It seems like there is never enough time to complete important things that need to be done. The Madison community contains many individuals who are bustling around with jobs and families. The students here not only attend classes; they also participate in numerous extracurricular activities and work and study for courses. There are also students who use their time to volunteer to help their community or school. The problem is that Madison City Council meetings are too long for most students to sit through and partake in. Televised, they seem drawn out and boring. Details are important and many revisions to ordinances are necessary, but if the City of Madison wants students and other citizens to be more involved, it needs to limit the quantity of time the meeting endures.
The Common Council meeting on Sept. 20 discussed many city policies that would directly affect students, such as Halloween and the recent smoking ban. For Halloween, the council proposed many ideas aimed at altering the celebration.
One in particular was gating in State Street and charging admission. Anyone who has experienced a Madison Halloween knows that an idea like that would never work. As for the smoking ban, there were 97 speakers, only two of them students. Unfortunately for those who attended, the meeting lasted until 5:30 in the morning. Nothing official about Halloween was decided and the smoking ban was voted to remain.
There is no reason for the meeting to have been so long. Granted, there were 10 individuals speaking about lobbying and all other business was discussed before the smoking ban, but the meeting began at 6:30 p.m. and the speakers on the smoking ban did not start until 10:30 p.m. Ald. Austin King, District 8, proposed to table several of the issues until after the smoking-ban debate and was voted down each time. All citizens present appreciated his efforts as they tiredly waited.
During the lobbying debate, Ald. Brenda Konkel was especially responsible for delays. She represents District 2 and was first elected in 2001 and then re-elected in 2003 and 2005 and has also served as Common Council president. Incessantly, she produced irrelevant amendments on the ordinance on lobbying, which already absorbed an obscene amount of time. One example she proposed was to amend the word "persons" to "individuals" — the two are, of course, synonyms — presenting no reasons why this would make any difference in the ordinance. This had to be voted on vocally, and then voted on by roll call because she thought the vote was close. It was not at all.
Ald. King recently sent an e-mail thanking a student who gave testimony at the last City Council meeting, saying, "It's always heartening to see students get involved in the public policy process. I hope to see students continuing to weigh in on issues that come up in the future." That is proof that the City Council does listen to students and appreciate their input. One cannot be critical if he or she does not actively participate. There should be more student testimonies, especially in a city that places importance on the university whose students readily criticize many Common Council decisions.
The mission of the Common Council, according to Cityofmadison.com, is: "Representing the citizens of the City of Madison, the Common Council will promote the safety, health and general well being of our community within the bounds of fiscal responsibility while preserving and advancing the quality of life resulting in exceptional civic pride."
They are a very important asset to the mayor and the rest of the city and vote according to their districts. City Council meetings are held twice monthly, televised on local cable and usually open to the public. Hopefully, the City Council will find ways to adapt the agenda to be more time efficient, and citizens of Madison — instead of just supporting and criticizing issues — will begin to do something about the policies that affect them.
Joelle Parks ([email protected]) is a sophomore intending to major in journalism.
