6:55 – So we’re here, but let me point something out from the get-go. How many people here are actually non-affiliated students? I mean, I see Steve Lawrence here and a few other isolated observers, but the rest are either Obama supporters., Flores supporters or, well, media (in whatever form you want to take that as)

To what extent are these things promoted? Had anybody seen this advertised outside of TITU?

7:01 – Alright, Rob is explaining the rules – seemed to say something about not expecting rebuttals in any great quantity…Well, I hope not…otherwise, what sort of this debate will this be??

7:03 – two TV stations here…along with a few random older residents (and by older, I mean 45-55)…oh, and the Herald’s former columnist John Sprangers. Hey!

7:04 – Eli Judge: “I’m going to be sitting back as far as I can…like, probably in a bath robe or something.” He has also suggested jousting.

7:05 – Alright, we’re getting started. Stuff about Roosevelt Institution. Yada Yada.

7:06: Each can. has 2 minutes for opening statements, series of questions with 1 minute response, 30 second rebuttals on a very limited basis. Some follow ups. OK.

7:07 -Katrina goes first. Giggles preceding that announcement.?

So, why you running?

Katrina: Regardless of where you fall in the political spectrum, Obama said it best: Rely on folks on the ground to make differences. (Taking the Obama card from Eagon?) Local elections are important, students need to see themselves as people of the city, not just the district.

Why are you qualified? Community Activist, worked on issues statewide, nationwide (?), working with SSFC, ASM, MSCS – other projects in the community ?- mentions few that I can’t really get a grasp on.?

Mentions NOTHING about why she’s running.?

7:10 – Schmidt – interned for a state rep (doesn’t say which one), says change needs to start from the ground up. Focus switched from the federal government and looked at the state level. Saw the open seat, saw the city level as important and thought that was important. Was also part of a non-partisan voter information program, economics major (so I have a strong background in economics). Student involvement is key, we’ve shown our power, it was a phenomenal thing – seeing everyone march up to the capitol (did he vote for Obama?) Need to continue that.

7:12 – Woulf – most pertinent exp. – being a student. trying to reflect student issues into city council – specific issues? First and foremost concerned with safety – Eyes were opened on standing ?committee about alcohol – police obviously have a goal of safety, but their approach is off-course – make sure our students are safe by redistributing forces in the correct places – too many muggings, we can all agree it’s not safe to walk home at night. No. 2 issue is the environment – I’d like to see all coal plants “change over” (But you don’t have anything to do with that in city gov, right?) Also mentions tenant rights.

7:14 – Eagon – really excited, have a strong passion ?-served on ASM student council , taught in slums of Kenya, learned that public service is a tool to be bigger than yourself, organized through Obama campaign here and in the state. Want to improve downtown community – organization…not a whole lot of specifics. Seemed sparse. OK.

First Question – Safety – what can you do?

7:16 – Schmidt – “We have to practice safety at the home.” Need to make sure the homes are safe, you have a right to have a safe home. (Is this about the Zimmermann thing?) says he wants to expand DRLI.

7:17 – Woulf – yes,lighting and self-enforcement is important, but that doesn’t replace enforcement on the street. It’s a police issue – want to allow establishment and bars to open up bars to the 18-21 crowd. Bring officers on to the street instead of bars.

Wouldn’t they just pack more cops in bars then?

7:18 – Eagon – need to look at immediate action and long term stuff – immediate – look at Downtown Safety Initiative – wants to remove funding for ID scanners, retain state street and langdon street offices, look at cab stand funding – focus on habitual offenders.?

7:19 – Flores – Expanding blue light phones – lots in lakeshore, presence inhibits some crime from happening – none on langdon – entertainment license should be expanded – look at the causes of safety issues and crime – 1.8 police to every 1000 residents (Fact check, someone?) – is meeting with Noble Wray next week to start this dialog.

Level of bar raids – appropriate?

7:22 – missed most of this because of Jeff. Sorry. Obviously says it’s not appropriate.

7:22 – Eagon says you obviously can’t do anything directly to redirect their use of resources, but you can remove funding from the Downtown Safety Iniative for mobile ID scanners, which is what he’ll do.

7:23 – Flores – Bar raids don’t happen an exorbitant amount of time. We need to have police doing work where crimes happen, it happens outside of bars…it does! We’ve seen that happen in the papers.

If you really think the bar murders were representative of bar crime, you’ve lost it.

7:25 – Schmidt – “We can be that difference” – we can stand up and tell the police force and tell them we need more police on the streets. (Well,then you’re just an advocate? How will you bring that to City Council?)

7:26 – Woulf – Rebuttal – doesn’t have the power to redirect police resources and lobby. (So could citizens,CNI, State-Langdon…), Mobile ID scanner money would be one thing, but that’s not the problem, it’s that they perform all these raids!

Question: Outside of bar raids, what would you do to target alcohol issues?

7:26 Eagon – Use sunset clause in 2010 to stop ALDP. There are some merits in it that need to be kept, but put it onto ALRC. Case by case basis – look at what tavern owners are good, bad, instead of overarching blanket policy.

7:28 Flores – need to get some grassroots org. behind these parts – if you do your work on the ground, I can say “these are my constitutents.” and get working on this.?

That was not an answer as to what YOU would do.

7:28 – Schmidt agrees with Eagon’s ALDP statements. Case by case. Also echoes Katrina’s statements – more student input. But of course, he’s only been to one meeting here. “Very few people show up at City Council meetings”…not all the time…for instance…ALDP? Maybe few students, but a fair amount of people.

7:30 – Woulf is going on his entertainment license thing, says ALDP hurts businesses. So you oppose…but?

7:30 – Eagon – Entertainment passes – good start, low cost, but it’s the strings attached that come with it (elaborate!) – uses the house parties argument with why ALDP doesn’t work again. Not sure how that was a rebuttal. Just sort of a reiteration.

Question: How would you rate Tenant-Landlord relations?

7:32 – Flores – need to have more resources, should support Tenant Resource Center. Couldn’t fund it with ASM, but let’s look at that here. Let’s also get the Tenant Bill of Rights up again…

7:33 – Schmidt – “Landlord tenant relationships are something that suffers in this district.” Said they need to know their rights – need to know you have the right to call a landlord to fix your broken stuff. Most peopel he met with didn’t know this.?

From everything I’ve heard from you, you’d work better as an informational advocate, not an alder.

7:34 – Woulf – would immediately push for funding for increased tenant education. These tenant issues can be resolved through city mediation to protect the average student. (Please. We’re going to moderate every claim? How much would that cost?)

7:36 – Eagon – Photo ordinance was good, include that in their contracts so they know about it. Increase percentage rate return on security deposit returns, have building inspectors collaborate to create a sort of consumer reports for units. Also supports “Rate My Landlord” system.

7:37 – Flores (rebuttal) – People need to know that they have to tell us what were entitled to and we need to post that tenant bill of rights!?

Availability to students? (Pretty simple.)

Schmidt – Blog, online, yada yada.

Woulf- Continue Judge’s alder hours, we’re the generation of the internet, use e-mail, facebook, etc.

Eagon – mentions his “contract with students” and wants to gauge student opinions on certain issues (Nice. If you can get them together. But input is good. Students aren’t necessarily monolithic on the issues that don’t directly affect them.)

I gotta say, not a whole lot to say here. Either you reach out to your constituents or you don’t. Ask Wyndham about that one (if you can get ahold of him.)

Flores – Blogs are good, monthly state of district 8, listening sessions, go through each ward, four a month, different one a week.

Question on transportation – priorities?

7:42 – Woulf – opposed to fare increase – we are going to run into renegotiation soon and could lose our bus passes (I don’t think so. They’ll bump up the costs, but we won’t lose them. Those are a huge source of agreed upon revenue.)

7:43 – Eagon – look at commuter rail,grants for hybrid busses – opposed fare increase – might impact students, look to make this city a platinum rated bike system, make sure that before we spend too much money,have some express busses to test out their lines.

7:44 – Flores – Bus Pass isn’t free, keep that in mind – need to support bikes year long, plow bike paths in winter (Soglin would be spinning with frustration right now), commuter rail has been something we’re talking about for a long time.?

And now…more grassroots organization to get federal funding.

7:45 – Schmidt – Busses aren’t the most vital form of transportation – walking is. maintain bike paths and sidewalks. Rise in pocket books for bus pass, have to pay for it no matter what.

Question: what would you do to improve Madison economy?

7:47 – Eagon – get committment from Tim Cooley (city economic director) to ?coordinate jobs for students in the city after graduation – work with UW and city important. Look at TIF policy where tax incentives are given to build here in madison, but be accountable – work closely on stimulus plans. God that was a lot to say. How do you do this in one minute?

7:48 Flores – Stimulus – make sure it’s actually going to also build residences for people who are less fortunate, economically. Need to focus on people who are…less fortunate (are you trying to avoid a certain term here, Katrina?) Pause…”He took a lot of my stuff!” (Referencing Eagon.)

7:49 – Schmidt – TIF would help,but we need to work on attracting a more diverse business community in the downtown area. If you have jobs for waitresses and bartenders, all you’ll get are bartenders and waitresses.

7:50 – Woulf – green jobs, different businesses, open up more space.

Question: What do you like about Judge, perhaps disagree with?

Flores – great idea for the “Rate your landlord initiative” – knows what people will be engaged by. Lighting isn’t comprehensive to solving safety. I would differ there. (and your plan is: see above)

7:52 – Schmidt – love the Rating site idea. Photo ordinance was a great thing. Would like to change the culture of student involvement – difficult to organize – not only should we care about the issues of our district, but issues outside district.

7:53 – Woulf – strong leadership in city council that he saw was most important – DRLI was one, needs to have continued support – doesn’t quite address safety directly, neither does blue light phones (oh snap!), everyone has cell phones. It’s about allocation of resources.

7:54 – Eagon – has raised the profile of this position – (after all, why are we all here and blogging, right?) – known as student alder to people not only in Dist. 8 – Eli has done great things with accountability to constituents and outreach and had a student focus on things – had direct impact on student issues – revise policies – Downtown Safety Initiative – and including photo ord in contracts.

Question: Overture debacle. threats to foreclose. What does the city do?

Schmidt – have to focus on vital infrastructure (but then mentions police, fire…what?) Doesn’t really seem to have an answer – says “I don’t know.” Touchy subject I can’t get into. (Hey, you and everybody else. Nobody wants hands on that. But you can suggest more use out of that building, different focus, right?)

7:57 – Woulf – I’m all for the city trying to help out Overture, need to prioritize and figure out if we have money after that.

Eagon – 1 dollar sale, sound great, but look at the debt – can’t afford to take on that debt – what can the city do? Aggressively pursue private fundraising efforts – city can’t take on 20 mil in debt.

Flores – community wasn’t behind it, pricing folks out of it now isn’t the right idea – they didn’t try and open it up. I support more community arts programs that are by and for the arts community like murals. (Uh…want to combine that?)

Question: Should the city play a larger role in upkeep of lakes??

Woulf – City should take as big a role as possible in the lakes – increased funding for street sweeping and cleaning to keep the lakes as clean as possible (What? Isn’t Phosphorus the issue? And aren’t we tackling that at a county level?)

Eagon – 8:01 – yes, sewer grates, sweeping, but let’s look at the root cause of blue-green algae – biggest cause is manure runoff (Yes! Phosphorus!) – look at bio digestors (already doing this at the county. Am I the only one who thinks this REALLY is a COUNTY issue?)

Flores – 8:02 – Make this a green decade, this is the time. Students shouldn’t go in worrying they’ll come out with an itch. If we don’t, what are we saying about ourselves as a city.

Schmidt – 8:03 – Manure run-off is a big problem – partner together – countywide issue.

Question: Homelessness is a huge problem, and doesn’t seem to get better. Chronic issue or isolated question? Should city try something new?

8:05 – Eagon – look at this issue with compassion, don’t blame them for crimes, data doesn’t back it up – Look at Chronic Pains issue (good article, btw) you’ll see it’s a few people who cause most the problems. Work to keep them out of homelessness, literacy programs, etc.

8:06 – Flores – raid on homeless on game days (does this really happen? I still see panhandlers.), certainly not OK. Need more men shelters, they really do need to have these resources.?

8:07 – Schmidt – It’s a tough problem because you have to go to the root of it, I’ve only ever seen a bandaid put on the issue. Help get these people off of the streets and into a better place.

8:08 – Woulf – if the city is able to identify repeat offenders – need to be constructive “We can’t expect to sit down and have a conversation about the economy and have them understand it” – about 20 in the downtown area that cause problems – if we can reach out to them, that’s the best way to do it. (So, the rest of the homeless are just..meh?)

Question: What do you feel about taking stances on national issues?

8:09 – flores- it’s fine, it sends a clear message that we think it’s important. they’re just symbols, but symbols can be powerful. (You know my opinion already…*rolls eyes*)

8:10 – Schmidt – City Council should be the first representatives – saw it at the state level, calls came in with little relevance – but we redirected them.

8:11 – Woulf – important to directly reflect the sentiments of the constitutency – it’s a huge national statement (Sure, if you’re New York, not if you’re same old liberal madison.)

8:12 – Eagon. No. Don’t think it’s the right approach, we need to prioritize things on the municipal level – symbols are great, but that’s not our first priority. Those issues are saved for a different body – focus on our municipal issues.

8:13 – Schmidt – Oh, well, I support Eagon’s position moreso, I just think…yeah.

8:13 – Flores – yeah, I’m just not going to be afraid to stand by our constituents. I’m not going to ignore that.

8:14 – Eagon – just because there’s a vocal part of your constituency doesn’t mean you should go along with it. I’m not going to ignore certain calls for issues, but I’ll redirect them.

8:14 – Woulf – National, International issues that are more important than local ones (like a war) then that’s absolutely the priority of the City Council. We shouldn’t waste a lot of time…

(Good job Eagon. That’s the way.)

Question: Abstaining from Oath because of Gay Marriage Ban. Position.

Schmidt – You have to respect the fact that there are laws above you ?- you want fair treatment, but there are some things you can’t make your immediate issue. Eli not taking this oath showed his primary concern were the people of Distr. 8.

8:17 – Woulf – Also would have abstained from taking the oath. You have to realize in this city how people voted, I was by and large against it. I would very much take in eli’s path.

8:17 – Eagon – He didn’t take the oath, doesn’t mean he wasn’t against it. But I also would have taken the oath. It’s a slippery slope. I applaud alder judge – deal with city issues – take it as oath that you will serve, when you throw in other things, it becomes problematic.

Flores – It was a pragmatic choice. I support the decision, it was also a really powerful statement because he worked so hard on the ban – knew he just had to take the oath. I don’t know exactly what I would have done…but I support what he did. (I suppose that’s fair, it’s a tricky decision to make. and a personal one.)

Question: What combination of spending cuts, tax increases would you use to balance the budget?

Woulf – need to seriously take a look at what projects were spending too much money on. (missed some of this, sorry!)

Eagon – Tight budget – need to look at priorities – but be pragmatic on this. In all the convos I’ve had, the issues are “how are we going to fund it?” Look for some private sources of funding and other sources. Look for partnerships. I’ve also called for funding cuts – DSI and cuts to funding for bar raids (OK, worked before, but this is a 100,000 dollar program, right? Not a big chunk of change…)

Katrina – look into federal grants, partner with people outside of city council.

Schmidt – start looking at interests for the District, getting a bit selfish (his words, not mine). Look into cutting spending in areas that do not really affect people in this district – broaden the tax base.

If you could accomplish one thing as alder, what would it be.?

8:25 – Eagon – increase student profile on city council. Specific policy? implement portions of my safety plan, can’t go into it here in a minute (Look it up, I guess.) Only 1 out of 20 CC members.

8:26 – Flores – same lines, different approach – think of themselves as part of the Madison community at large. We’re privileged to be here, since we have more free time than the average person, let’s utilize our voices – so many things this city needs and play an insturmental part in getting the changes we need. community org. approach and I know that because of the orgs I’ve worked in.

8:27 – Schmidt – ?Would love to see crime, bar raids, drop on my watch. Would love to show that we can act and behave responsibly as students. We are here at UW, one of the greatest educational institutions in the nation.

8:28 – Woulf – Those are all great things, but let’s look specific – you have two years. I’d try to make the streets of madison safer, broaden the definition of entertainment and bring law enforcement onto the streets!

Question: What would you absolutely not cut funding for?

Flores – Comprehensive approach to safety, can’t cut safety funding

Schmidt – basic emergency services. vital to well being.

Woulf – Police need to be funded, but I think police levels are fine, don’t need to increase. Also wouldn’t cut funding for environment.

Eagon – wouldn’t cut funding for office of community services. Deals with homelessness, job creation, etc. Hires people to work within a community, can navigate multifaceted issues. Never cut funding it.

Alright. closing statements.

Won’t focus on this. Schmidt mentions the big student turnout. Turning around, hey! there is a lot of people here!.

—?

So, what have we learned here?

Schmidt: No chance in hell. No specifics, leaves a lot to students…never a serious candidate.

Woulf: He has his one issue and he’s going to push it. On tenant issues and environmentalism, he’s out to sea, but the bar raids and entertainment stuff

Katrina: First off, she just said we “all need to be more multi-cultural when speaking to each other. Patrick got a very condescending stare down from her. Really bizarre and stand-offish. She also believes she’s a visionary, according to her statements.?

Aside from that, I’m not sure what to think about that right now. She scoffs at pragmatism…This needs some further evaluation.e

Eagon – a few very specific proposals, but they’re leaving now. Gotta go.