Richard Brown Sr.

Richard Brown Sr. has worked in the military, a federal prison, a mental health facility, as a physical education teacher, and as a county supervisor, which he said gives him the experience and familiarity with the Madison community to lead the city.

Brown said his top concern is lowering taxes to keep housing rates down, adding that it would help decrease homelessness.

“One of the top issues is disparity,” Brown said. “Unfair disparity in the education and housing and jobs across this county where there is this big divide between the haves and the have-nots.”

Brown said the city needs to encourage big churches to keep an eye on the homeless and ensure they are making successful choices, and hopefully place them into homes. His goal is to place 200 homeless families into homes within the first 100 days in office.

Being a single parent who works full time and is involved with schools, ensuring that there are jobs for bright, recent graduates is a priority, he added.

Paul Soglin

Mayor Paul Soglin says he has been working on the issue of poverty since he was elected for another term in 2011.

“At the time, my critics said I was unnecessarily concerned about these issues [of poverty],” Soglin said. “Well, now it seems to be the only topic anyone can talk about.”

Soglin, the incumbent candidate, said he has been a large part of the change in the expansion of the bus system and the significant increase in affordable housing, employment and wages over the years due to his foresight and understanding on how to tackle these issues.

During the 2011 mayoral election, the city was working to fix its finances in order to deal with the more important challenges of poverty and equity, Soglin said. Working on social justice issues during the city’s financial struggles has made Madison’s social and economic situations better.

“It’s our intent to examine everything we do through an equity lens,” Soglin said.

When approving low-income housing, Soglin said it is important to note developing issues such as the surrounding transportation system and where the housing is located in order to ensure it is in an area where low-income families can thrive. The same is true when new apartments are built downtown, where affordable units are set aside for those with a lower income. 

Changing Madison’s priorities is the most important issue the city is facing, Soglin said. Closing gaps such as racial disparity, educational opportunities, employment and incarceration has been the biggest challenge the last four years.

Soglin plans to work on retrieving high-speed Internet access for everyone in Madison, in order to bring an end to the Digital Divide those in poverty are experiencing.

Scott Resnick

Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, has served on City Council for two terms, representing much of the campus area which he said has allowed him to look at the big picture.

“As I’ve serviced the students, [I’ve focused] on big priorities,” Resnick said. “Making sure this campus is a safe place, making sure that we have fair and equitable housing laws and making sure that we have a strong campus environment which communicates with the City of Madison.”

Resnick is also the vice president of a local startup, Hardin Design & Development, which he said makes him qualified to speak about economic growth in the city.

The biggest issue facing Madison is that there are “two Madisons,” Resnick said, one with a high socioeconomic status and another that lacks the same opportunities — and the gap between the two is growing, he added. 

“As we see, the poverty is now jumping to nearly 20 percent in the City of Madison, that now one in five children are actually in poverty,” he said. “We need to tackle these problems head-on.”

The way to solve these problems is to invest in the future by focusing on the children of today, Resnick said, closing the opportunity gaps in the Madison school system and throughout the city.

Christopher Daly

A UW graduate with a degree in communication arts, Christopher Daly became interested in politics through reading, which eventually pushed him to run for mayor.

“One of the major reasons that I ran for mayor is because … I would see these homeless men [at the corner of State Street] every single day, and for a long time I was thinking really hard — why is this happening, what aren’t we doing, what should we be doing?” Daly said.

With so many empty city buildings, the city would save money by placing the homeless in these spaces, as well as using them for shelters and service buildings, Daly said. It is one of the main initiatives of his campaign.

City-wide free Internet access with a collective online data storage unit is another important topic to address, Daly said. It is significant for neighborhoods who are underserved by the big telecom companies and do not receive Internet access.

Daly said he believes Madison needs to look ahead and decide what kind of city it wants to be in 10 years, hopefully ensuring those at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale do not fall further behind while those at the top keep climbing.

“In 10 years, Madison should be a place that offers opportunity for everyone who lives here,” Daly said. “We shouldn’t be leaving people behind, and we should be focusing on a greater level of diversity in our economic sphere and social sphere.”

Bridget Maniaci

Bridget Maniaci, a UW graduate with degrees in political science and economics, said she has thought a lot about how she can make life easier for UW students.

Among her ideas are an improved transit system, increasing safety of students and relieving some of the pressure of housing demands.

“There are a lot of issues for students that are difficult issues because the campus community turns over,” she said. “So I think it is so important for City Hall to be engaged with the campus community on an annual basis.”

Madison is hitting its growth wall and that is the biggest issue right now, simply because the city has never had to deal with this situation, Maniaci said. The way to fix this problem is to figure out how to balance support for people on either end of the spectrum, she said.

Evaluating the transit system, opening a homeless day shelter and, most importantly, reconfiguring relationships between the public and people at City Hall are all ways to address the issue in Madison, Maniaci said.

“Madison is a very complicated city,” she said. “You need to have a mayor who understands both the past and the future of the city. I really do think I am the only candidate who has the right balance of academic background, a professional experience background and also just that energy and sense of fresh ideas.”