Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Overture: Now Is the Time To Act

The offer from the Madison Culture Arts District (MCAD) board to turn the Overture Center over to the city of Madison is the best start possible to resolving the issues confronting the performing arts center. As the Wisconsin State Journal reported,

Owner wants to give Overture Center to city; not a good idea, mayor says

Overture Center's owner wants to give the $205 million arts facility to the city of Madison or another entity for $1 as part of a complex deal to secure its long-term future, a letter obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal shows.

City officials are balking about taking responsibility for the gleaming but financially strapped facility on the 200 block of State Street.

The alternative may be a bank foreclosure on the building, the letter says.

The next step is to create a city commission to look at the the three fundamental issues: resolving the debt related to construction, a new structure for Overture, and a long term planning regarding finances and programming.

This commission might have to work for six months or longer. Critical points that need attention:

• A city management board, structured after the old Civic Center Board needs regional participation but only if there is a regional commitment to support Overture. If there is no regional support there should still be some appointees from outside of Madison.

• The city cannot take over the facility unless the construction debt issues are definitely resolved.

• Recognizing that Overture is doing as good a job as possible filling seats from September through May, experts and the public should be brought in to discuss utilizing the facility during the summer.

• Consideration needs to be give to a nominal sales tax (fractions of a percent ) to support the arts as is done in Colorado and Minnesota.

• There must be a true public planning program that invites everyone to come to the facility both literally and figuratively. The unintended top down original structure for Overture created a sense of isolation.

The public did not believe they were welcome to do anything but buy tickets and sit in their seats. That is not a true public arts facility.

Overture Center: Where It Went Wrong

When Jerry Frautschi announced his gift to create the Overture Center almost ten years ago, he had no firm opinion as to the structure that would operate the facility. In fact he assumed that the new facility, built on the site and concept of Madison's Civic Center, would continue with City of Madison control.

Then mayor Susan Baumann wanted no part of the facility. Her concern was the responsibility of the new performing arts center, both managerial as well as financial.

She informed Frautschi the gift was welcomed, but that he would have to find an alternative to the city when it came to ownership and management of Overture.

She informed the pubic of something different.

She told members of the city council and the press that the eventually adopted Madison Cultural Arts District (MCAD) was a condition of Fratuschi's gift. Actually MCAD served the needs of then Civic Center director Robert D'Angelo, who was looking for a structure that would guarantee him the benefits of public employment without the the inconvenience of an elected executive who might keep an eye on him.

It was a condition, not imposed by the donor, but by Baumann.

That condition set in motion a series of events and decisions which lead to the untenable situation MCAD experiences today.

The worst of all public structures is a legal public body with no constituency. 

MCAD, like Wisconsin school districts or municipalities, is a creature of the state. It is established by state law and its powers are derived from the state. Unlike the school boards and the municipalities, MCAD does not have elected leadership.

That does have some advantages. Its board, appointed by state, city and county leaders, does not have to worry about a meddlesome public.

There is a downside. There is no public electorate that cares what happens to MCAD.There are no stakeholders to turn to in a time of crisis.

Now Overture, despite performances booked and tickets sold, is facing a crisis which needs public support, but cannot obtain it. Laying off public employees may save a modest amount in operating costs, but fails to solve the larger problem of public engagement.

When Baumann made her decision, she deprived the people of Madison of a free and open debate as to how the new Overture might be operated and managed. The outcome might be the same, the MCAD.

However, it was more likely city management would continue. which then would have set in motion an entirely different set of decisions, which may have avoided today's crisis.

author's note: Wisconsin has similar structures such as the area technical colleges. Fortunately for them, there is an active public since they have the ability to tax; there are area-wide constituencies that support, or oppose, what they do.

Overture Employees Take a Holiday Hit For Failed Leadership

In an editorial that misses the mark, Cooperate to reform Overture,  the Wisconsin State Journal commends the leadership of the Overture Center for laying off employees and calls upon public officials to renegotiate the labor agreement with the union that represents the employees.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and the City Council should respond by reopening the city contract... to allow center management to control pay and benefits...Labor costs are by no means the only part of Overture that deserves an overhaul. But they compose the largest expense item in Overture's budget. The city's pay structure is out of line in several places...

...For example, a study found that an Overture ticket cashier earns $18.34 an hour, compared to a statewide benchmark of $10.30.

The pay structure is not out of line.

Out of line were the decisions that led to the design of Overture and the Wisconsin State Journal editorial.

The original design problems will be dealt with in a separate post, for now I will deal with the editorial.

For over twenty years the pay structure for Civic Center and subsequently Overture worked just fine. That pay structure is based on the workload and responsibilities of the staff ranging from ticket sellers to electricians.

An examination of the job descriptions is a good place to start. A ticket seller at Overture has far more responsibilities than a ticket seller in Wausau.

Next, the State Journal repeats the same mistake it committed last summer when it attempted to demonstrate that the way to deal with the financial losses at the city public swimming pool was to lower the wages of life guards. Wisconsin State Journal's Goodman Pool Editorial All Wet.

Madison pools lose money because the revenues, not the wages, are out of line.

If Madison charged individuals and families the same rates as the suburban pool operators, there would be no deficit.*

The same is true with Overture. While salaries do comprise the largest expenditure in Overture's budget, the greatest discrepancy is in the largest budget item, revenues from performances - that would be ticket revenues for the producers.

The ticket revenues are not sufficient to maintain the facility and pay the bills.

This is not about  'tough love.'

This is about a series of mistakes made in the automobile industry, the financial services industry, and in the Baumann administration's decision to turn over the operation of the Civic Center to a body with no obligation to the public. The Overture board has no constituency and never did.

As a result the employees suffer in a organizational structure that was cobbled together to meet the needs of the previous Civic Center director and those who had his ear, namely the then mayor.

The Wisconsin State Journal notes,"The economic downturn and some boneheaded financial decisions have left Overture troubled..."

Yes, I would say troubled. The fund is over $20 million lower than it should be.

Less than one percent of the losses (not the principal), would cover the cost of the slashed workers wages for another ten years.

Which gets us to the real issue. There must be a reason that the State Journal repeatedly attacks reasonable workers' wages whenever there is a financial crisis.

They are preparing for the obvious at the newspaper. The day the layoffs and the cuts come.

As Roger Ebert noted in analyzing the crash of the troubled Chicago Tribune, the problem is not the staff but the enormous debt that paper faces because its current owner, Sam Zell, bought the company on credit.

*Madison charges the lowest daily fee for a child at $2.25 while it is $2.75 in Middleton, $3.00 in Sun Prairie and a nifty $6.00 in in Shorewood for a daily guest pass (3.00 for a grandchild).

And in Madison the amenities and the recreational options are far greater than at any of these other pools.

A family membership in Madison for the season is  $145 (non -residents $285); in Middleton it is basically the same for residents and $355 for non-residents. In Shorewood it is a whopping $437 and $582. Only Sun Prairie undercuts Madison at $90/135.

Wisconsin Bloggers: Individually and Collectively Inept, Inattentive, Incompetent

With one of the greatest blogging stories sitting right under their collective noses, Wisconsin bloggers sat on their collective behinds and allowed the mainstream media, the CBS Evening news with Katie Couric, to scoop them on the biggest stories of the departing year, the Shawano -SIST story of international intrigue:

Alleged Murder-For-Hire Rattles Small Town:Placid Midwest Town Turned Upside Down By Alleged Hit List And Secretive Group

All a reaction to news of an alleged hit list and claims by a so-called hit man, now telling his story for the first time.

"And I said, 'you want me to kill 60 people? You want me to kill the whole town of Shawano?" said Canadian businessman Bob Cameron.

Keteyian asked: "They were hiring you as a hit man?"

"Yes, they were," Cameron said.

"You're talking about the mayor, the city administrator, the city treasurer, the city attorney, the police chief, judges, investigators, fire commissioners," Keteyian asked.

"Uh huh," Cameron assented

Cameron says in late October he received $175,000 in wire transfers from people known to be part of a secretive group long run out of a house near Shawano called SIST.

Its is a story that could never be fabricated. The cast of characters are from the next great movie, a combined effort of the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino.

The mayor (Kathy Bates) tops the list of sixty potential local victims. The Canadian hitman (Martin Short) was trying to do no more than collect some unpaid bills from the local cult when asked to wipe out half the town. The cult leader (Samuel L. Jackson in a reprise of his role of Jules in Pulp Fiction) is responsible for the investment of over $15 million in local real estate.

The real estate holdings fail and the county treasurer (Johnny Depp) is now foreclosing. The sheriff (Ben Stiller) and his deputy (Owen Wilson) manage to keep the town on edge as they tail two SIST members (Mike -Wayne-Meyers and Dana -Garth- Carvey), who prowl the city streets with a camcorder filming anyone they suspect is in cahoots with the town leaders.

SIST spokesman and attorney (Johnny Depp or should that be Robert Downey Jr.?) manages to bring some semblance of reality to the entire story claiming this was all a misunderstanding.

Sanity is maintained. The FBI agent (Brad Pitt) brings calm and peace to Shawano.(Pronounced Shawn-o as in Shauno of the Dead).

All this going on in plain view. Badger bloggers are writing about Republican committee assignments in the legislature, the performing arts, and Lake Michigan.

Phooey.

                

Blagojevich: Sleaze vs. Crime

Last Friday I was on Wisconsin Public Radio's Week In Review with Joy Cardin and fellow guest and blogger at Boots and Sabers, Owen Robinson.

When the conversation turned to embattled Illinois Governor Blagojevich, I made the observation that:

On the sleaze meter the guy is off the charts, but that so far, the complaint against him has no concrete proof that he either specifically asked anyone for a bribe or that her ever received anything of value.

All of which poses a dilemma, namely when does a politician cross the line from playing hardball politics in appointing only friends and supporters, to the world of extortion and criminality?

The New York Times took up this question on Monday, In Blagojevich Case, Is It a Crime, Or Just Talk?

Ever since the country’s founding, prosecutors, defense lawyers and juries have been trying to define the difference between criminality and political deal-making. They have never established a clear-cut line between the offensive and the illegal, and the hours of wiretapped conversations involving Mr. Blagojevich, filled with crass, profane talk about benefiting from the Senate vacancy, may fall into a legal gray area.

The best advice for any politician, is do not go near that line. You do not want to be in the gray area or any other area that comes near crossing the line.

Merging Government Services - Usually Ugly

In the 1980's, as part of the increasing sentiment to merge government services in the name of efficiency and saving money, a number of Dane County governments came together to link their police, fire, and emergency medical dispatching services.

The result is the present system, which had two glaring failures in 2008, the murders of  Brittany Zimmerman and Mark Johnson, as well as some not so high profile cases, since they are not linked to homicides.

From the beginning there were difficulties with the system. Madison Police Chief David Couper and his staff noted continued problems on a variety of issues. When I returned to the mayor's office in 1989, I was deeply concerned that the new system was a license for dispatchers to send city of Madison police to a disproportionate number of calls in the Town of Madison, thus allowing that community to maintain lower staffing needs than was required. We continued discussions with Dane County but could only work around the edges since we had neither management nor control over the system.

Chief Couper went so far as to suggest we pull out of the system and go back to having our own dispatchers. The cost to rebuild a city system was prohibitive.

For our efforts we were labeled malcontents and identified as poor players in the sandbox of governmental cooperation.

All of which leads to the simple uncontroverted fact that merging governmental services does not inevitably lead to saving money and it certainly does not necessarily lead to efficiency.

The problem occurs in the the planning of the merger and the expectations of the parties. There must be an understanding of the needs of the operators. In the case of the dispatch system, that is the police officers and firefighters. It is not sufficient to approve the merger and then shrug shoulders saying, "Those are details that can be worked out later."

Some government agencies serve their own unit of government - human resources and IT are two examples. Some serve the public - parks, police, fire, and health are examples. Some serve both the government and the public - examples are legal services, the clerk's office, and public safety dispatchers.

Too often, when merger is considered, thought is only given to serving the public (Zimmerman and Johnson) without consideration of the needs of serving the internal customers (police officers).

What happens is the service provider (dispatch) only thinks of the direct service to the citizen and the needs of the internal customer (police) to serve the customer is overlooked.

It does not have to be that way. Merger can work.

Harvey Milk and George Moscone

Tonight we saw Milk.  The first two minutes were as emotional an introduction to any film I have ever seen.

My reaction to the film is a reflection of the quality of the movie.  It is also a response from living through those times.

It was powerful and moving. Everything said about Sean Penn's outstanding performance is true.

The city of Madison adopted its equal opportunity ordinance protecting all individuals regardless of sexual orientation or sexual preference in the spring or summer of 1976.

Unlike Dade County, Florida, Minneapolis, or Eugene, Oregon, despite our best efforts to bait Anita Bryant, we could not lure her to Madison.  

June  1977 was the last time I saw San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. It was probably Friday June 17 at the conclusion of a hard week of work.

Moscone, U.S. Conference of Mayors President, Ken Gibson from Newark, and  Mayor John Rousakis of Savannah were at the hotel swimming pool.

Gibson and I were in the water, Moscone and Rousakis sunned themselves on lounge chairs when a young photographer from the Tuscon Citizen appeared. He had been trying to get pictures of mayors not working and he had his victims. I spotted him and alerted the others. Gibson and I simply turned our backs to his camera lens.

Moscone was exhausted since every crazed Tusconian with a San Francisco connection had called his hotel room the previous night. Moscone simply draped a towel over his face.

Rousakis did not care and did not move.

The kid snapped a few pictures and walked over to Rousakis. He asked for names. The mayor pointed to Moscone and then himself, "He is Michael Blandic, the new mayor of Chicago, and I am Maynard Jackson, the mayor of Atlanta." (Jackson left, Rousakis right)

Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk were assassinated on Monday November 27, 1978. The moment hearing of the tragedy and seeing Dianne Feinstein on the news announcing their deaths was as real last night as it was that day.

On Tuesday November 28, 1978 I made reservations for San Francisco. That night our city council met. We had ended the practice of opening the meetings with a formal prayer and instead rotated among the council members who would begin each session with some thoughts of their own. Alderman Jim Yeadon began with words memorializing the two slain leaders. Two years earlier, as a citizen serving on the Equal Opportunities Commission, Jim was instrumental in the adoption of Madison's ordinance protecting gay rights. From the Wisconsin State Journal Friday December 12, 2008:

The assassinations of Milk and Moscone marked a poignant moment for Yeadon, who asked to open the first council meeting after the slayings with a remembrance.

"I get shivers when I think about it," he recalls. "I said, 'Yesterday there were three openly gay elected officials in the country. Today there are two. And I don't know how many good mayors there were in the country, but today the world is one the less.' Then I asked people to bow their heads and pray and give their thoughts to the people in San Francisco. I was almost crying. It really brought it home."

On Wednesday November 29, 1978 I flew to San Francisco where I caught up with some friends from Madison in a city numb with grief.

to be continued

Madison and Miami Suffer Winter Arts Blues

...the new performing arts center here, one term became something of a mantra among the project’s boosters: world-class...

...Center for the Performing Arts, is in administrative upheaval and struggling financially... the project was built too big and too soon, and without enough certainty that the city could even support such an ambitious venture. They say the center is yet another case of...overreaching...

“Miami is a land of speculation,” said Mary Luft, founder and executive director of Tigertail Productions, a performing arts production company. “They want it big, they want it fast, they want it now. And they got it!”

...a prominent civic activist, calls the center,... “a total misappropriation of money,” given the pressing social demands of the city, which has one of the highest poverty rates of any major city in the country.

“It’s a building inappropriate to the scale and need of the place,” said Mr. Farago...

The center was designed by Cesar Pelli and... But when the center opened ...it was already in something of a public relations and financial hole.

It opened...about $100 million over its budget at groundbreaking in 2001.

Some artists and cultural groups complained that money for the center could have been channeled into existing organizations and performing arts companies in desperate need.

The quotes above are from the New York Times.The link to the entire story which appeared December 27, 2007 is below.

We all know the consequences of certain Madison leaders failing to understand the economics of operating the Overture Center.

 Shows are booked into Overture on a regular basis. Most shows are well attended. That tells us that the facility was overbuilt.

 Layoffs will take effect January 16, 2009. Those affected are being notified today. Most of the staff affected will have the right to move into other City of Madison jobs.

 

There are simply not enough dollars in the pockets of south central Wisconsin residents to pay to keep the facility operating. There are not enough open dates or open seats to make up the operating deficit.

Raising ticket prices will only drive away more customers who are already finding it difficult to pay ticket prices and the accompanying fees and surcharges.

Meantime in Florida we learn:

Fits, Starts and Painful Bumps for Carnival Center in Miami

Becky Young: Mom, Lawyer, Legislator, Educator, Friend, Environmentalist

Becky Young never asked for anything in return.

She simply did the right thing.  Rather than worry about the political consequences or the political payback, she asked nothing more than you do the same.

Whether it was transportation planning or children, family enhancement or university expansion, she demonstrated real leadership. She engaged citizens and colleagues, with purpose, because the reward was the successful program or plan, not personal aggrandizement.

She came from what I call the 'Tom Sawyer' school of management. She got everyone to paint the fence, though unlike Tom, she never sat by idly; she was a full participant.

Eloquently, George Hesselberg in the Wisconsin State Journal, best described her, Rebecca Young, pillar of Madison politics, dies at 74

Rebecca Young, an approachable icon of congenial modesty and achievement for 30 years in Madison's political landscape, a steady and informed advocate with a welcoming ear for issues involving women, children, transit and the environment, died Tuesday at home of cancer at the age of 74.

She took buses, raised four daughters with her husband, Crawford Young, and kept a breathtaking schedule from the moment she arrived in 1963, starting with the League of Women Voters. She ran for election 12 times, winning every time, including County Board, School Board and seven terms in the state Assembly.

She moved up the political ladder, in stature and influence, never plotting her next step. The only course she followed was her political compass heading towards a better life for kids.

There is a lesson in there somewhere.

 

The Partnership for Wisconsin

The Partnership for Wisconsin is a collaborate effort of business, labor, professional, and academic leaders committed to a sound Wisconsin economy. The Partnership is a non-profit organization whose members share a common value, namely the importance of education for the growth, security and happiness of the individual, the family, and society.    The participants share a common belief that a highly educated and trained workforce is a critical element in making Wisconsin a better place to live, work and play.

The Partnership for Wisconsin acknowledges the benefits to the individual and society of an education.

A safe and healthy community is one that provides economic security and ensures economic opportunity for all of its members. Studies show that education is indispensable if individuals and their families are to fully realize the benefits of their labor.

Male college graduates earn well over $60,000 a year from the age of 35 to 60. High school graduates in the same age range earn under $40,000. The differential for women is similar. Women college graduates will earn over $40,000 a year while female high school graduates earn about $23,000 a year.

Society also benefits form the earning power of education.  Depending upon race and gender, the additional taxes paid by a college graduate compared to a high school graduate is between $200,000 and $400,000 in the course of a lifetime.

The benefits are not as stark, but still significant, if a high school drop out  were to finish school, or if a high school graduate were to have just one or two full years of higher education.

For example the public benefit of a high school education is $209,000. That amount represents the combination of greater taxes and reduced cost to the public of a high school graduate as opposed to a high school drop out.

From society’s perspective, it always pays to invest in education.

Add to this, the demands of Wisconsin business and industry for what one major employer who described his highest priority as a “need for an intelligent workforce.” Employers need workers who can contribute productively and intellectually.

The Partnership for Wisconsin recognizes that to provide for a sound education system there must be a fair and equitable system of taxation. In encouraging public support for education, the Partnership is committed to a Wisconsin taxation plan that not only adequately funds education, job training, and workforce development at all levels, but fairly distributes the cost among all of the parties who benefit.

The Partnership for Wisconsin recognizes that adequate investment in human capital and infrastructure are critical to stimulating private investment. For that reason, we are committed to encouraging a dialogue between the public and private sectors to set an agenda that acknowledges the many direct and indirect benefits that come from such strategies.

As its first commitment, the Partnership will focus on:

• Ensuring adequate financing of public education in all districts throughout the state of Wisconsin.
• UW System education. Financing adequate so that:
  • no in-state student has to pay more than % of their tuition
  • out of state tuition is not more than 100% of the cost of educating the student
  • Faculty salaries at the Madison campus are commensurate with other Big ten Schools
  • UW system Schools are (needs elaboration from academicians)…..
• A workforce development program through the VATC System  (more detail needed)….
• A tax structure that will most likely require an increase of existing taxes, the expansion of the tax base, and or the adoption of new taxes in order to adequately finance….(identification of educational and workforce development needs) 

The Partnership feels that our state must not only have an educated workforce but that we have an enlightened citizenry that understands the externalities and the consequences, or lack of consequences, from not giving full consideration to appropriate investment in human capacity as well as the learning environment.

For that reason the Partnership for Wisconsin is committed to supporting programs that are designed to provide economic opportunity to all Wisconsinites. A healthy state economy is predicated on strategy that encompasses all areas of the state, urban, rural, and suburban.

The Partnership, from time to time, may support the work of others or engage in its own research and policy development in areas related to education, workforce development, or which support the individual’s ability to further their education and training.  This may also include the examination of collaborations with employers, both for profit and non-profit, that are in need of an ever expanding educated workforce.

The Partnership recognizes that many factors enter into the decisions of investors to locate businesses in a community. Reputable studies show that public safety, efficient transportation systems – both public and private, a sound environment, cultural and recreational opportunities, along with fair taxation and a friendly attitude towards economic development are all critical elements that affect decision making.  For that reason the Partnership for Wisconsin, will convene workshops and forums throughout the state to discuss how to improve the economic climate.

Particular attention will be paid to how the international economic environment impacts Wisconsin business and the need to create sustainable industries that can compete in an economy that will afford greater opportunity to businesses that are ‘green.’

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., noted for his leadership in the civil rights movement could have found an alternative career as a leader in the quality movement when he said “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”  The Partnership for Wisconsin joins in Dr King’s sentiment and is committed to urging both business and labor to collaborate to the greatest degree possible in providing fair and decent wages and benefits, working conditions and hours, and at the same time appreciating the contribution to improvement that every employee can make.

While the Partnership will not become involved in disputes between employers and organized labor, it will urge that resolution of differences be made with an eye to the long term consequences as well as the short terms needs of both parties.

Wisconsin has a long tradition of utilizing the research capabilities of its universities for the advancement in health, science, nutrition, safety, technology, culture, societal organization, and a greater understanding of the human condition. For that reason the Partnership for Wisconsin is committed to supporting research and academic freedom in all of our institutions of higher learning.

 

author's note: This is a draft written six months ago and now available on another web site. Over the past year I met with many Wisconsin business leaders. They were unhappy with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). They felt that WMC should be ignored and that a new organization established in our state. Based on what they were saying and my discussions with labor and academic leaders, I drafted a plan for the Partnership for Wisconsin.

 

I will post next week its origin  and why it relates to our state's economy.