Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Airlines Plot Against Customers - Passengers Joyfully Share Airport Comforts

Passengers may grumble but they know that flight cancellations are the best outcome with conditions are not safe for air travel. Whether it is mechanical problems or inclement weather, it is best to stay on the ground.

That said, it is clear that the airlines are largely responsible for this year's major delays and cancellations. In the rush to show profits the airlines took two flagrant steps which compound the problems created by weather and a congested system.

The first was to lay off a significant number of pilots and other crew members. Now when there are problems, there are not a sufficient number of pilots to fly equipment that is in position.

Then there are the mechanical problems and the availability of equipment. As another storm socks Denver, United airlines is flying planes to other airports so they will "Be in position" for weekend travel. Ten years ago, United had enough equipment so the airplanes could hang in Denver with the passengers. Now United skips town, leaving the passengers stranded.

Northwest Airlines already admitted that it was inadequately staffed.

The FAA may be a government agency, but the number of planes, pilots, and crew are industry decisions. Another example of better service to you through government deregulation.

Menatime, Ma, Pa and the kids are sleeping on the floor in the baggage area, dining at the fastfood resturant near gate B24, and shoplifting $2.78 candybars since they ran out of cash long ago.

Green Bay's War on the First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Green Bay - area native The Recess Supervisor nails the nativity nonsense at Green Bay City Hall over at the Political Playground here, here and here. His best stuff is in the comments:

Sadly, Green Bay has always been a city ruled by petty, parochial overlords who have no interest in doing anything other than preserving their fiefdoms... It'd be unfortunate if readers thought that this local government lunacy was new in Green Bay. It's not. It's been happening for decades...

...Green Bay's problem is that is has such low expectations of itself that anytime it eats its dinner without spilling all over its shirt, it's considered a major victory.

- Barry Orton

Have You Seen the 2007 WMC Economic Outlook Survey?

I doubt that you or anyone else, other than a handful of people have seen the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) 2007 Survey Results.

That is because it is under wraps lest it embarrass the organization.

If you do have a copy, please let me know or send it to me.

Normally the survey is released in the summer with much ballyhoo, as in 2006, when WMC members ranked taxes as the seventh most import concern facing their company, way below health care costs, competition, labor shortages, and energy.

So here it is a few days before the end of the year and no press releases, no hype, no "tax hell" coming from East Washington Avenue.

Again, if you have a copy of the recent survey please let me know.

Airlines Outsourcing Maintenance, Call Centers and Your Safety

A few weeks ago I had another battle with a United States airline. I made two calls to check on an existing reservation and accomplished nothing in over ninety minutes except to discover I was speaking to people in the Philippines who knew less about airline travel and airline management than me.

Whether buying automobiles, checking on my health, or making travel plans, I find it useful to work with people who know more than me -not a very high standard.

Finally I cheated.  Years ago I was a frequent flyer so I had the special phone number they can use. In five minutes I spoke to someone in Chicago and resolved the matter.

That prompted me to see just what was the airline outsourcing situation. I read that the Teamsters Union notified passengers that United Airlines is outsourcing heavy maintenance on equipment that goes to China. In fact,In the Beijing repair station, only five of 2,179 mechanics are certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Forbes Magazine recently reported that AAR Corp is a great investment. They are providing maintenance and repair services to US airlines at a reduced cost.  The article makes no mention about the quality of the work. The article tells me that AAR stock is good for my portfolio but it does not mention if it is good for my health.

Probably the most distressing is U.S. News & World Report, which published on December 20, 2007 that, The Transportation Department IGs (Inspector Generals), for example, have revealed potential safety risks posed by the airlines' outsourcing of maintenance work.

The story does not provide any more detailed information on the nature of those safety risks.

The Wall Street Journal was not shy to report that the failure of Boeing to complete its delivery schedule of the new Dreamliner,the Boeing 787, is a failure on the part of suppliers. The headline: Layers of Outsourcing Slow 787 Production;'Hostage to Suppliers'

Boeing figured it could save $10 Billion by outsourcing the supplies.

Today, the Dreamliner is at least six months late, and the goal of delivering 109 planes by the end of 2009 is threatened...Boeing said in September that it had set aside nearly $2 billion in additional research-and-development money for increasing costs associated with the delays.

That does not include future problems, delivery penalties, and the waste in fuel as the more efficient 787 goes into service two to three years late.

Disclosure: I am compensated by more than one labor union opposed to outsourcing. And I have a bazillion friends who don't pay me a damn thing that are just as vehemently opposed to outsourcing.

Madison Snow Removal Policy Makes Right Turn

The recent snowstorms revealed the weakness in the city of Madison's snow removal policies, particularly as it applies to alternative street parking. The Capital Times tells us Mayor dreaming of better snow cleanup. 

Good start.

The proposal  that allows downtown residents to have a longer window to park free in the city ramps is excellent but credit needs to be given to Alders Konkel, Rummel, and Rhodes-Conway who really pushed the idea two weeks ago, Call for Cleaning Up the Street Clean-Up Efforts

1. Downtown City ramps would be available free starting at 9:00 p.m. instead of 1:00 a.m. to ease the burden on downtown residents who already have very limited parking.
2. Madison Metro would be free, and bus routes would be given a higher priority for plowing to reduce the number of commuters using the clogged streets.

But also critical is having enough equipment on the streets. The city has not kept up, Do we need more plows? Yes we do. A better intial plowing with more equipment (and operators) will reduce the chaos that this month continued for weeks if narrow streets are freed of ice and snow quicker.

Another critical element of the new proposal is to increase fines for violating the alternate street parking ordinances.  Before anyone rushes to increase the fines, recall that the purpose is to get the cars off the streets, not issue more expensive parking tickets.

It will not be popular but the entire snow emergency zone needs review. The problem started (when I was mayor), when certain downtown alders wanted to end alternate street parking and go to the emergency zone system. The experiment did not work. It is time for review.

And there is a very good environmental reason why alternative street parking applies from November 15th to May 15th, a period longer than the snow season. It allows city street sweeping equipment to get right alongside the curb. This is critical in late fall before the snow comes and in the spring. It allows for the removal of the heavy metal, petroleum by-products and the organic matter to be swept away so they do not run down the storm sewers into the lakes.

Media Covers "Video Competition" Bill Signing and Partial Vetoes Despite Timing Designed To Bury Story

If you are Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, and you must sign a bad bill pushed heavily by one of your biggest financial supporters, and you've line-item vetoed some of the bill's worst provisions, which contained language that its legislative proponents specifically voted in both chambers not to amend, what do you do?

How about skipping a public signing ceremony, and releasing the veto message on, say, the Friday afternoon before Christmas, while doing a "feed the hungry" event at Second Harvest? That way, the story misses most television news on Friday, which had already overstuffed its audience with the "NFL Network and Big Ten Network at the Legislature" story the day before. The signing and vetoes story then lands in Saturday's newspapers, and sits largely unread as Wisconsin frantically shops itself into a stupor over the weekend in preparation for Tuesday's Holiday To Save the American Economy, formerly known as Christmas.

So Friday afternoon, my phone heated up with interviews from the working press trying to scope out What It Means, file a coherent story, and go home by dinnertime. Having read the veto message and the text of the actual vetoes, I was ready. This morning I was able to find out what it was I said to each reporter.

Despite the Governor's effort to bury it, the story ran page one above the fold in the Capital Times and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and page one in the local section of the State Journal.

As usual in this story, The Capital Times' coverage was solid.  Jeff Richgels and Judith Davidoff ("Prof: Don't hold breath for new services under state cable law") led with my prediction that:

Gov. Jim Doyle's signing of the state cable franchising bill isn't likely to mean AT&T -- a leading backer of the bill -- will bring its U-verse TV service to the Madison area anytime soon, one prominent observer said.

"I don't see it in Madison in any widespread way in 2008," said Barry Orton, a UW-Madison professor of telecommunications who has advised many communities in their dealings with cable companies.

Orton noted that AT&T has been reducing its rollout projections for U-verse in recent announcements.

"Every single estimate cuts back on the previous one," he said.

Richgels and Davidoff also nailed, in plain language, what Doyle's vetoes did and the likely impact on local access channels.

Mark Pitsch's Wisconsin State Journal story also did a very good job in outlining the vetoes, and covered the access angle as well.  I was happy with my quotes, which Mark used to frame the story:

Doyle 's vetoes hold the potential for substantial state oversight of the industry -- whereas the bill the Legislature sent to his desk sought to eliminate state regulation.

"The state will be a legitimate overseer of this industry rather than a rubber stamp to whatever the industry wants to do, " said Barry Orton, a UW-Madison telecommunications professor who urged Doyle to issue the vetoes on behalf of local governments and some lawmakers who opposed the bill.

"It means the cable companies and other providers won't be able to run roughshod over consumers. "

..."He's made a ridiculous bill only pretty bad, and that's good, " Orton said of Doyle.

Over at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Steve Walters and Stacy Forster managed to cram in a list of all the vetoes, cover the impact on access channels,  add my framing ("Barry Orton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison telecommunications professor and consultant to local governments, called Doyle's vetoes courageous."), and then advanced the story by quoting Senator Jeff Plale, a chief sponsor, that there wouldn't be any attempt to override the vetoes.

Walters and Foster also skillfully managed to put the whole bill in context while quoting one of its most effective opponents, Rep. Gary Hebl, and its most effective shill, Thad Nation of TV4US:

Legislators who fought the bill said Doyle's vetoes improved it but predicted that rural areas will not be helped by competition and new telecommunications products.

"People in many areas of the state won't see any competition . . . because companies such as AT&T have no plans to provide service beyond their existing service footprint, which covers less than half of the state," Rep. Gary Hebl (D-Sun Prairie) said in a statement.

Thad Nation, executive director of TV4US Wisconsin, which ran hundreds of TV ads statewide pushing the bill, predicted that "prices will fall, services will improve and companies will have incentives and bring consumers new, exciting technologies."

TV4US reported $44 million in contributions in 2006 - including $43.9 million from one contributor it refused to identify on its Internal Revenue Service disclosure report.

A "small percentage" of that money was spent in Wisconsin in 2006, said Lizanne Sadlier, a TV4US official.

Sadlier said AT&T was a "significant contributor" to TV4US in 2006.

So maybe millions in advertising from "grassroots" TV4US had some impact on this process?  Could be.

- Barry Orton

(with apologies for lengthy and self-centered post)

Wisconsin Governor Signs "Video Competition" Bill: Partial Vetoes Put Lipstick, Mascara & Rouge on Pig

Without ceremony, Governor Jim Doyle signed AB 207 into law today, using his partial veto power to mitigate some of the worst aspects of the bill. 

The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) was given significant powers the original bill restricted: rulemaking, setting the franchise term, state fees, applicant qualifications and revocation standards. So instead of being a rubber stamp, DFI will have some real oversight capability.

The cities didn't fare as well.  The Governor's veto message bragged that he restored municipalities' power to charge permit fees for use of public rights-of-way, but failed to mention that he didn't veto a provision that such fees could be deducted from other fees due the cities. He vetoed a bad limit on auditing fees, but also inexplicably vetoed a good provision added in the Senate that allowed municipal control of the aesthetics of facilities placed in the rights-of-way. So, in all, not much help.

Public, educational and governmental (PEG) access channels didn't get whole lot of help either.  The word "noncommercial" was vetoed, theoretically allowing them "the ability to air revenue-generating commercial programming," but the veto provides no specific help on funding cuts, technical signal quality or channel location.  Expressing concern and urging the Legislature to deal with the issues PEG channels present in follow-up legislation gives new meaning to the phrase "lip service."

AT&T is delighted by the signing, and seemingly unconcerned with the vetoes.

More reactions in the media tomorrow...stay tuned.

- Barry Orton

Kay Plantes: Improving Wisconsin's Labor Force

Kay Plantes, a Madison area economist and strategy consultant, writes insightful articles about Wisconsin's future.  Last month Capital Region Business Journal published her article, Five key steps to improving future of Wisconsin's labor force

• FIRST, fund investments proven to help children growing up in poverty succeed in school. Alarmingly high rates of Wisconsin public school students live in poverty...
• SECOND, increase financial aid to enable more high school graduates and working adults to attend college...
• THIRD, accelerate creation of high-paying jobs...
• FOURTH, dramatically improve science and math training, while enhancing writing skills and appreciation of all liberal arts -- requirements for a knowledge-based economy...
• FIFTH, deploy a hidden asset: the recent UW graduates and alumni residing outside Wisconsin who are eager to live in Wisconsin, were high-paying jobs available...

When I decided to post about her article, I was wondering how I would re-order her list. I did not. It would be a waste of time. Not that we could debate which is most important. All five elements are so critical to success, that an re-ordering is pointless.

It is not her main point but she notes:

The foolhardiness of a state government that's allowed prison spending to absorb needed education resources then wastes three months in budgetary politics is not lost on this writer.

Thank You Brown County Library in Green Bay

Monday, I was in Green Bay.  Except for research, I do not go to the library as much as when the girls were growing up. For over a dozen years we went to one of the Madison branches every other week, except during the summers.

The computer service was out at my hotel so I hustled over to the Brown County Library. I worked there for over two hours. Some time was spent at a solid desk, my papers spread out, some time was spent on their computers, and some time was spent browsing through newspapers and magazines.

Some time was spent studying the library itself.

The biggest change is the rows of computers.  I studied the users and peeked at what they were doing. There were no kids there, it was a school day, though Terry Anderson, a reporter from the Green Bay Press Gazette, told me that the library is teeming with kids after school.

The users ranged in age from late teens to close to seventy. The range of colors and ethnic backgrounds was as varied as Wisconsin. Only two users out of twenty were playing games. One man was activating his new cell phone. Several of the younger users, college students, were writing papers and or preparing for finals. At least two of the users were doing what I can best describe as consumer research. Several were looking ads, job and housing. Many were reading and writing email.

The obvious struck me. This was an investment in people, in Green Bay and in Brown County. I wondered what the value of the library was to me. Certainly from a work standpoint, it was at least $30 or $40 an hour. Upon reflection, that is what I would have paid if they charged.

The Brown County Library is like most of the libraries in the state. It struggles to stay open when it should be expanding its hours. It has decent computers, but it could use more and newer ones. All the desks were filled at 10:00 am.

Then there is the matter of the books. I did not speak with any of the librarians, but I am sure they would like to update the collection and add to it. Oh, another thing is that librarians like to figure out ways of getting more young people inside their building. Do that and kids read more.

There was one man sleeping at the end of my table. He was not disturbing anyone. After an hour or so, he got up and left.

Thank you , Brown County.

Jessica McBride Endorses Waxing America

Jessica McBride, the real one not Whallah!, in an email to me on Monday December 12, 2007 said:

I think your commentary is intelligent and informed...I can appreciate how your argue the issues.

Add to this, her recent comment from her blog*

Soglin ...influential members of the liberal political intelligentsia in this state, perhaps in the top 5...frame public opinion both on the left and in the media

Why stop there. I am working on the center as well?

Intelligent, informed, influential. Go team.

Take that, the rest of you left -wing, snot-nosed, disrespectful punks.

(*you can find her on your own, but believe me, anything you need to read is here at Waxing America)