Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Madison's Meadowood: Time to Act

The announcement last week that a group of Meadowood residents are organizing to set community standards,  Southwest Side residents asked to back a 'residents bill of rights'  provides the opportunity for meaningful change in a great Madison neighborhood, presents a real challenge to city officials, and can serve as a model for future progress:

A group of Southwest Side residents, in conjunction with a public affairs organization, is promoting a new social contract for residents in the area intended to address a recent increase in crime and other quality-of-life concerns.

We know that no matter how high the standards of a community, if the residents do not fight to maintain those community values, they can succumb to crime and poverty. That a group of neighbors see this is encouraging.

But there are some problems. The leaders of this effort "are all white, and most of those who are helping organize the effort also are white," and "Another group, calling itself Families and Communities Unite, has begun a similar effort to tackle problems in the area and is led primarily by black residents."

Both efforts willl fail unless they are merged and combined. Both sides of a racial and economic divide must make a unified effort to do two things: make the area safe from thugs and simultaneously improve the real economic condition of all area residents.

Meadowood is not an affluent area - it never was and never will be. The modest owner-occupied homes are the residences of working people who generally do not have the time to engage in much of the philosophical discussions that pepper the Internet. They are undertaking a major effort that requires support.

City officials and other resources including religious organizations and many of the excellent non-profits that serve our community can play a valuable role as resources and facilitators in moving this discussion along and translating the aspirations into reality.

There will be some other challenges. The proposal that the neighborhood have a veto power over the location of Section 8 housing probably flies in the face of federal law. 

The underlying concern is a real one.

Every neighborhood and every community has a limited capacity to absorb low income housing. It is not the question of just the housing - it is a question of all the other support services that come with combating poverty, which paces demands on the public schools, transportation systems, job training resources, and health care providers.

For the past decade, Madison has focused on providing housing without making a commitment to the other services needed to make the housing commitment functional.

These issues must be addressed. The social compact cannot be limited to elements of behavior.

One more thought. It is troubling over the past few decades to see every document, legislative or otherwise, characterized as a 'bill of rights.'

This is not a bill of rights. As the introductory paragraph of the Wisconsin State Journal says, it is a social contract, or perhaps better yet, a social compact.

I have some issues and disagreements with part of this effort - some are minor, some are significant. It in incumbent upon all of us to contribute to making this effort work.

Jim Monroe, a minister at True Worshippers Community Church in Madison and one of the organizers of the families group, said people have a tendency to look at differences, rather than similarities.

“At some point you have to bypass it,” he said.

Monroe said he’ll attend the Wednesday meeting at Falk if he’s invited but said what’s really needed is a dialogue between his group and Severson’s. “They really need to have a few people from their group and a few people from our group meet,” he said.

That's the key.

Madison Making Progress - Public Safety Improvements

With crime declining in most parts of Madison and the deployment of the new police officers authorized in the 2007 city budget, "30 more police officers make for a focused community effort," it is a good time to take stock of public safety in Madison.

Placing eight of the officers in community policing assignments is a major plus. As Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal article noted:

Officer David Dexheimer invested months on a row of businesses on South Park Street. Over a period of weeks, he watched the parking lot and documented that it had become a magnet for drunks, drug transactions, sales of stolen property and fights. Things improved as he persuaded the owner to block a parking lot exit so cars carrying potential troublemakers would no longer drive through. The owner moved coolers in a convenience store so he could see trouble developing outside and intervene. He also hired security guards and signed paperwork so police could arrest trespassers

However, while crime was reduced by the actions taken, the perpetrators will continue to roam the streets unless they either find an alternative to crime, or end up incarcerated, or apprehended elsewhere.

That crime numbers are down overall is of little comfort to specific areas of the city that are plagued on an almost daily basis with problems:

Overall crime is down in most categories, but some areas of the city, notably pockets of the Southwest Side, remain unsettled.

It is going to take more than increased law enforcement to deal with these issues. The neighborhood needs a comprehensive plan designed to provide effective law enforcement combined with programs that focus on the alternative needs: transportation, quality child care, education and job training focused on high school drop outs, and health care.

Mayoral aide Joel Plant nailed it:

Still, hiring more police is exponentially more expensive than other remedies that may be more effective, said Joel Plant, a mayoral aide who specializes in crime and neighborhoods. Programs for at-risk youth, better landlord screening of tenants and action by a variety of city and county offices, parents, churches and neighborhood leaders are all needed, Plant said.

“Partly it’s that neighbors need to uphold community standards, and I don’t mean vigilantism,” he said. “We’ve put out the call. It’s all hands on deck. Everybody has to be involved.” (emphasis added)

Neighborhoods, regardless of wealth, ethnic or racial make up, or any other demographic characteristic, survive or fail based on the commitment to community standards. And it is not good enough to have high community standards. The neighborhood must fight for them.

Community policing, a strong neighborhood, and solid city programming utllizing non- law enforcement resources of the city and the county should revive Meadowood.

A Radical Remedy for Gang Violence: No Need in Madison. Been There, Done That.

The current issue of the New Yorker (June 22, 2009) features an article by John Seabrook: Don't Shoot. A radical remedy for gang violence.

The article describes the successful  efforts led by David Kennedy, a professor from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice whose work led to sharp declines in violence, including homicides, in Cincinnati; Providence, Rhode Island; and High Point, North Carolina, where it was most successfully used to deter public drug dealing.

From the abstract of the article (full article only available online to New Yorker subscribers):

...the police would identify gang members who were on parole or probation and compel them to attend a meeting. There, the cops would demand that the shootings end, and promise that, if they did not, the punishment would be swift and severe and target the entire gang. The city would also make life coaching and job counseling available to those who wanted out of the thug life. The police were initially skeptical about the program, but in 2007, they began implementing Ceasefire with a team that included social workers and academics. Describes how information about gang activity was gathered and organized by the team.

Kennedy's  program starts with the assumption that law enforcement alone cannot thwart gang activity. It is based in part on theories of community policing developed by many, including University of Wisconsin Professor Herman Goldstein and Madison Police Chief David C. Couper.

The program, Ceasefire, is predicated on the assumption that an attack on gang violence must be swift and effective with a clear message sent to members that there will be consequences, and that a social service component in the program will provide openings into family services, job training, and other basic links to transportion, child care and health services.

The work began when Kennedy first received a grant to develop the program in 1994.

The city of Madison  Neighborhood Resource Teams (NRT) were already in existence in 1992. Actually the first teams were organized in 1990. Think about it - almost twenty years ago.

For those interested in learning more about how the now moribund NRT might be used, here are some links to posts I wrote over the years:

• How to Improve the Prospects for Madison and Milwaukee September 21, 2007
• Solving Milwaukee's Gang Problem June 2, 2006
• Madison's State Street - Wasting Over $3 Million a Year December 15, 2008

When the NRT's were formed, they provided the coordination of law enforcement and social services. The Blue Blanket was formed at the same time as the concentrated law enforcement element needed to provide a safe and healthy community.

Both programs still exist today. Neither is as effective in tackling gang-related drug trafficking and the accompanying violence as they might be if the NRT existed as orignally designed.

Now the Madison NRT's exist in name only.

In 2000 their effectiveness was diluted as the teams were reworked citywide. This of course defeated the entire concept and purpose of the teams - targeting the most violent areas. Subsequent restructuring of the teams did nothing to return them to their original mission and effectiveness.

In the fall of 2000, Mayor Susan J. M. Bauman created an initiative to make the benefits of these cross-functional teams available to all areas of the City... The Mayor and the Guidance Team worked with NRT members and leaders to help the teams begin to operate in larger geographical areas containing approximately 20,000 to 25,000 people. (emphasis added)

The original teams worked in concentrated areas of 800-2000 residents. As the teams languished so did the potential effectiveness of the law enforcement component.

While the rest of the nation watches the wheel reinvented, nothing happens in Madison.

A note about crime data. When inital efforts are made to combat gang crime, there is a drop in reported offenses. Then there may be an increase followed by another drop. The increase is a reflection of effectiveness as trust is built. It does not mean there is actually more crime committed but that more crimes are reported. To examine crime statistics, two comparisons must be made. First, over a period of time - at least a decade; secondly, local rates must be compared to national trends.

Is It Gang Related?

Tuesday there were two reports from the Madison Police Department regarding assaults on young victims. Teen beaten up at Metro transfer point

A 15-year-old Madison boy was allegedly beaten up by five or six other teens Friday at the Metro transfer station on Tokay Boulevard on the west side.

And Man mugged near Edgewood College

A 19-year-old man was mugged early Wednesday morning while walking near the Edgewood College campus on the city's west side.

In both instances nothing was taken from the victims.

It could be gang initiations. The problem is that gang initations escalate as time goes by to higher and higher levels of violence.

Wisconsin Bloggers: Individually and Collectively Inept, Inattentive, Incompetent

With one of the greatest blogging stories sitting right under their collective noses, Wisconsin bloggers sat on their collective behinds and allowed the mainstream media, the CBS Evening news with Katie Couric, to scoop them on the biggest stories of the departing year, the Shawano -SIST story of international intrigue:

Alleged Murder-For-Hire Rattles Small Town:Placid Midwest Town Turned Upside Down By Alleged Hit List And Secretive Group

All a reaction to news of an alleged hit list and claims by a so-called hit man, now telling his story for the first time.

"And I said, 'you want me to kill 60 people? You want me to kill the whole town of Shawano?" said Canadian businessman Bob Cameron.

Keteyian asked: "They were hiring you as a hit man?"

"Yes, they were," Cameron said.

"You're talking about the mayor, the city administrator, the city treasurer, the city attorney, the police chief, judges, investigators, fire commissioners," Keteyian asked.

"Uh huh," Cameron assented

Cameron says in late October he received $175,000 in wire transfers from people known to be part of a secretive group long run out of a house near Shawano called SIST.

Its is a story that could never be fabricated. The cast of characters are from the next great movie, a combined effort of the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino.

The mayor (Kathy Bates) tops the list of sixty potential local victims. The Canadian hitman (Martin Short) was trying to do no more than collect some unpaid bills from the local cult when asked to wipe out half the town. The cult leader (Samuel L. Jackson in a reprise of his role of Jules in Pulp Fiction) is responsible for the investment of over $15 million in local real estate.

The real estate holdings fail and the county treasurer (Johnny Depp) is now foreclosing. The sheriff (Ben Stiller) and his deputy (Owen Wilson) manage to keep the town on edge as they tail two SIST members (Mike -Wayne-Meyers and Dana -Garth- Carvey), who prowl the city streets with a camcorder filming anyone they suspect is in cahoots with the town leaders.

SIST spokesman and attorney (Johnny Depp or should that be Robert Downey Jr.?) manages to bring some semblance of reality to the entire story claiming this was all a misunderstanding.

Sanity is maintained. The FBI agent (Brad Pitt) brings calm and peace to Shawano.(Pronounced Shawn-o as in Shauno of the Dead).

All this going on in plain view. Badger bloggers are writing about Republican committee assignments in the legislature, the performing arts, and Lake Michigan.

Phooey.

                

Zilber's Gift: It Is More Than The Money

When it was announced that Milwaukee business and civic leader, Joseph Zilber, was giving $50 million to fund neighborhood initiatives the response, as expected, expressed gratitude and hope.

Zilber gives $50 million Philanthropist hopes to revive low-income areas in city, encourage others to give

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called the action "an unbelievably generous gift from Joe Zilber to this city."

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article focused on something just as important as the size of the gift, it's scope:

The Zilber Neighborhood Initiative, as the effort will be called, will work with local organizations to support specific efforts to improve the quality of life in up to 10 neighborhoods...

...A key early step will be creating or selecting a "central intermediary," an organization to oversee the effort and make decisions on where money should go, while giving neighborhood organizations and representatives a strong voice in what goes on.

The gift to the people of Milwaukee measured in dollars is obvious.  Not so obvious is the thought and planning that went into the structure of the gift. As Zilber noted:

...There are a great many individuals and foundations prepared to invest resources to strengthen our community. For months I have worked behind the scenes with these entities. My mission is to mobilize them with good ideas, strong proposals and the promise that our shared commitment to our great city will yield positive results...

Joseph Zilber and his advisers gave careful thought to the structure of neighborhoods, how neighborhoods change, and the importance of building upon neighborhood assets:

We can (and must) act quickly and decisively to support programs that work, replace those that don't, bring proven and promising solutions to scale, sustain them long enough to gain traction and provide them with sufficient resources to get the job done.

The selection of Susan E. Lloyd of the Program on Human and Community Development to direct the effort is just one more indicator that this is a well planned gift. The money is important, but the context makes it even more valuable.

Turkeys, Cougars: Chicago Makes Badgers Look Like Mice

Having a fondness for cats, wild and not, I was deeply saddened to learn of the Chicago police shooting the cougar. As the Boston Herald reported, Cougar killed in Chicago may have journeyed from South Dakota,

Mayor Richard Daley supported the police use of lethal force in a news conference Tuesday morning.

"Now, I just want to tell you, if the cougar attacked a child, they’d sue the city because the police officer didn’t do their job," Daley said. "I didn’t see a neighbor run out and grab it and say, ‘Oh I love you’ and bring it in the house."

Phooey. Or as Daley's father might have said, "Balderdash."

But on the heels of the turkey attacks on Madison area postal workers it does not make us look good. Which led the Wisconsin State Journal's Doug Moe to enter the fray, Gloves come off in turkey fight in his own combat with Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass:

John Kass, a Chicago Tribune columnist of my acquaintance, has written a column questioning the courage of Madison postal workers.

On Wednesday, Kass mocked the mail carriers who have been attacked by wild turkeys while trying to deliver mail on Madison's West Side...

Kass responded Wisconsin comes up short in cougar-sexy turkey bout

What's tougher? A slinky cougar in Chicago? Or a gang of sexually addicted gobblers desirous of the bare, hairy legs of Madison mail carriers? Must I even answer that question?
...So I have no sympathy for such beasts. Meanwhile, the Madison turkeys have committed acts so heinous that their behavior has wreaked havoc with the mail and caused widespread turkey-sexual panic among shorts-wearing Wisconsin men.

Wisconsin, you don't need some confused turkey lovers. You need a few Chicago cops.

Doug Moe has made an honorable and noble attempt to defend our honor. But face it, Kass and the Chicagoans have us. It is a losing battle.

None of this would have happened if someone had simply blown away the turkeys.

What Did Gableman Know and When Did He Know It?

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), The Club for Growth, and The Coalition for America's Families are the three main organizations funding the effort to elect Michael Gableman to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

While average Wisconsinites write out checks for ten and twenty dollars to support the candidate of their choice, these three groups, be the end of March, may have spent over $5 million.

Questions for Michael Gableman, or anyone else who knows the answers and is willing to stand up and tell the truth:

• Who are the people from these organizations that met with you or met with your intermediaries?
  
• When you were stunned to learn how much money they would raise for you, and you asked,"Where will the money come from?" what did they tell you?
• Do the names of companies like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and the international pharmaceutical companies come up?
• Did anyone suggest that the money could be routed through the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Institute for Legal Reform so it would be hard to discover the source?
• If you are the winner in the Supreme Court race can you promise that you will not hear any case involving a a party that funneled money through any of the named organizations in this post?
  • Before hearing every case, will you promise to examine the financial records of these shadowy organizations to make sure they have not bought you?

WISC-TV Reality Check Less Than Flattering to Gableman Effort

The Club for Growth shrunk last night. Here is what WISC-TV Channel 3 found when they ran a Reality Check: Third Party Ad In Supreme Court Race:

• "Criminals threaten our communities. Oddly enough, so do some judges who return them to the street," the ad says. "But not Judge Michael Gableman. He's a former prosecutor who has gone toe to toe with the arsonists, sexual predators, domestic abusers and white-collar criminals who belong in jail."
  • But: A closer look at Gableman's record shows limited experience in these types of cases. Gableman was the district attorney in Ashland County from 1999 to 2002. He only prosecuted one arson case, which was ordered an acquittal. In 19 felony child abuse cases, three were dismissed, 13 pleaded out to misdemeanor crimes, two were found not guilty at trial and only one was sentenced to prison time. In felony sexual assault of children cases, Gableman got 11 convictions out of 31 cases, and 15 cases were pleaded to misdemeanors.

• "That's why 70 percent of Wisconsin's sheriffs and countless police chiefs consider Gableman their ally in the war on crime," the ad said
  • WISC-TV found this claim to be true. Of the state's 72 county sheriffs, 51 have endorsed Gableman. As for "countless" police chiefs, 21 have endorsed Gableman. WISC-TV found that the tone of the ad and the images of crime and criminal cases used in it are misleading. The focus on criminal cases in the ad mischaracterizes the job of a Supreme Court justice. The Supreme Court decides constitutional questions, and it doesn't hand out sentences like a Circuit Court. In fact, usually less than a third of the cases accepted for review are even criminal, WISC-TV reported.

Of course, emphasis is added.

Why Not Free Rent for All Public Employees?

Today the Wisconsin State Journal published an editorial, Let cops live free on Allied suggesting that the public benefits of encouraging police officers to live 'rent free' in high crime areas like Madison's Allied Drive were worth the cost:

Just one or two cops living in this high-crime area on the city's Southwest Side could act as a deterrent and add to the mix of residents with different backgrounds and incomes.

The premise is sound, and the logic goes far beyond Allied Drive, police officers, and crime. The principle is known as residency. There was a time when all of the union contracts covering city of Madison employees and most other municipal workers in Wisconsin required that local employees live in the community they served.

It was one of the few areas where I parted ways with my friends in the public employee unions. It should be understood that while everyone has a right to live where they please, there is no right to a public job. As a condition of employment, it was required that you live in the city. The benefits were obvious:

• The city pays your check; you should live with the people who hired you and spend that money you earned locally.
• The heart of the city is the middle class and there is no one more 'middle class' than public employees.
• In an emergency, the employee is close to work, whether it be a fire, a flood or a water main break.
• The presence of the middle class, particularly pubic safety employees such as firefighters and police officers, stabilized communities. As the article noted: "Many neighborhood residents, tired of drug-dealing and violent crime on Allied Drive, would undoubtedly welcome such neighbors."

The end of Madison residency requirements came after the bus drivers strike in 1980. At that time all city employees had a residency requirement and the bus drivers were not city employees - they were technically employees of a management company. As part of the new contract settlement, the Skornicka administration made them city employees.

The police union contract had a "me too" provision. If any other city employees were allowed to live outside the city, so could the police. With the bus drivers under a city contract, the police officers could now move out of the city.  And they did.

Over the years, residency disappeared from one contract after another.  My guess is that today less than half of all city employees live in the city of Madison.

Keeping residency was not made any easier as state legislators offered bills to outlaw municipal residency requirements. That was too bad. Last I looked there were some financial incentives for employees to remain in the city. In any case, the matter is subject to bargaining.