Madison Mayor's Race

This week, with two announced candidates for mayor of Madison, several reporters asked who I would support.

Like any other citizen, I plan to look at the issues, but there will be one driving priority that determines who gets my vote: poverty. 

The candidate who wants my vote will have to:

• Acknowledge there there is a serious problem of poverty and crime in Madison that is growing out of control.*
• Express concern that while Madison used to have 1/3 the crime rate of the nation, it is now approaching the national crime rate.
• Make it clear that this crime rate is unacceptable;  it is not the inevitable result of urban growth.
• Acknowledge the growing level of poverty in Madison is unacceptable.
• Demonstrate an understanding that the solution to the growing rates of crime and poverty is a program that focuses on education, job training and development, quality child care, health care, and transportation that is practical, not for show.
• Understand that housing for low income families is good, but alone is unacceptable, being no more than a plan to warehouse poor people.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the link between quality of life in the city and the health of the public schools.
• Acknowledge that while counting jobs and construction sites is one way of measuring economic vitality, the real way of measuring success is to see how  young Black and Hispanic males without college educations are doing, not upwardly mobile urban middle class whites.
• Know the violence at Club Majestic was connected to Allied Drive, not King Street.

*In our recent Waxing America poll, over 75% of over one hundred respondents indicated increased crime was a concern; over 1/2 of those polled considered it significant.

Comments

[scott]

Paul - You and I both share a love for Madison, and I’m disheartened to see any decline in the city’s quality of life. But, how much of poverty can be attributed to families where learning and staying in school isn’t encouraged and where self-improvement and ambition take a back seat? Why is it the middle class whites are where they are? Isn’t everybody mixed in at the very same schools, side-by-side? Can the Mayor really change the climate where kids come from if the parents aren’t on board? Thanks for any illumination you can provide.

[Brian]

It's not enough to say education is one of the solutions to poverty. We have an overeducated work force: more people have degrees than are needed by the current employment demand. Therefore, if we have too many people in poverty or falling into poverty it is a question of the distribution of the proceeds of work. The percentage of workers who are unionized is low in this state (and every state, for that matter). Many people simply need to make more money for the hard work and good work they already do. So, it's a question of power differential between employer and employee.
Unionized workers make a substantial amount more than non unionized employees.
Therefore government officials at any level should work to promote a business labor environment in which workers can achieve more freedom to organize and thereby acquire more power and wage/salary increase ON THEIR OWN---with no further education or training.
It's far more empowering and liberating for you to bring yourself out of poverty by unionizing efforts rather than try to have the government redistribute the money through tax plans (soak the rich, the preferred and failed method of most liberals) or crackpot plans like "we need a more educated work force" (these plans never work; it's how the wealth that is created by the work force is distributed from the beginning that matters).

[Dan Sebald]

A portion of Brian's post is very nice, but I say almost always education is a good thing no matter what group we are talking about.

Also, as for liberal tax plans being "soak the rich", let's consider how people get rich in the first place. Yes, there are a lot of hard working entreprenuers who spend a lifetime building wealth for themselves, their community their country. But there are also some questionable ways of getting rich too.

The odd thing is that there have been a lot of wealthy people, even Republican wealthy people looking at the Bush tax plan and saying they really don't need tax breaks and this isn't healthy for the country. Tax plans are a very useful tool, in my opinion, so long as the government is honest and forthright about their application. Loophole tax law I can do without.

[Brenda Konkel]

Paul - This is an interesting post. Seemed to me, and it was a while ago and I paid less attention then, but it seemed to me that the years I was in Madison and you were Mayor, addressing poverty issues was not the number one issue of yours. It seemed your attitude was that if we addressed the issues and made things better for the poor, Madison would become a magnet for poor people. What changed?

As to crime, obviously it is an issue, its hard for me to clearly see what the statistics really mean, but it is clearly not something to be ignored. I'm curious what you think the Mayor should do. We clearly got the "stay out of my department" message from Police Chief Noble Wray when we tried to address neighborhood police officers. It seems all the police department wants is money at budget time and then we're supposed to just leave them alone.

I understand and agree 100% with these two points, but the Council seems unwilling to put money into programs you listed, its a budget battle every year and often some of these programs are the very ones suggested to be cut. I added quite a few programs back this year, but they were very modest proposals.
* Demonstrate an understanding that the solution to the growing rates of crime and poverty is a program that focuses on education, job training and development, quality child care, health care, and transportation that is practical, not for show.
* Understand that housing for low income families is good, but alone is unacceptable, being no more than a plan to warehouse poor people.

The public school issue is even harder. We have that city-school board liaison committee, but they don't seem to ever do anything. When Ray Allen was on it (and even chaired it), he had horrible attendence. What would you like to see a Mayoral Candidate do . . . besides support the good candidates?

I'm glad you brought this issue up, its a major concern of mine. Many members of the Economic Development Commission don't seem to see it this way and oddly enough, I believe Zach Brandon is the one who typically brings up this issue.
* Acknowledge that while counting jobs and construction sites is one way of measuring economic vitality, the real way of measuring success is to see how young Black and Hispanic males without college educations are doing, not upwardly mobile urban middle class whites.

I think the Club Majestic point is unfair to the good residents to Allied Drive. I agree it wasn't King Street, but there are more areas of the City, and more importantly, areas outside of the City, where people came from that were attracted to the Club Majestic scene. And to keep blaming all crime on Allied Drive ignores the good things that are going on there.

b

[Paul]

Brenda said: "Seemed to me, and it was a while ago and I paid less attention then, but it seemed to me that the years I was in Madison and you were Mayor, addressing poverty issues was not the number one issue of yours. It seemed your attitude was that if we addressed the issues and made things better for the poor, Madison would become a magnet for poor people. What changed?"

I am sorry Brenda, but I am afraid, in your own words "a while ago and I paid less attention then," but poverty and the related issues was the number one priority.

If you check the restructuring of city government, the creation of the Neigborhood Resource Teams, the creation of the Neighborhood Planning Districts, the housing programs that created the most afforable accessible housing in city history, the creation of the South Madison Community Health Center (Harambee, which Alderman Bruer labled a 'welfare temple'), the North Side Community Center initiative, the battles with Dane County and Town of Madison governments which finally led the county to creating Joining Forces for Families, the strong liason between my office and the school district, the significant changes in Vera Court, Broadway-Simpson, Webb-Darbo, Bram's Additon, and even Allied Drive, to name a few, the youth jobs initatives, the use of CDBG funds for housing and neighborhood initiatives (not to fund city staff), the firm support for public transit, the increase in health department staff at the neighborhood level, the increase in funding for non-profits and more.

I list them becsaue when combined they provide a coherent startegy for reducing poverty (and crime).

As for the crime? There is little for the mayor to do with the Police Department other than to fund more community officers. That is the point. The real crime reduction comes from reducing poverty.

As for the schools: while they are indpendent, the mayor should be spending as much time with the School Superintendent as the city department heads. There should be a mayor staff member assigned to the schools. I had four functional aides. This mayor (and the last) has three...because he chooses to have a press aide. Silly.

Club Majestic: sorry but if the violence and shootings are stopped there and the other torubled neighborhoods, it will stop at the Majestic.

[Genie O.]

Paul, would you consider running for mayor? I would work for you (again) if you did.

[Paul]

Genie: Thanks for the encouragement and support but I will not run.