $6.6 million, not the $16 million of TIF funds approved by the Common Council.  That means the remaining $9.4 million must come from other property tax growth in the District, including the new University Square building on the 700 block of University Ave.   There is no TIF in the history of the city where the majority of the payback came from other properties in the district, not from the development getting the TIF assistance.  

• The Edgewater developer cited creation of public access as a major reason for the $16 million TIF.  In fact, the public has had access rights at the Edgewater since 1965 and the public access rights required for the 2010 Edgewater project were very limited. The so-called ‘public space’ was subject to these restrictions: 

-The hotel had the right to close and restrict access to the majority of the usable rooftop space 365 days a year. 

-Public access rights were not required to be posted so the public would know these rights existed. 

-The public access agreement says the use of food and beverages in the public access areas shall be limited to reasonable personal and individual use and shall not be allowed for group or multi-person consumption.  Carry in of alcoholic beverages by the public was prohibited. 

Red Tape or Useful Regulations?

According to a recent Capital Times article Grass Roots: Red tape could sink plan to use Don Miller site for homeless day shelter the City of Madison is requiring Porchlight Inc. to jump through hoops to set up a temporary homeless day shelter at the vacant Don Miller site on East Washington Avenue.

Reporter Pat Schneider’s use of the words ‘jump through hoops’ calls for the rejection of decades of zoning ordinances enacted by the City of Madison.  Those aren’t ordinances that are developed overnight. These ordinances ensure that the activities proposed in a development, and the placement, scale and design of new or remodeled buildings and other site improvements that are part of the development, are consistent with the land use and design recommendations for the neighborhood or district where the project is located.  Zoning regulations and design standards are created by ordinances which also establish procedures for administering the regulations, including the process for project review and approval by City Commissions and the Common Council. Zoning ordinances are the reason that we don’t have parking lots on Langdon Street or the Capitol Square; it isn’t the place for them regardless of the convenience they might provide for visitors and shoppers.

The need to submit detailed material with a development application, and the review process itself, are sometimes characterized as unnecessary red tape, particularly by unprepared applicants.  Both, however, are essential to ensuring that those reviewing a proposed project have the information needed to make an informed decision, and that the review process is transparent and provides opportunities for community input.

The City is working with Porchlight to determine if it is possible to set up the day shelter.  However, to dismantle carefully crafted regulations to do so is shortsighted.

Concealed Carry

Get used to seeing a new sign as you enter any city building in Madison.  The signs will indicate that you are not allowed  to carry a firearm into any City of Madison building. The new State Concealed Carry law goes into effect on November 1^st.  In preparation for this day, city staff have been working to put guidelines into place to announce the restriction regarding firearms in city buildings, on city property and on Madison Metro buses.

It is no secret that this law is bad public policy.  Citizens do not need to carry guns. However, the legislature and this Governor disagree, so we need to make sure that city employees and residents can feel safe and comfortable in city buildings.  The same restrictions apply to bus shelters, transfer stations and park shelters.

As Madison residents, you too are able to post a sign at your home.  Apartment and condo residents need to post for their individual units, but a building owner can post that weapons are prohibited in the common areas.  Business owners are also able to post signs.

You can purchase a sign from the City Clerk's Office, or download it from the city website at www.cityofmadison.com/police/concealedcarry.cfm .  You can also find additional information on the website including Frequently Asked Questions about the new law and how Madison is affected.

 

Federal Funds to Help Madison Metro

It’s not every day that you learn the federal government is going to help purchase new buses, replace fare boxes and add 25 new bus stop shelters, but that was the case this week in Madison.

While in Washington D.C. this week I was very happy to learn that Madison is receiving $5 million as part of $920 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.  Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood reports that the funding will repair, rebuild and modernize the nation’s transit infrastructure.  In Madison, that means 14 new diesel buses.  All of the fare boxes on the city fleet will also be replaced, a much-needed upgrade.  Additionally the city will be able to provide 25 new transit shelters so our riders can get some relief from the elements while waiting for a bus.

This funding is especially exciting because ridership is increasing on Madison Metro, actually approaching all time records, and state funding for the service is declining.

Keeping lines of communication open between Madison and the federal government has been a priority for me and I actually learned about this competitive grant award while on my second trip to our nation’s capital to meet with lawmakers and U.S. Department of Transportation officials.  I hope these trips made a difference but credit also goes to Madison Metro for the great service provided.  Our bus service is something that is often taken for granted, but it truly improves the quality of life in Madison.

 

Overture Center for the Arts: Do You Really Want More Money?

The  spending increase from 2011 to 2012 in the proposed city of Madison budget  is $1,000,000, or less than 1%. This was accomplished by significant sacrifices made by many people and agencies.

While the city budget increase is .93%, some are expressing concern that the Overture Center for the Arts is not getting the expected increase in city funding of 66% from $1.265 million to $2 million. The 2012 executive budget recommends $1,325,000.

The proposed 2012 budget works because:

• 448 city police officers and 337 firefighters voluntarily agreed to compensation cuts of $2,485,300 to avoid layoffs among their own ranks and the rest of the city workforce.
• Represented city employees, members of Locals 60 and 236, agreed to reduce their own scheduled salary increases by $767,664.
• The funds for the city fleet, mainly heavy equipment, was cut by $3 million.
• The City of Madison and Dane County are laying off five public heath employees who administer the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.
• The State of Wisconsin Voter ID Law is an unfunded mandate that increases next year's budget by $325,000.
• The approximately 50 community service agencies that help the poor  are getting the exact same level of funding they received last year - during a period when the agencies need increased funding as demand for their services goes up.
• The city is not making payments into its salary continuation and life insurance funds this year, saving over $1.9 million.  This is possible due to the high levels in these funds.

All this was done as we face state reductions in aids to Madison of $4.2 million.

 The Madison City Council did make a promise to make a payment to Overture of $2 million for 2012.  That was however, before Governor Walker devastated our revenues, broke sixty years of commitment to city employees, and drove up our operating costs for the administration of elections.

Lots of contracts have been broken or re-written as a result of the Walker Administration changes we are facing. The Overture Center is one of the few agencies getting more money than last year. How much more should we take from the others and the taxpayers?

My administration and previous city councils have done an outstanding job funding the arts, including the performing arts. We created the Madison Civic Center, we fund local performers, we have concert programs, and we have other long term commitments.

The Overture Center can find private sources of funding. The City of Madison however, cannot find private sources to fund the Police, Fire, and Health Departments or to keep the streets plowed.

 

 

 

Credit Goes To Bud Selig

Sunday I took Natasha and Alex to the Brewers game. This is America. Dad, two of his daughters and a fun baseball team.

As we took our seats in the last row of our section, there in the skybox next to us was University of Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez and Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

Before I could walk over to say hello, Bud Selig had gone inside to greet some friends so Barry and I chatted about Saturday's convincing win over Nebraska. I mumbled something to the Athletic Director about character and the fact that this Wisconsin team was more than athletic - they are bright, perseverant, patient and thoughtful. As though Alvarez didn't already know that.

The game was great. It was close at first. Ryan Braun continued to prove that he has character and as a Brewers fan, it was fun to watch the Diamondback's wheels come off.

It was an incredibly well played game. The Brewers have a healthy attitude and they have matured into players who know how to have fun without embarrassing themselves.

From the fourth inning on, with each pitch and each at bat I thought about Selig, wondering how he was feeling. I have not been generous with Selig both as owner and commissioner. I took exception to inter- league play, to halting the 2002 All-Star game when it was tied in extra innings, as well as to the flashing lights and artificial noise at Miller Park.

As the Brewers batted around in the sixth inning, I was thinking that a large part of this is Selig's team. Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, Cory Hart, and Yovani Gallardo are all a credit to the team Selig built.

When Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt struck out swinging to end the game and we all filed out, Selig stood alone surveying the field. I reached out, shook Bud's hand and simply said, "Congratulations."

 

 

Building the property tax base matters

A few days ago the Wisconsin State Journal ran an editorial commending Epic Systems Corporation as it convened its annual users' group meeting. The glowing account of this prized company was right on target except for one significant statement:

Some in Madison still lament that Madison lost Epic to Verona years ago. But that’s an outdated view. As long as Epic stays and expands anywhere in our region, we all should be happy.

After all, the real competition for the jobs of the future isn’t between one local community and its neighbors. Increasingly, the entire Capital Region is competing against other regions around the world.

Wrong. Very wrong. The failure of the city of Madison to respond a decade ago when Epic was looking for a site for its new campus was a costly mistake that reverberates today and will have adverse consequences to the city and the region for years to come.

Most distressing is that the Wisconsin State Journal thinking reflects centuries old planning, land use, transportation, and taxation views that were repudiated long ago as modern creative thinkers, system thinkers, understood these horrid economic and environmental consequences:

• While many of the young Epic workers prefer to live in the dynamic city of Madison, the move to Verona shifts a significant number out of the Madison Metropolitan School District, which desperately needs more children from middle and upper income households.
• The Madison property tax base lost millions in revenues (over $3 million a year!). These are very efficient revenues since these types of office buildings are 'profit centers' having little demand for municipal services.
• The transportation challenges with Epic located so far from the center of the existing public transit system is costly to commuters, to Epic and the entire community. Automobile demands are significant.

Speech to Madison Downtown Rotary September 14, 2011

I spoke to Madison's Downtown Rotary two weeks ago and Wisconsin Eye provides a video.* The first portion may be a bit clumsy to watch since I relied on a number of charts, some of which are in this post.

In any case I spent the last ten minutes addressing some of the major social and economic issues facing our community.

Interesting: when I gave this annual speech in the 1990's it was covered by at least two daily newspapers, a weekly paper, three television stations, and more than two radio stations. This year we had one journalist.

 

*It is 32 minutes long: click on the little TV to the left of the speaker button.

Our Very Own Ironpeople

There is no question the city of Madison has educated, hard-working and dedicated employees, but we can also celebrate their athletic ability and comittment needed to compete in the recent Ironman.  The training that proceeds a 2.4-mile swim, 112 miles on a bike and then a 26.2-mile marathon is incredible and I salute everyone who participated.  It was another great opportunity to showcase our city. The Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau did another excellent job in accommodating the thousands of visitors that accompanied the event.

Many of you may have seen Rob Verhelst, he was the firefighter who ran the marathon in complete fire gear which weighs about 65 lbs. He was part of an amazing 911 First Responders Team, a group of dedicated first responders who competed and raised awareness and money for 911 charities. 

Madison Police Captain Carl Gloede began organizing this team when the 2011 Ironman was scheduled to coincide with the 10^th Anniversary of the September 11^th attack on our country.  Aside from Rob Verhelst and Captain Gloede members of the team included Police Officers Mike Beatty, Mindy Winter, Dave McCaw, Deanna Reilly, John Patterson, Angela Kamoske, Pat Green, Justin Adsit, Lorie Graham, Krista Verhelst, Heather Dzick and Linda Baehmann.  They were joined by Michael Flores, Aaron Zamzow, Peter Matt, Chris Hauski and Laura Laurenzi of the Madison Fire Department.

Another city employee who has a great story is Ray Shane the Madison Park Golf Program Supervisor.  He not only competed in this his 16th Ironman, he finished first in his age group and earned a spot in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii in October!

Congratulations also go out to Steve Klett from the City Purchasing Department, to Dino Lucas a Waterworks Operator who competed in his 4^th Ironman and to Gray Williams who probably had more time to train as he recently retired from Planning and Community Services.

Most of us would never consider embarking on the training needed to compete in an Ironman, but the dedication of these workers and the hundreds of other competitors could serve as an inspiration to all of us, to set a goal and dedicate ourselves to the training and work needed to reach that goal.

 

Bicycling Madison Style: The 2012 Capital Budget

Amanda White, Associate Director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin  (BFW) posted Madison continues to invest in bicycling. In what is the most comprehensive analysis of bicycling and pedestrian portions of the 2012 capital  budget she notes:

Mayor Soglin’s tone was serious and to the point.  He did not mince words when he said it was no fun putting together this budget.  Soglin said the constraints placed on Madison by the State combined with debt service from municipal borrowing leave the City with little choice but to cut planned increases in services and programs across the board. Still, he managed to save many planned bicycle projects, which dollar for dollar produce more jobs and higher economic returns on investment than traditional road projects.

The planning for bicycling in our community  starts with the bicyclists, the future bicyclists, and the folks who benefit from bicyclists. The latter would include automobile drivers and bus passengers who benefit from less congestion and more attractive roadways. It continues with a new breed of planners like Tony Fernandez, a civil engineer with the city of Madison who is responsible for translating aspirations into realities.

The agenda is daunting. We have completed projects such as the Southwest Path which needs widening and improvements. We have long planned improvements like the Sherman Flyer and the Cannonball Express which join a long list of cycling projects that must move from dreams to reality. Then there are the smaller projects, little connections that will fix major impediments to fun and safe cycling.

I do not believe that anyone was as excited and surprised at the size of Wednesday's BFW meeting as Amanda. Good for her and the organization for generating such interest.

That reminds me, I let my membership lapse some time ago. I wonder how long it will take to hear from her.

Another complimentary observation came from the A.V. Club of Madison:

...But remarkably, the Madison biking community came away pretty much unscathed.  In fact, between $4.4 million budgeted for biking and pedestrian projects next year, and $500,000 set aside to conduct a study on how to coordinate and harmonize all forms of transportation.....

But we can always find the cynics at Isthmus, Madison's weekly newspaper who were so skeptical earlier this year (look at the mocking article Soglin: The debt ceiling is rising) about the existence of severe capital budget problems, but have yet to master the fundamental of budget comparisons.

The article Soglin explains his biking cuts to a room full of Madison cyclists:

Soglin is proposing $8.3 million in cuts for biking and pedestrian projects in 2012. Although funding is predicted to rise in the following years, Soglin's proposing spending for biking and pedestrian projects is still about 11 percent less than former Mayor Dave Cieslewicz had budgeted through 2016.

As  budget analysts know, when comparing budgeting from one year to the next, the accepted practice is to compare actual budgeted numbers. If the city council makes no cuts to my recommendations, the 2012 capital budget for bicycling will be greater than it was for 2011.

The knowledgeable observer also knows that the five-year capital budget forecasts under Cieslewicz were nothing more than an unrealistic wish list ranging from highway constructions to bike paths. First, because it was a grab bag of projections designed to satisfy political constituencies it was worthless as a planning document. Secondly, if it was to be taken seriously for the  expenditures, it would have bankrupted Madison, doubling Dave's debt service to over 20 percent of expenditures.