Paul Soglin: Waxing America

My Appearance on National Public Radio's Here and Now

Last week while attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors Meeting I was asked to be a guest on National Public Radio's Here and Now. I was joined by Carmel, Indiana Mayor Jim Brainard and we talked about our ideas for a partnership between the federal government and municipalities. We discussed the importance of public investment in infrastructure, the digital divide, mass transit, education and other issues. Although he is a Republican Mayor and I am not, we agreed on quite a few issues. You can read the transcript or listen on line here:

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/01/23/mayors-brainard-soglin

A Continuing Legacy: Jobs, Justice, Freedom-Keynote Speaker:Ambassador Andrew Young

29^th Annual City of Madison and Dane County
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance

Monday, January 20    

Freedom Songs 5:00 p.m. Program 6:00 p.m.

It is exciting that the keynote speaker for the 29^th Annual City of Madison and Dane County Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance is Ambassador, Pastor, Civil Rights Activist, Former Mayor, and Former Congressman Andrew Young.  I hope you join me at the Capitol Theater in the Overture Center for what is certainly going to be an inspiring, educational, and motivational talk.

 The appearance of Ambassador Young is especially significant in Madison as we commemorated the 50^th Anniversary of the passing of the Equal Opportunities Ordinance in December 2013 marking one of the key accomplishments locally of the Civil Rights movement in providing protections in employment and housing.  The City signed into law these protections a year before the Federal government passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Ambassador Young is an American politician, diplomat, activist, and pastor from Georgia.  His friendship and work with the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. were instrumental in shaping the Civil Rights movement.  He helped to draft both the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.  He served as the Mayor of Atlanta, a Congressman, and the U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

 Ambassador Young has won the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Springarn Medal.  He has written numerous books detailing the civil rights movement and his journey through life.

 The opportunity to hear Ambassador Young may well be a once in a lifetime opportunity.  While we all acknowledge we have made great strides in the area of civil rights, we also know we need have much work yet to do.  Reverend King and Reverend Young lit the torch of equality and justice many years ago.  It is our responsibility to keep that torch burning.

The theme for this year’s celebration “A Continuing Legacy: Jobs, Justice, Freedom” is relevant given the Race to Equity report released this last year.

 There are of course a number of opportunities to honor the legacy of Dr. King.  On Friday, January 17, there is a Free Community Dinner at Gordon Commons.  On Saturday, January 18, Women in Focus are holding the I Have a Dream Scholarship Ball at the Marriott Madison West.  On Sunday, January 19, you can attend the Urban League Youth Recognition Breakfast at Edgewood High School at 7:45 a.m. and the MLK Ecumenical Church Service at 4:00 p.m. at Mt. Zion Baptist Church.  In addition to the evening celebration on Monday the 20, it is Youth Day of Service at Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. 

Details on all of the events can be found at facebook.com/KingCoalition.

 

 

 

 

Livability.com Interview

Liveability.com  is a well known website that features America's Best Places.  Madison is often ranked, and in fact is #5 on their Best Places to Live list.  I am sharing the recent Liveability.com blog posted after a discussion I had with Matt Carmichael from the organization.

Jan201408

Posted by:

Matt Carmichael

Building a Livable City: A Q&A with Madison, WI Mayor Paul Soglin

Madison, WI Mayor Paul Soglin has a unique perspective on an unusual city. In 2011 he was elected for his third stint as mayor, having served in the 1970s and then again from 1989 to 1997. “It’s called recidivism,” he told me. Most mayors come in, enact some changes and then aren’t in office to see if they truly worked and made their cities better places. Soglin can see first hand how decisions he made decades ago are paying off. For the most part, he sounds rightly pleased. Madison, No. 5 on our Top 100 Best Places to Live, has a lot to boast about. But Soglin is far from resting on his town’s laurels. He convened a task force to make specific recommendations about how the city can do better in next year’s rankings. There are four slots ahead of him, and he wants to move up. The city itself keeps things challenging because the population is always shifting. It’s rare to have a city with a large minority population that’s nearly equal parts African-American, Asian and Hispanic – and each of these segments are growing. Soglin’s drive to improve isn’t surprising for a mayor whose only regret from his time(s) in office is this: “In my previous tenures I had a 20-year view, which is far longer than most elected politicians. I should have had a 40-year view.”

As we were preparing the write-up for Madison’s Best Places to Live feature, we spoke at length with Mayor Soglin. Here are some highlights. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Livability: How do you balance growth with the needs of existing residents and Madison’s agrarian roots?

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Soglin: We look to Seattle. Seattle has done a good job of addressing the challenge. Are we making decisions based on distributing resources in an equitable fashion?

As an example, there are a series of subdivisions in the southeast corner of the city referred to as Owl Creek. If we’d used an equity lens and if we’d properly done the analysis when these subdivisions were first proposed, the question should have been asked ‘What kind of public transit do we have for this large area?’ and the answer would have been ‘None.’ In turn, the subdivision should never have been approved, or there should have been a public transit plan for the area. We should not have had a situation where we went a decade with no public transit to the neighborhood. It meant that if high school students missed the bus immediately after the school let out, they had over a 2.5-mile hike to get home after extracurricular activities. It means it’s impossible to hold a job and live in that area unless you have an automobile.

Livability: What have you seen change in Madison over the course of your various tenures?

Soglin: In the 1970s the downtown area of Madison was virtually all baby boomer students or retirees, and they were all low-income. If the objective is to get middle-class families downtown, how do you do it? You’re not going to get them to move downtown next to a bunch of students and retirees. Step one: Let’s get economic diversity among the 20-year-olds and the 70-year-olds. Then let’s get diversity in terms of age. Then we can start talking about getting families. That’s the path we’re going down and it’s working. The Census data for 2020 in downtown Madison will be far different than 2010 – partially due to [residential housing] construction begun in 2012. The big test for us will be over the next decade. Will these 25-to-35-year-olds stay in the city and raise families here? At the same time, can we provide an economy that has an equity component to it. In the 1990s the Madison economy was able to match skills and jobs. At that time, the Wal-Mart model was not so prevalent. In the service industries a livable wage at a 40-hour-a-week job was attainable. Mom and dad could come to Madison, find employment and provide a sustainable household. Now the families that are arriving – particularly since the recession began – are finding minimum wage jobs for 20 hours a week with no benefits.

Livability: One of the issues that has brought you back to office again and again is poverty, especially among children. What’s going on?

Soglin: Madison’s demographics have changed significantly even since the 2010 Census. Close to 54 percent of our school children are minorities. How does a comfortable city like Madison see such significant growth in poverty rates in the public schools? The answer is in-migration. And the question is ‘What’s going on in Chicago?’. I don’t like anecdotes, but I think this one makes the point. Last year I was in a third grade class in Madison doing a reading program and I was asked if I wanted to pose with students for a picture with a giant cut-out of one of the Green Bay Packers. Someone asked if I was a Packers fan and I said ‘No, I was born in Chicago, I’m a Bears fan’ and half of the students started jumping up and down and clapping and saying ‘me too, me too.’ Every time a public housing project comes down in Chicago, a significant number of the residents leave the metropolitan area.

Livability: How do you build an economy that works for everyone?

Soglin: You don’t go out there chasing and recruiting companies to leave another city and come to yours. What you do is exactly the notion of what [Livability.com is] trying to evaluate. You build a great place and they will come.