Before approving a new bid for the development of Judge Doyle Square, Madison’s City Council attempted to determine the impact of the project on minorities in the community. But some city officials say the council did not give enough time to carry out the analysis properly, leaving the process incomplete.
The Department of Civil Rights conducted an equity analysis aimed to find which proposal would be most equitable to minority populations in Madison, Equity Coordinator Toriana Pettaway said.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said Madison has made efforts to focus on all citizens of Madison including marginalized minorities in their decisions in City Hall. He said one way the city is doing this is by using Pettaway’s team to determine the effects of the government’s decisions on all demographics throughout the city.
In the JDS case, Verveer said the council did not give Pettaway and her team enough time to do a thorough evaluation of the projects. Pettaway said her team could have had a more detailed investigation of the two proposals, but they only had two weeks to complete the analysis.
“An equity analysis is supposed to include community engagement,” she said. “It’s supposed to include engagement from the low-income community, the marginalized community, people of color, people who are not engaged or thought about when these decisions [JDS] are being made.”
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Pettaway said this equity analysis tool looks at how large developments will affect minorities in terms of labor and housing. The analysis is supposed to look at the proposals from as early in planning as possible, Verveer said.
The city must consider minority contractors in the construction of the hotel and apartment building, Pettaway said. Minority-owned businesses can be overlooked when a contractor is chosen for large development projects like JDS, she said.
Housing was also a factor in the development, Pettaway said. With no low-income housing in the downtown area, it forces minorities to live far away from work opportunities that may be available in the new hotel, she said.
Since both proposals did not adequately address the concerns of low-income housing and minority contractors, there was not a large difference between the two development companies, Pettaway said.
“[The proposals] did not address any of the [problems] that the city of Madison said that it wants to address as far as eliminating disparities for people of color,” Pettaway said.
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Because of the short notice, Pettaway said nothing is going to change in the square project. But she said the equity team is hoping that once construction starts the City Council will take recommendations and work to incorporate people of color into the project.
Verveer said the council considered many factors when deciding which development company to choose for JDS, but he pointed out that Beitler Real Estate Services has shown a strong commitment to labor issues for minorities, more so than its competitor, Vermilion. Still, there was not enough time to do the entire equity analysis to confirm this difference in developers, he said.
Pettaway said another issue is that many people cannot come to City Council meetings and have their voice heard.
“You would be surprised what you find out when you engage people that don’t necessarily know what the city is doing on behalf of the community,” Pettaway said.
By using the equity tool, Pettaway said she and her team will address issues like institutional racism, unconscious bias and provide a fair hand for everyone.
Going forward in the project, the city is not required to include the equity team in any other decisions. But both Verveer and Pettaway agreed they would encourage the council to analyze every part of the JDS development to evaluate the project’s influence on minorities.
