February 20, the day of the Madison primary election, The Badger Herald released an endorsement of mayoral candidate Ray Allen. After reviewing the candidates more closely, as well as the article, I question the reasons stated by the Herald for its decision. Had the editorial board reviewed its supportive statements of Ray Allen they would have realized that the solutions presented by Mr. Allen have already been implemented by Mayor Dave.
The Badger Herald points to safety as its number one issue. Mr. Allen has stressed the importance of safety but his strategy to increase safety is to do what our mayor has already done: add police resources. Mayor Dave agrees crime is the single largest issue facing college students and has acknowledged and begun to address it. During his first four years in office, the mayor added 26 new police officers and implemented a $100,000 initiative exclusively for downtown and campus safety.
In addition to increasing safety on a day to day basis the mayor has worked to increase safety for citywide events most notably Halloween. The easiest choice to solve the Halloween problem would be the most unfavorable: shutting down the city during Halloween weekend. Certainly another riot would have resulted in community pressure to shut down the event completely. Mayor Dave chose to work with the city and student body to keep the tradition and reduce the chance of riots. The result was a fun and lively city sponsored party where citizens and friends could gather safely and enjoy a variety of entertainment. The number of reported tickets and accidents from this Halloween were far fewer than previous years, showing the success of the event.
The mayor has worked to reduce current crime and has implemented programs to prevent future crime. The Madison Apprenticeship Program provides job training to low income individuals to increase self-esteem and efficacy thus decreasing crime. Programs of this nature instill hope in low income youth by teaching them skills necessary to acquire meaningful jobs, thereby tackling the root causes of crime.
Ray Allen consistently acknowledges the housing issue in Madison. Madison does have a housing issue, and it is being addressed thanks to the hard work of Mayor Dave. The Inclusionary Zoning and Affordable Housing Trust Fund have been created to increase affordable housing in Madison and the mayor stepped in to keep 20% of the housing on Allied Drive out of the hands of a slum lord when it came on the market a year ago. He is now working with the community to plan for its revitalization.
After reading the endorsement I find myself asking more questions about the goals and motives of Mr. Allen than I had previously. According to the Herald, I should cast my vote for Mr. Allen to allow him to spend the next four years creating programs which already exist. I'll choose to cast my vote differently. I'll choose to vote for someone who, in the past four years, has helped unite citizens to move Madison forward. I'll choose to vote for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
Lisa Sheridan
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