Candidate live blog – sort of.
Obviously, this is not live. But I assure you, it was at the time.
Check Kristen’s blog for more info.
7:02 The moderator wants to let you know you can use the “bubbler” and bathrooms. How sweet.
7:05 – Opening Statements
Maniaci – Econ and poli sci major – very passionate about municipal level gov., worked in mayor’s office. Says she’s running for this because she can reach across the diverse neighborhoods in the district in terms of communication and because of her passion for municipal government. Brings a lot for the Legislative process.
7:06 – Just realized – Maniaci is the only one who is not a law grad. Well, other than Denure. But he’s not here.
7:07 – Brenda Konkel – Repping the 2 since 2001, fifth term. Wants to see through a lot of the projects in BUILD and the downtown transportation plan. Need to get people to and from the neighborhood and still respect the people who live here, which is why the bus situation is so important. Has been very excited about being a strong voice for the neighborhood – Open and transparent local government. Obviously, her blog has done most of her work
7:09: and she puts the plug out there – support of over 20 elected officials and 75 residents.
7:10 – Adam Walsh – “Third Candidate” for alder- Did that in the LWV taping too…what a regimented mind. Wife is watching and he gives a shout out. She gave a strange look when I looked at her. Don’t blame her, I’m a bit creepy.
7:11 – Walsh – this is the best neighborhood in the city of Madison and I think we can make it a lot better. Emphasizing a lot communication – return all e-mails and calls within 48 hours – Strange, he told us today 24 hours. A minor difference, but strange.
Emphasizes a “doctor’s checkup” going door-to-door twice a year to see how the residents are doing.
7:12 – the kids have come into the room and are very distracting. Just because it’s an elementary school….
7:13 – Sherman: small business owner, have my own law firm – want to bring a consensus with a problem solving solution – some of those people along the Langdon area – take all their viewpoints into consideration – I want something to happen for our neighborhood and feel comfortable talking to me…
Lots of problems – proper allocations of police resources – Noble Wray is working on it (probably what he heard at his CIVITAS lecture)
Really need to retain and attract new jobs. Not just for those at the UW – working class people too. Janesville, where I’m from, lost the GM plant and those people are looking for jobs too. Need to eliminate this anti-business climate in Madison. Additionally, we need to make certain we have quality housing options and work to make sure homeowners and renters have the proper access.
Now, six prepared questions:
- What are the major challenges to our city or district, right now.
7:16 – Walsh – I’ll focus on the district. Communication, development and safety. Need to begin transforming the neighborhood completely – need to take those homes on a case by case basis – make them salvageable – allow our area residents have confidence in those existing homes that remain – need to focus on “family oriented development” – most important attribute of the TL neighborhood.
As the students move out, there are safety concerns – pay attention to traffic. Intend to aggressively use
7:18 – Konkel – Major Madison challenges are hooked on the nation’s economic future – need to continue to balance our priorities and make sure our taxpayers aren’t overwhelmed by our taxes – budget processes are completely transparent – none of us have the answer to it. Need experience – half of the council is only 2 years on – running out of time…ACACIA, Edgewater, James Madison park, E. Washington, transportation, done, out!
She was really racing against the clock there.
7:20 – Maniaci – I’ll start with neighborhood and move to the city – Lots of issues with safety, drug dealing, tenants that are not very good with the neighborhood – street lighting is causing sideswipes – I’d like to see better Street Lighting – DRLI – covers 1/3 of our district – want to see that expanded (very student centric so far) – seeing friends and students move out of town – businesses are having a lot of issues – need to see them survive – next two years – lots of issues with tax base, transportation
7:23 – Hackbarth: He just called it Tenney-LAY-pam. Whoops. Need to grow the tax base with more residents, retaining and attracting new jobs along E. Washington coordidor – things are going to happen – we need to balance the concerns of our neighborhoods with the inherent growth of our community – lots of historic buildings -need to preserve those – need to respect and pay attention to new opportunities.
Question from the audience
– How would you adapt the TLNA plan to the current economic challenges in our community – Hirsch…err…Hackbarth..
7:25 – I’m the mysterious fourth candidate…(well, a website would help.) Work closely with the neighborhood association – form committees on all projects – draw on historical knowledge – would welcome the input. Want to expand to a citywide prospective – want to see what people in other districts have to say. I may be district centric, I’ll keep Madison priorities into concern (Well, when you’re talking to TLNA, that probably isn’t the best approach to take, eh?)
7:27 – Maniaci cites the industrial corridor along E. Washington – might have to wait given the current economic conditions, but I want a grocery store there, but the economy has hit the bottom so that might have to wait – One thing I notice that will change is the transportation plan – I don’t want to see development happen just because there is one person willing to fork out the money…
7:28 – she said she was at the neighborhood meeting last night…I thought you said you were thinking about not going because we kept you too long last night?
7:29 – many of the plans might be slowed, calls for more density in certain parts of our neighborhood – transportation might be slowed -the ability of our neighborhood to correctly negotiate is important and possible – I fully support it, it might be slowed, but it’s not going to make a difference in the long term – certainly coalesce with my vision.
Walsh really likes tempest metaphors.
7:31 – Konkel – I don’t think anything has to change due to the economy. The core is good, but the biggest challenge is keeping density over by E. Washington – if there are projects that come forward for E. Washington, they’re built to the scale that we have anticipated – underground parking is a huge challenge, because it’s incredibly expensive – howe are we going to crack that parking issue – I know there are a lot of plans, hopefully we can find agreement.
7:33 – Renaissance Property group has a development deal – oppose or support or why?
Hackbarth : I’m not that familiar with the project – but I want to learn about it! (there was laughter in the background.) Right now he’s spinning his wheels and the other candidates are sort of biting their tongues. Hackbarth mentions the zoning code and how important that is…scale is appropriate, yada yada yada. Again, as for the project, I don’t know. But I do a lot of real estate transactions. So I see a lot of things that go into it.
It needs to be examined. Yep. Why didn’t you do that beforehand?
Wash – I’m leaning toward no. The project has irrevocably changed. It is now going to be section 42 housing – workforce housing. The thing he liked was bringing homeowners to the area – but we can’t bring people there for 15 years – apartment buildings have to be very well managed. Problem I’ve had – how much family oriented development are we looking at?
Konkel: One of the things I learned was to not come out in support or opposition but to listen to the residents – right now I would not support it. The reason Sherman doesn’t know about it is because it changes daily. Section 42 is a plus for the project, put in a gym, community room – if the vote were today, we’d vote against it.
Demolition of the homes breaks my heart, and they probably shouldn’t be torn down. We’re either going to have to modify our neighborhood plan or make an exception.
7:40: Maniaci – I live across the street from this place. I’m a little disappointed that you, Hackbarth, haven’t been following it. A lot of folks have been working on this. We’re on version 2.0 of this project – the one bedroom lofts would be at #1,000 a month – density is very high, out of place with what the neighborhood plan has – what sort of precedents would this set – the new proposal is better – 640-740 a month, much better – section 42 housing – would give them extra income, but it excludes full-time students and it might take better shape – I’m very upset to see everything outside by front window go down.
So it sounds like everyone is pretty opposed.
7:42 – Retail presence on 800 block of Johnson – how would you promote the success of these businesses.
Maniaci – Bernie’s is a great anchor for the neighborhood – other stores have had a lot of trouble staying afloat – Cook and Drunken Butterfly seemed very positive…then they went out of business. A few things can be done to help the businesses. Newsletters to promote businesses stuff, MoCA galleries bring people downtown – a lot of the businesses would love monthly gallery nights, sidewalk sales, DMI would be a model – medium term – fix the traffic situation and get us some parking! – E. Johnson to a two way street, Willy street has it too and look at the businesses.
7:45 – Hackbarth – Really like that area. Great place. Lot of turnover of business – is it because of new regulations, or is it traffic – I don’t think there is one simple solution – there’s a lack of understanding – that whole area could benefit from the fa?ade improvement grants. Proper economic development.
Really need to promote that area and make it an alluring place for people to shop and dine and increase the walkability of that area.
7:47 – Konkel – a few of the things I’ve tried to do is to make people buy local first – gave extra points – I pushed for the economic development plan – took a long time to do and it cost more than we thought, but it got done, damn it.
E. Washington Ave. Corridor – need to continue to fight hard – complication with TIF policy prevented businesses – When traffic isn’t on Johnson street…look out. Parking – can’t seem to agree with businesses on how to figure this out.
7:49 – Walsh – that district will always struggle if it’s a one-way street. Almost impossible to stop there –
(Hackbarth keeps turning to Konkel and asking her questions. Strange.)
7:50 – Business association is relatively defunct – defray the costs of advertising costs for them – the way it works is that they go down for one business and start shopping in other places – want to use some mixed use development up and down the cooridor – tie in our yearly neighborhood festival so they know those businesses are down there and available for them.
7:51 – Walsh – Describe your problem solving skills . “First, off, I’m an attorney” (yeah, so are half the other people here.) There are some attorney’s I can’t stand. But I still have to work with them, even though we may not always get along. Listening is 95 percent of communication and I excel at it. As a husband, I have to negotiate every single day – (the wife beamed at that one.)
7:53: Konkel – to navigate the discussions that go on in city hall takes some skill, I’ve been doing that in the last eight years and I’ve taken some initiative on development on Gorham (even though it didn’t work out.) I told them to come to the neightborhood and see what they want to see. You have to get to win-win – the art of compromise is that “everybody’s angry, so we must have done a good job.” If the community is saying we need to have another coffee shop we can say “we can get a coffee shop in there.” In the Gorman situation, we brought those concerns up very early – had discussion about traffic, the units that are there. The neighborhood came to yes. That plan failed at city hall.
Edit – That’s Gorman, not Gorham. Sorry about that.
So how does that help your argument if you were the alder representing the district?
7:56 – Maniaci – Well, we’re putting the Statue of Liberty back on the ice on Lake Mendota. Great example of taking the leadership role. Very excited to get everybody on board, get the kinks worked out – ASM – empowering Madison, want’s to get involved – solar powered lights! It’s a good example of why I have the skills to work with really challenging logistical decisions.
7:57 – Hackbarth – I went to Law School, became an attorney, simply because I wanted to help people. Doesn’t matter if I’m helping a multi-million dollar development group work out their financials or helping criminals.
(I should mention they only have 1 mic.)
Audience question – what are your key accomplishments (to the incumbent) and to the challengers, what would you have done differently.
8:00 – Walsh – I wouldn’t have done inclusionary zoning – history has proved that didn’t work – it was all stick and no carrot – the system as it evolved had so many compromises and pragmatic and realistic problems that it would never work in any circumstances – created a VERY SMALL number and it continues to be. Have some good negotiations – it is a situation that will plague our society no matter what we do.
Konkel – I’d say my biggest accomplishment has been the work I do on the budget – I’ve been a strong voice that goes beyond getting snow off of our streets. I think we need to look at our plans holistically – /homelessness programs are important – we finally have an outreach worker. Affordable housing – you may agree or not agree, but those problems weren’t talked about before I came along. We have continued to work on programs that are of the higest medium in our community
8:04 – Maniaci: I appreciate that the conversation went forward, but it failed pretty spectacularly and now we have to start the affordable housing convo again – without IZ – When she says it failed at the city hall level, well, it’s your job to help it succeed at the city level. That’s an example of where the lines of communication cost a good project. looks directly at her – your heart is in the right place and no one disputes that.
8:06 – Hackbarth has really raised his voice when discussing this: “You know, Brenda’s a spitfire…” Brenda says her budgetary work is really good, but I think she had 42 amendments and I don’t believe a single one of those were adopted by the common council. I don’t think that’s a solution. When you spring upon way too many that aren’t zeroed in on the key issues that are going to make things happen. This is NOT a personal issue.
8:08 – What is your vision for the district in 10 years time?
Brenda: vision would be allowing people get around a lot more efficiently on Johnson and Gorham, I think we’ve set the ground work together – we must partner together to make it a strong district. Several of my amendments passed this year, by the way. IZ worked very hard with the development community – we made sure to see it was affordable – it did create 40 units. You can call it an incredible failure, but I think it made a difference and will be there for years to come.
Sherman: my vision for the city – he’s espousing now, almost heaving – I see it as a hub between Chicago and the Twin Cities in the upper Midwest – diverse community – I see some things along the second district – E. Washington corridor – that’s going to be a red carpet, a heart, etc. .. there’s my vision.
OK. That was more like a flashback than anything.
8:12 – Walsh – “THIS is the heart of the district” – wants to protect Lapham elementary, keep it running, young families will have the confidence to stay here. When this economic tempest lifts, it will have it. Mansion Hill that is to a Georgetown for Washington D.C. – a respite in the midst of thrashing city – redevelop the old student buildings.
8:14 – Maniaci – it’s going to be very strong for a number of reasons – you’re looking at all those issues of new urbanism – we’re very lucky to be close to all of those city services, etc. I’d love to see Chicago get the Olympics – get that RTA, see that light rail, see those parking places – if we solve those bigger transportation issues – we’re going to see the E. Washington BUILD – Walsh is going to be a hell of a member on the PTA – we have all the things in our neighborhood that people will want – it’s about how we develop and make the most of the neighborhood – if the neighborhood goes in the direct that I’d like to see it go….I’ll be very happy.
Break!
8:23 – Walsh – What should they do about the Overture Center. We can’t let it go. What are we going to do with the construction debt – How are we going to do with the operating budget – the Overture Center is a quality of life decision that we’ve made – we’ll wonder how we ever got along without it – I don’t think it’s accountable.
One of the things they stressed was the love the Overture Center because it puts free shows on for children – it will get worked out.
8:25 Konkel – glad we didn’t buy it for a dollar. I’m sorry the endowment fund didn’t work out. I think we need to look on how we use that building in different ways – need to figure out how we use the building in different ways – this is a private sector problem that needs to be figured out by the private sector. My accountant at work is on the Overture board
Hackbarth: Should have thought about this before and not put the endowment in the market, which is very risky. And 8 1/2 return sounds good but is it realistic. I think we need to promote it and we have an amazing building that we need to care for. The city is promoting operations of this. To really promote that center, it should have people in it seven days a week, it’s a wonderful center and I think that we should have more people using it. No easy solution
Maniaci – I agree, the city should not too much involvement in it. I would really like to see more local use – if the city does get involved, they should look at more local programming – friends had Forward Music Fest – they’re in the process of trying to book their shows – it’s a battle royale with the pricing at the Overture – they’re not having a very good time talking with the folks at the Overture – folks have brought up that there is a fair amount of nights when programming isn’t out there.
Final Question – do you favor the bus fair increase?
8:30 – Walsh – No, I don’t favor the increase. Mass transportation systems historically recover a small amount with their fares. Same case with Madison Metro – 50 cent increase brings in about 650,000 dollars when their budget is 30 million plus. Need to look into other ways to pay for it. Don’t have a big enough pie – bake a bigger pie – look at ways we can foster economic growth. Don’t have to adjust the routes or anything like that.
Konkel – Served on Transit and Parking commission – we cut back the routes and service that’s available, cut back late night service, weekend service…cut cut cut. Absolutely wrong thing to do with the transit system. Need to get as many people riding the bus, that’s why I voted against the whole budget. 650,000 out of 30 million is not the end of the world. We needed to really be looking at this in a completely different way. Increase in money from the fare box but also make it more reliable. Hopefully the RTA can bail us out.
Maniaci – I don’t support raising the fare. If it came to consensus that we have to raise, I’d support a stronger system. I’ve talked with a number of folks and had my own frustrations – not only have we cut it, but there are some inherent flaws in the way it’s structured – there’s no busses that run concurrent to flights at the airport – I’d like to see a much more efficient and reliable system. It’s not a lot of money to make up – I’d like to move forward, move past this point – work regionally to fix these problems.
Hackbarth: I saw huge problems with the increase, but I see huge problems with cutting services. There are other people who don’t have those conveniences. At a 1.50 – at 2.00 it’s still going to be operating in the red. We cannot cut services at this point – to branch out with the RTA is a very good opportunity to take. Metro is our only public transportation – disproportionate impact on low-income people – expand business bus pools.
8:40 – Closing statements:
Walsh – It’s all about the school. Talk to me, not the school board. He’s getting really passionate. Once we have that secured, young families will come here.
Hackbarth – I really ran this campaign to get people involved in local politics. I bring a fresh approach, a collaborative approach, I live in a cooperative. I want to start a relationship with this neighborhood.
Bridget – I think that what I can offer to the district is to take the district forward and use that passion and energy that comes with being young and really use that. I can offer a lot in the relationships I’ve already built into the district. People haven’t been working together because they’ve been coming with their battlelines drawn.
Konkel – I want to thank everyone who came out. Thank you to the candidates for running. Speaking up and speaking out is great. I’ve been a tenacious. IZ failed because of the compromises we made. We’re going to work on * add list of everything we said tonight * Biggest issue is transparency. I’ve done that through blogs, listservs, etc.
