OPINION & EDITORIAL
SAFE bet: Smathers neglects need
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by Letters to the Editor
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Jason Smathers’ recent criticism of SAFEride funding (“Dems political muscle atrophies,” March 4) was misinformed, failing to recognize the role of the Dane County Board of Supervisors and its responsibilities. It is quite obvious that Mr. Smathers has successfully disenfranchised himself from the majority of the student body during his days here on campus.
Campus safety is my No. 1 priority. The alleyways and unlit crevices along State Street are a dangerous place. Reported muggings and violent attacks cast a dark shadow over the commercial epicenter of our campus. Spring and Regent streets are not significantly better. And what about the crimes that are not reported?
Mr. Smathers and plenty of District 5 residents agree: We must curb the crime on campus. The solutions exist to curb crime on campus, but enacting them is the difficult part. The jurisdiction of the County Board extends past the boards of the university, leaves Madison and encompasses all of Dane County. In short, unless framed properly, it is difficult to pass an ordinance directly benefiting the students of this campus.
However, District 5 represents only 5 percent of the county, nearly 5 percent of 463,000 residents of Dane County. If we are to improve the crime rates on this campus, there is no easy solution.
One measure I have discussed is to increase the funding of SAFEride. SAFEride is one of the very few services that can remove a student from a harmful situation — a drunken walk home alone — and encourages the use of local taxi services. Coupled with SAFEwalk and SAFEride buses, SAFEride cabs are a necessary and vital service on campus. Unfortunately, the Associated Students of Madison and University of Wisconsin Transportation bear these costs.
When UW and ASM look to cut money, SAFEride is targeted. Yet, organizations like ASM do not have unlimited budgets. While I am not saying the county does, Dane County does have resources for such programs.
SAFEride not only provides a service to students, but it increases both the number of taxi drivers and uses local services. It provides minimum-skilled jobs. This money is funneled back into the community, making this service more appealing than others out there.
Moreover, Mr. Smathers either forgets or does not recognize that SAFEride services students who live farther off campus — out of range of the late night bus lines or SAFEwalk. Using rhetorical language like “luxury” and “entitlement” unfairly characterizes the program as a whole. For some on this campus, personal safety will be risked over a $10 “luxury” ride.
We need to find a solution to curb violence on campus. I am open to hearing any of Mr. Smathers’ suggestions — however, when it comes to SAFEride, we can no longer continue to pass the financial burden off to ASM.
Conor O’Hagan
Candidate for the 5th District — County Board Supervisor
conor@ohagan08.com
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 2:05am):
CONOR.
THE COUNTY CANNOT FUND SAFERIDE.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, NOT WITHIN YOUR POWERS!
YOU ARE A FOOL!
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 2:46am):
I'm pretty sure disenfranchised is not meant to be used as a reflexive verb. But you're a freshman, three more years with the thesaurus will do you good.
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 2:48am):
Epicenter is meant, normally, to signify a difficult or unpleasant situation. I suppose you could use it to describe the commercial center of campus, if you're opposed to capitalism. Again, the thesaurus...
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 2:51am):
I don't think SAFEride "encourages" the use of a local taxi service so much as requires it.
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 2:53am):
"The jurisdiction of the County Board extends past the boards of the university, leaves Madison and encompasses all of Dane County."
Those were the 21 longest words I've ever read to make the point that Dane County is more than UW-Madison. I can only assume that starting the next sentence with "in short" was intended to be ironic.
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 7:05am):
I've tried my best over the years to plug unlit crevices along State Street, but all I have to show for it is this rash :-(
- Germain Q. Stemme
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 8:34am):
Smathers, the kid is a freshman. You could be ripping on Manning, but he is equally dimwitted... but 3 years older.
Neither have been impressive, but Conor is at least attempting to find himself on campus. As a user of SAFEride, I don't mind this being his number one issue.
I guess it all boils down to a douche and a turd sandwich.
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 10:28am):
Ok, we all agree, SAFEride is good. Now why don't you actually answer Smather's critique and attempt to justify why the county should fund SAFEride other than the fact that they have money. So does ASM. It seems to make sense that a service exclusively for students should be paid for by students.
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 10:41am):
Yeah... So ASM and Transportation services fund the entire SAFE program. ASM funds 100% of SAFEride cab services (about $150K( and 50% of SAFEride buses (another $800K). TS funds the other half of the buses and all of safe walk. The county has nothing to do with it. As mighty as the county board of supervisors is, I cannot imagine them taking over student funded programs.
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 12:15pm):
At least Manning has his head on straight... i give the guy props for actually recognizing real county-based issues.
Conor's a complete joke who can't see how ridiculous he is as a candidate.
I'll take a self-deprecating candidate over a takes-himself-too-seriously candidate any day.
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 1:07pm):
At least O'Hagan is attempting to bring issues that affect his district's constituents to the forefront. Why the monkey pile on him? Is this Manning's campaign grunts trying to score points on the Herald comment boards?
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 1:12pm):
Do either one of them really know anything about county-based issues? "Arts advocacy program for rehabilitative purposes" is Manning's number one priority? Is this a joke? The county jail is significantly different from the Wisconsin prison system. At least one quarter of the inmates use the Dane County jail as a temporary residence. 5% of the cell block is allocated for arrested criminals who cannot make bail (staying under 24 hours). Another 20% is occupied by those inmates who are awaiting trial or recent transfers on week-long stays.
35% consist of inmates who stay for an average of 14 or less days, usually for misdemeanors offense.
Yet I have heard of no study that advocates for arts rehabilitation programs for such short sentencing. Nor did I read that in Falk's recommendation for the jail system. Ashok knew what he was talking about - you do not. Do you want to bring paint brushes into the facility or have a venue for you band to play? Do you have an example of this program being implemented somewhere else and at the county level? What about a study? Please provide details!
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 2:00pm):
That's funny, I remember Conor's number one priority to be tourism for the Vilas area. What's this? A flip-flopper?
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 3:56pm):
How would a county level program limit the number of rides available per month if you don't have student id numbers for non students?
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 5:52pm):
If SAFEride becomes county funded, wouldn't you have to make it available to everyone in the county? Crime doesn't just occur on campus, it only seems fair to me that if it's publicly funded that its available for public use.
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 9:20pm):
"It provides minimum-skilled jobs."
I'm sure local taxi drivers will be *thrilled* to know that Mr. OâHagan finds them to be minimally skilled. I dare him to drive a taxi safely and expeditiously during rush hour and then say the task requires minimal skills.
Anonymous (March 5, 2008 @ 11:50pm):
and since when are "minimum skilled jobs" something you want to encourage? Especially in a town with 40K+ college students to hire, shouldn't the goal be to encourage the high paying jobs that often require high skill levels?
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