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.

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.

Madison's State Street - Wasting over $3 Million a Year

This week's Isthmus features an article, Chronic pains detailing the problems of a few dozen offenders who accounted for almost 400 police contacts in the State Street area during a five month period.

The two men were no ordinary criminals...Each person on the list of 24 had 10 or more contacts with police in the first five months of 2008. Lindsey, 41, was one of the worst: From January to June, he had 42 recorded police contacts, including being sent to Dane County's detox center 16 times...

The study group found that 98 people were responsible for nearly 800 police contacts downtown during this brief period.

An examination of the repeaters shows that almost all of them were either homeless, suffered from mental illness, or had a drug-alcohol dependency problems.

What is so shocking is that a similar study was done over ten years ago.

In the intervening years I  repeatedly told anyone who would listen that a computerized list of the individuals who showed up most frequently with Police or Fire department contacts is the key to reducing problems downtown.

It is real simple.

Read the entire Isthmus article. The last half details solutions critical to a solution.

These individuals need help. They need help, that by law, the state of Wisconsin and Dane County are required to provide. They need treatment or in some cases institutionalization, especially if they refuse to stay on a treatment program.

The study just completed only covered police contacts. They should include fire and paramedic contacts as well. The top twenty offenders are probably good for close to 3000 contacts in a year. At an average cost of $1000 a contact that comes to $3 million annually.*

All of this points to the fact that the city is chasing its tail and the wrong culprits when it comes to liquor-fueled downtown problems including violence.

State Street's problems emanate from two sources associated with frequent liquor and drug abuse. The first group is already identified - older men with severe health problems.

The second are violent thugs who were not found in the area ten or twenty years ago. They too can treated. Remove the older men, free up law enforcement to deal with the young thugs, thus setting a higher standard for State Street behavior, and the problem is solved without draconian measures affecting the sale of alcohol to reasonable people.

Then all that is left is to close the over the top private alcohol fueled parties, and get the youngsters back in the taverns where they belong.

An effective Madison Neighborhood Resource Team (NRT) fro State Street is a start. If we look at it on a cost effective basis, the county's Joining Forces For Families (JFF) should make an appearance.

After those problems are solved, imagine what could be done with the money to work with low income households.

It might also result in fewer murders and violent assaults.

*This number ($3 million) is probably low. While some contacts may be nothing more than instruction to cease offensive behavior, if the contact includes a conveyance, a booking, and subsequent prosecution which will include multiple police officers, the cost is at least $1000. A fire conveyance and detox is probably a minimum of $2000.

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

WMC: Wisbusiness.com Covers Changes - consensus on state business climate

Mike Schramm was kind enough to remind me that the new WMC strategy is reported in wisbusiness.com by Brian E. Clark

WMC effort looks for consensus on state business climate

With Democrats soon to control the state Assembly, as well as the Senate and governor’s office, the state’s largest business lobby is shifting gears to deal with what it calls the “new political landscape."

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, which has often been at odds with Gov. Jim Doyle, is reaching out to diverse groups -- including labor -- to develop plans to stimulate the state’s slumping economy....

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce: Moving Wisconsin Forward

This past week we discussed Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce's (WMC) new program, Moving Wisconsin Forward, which is described in their publication What Will It take?

While WMC refers to improving or growing the Wisconsin economy and improving the business climate, which are not the same, their new program is a significant departure from previous WMC government relations ventures.

In past legislative sessions, WMC attempted to unilaterally drive through the legislature new laws, or even constitutional provisions, such as TABOR. They took no prisoners.

The reality of Republican minorities in both houses of the legislature set in and now WMC speaks of "reaching out,'" "building coalitions,'" and "collaboration."

Regardless of the motive, the new approach is refreshing and welcome.

The real test for WMC is demonstrating that it comprehends that an improved Wisconsin economy is not synonymous with lower taxes and less environmental regulation.

Wisconsin needs investment in infrastructure and and investment in human capacity. That means more transportation systems, more energy, more workforce development, and more education.

Unlike the federal bailouts, which come with virtually no oversight or regulation, growing Wisconsin must be put in perspective.

Just as some knee-jerk liberals say, "no' to anything that is good for business development, WMC must realize that they cannot say "no" to oversight or regulation that demands green technology or that extends education and training into poor neighborhoods.

There may be public investment that creates new jobs and builds factories, but it is not unreasonable to stop that programming if the jobs are located in suburbs with no public transit. There are solutions - build in the inner city or minimally require access to public transit.

Workers need training and education.  It costs more money to educate young men and women who are in households below the poverty line. In rural and urban areas WMC must support access to education, even if the cost is significant. The cost of not doing so is too expensive.

One of the biggest wastes of taxpayers dollars is the price of incarcerating so many of our state's residents. WMC must participate in discussions and solutions to end the rising crime in our state and that means more than conventional law enforcement. Real community policing is expensive.  Providing the childcare, transportation, job development, health care, and economic literacy training is costly. Again, not doing so is even more expensive.

We have highlighted some of the shortcomings of WMC's approach. We also recognize the value of WMC changing its strategy, its agenda, and broadening the discussion.

WMC, welcome to twenty-first century Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce: What Will It Take?

WMC: What WIll It Take?

 

Woodrow Wilson, Max Weber Support Obama Cabinet Selections

The controversy is swirling over the cabinet selections of President-elect Barack Obama. Some on the left are concerned that appointments in areas such as international affairs, economic matters and national defense are too conservative. Liberals to keep pressure on Obama for results. Meanwhile conservatives are either lauding the appointments or chuckling, hoping that there will be a rift between Obama and his more liberal supporters. ‘In with a bang’ Obama dismays the faithful.

I am betting on Obama.

I have to. He is doing exactly what I did in 1973 when first elected mayor with a political base even further left than Obama's. There were only minor problems moving Madison in a progressive direction in a situation where I inherited every top department and division head. There were some rogues, but they were eventually weeded out.

Obama has to prove he can govern. That is going to take two years. For that he does not need ideologues or partisans. If the appointees are to the left, so much the better, but what he needs is experience and competence in cabinet level appointees who will carry out his programs and policies.

As any student of the German sociologist Max Weber or the Princeton University Professor Woodrow Wilson knows, public servants, with rare exceptions, are committed to the rule of law and further are committed to serving their democratically elected leaders.

There are exceptions. There are public servants who violate these principles, but they are more likely to be found in administrations where the leader is also a rogue. Just ask Richard Nixon.

And Dick Cheney does not count; he is an elected official and a rogue. He is not and never was a bureaucrat.

So long as Obama is clear and decisive in making decisions, and maintains a presence as the hierarchal leader, there should not be problems of Cabinet members substituting their ideas for his.

Where change will appear first is in the appointments to the commissions and the boards. Look for changes in the FCC (not the resurrection of the fairness doctrine but the challenges to monopolies), FDA (drug safety and pricing), and certainly the FTC (consumer protection).