Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Urban Ash Project

Recently we gained a new piece of furniture in my office: a handcrafted urban wood table constructed from a City of Madison ash tree.  This beautiful piece is unique because it is made from an urban ash tree that once lined one of our busy city streets. The table is an example of one of the many ways to put the lumber from the trees cut down as a result of the Emerald Ash Borer to good use. While we often see ash furniture stained to look more like oak, the natural wood has a distinct color and markings that are very striking. Thank you to Fred Clark and Chris Jungbluth with Baraboo Woodworks for their remarkable artisanship!  Baraboo Woodworks was the recipient of a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Urban Forestry grant.  In partnership with the city, staff there are recovering and milling logs for other projects.

Check out some photos of their work below!

From left: Marla Eddy – Madison City Forester, Chris Jungbluth and Fred Clark – Baraboo Woodworks, Mayor Soglin, and George Dreckmann – Streets Division Special Projects Coordinator

Any Given Child

Recently I was pleased to head over to Lincoln Elementary School with Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham, Overture President/CEO Ted DeDee, and Kennedy Center Vice President for Education Darrell Ayres, to discuss the findings on the Any Given Child program and kick off phase two of the project. Any Given Child is an initiative that ensures that public school children have constant access to the arts throughout their entire academic career.  The initiative includes five main goals: cultivate leaders and sustain systems for access and equity, create art rich schools, cultivate a community network, develop an accountability system to track progress, and advocate for the arts.

Research findings have consistently shown that students and educators alike have found arts to be a positive edition to their lives and assist them in developing essential skills and characteristics, including creativity, problem solving, confidence, and self-expression.

The release of the research findings marks the beginning of phase two of the project. Phase two will include implementing practices to fulfill each of the five goals. So far we have identified an art liaison in each school building and began setting up professional learning classes to teach artists to modify their art form in order to excel in an educational setting; but there is still more to be done! Check out the link below to learn more about the project!

http://www.anygivenchildmadison.org/

 

Madison Municipal Building Goes Pink

Those of you that have passed by the Madison Municipal Building at night may have noticed its pink glow. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we switched out the white lights for some pink ones. I would like to thank Engineering staff for accommodating this request so quickly.

While approximately 40,000 women and 400 men die of breast cancer each year, even more survive.  This month we hope to raise awareness, honor the survivors, and continue to fight for a cure.

IN-forming Madison: Building Civic Consciousness in our Community

On Saturday I was delighted to attend Centro Hispano of Dane County's event, "IN-forming Madison: Building Civic Consciousness in our Community".  I joined Executive Director Karen Menéndez Coller, Alder Bidar-Sielaff, Alder Cnare, City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl, and staff from the Department of Civil Rights for presentations on topics including demographic changes, government 101, voting and elections, and Equal Opportunities Laws. The event provided a great forum to get community members talking about some complicated topics and learn how they can get involved. Check out some photos of the event below!

 

Walnut Grove Dog Park Grand Opening

Monday, October 13th was an exciting day for Madison's four-legged friends.  Madison's newest dog park, Walnut Grove, located at 202 N. Westfield Road, opened its gates.  This time we decided to forgo the typical ribbon cutting and cater to our audience, the dogs, with an opening tennis ball toss. Alder Skidmore, Park's Superintendent Eric Knepp, neighborhood resident Kathy McComb, who was the driving force behind the dog park, and I joined several neighborhood dogs and their owners to break in the new park and get some exercise. Dog and human alike, a great time was had by all!

Walnut Grove Dog Park and Odana School Dog Park are the newest off-leash dog parks to join Madison's six others: McCormick Greenspace, Demetral Park, Brittingham Park, Quann Park, Sycamore Park and Warner Park.

Make sure to get a dog license from the City Treasurer's Office at http://www.cityofmadison.com/treasurer/petLicensing.cfm and purchase a daily or annual permit at http://www.cityofmadison.com/parks/play/dogsInParks.cfm. Then grab your dog and come have some fun at Walnut Grove!

Food Access and the Public Market

Tuesday’s Council meeting brought out a number of issues related to food, a public market, and equity.
 
I think it is important to realize that creating food equity in Madison will not be solved by splitting the public market district. While Madison might support multiple markets in future years it is critical, for the sake of the market district and the success of the vendors,  that we develop a robust facility. In some instances equity is achieved by distributing a specific resource equally.  In other instances equity is achieved by focusing on different priorities.
 
This point is highlighted by the food deserts in our community which need attention, whether or not we build a public market. There are neighborhoods in Madison that need to attract more private commercial investment. When originally constructed areas like Allied Drive and Owl Creek were not designed to attract neighborhood retail, particularly food. When originally constructed, areas like Darbo-Worthington and Meadowood had viable food outlets which no longer exist. The changing demographics of the neighborhoods and the changing structure of grocery stores lead to the demise of what, at the time of construction, were considered large supermarkets with stores under 60,000 square feet. It should be noted that the closing of supermarkets was not limited to lower income areas, as experienced in the Westmoreland area with the shuttering of the market that once stood on Mineral Point near Speedway.
 
It is important as we continue the discussion to remember the nature of our objective. It is not to create public markets in multiple locations.  It is to create access to healthy, quality, reasonably priced food.  It is to ensure that public money, used to encourage private investment, job creation, and a robust economy is equitably spent.
 
That gets us to the critical discussion about the cost of construction and operation of a public market. An examination of public markets around the country demonstrates that most receive different forms of subsidization. The state of Massachusetts gave Boston a $4 million grant for its new market.  The states of New York and Connecticut are providing multiple regional grants to develop markets in their respective states. The new public market in Grand Rapids received significant foundation funding.  The point is that private and non-profit support is necessary for this project.
 
Public markets are like many other public facilities such as convention centers, performing arts centers, and recreational facilities in public parks. The private sector does not build them because they are not profitable as private business enterprises.
 
But that does not mean that they are not of economic value to a community. The positive externalities (which cannot be monetized by a for-profit business) include business creation, job creation, access to quality food, value added to place (property tax increases to surrounding property through new construction and appreciation), cultural benefits, and a strengthening of the local and regional food system.  As an example, our Economic Development staff benchmarked a recent analysis completed by another city to assess the potential economic impact of re-localizing food buying in Madison.  This analysis showed that if we shifted 20% of the City’s food buying to local sources, we could create 1,800 new jobs in the food economy.  By creating a center-point for food retail, storage, processing, and distribution, the public market can move us in this direction. 
 
The operation of the market is critical to matching the mission of the project with reality.  In order to meet our goals as a city, an operator must have a deep, meaningful commitment to equitable access for both vendors and customers alike.  The action last night by the City Council will ensure that the selection of a program and an operator will be done through an equity lens. 
 
From an equity and economic development prospective, one of the things that great Public Markets do well is create food-based entrepreneurship opportunities for populations that have historically been denied chances to start businesses through traditional means.  Many people of color, women, and immigrants who might have the skills and entrepreneurial spirit to start great food businesses face financial and structural barriers due to current discrimination and legacies of discrimination.  Public Markets can lower these barriers.  
 
In 2003, the Ford Foundation commissioned a report titled, “Public Markets as a Vehicle for Social Integration and Upward Mobility.”  Research conducted for this report found that 85% of surveyed small businesses using public markets as platforms for starting a business self-finance their start-up costs.  This suggests that public markets can support those who are unable to use traditional bank-based financing methods.   The report also surveyed public market vendors at several markets across the country and asked why they started a business at a public market.  The most common responses included “pay rent/bills,” “pay for own education,” “send kids to college,” and “expand business.”
 
The definition of the word “Equity” (created by Policylink and used in the City’s Equity Tool) is as follows… “Just and fair inclusion into a society in which all, including all racial and ethnic groups, can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. Equity gives all people a just and fair shot in life despite historic patterns of racial and economic exclusion”
 
Food entrepreneurship has historically been a pathway to economic opportunity for families most often left behind by “historic patterns of economic exclusion”.  When I read this definition of equity and think about how we can make meaningful progress toward giving more Madison residents opportunities to “participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.” I think the Public Market could be one of our most powerful tools. 
 
Our choice is not between whether to provide access to healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate food for all or to support a public market district.  Rather, our duty is to ensure that the public market district is a welcoming, affordable, and accessible place for all Madisonians while we simultaneously address food access issues in all neighborhoods.  A public market district cannot do both, but the City of Madison, along with our partners, can.

Voter ID Law

In the past few weeks, the new voter ID law has made several appearances in the news. The City of Madison has been working diligently to minimize this road block to our right to vote. We are taking every effort to assist Madison residents in obtaining valid IDs and working to ensure that lines are moving swiftly on Election Day. I continue to believe that the greatest act of defiance to this deliberate law is to bring out a record number of voters on November 4^th.

So many great Madisonians have offered to assist others in getting the proper identification to present at the polls. Here are some other ways to help with this effort:

1.) Sign up to be a poll worker at http://www.cityofmadison.com/election/pollWorkers/apply.cfm.

2.) Register early and encourage others to do the same. You can register at any Madison Public Library until October 15th at 5 pm. Early registration helps reduce lines at the polls.

3.) Talk to your circle of family and friends to make sure they have an ID that will be accepted. Visit the city clerk’s website at http://www.cityofmadison.com/clerk/PhotoIDDetails.cfm for the full list of acceptable forms of identification. Pay close attention to expiration dates. Certain forms of IDs that have expired after November 6, 2012 will be accepted. All other expired IDs will not.

4.) Get the word out via social media. Feel free to share the infograph at http://www.cityofmadison.com/election/voter/photoID.cfm with your family and friends

5.) Distribute materials including brochures on Voter ID and flyers with Madison Metro routes, to your community. These materials can be picked up in the City Clerk’s office.

6.) Offer rides to those who do not have transportation to the DMV, open from 8:30 am to 4:45 pm Monday through Friday, to obtain their free identification card or help them plan their trip via Madison Metro.

Thank you to those of you who have already contacted the city to offer your support and assistance!

Edited 10/2/14 2:50 PM