News

Mr. Cieslewicz goes to Washington

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz traveled to Washington, D.C., this weekend for the sixth meeting of his New Cities Project.

Forty-five mayors from around the country gathered to discuss topics including public schools, city development, transit-oriented development and affordable housing initiatives.

In particular, Cieslewicz said he gained some interesting ideas during the meeting regarding education initiatives.

"There's a very interesting program in Berkeley (California) to give kids activities, especially through the summer, focused on improving both their academic ability and their personal health," Cieslewicz said.

Mayors from San Francisco, Salt Lake City and Boston, among others, also attended the meeting.

Created by Cieslewicz two years ago, the New Cities Project aims to increase the level of communication between multiple U.S. cities, particularly regarding what policy initiatives are working or not working in their communities.

Cieslewicz is seeking a second term as mayor this April.

One of his opponents, Ray Allen, served on the Madison School Board for nine years and agrees Madison needs programs like the one in Berkeley, Calif., for its students. If elected, he said he would work to institute such programs.

"In order to really keep lower income children on the same level with higher income children, we have to make sure that the programs are more than just time consumption programs, that there is a heavy educational component to them," Allen said, adding that he has been talking about introducing these kinds of programs for years.

Allen also said, if elected, he would stay involved in the New Cities Project if the issues discussed at the meetings were relevant to the Madison community. However, he said the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a nonpartisan group that also meets every year, would likely provide a more diverse arena for exchanging ideas with other cities.

Cieslewicz said he is also interested in instituting a plan similar to Berkeley's because the program is cost-efficient — costing about $50,000 over the normal school-year budget period; Berkeley raised extra money for the program through the private sector.

The program, Cieslewicz said, was created after a study found children from poor families who would, over the summer, lose some of what they had learned during the previous school year. In contrast, children from more affluent families did not fall behind because they were enrolled in summer enrichment programs.

Allen agreed a similar program would be possible for Madison schools.

"I think it certainly could be paid for outside the school budget, either by the private sector or individual donations," Allen said.