Growing Poverty in Madison Part II and Tim Cooley

In yesterday's post Growing Poverty in Madison Part I, I noted that to further soclal justice a municipality needs revenues.  Unfortunately, too many leaders, in and out of government, either fail to acknowledge that money, that is tax dollars, needs to be raised, or they address the problem by talking a good game but failing to fund the required investment in human capacity.

Yesterday, while I was posting about poverty, long time buddy at The Capital TImes, Dave Zweifel, knocked my socks off praising Tim Cooley. Questioning city’s process is a good thing

Frankly, although I disagree with some of his views, I find Tim Cooley to be a breath of fresh air. He was appointed economic development director by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz last January in an effort to assist businesses and developers to navigate the sometimes mysterious paths through city hall and, hopefully, attract new companies to locate here.

One public official who gets it is Tim Cooley. Cooley flatly states that to fund Madison's community programs a tax base is required - that means competitively attracting investment into Madison, not its suburbs.

Cooley was featured in a Wisconsin State Journal article last week, City's economic development director rattles cages in push for change

Since taking the $107,673 a year job, Cooley's pushed to make Madison more competitive, questioned the city's rigorous approval process and moved to loosen rules on public aid for businesses. He's mused about installing a city manager-style of government and downsizing the council, likened the use of Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) to playing poker, and offered radically different ideas for the redevelopment of the Edgewater hotel and neighboring property.

I may disagree with Cooley on the need for a city manager, but he is certainly in step with my feelings regarding the need to economically expand Madison. That is why I found it curious that some said,

"But he doesn't understand Madison's culture. He's not making an effort to balance what makes Madison special with economic development.”

What part of Madison culture does he not understand? That we are soft-spoken? That we resist new ideas? 

Perhaps growing up on Madison's east side and graduating from East High School is the problem. That certainly makes him the exception rather than the rule in this town, where outsiders have held sway over government for forty years. Mea culpa.

Cooley is one of the few people who not only knows the balance but is prepared to make it work.

If this city wants to combat poverty it had better understand what Cooley is saying about the need to make Madison competitive with the rest of Dane County. Epic Systems Corporation is in Verona because of attitude as much as TIF policy. It should sicken every Madisonian to see that Madison-born company building a billion dollar campus fifteen miles from where it was founded and spent its first twenty years.

Imagine what those property tax revenues would do to combat poverty.

Comments

[Soon-To-Be-Ex-Alderman Steve]

Hey! Don't forget Middleton! Our TIF district has benefited mightily from Madison's reluctance to embrace change, a la Edgewater. Personally, I think the whole region (including Middleton) would benefit even more if Madison fully embraced its role as a catalyst for economic development. But if Madison's political class prefers to hunker down and continue it's snapping turtle strategy, well...that works for us, too.

[antpoppa]

Mr. Cooley must beware of the investment bubbles that have destroyed the economy. Our government must take charge of the economic engines that benefit our city, yet draw a fine line not to become a collective, which can deliver more wealth into fewer hands.
These plans have not been developed yet that will operate in this predatory economic system.
I wish him luck.
As citizens we can help our community by realizing that the neo-cons are busy selling us an ideology that presents the poor as social, economic and political dead weight. People that have lost everything are not losers, and should not become targets of the municipal governments.

[Ronald M. Trachtenberg]

Tim Cooley understands that to have a progressive city you need resources -- which means that you need to encourage outside investment and re-investment. If the City continues to say do it our way or no way, those investors will simply say thank you and move onto a better investment scenerio.
Capitalism and the market aer simply a forms of democracy. Investors can vote with their dollares.

[Ronald M. Trachtenberg]

Tim Cooley understands that to have a progressive city you need resources -- which means that you need to encourage outside investment and internal re-investment. If the City continues to say do it our way or no way, those investors will simply say thank you and move onto a better investment scenerio.
Capitalism and the market are simply a forms of democracy. Investors can vote with their dollars.

SORRY FOR THE TYPOS IN THE ORIGINAL POST

[Brian (neaguy)]

One way to combat poverty is to have higher paying jobs. Those come with unionization. It's certainly not going to come through education since the bulk of the new jobs that will be created in the next decade are low paying service jobs.

Unionization, or the the poverty level and lines at the food pantry will just keep increasing. That's essentially, your choice.

[Ordinary Jill]

I think the Epic example is a straw-man argument. Epic wanted a big tract of land for a sprawling new campus. There just isn't that much undeveloped land in the city of Madison. If I recall correctly, Madison offered incentives for Epic to build a high-rise headquarters, but the company wanted a horizontal rather than vertical configuration, for reasons of corporate theory regarding how employees in different departments relate to each other in a horizontal versus vertical arrangement.

The example of Marcus Theatres building the replacement for Eastgate in Sun Prairie is a much better example of how the City of Madison provides counter-productive barriers to business.

Regarding Brian's comment (unionization versus education), Madison's high schools should be doing more to steer students into the skilled trades. Most guidance counselors are only encouraged to steer students toward four-year colleges. It's a common joke that, in Madison, PhD stands for Pizza Hut Delivers.

[Marc Eisen]

Epic's first choice was to expand on its Odana school site and include the Westgate Mall property in the new headquarters. The suburban campus model came only after that plan collapsed in the face of the city's monumentally shortsighted concerns about protecting a neighborhood park. It's no exaggeration to say that Epic's subsequent decision to build a world-class headquarters in rural Verona will change the face of Dane County development in the 21st century. It’s painful to consider how Madison soooooo damaged itself.