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Downtown Initiative passes amid criticism from mayoral candidate
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The Madison City Council unanimously approved $100,000 for the city's new safety plan Tuesday night.
The Downtown Safety Initiative, designed by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and the Madison Police Department, aims to increase safety in the downtown and campus area.
"The part of the plan that to me is most exciting, albeit boring to others, is a strong emphasis of community-oriented policing, whereby members of the Central District Community policing team will have tools they currently do not have to be able to do their jobs more effectively," Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said at the meeting.
Along with increasing police visibility, the safety initiative calls for the use of wireless surveillance cameras in areas determined by police to have a high risk of assault.
Of the plan's $100,000 budget, about $70,000 will be used to pay for additional police officers downtown, particularly between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.
The remaining money will be used to pay for all other aspects of the program, including the surveillance cameras.
"I think it's time to just get [the plan] into action," Ald. Judy Compton, District 16, said.
Also speaking at Tuesday's city meeting was mayoral candidate Will Sandstrom. Sandstrom, known for his eccentric views, also ran for the office in 2003 when he garnered less than 2 percent of the vote.
He said the city needs to do something to make the downtown area safer for students.
"Get those monies from Washington," Sandstrom said. "Figure out how to do it and get something back here, and save our dollars … so we don't have this problem of alcoholism here, for crying out loud."
Sandstrom stressed his personal stake in downtown safety, saying his daughter was assaulted in downtown Madison when she attended the University of Wisconsin eight years ago.
In addition to Sandstrom, Cieslewicz will face Madison Times owner Ray Allen and Centro Hispano executive director Peter Muñoz in the Feb. 20 primary.
City officials hope the new initiative will prevent assaults such as the bar-time muggings last summer and the sexual assaults that took place toward the end of fall.
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I love how Sandstrom was the only one of the three opponents to get press here.
Im really curious to know who Ashok Kumar is and what he did to enrage you.